January is usually a slow month. Slow for new releases and, accordingly, slow for overall sales. In 2006, January had a few artists that broke the 100,000 mark: Barry Manilow, Il Divo, Josh Turner and Andrew Bocelli.

As usual, the first few Tuesdays are free of big releases. (Capitol has a Roxette greatest hits comp. Koch counters with an album of Beatles covers by The Smithereens. Slow.). The last two Tuesdays in January, though, have some big names. Some are albums that could have easily been hits had they been released in the crowded fourth quarter of 2006.

At 7:30pm ET last night, Norah Jones' upcoming album, Not Too Late (pictured), was #1 at Amazon.com. That's great news for EMI, which is counting on Jones to bolster its first quarter. The Blue Note release will be in stores on January 30th. A video of a live performance of the new song "Rosie's Lullaby" can be viewed at the album's Amazon.com page.

The Shin's Wincing The Night Away is poised for a great first quarter and should be one of the better-selling independent titles. It was #6 at Amazon.com last night. The album will be released on January 23 by Sub Pop and will be distributed by Warner Music Group's ADA Distribution.

Another WMG artist, Manhattan Records' Celtic Women, will release A New Journey on January 30th. Unknown to most people who do not watch PBS, Celtic Women have big a big success in recent years.

Sony BMG has benefitted from the country's love of "American Idol." The show is responsible for some of the biggest albums of the last few years. Another Idol has an album coming, this time by Katharine McPhee. Her self-titled debut will be released by RCA on January 30th. Her MySpace page is streaming four new songs.

On January 23, Universal Republic -- part of Universal Music Group -- will release John Mellencamp's Freedom's Road. One of the ten tracks is "Our Country," which you've heard countless times as the theme song for a new Chevy television ad campaign.

Posted by Glenn at 12:27 PM | Link
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Halloween. Almost as good a release date as June 6, 2006...which too many metal bands missed out on. Tomorrow will see a pretty good crop of releases. Sony BMG, who could use a handful of hits in the second half of the year, is putting out Barry Manilow's The Greatest Songs of the Sixties (Arista) and Kevin Federline's Playing With Fire (Federline).

Market share leader Universal Music Group has the new Who album, Endless Wire (Republic) and Public Warning (Def Jam) Jay-Z's latest project, Lady Sovereign.

EMI, smarting from last week's accounting scandal and a suddenly lighter income statement, will release Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell III (Virgin).

Warner Music Group has The Deftones' Saturday Night Wrist (Maverick).

Oh, and NBA star Ron Artest releases his My World on his own Tru Warrier label (through Lightyear/WEA). Current Amazon.com rank: 49,032.

As for indies, TVT is releasing Pitbull's El Mariel, spinART is putting out Nellie McKay's double-album, Pretty Little Head (the album that lead to the dispute that eventually got her dropped from Columbia Records) and Ipecac has In The Absence of Truth, the new album by Isis.

See a list of tomorrow's releases at Pause & Play.

Posted by Glenn at 4:28 PM | Link
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Coolfer readers may notice that it's been a few weeks since I've posted a list of new releases. The post -- which was a weekly feature for a couple of years -- is also the most time-consuming post of any week. My busy schedule forbids spending so much time on that one list of new albums, and so a change is needed.

Next week and for the foreseeable future, the new release post will feature only some key releases. That's it -- until that intern arrives. In the meantime, check out posts at Idolator and Largehearted Boy.

Posted by Glenn at 1:52 PM | Link
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No list of this week's new releases today. I'm too short on time lately. As a substitute, here's Largehearted Boy's new release post and a preview of select titles from Gawker music blog Idolator.

Posted by Glenn at 8:12 PM | Link
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Here are tomorrow's new releases. For a comprehensive list, download an Excel spreadsheet.

• Aly & AJ: Acoustic Hearts of Winter (Hollwood)
• Tori Amos: A Piano: The Collection (Atlantic)
• Bobby Bare Jr: The Longest Meow (Bloodshot)
• Basement Jaxx: Crazy Radio Itch (XL)
• Tony Bennett: Duets: An American Classic (Columbia)
• The Black Crowes: The Lost Crowes (Rhino)
• Christiandaniel: Christiandaniel (Bad Boy)
• Enigma: A Posteriori (Virgin)
• Fear Factory: Best Of (Roadrunner)
• Jerry Garcia: The Very Best Of (Rhino)
• Amy Grant: Time Again: Live (Word)
• Emily Haines & Soft Skeleton: Knives Don't Have Your Back (Last Gang)
• Hedley: Hedley (Capitol)
• Honeycut: The Day I Turned To Glass (Quannum/TVT)
• Vanessa Hudgens: V (Hollywood)
• Jackass Number Two: Soundtrack (Bulletproof)
• Alan Jackson: Like Red On A Rose (Arista Nashville)
• Janet Jackson: 20 Y.O. (Virgin)
• Lemonheads: Lemonheads (Vagrant)
• Jerry Lee Lewis: A Half Century of Hits box set (Time Life)

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 11:03 AM | Link
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Another big release day tomorrow, but you probably already knew that. The beginning of the alphabet is well repreated: Aiken, Banks, Brickman, Chesney, Fergie. The middle of the alphabet looks good as well: Jet, The Killers, Krall, My Morning Jacket.

If you want the full list, download an Excel spreadsheet with a few thousand lines.

• Clay Aiken: A Thousand Different Ways (RCA)
• Tori Amos: A Piano (The Collection) (Atlantic)
• Lloyd Banks: Rotten Apple (G-Unit)
• Black Crowes: Freak N Roll Into The Fog (Eagle)
• Bone Thugs-N-Harmony: Thug Stories (Koch)
• Jim Brickman: Escape (Savoy)
• Solomon Burke: Nashville (Shout Factory)
• Celtic Women: A Christmas Celebration (Angel)
• Clark: Body Riddle (Warp)
• Kenny Chesney: Live Those Songs Again (Bna)
• Christiandaniel: Christiandaniel (Bad Boy)
• Guy Clark: Workbench Songs (Dualtone)
• Dead Can Dance: Wake (4AD)
• Delerium: Nuages Du Monde (Nettwerk)
• Depeche Mode: Touring The Angel - Live in Milan (Reprise)
• Dimmu Borgir: Godless Savage Garden (Nuclear Blast)
• DJ Shadow: Outsider (Universal)
• Darkel: Darkel (Astralwerks)
• Evanescence: The Open Door (Wind-Up)
• Fergie: Dutchess (Interscope)

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 4:05 PM | Link
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Tomorrow's new release schedule is as busy as any this year. There are new albums by Justin Timberlake, John Mayer, Bob Segar, Chingy, Lionel Richie, Papa Roach, The Mars Volta, Black Label Society, Big Tuck, Daz Dillinger and Elton John. If these albums can't generate a lot of foot traffic and an overall increase in album sales, nothing will.

Besides the obvious hits, many of tomorrow's releases show that A&R reps have been hard at work. DJ Shadow's Universal debut and Nonesuch debuts by The Black Keys and Shawn Colvin drop tomorrow. The Mooney Suzuki's V2 debut arrives as well. Madeleine Peyroux's second Rounder Records release arrives tomorrow. TV On The Radio's Interscope debut arrives amidst critical praise. The Plain White T's release their Hollywood Records debut.

Band to watch: Metal group Mastodon, formerly on Relapse, releases its Warner Bros debut.

Also available is an Excel spreadsheet with a comprehensive list of tomorrow's releases. Click here to download.

• Barenaked Ladies: Barenaked Are Me (Desperation)
• Basement Jaxx: Crazy Itch Radio (XL)
• Big Tuck: The Absolute Truth (Universal)
• Black Keys: Magic Potion (Nonesuch)
• Black Label Society: Shot To Hell (Roadrunner)
• Brazilian Girls: Talk To La Bomb (Verve Forecast)
• Richard Buckner: Meadow (Merge)
• Chingy: Hoodstar (Slot-A-Lot/Capitol)
• Citizen Cope: Every Waking Moment (RCA)
• Shawn Colvin: These Four Walls (Nonesuch)
• DJ Shadow: The Outsider (Island)
• Daz Dillinger: So So Gangsta (So So Def)
• Peter Frampton: Fingerprints (New Door)
• Grey's Anatomy 2 (Soundtrack) Hollywood
• Ima Robot: Monument to the Masses (Virgin)

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 11:40 AM | Link
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All you need to know here is Audioslave and Beyonce have a lot of starpower, and Alice in Chain's Essential Alice in Chains on Columbia is going to rekindle a lot of love for the band.

One album to note: Tony Joe White's Uncovered (Swamp Records) has guests appearances by Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Waylon Jennings, JJ Cale and Michael McDonald.

Download an Excel file of a far more complete list of this week's releases.

• Alice in Chains: The Essential Alice in Chains (Columbia)
• Audioslave: Revelations (Interscope)
• Beyonce: B'Day (Sony)
• Black Ice: The Death of Willie Lynch (Koch)
• The Black Maria: A Shared History in Tragedy (Victory)
• Blind Guardian: Twist the Myth (Nuclear Blast)
• Celly Cel: The Hillside Stranglaz (Real Talk/Koch)
• C-Murder: The Tru Story: Continued (Koch)
• Grizzly Bear: Yellow House (Warp)
• Hem: Funnel Cloud (Nettwerk)
• Iron Maiden: A Matter Of Life And Death (Sanctuary)
• Jars of Clay: Good Monsters (Essential)
• Kinky: Reina (Nettwerk)
• Los Amigos Invisibles: Superpop Venevuela (Gozadera)
• Mindfreak: Soundtrack (Koch)
• Throbbing Gristle: Part Two (Mute)
• Tony Joe White: Uncovered (Swamp)
• George Winston: Gulf Coast Blues & Impressions (RCA)

Posted by Glenn at 1:15 PM | Link
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Bob Dylan's Modern Times arrives on the heels of his comments about the last 20 years of recorded music. It's a top-seller at Amazon.com and is the one release most everybody's talking about this week. Reviews (read at metacritic) have been extremely positive.

Of course, everybody is also talking about Jessica Simpson's A Public Affair. Here we'll get probably get proof positive that Sony BMG's decision to sell a DRM-free MP3 of the first single will not harm first week sales (or second, or third, or fourth).

There are a few other releases that should be in contention for a great first week: Method Man's 4:21...the Day After, Best Thang Smokin' by T.I. protege Young Dro, Tego Calderon's The Underdog/El Subestimado and The Roots' Game Theory.

I've made an Excel spreadsheet of tomorrow's releases that you can download here. The information is available at the NARM website under New Releases and can be searched by a range of release dates and output to various file formats.

• Beach Boys: Pet Sounds 40th Anniversary (Capitol)
• Beenie Man: Undisputed (Virgin)
• Tego Calderon: The Underdog/El Subestimado (Atlantic)
• Black Crowes: Lost Crowes (Rhino)
• Chris Botti: Live: With Orchestra & Special Guests (Sony BMG)
• BT: This Binary Universe (Digital Sound)
• Crossfade: Falling Away (Sony)
• Paula DeAnda: Doing Too Much (Arista)
• Bob Dylan: Modern Times (Sony)
• Dream Theater: Score: 20th Anniversary World Tour Live with the Octavarium Orchestra (Rhino)
• Lupe Fiasco: Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor (Atlantic)
• Kenny Garret: Beyond the Wall (Nonesuch)
• The Grascals: Long List of Heartaches (Rounder)
• The Grates: Gravity Won't Get You High (Interscope)
• Gwar: Beyond Hell (DRT)
• Hatebreed: Supremacy (Universal)
• Ray LaMontagne: Till The Sun Turns Black (RCA)
• John Lithgow: The Sunny Side of the Street (Razor & Tie)
• The Lost Trailors: Welcome to the Woods (Republic)
• Method Man: 4:21...the Day After (Def Jam)
• Motorhead: Kiss of Death (Sanctuary)
• Old Crow Medicine Show: Big Iron World (Nettwerk)
• Stacie Orrico: Beautiful Awakening (Virgin)
• Over It: Step Outside Yourself (Virgin)
• R.E.M.: And I Feel Fine: Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 (Captiol)
• The Roots: Game Theory (Def Jam)
• Jessica Simpson: A Public Affair (Sony)
• Stefy: The Orange Album (Wind-Up)
• The Tyde: Three's Co (Rough Trade)
• Too Short: Blow the Whistle (Jive)
• The Summer Obsession: This Is Where You Belong (Virgin)
• Pete Yorn: Nightcrawler (Red Ink)
• Young Dro: Best Thang Smokin' (Atlantic)

Posted by Glenn at 10:45 AM | Link
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The question this week is this: Will the fact that OutKast's album is related to a movie result in sales less than if it were a standalone album? Soundtracks sell, but albums that aren't soundtracks sell better. Reviews have been pretty mild for Idlewild, the duo's first album since 2003's crossover smash Speakerboxx/The Love Below. Andy Kellman was lukewarm in his AllMusic.com review. The NY Times' review called it "more superficial than OutKast's older albums" and Billboard panned it. Rolling Stone gave it four stars, though, so somebody out there likes it.

The wildcard of the week is Paris Hilton's debut, Paris, on Warner Bros. Anybody who has a guess about this album's chances for success has just that: A guess.

Other key albums: The Mars Volta's Amputechture on Interscope, Danity Kane's self-titled Bad Boy album and Lambchop's Damaged on Merge.

• Against Me!: Americans Abroad (Fat Wreck)
• Eric Bachman: To The Races (Saddle Creek)
• Chris Botti: Live (Columbia)
• Broadcast: The Future Crayon (Warp)
• Clerks II: Soundtrack (Bulletproof)
• Cursive: Happy Hollow (Saddle Creek)
• Deicide: The Stench of Redemption (Earache)
• DJ Kayslay & DJ Greg Street: The Champions (KR Urban)
• Gosling: Here Is (V2)
• Gov't Mule: High and Mighty (Red Ink)

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 3:26 PM | Link
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Clay Aiken's A Thousands Different Ways (RCA) will be realeased on September 19th and it's already #5 (as of last night) on Amazon.com's top sellers list. One reason -- though probably not the main one -- is the $9.99 list price, marked down from a suggested list price of $18.99.

And check out Clay's new hair. A better picture can be seen at his official website.

Posted by Glenn at 2:33 PM | Link
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This week is all about Back to Basics, the new album by Christina Aguilera. She's in the upper echelon of not just female artists but all artists. It's been almost four years since her last album, though, and in pursuit of a more timeless feel Aguilera ditched producer Scott Storch for DJ Premiere and celebrity freelancer Linda Perry. AllMusic.com's Stephen Thomas Erlewine approved of the change, giving Back to Basics four and a half stars and calling it a “sprawling, deliriously entertaining” double album.

Obie Trice's new album, Second Round's On Me, is being released on Shady/Interscope. It's been almost three years since his last album, Cheers, was released. It has sold over 900,000 to date.

Trace Adkins' last album, Songs About Me, has sold over 1.5 million since coming out in March of 2005. It had about 63,000 sales in the first week. A similar first week this time around would put it somewhere in the Top 10.

Adkins album is just one of many Capitol albums being released this week – there are others by girl group Cherish, The Panic Channel (featuring members of Jane's Addiction not named Perry or Eric) and a live Bonnie Raitt CD/DVD.

Atlantic has Ghetto Story by dancehall artist Cham. Alicia Keys and Akon make guest appearances.

• Trace Adkins: Dangerous Man (Capitol)
• Christina Aguilera: Back to Basics (RCA)
• Patricia Barber: Mythologies (Blue Note) Website
• Willie Bobo: Lost and Found (Concord)
• Cheetah Girls 2: Soundtrack (Disney)
• Rory Block: The Lady and Mr. Johnson (Rykodisc)
• Cherish: Unappreciated (Capitol)
• Cham: Ghetto Story (Atlantic) Website
• Damnwells: Air Stereo (Zoe) MySpace
• Phillip Glass: Music from The Illusionist (Rykodisc)
• Hot Snakes: Thunder Down Under (Swami)
• Joanna: This Crazy Life (A&M) Website
• Lyfe Jennings: The Phoenix (Columbia/Sony Urban)
• The Monkees: The Monkees deluxe edition (Rhino)
• Eliot Morris: (Universal)
• Maria Muldour: Heart of Mine: Love Songs of Bob Dylan (Telarc)
• Leigh Nash: Blue on Blue (Nettwerk) Website
• Obie Trice: Second Round's On Me (Shady) Website
• The Panic Channel: (On)e (Capitol)
• Petra: The Early Years (Starsong)
• Bonnie Raitt: Bonnie Raitt and Friends (Capitol) CD/DVD package. Features Norah Jones, Ben Harper, Keb'Mo', others.
• Snakes On A Plane: Soundtrack (New Line)
• Kinnie Starr: Anything (Fontana) Website
• Sublime: Sublime deluxe edition (Geffen) 38 tracks over two CDs.
• Tum-Tum: Tum Thousand and Six (Universal) Features Paul Wall, Big Tuck, Don Dada, Slim Thug.
• Various: Girl Next (Hollywood)
• West Indian Girl: Remix EP (Astralwerks) Remixes by Richard Fearless, Gabin, King Britt, Mercir and Mark Sgarbossa.
• Yanni: The Concert Live (Image)

Posted by Glenn at 12:33 PM | Link
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At the recent NARM conference, one topic of discussion was the meager album sales over the last three months. Let's be honest: There just hasn't been a whole lot out there. Cynics will say consolidation has pruned artist rosters and A&R staffs too much. Optimists will say it's just how the release schedule has worked out this year.

This week has some nice new releases, and with summer almost over the release schedule really picks up from here. Cassie's self-titled album on Bad Boy should be a top album of the week, and Ani DiFranco's Reprieve should have a strong showing as well. Breaking Benjamin's Phobia is due for a at least a healthy first few weeks. Though some reviews have been mild, Rick Ross has been warming up for months and should come out of the gate fast with his Def Jam album Port of Miami.

Metal legends Slayer are back with Christ Illusion, and Rhino is putting out the 19-track The Best of the Doors, now remastered for the first time since 1991 (which is hundreds of years in remaster years).

• Aberdeen City: The Freezing Atlantic (Red Int) Reissue. Originally released by Dovecote.
• Ally & AJ: Into the Rush (Hollywood)
• As Tall As Lions: As Tall As Lions (Triple Crown)
• Tab Benoit: Best of the Bayou Blues (Vanguard)
• Breaking Benjamin: Phobia (Hollywood)
• Greg Brown: The Evening Call (Red House)
• Cassie: Cassie (Bad Boy)
• Comets on Fire: Avatar (Sub Pop)
• The Delgados: The Complete BBC Sessions (Chemikal Underground)
• Ani DiFranco: Reprieve (Righteous Babe)
• Dirty Pretty Things: Waterloo to Anywhere (Interscope)
• Deryl Dodd: Full Circle (Dualtone)
• The Doors: The Best of the Doors (Rhino)
• Bernard Fanning: Tea & Symphony (Lost Highway)
• Fourplay: X (Blubird)
• Gin Blossoms: Major Lodge Victory (Hybrid)
• Nina Gordon: Bleeding Heart Graffiti (Warner Bros)
• Heartless Bastards: All This Time (Fat Possum)
• Hellogoodbye: Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! (Drive Thru)
• Hootie & The Blowfish: Live in Charleston (Sneaky Long)
• Jonas Brothers: It's About Time (Sony)
• Kaki King: Until We Felt Red (Velour)
• The Last Kiss: Soundtrack (Lakeshore)
• Left Alone: Dead American Radio (Hellcat)
• Living Legends: Legendary Music (Legendary Music)
• Miss Kittin: A Bugged Out Mix (System)
• Oh No: Exodus Into Unheard Rhythms (Stones Throw)
• Public Enemy: Bring That Beat Back (Koch) Remix album
• Rick Ross: Port of Miami (Def Jam)
• The Sadies: In Concert, Vol. 1 (Yep Roc)
• Selah: Bless the Broken Road: The Duets Album (Curb)
• Sigur Ros: Saeglopur EP (Filter U.S.)
• Slayer: Christ Illusion (Warner Bros)
• Snakes on a Plane: Soundtrack (New Line)
• Todd Snyder: The Devil You Know (New Door)
• Step Up: Soundtrack (Jive)
• Under the Influence of Giants: Under the Influence of Giants (Island)
• World Trade Center: Soundtrack (Sony)

Posted by Glenn at 10:37 AM | Link
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DMX's last album, Grand Champ, sold over 310,000 its first week and has ended up at 1.17 million. Year of the Dog...Again comes as the rapper has been on tour and all over the press (most recently for missing a court date), and drops just as his six-episode reality series debuted on BET.

You laugh, but every Kidz Bop title does tremendously well. Volume 9 has scanned over 350,000.

If The Decemberists don't work out for Capital, at least they've got the The Best of Poison: 20 Years of Rock out tomorrow. And yes, it has a cover of Grand Funk Railroad's "We're An American Band," and luckily Look What The Cat Dragged In is wel represented.

• The Ant Bully: Soundtrack (Verese Saraband)
• DMX: Year of the Dog...Again (Sony Urban)
• Doodlebops: Rock and Bop (Disney)
• Five for Fighting: Two Lights (Sony)
• G Love: Lemonade (Brushfire)
• Nina Gordan: Bleeding Heart Graffiti (Warner Bros)
• Hall & Oates: The Philadelphia Years: The Definitive Collection of Their Philly Roots (Varese)
• Kill Hannah: Unitl There's Nothing Left of Us (Atlantic)
• Glenn Hughs: Music for the Devine (Frontiers)
• John McLaughlin: Industrial Zen (Verve)
• My Super Ex-Girlfriend: Soundtrack (Lakeshore)
• Ollabelle: Riverside Battle Songs (Verve)
• Jeanne Ortega: No Place Like Bklyn (Hollywood)
• Kelly Joe Phelps: Tunesmith Retrofit (Rounder)
• The Pink Spiders: Teenage Grafiti (Geffen)
• Poison: Look What The Cat Dragged In: 20th Annivesary Edition (Capitol)
• Powerman 5000: Destroy What You Enjoy (DRT)
• Ricky Skaggs: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder Instrumentals (Skaggs Family)
• Los Tigres Del Norte: La Banda del Carro Rojo (Fonovisa)
• Towers of London: Blood Sweat and Towers (TVT)
• Derek Sherinan: Blood of the Snake (Inside Out)
• Stone Sour: Come What(ever) May (Roadrunner)
• Showbread: Age of Reptiles (Tooth & Nail)
• Various: Kidz Bop 10 (Razor & Tie)
• John Waite: Downtown Journey of a Heart (Frontiers)

Posted by Glenn at 11:11 AM | Link
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Album sales are down about 5% so far this year, and the summer has been typically slow. The release schedule will definitely improve in the coming months (as it always does). July 25th has some big releases, and August 22nd and September 12th should be as good as any release dates before them.

Based on the list below, Coolfer has ranked the strength of schedule for each major. (The list is not complete and has the most current information I could get.) Some albums are by established artists that are almost sure to be hits. Many are by legacy artists who will top out at or around gold. And there are a lot of wild cards, those developing acts that may or may not turn the corner and reach gold or platinum. It's hard to say who will make it...so few do.

Strength of schedules, going from strongest to weakest, not surprisingly follow market share: Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, EMI and Warner Music Group.

Given its smaller market share, Sony BMG's hit-rich schedule could be good enough to add to its 24% album market share at the expense of UMG's 31% share. EMI's schedule looks as strong as its 9% album share, but a lot is riding on Janet Jackson, whether Coldplay remains on this year's release schedule and its ability to develop to artists. WMG has some very promising titles that could help it surpass its 16% share but lacks the sure-thing blockbusters that fill UMG and Sony BMG's schedule. The company is good, though, at scoring left-field hits.

