Releases

Hey Folks,

In addition to this fine site, I also occasionally write (but mostly comment) for a couple of other sites, one being my friend JayVee’s site, The Round Table. You can find it at theround-table.blogspot.com. This column was originally written for them. Enjoy!!

Believe it or not, 2008 has not been a bad year for music-unless you happen to be a superstar. Particularly a superstar diva. Janet Jackson, Madonna and Mariah Carey have all released fairly underwhelming albums over the first half of the year-with Janet’s the best of a very weak bunch. Hip-hop has also taken a bit of a leave of absence-unless you’re one of those folks who thinks “The Carter III” is a classic, there wasn’t much to gloat about if you were a rap fan for the first part of this year.

However, there have been some bright spots. Soul singers on the other side of the Atlantic continued their renaissance after Amy Winehouse set one hell of a standard (and you have to admit that “Back To Black” is a work of genius, no matter what you think of her personally) last year. In addition to the new Brit divas, a couple of vets returned after short absences with albums that rank among the best of their careers. And there’s still half a year to go.

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