Radio 1's Live Lounge Vol.1 - Various Artists > Reviews > Some smash hits pop pickers

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Not applicable
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Some great cover versions
Disadvantages:	A few duds

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I have always been a fan of the Radio 1 Live Lounge, sometimes it can be a bit hit and miss but I enjoy listening to bands doing a more acoustic version of their hits and some of the cover versions they do are really good. The basic format is that each band does one of their own songs and one cover song live in the studio.

This album is a double album with 20 tracks on each CD and features selection of songs, some of them covers and some the bands originals and it is quite an eclectic mix with some quite unusual songs.

Perhaps my favourite has to be the Arctic Monkeys cover of the Girls Aloud hit Lovemachine which with the frenetic guitar riffs and strong Yorkshire accent of the boys works really well. The Coldpay song The Scientist provides a strong opening to CD2 and s followed up by an acoustic version of Smile by Lilly Allen.

Will Young version of Hey Ya is really good, I remember hearing it when he did it on the radio and it got a really massive response so I was glad to see that it made it on the wlbum and the Maximo Park song is another favourite of mine as well.

No all of the tracks works, Natasha Bedingfield absolutely murders The Scientist, why the producors decided that we would have the same song twice and to pick such an awful version (it really is self indulgent and laboured) is beyond me. The Automatic covering Goldigger does not work for me either.

Couple of other highlights for me are The Streets performing Push Things Forward is excellent and they sound like they are having a lot of fun as does Outcast performing Miss Jackson.

Definately worth checking out for the diversity of the material and the other plus side is you do not have to listen to Jo Wiley wittering on either. Available on Amazon for £6.98 which is a lot less than I paid for it.