The slow trickle of new music releases has sped up slightly, with a handful of big name releases scheduled to hit stores (and your local online retailer) right before Valentine’s Day. Here’s what you’ll find in the new release bins this week:
Lily Allen “It’s Not Me, It’s You”– Lost in the hubbub about Amy Winehouse was the fact that fellow sassy Brit Lily Allen sold half a million copies of her debut album “Alright, Still”. After some tabloid misadventures (including a public miscarriage), Allen returns with a slightly more sober but still cheeky sound on album #2. With Adele, Estelle and Duffy making a solid showing at this year’s Grammy Awards, it would seem that the ladies from across the pond are making more intriguing music than their American counterparts.
india.arie “Testimony Vol 2: Love & Politics”– The first volume of the neo-soul singer’s “Testimony” series debuted at #1 on the album charts two years back. For the follow-up, arie continues her folksy brand of soul, with a guest appearance by one-time rumored love interest Musiq Soulchild on the first single “Chocolate High”.
Beastie Boys “Paul’s Boutique 20th Anniversary”– The album that turned Mike D., Ad-Rock and MCA from jokes into serious musicians is now 20 years old. Like I need another excuse to feel old. The reissued version of this classic album now has improved sound (thank GOD!) and includes a pullout poster. For true heads, this special edition is also being made available on vinyl, making it all the more easy to scratch and cut this hip-hop essential, which was one of the first to make a case for sampling as a legitimate art form.
The Lonely Island “Incredibad”– The first musical spinoff from “Saturday Night Live” in many years, the Lonely Island’s focal point is Andy Samberg, and yes, many of Samberg’s famous digital shorts are here. This set includes “Iran So Far Away” with Adam Levine, “Dick in a Box” with Justin Timberlake, a guest shot from T-Pain (if you look like that, I guess you HAVE to have a sense of humor), and, of course…”Jizz in My Pants”.
Fleet Foxes “Fleet Foxes”/Ben Folds “Way to Normal: Sticks & Seeds”– The indie darlings and the smartass piano man both get the expanded edition treatment this week, with their 2008 efforts stuffed with even more tracks, pissing off all of the people who may have bought one or both of these albums originally. Sigh.
Also in stores this week: the third album by anonymous R&B singer Bobby Valentino, the sophomore set by Christian metal-lers Red, a solo album by Black Keys’ guitarist Dan Auerbach, and in the “He’s Still Around?” section of your record store, a new album by Warren G. Methinks Warren would be much better served giving his big bro a call and telling him to release “Detox” already.
I can’t remember the last B-list rock star death that garnered as much publicity as Lux Interior’s did. It started out as a posting on one blog on Wednesday, and that was enough to start the internet buzz going. Once it was confirmed, it sent shockwaves through hipster land.
But the press couldn’t even get the details right. He was listed as being 60, 61 and 62 years old at the time of his death, depending on which story you read. Which was it?? (answer: he was 62)So much for research!
Lux formed The Cramps in 1972, and they were still active at the time of his death. How many bands can claim that they’ve been around for 37 years? The band’s heyday had come & gone many years ago; they had pretty much stopped recording (their last CD of new material was five years ago), but they still toured every year.
It seems like every time I saw The Cramps, something messed up ALWAYS happened. It was complete bedlam on stage, with the crowd joining in on the chaos. The first time I saw them, a guy jumped on stage at the very end of the show, stole two jungle spears that were displayed in front of Nick Knox’s drum kit, and ran out the front door of the club with them (with a roadie chasing after him). The second time I saw them, Lux came out for the encore naked, and proceeded to climb up to the balcony of The Ritz and started making out with a woman up there. The last time I saw them, my friend & I got VERY drunk beforehand, and somehow came up with the bright idea of sneaking into the side door of the Peppermint Lounge (when it had moved downtown on Fifth Avenue), and got physically thrown out right after we got inside (undaunted, we picked ourselves up, went around to the front door, & paid our way in).
Once the spotlight fades, a lot of musicians will hang it up & form other bands, or go into other lines of work. At a certain point, if you haven’t reached a level of commercial success that affords you the opportunity to live comfortably & to throttle back on recording & touring, your average rock musician will throw in the towel & head into the “straight” world. John Maher of the original Buzzcocks line-up went on to open a Volkswagen performance tune-up shop; Bryan Gregory, a member of The Cramps original lineup, ended up running a porn store in LA.
Lux & his wife of 37 years, Cramps guitarist Poison Ivy, left the straight world in 1972 and never looked back. They are one of the few bands from the original punk era of the mid-70’s who never quit, never gave up. They may have uprooted & moved to LA, and spent quite a bit of time buying & selling cool funky stuff, but they were the real deal. I guess at a certain point Lux & Ivy looked in the mirror & said “hey, what the hell else are we gonna do?” Lux lived to a ripe old age (as far as rock stars go, at least) living his rock ‘n’ roll dream, with his long-time wife right beside him on stage every night.