Universal Music Group's release schedule, based on this list, is the strongest. It has releases by The Killers, Audioslave, Ludacris, Jurassic 5, The The Who, Mars Volta, Thicke, Rick Ross, Beyonce, Fergie (of Black Eyed Peas), George Strait, Breaking Benjamin, Elton John, Obie Trice, Diana Krall, Indigo Girls, Jonny Lang, New Found Glory, Redman, Natalie Cole, Papa Roach, Akon, Scissor Sisters, N.O.R.E., Lionel Richie, Kelis, Hatebreed, Tamar Davis, Jesse McCartney, LL Cool J and The Roots.

Wild cards: The Pink Spiders, The Grates, Big Tuck, TV on the Radio, Sparta, The Rapture, Platinum Weird, Lady Sovereign.

Sony BMG also looks very good: OutKast, DMX, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Rod Stewart, Maroon 5, Fantasia, Christina Aguilera, John Mayer, Taylor Hicks, Clay Aiken, Il Divo, Kenny Chesney, Monica, Jessica Simpson, Five For Fighting, Ruben Studdard, Evancescence, Frankie J, Audioslave, Omarion, Ray LaMontagne, Barry Manilow, Carly Simon, Lyfe Jennings, Dave Matthews Band, Ciara, Sarah McLachlan, Crossfade, Chris Botti, Pete Yorn, Coheed and Cambria, The Strokes, Gin Blossoms, Cassidy, and Katherine McPhee.

Wildcards: Lamb of God, Citizen Cope, Mario Vasquez, Ben Kweller.

Warner Music Group has some potential hits, some fading artists and some legacy artists who are former chart toppers: Cassie, Paris Hilton, The Doors, Slayer, Mana, Yusaf Islam, Diddy, Jet, Young Dro, Trick Daddy, Paul Wall, The Deftones, Dream Theater, Scarface & Tupac, Wynonna, Shawn Colvin and 8Ball & MJG.

Wildcards: Nina Gordon, Mastodon, Kill Hannah, Danity Kane, Sugarcult, Bun B, Cham, Kasey Chambers.

EMI's schedule has some hits and a few titles with an outside shot at breaking out: Janet Jackson, Coldplay, Beenie Man, Meatloaf, Chingy, Daz Dillinger, R.E.M. (IRS years compilation), Bob Seger, Trace Adkins, Bonnie Raitt, Daz Dillinger, Enigma, Celtic Women and Lenny Kravitz.

Wildcards: The Panic Channel (members of Jane's Addiction), The Kooks, Sean Lennon, The Decemberists, The Summer Obession, Stacie Orrico, Over It.

Indie labels have strong releases and should have a great summer and fall, most noteably Ani DiFranco, Michael Franti, Pitbull, Basement Jaxx, Bright Eyes and Yo La Tengo. Lil' Jon should have an album out in September but no street date has been announced.

Here's the entire list of upcoming releases, sorted by street date.

Continue reading "Ranking The Upcoming Releases" »

Posted by Glenn at 2:49 PM | Link
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There's a wealth of new releases this week that spans genres and tastes.

Album of the week? Could be Pharrel's In My Mind be the big album of the week. The Interscope release has big guests (Gwen Stefani, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Kanye West) but Pharrel himself hasn't had a true blockbuster yet – not N.E.R.D. nor Neptunes have yet hit the platinum mark.

It's been almost four years since Jurassic 5's previous album, Power in Numbers, came out. It has sold 381,000 to date, a bit lower than 2000's Quality Control (which has done 495,000). Now their album Feedback comes out on Interscope. Best Buy has it sale priced at $6.99.

Tom Petty's third solo album, Highway Companion, was produced by fellow Traveling Wilbury Jeff Lynne and is sure to be a solid seller.

Soundtracks can be big business. This week's top soundtrack is Miami Vice, a remake of the pastel-colored '80s TV show that stars Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx. The soundtrack itself stars Goldfrapp, India.Arie, Mogwai, Moby and Nonpoint covering the Phil Collins' “In The Air Tonight.”

Island's much hyped (but not very impressive) Boy Kill Boy has been prepped as the next in a line of Killers-styled, radio-friendly post-punk. A Circuit City sale price of $5.99 will help shift a few units.

In the indie world, the reissue of Spoon's Telephono, with the Soft Effects EP, is a memorable event. The blog world has been abuzz about Midlake. The band's The Trials of Van Occupanther, out on Bella Union, will let us know once and for all the dollar value in achieving popularity with a handful of influential MP3 blogs.

• Boy Kill Boy: Civilian (Island)
• Randall Bramblett: Rich Someday (New West)
• Code Red: All Aboard (Universal Republic)
• Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man: Soundtrack (Verve Forecast)
• Dead Prez & Outlawz: Can't Sell Dope Forever (Affluent)
• John Doe: For the Best of Us (Yep Roc)
• Gran Bel Fisher: Full Moon Cigarette(Hollywood)
• Flogging Molly: Whiskey on a Sunday (Side One Dummy)
• Michael Franti and Spearhead: Yell Fire! (Anti)
• Freako: Mac Dre Presents Ghetto Star (Koch)
• Gaelic Storm: Bring Yer Wellies (Megaforce)
• Adam Green: Jacket Full of Danger (Rough Trade)
• Gym Class Heroes: As Cruel As School Children (Fueled by Ramen/Atlantic)
• Paul Hardcastle: Jazzmasters 5 (V2)
• Sammy Hagar: Livin' It Up! (Rhino)
• Inspectah Deck: Resident Patient (Traffic/Urban Icon)
• Glenn Jones: Forever: Timeless R&B Classics (Shanacie)
• Jurassic 5: Feedback (Interscope)

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 2:10 PM | Link
|Previews|

This looks like a good all-around week for new releases. The dog days of summer could use something, too.

Los Lonely Boys return with Sacred, the follow-up to their 2004 self-titled breakthrough. It currently has #11 ranking at Amazon.com and #12 at Barnes&Noble.com, sites that are frequented by the consumers that make up the band's core audience. They won a Grammy after all, so you know the older audience is there.

One of the key releases this week is by up-and-coming emo/screamo/metal band The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, who have been embraced by TV and radio well ahead of the release of their debut album, Don't You Fake It, on Virgin Records. They're a band to watch, and with a fairly new organizational chart at Virgin this offers a good test of their mettle.

Even louder but less Fuse-friendly is The Bronx, who are putting out their second album though Island. Their first album came out on Ferret in 2002.

• Alien Ant Farm: Up in the Attic (New Door)
• Rodney Atkins: If You're Going Through Hell (Curb)
• Scott Biram: Graveyard Shift (Bloodshot)
• Black Stone Cherry: Black Stone Cherry (Roadrunner)
• Boot Camp Clik: Last Stand (Duck Down)
• The Bronx: The Bronx (Island)
• Casavettes: Funny Story (Headphone Treats)
• Eric Church: Sinners Like Me (Capitol)
• Bruce Cockburn: Life Short Call Now (Rounder)
• Billy Ray Cyrus: Wanna Be Your Joe (New Door)
• Heather Duby: Heather Duby (Sonic Boom)
• Eighteen Visions: Eighteen Visions (Sony)
• French Kicks: Two Thousand (Vagrant)
• Feist: Open Season (Cherry Tree/Interscope)
• Neil Gaiman: Where's Neil When You Need Him? (Dancing Ferret)
• Lisa Germano: In The Maybe World (Young God)
• Golden Smog: Another Fine Day (Lost Highway)
• Helmet: Monochrome (Warcon)
• John Tucker Must Die: Soundtrack (Wind-Up)
• Lady in the Water: Soundtrack (Decca)
• Los Lonely Boys: Sacred (Or)
• Steve Miller: Fly Like An Eagle: 30th Anniversary (Capitol)
• The Minders: Bright Guilty World (Future Farmer)
• MSTRKRFT: The Looks (Last Gang)
• Ojos de Brujo: Techari (Diquela)
• Ozric Tentacles: Floor's Too Far Away (Magna Carta)
• John Pizzarelli: Dear Mr. Sinatra (Telarc)
• Pslam One: The Death of the Frequent Flyer (Rhymesayers)
• Sinking Ships: Disconnecting (Revelation)
• Skye: Mind How You Go (Cordless)
• Third Eye Blind: Greatest Hits (Rhino)
• The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus: Don't You Fake It (Virgin)
• Mike Vallely: Alone (Mike V Inc)
• The Working Title: About Face (Universal)

Posted by Glenn at 1:46 PM | Link
|Previews|

After a rather bland week, probably the slowest for new releases since January, this week's releases are something to talk about. The Eraser, the debut solo album by Thom Yorke, singer for Radiohead, is out Tuesday on XL Recordings. Early reports were favorable but not worthy of handstands. (Pitchfork gave it a 6.6 today, which is low enough to prevent a stampede to the stores but not low enough to kill hipster interest.) Sales should be strong on just name recognition, and ADA and Warner Music Group could have another indie rock hit on their hands. On the other end of the critical credibility spectrum, NOW 22 is going to sell truckloads of albums this week.

Rhymefest's Blue Collar, on J Records, is this week's hip hop album to watch. The legendary Cut Chemist has a solo album out on Warner Bros.

Soul Asylum's brand new album, The Silver Lining, is out through Sony Legacy this week. It's been a pretty quiet release thus far. Just a bit of promotion. Where is this one going? Probably not as much as Muse or Seether will have going on with their new albums.

Since the list below is usually just for new releases, I'll mention here that the Jesus and Mary Chain DualDisc reissues are out this week. Those albums were out of print for years and only available as imports.

• Adored: A New Language (V2)
• All That Remains: The Fall of Ideals (Razor & Tie)
• Aloe Blacc: Shine Through (Stones Throw)
• Marc Anthony: The Hits (Sony International)
• Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys: Turntable Matinee (Yep Roc)
• Bizzy Bone: The Midwest Cowboy (Real Talk)
• Ferry Corsten: L.E.F. (Ultra)
• Cut Chemist: The Audience's Listening (Warner Bros)
• Dead to Me: Cuban Ballerina (Fat Wreck)
• The Devil Wears Prada: Soundtrack (Warner Bros)
• Louis DeVito: Louis DeVito's Dance Factory Level 4 (Dee Vee Music)
• Steve Earle: Live at Montreux, 2005 (Eagle)
• Evil 9: Frabiclive.28 (Fabric)
• The Format: Dog Problems (Nettwerk)
• Aretha Franklin: Live at Fillmore West (Rhino)
• Greg Graffin: Cold as the Clay (Anti)
• Anke Helfrich Trio featuring Roy Hargrove: Better Times Ahead (Double Moon)
• The Hylozoists: La Fin du Monde (Boompa)
• Freedy Johnston: Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop (Shout Factory)
• Kaada: Music for Moviebikers (Ipecac)
• Cheyenne Kimball: The Day Has Come (Sony)
• Chris Knight: Enough Rope (Emergent)
• Greg Laswell: Through Toledo (Vanguard)
• Living End: State of Emergency (Adeline)
• The Lordz: The Brooklyn Way (Perfect Game)
• Muse: Black Holes and Revelations (Warner Bros)
• Oneida: Happy New Year (Jagjaguwar)
• Peaches: Impeach My Bush (XL)
• Phish: Live in Brooklyn (Rhino)
• Pimp C: Pimpalation (Rap-A-Lot)
• Plaid: Greed Baby (Warp)
• Raekwon: The DaVinci Code: The Vatican Mixtape V2 (Ice Water Music)
• Ramblin' Jack Elliot: I Stand Alone (Anti)
• Rhymefest: Blue Collar (J)
• Seether: One Cold Night (Wind-Up)
• The Shys: Astoria (Sire)
• Ska Cubano: Ay Caramba! (Cumbancha)
• Some Girls: Crushing Love (Koch)
• Soul Asylum: The Silver Lining (Sony Legacy)
• Strapping Young Lad: The New Black (Century Media)
• Sufjan Stevens: The Avalanche: Outtakes & Extras from Illinois Album (Asthmatic Kitty)
• Stiborg: Darkness/Isles de Morts (Southern Lord)
• Various: New World Brazil (System)
• Various: NOW 22 (Sony)
• Various: The Pilgrim: A Celebration of Kris Kristofferson (Emergent)
• Various: Worship Jamz 2 (Razor & Tie)
• Thom Yorke: The Eraser (XL)
• Butch Walker: Rise & Fall of Butch Walker & Let's-Go-Out-Tonites (Red Ink)

Posted by Glenn at 12:55 PM | Link
|Previews|

Holiday weekends are slow for album sales. People are out of town, busy wtih friends and relatives, and labels don't schedule a whole lot to come out when a street date falls on the Fourth of July. You know it's a slow release week when Peter Gammons (yes, as in sports commentator Peter Gammons) has one of the top-selling July 4th albums at Amazon.com and the top album of the week is by a dead guy. But Johnny Cash is practically as hot as ever and people are eagerly awaiting the last installment of his Rick Rubin sessions, American V: A Hundred Highways. (The vocals were recorded before Cash's death while the arrangements were recorded years later.)

There are a few albums that will have a pulse. Rise Against's album on Geffen should have a life this week, and the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest soundtrack may do something. The movie's score was done by the one and only Hans Zimmer.

Artist to watch: Good things have been said about the new album by Alice Peacock, being released by Universal/Republic.

Next week will be a big week. There's Now 22, Thom Yorke's The Eraser, Muse's Black Holes and Revelations, Sufjan Steven's The Avalance: Outtakes & Extras from Illinois Album and the soundtrack to The Devil Wears Prada.

• Banco de Gaia: Farewell Ferenqistan (Six Degrees)
• Johnny Cash: American V: A Hundred Highways (Lost Highway)
• Peter Gammons: Never Slow Down, Never Grow Old (Rounder)
• Hi-Lo's: Musical Threats (Jasmine)
• Delbert McClinton: The Definitive Collection (Hip-O)
• Alice Peacock: Who I Am (Universal/Republic)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Disney)
• Rise Against: The Sufferer and the Witness (Geffen)
• Ryuichi Sakamoto: Bricolages (Kab America)
• Various: Summer Beach Party (Varese Sarabande)
• Various: Best of Miami Vice (Hip-O)
• Wiggle: Fabric 28 (Fabric)

Posted by Glenn at 5:59 PM | Link
|Previews|

Not a ton of big releases this week, but there's a little bit of everything.

India.Arie's Testimony: Vol. 1: Life & Relationship on Motown is going to have a good week. She is appearing on he “Tonight Show” the night before release, has an appearance on the BET Awards on street date, and will be on “Regis and Kelly” on Thursday.

Dashboard Confessional's Dusk and Summer is sure to have a big week, judging from the promotional blitz and knowing that the band has a dedicated following.

Hip hop fans have a few albums: a Death Row greatest hits comp, a new album by Tha Dogg Pound, an album by Kurupt under the name Young Gotti, and a new Stones Throw artist, Roc C.

There are a few releases for the collectors out there. Jazz lovers will take a look at the two-CD The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings, a collection of songs by Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane. For country fans there is Hank Williams Jr's That's How They Do It In Dixie – The Essential Collection being released by Curb.

• 7L and Esoteric: A New Dope (Babygrande)
• An Albatross: Blassphemy (Ace Fu)
• India.Arie: Testimony: Vol. 1: Life & Relationship (Motown)
• Balun: Something Comes Our Way (Brilliante)
• David Benoit: Full Circle (Peak)
• Billy Talent: II (Atlantic)
• Bjork: Surrounded box set (Rhino)
• Hector Buitrago: Connector (Nacional)
• Brand New Heavies: Get Used To It (Delicious Vinyl)
• Ray Cash: Cash On Delivery (Sony Urban/Columbia)
• Catch Twenty Two: Permanent Revolution (Victory)
• Cephas and Wiggins: Shoulder To Shoulder (Alligator)
• The City Drive: Always Moving Never Stopping (Red Int)
• The Coral Sea: Volcano and Heart (Hidden Agenda)
• Dashboard Confessionanl: Dusk and Summer (Vagrant)
• Matthew Dear: Fabric 27 (Fabric)
• John Digweed: Transitions (Thrive)
• Dirty On Purpose: Hallelujah Sirens (North Street)
• DJ Spinna: Intergalactic Soul (Shanachie)
• Dr Dre: Death Row's Greatest Hits: The Chronicles (Death Row)
• Four Tet: DJ Kicks (K7)
• Francious K: Frequencies (Wave Tec)
• Michael Franks: Rendezvous in Rio (Koch
• Good Riddance: My Republic (Fat Wreck)
• Ray Wylie Hubbard: Snake Farm (Sustain)
• Isan: Plans Drawn In Pencil (Morr)
• Kool Keith: Collabs Tape (Corner Shop)
• Kurupt/Young Gotti: Same Day, Different Sh*t (Dog Pound Gangstaz)
• Jeff Lang: Prepare Me Well (Telarc)
• Lostprophets: Liberation Tranmission (Columbia)
• Metal Church: A Light In The Dark (Steamhammer)
• Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane: The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings (Riverside)
• Tim O'Reagan: Tim O'Reagan (Lost Highway)
• Pet Shop Boys: Fundamental (Rhino)
• Grant Lee Phillips: Nineteeneighties (Zoe)
• Riverside: Voices In My Head (Inside Out)
• Roc C: All Questions Answered (Stones Throw)
• Julie Roberts: Men & Mascara (Mercury Nashville)
• Shawna: Black Music (Def Jam)
• Sizzla: Waterhouse Redemption (Greensleeves)
• Slightly Stoopid: Winter Tour '05-'06 (Shout Factory)
• Superman Returns: Soundtrack (Rhino)
• Takeovers: Turn to Red (Luna)
• Tarzan – The Broadway Musical: Original Cast Recording (Disney)
• Tha Dogg Pound: Cali Iz Active (Koch)
• Various: Afterdark: Los Angeles (Kinkysweet)
• Various: Rough Guide to the Music of Iran (World Music Network)
• Various: US Vs. UK Punk (Sanctuary)
• Wayman Tisdale: Way Up! (Rendezvous)
• Various: El Hector el Bambino Presenta: Rompe Discotekas (Def Jam)
• Peter White: Playin' Favourites (Sony)
• Hank Williams Jr.: That's What They Do It In Dixie – The Essential Collection (Curb)

Posted by Glenn at 11:35 AM | Link
|Previews|

It's a busy week for both Rhino and the Interscope/Geffen group of labels. Interscope has the new Keane album and Geffen has Nelly Furtado's third album, Loose, which will be greatly helped by her hit single “Promiscuous,” as well as the latest album by Field Mob. Furtado should have a huge first week. Counting Crows have a live album coming out on Geffen that probably won't sell as much as Furtado's album.

Rhino has box sets from Gram Parsons and Willy Nelson, plus best of compilations from Old '97s, Paula Cole, Marc Cohn, The Rembrandts and Luna.

Capitol is releasing Corinne Bailey Rae's self-titled debut. It's been a big hit in her native England, and it looks to be setting up nicely here in the States. Press has been abundant and she's getting media exposure in both pop and urban worlds.

Lastly, Pearl Jam is quietly releasing a seven-song EP on J Records. It was recorded at Seattle's Easy Street Records and has three unreleased songs.

• 5ive: Versus EP (Tortuga)
• Agent Sparks: Red Rover (Immortal)
• Battlestar Galactica: Season 2: Soundtrack (La La Land)
• Frank Black: Fast Man Raider Man (Back Porch)
• Blackpool Lights: This Town's Disaster (Curb Appeal)
• Brightblack Morning Light: Brightblack Morning Light (Matador)
• Marc Cohn: Greatest Hits (Rhino)
• Paula Cole: Greatest Hits (Rhino)
• Counting Crows: New Amsterdam: Live at the Heineken Music Hall February 6, 2003 (Geffen)
• Cute Is What We Aim For: The Same Old Blood Rush With A New Touch (Fueled By Ramen)
• Kenny Dope: Choice: A Collection of Classics (Azuli)
• Dragonforce: Inhuman Rampage (Roadrunner)
• The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift: Soundtrack (Motown)
• Fatboy Slim: The Greatest Hits: Why Try Harder (Astralwerks)
• Field Mob: Light Poles and Pine Trees (Geffen)
• Front Line Assemby: Artificial Soldier (Metropolis)
• Nelly Furtado: Loose (Geffen)
• Gram Parsons: The Complete Reprise Sessions box set (Rhino)
• Guster: Ganging Up On The Sun (Reprise)
• Donell Jones: Journey of a Gemini (LaFace)
• Keane: Under the Iron Sea (Interscope)
• Salif Keita: M'Bemba (Decca)
• Luna: The Best of Luna (Rhino)
• Patricia Manterola: A Mis Reinas (WEA Latina)
• Willie Nelson: The Complete Atlantic Sessions (Rhino)
• Nickodemus & Mariano: Turntables on the Hudson Six Remix (Wonderwheel)
• Old '97s: The Best of Old '97s (Rhino)
• Pearl Jam: Live on Easy Street (J)
• Corinne Bailey Rae: Corrine Bailey Rae (Capitol)
• The Rembrandts: Greatest Hits (Rhino)
• Senor Coconut: Yellow Fever (Essay Recordings)
• Smokey Robinson: Timeless Love (New Door)
• Diana Ross: Blue (Motown)
• Submarines: Declare A New State (Nettwerk)
• Underoath: Define the Great Line (Tooth & Nail)
• Walter Trout: Full Circle (Ruf)
• Various: Radio Thailand: Transmissions from the Tropical Kingdom (Sublime Frequencies)
• The Vows: The Vows EP (Indecision)
• Stewart Walker: Persona's Progress (Persona)
• Matthew West: Sellout (Universal South)

Posted by Glenn at 11:05 AM | Link
|Previews|

There should be a couple of of albums landing high in the Top 10 of the album chart next week, giving Dixie Chicks and High School Musical a bit of competition, and AFI if it doesn't fade too much in its second week. Busta Rhymes has an album out on Dr Dre's Aftermath titled The Big Bang. Frankie J's Un Nuevo Dia will be released by Columbia. The Waist Deep soundtrack on Def Jam is a wild card. Soundtracks can be a tough sell.

The week's releases are really about established and past stars, and some critics' favorites. Billy Joel's 12 Gardens Live is a two-CD set that should do pretty well. Allison Moorer and Keb' Mo' remind us that it's not all about teenage pop stars. Joan Jett has a new album, has been on tour and has been getting a lot of press because of it. Should be interesting to see how that does.

Critics darlings: The Replacements recorded two new songs for its Rhino greatest hits comp, Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? Sonic Youth's Rather Ripped has been getting great reviews and will probably make it into scores of year-ending top tens...and it will probably struggle to top 100,000 within three years. Rapper Mr Lif finally returns with a solo album, Mo'Mega. (the last we saw of him was the backpacker super group The Perceptionsists). And the Futureheads return with their sophomore album, News and Tributes on Vagrant.

It's not included on the list because it's a single, but Coolfer will mention “Do I Make You Proud”/”Takin' It To The Streets” by “American Idol” winner Taylor Hicks.

