Various

1157 Wheeler Avenue: A Memorial for Amadou Diallo (2002)

redlinedistribution

First of all, this CD is a memorial to Amadou Diallo, who was an unarmed man shot 41 times by the NYPD in 1999. Proceeds from the CD are being donated in Diallo's name to Human Rights Watch, to support their anti-police brutality work. That alone is a good enough reason to pick this up.
Then the music. It starts off with a live version of Strike Anywhere's "Sunset on 32nd", which is a great song about police abuses in America, recorded at the Fireside Bowl in Chicago. Other highlights on the disc include Anti-Flag doing their version of "That's When I Reach For My Revolver" by Mission of Burma, which has been covered plenty already by a ton of bands, but it's super-cool to hear the Anti-Flag version, it's an old recording too, from back when Andy was in the band. The new songs from The Methadones and Common Rider are really good, not the usual 'comp tracks' that a lot of bands give out. Plan A Project dishes out a new track too, which is the first thing I've seen from them since their album back in '99. It's nice seeing new material from them, they are a great band. The CD flows really well, it's 14 tracks and about 50 minutes long… most of the stuff is unreleased or live.
The artwork on this CD really stands out too. The cover painting is awesome, and it has a 20-page booklet, every band has their own page, and there's information about Diallo, and about Human Rights Watch. Definitely pick this CD up.
List of bands: Strike Anywhere, Munition, Fifteen, Anti-Flag, The 4-Squares, The Methadones, Common Rider, J-Church, The Lawrence Arms, Squirtgun, The Arrivals, Plan A Project, The GC5, Youth Brigade