Good for him. And even better for us. They were a band almost without peers. Thanks for a bunch of great records, some amazing live shows, and a whole lotta good memories.
So Mike and I are watching the Grammys together (well, cyber-together at least) tonight and blogging as we go. And away we go…
U2 open up the show with their new single “Get On Your Boots”… a very chaotic performance of a song that I’m not entirely sold on yet. I’m totally not sold on Bono’s new dance moves either. Or Larry Mullen’s goth black hair.
Oh my gawd, Whitney Houston is making Britney Spears look well-adjusted.  Her poor voice… ugh, she’s hard to look at.
Go Jennifer Hudson. I didn’t have a clear favorite in the best R&B album category (Al Green would have been my personal pick, but his is the only one of the nominees I’ve really heard). But I’m glad that Jennifer got this.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson… newly minted karaoke star (I think his brief rendition of “Just the Way You Are” was better than Billy Joel). Opens with a corny anagram.  Not promising.
Boyz II Men, Keith Urban, Al Green and Justin…  I’m digging the deeper-voiced Al Green. Still sexy. I’m loving this whole number – it’s unadulterated joy. U2 is distant memory.
So, as we hit the first commercial break, we learn the following: Whitney is off the crack but still crack-ish, U2’s new single sounds almost exactly like “Vertigo”, and about 700 babies were conceived during the Al Green performance. We can now move on…
Is this show going to be a big giant plug for CBS? What does Simon Baker have to do with music?
When did Chris Martin become a solo artist? Oops…never mind…here’s the rest of the band.
Someone should tell Chris that no one wants to see his treasure trail. Someone should also tell him to take dance lessons. Then someone should tell Jay-Z to get a haircut.
Sorry, folks. Carrie Underwood is totally anonymous to me. She might as well be Faith Hill. Something tells me, however, that Faith would take exception to that.
Here’s a country award, which goes to Sugarland. Paul, have you listened to these guys before? I have nothing to say, except the guy in the group is kinda hot.
Paul here:  Mike, I love Sugarland… their cover of “Life in a Northern Town” was one of the highlights of my year last year.   I’m with you on Carrie Underwood. “Last Name” sounds like it’s about 3 years old now – actually when it started, I thought she was playing that… other song she did, like 3 years ago. What the hell was it? (Mike: “Before He Cheats”)  But Carrie Underwood’s guitarist looked to Carrie Underwood’s 80s hair metal doppelganger, and the two of them standing side by side as they wailed at the end was sort of interesting. (The Sugarland guy IS hot)
Coldplay was sort of fun to watch… like U2 circa 1982.
Congratulations Gene Autry and Brenda Lee… but Grammy’s got better things to do.  Moving on…
Al Green and Duffy harmonizing a capella at the microphone. Al Green should release a new record every year just so that he can be on the Grammys some more.
It’s hard to argue with Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” winning Song of the Year.  Chris Martin proving refreshingly taciturn.
Did Kid Rock finish his community service yet? Does singing “Amen” count for it? I hate “Sweet Home Alabama”, but I love Kid Rock’s song about it (“All Summer Long”), and I wish he just would have stuck with it instead of doing this trio of “American Idol” style snippets. It just never got off the ground for me, where a good all-star rave-up of “All Summer Long” would have been awesome.
Mike! Look! Sugarland are going to play later on. Prepare your bib.
Mike’s back. I’ll just borrow the bib that Jennifer Hudson is wearing.
WTF is Miley Cyrus doing on the Grammy Awards? Although it seems as though she’s already mastered the “O” face.
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss win Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. I called that one. I wonder what they would have said if Chris Brown had won. “We’re sorry, but Chris Brown beat up some chick and couldn’t make it to the show tonight”.
Jenny Hud is back in a much better looking dress. Damn, that girl has some pipes on her.
Paul here:   There is just a lot of really, really bad white boy dancing going on tonight. And Stevie Wonder seriously deserves better than to be upstaged by the Jonas Brothers… who need to learn to shut up while Stevie’s singing. And who need to spend a little time with the lyric sheet before they take on a song like “Superstition”.  What did Simon Cowell say about “forgetting the words” this week?   This performance just leaves me feeling a little… well, okay yeah, pissed off.
Oooooh, Blink 182 – together again!  Oooooh, Coldplay wins again! Chris Martin – not as taciturn. Effusive, in fact. But still sincere, and far more likable than I’d imagined he would be.
A couple other things: Taylor Swift looks like a gelfling. There. I’ve said it.  And she and Miley don’t blend.
Jennifer Hudson is my hero tonight. Simple. Elegant. Classy. The one person with the most legitimate excuse for drama, and she comes off both powerful and humble. And damn, she can sing. She didn’t need the choir. In fact, I wish they would have left the choir home.
