While fans wait to see if How I Got Over, the much-delayed upcoming album from Philly hip-hoppers the Roots, actually comes out on June 8, here's something else for them to look forward to: the band have announced they're going to record a covers album. And the inspiration for the album came from a rather unlikely place: Montreal indie sensations Arcade Fire.
The covers album, which will be a collaboration between the Roots and R&B/hip-hop dude John Legend (who is also appearing on How I Got Over), will be titled Wake Up and will include protest songs from the '60s and '70s, including ditties previously recorded by Donnie Hathaway ("Little Ghetto Boy"), Roberta Flack, Marvin Gaye ("Wholy Holy") and Nina Simone, reports the Guardian.
So what do Arcade Fire have to do with all this? Well, the original plan was to cover that band's "Wake Up," but once the sessions got underway with Legend, other tunes got in the way. The album is going to keep the Arcade Fire-influenced title, although now it's become more of a nod to Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes' "Wake Up Everybody," which is also on the album.
Wake Up (also rumoured to be titled Wake Up Sessions) is due out in September.
We don't know if Arcade Fire should feel excited or bummed, but we know this: the interminable wait Roots fans have been suffering through is soon going to be well worth it.
The covers album, which will be a collaboration between the Roots and R&B/hip-hop dude John Legend (who is also appearing on How I Got Over), will be titled Wake Up and will include protest songs from the '60s and '70s, including ditties previously recorded by Donnie Hathaway ("Little Ghetto Boy"), Roberta Flack, Marvin Gaye ("Wholy Holy") and Nina Simone, reports the Guardian.
So what do Arcade Fire have to do with all this? Well, the original plan was to cover that band's "Wake Up," but once the sessions got underway with Legend, other tunes got in the way. The album is going to keep the Arcade Fire-influenced title, although now it's become more of a nod to Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes' "Wake Up Everybody," which is also on the album.
Wake Up (also rumoured to be titled Wake Up Sessions) is due out in September.
We don't know if Arcade Fire should feel excited or bummed, but we know this: the interminable wait Roots fans have been suffering through is soon going to be well worth it.
