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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Keith Urban

  • Grinding My Gears: More on the ACM Awards

    WTF is up with Taylor Swift? The girl CANNOT sing. Period. Not even close. I saw her on “Saturday Night Live” and she was so bad that it was truly embarrassing. Yet I like her records. Just shows the magic that Autotune can do for a mediocre singer.

    Rascal Flatts once again annoyed me. They won Best Vocal Group for the seventh straight year, beating the record set by Alabama. Lead singer Gary LeVox mused “gee, now I think I know what Brooks & Dunn feel like”. Uh, Gary, you will NEVER be Kix Brooks OR Ronnie Dunn. Brooks & Dunn have had 40 singles on the Billboard charts, 20 of which reached #1. Rascall Flatts have had 23 singles chart, with nine hitting #1. Rascall Flatts are a smarmy, cheesy brand of country that just irritates the hell out of me. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, maybe it’s because I like a lot of “old time” country, but I’d rather hear George Strait than Sugarland. I’d rather hear Alabama than Rascall Flatts. I think there are artists (like Kenny Chesney) who started out writing great, heartfelt songs (“There Goes My Life”, “The Good Stuff”) and have caved to the “weekend warrior” country fans & started writing “let’s go to the bar & get drunk” songs (“Have Another Beer In Mexico”, or any of the last few Kenny singles). Artists like Brad Paisley straddle the line (I think he’s great, but that “Ticks” song, well, it just ticked me off…). While I realize that Keith Urban draws more people to his shows than Alan Jackson, how country is Keith? He’s a good looking guy, with an enormous (mostly female) following, but his songs could fit just as well on pop radio. (I’d love to see David Allan Coe open for Keith, just to see the looks on those ladies faces……)

    With the music business in the current state that it’s in, I should be happy that Keith & Rascall Flatts are selling as many records as they do. I just like my country…with a little bit more country in it.

  • New Release(s) of the Week 3/31/09: Prince

    princeWhen Prince left Warner Brothers back in ’96, one major sticking point was that his then label refused to allow him to release music at the pace he wanted to. Among the many issues Prince had was the fact that his magnum opus, 1987’s “Sign O’ the Times”, was whittled down from 3 discs to a more consumer-palatable 2. Prince finally got his 3-disc set upon his release from Warner with ’96’s “Emancipation”, which, while not bad for a 3-CD set, you can find for five bucks used at most retailers these days.

    After slowing down his release schedule slightly, Prince has returned with yet another three-disc set: “Mplsound”, “Lotusflower” and “Elixir” are all being released as one package tomorrow. The catch? This set will only be sold at Target stores and via target.com. Prince is following the model set by AC/DC and The Eagles (successfully) and Christina Aguilera and Guns ‘n Roses (not so successfully). We’ll see if the Purple One still has what it takes. Judging from public response to his performances on Leno last week, I think it would be foolish to count the little man out.

    A few other things to look out for this week:

    Keith Urban “Defying Gravity”- A new album from Mr. Nicole Kidman and the first set he’s recorded since completing rehab a couple years back. The Aussie country star should wind up with the week’s biggest-selling debut.

    Bow Wow “New Jack City Pt. 2”- He’s not been Lil’ for some time now, and Bow Wow has, quiet as kept, been one of hip-hop’s most consistent sellers over the past decade or so. I wonder if he’s writing his own lyrics yet, or if Jermaine Dupri’s still hiring ghostwriters for him. I won’t discuss the stupid title for fear that our own GG might jump through the screen and strangle me.

    UGK “UGK for Life”- This should wrap things up for the Houston-based hip-hoppers, seeing as 1/2 of the group, Pimp C, passed away a year and a half ago, sadly following their biggest commercial success with “International Player’s Anthem”. This album features a bevy of guests paying tribute, from MCs like Too $hort and Eightball & MJG to smooth soul singers like Raheem DeVaughn.

    Gavin DeGraw “Free”-The piano man returns barely a year after his last album with a stripped-down, raw set of original tunes and covers.

    Flo-Rida “R.O.O.T.S.”- So I was watching MTV the other day and Flo-Rida was announcing videos, and he saw fit to explain his name as “Florida” broken up into “2 syllables”. Hey genius, both “Florida” and “Flo-Rida” have three syllables. Someone send dude back to 5th grade. Anyway, this guy’s had the #1 single in the country (“Right Round”) for something like 6 weeks now, so someone’s gonna buy this, right?

    Get your complete list of this week’s releases right here.

  • New Releases: 11-20-07

    It’s official, folks. The last major release Tuesday of 2007 has passed us by. This week contains mostly a weird mix of re-issues and compilations. However, with the exception of December’s Mary J. Blige release, expect to see Alicia Keys and Josh Groban at the top of the charts for the forseeable future.
    Among the new releases today: the debut from Jordin Sparks, who won 2007’s “American Idol” and has no pre-release buzz to speak of. Her album is supposed to work a fun, urban teenage vibe, I guess somewhere between Rihanna and Vanessa Hudgens? Also in stores, you get the first album in four years from Philadelphia rap artist Freeway. He better hope his Jay-Z connection pays dividends, because four years is a LONG time to be gone in the fickle hip-hop industry. The other only release of note is the debut from OneRepublic, the band that plays behind Timbaland on his current hit single “Apologize”. Yeah, we know, you’re excited too.
    On the re-issue tip, there’s a little more to speak of. If you, like me, have jumped on the Amy Winehouse train this year, her debut album “Frank”, is being issued for the first time in the U.S. This album has more of a lounge-y, neo-soul vibe (I know since I picked it up as an import nearly a year ago), but you can tell it’s Amy as soon as you listen to the lyrics. Speaking of rehab, Keith Urban issues his first “Greatest Hits” collection today.
    The guys from Fall Out Boy repackage their platinum album “Infinity On High” today with a DVD, and turning over to far more legenday albums, there are new versions of U2’s “The Joshua Tree” (celebrating it’s 20th anniversary) and Time magazine’s best album of the millennium, Bob Marley & The Wailers’ “Exodus”, which is celebrating it’s 30th anniversary.
    …And that’s pretty much it!!
    Check out a full list of this week’s releases here: