I’m running out of witty things to say at the start of these things. Someone has to help me out here. Hey, are there any cool songs about Sunday that you can think of? Ah, yes. One of my favorite Maroon 5 songs. Granted, some of you reading this are probably thinking “I thought you said cool songs, but I like ’em, so nyah!!
Anyhow, today’s Billboard charts are brought to you by the letter “B”, the number “8” and appear courtesy of the good men and women at Billboard magazine.
Billboard Top 20 Albums
1) “The Recession”- Young Jeezy
2) “The Block”- New Kids on the Block
3) “L.A.X.”- The Game
4) “Rock & Roll Jesus”- Kid Rock
5) “All Hope is Gone”- Slipknot
6) “A Little Bit Longer”- Jonas Brothers
7) “Mamma Mia Soundtrack”- Various Artists
8) “Lost in the Sound of Separation”- Underoath
9) “Hello Love”- Chris Tomlin
10) “Tha Carter III”- Li’l Wayne
11) “Love on the Inside”- Sugarland
12) “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends”- Coldplay
13) “Good Girl Gone Bad”- Rihanna
14) “Breakout”- Miley Cyrus
15) “Now That’s What I Call Country!”- Various Artists
16) “We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things”- Jason Mraz
17) “The Illusion of Progress”- Staind
18) “Camp Rock Soundtrack”- Various Artists
19) “Just a Rolling Stone”- Donnie Klang
20) “Spirit”- Leona Lewis
Billboard Top 20 Singles
1) “Whatever U Like”- T.I.
2) “So What”- Pink
3) “Disturbia”- Rihanna
4) “With You”- Chris Brown
5) “Paper Planes”- M.I.A.
6) “I’m Yours”- Jason Mraz
7) “Viva La Vida”- Coldplay
8) “Closer”- Ne-Yo
9) “In the Ayer”- Flo-Rida feat. will.i.am
10) “Dangerous”- Kardinal Offishall feat. Akon
11) “Just Stand Up!”- Various Artists
12) “Can’t Believe It”- T-Pain feat. Li’l Wayne
13) “Hot N Cold”- Katy Perry
14) “When I Grow Up”- The Pussycat Dolls
15) “Got Money”- Li’l Wayne feat. T-Pain
16) “I Kissed a Girl”- Katy Perry
17) “One Step at a Time”- Jordin Sparks
18) “Put On”- Young Jeezy feat. Kanye West
19) “Take a Bow”- Rihanna
20) “Leavin’”- Jesse McCartney
Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. The industry’s 4th quarter officially gets underway with a plethora (like that word?) of superstar releases to kick the month off. Here’s this week’s Hot List.
First off, Young Jeezy has two Platinum albums (three if you count his debut with Boyz N The Hood. This dude doesn’t have a proper website? Anyhow, I’ve made my disdain for “coke” rap pretty clear on this site, and they call this guy “The Snowman” for reasons that are not weather-related if you know what I mean. Not only do I find him morally repulsive, he’s also not particularly talented, with a voice slightly reminiscent of that of an old man on a respirator. However, folks seem to like the guy, he just scored a Top 10 hit with “Put On” (featuring a slumming Kanye West), and this album will most likely add to Jeezy’s stack of Platinum. What can ya do?
Theyyyyyy’re back! After a fourteen-year absence, Donnie, Danny, Jordan, Joe and Jon are back together and on record store shelves with their semi-self titled fifth studio album. Me and GG have already gone more in-depth with this album than any two people with penises should probably go, so you probably don’t need any more info regarding this record. However, in case you do, be aware that it would take a very special record to get me to add anything that features anything with Akon OR The Pussycat Dolls to my collection, so that should give you a reasonably good idea of my excitement for this album. For those of you serious music fans tsk-tsking, shut the hell up. I have Elvis Costello records too. Liking literate, well-constructed music and enjoying cheesy pop are not two mutually exclusive things.
This guy not having a proper website, I can understand. Having only watched about 1 1/2 episodes of Diddy’s “Making the Band 4”, I only know that Klang auditioned for the group that later became known as Day26. Somewhere along the line, Diddy separated him from the group and here we stand. Seems like Puff is trying to push Klang and Bad Boy’s answer to Justin Timberlake, and it’s hard to argue with “MTB4″‘s success, as both Day26 and girl group Danity Kane debuted at #1 on the charts with their albums. This one may be a sleeper. Although I think they should have changed the dude’s name first. Even saying the name “Donnie Klang” in my head makes me giggle a little.
