Band: (Various Artists)
Album title: Take Action Volume 8
Label: Sin City - Hopeless
Distributor: Suburban
Release date: March 2008
Release: CD + DVD

Van Nuys, Los Angeles based Hopeless Records is a renowned label with a roster generally (some dó incorporate elements of Metal) considered to fall in the categories of Punk Rock, Pop punk, Emo, or Alternative Rock, started back in 1993. Through their charitable sub-label Sub City, the private investors frequently participate in a number of benefits: to start with the label organizes several compilation albums, 5% of the suggested retail price off which goes to support non-profit organisations with a worthy cause, and they also organize the yearly Take Action! Tour to coincide with the release of a compilation album by the same name. This time around, the benefit is for US nonprofit organisation DoSomething.org, who feel that young people have the power to make a difference. They inspire, empower, and celebrate a generation of doers…young people who recognize the need to do something, believe in their ability to get it done, and then take action!

Participants to these compilations include artists from the label, but also (and for the largest part) acts which don’t have an affiliation to the label at all. Some of those participants are well-established acts, which (as the more cynical amongst us might say) of course attracts smaller bands to participate as well. The bigger bands on the compilation are bound to generate the necessary publicity…and doesn’t it just feel só good to be able to “do something”, and get something in return? (Nah…let’s hope those bands’ motivations are slightly more humane). Among the Hopeless bands on THIS compilation you’ll find (in alphabethical order) Anarbor, All Time Low, and There For Tomorrow. Significant bands in the music business include (guess the order in which I put them down here?) Motion City Soundtrack and Sing It Loud (off the Epitaph roster), Cinematic Sunrise (signed to Equal Vision), Emery (off Tooth And Nail Records), The Spill Canvas, Meg & Dia (off Warner Bros), Forever The Sickest Kid and Red Car Wire (affiliated to Universal) and Bayside (from Victory)…and then there’s bands off “smaller” labels like Drive Thrue Records (Ace Enders), Fearless Records (Every Avenue), Fueled By Ramen (album opener Cute Is What We Aim For, who also get to give the introduction to the album…and the female fronted Versa Emerge), I Surrender (Four Year Stong), Rise Records (Breathe Carolina), and Slam Dunk (You Me At Six). Most of the material is taken directly from albums the bands recently released, but there àre some exceptions: The Spill Canvas’ “All Over You” comes to you in a version recorded live at Sioux Falls. Meg & Dia’s “Halloween” is apparently previously unreleased, and Four Year Stong’s “So Hot, And You Sweat On It” comes from a previously unreleased Purevolume session. In all, the CD part of this compilation gives you a total of 19 songs plus an intro…good for almost 67 ½ minutes of worthwhile music!

The DVD, regrettably, only contains 12 videos, plus a (short, just under 2 ½ minutes long) presentation about DoSomething.org! Hopeless had All Time Low and There For Tomorrow contribute a video (both for songs other than the one on the disc. The last returnee is Motion City Soundtrack (but then with a video for the same song as the one on the compilation’s CD), as the other 9 videos are by bands not featured on the CD. Definite eye-catchers are Rise Against (Universal) with a previously unreleased live version of “The Good Left Undone” (a track off their 2006 album The Sufferer And The Witness). Other labels already having contributed to the CD include Equal Vision (this time with a video for Portugal, The Man), Rise Records (Before Their Eyes), Tooth And Nail (Underoath), and Victory (Haythorne Heights). Which leaves contributions from the bands Foxy Shazam and Maylene And The Sons Of Disaster (both on Ferret), Plain White (on Hollywood Records), and Hit The Lights (Triple Crown Records).

If you’re into the music styles mentioned in the opening of this review, then Take Action! Volume 8 is definitely a good way to get acquainted with all these fine bands. If you already know some of the bands and feel reluctant about buying a compilation with audio material which can be found for the largest part on the individual artists’ regular albums, please don’t forget that you’re always supporting a worthy cause! No rating (this is a compilation)!!!

Tony.