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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Lenny Kravitz

  • Chart Recap: The January Dregs

    January has typically been no-man’s land when it comes to the music business. That’s never made much sense to me. I mean, wouldn’t you feel a bit more compulsion to release new music when there are folks running around with gift certificates and gift cards? It’s not like there’s not a precedent for music taking off at the beginning of a year. Way back in 1999, a young girl named Britney Spears released her first album right at the beginning of January, and that album went on to sell some 14 million copies. Not bad, huh?
    Hmmm..whatever happened to her, anyway??
    Moving right along, here we are in the first week of February, and the past couple of weeks of charts have looked like a hot mess. Not only are sales already behind those in 2007 by something like 10%, but there has not been one major release by a new artist through the whole month. While the chart figures have not reached the level of futility reached last year by the “Dreamgirls” soundtrack, they have come close, with only Radiohead’s 1/1 release marching over the 100,000 scanned mark over the course of January. Alicia Keys and the “Juno” soundtrack have traded places at the top with sales figures between 62,000 and 70,000. Numbers which, back in the heyday of the music industry, would have barely placed in the Top Ten.
    Thankfully, the triumverate of Jack Johnson, Sheryl Crow and Lenny Kravitz should give a healthy(er) glow to the first week of charts, with sales kicks also expected later in the month from Valentine’s Day and the Grammy awards.

  • 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.