The Night Sky
About two days ago, I downloaded and listened to the latest Keane charity single The Night Sky, a track written and recorded for the War Child charity in Britain. I wanted to immediately write a review for it, but I decided to wait a few days and reflect on the song so I could make absolutely sure that I picked the write words to say to give this beautiful tune, and to make sure I issued it the correct respect that it deserves since it belongs in the hands of a charity that’s worth respecting.
A bit of background first: The song was written by piano player Tim Rice-Oxley for the charity through the eyes of a child standing in the aftermath of an unnamed war-torn city. The song speaks about rebuilding, carrying on with life, and defying the enemy who seeks to destroy. The song addresses the ugly face of war with inspirational and near-spiritual lyrics, impressive tone, and a melody that sways away from politics and instead targets the perspectives of the people who are most affected by conflict.
The song is available as a CD single, as a USB single (Keane is notorious for being one of the first mainstream bands to offer USB music singles) and as a digital download from 7Music where it retails for roughly under $2 (the track is also available on iTunes, but only in the UK shop and won’t likely be available in the American shop). The single comes bundled with Keane’s BBC Radio 1 cover of “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie, as well as a dance remix of a track on Keane’s Under The Iron Sea album. If television is your preference and you live in the United Kingdom, you can watch Keane perform the track on Freeview’s Channel 4 Network on November 5th during a special War Child concert from Brixton, UK. The program will start at 11:50PM and Keane is set to take the stage sometime during the hour-long concert. Several radio stations will also broadcast the War Child concert and will be making their station available online.
Any way you can, listen to the track (even if it’s just the preview here on the site), if not for the message than at least for great composition work and to truly hear what great music is.
I'm a 21-year-old technology, music and local media blogger from Sacramento, California.
October 26th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
I like that song, its definitely a good one. Do you mean its a cover?
October 27th, 2007 at 12:11 am
@Jim: The song “The Night Sky” is not a cover and was, in fact, written by the band for the War Child charity. It’s likely that the track will not appear on any album from the band in the future. However, there is a cover that appears as a B-Side on “The Night Sky” CD and digital download single—the cover is called “Under Pressure” and was originally sung by David Bowie and Queen back in 1981 (Vanilla Ice would later borrow the beat for his song “Ice Ice Baby”).