• Between the Buried and Me: The Anatomy Of (Victory)
• Sam Bush: Laps In Seven (Sugar Hill)
• Busta Rhymes: The Big Bang (Aftermath)
• Couch: Figure 5 (Morr)
• Dabrye: Two/Three (Ghostly International)
• Elan: Together As One (Interscope)
• Final Fantasy: He Poos Clouds (Tomlab)
• Pedro Luis Ferrer: Natural (Escondida)
• Frankie J: Un Nuevo Dia (Columbia)
• The Futureheads: News and Tributes (Vagrant)
• Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band: The Phat Pack (Immergent)
• Hot Chip: The Warning (Astralwerks)

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 11:55 AM | Link
|Previews|

The 6/6/6 release date is here, and though it's not a metal- or goth-heavy release date it's an improvement over previous weeks.

AFI, already with solid M2 support, is going to be hard to beat with decemberunderground. The group's last album was released over three years ago and has sold just over one million copies. With the band on tour pretty much all summer, expect sales to be strong and steady. Here's a hint as to how anticipated this album is: the new song "Miss Murder" has been streamed over 2.1 million times at the band's MySpace page.

Ice Cube is releasing his latest, Laugh Now, Cry Later, though his own Lench Mob imprint. Before you think it's some kind of rinky dink operation, check out that the title's advertised on sale at the mass merchants for less than $10. Clear Channel's website has been offering a stream of the new album since last week. One more thing: Cube did a Cornerstone mixtape, which is a pretty hip promotional tool for an old (not that he's old, but in rap years) guy like that.

Zero 7 is back with a new album, The Garden, and it's sure to be aided by the fact that rising underground star Jose Gonzalez guests on a couple of tracks.

Look for a couple of comedy albums to be the dark horse releases of the week. Sarah Silverman's Jesus Is Magic is being released by powerhouse Interscope. It's the soundtrack to a movie adaption of Silverman's stage routine. Also out is the Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One for the Road, which has Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Ron White and Larry the Cable Guy. People were caught off guard with the success of Larry the Cable Guy's release last year. Moral of the story: Rednecks sell.

• AFI: decemberunderground (Interscope)
• Amps for Christ: Every Eleven Seconds (5 Rue Christine)
• Bardo Pond: Ticket Crystals (ATP)
• Be Your Own Pet: Be Your Own Pet (Ecstatic Peace) MySpace
• Joe Bonamassa: You & Me (Premier)
• Bouncing Souls: The Gold Report (Epitaph)
• Cars: Soundtrack (Disney)
• Chapterhouse: Whirlpool (Cherry Red) Reissue with additional bonus tracks.
• Cheap Trick: Rockford (Big3)
• Barbara Cook: Barbara Cook at the Met (DRG)
• Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint: The River In Reverse (Verve Forecast)
• Decyfer Down: End of Grey (Sony)
• DJ Khaled: Listennn...The Album (Koch)
• Donavon Frankenreiter: Move By Yourself (Lost Highway)
• Genghis Tron: Dead Mountain Mouth (Crucial Blast)
• The Grates: Gravity Won't Get You High (Interscope) MySpace
• Head Automatica: Popaganda (Warner Bros)
• (hed) pe: The Best of (hed) pe (Jive)
• Ice Cube: Laugh Now, Cry Later (Lench Mob)
• Bob James: Heads (Koch)
• Kottonmouth Kings: Koast II Koast (Suburban Noize)

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 10:07 AM | Link
|Previews|

Let's all take the week off. New releases are practically taking the week off. Retailers should staff down in anticipation. But we sometimes get this around a holiday weekend. No surprise.

So what's out today? A few albums on Victory Records, by The Forecast, Silverstein and Junior Varsity. Nothing that's going to be knocked out of the park. None of these are in the realm of Hawthorne Heights.

Maybe you caught Peeping Tom on Conan the other night, or saw the prime placement on the MySpace music page? It's the latest project of the prolific Mike Patton, and this one is far more accessible and mainstream. The album pairs Patton with different guests on every track: Rahzel, Norah Jones, Amon Tobin, Kid Koala, Bebel Gilberto, Kool Keith, Jel & Odd Nostrom, Doseone and Dub Trio.

Les Claypool, bass player and all-around weird frontman for Primus, has a solo album out called Of Whales and Woe. It's out on his own Prawn Song Records.

Look for more and bigger albums next week. There will be new albums by AFI, Cheap Trick, Young Juc, Live, Katie Melua, Be Your Own Pet, Ice Cube, Sound Team, Paul Oakenfold and Zero 7 (with a few songs featuring blogger favorite Jose Gonzalez).

• Dave Alvin: West of the West (Yep Roc)
• Ammon Contact: With Voices (Ninja Tune)
• Asobi Seksu: Citrus (Friendly Fire) Website
• Belle & Sebastian: Late Night Tales (Late Night Tales)
• Boards of Canada: Trans Canada Highway EP (Warp)
• John Bucchino: It's Only Life: Songs of John Bucchino (P.S. Classics)
• Cadence of Raw Produce: Creative Commerce (Domination)
• Celtic Frost: Monotheist (Century Media) Website
• Les Claypool: Of Whales and Woe (Prawn Song)
• Crash Romeo: Minutes To Miles (Trustkill)
• DJ Ese: Side: Two + Instrumentals (Embedded)
• Drowsy: Snow on Moss on Stone (Fat Cat)
• The Epoxies: Synthesized (Dirtnap)
• The Forecast: In The Shadow of Two Gunmen (Victory)
• Herbert: Scale (K7)
• Hitman Bloody Money: Soundtrack
• Junior Varsity: Great Compromise (Victory)
• Keene Brothers: Blues and Boogie Shoes (Fading Captain)
• Kris Kristofferson: Live from Austin, Texas (New West)
• Legendary Pink Dots: Your Children Placate You From Premature Graves (Roir)
• Jamie Lidell: Multiply Additions (Warp)
• Mac Dre: Presents Thizz Nation, Vol. 6 (Thizz Entertainment)
• Molemen: Chicago City Limits Vol. 2 (Molemen)
• Nachmystium: Instinct: Decay (Southern Lord)
• Noxagt: Noxagt (Load)
• Peeping Tom: Peeping Tom (Ipecac) Stream album at MySpace page
• Quiet Drive: When All That's Left Is You (Red Ink) MySpace page
• Radio Dept: Pet Grief (Labrador) Download “The Worst Taste In Music”
• Rescue Me: Soundtrack (Nettwerk) Songs by Ray LaMontagne, Black Keys, Wolf Parade, Stereophonics, Twilight Singers, more.
• Silverstein: 18 Candles: The Early Years (Victory)
• Space Needle: Recordings 1994-1997 (Eenie Meenie)
• Ralph Stanley: A Distant Land to Roam: Songs of the Carter Family (Columbia Nashville)
• The Sleeping: Questions and Answers (Victory)
• Sunday in the Park with George: Cast Recording (P.S. Classics)
• George Thorogood: The Hard Stuff (Eagle)
• Tied & Tickled Trio: A.R.C. (Morr)
• Various: 80's Hits Stripped (Sidewinder)
• Various: Ultra Weekend 2 (Ultra)
• VAST: Turquoise and Crimson (2blossoms)
• Wax Tailor: Tales of the Forgotten Melodie (Decon)

Posted by Glenn at 10:50 AM | Link
|Previews|

Dixie Chicks are trying to reinvent themselves. Taking The Long Way isn't going to be as well received in red states as their previous albums, so they're embracing blue states. And so far it looks to be working. A lack of airplay in the South can be overcome with a profile on “60 Minutes,” features on NPR and a lot of attention by journalists who normally wouldn't care too much.

Pun of the week goes to Michael Bolton for Michael Swings Sinatra, yet another collections of crooner covers from a singer past middle age. Bolton follows in the platinum footsteps of similar albums Rod Steward and Barry Manillow.

Def Leppard has a covers album out, too, but the songs are a bit edgier. The metal legends cover everybody from Free to Bowie to Roxy Music.

A few names you might remember: Pat DiNinzio of The Smithereens releases his first solo album in nine years. Post-punk legends Mission of Burma continue their return (they also had an album, their first in nearly 20 years, out in 2004).

• Alias & Tarsier: Brookland/Oaklyn (Anticon)
• Angels & Airwaves: We Don't Need to Whisper (Geffen)
• Anjari: Blue Alert (Sony)
• Art Brut: Bang Bang Rock and Roll (Downtown)
• Basic Vocab: The General Dynamic (Traffic)
• Blood Brothers: Love Rhymes With Hideous Car Wreck EP (V2)
• Blue Sky Black Death: A Heap of Broken Images (Mush)
• Michael Bolton: Michael Swings Sinatra (Concord)
• Johnny Cash: Personal File (Sony)
• Current 93: Black Ships Ate the Sky (Durtro)
• Danko Jones: Sleep is the Enemy (Razor & Tie)
• Def Leppard: Yeah! (Mercury)
• Pat DiNinzio: This is Pat DiNinzio (Fuel 2000)
• The Ditty Bops: Moon Over the Freeway (Warner Bros)
• Dixie Chicks: Taking the Long Way (Sony)
• Dr. John: Mercernary (Blue Note)
• Halifax: The Inevitability of a Strange World (Drive Thru)
• Huey Lewis and the News: Greatest Hits (Capitol)
• High School Musical: Soundtrack – Special Edition (Disney)
• Mission of Burma: The Obliterati (Matador)
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That (Astralwerks)
• Pete Seeger: American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 4 (Smithsonian Folkways)
• Slaid Cleaves: Unsung (Rounder)
• Various: American Idol Season 5 Encores (RCA)
• Various: Big Small World (Koch) Tribute to Big Star
• Various: Rockin with Morrisey's Side Men (Anagram Psychobilly)
• Various: WWE Wreckless Intent (Sony)
• Vetiver: To Find Me Gone (Dicristina Stair)
• Rhonda Vincent: All American Bluegrass Girl (Rounder)
• The Walkmen: A Hundred Miles Off (Record Collection)
• The Wreckers: Stand Still, Look Pretty (Maverick)
• X-Men: The Last Stand: Soundtrack (Varese Sarabande)
• John Zorn: Moonchild (Tzadik)

Posted by Glenn at 10:46 AM | Link
|Previews|

Big release this week is Cam'ron's Killa Season. How well will is sell first week? His last two albums went platinum, but 2002's Come Home With Me achieved a higher chart position than 2004's Purple Haze. The competition doesn't look terribly fierce this week, so Killa Season could get off to a great start.

Rock fans have been up in arms over, Broken Boy Soliders, the debut album by The Raconteurs, a Midwest super group made up of Jack White (of the White Stripes), Brendan Benson and two members of The Greenhornes, drummer Patrick Keeler and bassist Jack Lawrence. The album is the best selling 5/16 new release at Amazon.com, and V2 has been working hard on Internet and viral marketing. Coolfer's looking forward to see how it pays off.

Rock/pop fans may or may not be waiting for Hoobastank's Every Man For Himself. Hard to tell.

This week's releases:

• Ashley Parker Angel: Soundtrack To Your Life (Universal)
• The Autumn Offering: Embrace the Gutter (Victory)
• The Bank Robbers: Tomorrow Belongs To Me (No Milk)
• Big 10-4: Testing the Atmosphere (Universal)
• Boris: Pink (Southern Lord)
• T Bone Burnett: The True False Identity (Sony)
• T Bone Burnett: Twenty Twenty: The Essential (Sony)
• Cam'ron: Killa Season (Diplomatic Man)
• Dirtie Blonde: Dirtie Blonde (Jive)
• Tim Easton: Ammunition (New West)
• Espers: II (Drag City)
• Gigi: Gold & Wax (Palm Pictures)
• Hidden Cameras: In Arms of His Ill EP (Absolutely Kosher)
• Hoobastank: Every Man For Himself (Island)
• Mason Jennings: Boneclouds (Sony)
• David Mead: Tangerine (Tallulah)
• Christina Milian: So Amazin' (Def Jam)
• Charlie Musselwhite: Delta Hardware (Real World)
• Over the Edge: Soundtrack (Sony) Songs by Ben Folds, music by Rupert Gregson-Williams
• The Raconteurs: Broken Boy Soldiers (V2)
• Radio 4: Enemies Like This (Astralwerks)
• Rock Kills Kid: Are You Nervous (Reprise)
• Russian Circles: Enter (Flameshovel)
• Sam Roberts: Chemical City (Secret Brain)
• Roscoe: I Luv Cali (SMC)
• Regina Spektor: Begin To Hope (Sire)
• Thievery Corporation: Versions (ESL)
• Twilight Singers: Powder Burns (One Little Indian)
• Armin Van Buuren: State of Trance 2006 (Ultra)
• Viking Skull: Born In Hell (456)
• Whirlwind Heat: Types of Wood (Brille)
• Wishbone Ash: Clan Destiny (Eagle)
• Wonder Stuff: Suspended By Stars (Reincarnate)
• Dan Zanes & Friends: Catch That Train! (Festival Five)

Posted by Glenn at 11:27 AM | Link
|Previews|

This week's new releases include two that have attracted a great deal of attention for their online successes. Gnarls Barkley, a duo of producer Danger Mouse and singer Cee-lo, topped the UK singles chart on the strength of download sales of the single “Crazy.” Here in the U.S. the song has been an Internet sensation (though it has yet to find similar success at terrestrial radio). A free MySpace-sponsored concert in Los Angeles got the band even more online buzz.

But what effect will all this online chatter have on sales of the album, St. Elsewhere? Online buzz and critical acclaim will only go so far, though for upstart Downtown Records success will be defined at a lower threshold. It was released to digital stores a week early and currently sits at #2 on iTunes. CD sales won't be as healthy, though a first week rush could put it in the Top 20.

Neil Young's Living With War has been the talk of the town. Young's website offered a stream of the entire album, and it seems everybody stopped by to give it a listen. It's an anti-Bush, anti-war album, one of the few political statements by a popular artist to make it to record store shelves. The online awareness and the protest nature of the album have made for perfect promotion. Young's baby boomer base will be out to buy this record.

This week's releases:

• Accident Experiment: United We Fear (Rock Ridge) Former members of P.O.D., Sprung Monkey and Grammtrain.
• Roy Acuff: Great Train Songs: An American Legend (Varese)
• The Aggrolites: The Aggrolites (Hellcat)
• Art Brut: Bang Bang Rock & Roll (Downtown)
• ATB: DJ In The Mix (Water Music)
• Susana Baca: Travesias (Luaka Bop)
• Beirut: Gulag Orkestar (Bada Bing)
• Big Youth: Screaming Target (Sanctuary)
• Black Heart Procession: The Spell (Touch & Go)
• Burden of a Day: Pilots & Paper Planes (Blood & Ink)
• Charmed: The Final Chapter: Charmed: The Final Chapter (Adrenaline)
• Clear Static: Clear Static (Maverick)
• Harry Connick Jr/Kelli O'Hara: Harry on Broadway, Act I (Sony)
• Da Vinci Code: Soundtrack (Decca)
• Daedelus: Daedelus Denies The Day's Demise (Mushroom)
• Danielson: Ships (Secretly Canadian)
• Kimya Dawson: Remember That I Love You (K)
• Diamond Rio: Greatest Hits 2 (Arista)
• Futureheads: Area EP (679)
• Gnarls Barkley: St. Elsewhere (Downtown)
• Grandaddy: Just Like the Fambly Cat (V2)
• Gravedigger: 25 To Live (Locomotive)
• Jolie Holland: Springtime Can Kill You (Anti)
• Chris Isaak: Best of Chris Isaak (Reprise)
• Isley Brothers: Baby Makin' Music (Def Soul Classics)
• Ivy Queen: Sentimiento (Univision)
• Jagged Edge: Jagged Edge (Sony)
• Jellyfish: Best (Virgin) Import only

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 11:15 AM | Link
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The release of the week would probably have to be 10,000 Days by Tool, followed by Pearl Jam's self-titled album. Mobb Deep's Blood Money, on G-Unit/Interscope, has already received excellent reviews from Vibe and XL, and a three-star review from Rolling Stone.

Thursday's City by the Light Divided is being released by Island, the label that has done wonders with Fall Out Boy's latest.

Jewel, who hasn't been seen much for a few years, returns with Goodbye Alice in Wonderland, an album that returns to acoustic-based pop/rock after a detour to a hip, beat-driven sound on her album 0304. Could it be another hit for Atlantic, who has surprised many with a string of successes (James Blunt, T.I., Sean Paul). She will be on tour this summer with Rob Thomas (of Matchbox 20). And just last week she made People magazine's “100 Most Beautiful” list.

Unbelievably, the one phrase that Coolfer hasn't seen written or said about Interscope's Wolfmother is, “this band is going to save rock and roll.” Kudos to the band's publicists for not pushing that angle. The hard-rockin' Australian band has been touring the States and packing small venues – and blowing away those in attendance. This is a band to watch.

The week's releases:

• Jon Auer: Songs From the Year of Our Demise (Pattern 25)
• Baby Dayliner: Critics Pass Away (Brassland)
• BellRays: Have A Little Faith (Cheap Lullaby)
• Black Keys: Chulahoma (Fat Possum)
• Brandtson: Hello Control (The Militia Group)
• Charlatans: Simpatico (Sanctuary)
• Clear Static: Clear Static (Maverick)
• Alejandro Escovedo:The Boxing Mirror (Back Porch)
• Fairport Convention: Classic Convention (Metro Music)
• Gomez: How We Operate (ATO)
• Roy Hargrove: Nothing Serious (Verve)
• Human Television: Look at Who You're Talking To (Gigantic)
• Jewel: Goodbye Alice in Wonderland (Atlantic)
• Brian Littrell: Welcome Home (Reunion)
• The Lovely Feathers: Hind Hind Legs (Equator)
• Christian McBride: Live at Tonic (Rope-a-Dope)
• Robin McKelle: Introducing Robin McKelle (Cheap Lullaby)
• Ministry: Rio Grande Blood (Megaforce)
• Mobb Deep: Blood Money (Interscope)
• Gary Moore: Old New Ballads Blues (Eagle)
• Willie Nelson: Live From Austin Texas (New West)
• None More Black: This Is Satire (Fat Wreck Chords)
• Pearl Jam: Pearl Jam (J Records)
• Place of Skulls: Black Is Never Far (Exile on Mainstream)
• Rebel Meets Rebel: Rebel Meets Rebel (Big Vin)
• The RH Factor: Distractions (Verve)
• RJD2: Magificent Instrumentals (Decon)
• Thursday: City by the Light Divided (Island)
• Tool: 10,000 Days (Volcano)
• Ralph Towner:Time Line (ECM)
• Phil Vassar: Greatest Hits 1 (Arista)
• Carnie Wilson: A Mother's Gift: Lullabies From the Heart (Big3)
• Wolfmother: Wolfmother (Interscope)

Posted by Glenn at 10:45 AM | Link
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This is a big week for rock fans. It's a battle of of era. First we've got the Goo Goo Dolls, those '90s alternative rock stars, back after a lengthy silence with Let Love In. Then there's Godsmack, who rose to prominence in the nu-metal days, and their new album Four on Republic. And the newer kids on the block, Taking Back Sunday, who represent the emo era. Louder Now is the band's latest albm, out on Warner Bros.

The older crowd has a few albums as well, and both are being released by Thrill Jockey. Tom Verlaine of Television has a solo album – his first new release since 1992 – and Eleventh Dream Day are back with a new album – their first in six years.

And the most anticipated release of the week? It's gotta be Bruce Springsteen's collection of Pete Seeger songs, We Shall Overcome. Even people who don't usually like The Boss really like this album. It's being released as a DualDisc, not as a regular CD. Amazon.com has it for $12.98. Circuit City has it for $10.99.

But Rihanna may have a good first week for her second album, A Girl Like Me on Def Jam. Could be more of a singles and ringtone performer, though, since her previous album hasn't reached gold status. Avant's Director, on Geffen, is expected to have a strong debut. His last album did 128,000 in its first week and has sold nearly 900,000 to date.

This week's releases:

• Natacha Atlas: Mish Maoul (Mantra)
• Avant: Director (Geffen)
• Bob Belden: Three Days of Rain (Sunnyside)
• Tab Benoit: Brother to the Blues (Telarc) With guests Jim Lauderdale, Billy Joe Shaver and Waylon Thibodeaux
• The Coup: Pick a Bigger Weapon (Epitaph)
• Matthew Dear: Fabric 27 (Fabric)
• DJ Tiesto: In Search of Sunrise 5: Los Angeles (BH Songbird)
• Eleventh Dream Day: Zeroes & Ones (Thrill Jockey)
• Elf Power: Back to the Web (Rykodisc)
• Gathering: Home (The End)
• Godsmack: Four (Universal)
• Goo Goo Dolls: Let Love In (Warner Bros)
• Groove Collective: People People Music Music (Savoy Jazz)
• Halo 2 Vol 2: Soundtrack (Sumthing Else)
• Robin Hitchcock: This Is The BBC (Hux)
• Danielle Howle:Thank You, Mark (Valley Entertainment)
• Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris: All the Roadrunning (Nonesuch/Warner Bros.)
• Kool Keith: Nogatco Rd (Insomniac)
• K.D. Lang: Reintarnation (Rhino)
• Amel Larrieux: Morning (Bliss Life)
• Patti Lupone: The Lady With The Torch (Ghostlight)
• MercyMe: Coming Up to Breathe (Sony)
• Plas: Christ. O Vanden (Inside Out)
• The Rakes:Capture/Release (V2)
• Rampage: Demagraffix (Deep Freeze)
• Rihanna: A Girl Like Me (Def Jam)
• Secret Machines: Ten Silver Drops (Reprise)
• Bruce Springsteen: We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (Columbia)
• Starlight Mints: Drowaton (Barsuk)
• The Streets:The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living (Atlantic)
• Taking Back Sunday: Louder Now (Warner Bros)
• Time Again The Stories Are True (Hellcat)
• Tom Verlaine: Around (Thrill Jockey)
• Tom Verlaine: Songs & Other Things (Thrill Jockey)
• The Waybacks From the Pasture to the Future (Compass)
• Various: Bay Area Funk 2 (Luv N' Haight)
• Various: Unexpected Dreams: Songs From the Stars (Rhino)

Posted by Glenn at 11:14 AM | Link
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Coolfer did a bit of research to see what evil albums will be released on June 6th, a.k.a. 6/6/6. What did I find out?

There's already the major label debut by The Bronx, that was already covered. Here's a list of some titles slated for June 6th:

• AFI: Decemberunderground (Interscope)
• Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint: The River In Reverse (Verve Forecast)
• D-Block: Mix Tape (Koch)
• Dr. Dre: Death Row's Greatest Hits: Chronicles (Death Row)
• Head Automatica: Propoganda (Warner Bros)
• Gladys Knight: Before Me (Verve)
• Madonna: I'm Going To Tell You A Secret (CD/DVD) (Warner Bros)
• New Cars: It's Alive (Eleven Seven)
• Paul Oakenfold: A Lively Mind (Maverick)
• Ramones: Greatest Hits (Rhino)
• Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic DVD (Interscope)
• Stars of Track and Field: Centuries Before Love & War (Sidecho)
• Young Leek: Something To Prove (Def Jam)
• Yung Joc: New Joc City (Block/Bad Boy South)
• Zero 7: The Garden (Atlantic)

That's about it. Not too evil. Some distributors don't have a June 6th release date, which is why Nachtmystium's Instint: Decay is coming out May 30th and not a week later.

(Picture of posters taken on a wall on Bowery St in Manhattan.)

Posted by Glenn at 5:58 PM | Link
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This week offers no blockbusters, no hugely anticipated albums. There are simply lots of albums that may be good, may sell well, may offer a taste of things to come.

The artist on this list with the best sales on the previous release is, according to Hits, punk ground NOFX, followed by Pastor Troy and Dresden Dolls. Da Backwoodz have no sales history, but their Universal debut is sure to be a hot seller. Guests like Nas, Sade and George Clinton won't hurt.

Be Your Own Pet are the band that always shows up on the “ones to watch” list. This release, the Summer Sensation EP, is through Ecstatic Peace and is just a primer.

Of special interest to bloggers is the Fiery Furnaces release, Bitter Tea...since pretty much anything Furnaces-related gets the bloggers in a frenzy. Bitter Tea is supposed to be more of a pop album, and it's the group's first for Fat Possum (previous albums were on V2 duh, I mean Rough Trade). The few reviews thus far have been less than glowing. Prediction: One more album that disillusions the band's core base and the Furnaces could be headed toward the trash heap.

This week's releases:

• The Alchemist: 1st Infantry Deluxe (Koch) Deluxe CD/DVD edition
• Animal Liberation Orchestra: Fly Between Falls (Brushfire)
• Karrin Allyson: Footprints (Concord Jazz)
• Mindi Abair: Life Less Ordinary (GRP)
• Be Your Own Pet: Summer Sensation EP (Ecstatic Peace)
• Richard Butler: Richard Butler (Koch)
• The Church: Uninvited Like The Clouds (Cooking Vinyl)
• Cities: Cities (Yep Roc)
• Crime in Stereo: Troubled Stateside (Nitro)
• Dio: Holy Diver Live (Eagle)
• Dresden Dolls: Yes, Virginia (Roadrunner)
• Da Backwudz: Wood Work Album (Universal)
• Drive-By Truckers: A Blessing and a Curse (New West)
• Elefant: Black Magic Show (Hollywood)
• Erasure: Union Street (Mute)
• Fiery Furnaces: Bitter Tea (Fat Possum)
• Ian Gillan: Gillan's Inn (Immergent)
• Hoot: Hoot (Mailboat)
• Mat Kearney: Nothing Left to Lose (Aware)
• Killing Joke: Hosannas from the Basement of Hell (Cooking Vinyl)
• Mugison: Little Trip (Ipecac)
• Ann Nesby: In The Spirit (Shanachie)
• NOFX: Wolves in Wolves Clothing (Fat Wreck)
• No Neck Blues Band and Embryo: Embryonnck (Staubgold)
• Path of Resistance: Can't Stop the Truth (Victory)
• Pastor Troy: Stay True (SMC)
• People Under the Stairs: Stepfather (Basement)
• Dudley Perkins: Expressions (Stones Throw)
• The Red Krayola: Introduction (Drag City)
• Richard Rodgets: South Pacific in Concert from Carnegie Hall (Decca)
• Rye Coalition: Curses (Gern Blandsten)
• The Secret Machines: Ten Silver Drops (Sire/Reprise)
• Spank Rock: YoYoYoYoYo (Big Dada)
• Stereophonics: Live from Dakota (Vox Populi)
• Matthew Sweet/Susanna Hoffs: Under the Covers (Shout Factory)
• The Tango Saloon: The Tango Saloon (Ipecac)
• Up, Bustle and Out: City Breakers - 18 Frames Per Second (Collision)
• Various: Exit Music – Songs With Radio Heads (BBE/Rapster)
• Various: Putamayo presents Paris (Putamayo)
• Various: Seventeen: The Best New Music (Hear It First!) (BMG Heritage)

Posted by Glenn at 9:17 AM | Link
|Previews|

This week's releases:

• Aloha: Some Echoes (Polyvinyl)
• Basement Boys: Present Mudfoot Jones (Savoy Jazz)
• Jeff Bates: Leave the Light On (RCA)
• Beatles: The Capitol Albums Vol. Box Set (Capitol) Four-CD set packaged in either a brick or a longbox
• Steve Brodsky and Ramona Cordova Split EP (ECA)
• Buckcherry: 15 (Eleven Seven Music)
• Built to Spill: You in Reverse (Warner Bros.)
• Bullets and Octane: In the Mouth of the Young (RCA)
• Busted Hearts: Sin, Sorrow & Salvation (Fundamental)
• Buttless Chaps: Where Night Holds Light (Mint)
• Calexico: Garden Ruin (Quarterstick)
• Brigitte DeMeyer: Something After All (Bdm)
• Eagles of Death Metal: Death by Sexy (Downtown)
• Brian Eno/David Bryne: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (Nonesuch) Remastered
• Euphoria: Precious Time (Zoe)
• Sue Foley: New Used Car (Ruf)
• Future Pigeon: The Echodelic Sounds of Future Pigeon (Record Collection)
• Alastair Galbraith and Matt De Gennaro: Long Wires in Dark Museums, Vol. 2 (Table of the Elements)
• Gotan Project: Lunatico (XL Recordings)
• Jesu: Silver EP (Hydrahead) Four-track EP.
• Toby Keith: White Trash With Money (Show Dog Nashville)
• Kinky Boots: Soundtrack (Hollywood)
• Ladytron: Extended Play (Rykodisc)
• Lambchop: The Decline and Fall of Country & Western Civilization Part II (Merge)
• LKN: Postulate I (Greyday)
• LL Cool J: Todd Smith (Def Jam) Produced by Jermaine Dupri. Features “Control Myself” w/Jennifer Lopez as well as Mary J Blige, Mary Mary, Juelz Santana and Freeway.
• Edwin McCain: Lost in America (Vanguard)
• Mecca Normal: The Observer (Kill Rock Stars)
• Moneen: The Red Tree (Vagrant)
• Mono: You Are There (Temporary Residence)
• Mystery Jets: Flotsam and Jetsam EP (679/StarTime)
• Negative Trend: Negative Trend EP (2.13.61) Remastered
• Jason Nesmith: Portrait (Fundamental)
• Christopher O'Riley Home to Oblivion: Elliott Smith Tribute (World Village)
• Parts & Labor: Stay Afraid (Jagjaguwar)
• Grace Potter and the Nocturnals: Nothing but the Water (Indie911)
• Daniel Powter: Daniel Powter (Warner Bros)
• Pretty Girls Make Graves: Elan Vital (Matador)
• Josh Ritter: The Animal Years (V2)
• Catherine Russell: Cat (World Village)
• Ryan's Hope: Apocalypse in Increments (Punknews)
• Saves the Day: Sound the Alarm (Vagrant)
• Shonen Knife: Genki Shock (Glue Factory)
• Stick It: Soundtrack (Hollywood)
• Ugly Duckling: Back for the Buck (Fat Beats)
• Imaad Wasif: Imaad Wasif (Kill Rock Stars)
• Wilderness: Vessel States (Jagjaguwar)
• Various: 5RC Sur La Mer Samp-Le-Mer (Kill Rock Stars) A $9.99 sampler with tracks by Xiu Xiu, Deerhoof, Metalux, Hella and others.
• Various: Soul Jazz Records Presents Tropicalia (Soul Jazz)

Posted by Glenn at 11:29 AM | Link
|Previews|

Tuesday is one of those few release days when everybody – from casual fans to superfans to critics to the young to the old – have something to look forward to. Some, such as those waiting to buy new albums by The Flaming Lips and Morrissey, will get little sleep the night before. Interesting note: At Amazon.com the regular Flaming Lips CD is outselling the special edition with DVD -- #36 to #429. The new Morrissey album, on the other hand, is selling better in the limited edition package (CD and DVD) than in the CD package -- #55 to #135.

For the young, there are two more titles in popular series, Now 21 and Disneymania 4. For the old there are new albums by jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, a Poison greatest hits collection (including a new cover of “We're An American Band” produced by Don Was) and The New Orleans Social Club's Sing Me Back Home on Sony BMG's new adult-oriented label Burgendy.

Older metal fans get Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime II, which comes 18 years after the original Operation: Mindcrime. Younger metal fans get Karmacode by Italian metal group Lacuna Coil, led by metal magazine pinup girl Christina Scabbia.

-- Aceyalone: Grand Imperial (Decon)
-- The American Princes: Less and Less (Yep Roc)
-- Angel Blake: Angel Blake (Metal Blade)
-- Darol Anger: Generation Nation (Compass)
-- Blackmore's Night: Village Lanterne (Steamhammer)
-- Blue October: Blue October (Universal Motown)
-- Erin Boheme: What Love Is (Concord)
-- Danielle Bollinger: When the Broken Hearted Love Again (Esntion Silver)
-- The Boy Least Likely to The Best Party Ever (Too Young to Die)
-- Anouar Brahem: Le Voyage de Sahar (ECM)
-- Carl Cox: Second Sign (Koch)
-- Guy Davis: Skunkmello (Red House)
-- Dead to Fall: The Phoenix Throne (Victory)
-- Lila Downs: Cantina (Narada)
-- Dracula the Musical: The Concept Recording (Koch)
-- Flaming Lips: At War with the Mystics (Warner Bros.)
-- Flower Kings: Paradox Hotel (Inside Out)
-- Girl Authority: Girl Authority (Zoe)
-- Gregor Samsa: 55:12 (The Kora)
-- Tre Hardson: Slimkid3's Cafe (RL Entertainment)
-- Head Control: System Murder Nature (The End)
-- Van Hunt: On the Jungle Floor (Capitol)
-- Instant Star 2: Songs from Instant Star 2 (Universal Music Canada)
-- Islands: Return to the Sea (Equator)
-- Irving: Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers (Eenie Meenie)
-- Jekyll & Hyde Resurrection: Soundtrack (Koch)
-- Jus Allah & Bumshot: The Devilz Rejects: Necronomicon (Dynasty Muzik)
-- Tommy Keene: Crashing the Ether (Eleven Thirty)

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 9:09 AM | Link
|Previews|

Retailers are going all out to get consumers' attention, and CDs can often be found for (A) less than $10 and (B) less than iTunes' price for the same title. This week's new releases will be priced to move at Best Buy and Circuit City, and iTunes has all sorts of exclusives for its customers.

The new Ghostface album, Fishscale, has some very low sale prices. It's $6.96 at Amazon.com (though the clean version is $10.99), $6.99 at Best Buy and $7.99 at Circuit City. TowerRecords.com is way up at $9.99.

T.I.'s King is going to be a big seller this week. To get customers to buy it, Circuit City is giving away a three-song CD sampler from Governer's upcoming album and has the CD/DVD combo sale priced at $9.99, two bucks lower than Circuit City's $11.99. Amazon.com has a three-cent price advantage on the CD/DVD at $9.96. TowerRecords.com has it at $9.99. That's amazing considering the list price is $18.98.

And take the Yeah Yeah Yeah's Show Your Bones. iTunes has it priced at $9.99 and includes a live version of "Cheated Hearts" and a digital booklet. Both Circuit City and Best Buy is selling the CD for $9.99 (it has a list price of $13.98). Amazon.com is three cents lower at $9.96. TowerRecords.com is selling it for $9.99. So for the same price you can go to one of those retailers and get a DRM-free CD, or you can buy an album download in Apple's proprietary file format and get an extra song. Decisions decisions.

Tim McGraw's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 is $9.96 at Amazon.com, $9.99 at Best Buy and Circuit City. Wal-Mart.com has it priced at...$13.88?!

This week's releases:

• Gerald Albright: New Beginnings (Peak/Concord) Website
• Monty Alexander: Concrete Jungle (Telarc)
• Atreyu: A Death-grip on Yesterday (Victory)
• Bangkok Five: Who's Gonna Take Us Alive? (Universal) MySpace page
• Charanga Cakewalk: Chicano Zen (Triloka)
• Ramona Cordova: The Boy Who Floated Freely (ECA)
• Matt Costa: Songs We Sing (Universal) Website. MySpace page.
• Taylor Eigsti: Lucky to Be Me (Concord)
• Do or Die: Get That Paper (Rap-A-Lot/Asylum)
• Ghostface Killah: Fishscale (Def Jam) Features Ne-Yo, Raekwon, Capedonna, Shawn Wigs, Trife, Sun God, Wu Tang Clan.
• Health Inspector: Soundtrack (Warner Bros) Soundtrack to the Larry the Cable Guy movie, with new music by Montgomery Gentry and Jerome McComb.
• Ice Age 2: The Meltdown: Soundtrack (Varese)
• Little Einsteins: Musical Missions (Disney)
• Claire Lynch: New Day (Rounder)
• Bill Maher: New Rules: Polite Musings From a Timid Observer (Rhino)
• Margot and the Nuclear So and So's: The Dust of Retreat (Artemis) Website. MySpace page.
• Tim McGraw: Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (Curb)
• The Jaco Pastorius Big Band The Word Is Out! (Heads Up)
• People in Planes: As Far as The Eye Can See (Wind-Up) Website. MySpace page.
• Pieces of a Dream: Pillow Talk (Heads Up)
• Rammstein: Rosenrot (Universal) MySpace page
• Christian Scott: Rewind That (Concord)
• Shakira: Oral Fixation Vol. 2 (Sony) Includes two new bonus tracks, one featuring Wyclef Jean.
• Janis Siegel: Thousand Beautiful Things (Telarc)
• T.I.: King (Atlantic) Website
• Chris Whitley: Reiter In (Red Parlor)
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Show Your Bones (Interscope)
• Rob Zombie: Educated Horses (Geffen)
• Various: Club Mix 2006 (Water Music)

Posted by Glenn at 10:05 AM | Link
|Previews|

By quantity this week is pretty big. By quality...well...it could be better. But there are some noteworthy albums.

Anti-Flag's debut for RCA – yes, part of big ol' corporation Sony BMG – follows a career mixing punk and politics at indie powerhouse Fat Wreck. For Blood & Empire is the most political a major label band has been in quite some time.

Prince's 3121 is his one-off album for Universal. It features the single “Te Amo Corazon,” which seems like it was released years ago. Expect solid sales for BG's Heart of tha Streetz Vol. 2.

Eyes are on Teddy Geiger, the singer-songwriter who was cast in the short-lived TV show “Love Monkey.” His Columbia debut Underage Thinking is out on Tuesday. Awareness is high. Let's see if it translates into sales.

In indie circles a lot of eyes will be on the Liars, whose third album Drum's Not Dead, released on Mute, has the critics falling all over themselves when describing the album's thick sonic maelstrom.

• Ambulette: The Lottery EP (Astralwerks)
• Amorphis: Eclipse (Nuclear Blast)
• Anti-Flag: For Blood and Empire (RCA)
• Apathy: Eastern Philosophy (Babygrande)
• The Appleseed Cast: Peregrine (The Militia Group)
• Richard Ashcroft: Keys to the World (Virgin) Includes a DVD with an interview, a video for “Break the Night with Colour” and live footage.
• Band of Horses: Everything All the Time (Sub Pop)
• BG: Heart of tha Streetz Vol. 2 (Koch)
• Gus Black Autumn Days (Cheap Lullaby)
• Boysetsfire: The Misery Index: Notes from the Plague Years (Equal Vision)
• Cory Branan: 12 Songs (Madjack)
• Brown Boy: Represent the Brown(Thump)
• Cannibal Corpse: Kill (Metal Blade)
• Casiotone for the Painfully Alone: Etiquette (Tomlab)
• Chicago: XXX (Rhino)
• The Concretes: In Colour (Astralwerks)
• Barbara Cook: With Special Guests - Live (Koch)
• The Josh Davis Band: The White Whale (Authentic)
• Dead Prez Presents M1: Confidential (Koch)
• Joey DeFrancesco: Organic Vibes (Concord)
• The Ecclesia: Birdsong Over the Interior Castle (Arena Rock)
• Editors: Back Room (Fader) UK buzz band's debut album.

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 9:51 AM | Link
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Without a hot Victory Records title in this week's list of new releases we're assured an uneventful week. There's a mix of albums coming ou tomorrow, and it's a big week for country music.

John Rich of county duo Big & Rich releases his first solo ablum on Tuesday. Guests include Big Kenny, Sara Evans, the Fairfield Four and Delbert McClinton. The album was recorded in 1999 but was shelved until now.

Shedaisy is another country act that is sure to make a splash with Fortuneteller's Melody. The female trio of sisters has sold about 450,000 of its previous album. Sheryl Crow co-wrote two of the songs on the new one.

Willie Nelson's new album is a collection of songs written by Cindy Walker, a country legend whose songs have been recorded by the biggest names in music. You Don’t Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker was produced by Fred Foster and recorded with a group of Nashville session players.

E-40's My Ghetto Report Card has been talked about and promoted for months, and it should break out ahead of the pack this week. Two reasons this album will be big: E-40 is consider a leader of the hyphy movement, and Lil' Jon was the album's executive producer. Warner Bros joined up with MySpace to promote the album and video for “Tell Me When To Go,” but it will be radio, street promotion and street buzz that carries this album. Coolfer doubts the MySpace impressions will have much of an impact relative to incredible traffic the site gets.

From the “I Don't Believe It” file comes Devo 2.0, a children's Devo cover band. Yes, we're truly in the post-Kidz Bop era now. The original Devo had a hand in making the album. Coolfer has heard it and you know what? It's not half bad.

Among the long list of albums that are in dire need of remastering is the Pretenders' Sire catalog. The band's early output finally gets cleaned up for the digital age with the release of Pirate Radio, a five-disc box set that includes alternate versions and a DVD with live performances from 1975-1979.

Prince's Ultimate, a two-CD collection of his Warner Bros tracks from 1978 to 1996, was scheduled to come out this week but has been delayed. According to Amazon.com it will be released on March 28th, though word is the release date has been pushed further out. Over the weekend Best Buy had it advertised as a March 14th release.

This week's albums:

• Eric Alexander: It's All In The Game (Highnote)
• Laurindo Almeida: Art of Laurindo Almeida (Marquis)
• Ambulance Ltd: New English EP (TVT)
• Belle and Sebastian: Late Night Tales
• Benise: Nights of Fire (Rosanegra) Awareness is high due to PBS.
• Bent Fabric: Jukebox (Hidden Beach)
• Beowulf: Beowulf & Lost My Head (I Scream)
• Big City Rock: Big City Rock (Atlantic)
• Black Sabbath: Greatest Hits 1970-1978 (Rhino)
• Block: The the Last Single Guy (sonaBLAST!)
• Brand New Heavies: Allabouthefunk (Recall)
• Bobby Brown: The Definitive Collection (Geffen)
• Capone: Menace 2 Society (Sure Shot)
• Dave Chapelle: Dave Chapelle's Block Party (Geffen)
• Chem Lab: Rock Whore vs. Dance Floor (Underground Inc)
• John Conor: Dance Dance Revolution (Negative Progression)
• Darkthrone: The Cult Is Alive (Peaceville)
• Devo 2.0: Devo 2.0 (Disney)
• DJ Icey: Y4K (Y4K)
• DMC: Checks Thugs & Rock N Roll (Asylum)

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 9:56 AM | Link
|Previews|

It's a busy week for new releases. Looks like more of week for critics and the 40-plus crowd than an incredible sales week, but a few albums should break out of the pack and land near the top of the album chart.

Best Buy has David Gilmour's On An Island with an exclusive track, “Island Song” that's not available on the normal version. With a good Best Buy showing the album should get off to a very good start. Radio has greeted the new music and the press has been, well, just as good as one would expect for a member of Pink Floyd. The album's page at Amazon.com has a nice video trailer that explains the recording of the album.

Two other veterans have new albums out Tuesday. One is Donald Fagen of Steely Dan fame, who is releasing Morph The Cat on Reprise. The other is Van Morrison, who has Pay The Devil coming out on Lost Highway.

Look for big first weeks from Juvenile's Reality Check (Atlantic), Scarface's My Homies Vol. 2 (Rap-a-lot/Asylum), Matishayu's Youth (Epic), Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (Anti) and Javier's Left of Center (Capitol). The Little Willies (Milking Bull/EMI) is a country/blues band with Norah Jones on piano and vocals. Its self-titled album will be popular with the adult set -- it's currently at #29 at Amazon.com.

Also of note: new albums by Cesaria Evora (Bluebird), Mogwai (Matador), Stereolab (Too Pure), Kris Kristofferson (New West) and Public Enemy (Guerrilla Funk)

• Herb Alpert: Whipped Cream and Other Delights: Rewhipped (Shout! Factory) Remix of the classic, Grammy-winning album by Thievery Corporation, Medeski Martin & Wood, John King, Mocean Worker, DJ Foosh, Camara Kambon, Anthony Marinelli and Ozomatli.
• Al Anderson After Hours (Legacy)
• The Bamboos Step It Up (Ubiquity)
• Baren Zen: At the Mall (Stones Throw) Early Peanut Butter Wolf recordings.
• Ran Blake: All That Is Tied (Tompkins Square)
• Blondie: Greatest Hits: Sound & Vision (Capitol) CD and DVD.
• Peabo Bryson: The Very Best Of (Time Life)
• Buzzcocks: Flat-Pack Philosophy (Cooking Vinyl) Label website
• Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan: Ballad of the Broken Seas (V2)
• Larry Carlton: Fire Wire (RCA)
• Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (Anti)
• Centro-Matic: Fort Recovery (Misra)
• The Czars: Goodbye (Bella Union)
• Eric Darius: Just Getting Started (Narada Jazz)
• Kimya Dawson and Matty Pop Chart: Kimya Dawson and Matty Pop Chart EP (K Records)
• Jesse Dayton: South Austin Sessions (Stag)
• dEUS: Pocket Revolution (V2)
• Devics: Push the Heart (Reincarnate)
• Dian Diaz: Dian Diaz (Strip City)
• Dogme95: The Reagle Beagle (Empyrean)
• Dryline: Reach for the Surface (Zero Sum)
• The Duke Spirit: Cuts Across the Land (StarTime International) Website
• Eastern Conference Champions The Southhampton Collection EP (Retone)
• Anthony Evans: Letting Go (Sony)
• Cesaria Evora: Rogamar (Bluebird)
• Donald Fagen: Morph the Cat (Reprise)
• Fat Worm of Error: Pregnant Babies Pregnant With Pregnant Babies (Load)
• Paul Flaherty/Chris Corsano The Beloved Music (Family Vineyard)
• Fresh Digress Fresh Digress (Beatmart)
• Charles Gayle Time Zones (Tompkins Square)
• Ghostigital: In Cod We Trust (Ipecac)
• David Gilmour: On an Island (Columbia)
• Goldfrapp: Supernature (Mute) Website
• Half-Handed Cloud: Halos & Lassos (Asthmatic Kitty)
• Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid:The Exchange Sessions Vol. 1 (Domino)
• Hotel Lights: Hotel Lights (Bar/None) Website
• James Hunter: People Gonna Talk (Rounder)
• I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness: Fear Is on Our Side (Secretly Canadian)
• The Impossible Shapes: Tum (Secretly Canadian)
• Javier: Left of Center (Capitol)
• Jethro Tull: Aqualung Live (Fuel 2000)
• Chachi Jones: Dymaxion Daydream (Reincarnate)
• Huck Jones: Huck (Capitol)
• Juvenile: Reality Check (Atlantic) DualDisc. Features Ludacris, Trey Songz, Bun B, Mike Jones, Paul Wall.

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 7:47 AM | Link
|Previews|

When Radiohead wants to get a little pre-release buzz it (some say) leaks a few tracks to P2P. Before a Kid Rock album there appears a sex tape featuring him and Scott Stapp and a roomful of women. To each his own, but it really pushes the limits of the adage, "Any publicity is good publcity." Anyway, Live Trucker is a 14-track live album with a cover that borrows from Bob Seger's Live Bullet.

Old 97s singer Rhett Miller has softened and popped out his music in the past, but his new solo album, The Believer, is a more serious stab at the mainstream. For one, it's being released by the adult-centric Verve Forecast. Good. Also, the album's got a ringer: singer Rachael Yamagata sings on the song “Fireflies.” From what Coolfer has heard it sounds like a pretty good record. Not good enough to stop my pining for something as memorable as “Barrier Reef,” but pretty good. (His MySpace page is streaming the album with the forward button disabled.)

