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Pop Rock Nation

Category: Releases

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  • Super Tuesday!!

    Not just for the Giants victory parade (GO BLUE!!) or the big Democratic primaries (GO BAM!!), but because albums come out this week by artists that lots of people care about. Yay for Super Tuesdays! Here are this week’s three most anticipated releases, in ascending order of whether I care about them or not.

    Since breaking on to the music scene in 1994, Sheryl Crow‘s been fairly reliable, dropping hit album after hit album in crunchy-rock style, mixing anthemic hits with more reflective material. Her sixth studio album, Detours, promises more of the same, notable because it marks a reunion with Bill Bottrell, who produced her Grammy-winnin’ debut album Tuesday Night Music Club. It’s also her first album since adopting a child as well as being diagnosed with (and subsequently beating) breast cancer. Hopefully this doesn’t lead to her beating her listeners over the head with political nonsense like Melissa Etheridge (bless her heart) did on her absolutely rotten last album.

    http://www.sherylcrow.com/

    Speaking of rotten last albums, I would imagine lots of copies of the more recent handful of Lenny Kravitz adorn the shelves of used CD stores nationwide. He started out aping John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix and Curtis Mayfield. After a 1998 Greatest Hits album cemented his staying power, Lenny then started to ape himself. Most of his recent songs have been Kravitz-by-numbers, and I’ll be honest with you: even his latest song, “I’ll Be Waiting”, sounds a HELL of a lot like 1998’s “Again” (his biggest hit). However, it’s a good song despite the self-parody and it might bode well for Lenny’s new album (his eighth) entitled It Is Time For a Love Revolution. Once a hippie…

    http://www.lennykravitz.com/

    Well, Jack Johnson isn’t exactly a hippie, but a quick listen to any of his albums will tip you off that the Hawaiian based surfer/rocker’s lyrical style is based on hippie ideals. This is not a bad thing, as Jack’s records (four of ’em if you include 2006’s Curious George soundtrack) are all highly recommended by yours truly. If Jimmy Buffett was thirty years younger and played the comedian angle a lot less, he’d be Jack Johnson (but probably not as good…hopefully I don’t get assassinated by a Parrothead for saying so). Anyway, for those of us who have high-stress city lifestyles and want to imagine what life is like barefoot on the beach with a ukulele, check out Jack’s Sleep Through The Static, my personal recommendation out of this week’s new releases (although the songs on Sheryl’s site sound good enough that I’ll probably get all three albums).

    http://www.jackjohnsonmusic.com/

    Check out a full list of this week’s new releases at: http://www.pauseandplay.com/cdfront.htm

  • Nope, Nothing Came Out This Week, Either…

    Well, we’re only a week or so until Sheryl Crow, Jack Johnson and Lenny Kravitz kick off with the first superstar releases of 2008. In the meantime, there are a handful of more niche-y kind of albums out this week.
    The Grammy Awards are a week from Sunday, and of course, every year there’s a compilation CD spotlighting the nominees. This year’s comp features Justin Timberlake, Maroon 5, Paul McCartney and just about everyone else noteworthy up for a gramophone. If you’re looking for a step-up from the average “Now That’s What I Call Music” compilation, this just might be up your alley.
    Shelby Lynne, who you might remember winning a Best New Artist Grammy in 2001 (despite having recorded for over a decade by that point) has an interesting new release out called “Just A Little Lovin’”. 9 of the 10 tracks are covers of songs that Dusty Springfield originally recorded, and although I don’t really have much use for Dusty, I am madly in love with Shelby (I even got to hug her once), and this album is now part of my collection.
    Joe Jackson (no, not Michael’s dad) has a new album out this week called “Rain”. The guy’s been around 30 years and still has the goods-I hear this album’s excellent (although the jury’s out on whether I’ll actually buy it). Joe is well-known for his eclecticism, jumping from power-pop to jazz to reggae at a whim, so if you’re the adventurous type, you might wanna check it out.
    Also, there’s a new set from the indefatigable (it must be the weed) Willie Nelson out, the sophomore set from hard rock upstarts Bullet For My Valentine, a 2-CD deluxe version of Beck‘s breakthrough “Odelay” (I call it his breakthrough because, seriously, how many of you thought he was a one-hit wonder after “Loser”?), a new Blind Boys of Alabama record (if you wanna get your spiritual on), a new Sarah Brightman record (if you wanna get your classical on), and the first Statewide release from Swedish pop singer Robyn in nearly a decade. You might remember her from hits like “Show Me Love”. She was one of the first artists to benefit from that Max Martin pop sound that ruled the late Nineties, and then Britney Spears went and stole her career. Well, she’s still big in Europe, and “The Rakamonie EP” marks the first time that global hits like “Konichiwa Bitches” are available on these shores.
    And I admit it. I wanted to say “Konichiwa Bitches”. So I’ll say it again.
    Happy shopping.

  • Still Slow, But Moving…

    The music industry is slowly waking up from it’s January slumber. No huge releases are scheduled out this week, but a couple of acts who have modest followings poke their heads out (just like the groundhog…what can I say, I’m early), including Grammy-nominated pop star Natasha Bedingfield. If you don’t know who Bedingfield is, you’ll remember her big hit “Unwritten”, which I believe is a shampoo commercial now? Anyway, her sophomore release, titled N.B. (how imaginative!!) hits stores today despite having been out in Natasha’s native U.K. for something like six months now. Allegedly, the British version is much better, having been sliced and diced to make it more “palatable for American audiences”, which is another way of saying people who do marketing for major American record labels don’t know their asses from their elbows.
    At any rate, there’s also a new covers album from indie darling Cat Power, a brand new CD from alt-country faves The Drive-By Truckers, and a new set from equally mellow Jack Johnson associate Matt Costa…perhaps whetting appetites for Johnson‘s own new set, which arrives in two weeks.
    Let’s take a quick side jaunt around the news for a sec to fill this out, huh?
    A news report quoted the Associated Press as saying that they’ve already created an obituary for Britney Spears. Now, I’m all for the Brit-bashing, but don’t you think that’s a bit creepy??
    The Writers’ Union has stated that they will NOT strike the Grammy Awards, happening in less than three weeks. With the Oscars under threat of being cancelled (and a less-than-stellar list of nominees), this may be the last major award show you see for quite some time. Although considering the list of nominees and scheduled performances (a list that so far only includes the overexposed Beyonce and the predictable Foo Fighters), this could potentially be a snoozefest.
    Finally, in the “this might be worth waiting for” department, George Michael (memba HIM?) is writing his memoirs-for the SECOND time. The pop superstar initially wrote an autobiography called “Bare” back in ’90, which wound up baring little at all. In the time since, he’s lost a lover tragically, fought with various record companies, torpedoed his own career, come out of the closet and gotten busted numerous times for drug or sex-related offenses. If George lets it all hang out, this could be really, REALLY good. Happy Tuesday!!