Listening to some of the songs from this album on Brian Wilson’s site, it’s obvious that the guy still has the gift for melody (as well as some fantastic harmonies). After forty years and a great deal of mental issues, that’s pretty admirable. “Sun” is an autobiographical song cycle featuring frequent collaborator Van Dyke Parks. In addition to the typical pop tunes, there’s a spoken-word element mixed in. That makes me cringe a little bit, but the album has gotten some pretty good reviews, so it may all work out well after all.
Yep, Oscar winner Terrence Howard has followed in the footsteps of Bruce Willis and Scarlett Johansen and made a CD. While it certainly sounds interesting (it’s not the expected R&B or hip-hop derived record, instead sort of sounding like John Legend meets Esteban), I’m not exactly rushing to the record store to check it out. Chances are, if God gave you talent, it was probably only meant to be in one entertainment medium, but I guess the millions of actors-turned-musicians didn’t get the memo (or vice versa), huh?
Rounding up all the rest: now-generation classical performer Joshua Bell takes on Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”, Broadway legend Michael Feinstein takes on Frank Sinatra and Southside Johnny takes on Tom Waits, all on their new albums. An Olivia Newton-John charity concert makes its’ CD debut, featuring guest shots from Cliff Richard, Barry Gibb and Richard Marx. Sadly, there’s no John Travolta. Metal band Underoath releases a new record today,as do electronica/rock collagists UNKLE. A two-CD Chemical Brothers hits compilation arrives in stores, and for those of you who collect wax, the Coldplay and Radiohead catalogs make it onto vinyl for the first time.
As I stated in February, I decided to stop buying actual CDs and buy all my music through iTunes. Let me update you on my iTunes journey.
The month of April saw me purchase three full albums through iTunes. The first was Diddy’s anti-bitchassness group Day26. The album was standard R&B fare and earned Diddy another number one record, but failed to set the world on fire. But what does these days? Marketed as a new New Edition, the boys from Making The Band put together a few songs that worked like Silly Love, the first single Got Me Going, the dreamy Co-Star, and hard hitting Exclusive.
Next was Mariah Carey’s not so fulfilling E=MC², which should’ve been titled The Emancipation of Nick Cannon. Just kidding Nick. Actually, I’m impressed that the dude had it in him. Before, I remembered him most from giving the movie audience that serious drumming face in the movie Drumline, but now he’s the guy that put that ring on Mimi’s finger. Though I didn’t like the album much and thought it was smack dab in the middle of her career works, iTunes did give me one extra song that wasn’t on the CD version. Though, I’m not sure if it was a truly bonus or not because it was the track 4real4real featuring Da Brat and though she might’ve been cool in 1994, the words “featuring Da Brat” might be the worst marketing in music today. Ok, that was wrong of me. But actually, at least we know that Da Brat is still working. Also included with the extra song was a digital booklet (iTunes version of the physical CD booklet) and the Touch My Body video, which is impressive for how well a late 30s Mimi looks.
The third full album was the best of the bunch. Before I even tell you what it is, I have to ask, “Who is the most consistent music group in the game today?” You probably wouldn’t answer The Roots, but if they aren’t the most consistent, they are close. Their latest gem is called Rising Down and it’s probably the best album I’ve bought all year. From the killer Rising Up, with Chrisette Michele on the hook to the Talib Kweli assisting I Will Not Apologize, there’s not a bad song on the record. While they might not have the one or two head turning tracks on this album like they usually have, it’s still just damn good. Also included as an iTunes bonus is their duet with Fall Out Boy, Birthday Girl, which was vetoed off the original album and as first single for not sounding Roots enough. I kind of dig it, but I understand where they’re coming from.
I also bought a bunch of one off songs. If you remember, April was the month of “Idol Gives Back” and instead of donating money, I bought a few tracks including Carrie Underwood’s George Michael cover of Praying For Time, the group version of Rihanna’s Don’t Stop The Music (my kids can’t get enough of this one), and Snoop Dogg’s Can’t Say Goodbye featuring Charlie Wilson. On that same day, I also purchased Bon Jovi’s Bad Medicine and Fuel’s Leave The Memories Alone with the latter being the theme song to the Nature Boy’s Ric Flair retirement. I just had to throw one wrestling reference in.
Lastly, I purchased Digital Underground’s silly song Kiss You Back. One day, it was in my head and I decided to get it so I could hear it a few times. Without iTunes, I would’ve had to find a used copy of Sons Of The P, and that wasn’t going to happen without making a trek to a used record store some 30 miles away.
The next edition of “No Plastic” will feature the return of some Boston boys and a man on a mission to get some grown assed respect.
