Benefit albums can be difficult to review because you get a bunch of artists who are generous enough to submit their art for charity. So you hate to be too critical but you owe it to yourself and your readers to be honest.  So what we have here is a charity album that will benefit a food pantry in the Rockford, Illinois area.  This one pulls at my heart-strings a little because I feel these pantries provide a much needed service especially during these tough economic times.  That being said, I can still honestly say that there are some really good tunes on this eclectic disc.  The styles and genre are all over the board here but I think there are at least a few songs for everybody on this record.  Normally you get a single style (i.e., metal, rock, country, and so forth) but having things cross many genre gives this album more of a community feel.  It is just a group of artists who even though they play different kinds of music were still able to come together for a worthy cause.  I’ll admit that many of these songs would not be on my radar as a music fan because I am generally into rock, metal, and prog, but having said that, I still find myself enjoying many of the songs.  Even if at the end of the day you only like a few tunes, this CD is worth checking out because you may discover a new artists that you want to follow more closely and you will be helping out a worthy cause.

(Editor’s Note: While the G.W. Hill who assembled this and provided one of the songs is the same G.W. Hill – hey, it’s me…I don’t know about you but talking in the third person is goofy – who runs Music Street Journal, whenever I have one of my writers review something I’ve worked on, I make sure they know that they are to do an unbiased review and I’ll edit for grammar and such, but never content. So, there is the disclaimer.)

The album can be purchased at http://www.createspace.com/2209207.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2013  Volume 6 at lulu.com/strangesound.

This disc starts off with a Kenny G/Candy Dulfer style jazz track.  It is an upbeat instrumental that has some great saxophone playing courtesy of Jefferson.  I find these types of instrumentals difficult to get into but “Get Yo Step On” has a great groove making it a highly enjoyable listen.

If you are into Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, you will love this tune.  It’s a great upbeat guitar driven instrumental that has a lot of hooks and melody.  It also reminds me a little of “Addicted to That Rush” by Mr Big.  This is one of my favorites on this disc and I can’t stop playing it.

I hear this as a Linkin Park inspired cut that is dedicated to the tragic events of 9/11.  As you would expect, it has a sadness to it, and yet, it is one of the tracks I play often off of this record.  It is one of the more modern rock sounding tracks on offer here..