Blog Posts by Dave DiMartino

You know what? Nothing leaps out as a massive smash-to-be this week, which--since I don't run a record company--might not be a bad thing.

Maybe the last remaining record stores in America will devote precious shelf space to some of this week's more deserving non-blockbuster titles, sell millions of new albums, create a widespread enthusiasm for recorded music that hasn't been seen in years, and single-handedly save the industry!

Or maybe space aliens will visit a Best Buy, decide to sample American culture, buy the new Jim Jones album, and say to each other, "Hey, dudes, this thing is just a mixtape! And it's for sale!"

Or maybe, just maybe, the latest album by Kidz Bop Kids will be given that one additional listen--the one that finally clicks with the most influential music critics in America--and a chain reaction of massive critical respect, essays and magazine covers will make them a phenomenon the likes of which hasn't been seen since the glory days of the Beatles!

Most likely,

It was music's biggest week, according to some reports--and indeed it was!

Said reports, of course, were referring to this Sunday's Grammy Awards ceremony, and from what I saw of it, things seemed agreeably ho-hum. Amy Winehouse's performance was groovy, and getting Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard in front of cameras once more with John Fogerty was a nice touch--though probably of interest to about one-billionth of the number of people interested in Kanye West's latest haircut.

But in fact the biggest musical event of last week took place in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, when the legendary Blue Cheer took the stage of the Knitting Factory and played such classics as "Summertime Blues" and "Doctor Please" and, as is their wont, turned the very air to cottage cheese! Having seen them a few times in their original configuration back in the '60s, I must in all candor confess they now look strangely older--but sonically, they were better than ever!

Perhaps if NARAS had dumped that Alicia

Like clockwork, the last week of January begins the flow of "real" albums--that is, albums with a legitimate chance of selling that, perhaps wisely, were withheld from release until the holiday season was over, the industry was up and moving again, and our president promised to send everyone lots of free cash!

And sure enough, there's a little something out there for everyone: Fans of teenpop, country music, alternative rock, hip new bands, Willie Nelson and Sarah Brightman!

Plus many exciting new digital downloads!

In short, this is the best time in history to be a music fan yet! What say we buy everything and see what happens next?

Mars Volta: The Bedlam In Gotham (GSL/Strummer/Universal) Perhaps this week's coolest band--then again, perhaps not--this rockin' combo is flavorful, adventurous, wild 'n' crazy, and sort of what Rush might've sounded like if LSD had ever been available in Canada! It's a substantial disc, honking off in every conceivable direction, and pretty much the

It's a great week for new releases, if you ask me!

Mostly because I can't see a single CD here that's a natural to unexpectedly top the charts and make me long for those safe days of yesteryear--when superstars like Yung Joc and Soulja Boy Tellem took their rightful positions as America's biggest sellers! As a result, it would appear that many of this week's biggest albums may consist of more than just one hot single and oodles more filler!

On the other hand, it may signify that 2008 has already peaked in music sales!

I suspect it's just a coincidence, and suggest you do the same!

Natasha Bedingfield: Pocket Full Of Sunshine (Epic) For my money, this week's candidate for highest debut honors--and what an honor it is!--should go to England's lovely Ms. Bedingfield, a charming young lady who's got a great voice and a fine head on her shoulders as well! Oddly, a version of this album has been out in the UK since last April, but Pocket appears to be fully Americanized for the tacky ol'

Holy smoke! I don't want to sound like an alarmist, but I just saw a TV news report announcing that some of today's biggest music stars are being investigated for making albums on steroids!

Look, let's get real here. I wasn't too big a fan of 8-tracks or cassettes, I didn't mind buying albums on vinyl, and I've always sort of been into CDs and even downloads! But steroids? Isn't that exactly the sort of thing Phil Spector was against?

Just a thought!

Raheem DeVaughn: Love Behind The Melody (Jive) It may not be the year's strongest release week if this blog leads off with a new album by Raheem DeVaughan, true; on the other hand, the strategy may simply be to make a weak joke about William DeVaughn's "Be Thankful For What You Got" and leave it at that! All I know is, this album features guest appearances by Big Boi and Floetry and ends with a track called "Four Letter Word." And when you get right down to it, those facts and those facts alone make this the week's most exciting new

Regular readers of this blog may have noticed its absence during the past two weeks. I know I did!

But it was only right and natural. Because any commentary that methodically examines each week's new releases must live and die by those very releases.

And between you and me, nothing good came out!

Luckily, any week which features a reissue of Rush's Permanent Waves album and the original Broadway cast recording of Xanadu can't be called dull by any stretch!

"Nightmarish beyond belief" would be cool, though!

Kate Nash: Made Of Bricks (Geffen) She's from England and she's the next big thing since Lily Allen! And the next big thing before Katy Perry! Catch her quick! Is she related to Graham Nash? Is she not a singer but an actual vintage automobile? Will her charming singles like "Foundations" and "Mouthwash" catch on here in the States like they did in her homeland--or will they fail miserably due to a crumbling music industry infrastructure? Most importantly, should all written

Are New Year's Eve celebrations supposed to glorify the year that was or offer a tasty preview of the year that's to come? If you were watching TV on New Year's Eve, you probably know the answer: They're supposed to make you turn off all the lights in your house, hide in your closet and tremble in horror!

In the same manner that yesterday's youth used to watch Guy Lombardo's Times Square New Year's hijinks with smarmy smirks o' superiority until--way back in '72--the elder dude was replaced by the more robust Dick Clark, time has now passed and things are, shall we say, getting weird. ABC-TV's Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2008 offered a blend of the mundane (as in cheerily vacant host Ryan Seacrest), the ordinary (the chipper young Jonas Brothers), the famously famous (Fergie, Miley Cyrus), and--in the shape of briefly returning host Dick Clark, post-stroke and back for the third time, the praiseworthy but off-putting. Others perhaps more famous put in appearances--such as

As we approach the last shopping week of the year, what better time to focus on those artists who are masters of their craft? Those artists who have spent years and years confined in the studio, purposefully tweaking every gorgeous note of their masterworks--with no regard to commercial pressures--until, record companies be damned, their work is at last ready for public airing?

Yeah, what a great idea to focus on those kinds of artists!

And I think we all know that when it comes to those sort of artists--the ones who make music not for you or me but for the very eons themselves--we are most definitely talking about Chingy!

Oddly, a very bland rapper shares the same name!

Chingy: Hate It Or Love It (Disturbing Tha Peace/Def Jam) Better known to his elite posse as Chingington Butterworth III, young Mr. Chingy is featured here in all his glory, accompanied by Ludacris, Anthony Hamilton, Amerie, Bobby Valentino and others of similar repute, telling it like it is on such tracks as first