Wow-I completely forgot what the date was. Get out of the summer and the days all run together. At any rate, there’s nothing that compares to last week’s onslaught of new releases. Actually, the entire month of October looks kind of quiet in regards to things that I would actually like, but there is a pretty good amount of stuff hitting shelves today.
BRUUUUUUCE: Mr. Springsteen is back, although quite honestly, he never left. Didn’t The Seeger Sessions come out last year? Anyway, this time he’s brought the E Street Band with him and their album is called Magic. First single Radio Nowhere is pretty awesome, and it’s nice to hear Bruce and company rockin’ again after taking a little detour to be folky.
Welcome Back: A couple of hit artists 
are returning after fairly lengthy absences. Annie Lennox is back after four years with the intriguingly titled Songs of Mass Destruction. It was produced by Glen Ballard, who has been behind the boards for artists ranging from Dave Matthews Band to Alanis Morissette to Michael Jackson. Annie’s long been a proponent of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, so her albums have retained a remarkable consistency. Meanwhile, matchbox twenty, who have been dormant for almost half a decade, are back with Exile on Mainstream, a double album that features one disc of their greatest hits (as if you don’t know Unwell by heart) and one disc of new material.
Gimme The Hits!: From Exile On Mainstream to the guy that made Exile On Main Street, The Very Best of Mick Jagger arrives in stores today. Considering the man never really made much of an impact as a solo artist, I’m quite curious to see what was included on this compilation. There will be no such worries on Faith Hill’s The Hits, which will feature #1s like This Kiss and There You’ll Be along with her many duets with her smokin’ hot hubby Tim McGraw.
R&B (Rhythm & Bonin’): R&B’s creative freefall comes partially (well, mostly) from the fact that many of the artists making soul music nowadays sound so similar. Ordinarily, I would have a bit of a problem telling Trey Songs apart from J. Holiday, but Holiday has one of the most addictive singles out right now with Bed, which basically follows this formula:
Rihanna’s Umbrella + Prince’s Do Me, Baby X hip-hop influence.
I’ll probably download the single from iTunes and bypass the album, but hell, what a single. Anyway, both artists have albums coming out today, but I will forgo them in favor of newcomer Kevin Michael, who has gotten a lot of press (allegedly, his sound is Prince meets Robin Thicke) and at the very least has a really cool Afro.
A full list of today’s new releases can be found here:
http://www.pauseandplay.com/02october2007.htm
Happy shopping!!