The big album of the week may be Alan Jackson's Precious Memories, an album of 15 classic hymns that Jackson originally recorded for his mother. Bruce Springsteen's two-CD live set Hammerstein Odeon, Live '75, is out this week. Also worth watching is Ne-Yo's debut for Def Jam, In My Own Words. The singer-songwriter has written songs for stars like Mary J. Blige.

• Bayside: Acoustic (Victory)
• Bizzy Bone: Thugs Revenge (Thump)
• Blaq Poet (Screwball): Rewind – Deja Screw (Screwball)
• Boogie Down Productions: The Best of the B-Boy Sessions (B-Boy)
• Bombay Dub Orchestra: Bombay Dub Orchestra (Six Degrees) Stream four tracks at the band's MySpace page
• Shannon Brown: Corn Fed (Warner Bros. Nashville)
• Michael Camilo: Rhapsody in Blue (Telarc)
• Cyrus Chestnut: Genuine Chestnut (Telarc)
• Jessi Colter: Out of the Ashes (Shout! Factory) Website
• Elvis Costello & Metropole Orkest: My Flame Turns Blue (Deutsche Grammophon) Performed with a 52-piece orchestra from the Netherlands. A bonus disc contains a 45-minute suite that is Costello's first orchestral work.
• El Da Sensei: The Unusual (Fatbeats)
• Freedomland: Soundtrack (Varese Sarabande) Score by James Newton Howard.
• Herbie Hancock: The Essential Herbie Hancock (Sony)
• James Hand: The Truth Will Set You Free (Rounder)

The rest of the titles after the jump:

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 8:23 AM | Link
|Previews|

Now Americans can see how the Arctic Monkeys buzz translates on these shores. The young band's debut album, already deemed a modern classic in Britain, comes out on Tuesday. Also on most radars is 20/20 by hip hop legends Dilated Peoples and the ninth volume in the massively successful Kidz Bop series (with kiddie versions of Green Day's “Wake Me When September Ends,” Gorillaz' “Feel Good Inc.,” Coldplay's “Speed of Sound,” among others).

There's quantity this week, for a change. Lots of new releases to sift through. There's a new William Orbit album on the Sanctuary label, the soundtrack to The Proposition (by Nick Cave and the Dirty Three's Warren Ellis), and Ray Davis' Other People's Lives on V2.

• All Natural: Anthology Vol. 1 (All Natural)
• Android Lust: Devour, Rise and Take Flight (Projekt)
• Anna Oxygen: This Is an Exercise (Kill Rock Stars)
• Annette: Growing Into Myself (Inspired)
• Apollo Nove: Res Inexplicata Volans (Crammed) Guests vocalists Cibelle and Seu Jorge.
• Arab Strap: The Last Romance (Transdreamer) Website
• Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (Domino)
• Chet Atkins: Chet Atkins with the Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle 1949 (Country Routes)
• Azita: Detail from the Mountain Side EP (Drag City) Five tracks. Website.
• Bad Wizard: Sky High (Howler)
• Eef Barzelay: Bitter Honey (spinART)
• Gary Bennett: Human Condition (Landslide) Founding member of BR549. Website.
• Biosphere: Dropsonde (Touch)
• Bleeding Kansas: Dead Under Decor (Abacus)
• Bloc Party: Helicopter EP (Dim Mak)
• Evans Blue: The Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume (Hollywood)
• Wade Bowen: Lost Hotel (Sustain)
• Bril Airless: Alarm (Kirtland)
• Nick Cave and Warren Ellis: The Proposition: Soundtrack (Mute)
• Cecil Brooks III: Double Exposure (Savant)
• Birdie Busch: The Ways We Try (Bar/None)
• C-Murder: The Tru Story: Continued (Koch)
• Cascada: Everytime We Touch (Robbins)
• Joe Chambers: The Outlaw (Savant)
• Chicago Underground Duo: In Praise of Shadows (Thrill Jockey)
• Coldcut: Sound Mirrors (Ninja Tune)
• B.J. Cole Trouble in Paradise (Silverline) Features Groove Armada, Luke Vibert, Guy Jackson, Bent, A3, others.
• Nick Colionne: Keepin' It Cool (Narada)
• Phil Coulter: Country Serenity (Shanachie)
• Cowboy Mouth: Voodoo Shoppe (Eleven Thirty)
• Cranebuilders: Sometimes You Hear Through Someone Else (Azra)
• Ray Davies: Other People's Lives (V2) Website.
• Deadstring Brothers: Starving Winter Report (Bloodshot)
• Derek Trucks Band: Songlines (Sony)
• Destroyer: Destroyer's Rubies (Merge) Website
• Dilated Peoples: 20/20 (Capitol)
• Dirty North: Conflict Resolution (Slam Jamz)
• Diskaholics: Live in Japan v. 1 (Load) Jim O'Rourke, mats Gustafsson and Thurston Moore live in Japan, 2002. Two tracks, each 17 minutes.

The rest of the titles are the jump:

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 7:08 AM | Link
|Previews|

This is what people in the music business call a brutally slow week. It's early January all over again. OK, it's not that bad, but there are few big titles to look forward to and few interesting titles outside of the mainstream.

Timeless is the new and youthful album by Brazilian great Sergio Mendes. It was produced by Will.I.Am of Black Eyed Peas and will be released by adult-centric Concord/Starbucks Hear Music. Coolfer just isn't sure how well this album will do. On one hand it has the starpower of a Carlos Santana collaboration-filled album and the benefit of being on a record label that knows how to sell to the hard-to-reach adult crowd. On the other hand, who's to say listeners will take to the new, hip hop sound and all the guest stars? Sometimes the idea works (Ray Charles' Genius Loves Company) and sometimes it doesn't (Stevie Wonder's A Time To Love.)

Jaheim's Ghetto Classics comes out on Warner Bros and given the big success of his previous two albums, this one should do well for the urban crooner. The first single, “Everytime I Think About Her,” features Jadakiss. Production was handled by KayGee, Bernard Belle, Blink and Scott Storch.

In the underground, buzz band The Subways, who are reputed to be a great live band, see their debut album, Young for Eternity, released by Sire. Matchbook Romance release Voices on Epitaph.

Question mark of the week: Identical twin sisters The Veronicas have their debut released by Sire. Lots of hit-making songwriters and producers involved in this project. What will Americans think of this manufactured pop fluff from Australia?

• Bad Company: Bad Company (Audio Fidelity) 24 KT gold CD
• Balke/Batagraf: Statements (ECM)
• Carlos Barbosa-Lima: Carioca (Zoho)
• Stefano Battaglia: Racconto (ECM)
• The Beautiful Girls: We're Already Gone (Cornerstone R.A.S.) Website
• Bullets for My Valentine: The Poison (Trustkill) Enhanced
• Crush Kill Destroy: Metric Midnight (No Karma)
• Doris Day: The Love Album (Feinery)
• Luke Doucet: Broken (Six Shooter)
• Firewall: Soundtrack (Varese Sarabande) Score by Alexandre Desplat.
• Bela Fleck and the Flecktones: The Hidden Land (Columbia) DualDisc also available, with a behind-the-scenes film titled “Long Way Home: A Flecktone Journey” Website
• Iro Haarla: Northbound (ECM)
• Hall and Oates: Ecstasy on the Edge (Dynamic Italy)
• Jaheim: Ghetto Classics (Warner Bros.)
• Magnet: The Tourniquet (Filter) Website. Download the song “Hold On” (MP3)

More titles after the jump:

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 8:00 AM | Link
|Previews|

OK...what's going on tomorrow?

The Corrs return with Home, an album of traditional songs. KT Tunstall appeared on “The Today Show” (the performance was later a free video download at iTunes) and has had a bit of pre-release success at radio. In the U.K. her album, Eye to Telescope, peaked at #3 on the ablum chart and she was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Now Virgin releases her debut in the States. (It's currently at #5 at Amazon.com.)

Indie superheroes Belle and Sebastian have a new album, The Life Pursuit. Reviews have been mixed. Critics have been more favorable to Idols of Exile, the second Arts & Crafts album by Jason Collett, who's usually a member of Broken Social Scene when he's not doing his solo stuff.

Trisha Yearwood's Jasper County gets reissued with a single bonus track – a duet with Wal-Mart solo artist Garth Brooks. Re-releases tend to have more than one additional track, so this is pretty weak.

A couple of metal albums of note: In Flames and Mastodon. The In Flames album is the band's first for Ferret Music (they were previously on Nuclear Blast). The Mastodon album is a remastered reissue of the band's early recordings.

And though the stream of chopped and screwed versions of albums has slowed in the last few months, the well isn't yet dry. Chamillionaire's The Sound of Revenge gets chopped and screwed by OG Ron C.

• Aceyalone w/RJD2: Magnificent City (Decon)
• Acid Mother's Temple: Starless and Bible Black Sabbath (Alien 8)
• AM Syndicate: Empire (Sick Room)
• AV Club: AV Club (Insubordination)
• The Avett Brothers: Four Thieves Gone: The Robbinsville Sessions (Ramseur)
• Roy Ayers: Virgin Ubiquity Remixed (BBE/Rapster)
• Latrice Barnett: Illuminate (Ultra) Website
• Belle and Sebastian: The Life Pursuit (Matador) Available as a limited, deluxe edition wth six-song live DVD.
• Billy Elliot: Soundtrack (Decca)
• Bracket: Requiem (Takeover)
• Burst: Origo (Relapse)
• Centro-Matic: Triggers & Trash Heaps (Misra)
• Century: Faith and Failure (Tribunal)
• Chamillionaire: The Sound of Revenge - Chopped & Screwed (Universal)
Richard Cheese: The Sunny Side of the Moon: The Best of Richard Cheese (Surfdog)
• The Chuck Norris Experiment: The Chuck Norris Experiment (Devil Doll)
• Clogs: Lantern (Brassland) Download a web-only edit of the new song “Ostinato + Five: Four”
• Collective Soul: Home (El Music Group) Live album, a CD/DVD release.
• Jason Collett: Idols of Exile (Arts & Crafts) Website
• Chick Corea: The Ultimate Adventure (Stretch)
• The Corrs: Home (Rhino) http://www.thecorrswebsite.com/index2.htm
• Curious George: Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film: Soundtrack (Universal)
• Date Movie: Soundtrack (Lakeshore) Songs by The Perceptionists, Pitbull w/Lil Jon, Kelis, Player, The Lovin' Spoonful, more.
• deadboy and the Elephantmen: We Are Night Sky (Fat Possum)
• Jack DeJohnette featuring Bill Frisell: The Elephant Sleeps but Still Remembers (Kindred Rhythm)
• Dem Franchise Boyz: On Top of Our Game (Virgin)
• Dave Douglas: Keystone (Koch)
• Elizabethtown - Volume II: Soundtrack (RCA)
• Roberta Flack: Best of Roberta Flack (Rhino)
• Burnt Friedman and Jaki Liebezeit: Secret Rhythms 2 (Nonplace) David Sylvian guests on the song “Librarian.”

More titles after the jump:

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 2:08 PM | Link
|Previews|

In terms of quantity, this week is slower than the previous week. The quality is a bit lacking, too. There are, though, a few releases worth mentioning.

As far as the hits go, a few are sure to land in the top ten or 20. Andrea Bocelli's Amore and Barry Mannilow's The Greatest Songs from the Fifties will make a big impact not only in the first week but in the first few months of their releases. Train, of “Drops of Jupiter” fame, has a new one out.

Heather Headley is releasing her sophomore album, In My Mind. Among the album's producers are some familiar names: Babyface and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Another familiar name appears on the song “Rain”: Shaggy.

In the underground, there are new albums by jazz artist Matthew Shipp, the Dream Brother: The Songs of Jeff and Tim Buckley compilation on Rykdodisc, and a DJ Cam remix album (with big downtempo artists remixing DJ Cam tracks). LA's version of Interpol, She Wants Revenge, finally gets a release of its Geffen debut.

• Jon Anderson: In Elvin Lands: The Fellowship (United States)
• Ernie Andrews: How About Me? (HighNote)
• Baker Street: Cast Recording (Decca)
• Andrea Bocelli: Amore (Decca)
• Boston T Party: Boston T Party (Tone Center)
• Degree Absolute: Degree Absolute (Sensory)
• DJ Cam: Revisited by... (Recall) Remixes of DJ Cam tracks by Kid Loco, Thievery Corporation, J Dilla, Kenny Dope, DJ Vadim and others.
• The Family Stone: Soundtrack (Varese Sarabande)
• Heather Headley In My Mind (RCA) DualDisc also available. Album was produced by Babyface, Warren Campbell, Shannon Sanders and Andrew Ramsey, and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis.
• The High Violets: To Where You Are (Future Farmer)
• Tom Hunter: Here I Go Again (FS Music)
• Wanda Jackson: I Remember Elvis (Cleopatra)
• Jamey Johnson: The Dollar (BNA)
• Byard Lancaster 4tet: Pam Africa (CIMP)
• Adam Lane 3: Zero Degree Music (CIMP)

More after the jump:

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 7:58 AM | Link
|Previews|

After a long, boring post-holiday period, everything's back in full swing. There are big major label albums, important indie albums and not-too-impressive releases of all stripes.

The big sellers of the week will probably be new albums by pop classical group Il Divo, punk band Yellowcard and metal group P.O.D. And then there's another addition to the powerhouse Now series of albums, Now #1s (a Now retrospective with songs by Nelly, Gwen Stefani, Smash Mouth, Creed and even Hoobastank). Other albums out on majors are Rosanne Cash's Black Cadillac and country artist Josh Turner's Your Man.

There are a few indie albums that deserve a word or two. One is Henry Rollins' Talk Is Cheap Vol. 2, released on his own 2.13.61 imprint. The album has the second night of his spoken word show at the Enmore Theater in Australia. Cat Power's The Greatest has already got the rock critic vote – reviews have been excellent.

There are two albums with Rilo Kiley connections. One is Sun, Sun, Sun (on Sub Pop) by The Elected, the project of Rilo Kiley member Blake Sennett . The other is Rabbit Fur Coat by Rilo Kiley singer Jenny Lewis, released on Conor Oberst's Team Love label.

Tomorrow is the major label debut of Marty Casey and the Lovehammers on Epic Records. Casey was the runner up on the Rock Star: INXS reality show. The Chicago band has an opening spot on INXS' “Switched On” tour.

• Action Action: An Army of Shapes Between Wars (Victory)
• The Advantage: Elf-Titled (5 Rue Christine)
• Ahleuchatistas: What You Will (Cuneiform)
• Akimbo Forging Steel and Laying Stone (Alternative Tentacles)
• Tha Alkaholiks Firewater (Koch) Production by Danger Mouse, Evidence
• The Apparitions: As This Is Futuristic (Machine)
• Audio Bullys: Generation (Astralwerks)
• Ayatollah: Now Playing (Nature Sounds)
• Benassi Brothers: Phobia (Ultra)
• Karl Blau: Beneath Waves (K Records)
• Bones Brigade: Endless Bummer (Coalition)
• Marty Casey and the Lovehammers: Marty Casey and the Lovehammers (Epic) Singer Marty Casey was the runner up on Rock Star: INXS. Sound clips are at the band's website.
• Rosanne Cash: Black Cadillac (Capitol)
• Cat Power: The Greatest (Matador)
• Catfish Haven: Please Come Back EP (Secretly Canadian)
• Andre Ceccarelli Trio: Avenue Des Diables Blues (Dreyfus)
• The Class of 98: Touch This and Die (The Militia Group)
• Clearlake: Amber (Domino)
• Davis Coen: Can't Get There from Here (219)
• Tony Conrad: Fantastic Glissando (Table of the Elements)
• Cunninlynguists: A Piece of Strange (LA Underground)
• Demiricous: One (Hellbound) (Metal Blade)
• Delta Five: Singles and Sessions 1978-81 (Kill Rock Stars)
• Discipline: Downfall of the Working Man (Thorp)
• T. Duggins: Undone (Thick)
• Liz Durrett: The Mezzanine (Warm) Produced by Vic Chesnutt and engineered by Andy Baker.
• East River Pipe: What Are You On? (Merge)
• East West Blast Test: Popular Music for Unpopular People (Ipecac)
• The Elected: Sun, Sun, Sun (Sub Pop)
• Electric President: Electric President (Morr)
• Enlow: The Recovery (Blood & Ink)
• Ester Drang: Rocinate (Jade Tree)
• Excepter: Sunbomber EP (5 Rue Christine)
• Piers Faccini: Streets of London EP (Everloving)
• Film School: Film School (Beggars Banquet)
• Fivespeed: Morning Over Midnight (Virgin) Website
• Four Tet: Everything Estatic Films and Part 2 (Domino)
• Ace Frehley: Greatest Hits Live (Megaforce)

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 8:55 AM | Link
|Previews|

Sports has its dog days of summer (some tennis, some golf and daily baseball games) and music has its dog days of January. We're smack dab in the middle of a whole lot of nothing. That's not to be taken as a slight to the artists who have albums out tomorrow, but there are very few mentionable new releases in stores this week. Again. But this is the last slow week. Next week things put up again (new Yellowcard, for one).

So what's new and worthwhile this week? If we're to believe the Best Buy circular in this weekend's paper, there's a new Too Short album, Pimpin' Incorporated, out tomorrow. Normally, in this day and age, a Google search is all that's needed to get some album details. Not so in this case. All Coolfer could find were a post about the album at Hip Hop Music that is skeptical about an alleged January 24th release date for the album, and a mention at the Hip Hop DX release date page (that lists a January 17th street date). This looks like the kind of CD that Koch Distribution would release. The company's website has been down for the past few days, though, so no information was found there. If you know anything about this album's whereabouts, drop me a line.

If you're British or a member of the US press, you're probably thrilled that Babyshambles's Down In Albion is finally getting a domestic release. I suppose, given singer Peter Doherty's drug use and connection with Kate Moss, a few gossip columnists' ears will perk up when hearing if the album's release. But since reviews have been middling, and because Doherty's previous and far superior band, The Libertines, never broke in America, the release of Down of Albion is more of a Page Six asterisk than a musical event.

CDs

• Aqualung: Strange and Beautiful (Sony) DualDisc also available.
• Babyshambles: Down in Albion (Rough Trade)
• Blue Magic: 13 Blue Magic Lane (Collectables) A reissue of the 1975 album.
• Bob Brozman: Blues Reflex (Ruf)
• Paul Butterfield: Put It In Your Ear (Wounded Bird) A reissue of the 1975 album.
• Ornette Coleman: Rock the Clock (Fruit Tree) Recorded live in Berlin in 1971, with Charlie Haden, Dewey Redman and Ed Blackwell.
• Akira Ifukube: King Kong vs. Godzilla (La-La Land Records)
• Hall & Oates: Ecstasy on the Edge (Dynamic Italy) A live concert from 1979.
• Hiromi: Spiral (Telarc)
• Candye Kane: Diva la Grande (Ruf)
• Bradley Leighton: Back to the Funk (Pacific Coast Jazz)
• Toulouse Engelhardt: Martian Lust (Lost Grove)
• Nina Simone: Forever Young, Gifted & Black: Songs of Freedom and Spirit (RCA)
• Nina Simone: Silk & Soul (RCA)
• Sparks: A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing (Wounded Bird) A reissue of the 1972 album.
• Too Short: Pimpin' Incorporated (R&D) This mysterious album is said to feature Jay-Z, 50 Cent and Young Jeezy.
• Various: Byou Featuring Sabrina Bryan (Strategic Marketing)
• Various: The Now Sound of Brazil 2 (Ziriguiboom/Six Degrees) Songs by Bebel Gilberto, Bossacucanova, DJ Dolores, Apollo Nove, others.

Posted by Glenn at 11:43 AM | Link
|Previews|

The releases are picking up just a bit, although there's hardly a blockbuster in the group of tomorrow's releases. The top pre-order at Amazon.com is Tony Bennet's Tony Bennet Sings for Lovers.

Celtic Women, the six-member female group, has been a runaway success for Manhattan Records. Tomorrow there are a bunch of solo releases from all the members of Celtic Women.

New York group Morningwood has a good amount of buzz before the release of their self-titled Capitol debut. There's obviously a big push behind it. That Best Buy marketing program -- which has the title sale priced at $6.99 from a $12.98 list -- and two videos already in the can didn't come cheap.

• Tony Bennet: Tony Bennet Sings for Lovers (Concord)
• Bleeding Through: The Truth (Trustkill)
• Dave Brubeck: Plays For Lovers (Fantasy)
• Eric Burden: Soul of a Man (Spv)
• Chloe: Walking in the Air (Manhattan) A member of Manhattan Records' Celtic Women.
• Deirdre: Celtic Women (Manhattan) One of the Celtic Women
• DragonForce: Inhuman Rampage (Sanctuary)
• Glory Road: Soundtrack (Hollywood)
• Etta James: The Definitive Collection (Geffen)
• High School Musical: Soundtrack (Disney)
• Incredible String Band, The Circle Is Unbroken, The - Live And Studio 1967 - 1972 (Castle) Two CDs.
• Leadbelly: Collector's Edition (Varese Sarabande) Original recording remastered.
• Lisa: Celtic Women (Manhattan) One of the Celtic Women
• Mairead: Raining Up (Manhattan) One of the Celtic Women
• Meav: A Celtic Journey (Manhattan) One of the Celtic Women
• Morningwood: Morningwood (Capitol)
• Orla: The Water is Wide (Manhattan) One of the Celtic Women
• Sia: Color the Small One (Astralwerks)
• Stan Getz: Plays For Lovers (Concord)
• Soweto Gospel Choir: Blessed Up (Shanachie)
• Various: Loft Party: New York City (Kinkysweet) Two-CD set mixed by Journeyman (a.k.a. Tim Fiedling).
• Various: Classic Railroad Songs From Smithsonian Folkways (Smithsonian Folkways)
• Various: Appalachian Heart: Original Bluegrass Classics Varese Sarabande
• Various: Putamayo presents Caribbean (Putamayo)
• We Are Scientists: With Love and Squalor (Virgin)

Posted by Glenn at 8:43 AM | Link
|Previews|

This will be quick since there's next to nothing coming out tomorrow. The main album is The Strokes' First Impressions of Earth, a very rock album with a very Steve Halpern album title. There's a deluxe digipak version available as well (an extra $1 for the same track listing in a package with less plastic). Of special note is the placement of the barcode on the cover (pictured). Rather than hide it at the bottom, as is standard, First Impressions places it right on the beltline.

One of the soundtracks out tomorrow is for the movie "Grandma's Boy." The track listing is all over the place (Paul Wall and Aphex Twin) and its lead-off track is "Another Day" by The Twenty Twos. The New York quartet -- three females, one male and a lot of straight-ahead rock and roll -- signed to Epic Records a while back. No official word on their debut album yet, but in the meantime you can listen to songs and watch videos at the band's website.

• Grandma's Boy: Soundtrack (Epic) Features music by Bloc Party, Paul Wall, Aphex Twin, Zion I, Futureheads, the Twenty Twos, others.
• RZA: The World According To RZA (Think Differently) Available exclusively at Sandbox Automatic
• The Strokes First Impressions of Earth (RCA) Deluxe edition also available.
• Shopgirl: Original Score (Reincarnate) Music by Barrington Pheloung

Posted by Glenn at 12:23 PM | Link
|Previews|

Not much going on this week as far as new releases go, so the timing of the server problems that have lead to the tardiness of this post are rather fortuitous. Other than the disproportionate number of contemporary Christian albums out this week there's not much to talk about. The soundtrack to Munich, Steven Spielberg's new movie, is the only album of any real note here.

