Band : V/A (Various Artists)
Album title : Take Action, Volume 9 – A Compilation For Charity
Label : Sub  City - Hopeless
Distributor : Suburban
Release date : February 2010
Release : (2-disc) CD (compilation)

In connection with their non-profit organization Sub City, Hopeless Records founded the Take Action compilation series back in 1999 in an endeavour to encourage young people to make a positive impact on the world. In order to support the youth financially Sub City has, until before this release, already raised almost 2 million dollars…and made peole aware of charitable organizations that aim to make thios world a better place. Hopeless Records donates 5% of the suggested retail price of this album into the continuation of that mission.

Thing is, this ain’t just another compilation of mainly already existing songs! Of course, in the case of (and I’m following the chronology of the track-list here) Every Avenue, This Providence, The Summer Set, The Secret Handshake, Bring Me The Horizon, I Set My Friends On Fire, All Time Low, The Almost, and Broadway Calls…that is exactly what you get, but they don’t even make up for 1/4 of the available material! Then there’s a couple of bands (We Are In The Crowd, Lights, August Burns Red, Eatmewhileimhot!, The Downtown Fiction, The Almost, Set Your Goals, Take Notice) whom donated songs from limitedly available material (off EP’s, rare 7-inch, Japanese bonus tracks), but more than half of the bands (35 in total) donated exclusive material with either acoustic versions of existing songs (quite a lot of those on disc 1 – check Mayday Parade, There For Tomorrow, The Friday Boys, Anarbor, The Dangerous Summer, Hit The Lights, The Swellers, Fake Problem), remix versions (quite a few in the first half of disc 2 – check 30H!3, Cobra Starship, Let’s Get It, Versaemerge), live versions (only the one really, check Taking Back Sunday) or completely new tracks (check A Rocket To The Moon, The Ready Set, The Bigger Lights, Frank Turner).

Consider this: in buying this compilation (and with a total of near 152 minutes’ worth of listening time, I’m sure it’s sold at a rather nice price too) you not only get a collection of otherwize hard-to-get tracks by some of your favourite bands (check above), but you also support the worthy cause Sub City and Hopeless Records are engaged in! No rating, I’m afraid…because that’s what we do with compilations…but the album certainly gets a high appreciation in my personal listings!

Tony.