John Lennon tribute album

Records come and go like dust in the wind these days, but one that should catch your ears -- and is done for a good cause -- is the new, double-sided John Lennon tribute, "Instant Karma: The Campaign to Save Darfur.'' It's not all great and even the mighty U2 stumbles on their cover of title track "Instant Karma'' (an oddly disappointing, low-energy version), but there are enough highlights elsewhere to make this a worthy purchase.
Some of the big names sound too anal -- R.E.M., Flaming Lips and Lenny Kravitz don't do much with their treatments -- but there are surprises galore. Ben Harper offers an acoustic interpretation of "Beautiful Boy'' (Lennon's homage to his son, Sean) that is absolutely stunning. The same for Matisyahu's reggae twist on late-period Lennong tune "Watching the Wheels,'' and Jackson Browne's endearing "Oh, My Love.'' Snow Patrol scores on the more obscure "Isolation,'' while Christina Aguilera gets appropriately stirred up on "Mother'' (capturing Lennon's wail of concern) and Avril Lavigne nails "Imagine.'' It's only too bad that a couple of songs ("Imagine'' and "Gimme Some Truth'') are covered by two different acts apiece. What, Lennon didn't write enough songs to go around?
The guilty pleasure here is Aerosmith's unorthodox version of "Give Peace a Chance.'' It's done reggae style -- how often has Aerosmith ever done that? -- and singer Steven Tyler raps his brains out and sounds like he's ready to record with Dr. Dre. Aerosmith is accompanied on the chorus by Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, leading to an exhilarating climax that Lennon would likely have appreciated.
The hit from this album so far is Green Day's "Working Class Hero.'' It's milder than Lennon's original, but demonstrates an air of experimentation that makes much of this tribute record sing.