Album Review: Various - Crucible - The Songs Of Hunters & Collectors

It is probably time for Hunnas to get such a reappraisal; a superlative live band, and Mark Seymour's songs – often illustrating the inarticulate angst of the Australian male – all a bit lost as they became best-known for an accidental footy anthem, and embraced by those blokes in wife-beaters who were probably being critiqued in the first place.

As ever, tribute albums remain a schizoid beast, some artists doing the testimonials by simply covering, while others seek to recast completely. In that latter category – and one of the major talking points – elements of the long-missing Avalanches taking to the early industrial funk of Talking To A Stranger, and cut-and-pasting their fingerprints all over it.

At the other extreme, Something For Kate's When The River Runs Dry and The Living End's Say Goodbye are perhaps too straight. While Husky's echoey Blind Eye, The Panics' surprising Alligator Engine and Abbe May's Dog, obviously in heat, are among some of the interesting sidetracks. Meantime, Oh Mercy appear to think Bob Dylan should have sung The Slab.

So to the most iconic (and problematic) of all – Throw Your Arms Around Me. Even its originators admit to never quite getting it right and Neil Finn has had repeated goes at it. Here, he offers a soundcheck version duet with Eddie Vedder's swallowed melodrama that again doesn't damage the hymn, but equally doesn't add much to it either.

Overall? Flawed, but mostly sincere.