The first track of any various-artists compilation bears a heavy burden, required to set the tone for what follows even though the performer had no role in crafting the remainder of the songs. Chris Coleslaw's "Sterling ILL" does this on Hello Quad Cities - Volume 2 with a verse that succinctly repeats a common complaint about the Midwest, and the Quad Cities: "So New York grows / Hollywood glows / Well here in the middle / Well they say it just snows."
Coleslaw's delivery over acoustic guitar is poignant without being doleful - matter of fact yet clearly felt.
The sequencing here is smart - implicitly framing the second limited-edition local compilation as a rebuttal to the argument that our community is a dull dead end and then backing it up with "Sterling ILL" and 11 other exclusive tracks. (Hello Quad Cities is available on colored vinyl only, but each copy comes with a digital-download code.) Last fall's Volume 1 was notable for its consistency, and the follow-up comes close to rivaling it.
The first thing to stress about Hello Quad Cities - Volume 1 is that as compilations go, it's strong from front to back and varied without feeling scattershot. The challenging format tends to result in well-intentioned hodgepodges of second-rate leftovers, but the tracks here - from 12 area bands - are all exclusive, and most were written specifically for the compilation. More importantly, while you might not find all of them to your liking, there isn't a weak link.
