As far as charity benefits go, "Dark Was The Night" takes an approach diametrically opposed to that of "We Are The World." Instead of great musicians banding together for one cloying, repetitive song, the artists here band together for many uncloying, inspired, artistic, and beautiful songs. A swarm of the most well known and highly regarded mainstream indie-rock artists contribute 31 exclusive tracks to this compilation, making it hard to review without sounding like a press release.

Producers Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National have compiled a track list almost absurd in its adherence to name-recognizable musicians, often working in conjunction. Here are some brief highlights: electronic wizards the Books and acoustic songster Jose Gonzalez covering Nick Drake's lilting, magnificent "Cello Song"; the head-twisting acoustic guitar intervals of Bon Iver's fragile "Brackett, WI"; the woodwind interludes in The National's "So Far Around the Bend," arranged by classical crit-darling Nico Muhly; plus contributions from acts in followup-album purgatory like Arcade Fire and Sufjan Stevens.

The songs favor delicate, orchestrated and acoustic arrangements -- perhaps the gravity of the comp's purpose (the fight against HIV-AIDS) precludes any hard-rockers. But the opening tangled, buoyant rhythm of Dirty Projectors and David Byrne's "Knotty Pine" strikes an early crescendo that even 50 Bonos couldn't top.