VARIOUS ARTISTS
Constructive Revolutions: Hold Your Ground II
Calgary Dollars/ Activist Network
· The second instalment in the Hold Your Ground series features songs with social and environmental themes.
Constructive Revolutions is outstanding for several reasons not even directly connected with the music. It’s the second instalment of the original Hold Your Ground project (sponsored by the Arusha Centre), which served the two-fold purpose of compiling the local voice of social criticism and being a fund-raising instrument for local community development organizations. The first CD was a sold-out success, and led to Constructive Revolutions, which aims to be a more varied album, more representative of the diverse local scene.
Kudos to the creativity, drive and vision of the producers, but the album itself is a bit of a mixed result. The first half is very strong and reasonably diverse, with some of Calgary’s best lyricists in attendance – after all, lyrics are the point of musical social commentary. Anne Loree, Kris Demeanor, Chantal Vitalis, Lester Quitzau, Cam Penner and Strugglah all show up, and although I might have chosen different songs for each of them (why not Demeanor’s "Extreme to Me," for instance?), they acquit themselves with style.
Things start to get a bit dodgy halfway through, though. The Martyr Index and The Ballz do a reasonable (if uninspired) job of representing the only punk rock sound on the album, but over-earnest strumming begins to take over the end of the album, draining the energy built with the first eight tracks.
Constructive Revolutions would have benefited tremendously from a more considered song order, mixing the downtempo straight-ahead acoustic material more thoroughly with the edgier stuff.
Social criticism in music has to walk a fine line between witnessing and self-indulgent bathos. There are a few songs that fall off the line here, but surprisingly few. Production values are solid throughout without being slick, there are 10 or 11 strong and entertaining tracks out of 17 and – let’s face it – it’s one of the least painful ways to stand up and help make a change locally.
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