Mike’s back. Paul…what’s a gelfing?
I vote for Craig Ferguson to host next year.
Dear Katy Perry. P!nk called.She wants her schtick back.
I kissed a boy and I liked it. Do I get to perform on the Grammy Awards?
Kanye West appears, apparently having stolen Michael Jackson’s look circa 1981.
Oh that Kanye. He so crazy!!!
The Jonas Brothers lost Best New Artist because Adele ate them. Oh, and then she dissed them!!!!!! I love Adele!!
Latifah’s introducing Jay, Kanye, Wayne and T.I….this should be good.
The sound is awful. These guys are rappers-shouldn’t some body be kicking the sound man’s ass?
Didn’t someone perform “I Saw Her Standing There” on the Grammys just a couple of years ago? (answer: yes. Dave Matthews and several others did…I think it might have been a Beatles tribute performance)
My friend Marc: “Doesn’t Michael Jackson still own this song?”. Why, yes, he does!
Paul here: Adele not only ate the Jonas Brothers – she liked them. I’m really into Katy Perry right now, but she sounded a little out of breath.  Also, I’m just really so excited that Cathy Dennis has done so well for herself as a songwriter.
Mike, you’re right. The sound during the “hip hop summit” was godawful (actually, the sound throughout the show has been pretty sucky), and the whole thing ended up sounding like nothing but a shouting match – and maybe that’s sorta what it was supposed to be, but then that’s kind of an aberration of the word “summit”. That said: holy pregnant M.I.A. belly!
Gelflings:
Don’t tell me you’ve never seen “The Dark Crystal”…
Actually, I thought Kanye looked like one of the guys from Ready For the World.
Is someone aiming a laser-pointer at Sugarland? God, I love this woman’s voice.
I keep expecting Adele to start singing “Situation”.
I was sure that Morgan Freeman was introducing Neil Diamond. Imagine my disappointment. I still haven’t entirely forgiven Kenny Chesney for the summer that I couldn’t go into a karaoke bar without hearing a really drunken version of “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy”.  Also, I have a hard time picturing Kenny and Morgan hanging out together. What do they talk about?  Any ideas, Mike?
Paul, are you trying to lead me into a joke that I don’t want to make? Actually, when I saw Morgan Freeman, I remembered how happy I was that “The Electric Company” is back on TV.
The USC Marching Band is joining Radiohead on stage. Somewhere, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks are sitting somewhere saying “but didn’t we…?”
Gwyneth Paltrow has two babies and still doesn’t have titties.
Thom Yorke and Chris Martin obviously graduated from the same dancing school.
Holy Quick Commercials Batman! It’s back to you, Paul.
(and I keep wanting to say “But Paul, I think I told you. I’m a lover, not a fighter”).
OK, I’ll admit: I really like that T.I./Timberlake song
Do we really need Neil Diamond singing “Sweet Caroline”?
God, I just felt like I was at a Sox game.
Here’s the deceased folks tribute. Nothing snarky to say here.
BB King and co. are going off on the guitar tribute to Bo Diddley. Good stuff.
(OK, I think we’ve officially lost count of who goes where).
Yet another CBS crossover with Gary Sinise performing. Next, the cast of “How I Met Your Mother”.
OK…why isn’t Robin Thicke as popular as Justin Timberlake?
Damn it, I need to go down to N.O. one year. Mardi Gras, here I come?
Hip-hop is holding it down this year, folks.
It’s Rap music’s Talentless Twins: T-Pain and will.i.ain’t
Lil Wayne, to no one’s suprise, wins Rap Album of the Year and delivers a fairly succinct speech. As much of a critic of modern-day rap music as I am, I gotta say that we redeemed ourselves nicely this year.
Zoe Deschanel sings?
Plant and Krauss are performing…unless Plant jumps into “The Crunge”, I’ll only be sort of playing attention.
They also win Album of the Year-entirely predictable…
And the ceremony is over! Paul, any closing thoughts?
I actually liked that Robert Plant was so into talking about the process of creating “Raising Sand” in all of his acceptance speeches, but as usual, I hate Grammy’s pick for Album of the Year. “Raising Sand” is a fine record, but I don’t think it was the definitive “Album of the Year”.  It should have gone to either Lil Wayne or Coldplay.
Thanks Mike for riding this out with me.  It’s been fun!
The slow trickle of new music releases has sped up slightly, with a handful of big name releases scheduled to hit stores (and your local online retailer) right before Valentine’s Day. Here’s what you’ll find in the new release bins this week:
I can’t remember the last B-list rock star death that garnered as much publicity as Lux Interior’s did. It started out as a posting on one blog on Wednesday, and that was enough to start the internet buzz going. Once it was confirmed, it sent shockwaves through hipster land.
