| Every Mother Counts 2012 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Compilation album by various artists | ||||
| Released | May 1, 2012 (2012-05-01) | |||
| Length | 69:38[1] | |||
| Label | Hear Music | |||
| Every Mother Counts chronology | ||||
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Every Mother Counts 2012 is the second compilation album inStarbucks' annual series, released byHear Music on May 1, 2012.[1][2] Featuring thirteen previously unavailable tracks, the album was sold exclusively at Starbucks locations and benefitedChristy Turlington's Every Mother Counts foundation, which seeks to increase childbirth safety for mothers. The compilation received a positive critical reception.
Every Mother Counts 2012 is the second album in Starbucks' annual series (following the2011 album of the same name), released by its retail music concept and record label Hear Music. The album was available only at Starbucks locations in the United States and Canada between May 1 and 29, in celebration ofMother's Day.[3][4] Eight dollars from each twelve dollar album sale benefited Christy Turlington's foundation of the same name, which seeks to make pregnancy and childbirth safe for mothers.[1][3][5][6]
The compilation album includes 19 songs by various artists. Thirteen of the tracks were previously unreleased; the six existing recordings were: "Wish for You" byFaith Hill,Sade's "The Sweetest Gift", "I Remember" byLauryn Hill,Seal's "Secret", "Fragilidad" (1988) bySting, andDavid Bowie's "Everyone Says 'Hi'".[3][4] Turlington said of the album:
I went to friends first, as I did with the first CD.Bono andChris Martin were great supporters of the project the first time around, and when I knew I wanted to include men on this album they were obvious choices. They are also both fathers to daughters. Others, such asPatti Smith andRita Wilson, I've known for a long time, and some, likeEdie Brickell andPaul Simon, I only met briefly but was a huge admirer. I generally wanted a diverse group of artists who were parents, or in the case ofEdward Sharpe, who will be soon. We wanted to reach a broad audience on this issue with this particular project and with a range of perspectives.[3][7]
The album opens with Bono andThe Edge's acoustic "Original of the Species" (2004). Turlington said of the track: "Bono wrote the song with his daughters in mind. It's wishful and imparts the idea that, 'I'm here and I'm watching you take your steps forward and I'm supporting your independence, but at the same time, I don't want you to make mistakes.' Any parent can relate to that."[8] The song is followed byEddie Vedder's acoustic ballad "Skipping", which he wrote as a tribute to his children and features his daughter Olivia's (age 6)[9] voice at the start of the track,[3][5][7] saying "check, check" and "daddy, daddy".[8][10] Turlington said of Vedder's involvement:
Eddie was amazing to accept this project while in the midst of so much. I spoke to him and exchanged several emails about his contribution. "Skipping" is such a sweet song and I just love that his daughter Olivia has a little cameo at the start. He once wrote me saying that his girls would be proud one day that their dad contributed to such a meaningful project.[5]
The third track is "Pretty Day", performed by Brickell and Simon. Following it are three previously released recordings by Faith Hill, Sade, and Lauryn Hill. The seventh and eighth songs are "Baby I'm Yours" by Wilson, and "Don't Fence Me In", performed byDiana Krall, followed by Seal's previously available recording. The tenth and eleventh tracks are a live rendition of "Sister" byDave Matthews Band and Sting's previously available song, respectively.
Following these areAlanis Morissette's "Magical Child", which was written as a tribute to her son,[11]Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros' "Mother", and Bowie's previously released recording. "Mother" features music put to a poem written byAlex Ebert; the band recorded amusic video for the song, whichThe Huffington Post described as having an "almost hypnotic" groove with a "late-1960s/early-1970s psychedelic vibe".[8]
The next tracks are a "flute-inflected" version of "Get Up Stand Up" byCedella Marley,[8]Beck's "Corrina, Corrina" (1928),[12] a traditional folk song most notably covered byBob Dylan,[13][14] and "Instead of the Dead" byRufus Wainwright. The album's final tracks are Smith's "Somalia" and an acoustic rendition of "Yellow" (2000) byColdplay.[3] Turlington said of "Somalia":
Patti told me she wrote this song years ago, after seeing a segment on the news in which a child literally died in the arms of its mother. That memory was still very present to her in 2011 during the crisis in the Horn of Africa, so she thought, "If I could give this mother what I have — fruit on the trees, a healthy child — I would." She went into the studio and brought along her daughter, who's now grown and married, to play piano, and gave us this version of the song.[8]
The album, and Vedder's "Skipping" in particular, received positive reception. In May 2012, "Skipping" was one ofThe Globe and Mail's "songs you need to hear this week", in thepop category. The newspaper's Brad Wheeler called the album "mom-friendly tuneage" and Vedder's track a "heartfelt", "sweet" song with a "cute" contribution from his daughter.[15] Writing forThe Huffington Post, music journalist Kristi York Wooten said, "Each song is a gift from the artists, given in honor of mothers everywhere". She offered commentary on select tracks, including "Skipping" (the "sentiment about the unique bond between a parent and child transcends both gender and time"), and "Pretty Day", which she said "might get you singing along instantly".[8] Wooten called Beck's contribution "thematically coherent and stylistically diverse", and Smith's track "arresting", "reflective and beautiful".[8]
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Track listing adapted fromAllMusic.[1]
