One thing that you can definitely say is that Jay-Z knows how to make an event. “The Blueprint 3” has been shifting producers and release dates for the better part of a year. Originally scheduled to be Hova’s last release on Def Jam, Jay eventually bought the rights to the album and it will be released on his own Roc Nation label. Of course, the title represents Jay’s 2001 classic “The Blueprint” (arguably his best album) and “Blueprint2” (which was way too long but had some good spots), so expectations are high for this record. I haven’t exactly been bowled over by the two singles so far (“D.O.A.” and “Run This Town”), but they haven’t been bad, either. So I give this one a 50/50 chance of being good. Producers include the usual suspects: Kanye, Timbaland, The Neptunes, while guests include current “it” boy Drake and alternative rock outfit MGMT. This album had a September 11th release date (8 years to the day after the release of the first “Blueprint”), but due to leaks, Jay has moved the album up so it comes out on the more traditional Tuesday. That means it’s in stores now, so what are you waiting for?
Tag: New Releases
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New Release of the Week 6/16/09: George Harrison
It’s about time that the Quiet Beatle was rewarded with a compilation that was worthy of the thirty-odd good years of music he gave us. For the longest time, the only hits album Harrison had was “The Best of George Harrison”, and that cut off somewhere in the mid-Seventies. Today, that changes. “Let it Roll: Songs by George Harrison” contains not only Seventies classics like “My Sweet Lord” and “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)”, but adds in Eighties favorites like “Got My Mind Set on You” and “All Those Years Ago”, and tosses in a few tracks from the Harrison-founded Concert for Bangladesh. Don’t know why it took so long for something like this to (pardon the pun) come together, but George fans can now rejoice. If only they’d thrown in a couple of Traveling Wilburys songs. Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers.
Here’s some other stuff hitting record store racks (real and virtual) today.
Jonas Brothers Lines, Vines & Trying Times: I bet you guys were expecting this to be the new release of the week, eh? Well, I try to slot albums I actually have a chance at buying in that space (which is why The Black Eyed Peas didn’t make it in last week), and I can’t say that you’ll ever catch me buying a Jonas Brothers CD. Not that they need any help, mind you. Aside from it’s cutesly rhyme-y title and the threat of a “darker” Jonas Brothers, this album contains a cameo from the rapper Common. I hope he got paid a LOT of money to destroy his own career.
Don Henley The Very Best of Don Henley: The last Don Henley hits compilation came out in late 1995. Since then, Don’s released exactly ONE studio album. So the point of this album is…so we can hear “Taking You Home” alongside “The Boys of Summer” and “Dirty Laundry”? This album comes in a regular 14-track version as well as a deluxe 20-track version, which contains four extra tracks as well as a DVD containing six videos. I still don’t get why anyone would want this. If you have the last Henley comp, “Actual Miles”, you can get his one other studio album, “Inside Job”, for less than five bucks used. Oh, the mysteries of the music business…
Michael Buble Michael Buble Meets Madison Square Garden: In lieu of a new studio album, fans of the standards-crooning Canadian can feast on this CD/DVD combo, which features Buble adapting his smoove pipes to songs ranging from Billy Paul’s “Me & Mrs. Jones” to Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, from one of his sellout dates at the World’s Most Famous Arena. Thank God for concerts, because no one’s going there to see the sports teams anymore.
Will Downing Classique: Speaking of smoove, Downing has been one of R&B’s more consistent balladeers, picking up the slack after the loss of legends like Barry White and Luther Vandross. He was diagnosed with an auto-immune disorder that briefly confined him to a wheelchair (is it me or do male R&B singers have shitty luck?), but now he’s back and still as romantic as ever. Unlike his normally covers-heavy albums, “Classique” contains mostly original and self-written songs.
A complete list of this week’s releases can be found here.
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New Release of the Week 6/9/09: Teena Marie
Former protege of Rick James, vanilla soul sister, the one and only Lady T. Whatever you call her, Teena Marie is back with her first album in four years, “Congo Square”. The first single, “Can’t Last a Day” has already made noise at urban radio, and with a guest lineup including MC Lyte, Howard Hewett and Faith Evans, it’s sure to spawn even more hits. The R&B scene has been extra-weak so far this year, so here’s hoping Teena’s new album is the kickoff for a good second half of the year on the soul music front.
Here’s what else comes out tomorrow:
Mos Def The Ecstatic– After wowing us ten years ago with “Black on Both Sides”, Mos confused us with the overreaching “The New Danger” and then completely threw us off with a deliberate throwaway album in “Tru3 Magic”, an album so lazily put together it didn’t even have a cover. Now off the Geffen label and on Downtown Records (home of Gnarls Barkley, among others), Mighty Mos is back with an album that will hopefully knock the bad taste of the last couple of records out of listener’s mouths. Early reviews are promising.
Black Eyed Peas The E.N.D.– On the other side of the hip-hop coin are the Black Eyed Peas. My distaste for them is legendary, but what I find more striking is the fact that their new song “Boom Boom Pow” has been the #1 song in the country for the past eight weeks and I have not heard the song ONCE. I’m sure the BEP will sell kajillions of records without my support anyway.
Sonic Youth The Eternal– After nearly two decades in the MCA/Geffen family, New York alternative legends Sonic Youth are back on an indie label for “The Eternal”. These guys (and girl) have a pretty strong cult following, and since they’re not gonna make a pop breakthrough anytime soon, I don’t think it matters *what* label they’re on. They’re gonna sell what they’re gonna sell anyway.
Pleasure P. The Introduction of Marcus Cooper– Pleasure P is the former lead voice of raunchy R&B outfit Pretty Ricky, and this is his solo debut. “Boyfriend #2” has already hit the Top 5 on the R&B charts, and the big production guns were definitely brought out for this release, including Cool & Dre, Ne-Yo and Keith Sweat. You’d think that a lot of these groups would stay together longer. It’s not like anyone’s leaving an R&B group these days to have an awesome solo career. Anyone seen Slim from 112 lately? How about Sisqo?
A full list of this week’s new releases can be found here.