Next Tuesday will be slightly better, only because RCA will release The Strokes' First Impressions of Earth. The album got three stars from The Guardian. The mixed review took quite a few swipes. The length -- 57 minutes -- is almost as long as the band's previous two albums, noted Alexis Petridis, and "trademark trebly sound, meanwhile, has been beefed up into something more closely akin to a Clear Channel programmer's idea of alternative rock."

• Vicky Beeching: Yesterday, Today & Forever (Sparrow)
• Delirious?: The Mission Bell (Sparrow)
• Jimmy Fortune: I Believe (Song Garden)
• Goapele: Change It All (Sony)
• Jonah33: The Strangest Day (Sony)
• Herbie Mann: The Family Mann - First Light/This Is My Beloved (Collectables)
• Munich: Soundtrack (Decca)
• Story Side B: Everything and More (Gotee)
• Derek Webb: Mockingbird (Sony)

Posted by Glenn at 1:41 PM | Link
|Previews|

There are three main trends in albums in 2005, other than decreasing sales. The first is the special edition. There have been many special editions this year that have been quick re-releases with bonus tracks. Coheed and Cambria and Madonna have special editons out tomorrow. The more creative call it a platinum edition. Some don't have much of a special name for it. A few are explicitly limited editions, though more may have a limited run. Any way you slice it, it's called double-dipping. You find your fans, you sell them an album, and you come back with an album for the collectors of the bunch. Many think it's taking advantage of consumers because you're making some buy the same album twice. Others call is a smart business move that builds stronger ties with fans without the fuss and operational effort required by a brand new album. Since there's been no backlash, and since artists like Bjork have done this for years with nary a peep of disapproval from fans or retailers, people should expect to see more special editions in 2006.

The other trend is the remix album. This week Beck continues the trend with Gueroltio. These remix albums aren't getting great reviews, but like the special edition CD it allows a label to go back to its core group of fans. Both the remix and the special edition album take the guesswork out of releasing an album. And the word on the street is that dance rock will take over in 2006. If so, expect a flood of rock remix albums and more lukewarm reviews.

The third trend is going strong, even though it's hard to say how long it will last: chopped and screwed re-releases. Slim Thug has a chopped and screwed version of his Already Platinum on the shelves tomorrow.

Oh yeah, this Bo Bice album cover shows a makeover from his previous look. Looks like his stylist tamed his hair quite a bit. Check the cover of his single and compare.

• Aeon Flux: Soundtrack (Varese Sarabande)
• Anti-Social Music: Sings the Great American Songbook (Peacock)
• Beck: Guerolito (Interscope)
• Bo Bice: The Real Thing (RCA) DualDisc also available
• Chris Brown: Chris Brown (Jive) DualDisc, copy-protected CD.
• Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan: Ramblin' Man EP (V2)
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Disney)
• Coheed & Cambria: Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV: Volume 1. From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness (Columbia)
• Cypress Hill: Greatest Hits (Sony)
• Daddy Yankee: Barrio Fino el Directo (Interscope) CD with live tracks, plus a DVD with a documentary, behind-the-scenes footage and videos.
• Miles Davis: Munich Concert (IMC)
• Howie Day: Live From... (LIve) (Sony)
• Dessa Rose: Soundtrack (Jay)
• Flipsyde We the People (Interscope)
• James Friedman: Go Commando! (Defend)
• Fuel: The Best of Fuel (Sony)
• Funkmaster Flex: Car Show Tour (Koch)
• Anthony Hamilton: Ain't Nobody Worryin' (Arista)
• Jaheim: Ghetto Classics (Warner Bros.)
• Jakki Da Motamouth: God vs. Satan (Babygrande)
• King Kong: Soundtrack (Decca)
• Lamb of God: Killadelphia (Epic) Live
• Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - the Complete Recordings (Reprise)
• Ludacris Presents: Disturbing tha Peace (Def Jam)
• Madonna: Confessions on the Dancefloor (Maverick) Special edition package that includes a 40-page picture book, an 80-page blank 'journal' book, a bonus track and a one-month trial fan club membership.
• Slim Thug: Already Platinum: Chopped and Screwed (Geffen)
• Snoop Dogg Presents: Welcome to tha Chuuch - Tha Album (Koch)
• Various: Rawkus Records - Classic Cuts (Geffen)
• Water: Soundtrack (Varese Sarabande)
• Youngbloodz: Ev'rybody Know Me (LaFace)

Posted by Glenn at 11:48 PM | Link
|Previews|

It's not enough to make up for the year's deep deficit, but this week's releases are overall much more healthy than the previous few weeks. The crop of titles is lead by Eminem's Curtain Call, a greatest hits collection. What kind of first week will it have? Could be one of the bigger of the year's second half. It'll be a good test of his celebrity, that's for sure. Lil' Wayne is sure to debut near the top of the chart and Ashanti's Collectables by Ashanti will be another solid Holiday seller.

There are a few box sets to take note of: A 12-CD Tori Amos box set and a Cocteau Twins box set, both limited edition. New Order's Singles has only two CDs, so it's not a box set.

And who says EPs are good for only digital distribution? The White Stripes' cover of Tegan and Sara's "Walking With A Ghost" is the EP's title track.

• Alkaline Trio: Crimson (Vagrant) Enhanced version
• Tori Amos: The Original Bootlegs (Epic) A 12-CD box set with a $79.98 list price.
• The Aristocrats: Soundtrack (V2)
• Ricardo Arjona: Adentro (Sony International)
• Ashanti: Collectables by Ashanti (Def Jam)
• Chris Botti: To Love Again - Holiday Gift Pack (Columbia) Two CDs, including a six-track bonus CD.
• Carl Craig: Fabric 25 (mix CD) (Fabric)
• Cocteau Twins: Lulabies to Violaine (4AD) Limited edition box set.
• Cowsills: We Can Fly (Collector's Choice)
• Howie Day: Live (Epic) Copy protected CD.
• Emimen: Curtain Call (Aftermath)
• Michael Franti & Spearhead: Live in Sydney (Music Video Distributors) DualDisc
• Bill Harley: Blah Blah Blah: Stories About Clams, Swamp Monsters and Pirates (Empyrean)
• Jackie-O Motherfucker: Flags of the Sacred Harp (Atp)
• Jarhead: Soundtrack (Decca)
• KoRn: See You on the Other Side (Virgin)
• Ray LaMontagne: Live from Bonnaroo 2005 EP (RCA)
• John Legend: Get Lifted/Live at the House of Blues (Columbia) CD/DVD set
• Lil' Wayne: Tha Carter 2 (Universal Motown)
• Lindsay Lohan: A Little More Personal (Raw) (Casablanca)
• Alanis Morissette: The Collection (Maverick) Limited editon version.
• New Order: Singles (Rhino) 32 tracks over two CDs
• Don Omar: Da Hit Man Presents Reggaeton Latino (Machete)
• Patrick Phelan: Cost (Jagjaguwar)
• Sonic Youth: SYR 6: Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui (Smells Like Records) Sixth in the series of Sonic Youth's Smells Like Records releases, recorded live at the April 12, 2003 benefit concert held at and for The Anthology Film Archives.
• Sugarcult: Start Statis (Fearless)
• Tender Forever: The Soft and the Hardcore (K Records)
• White Stripes: Walking with a Ghost EP (V2)
• Various: Our New Orleans (Nonesuch) Tracks by Dr. John, Buckwheat Zydeco, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Eddit Bo, Irma Thomas.

DVDs

• Paul Anka: Rock Swings: Live at the Montreal Jazz Festival (Verve)
• Ben Folds and Waso: Live in Perth (Epic)
• Franz Ferdinand: Franz Ferdinand - Live (Sony)
• Kraftwerk: Minimum-Maximum (Astralwerks) Two DVDs, two hours of live footage
• John Legend: Live at House of Blues (Columbia)

Posted by Glenn at 8:06 AM | Link
|Previews|

There was barely a reason to even compile a list this week, outside of a new album by The Darkness and another live album by the Dave Matthews band. And there's a new album by INXS, Switch, that has the singer J.D. Fortune (who won the Rock Star: INXS title). One has to seriously wonder what that show -- and this new singer -- will do for both the band's future and the band's considerable legacy. It reminds me of what Judas Priest went through a few years back when they hired the singer of a Priest cover band to be the singer for the real Judas Priest. He had good pipes but it just wasn't the same band.

CDs

• Chris Brown: Chris Brown (Jive) DualDisc
• Budos Band: Budos Band (Daptone)
• Ryan Cabrera Live at the Wiltern (Atlantic)
• Rick Danko: Cryin' Heart Blues (Other People's Music)
• The Darkness One Way Ticket to Hell...and Back (Atlantic)
• Egg Cream Sweet Harmony (Collectables)
• James Fucking Friedman: Go Commando (Defend) Features songs by Annie, Bloc Party, others.
• The Greenhornes: Sewed Soles (V2)
• Hot Chip: Coming on Strong (Astralwerks) Domestic release with bonus tracks not on UK release.
• INXS: Switch (Epic)
• Liars: It Fit When I Was A Kid EP (Mute)
• Chris Liebing/Speedy J: Collabs 3000 - Metalism (Mute)
• Lone Catalysts: Good Music (Superrapin’)
• Richard Manuel: Whispering Pines: Live at a Getaway (Live) (Other People's Music)
• Dave Matthews Band: Weekend on the Rocks (RCA)
• Mistress: Mistress (Earache)
• The Mob: The Mob (Frontiers)
• Ennio Morricone: Crime and Dissonance (Ipecac)
• Motorhead: Best of Motorhead (Silverline) DualDisc
• NMS: Imperial Letters of Protection (Big Dada)
• Nous Non Plus: Nous Non Plus (Aeronaut)
• Paradise Lost: Paradise Lost (Abacus)
• Rancid Vat Vs. the Rest of the World (Steel Cage)
• Rasco: Dick Swanson Theory (Pocketslinted)
• The Samples: Rehearsing for Life (Apache)
• Shakira: Oral Fixation 2 (Epic)
• Snoop Dogg: Presents Welcome to tha Church -- Da Album (Koch)
• Three: Evocations (Arena Rock)
• Winechuggers: Grand Rapids (Arena Rock)

DVDs

• Ryan Cabrera: Live at the Wiltern (Atlantic)
• Drift (Plexifilm) Collaboration between Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth and Leah Singer
• The Diplomats & Friends: The Book of Hip Hop (Image)
• Erasure: The Erasure Show - Live in Cologne (Mute)
• Todd Rundgren Liars Live (Sanctuary)

Posted by Glenn at 3:06 AM | Link
|Previews|

As we get close to Thanksgiving (a.k.a. The Holiday season's starting bell) some pretty big albums get released, and there are always a few that make good Christmas presents. As for the week's biggest titles, there's Madonna's Confessions on a Dance Floor. At the top of the gift list is the 30th anniversary reissue of Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run. This is the first time it has been remastered and from early reports the sound quality is superb.

The sleeper of the week is Jimmy Buffet's Live at Fenway Park. Buffet quietly sold a boatload of his Licensed to Chill. He doesn't get too much press and very little respect from critics...but his fans love him.

And again with the greatest hits collections. Alanis Morissette has one (with a cover of Seal's “Crazy” tacked on). The Roots have two (released by Geffen, the band's former label).

There are two big country albums on the same day as the Country Music Awards. Carrie Underwood of “American Idol” fame finally releases her debut album, and Big & Rich release Comin' to Your City.

Also worth a mention is Green Day's new live album Bullet in a Bible, a CD/DVD package and Pitbull's Money Is Still A Major Issue. Pitbull is Diddy's partner in the Bad Boy Latino imprint.

CDs

• Adam X: Fate Unknown (Alfa Matrix)
• Amandine: This Is Where Our Hearts Collide (Fat Cat)
• Aeon Flux: Soundrack (Lakeshore)
• Autolect: Every Mans Universe (City Hall)
• Big & Rich: Comin' to Your City (Warner Bros.)
• Bolt Thrower: Those Once Loyal (Metal Blade) Original vocalist Karl Willetts returns.
• Bonnie "Prince" Billy: Summer in the Southeast (Sea Note)
• Bound Stems: The Logic of Building the Body Plan (Flameshovel)
• Bowling for Soup: Goes to the Movies! (Jive)
• Jimmy Buffett: Live at Fenway Park (Mailboat) With bonus DVD with 15 songs from both concerts.
• Caliban: Shadow Hearts (Lifeforce)
• Cannibal Ox: Return of the Ox: Live at CMJ (Faragmented) Recorded off the mixing board. Guests include L.I.F.E., C-Rayz Walz and Karniege. Includes the new song “From the Planet of Eat” produced by El-P.
• Mariah Carey: The Emancipation of Mimi - Platinum Deluxe Edition (Def Jam) Available as CD/DVD combo as well.
• The Crimson Jazz Trio: The King Crimson Songbook Volume One (Voiceprint)
Cry Wolf: Soundrack (Lakeshore)
• Destroy All Humans: Soundrack (Lakeshore) Songs by Junkie XL, Timo Maas featuring Kelis, The Elegants, Meat Beat Manifesto and the Chordettes.
• Edith Frost: It's A Game (Drag City)
• Goldie: MDZ05 (Metalheadz)
• GoGoGo Airheart Rats! Sing! Sing! (Gold Standard Labs)
• Gravity Propulsion System: Get Destroy (Ascetic)
• Green Day: Bullet in a Bible (Reprise) CD/DVD combo.
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Soundrack (Warner Bros.) Three songs were written by Jarvis Cocker and were performed by Cocker, Jonny Greenwood, Phil Selway, Steve Claydon and Jason Buckle.
• Richie Hawtin: DE9: Transitions (Mute)
• Honeybrowne: Something to Believe in (Compadre)
• The Ice Harvest (Lakeshore) Music by Louix XIV, Funeral For A Friend, Peter Wolf, Eels, others.
• Infected Mushroom: IM the Supervisor (Cleopatra)
• The Jai-Alai Savant: Thunderstatement EP (Gold Standard Labs)
• Elton John: Peachtree Road (Collectors' Edition) (Universal) Repackaged version with three bonus tracks from the musical Billy Elliot. The DVD includes nine songs recorded live at The Tabernacle in Atlanta.
• Judas Priest: The Collection (Box Set) (Sony)
• Andreas Kapsalis Trio: Andreas Kapsalis Trio (O.L.E.)
• R. Kelly: Remix City, Volume One (Jive)
• Kem: Album II (Universal Motown) DualDisc release of previously released album.
• Cast King: Saw Mill Man (Locust 74)
• Mike Ladd: Presents Father Divine (Roir)
• Lady Sovereign: Vertically Challenged (Chocolate Industries)
• Loggins & Messina: Live: Sittin' in Again at the Santa Barbara Bowl (Live) (Rhino)
• Lone Catalyst: Good Music (B.U.K.A.)
• Machine Men: Elegies (Cleopatra)
• Madonna: Confessions on a Dancefloor (Warner Bros.)
• Hilken Mancini & Chris Colbourn: Hilken Mancini & Chris Colbourn (Kimchee) Colbourn was a member of Buffalo Tom. Album features J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr.
• Jesse McCartney: Live - The Beautiful Soul Tour (Hollywood)
• Moody Blues: Lovely to See You, Live (Image)
• Alanis Morissette: The Collection (Maverick) Greatest hits, plus a cover of Seal's “Crazy”
• P.O.D.: The Warriors EP, Vol. 2 (Atlantic) Seven tracks, two of them live.
• Pitbull: Money Is Still a Major Issue (TVT) Features Daddy Yankee, Elephant Man, Ivy Queen, Nina Sky and Cubo.

Continue reading "Previewing the Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 8:12 AM | Link | Comment (1)
|Previews|

A couple of big, big titles this week. Kenny Chesney should compete for the top slot on the album chart. The sountrack to the 50 Cent movie, Get Rich or Die Tryin', is sure to be a top seller.

Neil Diamond's 12 Songs has been getting press for months because Rick Rubin produced it. Nobody has been able to forget, thanks for countless reminders from journalists, that Rubin helped resurrect Johnny Cash's career by producing very raw, straightforward albums near the end of his career.

Fourth quarter is the season for greatest hits comps and there are three to mention this week: The Beastie Boys' 15-track Solid Gold Hits, the Eurhythmics' 19-track The Ultimate Collection and Bob Marley and the Wailers' Africa Unite: The Singles Collection.

Fans of Fox's "The O.C." have two albums of interest this week. One if the fifth volume of The O.C. Mix. The other is 7 Days in Memphis by actor Peter Gallagher. No joke.

Johnny Cash's Sun Records recordings are being released in a box set. It has at least one version of every song he recorded for the label. The Damned has its own box set that compiles its Stiff output from June of 1976 to September of 1977. Collectors will be anxious for the previously unreleased 1976 'Mont-De-Marsan' concert.

On the other end of the sales spectrum is the new album by The Orb, Okie Dokie It's The Orb on Kompakt. As the name says, the album is being released on the small yet influential German label Kompakt. The songs were co-written and co-produced by Thomas Fehlmann, and his minimalist fingerprints are all over the place. It's the best Orb album in a decade and one of the best electronic albums of the year.

It's not music but worth noting is Salvation, the latest posthumous release, nearly two hours long and unedited, by comedian Bill Hicks. This was recorded in November of 1992 in Oxford University.

• Lotte Anker, Craig Taborn and Gerald: Triptych (Leo)
• Atomic Betty Atomic Betty (Koch)
• Beastie Boys: Solid Gold Hits (Capitol) 15 tracks.
• Bell Orchestre: Recording a Tape the Color of the Light (Rough Trade)
• Bigg Jus: Poor People's Day (Mush)
• Brave Combo: Holidays (Rounder Select)
• Kate Bush Aeriel (Columbia)
• Johnny Cash: The Complete Sun Recordings 1955-1958 (box set) (Time Life) Three CDs, 61 songs.
• Kenny Chesney: The Road and the Radio (BNA)
• Cronicas: Soundtrack (Palm Pictures)
• Diane Cluck Countless Times (Touch and Go)
• Comet Gain City: Fallen Leaves (Kill Rock Stars)
• D4L: Down for Life (Asylum/Atlantic)
• The Damned: Play It At Your Sister (box set) (Castle)
• The Dials: Flex Time (Latest Flame)
• Neil Diamond: 12 Songs (Columbia)
• Dooley-O: I Gotcha (Lewis Recordings)
• Doom:Soundtrack (Varese Sarabande)
• Duma: Soundtrack (Varese Sarabande)
• Paul Duncan: Be Careful What You Call Home (Hometapes)
• Dungeon: Resurrection (Lmp)
• Eurhythmics: The Ultimate Collection (Arista)

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 9:06 AM | Link | Comment (1)
|Previews|

Nothing could have been worse than last week's new releases, so this week's can only look great by comparison. Santana's All That I Am is sure to come out of the gates quickly (it's been the top album at Rhapsody since it was added to the catalog as a pre-release exclusive). Trey Anastasio (ex-Phish) and jazz superstar Diana Krall will probably turn in some solid sales through the holiday, and Blink-182's Greatest Hits compilation is a good, safe, stocking-stuffer of a release (and good billing for Geffen).

Sliver: The Best of the Box is a pared-down version of the Nirvana box set, With The Lights Out, that includes three previously unreleased tracks: "Spank Through" (from 1985), "Sappy" (a demo from 1990) and a pre-Nevermind rehearsal recording of "Come As You Are."

Screwed and chopped remix albums are so popular that The Transplants' Haunted Cities got the screwed and chopped treatment by DJ Paul Wall.

Imogen Heap disappeared for a few years after an album on the Almo Sounds label in 1998. More recently she resurfaced as the singer for Frou Frou and found a new audience with the help of the movie Garden State. Now she's back with another solo album. Good timing.

Burt Bacharach's At This Time is -- for a change -- a political album. Country legend Bobby Bare is back with a new album, The Moon Was Blue. It was produced by his son, Bobby Bare, Jr.

Mark Kozelek never seemed like the kind of guy to have the need to jump the shark (as we/they say in the blogosphere) but what else does one call an album of Modest Mouse covers? An homage? Yes, Sun Kil Moon releases Tiny Cities, a collection of covers of the Issaquah, Washington band.

Public Enemy's New Whirl Odor has been available at Best Buy for four weeks. Now other retailers get a stab at it. The exclusive rankled quite a few retailers, as tends to happen when one rather large national chain is given such a favorable head start. AllMusic.com's Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album two stars (out of five) and called it, among other things, "unnecessarily streamlined, with each track containing no more than one thought." Those "dense sonic collages" that critics miss comes from rapper's inability to work within the cost structure that exists with today's copyright law. PE has spoken of this many times.

CDs
• According to Jim: Soundtrack (Hollywood)
• Altamont: The Monkees' Uncle (AntAcidAudio) Featuring Dale Crover of the Melvins. http://www.melvins.com/altamont/
• Trey Anastasio: Shine (Columbia) DualDisc
• Burt Bacharach: At This Time (Columbia)
• Ballerz Ink: Tha Hustle (Thump)
• Bobby Bare: The Moon Was Blue (DualTone) Produced by his son, Bobby Bare, Jr.
• Birdman: Fast Money (Chopped & Screwed) (Universal)
• Blink-182: Greatest Hits (Geffen)
• Brokeback Mountain: Soundtrack (Verve)
• Catlow: Kiss the World (Boompa)
• Terri Clark: Life Goes on (Mercury Nashville)
• The Cops: Get Good or Stay Bad (Mt. Fuji)
• Dabrye: Additional Productions (Ghostly International)
• Deep Purple: Rapture of the Deep (Eagle)
• Ed Gein: Judas Goats and Dieseleaters (Metal Blade)
• Fatlip: Theloneliest Punk (The Lab)
• John Fogerty: The Long Road Home: Ultimate John Fogerty Creedence Collection (Fantasy)
• Garaj Mahal: Blueberry Cave (Harmonized)
• Goldfrapp: No. 1 EP (Mute)
• Richie Hawtin: DE9: Transitions (Mute) CD/DVD with 5.1 Dolby surround sound mix, two music videos and a short film about the album.

Continue reading "Previewing the Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 9:58 AM | Link | Comment (1)
|Previews|

In all honesty, the releases this week are as boring as any in recent memory. An NSYNC greatest hits? Another live Aerosmith? A They Might Be Giants kids' album released by Walt Disney? A pun-titled Faith Evans Christmas album? A DualDisc release of #1s by Destiny's Child? A holiday album by Craig Chaquito? An Il Divo Christmas collection? In the sports world this is called a scalper's week off.

There are a few albums of interest, though. Mercury Prize winner Antony & The Johnson's have a new EP out, You Are My Sister, with three songs left over from the sessions to their prize-winning album. Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook follows the well received collection of Rosemary Clooney songs from 2003 (showing that Rod Stewart isn't the only one who can raid the vaults). Marty Stuart pays tribute to Sioux culture as well as the spirit of Johnny Cash with Badlands.

On the other side of the sale spectrum, the Fiery Furnaces (who have possibly the lowest critical praise-to-sales ratio of any band on the planet) release its third album, Rehearsing My Choir. It's been a bit roughed up in the blogosphere and has been on the P2P networks for weeks. Tom Vek gets a domestic release, the Tall Dwarts get a re-release, Slum Village follows ringtones with an album and the left sees two of its comedic champions – Margaret Cho and Al Franken – release albums this week.

