In the Name of Love

I just received the complete track/artist listing for In the Name of Love: Artists United for Africa, the U2 tribute album I mentioned last week:

Jars Of Clay – “All I Want Is You”
Sixpence None The Richer – “Love Is Blindness”
Nichole Nordeman – “Grace”
Toby Mac – “Mysterious Ways”
Audio Adrenaline – “Gloria”
Pillar – “Sunday Bloody Sunday”
Chris Tomlin – “Where The Streets Have No Name”
Tait – “One”
Delirious – “Pride”
Grits – “With Or Without You”
Todd Agnew – “When Love Came To Town”
Sanctus Real – “Beautiful Day”
Starfield – “40”

As an interesting side note, the packaging is being designed by Steve Averill from Four 5 One Design, the company that’s done just about every U2 album.

While I’m glad to see a final song list, and I’m very eager to hear what this sounds like, I still have lots of questions. What happened to Switchfoot? And where are the Newsboys? Both are on Sparrow records (the label releasing the album), so it would be no problem getting them for the project. Switchfoot has been mentioned before in connection with this project, and Newsboys have been known to perform “Running to a Stand Still” in concert. Hmm.

I’m also still curious to know what bands you’d like to see cover what U2 songs.

10 thoughts on “In the Name of Love”

  1. Wow. That would indeed be surreal.

    To be honest, I’d almost say none. It’s a rare occasion when any cover works, but there’s something about U2 that has made every cover of their’s just stink. Maybe I’ll change my mind about it, but the idea of Jars of Clay trying to do “All I Want Is You” makes me cringe. The two styles do not work together at all.

    Toby Mac might be able to do something creative with “Mysterious Ways,” but the rest fit into my above comments.

  2. I’d like to see Justin McRoberts cover…hmm. Just about anything. I think he could do it. It would be splendid.

    I think you mentioned somewhere earlier on here wanting to see FIF cover Wake Up Dead Man…it’s along those lines, but I’d like to see Brave Saint Saturn cover that song. That would be good.

    This topic takes a great deal of thought.

  3. I am also surprised that Switchfoot isn’t on there since they are heavy campaigners for DATA, an organization that U2 helped found and is quite involved in.

  4. Do they have to be Christian artists? If not I would like to see Tori Amos do Grace or October, and possibly Nora Jones do Peace on Earth.

    Back to the Christian artists, I think Justin McRoberts should do the accustic version (the one from 7) of Stuck in a Moment.

  5. While I have not heard many U2 covers that are successful, I admire the project overall. But the thing that strikes me about it is — where are the classic U2 lament Psalms? Where’s Peace on Earth, Wake Up Dead Man, If God Will Send His Angels? Such a key aspect of their work… and, where is I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For?

  6. *ahem* The fact that they don’t say ‘okay’ things about God all the time might have something to do with it. As I’ve heard a few say: we have found what we’re looking for: Christ!

    Heck, Wake Up Dead Man isn’t that hard to see as blasphemous.

  7. Neal, if that’s the case, then the Psalms don’t say “okay” things about God. Are you just trying to defend the way the Christian industry happy-sappy coats everything, or do you buy this stuff?

    Frankly, I find “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “Wake Up Dead Man” to be some of U2’s most probing, spiritual songs. That kind of honest spirituality is the kind of thing the Christian industry needs to learn.

    As for covers, I’d like to see Justin McRoberts do just about anything by U2. Abby and I were talking and she suggested Evanescence for something. That would be cool. It’d have to be something somber and dark though, probably “All I Want is You” or “With or Without You”.

  8. ? I was taking on the behavior (or what I see it as) of the Christian music industry. I FIND those songs to be great and powerful, but I think that one of the reason’s they’re not being done is that they’re risquee from the Conservative American Christian point of view, that’s all.

    Much of those songs were used as reasons for Christians to lament “U2’s falling away from the faith” from The Joshua Tree on, so that’s my point.

    I’m sure we’ve talked about this before, or have I always come across as this shallow to people? I guess I’ll start each with a modifier, ie *takes on the personage of a sterotypical Christian Conservative- ie, not Neal*

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *