Dolly Parton remains classic in sound and image
A Barbie doll with a heart. (Courtesy of Dolly Records)
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A Barbie doll with a heart. (Courtesy of Dolly Records)
Visit the music section for new music reviews and lists of CDs that will be in stores today. Then, tell us what you think. Leave your review below.
OK, that is a cool CD title. (Courtesy of Capitol Nashville)
The thrill of Thriller. (Courtesy of Sony Legacy)
From the cover of Deaf Pedestrians' new CD, ... and Other Distractions
Listen
• Deaf Pedestrians
• Carrie Newcomer
• Widespread Panic
Gotta give Mary J. her props. (Courtesy of Geffen Records)
See a video of one of the Blind Boys’ new songs: www.blindboys.com
Listen to a cut from Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s new CD: myspace.com/preservationhall
Earlier I posted a blurb that went something like: Tony Romo sang "Don't Stop Believing" onstage Monday night with parody band Metal Skool at Key Club in L.A. The YouTube link that I provided for your viewing pleasure wasn't the right one (thanks C for the heads-up). Ends up Tony Romo sang the same song with the same band at the Palladium last summer, and that's the video I posted, whoopsie.
But wait, the plot thickens.
Continue reading "Tony Romo, Jessica Simpson sing ... just not here" »
(DMN)
Dr. Siles says the music doesn't replace therapy or medication, but according to one patient in the story, Dr. Siles' music "saved my life. It really did."
What do you think about music therapy? Have you or anyone you know had experience with it?
The new CDs hitting shelves today include new music by Willie Nelson, Shelby Lynne and others.
Here's what we thought of the discs.
What did you think?
The majestic, mystic Sarah Brightman. (Courtesy of EMI/Manhattan Records)
Willie's always all smiles. (Gary Goldberg)
If you don't already have this CD, get it! (Courtesy of Columbia Nashville)
Ninja Anderson? (Courtesy of Collectors' Choice Music)
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Current.com will stream a free pre-recorded Radiohead concert Tuesday at 7 a.m. and again at 8 p.m. The band will perform the entire In Rainbows album, as well as other songs. Share your thoughts.
Reader Alan emails to ask where in the Hades was Robert Plant and Alison Krauss'
Raising Sand on my year-end Top 10 list? Well....I agree it's a really good CD, and if i was doing a Top 20, it would have been on there. By the way, Mario Tarradell did have it on his year-end Top 10 country CDs list.
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Will this CD ever arrive in stores? (Courtesy of J Records)
The charro suit fits, but... (Courtesy of Universal Music Latino)
My annual faves: White Christmas, Bing Crosby; Hill Country Christmas, Willie Nelson; Time Life's 3-CD Soulful Christmas compilation; When My Heart Finds Christmas, Harry Connick Jr.; O Holy Night, Luciano Pavarotti.
What do you listen to this time of year?
Also, I need your help .... Who is this artist?: You hear her version of "Winter Wonderland" streaming from retail store speakers a lot each year. It's a slower, modern version, and her voice is pretty low, melancholy. It has an undercurrent of ... techno? New wave? I'm going to slap my forehead when you say who it is.
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I used this one because it's all scary looking and stuff.
• CD reviews: Duran Duran, Alicia Keys, Seal
• In stores today: CDs, videos and games
So much for my plan to post a CD review a day ...
... OK: to catch up a bit, here's some thought on a few recent releases that I've absorbed in between live shows, Cowboys and Mavs victories, trips to the gym and sleep:
Nicole Atkins, Neptune City (Red Ink/Columbia): I'm suspicious of any artist that Rolling Stone decides to anoint an Artist to Watch (and you should be, too), especially one that doesn't have a ton of pedigree. But this New Jersey native's quirky songwriting approaches -- alt-country, show tunes, lounge jazz and folk punk are just a few more evident influences -- combined with her winsome and fluttery voice (she reminds me of Suzanne Vega with vibrato chops) are novel and intriguing. Standout tracks: "Maybe Tonight" and "Love Surreal." I concur: keep and eye on Ms. Atkins. She's not Colbie Caillat, but she's got more than one good song in her.
While digging through archived Grateful Dead material recently, someone unearthed a trio of recordings by the Flying Burrito Brothers when it was headed by Gram Parsons -- yep, the same guy that's considered by many to be the godfather of alt-country.
Two of those opening-slot performances for the Dead in early April 1969 at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco were released today as downloads here. Touted as "the highest quality Gram Parsons live material available," the 27-track release is titled (deep breath) Gram Parsons Archives, Vol. 1: The Flying Burrito Brothers Live at the Avalon Ballroom 1969 and includes two Jimmi Seiter home recordings as well.
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Legendary rock group the Eagles have put out their first studio album since 1979. Tell us what you think of the new album and tell us your favorite Eagles song.
But just when you thought she'd finally embarrassed herself into oblivion, she
comes out with probably the best album of her career, Blackout.
Check out our photo gallery of America's unsinkable pop-dance princess through the years.
By the way ... will you listening to the new Brit CD Tuesday? Or would you rather cut yourself with it instead? Discuss.
The Pink: Left to right - Rick Wright, David Gilmour and Nick Mason (Courtesy of billboard.com)
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But come on, Mario — she's really pretty. (AP)
What's your take on Ms. Underwood? The CD itself?
Read: Mario's CD review here.
Alison Krauss, Robert Plant (Pamela Springsteen)
The Current Queen of Bluegrass, a genre I grew up with and love; The Man of Led Zeppelin, who I could rock out to all day ... it just might work. I haven't heard their new collaborative CD, Raising Sand (in a Billboard mag interview, Robert said it is NOT a "duet CD." Even though it is). But the two are expert string handlers, so I can only imagine the pairing is amazing.
Tell us: Who's in your dream collaboration?
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Serj (Darragh McDonough)
• He's got a solo CD out, Elect the Dead.
• He's a big fan of the Sulpher Springs-formed act, Fair to Midland, adding that, "I'm fans of very few rock bands, and they're one of them."
• He's playing at Granada Theater tonight at 8, with Primus guitarist Larry LaLonde as part of the backing band.
Read more about him in Mike's story from today.
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... ugh. HATE it when I get behind!:
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Robert Plant, left, and guitarist Jimmy Page (AP)
TELL US: What Zeppelin songs, if any, will you add to the ol' iPod? Comment below.
• Read about the band's 21st century entrance here
• Led Zeppelin's wiki entry
• Hear a little Led on allmusic.com (type the band's name into the search bar)
(mydailycelebritynews.com)
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Dig the '70s-hued CD cover! (Courtesy)
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Mike, she can try to "blackout" all the years of her life that she wants to. But let me tell you, a CD title just ain't gonna do it. If rehab, divorce, motherhood and MTV embarrassment didn't do it, a CD title sure isn't.
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Read the reviews and let us know what you think.
Missed Friday, so I'll include an extra "behind the door" late this afternoon as well as one for good luck (and the fact that Sept. 25 had so many notable releases ... I'm not even gonna get to Matt Pond PA (oddly serene and beard-worthy), Bettye LaVette (oooh, good stripped-down soul), Dethklok (heavy as heck in a goofy Spinal Tap-meets-Danzig-by-way-of-Deicide kind of way), Raul Midon (meh), Small Sins ... ) Man. Anyone know where I can buy an extra day? Or maybe how I can listen to music while sleeping? I'm keeping these short, too ...
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Joni Mitchell, Shine (Hear Music): I'm going to resist talking about the hypocrisy of Ms. Mitchell, who'd retired from music for a while because of her perceptions about its corporate aims, signing to Starbucks' music label (and the fact that Paul McCartney was the first to release a CD on it is a signal that mayyybe the situation isn't as prickly as it seems on its face). But her reputation as a maverick isn't bolstered by this elegant but wonky and ground-down collection, which only resembles her folk-hero heyday in its high-minded and progressive lyrical content. Shine continues her forays into light jazz -- which I'll grant does showcase her graceful songwriting prowess better -- and its applications to other arts that she now pursues (namely, visual art and dance; "If," "If I Had a Heart" and a redux of "Big Yellow Taxi" all appeared in a ballet that she penned recently). But as presented, this jazz fits better in a coffeehouse (surprise!) than a new-age, SoHo-basement bungalow lounge; the horns, guitars, keys and Ms. Mitchell's wrinkled but meditative voice are all stirred into an underflavored mocha in need of an extra shot. Not that this album is bad -- it's far from it. But one has to concentrate way too intently to pick out Ms. Mitchell's complex melodies, nuanced singing and craftily placed fills (oh, the journey that the title tracks provides is reason enough to buy it as an online single). And you can't do that in a freakin' Starbucks.
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Down, Over the Under (ILG/Warner Music Group): When Pantera split way back when, the Abbott brothers stayed in one camp and the two others -- vocalist Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown -- pretty much went waaay the other way. Both are New Orleans natives, and they'd already been stepping out of Pantera's scream-triggered rat-a-tat beatbox with Down, a manufacturer of gigantic and lumbering walls of classic-seared Southern sludge metal with members from two other New Orleans bands: Corrosion of Conformity and Crowbar. It was a side project for all involved until Katrina hit more than two years ago. Over the Under is the act's third product (and first post-devastation), and its the first that actually sounds cohesive and thought-out enough to seem like a full-time band created it. Compared with the first two Down discs, this one has enough well-planned layers (doom, stoner, Southern rock, even bits of grunge) and structured and consistent melodies to keep a listener intrigued. And the biggest surprise of all is Mr. Anselmo, who's sounding like a cross between Layne Staley, Chris Cornell and Ronnie Van Zant these days and screams very little. The playing is sloppy at times and the gloomy production clogs some songs' flow, but Over the Under is the calling card of a band now truly complete thanks to purpose borne from tragedy.
Thanks to three interviews today and a wish to nap before seeing two of the better hard rock bands in the country (High On Fire at the Granada and Burning Brides at Double Wide), I'm gonna delay today's Daily CD Review until tomorrow. One will be on Down's Down III - Over the Under; the other will likely be on Joni Mitchell's Shine.
A tease: both are worthy -- and believe it or not, for similar reasons.
Reba at Country Thunder 2007 (Ben Sklar/DMN)
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Reba McEntire's Reba Duets has hit the top spot on Billboard 200, knocking Kanye and Fiddy's warring albums down a notch. On the other side of the two rappers is Barry Manilow (Greatest Songs of the Seventies) at No. 4. I can't imagine artists any more different than Reba and Barry Manilow to bookend the Kanye/Fiddy brouhaha, which I hope we've heard the last of.
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I'm gonna count the weekend as a day this week, since I've got two Sept. 18 releases with local interest to talk a bit about here. Tomorrow is new-release Tuesday, so I'll start with the obscene amount of Sept. 25 releases then. In the meantime ... :
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We all know Kanye beat 50 Cent like he stole something when their CDs were released last week, selling almost a million alone to Fiddy's close to 700,000 total. Well, don't look for your boy to sulk quietly into the night — not only is he staying in the music biz, he's hitting the road to promote his CD worldwide.
According to Hollyscoop.com, Fiddy got fans worried when he cancelled his entire European tour earlier this week, but now he is trying to make it up to his disappointed fans by doing a series of UK shows later in the year.
A source said: "50 wants to go to Britain and perform tracks from his new 'Curtis' album for his UK fans. He doesn't want to let them down."
The funny thing is that his new UK tour is just about the same time when his rival Kanye will be hitting up the UK for his own tour.
Will this turn into a concert ticket race now....will there be a Ye and Fiddy face-off on stages all over the UK??? Place your bets, folks....
By now most Kanye West fans know his single "Champion" is built around a Steely Dan sample (more specifically a sample from my favorite Dan song, "Kid Charlemagne," allegedly based on the exploits of acid king Owsley Stanley ). It's just another example (or sample) of the hip-hop world's love for the Dan. Other samplers over the years have included De La Soul, who borrowed the hook from "Peg" for "Eye Know"; and the blink-and-you-missed-'em Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz, who jacked "Black Cow" for their one hit, "Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)." The attraction is easy to see: Steely Dan's tight, jazzy hooks are tailor-made for hip-hop samples. It doesn't take a Kanye-level producer to figure it out.
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Oh! You pretty thing (digital file)
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True, Mike, that's an unidentified rear end. Could be either male or female. That is part of the intrigue, of course. Either way, it's a, well, bitchin' CD cover.
I know, Mario; that's a fun-looking bum on Bitchin's purple-hazed cover. And it raises the same question that Get Lucky prompted from me and so many others way back in 1981: is that a male or a female stuffed into those tight leather pants? I know that I'm still undecided ...
Mike, I couldn't comment one iota on the Donnas' new CD. I have yet to hear one note of that band. But I'll tell you, that CD cover is SO cool. It reminds me of Loverboy's Get Lucky cover. I just dig it!
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I figured that Kanye West's Graduation woud outsell 50 Cent's Curtis during the first week of each's release by about 150,000 copies,a and that Graduation would top out at about 700,000. Mr. West's work simply appeals to a broader type of music fan, and the hype surrounding the showdown seemed to favor Mr. West slightly.
But boy howdy, I didn't expect these numbers. Billboard magazine reports that Graduation narrowly misses going platinum in a week, selling 957,000 copies -- both digital and physical, of course -- which obliterates this year's single-week sales mark set by Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight. Fitty moved 691,000 units of Curtis, which is only 72 percent of Kanye's tally.
And there's an ironic-as-heck sidebar that gives 50 Cent more reason to "die tryin'," as promised in how vow to retire if Mr. West outsold him; the last album to sell more than a million units in its first week was his 2005 blockbuster, The Massacre. That's now quite the fitting title for this hop hop-titan showdown.
But I'm betting that the competition's not over. As the fall progresses, I believe that Curtis has a fair chance to overtake Graduation in sales, since major hard-core hip hop records tend to sell stronger for longer -- T.I., Akon and UGK have demonstrated that recently -- and as the novelty of the semi-experimental and, at times, plodding Graduation fades. In my opinion, it's Mr. West's weakest album. Hang in there, Fitty.
I'll be frank: ACL kicked my hiney. OK, not really; I survived fine, and had an immersive ball down Austin way. But alas, I'm behind on my CD-review-a-weekday promise ... by five. I won't quite catch up here, but I'll offer up a few more succinct impressions from four releases from last week. Then, starting tomorrow, the proposed routine will become routine. I hope.
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50 Cent threatened to retire if fellow rapper Kanye West sold more CDs than him during the first week of the rhymers new releases, Fiddy's Curtis and Kanye's Graduation. Well Kanye emerged victorious by almost 300,000 copies. So is Fiddy gonna hang it up or is he gonna pull a Garth Brooks, who's been "retired" for years but still performs and releases records? What do you think?
Also online
• Kanye West's album outperforms 50 Cent's
I don't know about you guys, but I'm SO looking forward to Annie Lennox's upcoming CD, Songs of Mass Destruction, which comes out Oct. 2. All I've heard is "Dark Road," which amazon.com has a video for on its website. But wow, the song is powerful. I've been into Annie since the Eurythmics did "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)." I've seen her in concert. The woman is the coolest combination of heightened drama and laidback soul. Love her!
Some of my faves on the list: Jill Scott, Mary J. Blige, Steven Curtis Chapman, the Led Zeppelin compilation, Blake Lewis ...
Our music critic Mario Tarradell put together a handy list of the hottest new albums coming out this fall. Initial assessment? Oh man; this is a lotta music.
Fall disc debuts:
• List: Get ready for fall's bounty of CD releases
• Survey: Which fall releases are you looking foward to the most?