• Aerosmith: Rockin' the Joint - Live from the Hard Rock (Columbia) DualDisc
• Antony & the Johnsons: You Are My Sister EP (Secretly Canadian)
• Rim Banna: The Mirrors of My Soul (Valley)
• Jeff Bates: Good People (RCA)
• The Bee Season: Sountrack (Nettwerk)
• Bliss Quiet: Letters (Quango) Guest vocals by Zero 7's Sophie Barker.
• Rick Braun: Yours Truly (ARTizen)
• Breakestra: Hit the Floor (Ubiquity)
• Sarah Brightman: Love Changes Everything: The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection Vol. 2 (Decca)

Explore: The Music of Sarah Brightman

• Marc Broussard: Bootleg to Benefit the Victims of Hurricane Katrina (Island)
• Buckethead: Enter the Chicken (w/System of a Down's Serj Tanakian, Saul Williams and members of Death by Stereo and Bad Acid Trip; on Tanakian's label) (Serjical Strike)
• Vashti Bunyan: Lookaftering (DiCristina Staircase)
• C-BO: West Side Ryders 2 (West Coast Mafia)
• Caroline: Where's My Love (Secretly Canadian)
• Craig Chaquico: Holiday (Higher Octave)
• Charivari: A Trip to the Holiday Lounge (Rounder)
• Children of Bodom: Are You Dead Yet? (Spinefarm)
• Margaret Cho: Assassin (Nettwerk)
• The Cumberlands: Civil War Tribute Collection (Rural Rhythm)
• A Day in Black and White: Notes (Level Plane)
• The Dead Science: Frost Giant (Absolutely Kosher)
• Destiny's Child: #1s (Sony) DualDisc
• Dirty Faces: Superamerican (Jagjaguwar)
• Dr. Israel: Presents Dreadtone Int'l - Patterns of War (Roir)
• The Drift: Noumena (Temporary Residence)
• The Earlies: These Were The Earlies (Secretly Canadian)
• Ricki Erik: Born to Rock (Titan/Pyramind)
• Faith Evans: A Faithful Christmas (Capitol)
• The Fiery Furnaces: Rehearsing My Choir (Rough Trade)

• The Five Boroughs: Doo Wop Under the Palms (Collectables)
• Al Franken: The Al Franken Show Party Album (Artemis)
• Paula Frazer: Leave the Sad Things Behind (Birdman)
• Goblin Cock: Bagged and Boarded (Absolutely Kosher)
• Great Big Sea: The Hard and the Easy (Rounder) CD/DVD package.
• Joel Harrison: Harrison on Harrison (Highnote)
• Marcos Hernandez: C About Me (TVT)
• I Am Ghost: We Are Always Searching EP (Epitaph)
• Icarus Witch: Capture the Magic (Magick)
• Il Divo: The Christmas Collection (Columbia)
• Frankie J.: The One (DualDisc) (Columbia)
• Jan Jelinek: Kosmischer Pitch (scape)
• Colin John Band: Acousticland Lady (Rockview)
• Calvin Johnson: Before the Dream Faded... (K Records)
• The LeeVees: Hanukkah Rocks (Reprise)
• Jacques Loussier: Mozart: Piano Concertos, No. 20 in D Minor and No. 23 in A Major (Telarc)
• Mat Maneri: Pentagon (Thirsty Ear)
• MDD: Modern Day David (Promise Communication)
• Meat Beat Manifesto: Off Centre (Thirsty Ear)

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 8:59 AM | Link | Comment (2)
|Previews|

If ever the music business was a business it's obvious as we near Christmas. This time is to music what summer is to movies. Big hits. Big bidgets. Low risk.

And so there's a Brian Wilson Christmas album, a Melissa Etheridge collection, a Bryan Adams anthology, another series in J Records' cash cow (Rod Stewart's American Songbook collections), the return of Martina McBride and a new album by paparazzi favorite Ashlee Simpson. And Depeche Mode is back with a new record after a four year layoff. Playing The Angel been ranked high at Amazon.com based on only its preorders and received four-and-a-half stars at Allmusic.com ("Playing the Angel is both the band's best album since Violator and, more significantly, an album that is near Violator in stature.")

There are a few wildcards out there as well. Rev Run (of Run DMC) releases his album Distortion on Def Jam. MEST returns with Photographs and hopefully some cash for Maverick Records. Chris Botti will get this week's smooth jazz dollars with his new one Still In Love on Columbia. Thrice returns with Vheissu on Island.

On the indie side, Animal Collective's Feels (Fat Cat) looks to have a lot of momentum and will most likely be received well by the critics. Electronic duo Boards of Canada have its first album in over three yeras with Campfire Headphones (Warp). Elbow's Leader of the Free World (V2) has been out as an import for many months, and labelmates Grandaddy have an EP, Excerpts from the Diary of Todd Zilla, that does not have on it the song you've been hearing in a car ad ("Nature Anthem" is on Below the Radar).

A title that's off most radars is the soundtrack to the video game Stubbs the Zombie (on Shout! Factory). It has '50s-era songs covered by bands like Death Cab for Cutie ("Earth Angel"), Rogue Wave ("Everyday"), The Flaming Lips ("If Only I Had A Brain"), Phantom Planet ("The Living Dead") and the Dandy Warhols ("All I Have To Do Is Dream").

• 10 Ft. Ganja Plant: Bass Chalice (ROIR)
• Bryan Adams: Anthology (Remastered) (A&M)
• Eric Andersen: Waves (Appleseed) Covers of songs by Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, others.
• Animal Collective: Feels (Fat Cat)
• Asamov: And Now... (6 Hole) Features 9th Wonder, J-Live, others.
• The Beautiful Newborn Children: Hey People! (Domino)
• Blockhead: Downtown Science (Ninja Tune)
• Blueskins: Change Your Mind EP (Domino)
• Boards of Canada: Campfire Headphase (Warp)
• Books on Tape: Dinosaur Dinosaur (Alien 8)
• Chris Botti: Still in Love (Columbia) DualDisc also available.
• The Briefs: Steal Yer Heart (BYO)
• Brothers Past: This Feeling's Called Goodbye (Range)
• Burnside Project: The Finest Example Is You (Bar/None)
• John Cale: Black Acetate (Astralwerks)
• Charlemagne: Detour Allure (SideCho)
• Chumscrubber: Soundtrack (Lakeshore)
• Cirque du Soleil: KA (Soundtrack) (Cirque Du Soleil)
• Classic Case: Dress to Depress (Fiddler)
• Billy Currington: Doin' Somethin' Right (Mercury Nashville)
• Depeche Mode: Playing the Angel (Reprise)

• Dr. Neptune: Beyond Warped (Immergent) DualDisc.
• Elbow: Leaders of the Free World (V2)
• Melissa Etheridge: Greatest Hits: Road Less Traveled (Island) CD/DVD combo, $29.98 list price.
• Faded Me: When It's Over (Bungalo)
• Faunts: High Expectations/Low Results (Friendly Fire)
• Fireball Ministry: Their Rock Is Not Our Rock (Liquor and Poker)
• Tim Garland: If the Sea Replied (Sirocco)
• Chris Gerolmo: I'm Your Daddy (Lakeshore)
• Grandaddy: Excerpts from the Diary of Todd Zilla EP (V2)
• Mick Harvey: One Man's Treasure (Mute)
• The Jade Shader: Curse of the Tuatara (Sonic Boom)
• Jneiro Jarel: Three Piece Puzzle (Rope-a-dope)
• Johnny Society: Coming to Get You (Messenger)
• Brie Larson: Finally Out of P.E. (Casablanca)
• Erik Larson: Faith, Hope, Love (Small Stone)
• Tracy Lawrence: Then and Now: The Hits Collection (DreamWorks Nashville)
• Steve Lehman: Demian as a Post Human (Pi)
• Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra featuring Wynton Marsalis: Don't Be Afraid...the Music of Charles Mingus (Palmetto)
• LongShot:: Civil War Pt. 2 (EV Productions) CD/DVD combo
• The Lovetones: Meditations (Tee Pee)
• Marah: If You Didn't Laugh, You'd Cry (Yep Roc)
• Martina McBride: Timeless (RCA Nashville)
• Messer Chups: Crazy Price (Ipecac)
• MEST: Photographs (Maverick)
• Jane Monheit: The Season (Epic)
• M.O.P.: St. Marxman (Koch)
• Mum: Yesterday Was Dramatic - Today Is OK (Morr Music)

Explore: The Music Of Mum

Continued...

Continue reading "Previewing the Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 8:59 AM | Link | Comment (1)
|Previews|

Like on many other Tuesdays in 2005, tomorrow's releases are a mix of youth and age. Story of the Year are back with a new album, again on Maverick Records. Alicia Keys -- a young veteran -- releases an unplugged album. (I guess the unplugged format is still alive and well. And why not? It's usually money in the bank for an established artist.) T.A.T.U., the young Russian female duo that rode fake lesbianism all the way up the pop charts, have a new album. And -- surprise! -- it has guests Sting (on a song written by Dave Stewart) and Richard Carpenters (one half the famed pop duo The Carpenters).

Danger Mouse is a newcomer of sorts. The producer whose The Grey Album became a rallying cry for the Lessig set got some production gigs out of the millions of free downloads, but a miniscule number of people felt encourage to actually buy his music. Let's see if that changes with the release of a new album by Danger Doom, his collaboration with prolific rapper MF Doom.

As for the age, a highlight is the Return the Gift, the return of Gang of Four. Thanks to Franz Ferdinand, the Rapture and a hundred thousand name-dropping music critics, Gang of Four's seminal Entertainment! is now considered a cornerstone of post punk. Rhino re-released it earlier this year. Now V2 releases a new record on the heels of some successful reunion touring. Check that -- it's a new record of re-recorded old songs. So yeah, it's a covers album, but they're their songs.

Dolly Parton's new album, Those Were the Days, has more guests than a Carlos Santana album: Norah Jones, Lee Ann Womack, Nickel Creek, Keith Urban, Alison Krauss and Mindy Smith and others.

Autralian trio The Dirty Three have a new album. Paul Weller (The Jam, Style Council) returns with a new album that has been getting good reviews. Metal veterans Sevendust are back, as is former Ride singer Mark Gardener.

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• Abel: Alegría Musica (Tommy Boy)
• ADULT.: Gimme Trouble (Thrill Jockey)
• Agents of the Sun: Monarchs of a Fallen Society (DCide)
• Gary Allan: Tough All Over (MCA Nashville)
• Allister Before the Blackout (Drive-Thru)
• Annihilation Time: Annihilation Time II (Manic Ride)
• Barr: Beyond Reinforced Jewelcase (Kill Rock Stars)
• Boris/Merzbow: Sun Baked Snow Cave (Hyrdrahead)
• Broken Bones: F.O.A.D. (Beer City)
• Brotzmann/Bennink: Schwarzwaldfahrt (Atavistic)
• Jackson Browne: Solo Acoustic - Volume 1 (Inside)
• The Capes: Hello (Hard Soul)
• The Castanets: First Light's Freeze (Secretly Canadian)
• Celebration: Celebration (4AD)
• The Circle of Tyrants: The Circle of Tyrants (Psycho Logical)
• The Claudia Quintet: Semi-Formal (Cuneiform)
• The Clientele: Strange Geometry (Merge)
• John Coltrane: One Down, One Up: Live at the Half Note (Impulse)
• Company: Parallel Time (Secretly Canadian)
• Constantines Tournament of Hearts (Sub Pop)
• Crucial Unit: Everything Went Strunk (Six Weeks)
• Jamie Cullum: Catching Tales (Verve) Special edition also available with a DVD containing a 20-minute documentary.

Explore: The Music of Danger Mouse

• Danger Doom: The Mouse & the Mask (Epitaph)
• Chris Daniels & the Kings: 10 (Moon Voyage)
• Deerhoof: The Runners Four (Kill Rock Stars)
• dios (malos): dios (malos) (StarTime International)
• The Dirty Three: Cinder (Touch and Go)
• Early Man: Closing In (Matador) Produced by Matt Sweeney.
• Elizabethtown: Original Score (RCA Victor) Score by Nancy Wilson of Heart and wife of movie director Cameron Crowe.
• Roky Erickson: Live (Last Call)
• Explosions in the Sky: How Strange, Innocence (Temporary Residence)
• Fingers Cut: Megamachine Pipe Dreams EP (Thick)
• Frankie J: The One (Columbia) DualDisc, with bonus track.
• Gamma Ray: Majestic (Sanctuary)

• Gang of Four: Return the Gift (V2)
• Mark Gardener: These Beautiful Ghosts (United for Opportunity)
• Great Lake Swimmers: Bodies and Minds (Misra)
• Hanson: The Best of Live and Electric (Three Car Garage) DualDisc also available.
• Buddy Holly: Gold (Geffen)

Jump-click for more:

Continue reading "Previewing the Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 9:20 AM | Link
|Previews|

Fiona Apple's never-shelved-only-re-recorded Extraordinary Machine finally (you can exhale now) comes out tomorrow. Producer Mike Elizondo and Ms. Apple reworked all but two of the Jon Brion-produced tracks that fans, journalists and your run-of-the-mill downloaders fell in love with when the "Free Fiona" campaign was at its crest.

Nickelback, the Rodney Dangerfields of rock music, return with All the Right Reasons. Did you ever hear the MP3 with two Nickelback songs playing simultaneously, one on each channel? It's classic formula rock at its best. Here's the thing about formula rock: It pays the bills like you wouldn't believe. All the Right Reasons is going to be on every Wal-Mart, Target, Circuit City and Best Buy endcap, it'll be a popular stocking stuffer and should sell well into the new year.

Franz Ferinand's You Could Have Had It So Much Better hasn't been nearly as well received by the critics as was its debut. No matter. These guys will do fine. The album is shipping 400,000 according to Hits, so look for first week scans in the 80,000 area.

Indie rockers have a few things to look forward to tomorrow. Broken Social Scene's self-titled album has enough sass to please its fans and possibly enough to find a few new ones. Finding new fans is still on Liz Phair's mind. Has an artist once so beloved ever been so hated? (Jerry Lee Lewis doesn't count.) Don't worry, Liz. The guys who blushed listening to Exile In Guyville wouldn't be buying your records now even if you still had indie cred.

Anybody heard the new Sinead O'Connor album, Throw Down Your Arms? Hope you like reggae. It was produced by Sly & Robbie.

James Blunt is one of the UK's breakout stories of 2005. His Back to Bedlam finally gets a U.S. release.

• Aiden: Nightmare Anatomy (Victory)
• Arild Andersen: Electra (ECM)
• Ian Anderson: Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull (Benz Street)
• Fiona Apple: Extraordinary Machine (Epic) DualDisc also available.
• Atmosphere: You Can't Believe How Much Fun We're Having (Rhymesayers)
• Anita Baker: Christmas Fantasy (Blue Note)
• Basic Channel: Basic Channel (Basic Channel) Reissue.
• Andy Bell: Electric Blue (Sanctuary)
• Clint Black: Drinkin' Songs & Other Logic (Equity Music)
• Gus Black: Uncivilized Love (Immergent)
• Ronnie Bowman: The Mountain (Koch)
• Jim Brickman: The Disney Songbook (Disney)
• Brimstone Butterfly: Normality Killed the Cat (Silverline) DualDisc.
• Broken Social Scene: Broken Social Scene (Arts & Crafts) The limited edition version has a six-track bonus disc.
• Cindy Bullens: dream #29 (LetsPLAY)
• Chris Cagle: Anywhere But Here (Capitol Nashville)
• Chevreuil: Sport (Sick Room)
• Cream: Royal Albert Hall, London, May 2-3-5-6 (Reprise)
• Cross Canadian Ragweed: Garage (Universal South)
• DJ Dan: Lift (Thrive)
• Doo: Cold Shower (Dreyfus)
• Will Downing: Soul Symphony (GRP/Verve)
• Dwele: Some Kinda... (Virgin) Guests include Slum Village and Boney James.
• Ebony Eyez: 7 Day Cycle (Capitol)
• Linda Eder: By Myself: A Tribute to Judy Garland (Angel)
• Mark Eitzel: Candy Ass (Cooking Vinyl)
• Sara Evans: Real Fine Place (RCA)
• The Fall: Fall Heads Roll (Narnack)
• Fates Warning: Chasing Time/Still Life (Metal Blade) Three-CD set.
• Kirk Franklin: Hero (Gospocentric)
• Franz Ferdinand: You Could Have It So Much Better (Epic)
• Paula Frazer: Leave the Sad Things Behind (Birdman)
• Ghostface Killah: 718: Stapleton to Somalia (Koch)
• Robert Glasper: Canvas (Blue Note)
• The Go! Team: Thunder, Lightning, Strike (Columbia) Domestic version has two bonus tracks not on the import.
• Goldblade: Rebel Songs (Anarchy Music)
• Delia Gonzalez and Gavin Russom: Days of Mars (DFA/Astralwerks)
• Kevin Gordon: O Come Look at the Burning (Crowville Collective)
• Happy Mondays: Step On (Snapper) A 2004 Barcelona concert.
• Hi-5: It's a Hi-5 Christmas (Koch)
• The (International) Noise Conspiracy: Armed Love (American/Reprise) Re-release.
• Jemima James: Book Me Back in Your Dreams (Tomato)
• Liz Janes and Create: Liz Janes and Create EP (Secretly Canadian)
• Jimmy Eat World: Stay on My Side Tonight EP (Interscope)
• Anders Jormin: XIEYI (ECM)
• Journey: Generations (Sanctuary)
• Lucy Kaplansky: The Tide (Red House)
• Kiss Me Deadly: Misty Medley (Alien 8)
• Smokin' Joe Kubek: Served Up Texas Style: The Best of (Bullseye)
• Ladytron: The Witching Hour (Rykodisc)
• Kenny Lattimore and Chante Moore: Uncovered (La Face)
• Steve Lawler: Lights Out 3 (Global Underground)

Continue reading "Previewing the Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 10:07 AM | Link | Comment (2)
|Previews|

Tomorrow is a big day for new releases. For starters, rookie jailbird Lil' Kim -- a.k.a. "the victim" -- releases The Naked Truth tomorrow. Nice irony. She was sentenced to jail for not telling the truth and the album lacks the nudity most people would like to see.

Sean Paul is finally back. The Trinity will show if this dancehall star has lost anything while reggaeton became everybody's favorite buzzword. And Gretchen Wilson, the redneck woman, is back with All Jacked Up. Wilson became a superstar on the success of her debut, Here for the Party.

As far as cult heroes go, they don't get more revered than Alex Chilton. He is back with a brand new Big Star record. Neil Young has his own sizable cult (the mainstream kind) and a new album out tomorrow, Prarie Wind. And Coolfer favorites The High Strung, one of the hardest working bands in the country, have a fantastic new album, Moxie Bravo, out on Future Farmer.

• Abandoned Pools: Armed to the Teeth (Universal) $9.98 list price.
• Ryan Adams & the Cardinals: Jacksonville City Nights (Mercury Nashville)
• Rusty Anderson: Undressing Underwater (Surf Dog) Anderson is a member of Paul McCartney's band. Album features appearances by McCartney and Stewart Copeland.
• B-Legit: Block Movement (SMC)
• The Band: A Musical History (Capitol) Six-disc box set.
• Jello Biafra and the Melvins: Sieg Howdy (Alternative Tentacles)
• Big Star: In Space (Rykodisc) Original memebers Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens are joined by Jonathan Auer and Ken Stringfellow of the Posies.
• Biology: Making Moves (Vagrant)
• Bizzy Bone: Speaking in Tongues (845 Entertainment)
• Blackalicious: The Craft (Epitaph)
• Blind Melon: Best of Blind Melon (Capitol)
• Bloodhound Gang: Hefty Fine (Geffen)
• Toni Braxton: Libra (Universal Motown)
• Junior Brown: The Austin Experience (Telarc)
• Calla: Collisions (Beggars Banquet) Watch the video for "It Dawned On Me" (Real Video High or Low)
• Bruce Campbell: Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way (Rykodisc)
• Vivian Campbell: Two Sides of If (Sanctuary) Def Leppard guitarist.
• The Carpenters: Chronicles (A&M) Three-CD box set.
• Ray Cash: C.O.D. (Columbia)
• Tom Chapin: Some Assembly Required (Razor & Tie)
• Bill Charlap and Sandy Stewart: Love Is Here to Stay (Blue Note)
• Bruce Cockburn: Speechless (Rounder)
• Sheryl Crow: Wildflower (Interscope)
• Carlene Davis: Rock Me Jesus (VP)
• The Detroit Cobras: Baby (Bloodshot) Website.
• DJ Jazzy Jeff: The Soul Mixtape (Groovin)
• The East Village Opera Company (Decca)
• Michael Feinstein with George Shearing: Hopeless Romantics (Concord)
• Grandaddy: Excerpts from the Diary of Todd Zilla EP (V2) Website.
• The Greatest Game Ever Played: Soundtrack (Hollywood)
• Grey's Anatomy: Soundtrack (Hollywood)
• Gryphon: Crossing the Styles (Sanctuary)
• Buddy Guy: Bring 'Em In (Jive) Features Carlos Santana, Keith Richard. Website.
• H.I.M.: Dark Light (Sire)
• The High Strung: Moxie Bravo (Future Farmer) Website.

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 9:04 AM | Link
|Previews|

It's time to stop wondering if every Tuesday's release schedule is the one that will start the industry's recovery. Sales are down about 9% as we near the end of the third quarter. Even though the fourth quarter will have the highest share of the year's sales, it always has the highest share of the year's sale. No matter how good the release schedule and how well the public takes to the releases, ending the year even with last year's album tally is too unlikely to even consider.

As if that weren't enough reason, the plain fact is that album sales aren't a good representation of the health of the music industry. Albums get the attention. There are a million and one album charts that will prolong the obsession with album sales. And albums make up the bulk of the industry's revenues. It makes sense that all eyes continue to follow album sales. But they should look elsewhere. Like I've said before, there's a lot of movement in single downloads, album downloads, streaming and music DVDs. Those components form a formidable sector that is struggling to make up for the 2005 album deficit.

That said, tomorrow's album release schedule is bountiful. Barbra Streisand is back. Rhino has another Ray Charles collection to offer to fans (or, if you're cynical, to capitalize on his fame). Earth, Wind & Fire had the misfortune of sharing the stage with Black Eyed Peas during last night's Emmy awards...hopefully their fans will forgive them for that debacle. Nada Surf return with a new long player, and Disturbed will act as a litmus test for metal in the post-nu-metal era.

