Musically speaking, this type of project is fraught with danger. Whenever an album is put together in the service of a cause -- especially one as urgently important as a well-creation program in Malawi -- two things are almost inevitable: first, musical quality will take a back seat to the emotional appeal (because after all, what's musical quality when compared to a life-and-death struggle for water?), and second, at least half of the contributing artists will somehow end up singing mawkishly about themselves and their own global sensitivity (remember ?). manages to avoid both pitfalls by a couple of ingenious stratagems. The first is by being mostly a compilation of previously released material bound together by themes related to water and wells: thus, flutist contributes a recording of his original composition contributes a song called and bring the set from their album. The new recordings featured here avoid bathos by employing sly humor: team up on a roof-raising version of and the / collaboration (though much less energetic) is also cute -- though it must be said that 's voice has seen better days. 's rendition of the gorgeous song is perhaps the album's high point, though 's joyously swinging is a gem as well. Overall, this ends up being an album that is worthy on its own merits as well as being a worthy contribution to an important cause. ~ Rick Anderson