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Beck, TV On The Radio, The Hold Steady, Franz Ferdinand And Others Make Music, Not War

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We’re usually wary of benefit albums, not because we’re anti-charity or anything, but because they’re rarely much more than hastily thrown-together batches of ho-hum songs performed by artists who musically don’t lend much beyond their famous names. And our wariness doubles when said benefit album is also a covers album. But we’ve got to admit we’re pretty fond of Astralwerks Records‘ Heroes (due out next week), which pairs a stellar roster of artists with an even better batch of songs: Beck takes on Dylan, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs do the Ramones, the Hold Steady (pictured) grapples with the Boss, and TV On The Radio channels Bowie. That a portion of the proceeds goes to War Child only adds to the warm, fuzzy feeling. When we really got to thinking about the tracks on Heroes, however, we realized there are cover versions already out there of some of these songs that you need to be familiar with, so we decided to stream a few of them. Complete Heroes tracklisting after the jump.

Robyn Hitchcock’s “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat” from 2002’s Robyn Sings:

The Fall’s “Victoria” from 1988’s “Victoria”/”Tuff Life Boogie” single:
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/Victoria.mp3

Hüsker Dü’s “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker” from 1994’s The Living End:
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/SheenaIsAPunkRocker.mp3

Heroes tracklisting:
Beck (Bob Dylan’s “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat”)
The Kooks (the Kinks’ “Victoria”)
The Hold Steady (Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City”)
Hot Chip (Joy Division’s “Transmission”)
Lily Allen feat. Mick Jones (the Clash’s “Straight To Hell”)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs (the Ramones’ “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker”)
Franz Ferdinand (Blondie’s “Call Me”)
Duffy (Paul McCartney’s “Live And Let Die”)
Estelle (Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”)
Rufus Wainwright (Brian Wilson’s “Wonderful & Song For Children”)
Scissor Sisters (Roxy Music’s “Do The Strand”)
Peaches (Iggy Pop’s “Search And Destroy”)
Adam Cohen (Leonard Cohen’s “Take This Waltz”)
Elbow (U2’s “Running To Stand Still”)
The Like (Elvis Costello’s “You Belong To Me”)
TV On The Radio (David Bowie’s “Heroes”)

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