• A.R.E. Weapons: Free in the Streets (Defend)
• Agent Sparks: Not So Merry (Immortal)
• The American Analog Set: Set Free (Arts & Crafts)
• Anthrax: Alive 2: The Music (Sanctuary)
• The Bad Plus: Suspicious Activity (Columbia) Copy-protected CD.
• David Banner: Certified (Universal) DualDisc also available.
• Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash: Mile Markers (Emergent)
• Miri Ben-Ari: The Hip Hop Violinist (Universal) Features Kanye West, Twista.
• Norman & Nancy Blake: Back Home to Sulphur Springs (DualTone)
• Bon Jovi: Have a Nice Day (Island) DualDisc also available.
• Broadcast: Tender Buttons (Warp)
• Kev Brown: I Do What I Do (Up Above)
• Burning Spear: Our Music (Burning Music)
• Ryan Cabrera: You Stand Watching (Atlantic)
• Cage: Hell's Winter (Definitive Jux) Features Jello Biafra, James McNew, DJ Shadow, RJD2, Aesop Rock, more.
• Cartel: Chroma (Militia)
• Ray Charles: Genius and Friends (Rhino)
• Coheed & Cambria: Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV: Volume 1. From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness (Columbia)
• Cold Blood: Transfusion (Dig)
• The Corpse Bride: Soundtrack (Warner Bros) Music by Danny Elfman.
• Daltry Calhoun: Soundtrack (Lakeshore) Music of Johnny Cash, Wilco, Bob Dylan, more.
• D:Fuse: People 3: Both Sides of the Picture (Live) (Moist Music)
• Desperate Housewives: Soundtrack (Hollywood) Music by Liz Phair, SheDaisy, Joss Stone, Shania Twain, LeeAnn Rimes, more.
• Disturbed: Ten Thousand Fists (Reprise) Special edition also available.
• Jerry Douglas: The Best Kept Secret (Koch)
• Earth: Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method (Southern Lord)
• Earth, Wind & Fire: Illumination (Sanctuary)
• Echo & the Bunnymen: Siberia (Cooking Vinyl)
• El Ten Eleven: El Ten Eleven (Bar/None)
• Flightplan: Soundtrack (Hollywood) By James Horner.
• Forever Plaid: Soundtrack (Koch)
• Alex Gold: Back from a Break (Koch) Feaures Phil Oakey.
• Horse: The Mechanical Band (Koch)
• Jamiroquai: Dynamite (Epic)
• Kingsbury Manx: The Fast Rise and Fall of the South (Yep Roc)
• Ellay Khule: Califormula (Project Blowed/Decon) Features Nobody, Omid, Busdriver, Aceyalone.
• Lawless Element: Soundvision: In Stereo (Babygrande) Features Phat Kat, Diverse, production by Jay Dee, Madlib.
• LaToya London: Love & Life (Peak)
• Lord of War: Soundtrack (Lakeshore)
• Man Alive: Open Surgery (Militia)

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 4:24 PM | Link | Comment (1)
|Previews|

My my. What a big release week. Nu-metal holdovers, new pop sensations, long silent rock stars and a few bonafide legends will all make a splash tomorrow. There's something for any music fan and multiple mandatory purchases for the more serious music lovers.

• A Dozen Furies: A Concept from Fire (Sanctuary)
• Shawn Amos: Thank You Shirl-ee May (A Love Story) (DualDisc; ICE #222) (Shout! Factory)
• Apollo Sunshine: Apollo Sunshine (spinART)
• Arizona Amp and Alternator: Arizona Amp and Alternator (Thrill Jockey) Howe Gelb of Giant Sand fame.
• Devendra Banhart: Cripple Crow (XL Recordings)
• Blue Rodeo: Are You Ready (Rounder)
• Blues Traveler: Bastardos! (Vanguard)
• Cave In: Perfect Pitch Black (Hydra Head)
• Sam Champion: Slow Rewind (Razor & Tie)
• Tracy Chapman: Where You Live (Atlantic) Produced by Tchad Blake.
• Cherry Monroe: The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful (Rust/Universal)
• CocoRosie: Noah's Ark (Touch and Go)
• The Crimea: Tragedy Rocks (Warner Bros)
• Dandy Warhols: Odditorium or Warlords of Mars (Capitol) Also available as a CD/DVD version. The DVD has live songs and three previously unreleased videos.
• Diamond Nights: Popsicle (Kemado)
• Rob Dickinson: Fresh Wine for the Horses (Sanctuary)
• The Double: Loose in the Air (Matador)
• Elizabethtown: Soundtrack (RCA) Features music by Nancy Wilson, Tom Petty, Ryan Adams, My Morning Jacket, more.
• Giant Drag: Heart & Unicorns (Kickball)
• David Gray: Life in Slow Motion (ATO) DualDisc and CD versions available.
• H.I.M.: Greatest Love Songs, Vol. 666 (Universal)
• Institute: Distort Yourself (Interscope) DualDisc and CD versions available. Gavin Rossdale of Bush fame. Produced by Page Hamilton.
• Iron and Wine/Calexico: In the Reins EP (Touch and Go)
• Syleena Johnson: Chapter 3: The Flesh (Jive) Featuring Kanye West, R. Kelly, Jermain Dupri, others.
• George Jones: Hits I Missed...and One I Didn't (Bandit)
• Just Like Heaven: Soundtrack (Columbia) Songs by the Cure, Pete Yorn, Beck, Bowling For Soup, Kelis, The Cars, Imogen Heap.
• B.B. King: 80 (Geffen) Guests include Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Roger Daltry, Elton John, Mark Knopfler, Darryl Hall and John Oates and Billy Gibbons.
• Little Brother: The Minstrel Show (Atlantic)
• Patty Loveless: Dreaming My Dreams (Epic)
• Damian Marley: Welcome to Jamrock (Universal)
• Paul McCartney: Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard (Capitol) Co-produced by Nigel Godrich. A limited edition CD/DVD version is also available. The DVD has a documentary, a studio performance, an animated piece and two other tracks.
• PussyCat Dolls: PCD (A&M)
• Queen + Paul Rodgers: Return of the Champions (Hollywood)
• Bonnie Raitt: Souls Alike (Capitol)
• Sigur Rós: Takk... (Geffen)
• Smif N Wesson: Reloaded (Duck Down)
• Stellastarr*: Harmonies for the Haunted (RCA)
• Super Furry Animals: Love Kraft (XL Recordings)
• Switchfoot: Nothing Is Sound (Columbia) DualDisc and CD versions available.
• Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate: In the Heart of the Moon (Nonesuch)
• Trapt: Someone in Control (Warner Bros)
• Vandermark 5: The Color of Memory (Atavistic)
• Charlie Wilson: Charlie, Last Name Wilson (Jive)
• Dar Williams: My Better Self (Razor & Tie)
• Trisha Yearwood: Jasper County (MCA Nashville)

Posted by Glenn at 3:24 PM | Link
|Previews|

There are only a few certainties in life. The Godfathers hit on four of the five in their song "Birth, School, Work, Death." The other is a backlash against a special edition re-release that contains songs or other content that wasn't on the original. Trying to give something back to the fans? Consider it some kind of benevolent gesture? It doesn't matter. Intent means nothing. All that matters in the Great Music Industry Public Relations Campaign is the public's perception.

Tomorrow's re-release of 50 Cent's The Massacre will probably support the widespread opinion that record labels are run by shysters who don't know movie studios and video game makers now offer more bang for the buck. They're the good guys. Labels and superstar recording artists are the bad guys. Think about that the next time you're deciding upon a wholesale cost or wondering if including a DVD on the original version would or would not be a good idea.

• 32 Leaves: Welcome to the Fall (Double Blind) Website.
• 50 Cent: The Massacre (Aftermath/Interscope) Re-release with both a CD and a DVD and a previously unreleased track
• The Absence: From Your Grave (Metal Blade)
• Against Me!: Searching for a Former Clarity (Fat Wreck Chords) Download MP3s of album tracks "Don't Lose Touch" and "Problems"
• Doug Alan: Sun, Surf and Sand (Amerimusic)
• Angel: Where Have You Been? (Azica)
• Sam Ashworth: Gonna Get It Wrong Before I Get It Right (Runway Network)
• Augustana: All the Stars and Boulevards (Epic) Website. Produced by Brendan O'Brien
• AZ: Awol (Koch)
• Joan Baez: Bowery Songs (Koch)
• Bellini: Small Stones (Temporary Resistance)
• Between the Buried and Me: Alaska (Victory)
• Black Dice: Broken Ear Record (DFA/Astralwerks)
• Blood on the Wall: Awesomer (The Social Registry)
• Terry Bozzio and Metropole Orkest: Chamber Works (Favored Nations)
• Shirley Caesar: I Know the Truth (Artemis)
• Kate Campbell: Blues and Lamentations (Large River)
• Johnny Casino's Easy Action: We've Forgotten More Than You'll Ever Know (Steel Cage)
• Casual: Casual Presents Smash Rockwell (Red Urban) Features Too $hort, Psalm One, Young Zee, Richie Rich and E 40
• George Clinton: How Late Do U Have 2 B B 4 U R Absent? (The C Kunspyruhzy)
• Barbara Cook: Tribute (Drg)
• Danielia Cotton: Small White Town (Hip Shake)
• Dabrye: INSTRMNTL (Eastern Developments) Website.
• Deaf Pedestrians: Deaf Pedestrians (Dot point period)
• Dirty on Purpose: Sleep Late for a Better Tomorrow (North Street)
• The Divorce: The Gifted Program (Made in Mexico) Download the album tracks "Yes!" and "Fishing With The Party Sharks"
• Alan Doug: Sun, Surf and Sand (Amerimusic)
• Drums & Tuba: Battles Ole (Righteous Babe)
• Eazy-E: Eternal E (Priority)
• Enzo Favata: Ajo (Dunya)
• Everything Is Illuminated: Soundtrack (TVT) Music by Tin Hat Trio, Paul Cantelon, Liningrad, more.
• Frontier Index: Frontier Index (Rainbow Quartz)

The list continues after the click...

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Posted by Glenn at 12:00 PM | Link
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It's not every Tuesday a much anticipated hip hop release arrives. This week we've got two of them. Kanye West's Late Registration arrives amidst a maelstrom of publicity. National magazines, online sites and the nation's biggest newspapers have had Kanye's name and face in front of millions. In a Kanye-less week Tony Yayo's Thoughts of a Predicate Felon would be the album to watch.

The summer's biggest song, "Pon de Replay," is on Rihanna's album Music Of The Sun that comes out tomorrow.

Death Cab for Cutie's Plans, its major label debut, was pushed up a week. If it was pushed up two weeks it may have had a chance to debut at #1. After seeing how this album has been set up, I think there's a decent chance Plans could scan over 100,000 in its first week. Reviews have been spotty but most seem to agree that the first single, “Soul Meets Body,” is a winner.

A few career artists have albums out tomorrow. Herbie Hancock is going the Santana route with his pop star-studded Possibilities. It's being released in conjuntion with Starbucks' Hear Music. Eric Clapton's is back with Back Home. And the soundtrack to Bob Dylan's No Direction Home, a documenatary by Martin Scorsese, is also out tomorrow.

• 30 Seconds to Mars: A Beautiful Lie (Virgin) Website.
• Yolanda Adams: Day by Day (Atlantic) Features Donnie McClurkin.
• The Baxter: Soundtrack (Milan)
• Bodyrockers: Bodyrockers (Universal)
• Brooks & Dunn: Hillbilly Deluxe (Arista Nashville)
• Casting Crowns: Lifesong (Reunion) Website.
• Eric Clapton: Back Home (Reprise) There is also a limited edition DualDisc.
• Cold: A Different Kind of Pain (Lava/Atlantic)
• Conjure One: Extraordinary Ways (Nettwerk)
• Contra: This Machine Kills (Sin-Drome)
• The Coral: The Invisible Invasion (Columbia)
• Death Cab for Cutie: Plans (Atlantic)
• Bob Dylan: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack (The Bootleg Series Vol. 7) (Columbia/Legacy)
• Thea Gilmore: Songs from the Gutter (Compass)
• Euge Groove: Just Feels Right (Narada)
• Hackensaw Boys: Love What You Do (Nettwerk)
• Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra: Not In Our Name (Verve)
• Hamlet: Syberia (Locomotive)
• Herbie Hancock: Possibilities (Hancock/Vector/Starbucks Hear Music) Guests include John Mayer, Joss Stone, Damien Rice, Sting, Carlos Santana, Annie Lennox, more.
• J-Live: The Hear After (Penalty) Website.
• Juliet: Random Order (Virgin)
• Lazy: Incorporated (Water)
• Wynton Marsalis: Live at the House of Tribes (Blue Note)

The rest of the list after the click...

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 9:40 AM | Link | Comment (1)
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Summer's almost over, the back-to-school dollars are flowing and the release schedule is picking up. Tomorrow sees a lot of mid-level releases and a few that should be big sellers. U.K. Chart-topper Crazy Frog, basically an animated William Hung, finally makes its U.S. Debut tomorrow. Prepare to be annoyed.

The week's hip hop releases may be decent performers. Jim Jones' Diary of a Summer is out on Koch. Eminem, D12, Talib Kweli, Nate Dogg show up on Bulletpoof by Hush. Eminem produced two of the tracks for the Detroit rapper's Geffen debut. The Black Eyed Pea's will.I.Am shows up on a few tracks on the new Blood of Abraham album. A new one from Young Bleed, too.

As for rock, there's a grab bag. Just the fact that Bjork's name is on the soundtrack to "Drawing Restraint 9" is cause for celebration, but buyer beware: It's not your typical Bjork album (if that word can be used with her). Black Rebel Motorcycle club have a new album on a new label, RCA. The album is a change from its previous two and can be previewed at the band's MySpace.com page. All you Pat Boone fans get a special treat. U2's Bono is a guest on his new album.

It's a big week for indie rock. The New Pornographers are back with another album for Matador Records. New Buffalo, who released her ablum to great reviews in her native Australia, gets her album released in the States through Arts & Crafts. Rogue Wave has a new EP, and the prolific John Vanderslice is putting out another album for Barsuk. Plus there are new albums by Broken Spindles, The Cribs and The Warlocks.

In country there's a new Sawyer Brown album on Curb, Mission Temple Fireworks Stand.
Big day for soundtracks as well: Queer as Folk: The Fifth Season the television series and soundtracks to the movies Four Brothers, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, The Brothers Grimm.

• The 40-Year-Old Virgin: Soundtrack (Shout! Factory)
• Alcyone: The Stars Are Real (System)
• American Princes: Little Spaces (Yep Roc) Reissue.
• Animosity: Empires (Metal Blade)
• August Born: August Born (Drag City) Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance and Hiroyuki Usui. Download an MP3 of the song "Birds And Sun And Clay."
• Bayside: Bayside (Victory)
• Beautiful Creatures: Deuce (Eagle Rock)
• Sarah Bettens: Scream (Hybrid) Former singer for K's Choice
• Biirdie Morning: Kills the Dark (Pop Up)
• Bjork: Drawing Restraint 9 (One Little Indian)
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Howl (RCA) Preview entire album at band's MySpace.com page. Forward is disabled.
• The Bled: Found in the Blood (Vagrant)
• Blood of Abraham: Eyedollartree (guests Will.I.Am of Black Eyed Peas, Divine Styler and Kool Keith) (Red Urban)
• Bobaflex: Apologize for Nothing (TVT)
• Pat Boone: Glory Train: The Lost Sessions (Oak) Guests include LeAnn Rimes, Kenny Rodgers and, believe it or not, Bono.
• boris with merzbow: sun baked snow cave (Hydra Head)

Many more CD and DVD releases after the click...

Continue reading "Previewing The Week Ahead" »

Posted by Glenn at 7:08 AM | Link
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Tomorrow sees youth go up against a lot of age. The youth isn't represented by much new material. Hillary Duff's Most Wanted has three new songs and some remixes. Island Records is tossing out The Killers' Hot Fuss with some new material. On the other hand, country star Brad Paisley has a new album of all new material. Nineties holdovers 311 are back with Don't Tread On Me. Eighties Christian metal band Stryper are back with a new album -- and the yellow and black get-up is back as well.

• Brad Paisley: Time Well Wasted (Arista Nashville)
• Hillary Duff: Most Wanted (Hollywood)
• Taproot: Blue Sky Research (Atlantic) Billy Corgan co-wrote some of the songs.
• 311: Don't Tread on Me (Volcano)
• The Killers: Hot Fuss limited edition (Island)
• Aly & A.J.: Into the Rush (Hollywood)
• Rodney Crowell: The Outsider (Columbia Nashville)
• Cowboy Junkies: Early 21st Century Blues (Rounder)
• Eddy Arnold: After All These Years (RCA Nashville)
• Hanna-McEuen: Hanna-McEuen (MCA Nashville)
• Various: Listen to Bob Dylan: A Tribute (Drive-Thru) Featuring Jason Mraz, Something Corporate, Rock 'N' Roll Soldiers.
• Pras: Win Lose or Draw (Universal Motown) Features Wyclef and Sean Paul
• Bedlight for Blueeyes: The Dawn (Trustkill)
• Madness: The Dangerman Sessions Vol. 1 (V2)
• Various: Hands Across the Water (Compass) Featuring Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Vince Gill, more.
• Elvin Bishop: Gettin' My Groove Back (Blind Pig)
• The Click Five: Greetings from Imrie House (Lava) Features Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne) and Paul Stanley
• Foghorn String Band: Weiser Sunrise (Nettwerk)
• Shemekia Copeland: The Soul Truth (Alligator)
• American Minor: American Minor (Red Ink)
• The Fall of Troy: Doppelganger (Equal Vision)
• The Blasters: 4-11-44 (Rainman)
• Jimmie Dale Gilmore: Come on Back (Rounder)
• Rick James: Forever (Sanctuary)
• Malcolm Middleton: Into the Woods (Chemikal Underground) Album by a member of the Arab Strap. Features members of the Delgados and Mogwai.
• 10 Years: The Autumn Effect (Universal)
• Gang Gang Dance: Hillulah EP (Secretly Canadian)
• Stryper: Reborn (Big3)
• Tren Brothers: The Swimmer (enhanced CD) (Western Vinyl) Tren Brothers are Mick Turner and Jim White.
• Silverstein: Discovering the Waterfront (Victory)
• Nazarenes: Songs of Life (Heartbeat)
• Sleeping People: Sleeping People (Secretly Canadian)
• Abdel Wright: Abdel Wright (Interscope)
• Jimmy Webb: Twilight of the Renegades (Sanctuary)
• The Banner: Each Breath Haunted (Ferret)
• Oxes: Oxes EP (Secretly Canadian)
• Unstable Ensemble: Embers (Secretly Canadian)
• The Waco Brothers: Freedom and Weep (Bloodshot)
• A Wilhelm Scream: Ruiner (Nitro)
• Various: Luaka Bop Remix (V2)
• The Great Raid: Soundtrack (Varese Sarabande) Trevor Rabin composed the score.
• Valiant: Soundtrack (Hollywood)
• Flotation Toy Warning: Bluffers Guide to the Flight Deck (Secretly Canadian)

• Randy Rogers: Band Live at Billy Bob's Texas DVD (Image)
• The Dick Cavett Show - Rock Icons DVD (Sony Music)
• Beyond the Beginning DVD (BMG Music) Starring Emerson Lake and Palmer.

Posted by Glenn at 10:00 AM | Link | Comment (1)
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One's gotta wonder if Staind, whose career was guided by the once-Midas-like hand of Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst, will be able to buck two of the most obvious trends in the last year or two: (1) The downfall of Durst and (b) the fade of the nu-metal power ballad. Three or four years ago Staind would have wiped up the floor with a wide-eyed bluegrass band like Nickel Creek. Times have changed. Nickel Creek's music has changed, too, it's more mainstream. Look for Nickel Creek to really make a breakthrough with its new album Why Should The Fire Die?

Finally coming out this week is the Tribute To Queen that has the Flaming Lips' cover of "Bohemiam Rhapsody" that has been a big topic on the blogosphere for many months. The 'chopped and screwed' version of Ying Yang Twins' U.S.A. hits the stores today. Hootie and the Blowfish's first post-Burger King commercial album is out tomorrow, let's see how that does. And The Glasgow School, a collection of music from Scottish cult band Orange Juice, is finally out.

• Nickel Creek: Why Should the Fire Die? (Sugar Hill) Produced by Eric Valentine and Tony Berg. Go to music/vide page at band's website for MP3 clips and a video.
• Staind: Chapter V (Atlantic) Produced by David Botrill (Tool, Godsmack)
• Pennywise: The Fuse (Epitaph) Download MP3 for new song "Knocked Down."
• Proof: Searching for Jerry Garcia (Iron Fist)
• Kaci Brown: Instigator (Interscope)
• Ying Yang Twins: U.S.A. (United State of Atlanta) (Chopped and Screwed) (TVT)
• Hootie & the Blowfish: Looking for Lucky (Vanguard) www.hootie.com. Download MP3 of "State Your Peace" live on WOMX
• Tommy Lee: Tommyland: The Ride (Rocket Science) www.tommylee.tv
• Richard Thompson: Front Parlour Ballads (Cooking Vinyl)
• Koufax: Hard Times Are in Fashion (Doghouse)
• Juliana Hatfield: Made in China (Ye Olde)
• Chimaira: Chimaira (Roadrunner)
• Various: Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen (Hollywood) Songs by Jason Mraz, Los Lobos, Flaming Lips, Joss Stone, Jon Brion, Sum 41, more.
• Deviltones: Riding the High Horse (Hard Knox)
• Various Artists: Re:Made Volume 1 (Koch)
• The Juan Maclean: Less Than Human (Astralwerks) First full length release from DFA's partnership with Astralwerks.
• Hail Social: Hail Social (Polyvinyl)
• Bill Frisell: East/West (live) (Nonesuch)
• Day of Contempt: The Will to Live (Epitaph)
• Holopaw: Quit +/or Fight (Sub Pop)
• The Fleshtones: Beachhead (Yep Roc) Download two new songs and some old ones here.
• The Heights: Soundtrack (Tommy Boy)
• Orange Juice: The Glasgow School (Domino)
• Minotaur Shock: Maritime (Beggars Banquet)
• 3 Fox Drive: Listen to the Music (Koch Nashville)
• Bottom of the Hudson: Holiday Machine (Absolutely Kosher)
• Eliza Gilkyson: Paradise Hotel (Red House)
• Carrie Newcomer: Regulars and Refugees (Philo)
• Stephen Stills: Man Alive (Titan/Pyramid)
• Mariza: Transparente (Times Square)
• Suicide Machines: War Profiteering Is Killing Us All (SideOneDummy) www.suicide-machines.com
• Earl Klugh: Naked Guitar (Koch) www.earlklugh.com
• David Pack: The Secret of Moving On (Peak)
• Various Artists: Def Jazz (Verve)
• Somerset: Pandora (Epitaph)
• Michael McDonald: The Ultimate Collection (Rhino)
• Sons & Daughters: The Repulsion Box (Domino) View videos and stream M3U files at the band's audio/video page.
• Various: Hed Kandi: Beach House 04.05 (Hed Kandi)
• Ramones: Weird Tale of the Ramones (Rhino) Four-disc box set, including a DVD, curated by the late Johnny Ramone
• Mouse on Mars: Autoditacker reissue (Beggars Group)
• Mobius Band: The Loving Sounds of Static (Ghostly International) Download MP3 of "The Loving Sounds of Static"
• The Groovie Ghoulies: Berry'd Alive! EP (Green Door) Chuck Berry covers
• Pat Metheny & Ornette Coleman: Song X: Twentieth Anniversary (Nonesuch)
• The Plimsouls: One Night in America (Oglio)
• Gogol Bordello: Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike (SideOneDummy) Gogol Bordello Blog
• Carrie Newcomer: Regulars and Refugees (Rounder)
• Tim Ries: The Rolling Stones Project (Concord)
• Sybris: Sybris (Flameshovel)
• Moggs: The White Bell Is Not Enough (Absolutely Kosher)
• Nural: Weight of the World (Hopeless)
• Chin Up Chin Up: Chin Up Chin Up reissue (Flameshovel)
• Tremolo: Love Is the Greatest Revenge (Flagship)

• Cuba Feliz DVD (Koch)
• Chris Isaak: Soundstage DVD (Koch)
• Yes: Songs from Tsongas: The 35th Anniversary Concert DVD (Image)

Posted by Glenn at 8:36 AM | Link | Comment (1)
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