CATALOGUE:

REVIEWS:
The official soundtrack to the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 features some collaborations that might take a while to sink in, but there isn't really anything on this album that sounds completely wrong… except of course Avril Lavigne opening the album with 'Knocking On Heaven's Door'. With an underlying theme of harmony and peace, most of the 16 tracks on 'Unity' feature two or more artists performing together. Songs on 'Unity' include duets by Earth Wind & Fire and Roots Manuva, Sting and Mariza, Moby and Public Enemy, Alice Cooper and Xzibit, Wayne Wonder and Neneh Cherry, Tiziano Ferro and Jamelia, and Macy Gray and Keziah Jones.

Other than that, we have Black Eyed Pea will.i.am performing 'I Know', originally performed by Destiny's Child alone for the 'Fighting Temptations' soundtrack. Sting resurfaces his 2000 track 'A Thousand Years' with the help of Mozambique native Mariza. The drum 'n' bass combined with Mariza's world music feel takes the song out of the context it was originally recorded in and makes it a true representation of where Sting is today. British rapper Roots Manuva climbs aboard with legendary funk outfit Earth Wind and Fire for 'Love Together', really signifying the theme of this album, peace and love. "See we've got to live together, we've gotta love together, learn together" they sing as though the obvious needs to be stated. Around the time of the Iraq war, several artists got their act together to write an anti-war tune. Lenny Kravitz got together with Kadim Al Sahir to write a blatantly obvious message into song; "We want peace we want it we want peace we want it we want peace and we want it fast!" This tune has found itself on the Athens disc just as relevant, if not more, as the day it was conceived. The cleverest title goes to Moby and Public Enemy's 'MKLVFKWR'. It might not be the most amazing track either performer has done, but it does get the message across: "Power to the people not the governments". The oddest coupling has to be Alice Cooper and Xzibit. It's interesting to hear these two together and works a lot better than I was expecting to give it credit for, but it's still weird hearing Alice Cooper sing "If you don't stand for something/You will fall for anything", rather than his usual banter about poison running through his veins. Legendary producer and the man credited with inventing "ambient music"

When it comes down to it, this album will raise at least $US180,000 for UNICEF's HIV/AIDS projects in sub-saharan Africa; a figure that EMI Music has promised to donate (and more if album sales go well). This album might only be interesting and not a must have, but it's going to a good cause, so fulfill that interest if you can afford it. Like the Olympics, 'Unity' has brought together different races, cultures and religions in an environment of friendship and peace. All the artists appearing on 'Unity' hope that the album will make a difference by helping to raise pro-peace awareness around the world.