John-Michael Sun

If Michael Moore advertised for a backup singer, John-Michael Sun would get the job. Just as Moore uses writing to chastise the current administration for its bungling of foreign affairs, Sun uses polished guitar work and melodic lyrics in his title cut to underscore the travesties in Iraq: “Voices from the grave, saying loud and clear: Gotta stop Bush, gotta stop Bush.” Mostly music of the folk-activist ilk, the CD opens with a spoken-word prelude in which Sun recounts seeing on a TV newscast “A 3-year-old child, his tiny frame torched by allied bombing, lying screaming for relief you know will never come.” Code Red is a must-hear in these uneasy political times, when too few are ready to speak out against a U.S. president who has brought corruption to new lows. Sun emphasizes in his prelude that in November 2004 “We the people … will … make the right choice, the only choice.”