Wow, what a phenomenal week!

First came Sunday night's exciting Grammy Awards show--a rock 'em, sock 'em, no-holds-barred ceremony honoring this year's absolutely greatest musicians! I was enthralled!

Would Adele be able to sing? What would Lady Gaga be wearing? Would Kanye West really rush onstage, grab a microphone, call people on his cellphone and ask if their refrigerator was running? And wasn't it about time for Jay-Z and Beyoncé to have another baby or something? Heck, it could be a great night!

But...when all was said and done, it was a major downer!

Why? No Spin Doctors reunion!

Still, later that night, when Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and I went out for donuts and coffee, the car in front of us lost a hubcab! And you should have heard Gaga howl!

And at Krispy Kreme, Nicki Minaj let us take cuts!

Like I said: what a week!

Amos Lee: As The Crow Flies (Blue Note)  It's always difficult to ascertain what album deserves the treasured lead-off spot here, but I'm suspecting that Mr.

Like most of us, I'm sitting at home with a bag of ice perched atop my head, still trying to recover from the horrendous spectacle of Sunday's Super Bowl performance--in which popular star Madonna, ready to emerge with a brand new album, dared to dance and sing in front of the entire world in an effort to promote it!

How offensive was it? Let me count the ways!

First, she was disarmingly attractive! Secondly, she seemed a skilled dancer! Thirdly, she was singing a catchy song! Fourthly, the onstage choreography displayed by her entire onstage troupe was precisely performed and a marvel to watch! Fifthly, it was a pleasure watching the onstage guests--celebrities in their own right Nicki Minaj, M.I.A., LMFAO and Cee Lo Green--artfully singing, dancing and performing, abilities we as Americans have paid them vast sums to display on their own! Sixthly is a word I never thought I'd have to use! Seventhly, she's into World Peace! You mean to tell me you're not?

And eighthly, I think M.I.A. likes me!

In short, it was the greatest Super Bowl show of all time! And I have a bag of ice on my head because it's fashionable! I am going to buy two copies of the new Madonna album just to prove my point!

In many ways, we're a lot alike!

Van Halen: A Different Kind Of Truth (Interscope)  One of last week's personal highlights was being able to catch Van Halen's "surprise"

If you're like me, you're probably shivering in anticipation about the next two weeks!

This Sunday will bring us the exciting return of Madonna--whose appearance at the Super Bowl is certain to be the stuff of legends! I'm betting she'll be controversial, maybe sort of sexy, and say the word "pigskin" more than once!

And the next week will of course bring us the exciting Grammy Awards! Packed with superstars, controversy, outlandish wardrobes, and, every now and then, music, it's sure to send consumers directly to record stores--where they'll drop hundreds of dollars purchasing the latest product by today's acclaimed superstars and keep our good friends in the record industry employed for at least eight, heck, maybe nine more months! And I understand there are more than 50 record stores left!

Whoever said "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" was half-right!

Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas (Columbia)   New records by Leonard Cohen are a cause for celebration, and this latest--his first studio album in eight years--merits all the

Perhaps you've heard the expression, "When it rains, it pours!"

If you're like me, it's the sort of the phrase that's bothered you since you were a youngster forced to remain at the dinner table well after you'd finished eating--all for the sake of that silly "family" thing everyone's always talking about!

And while you sat there, seething but too young to realize why, your eyes fixated on that big fat, blue cylindrical object at the center of the dinner table, bearing a blue label and a puzzling illustration of a young girl holding an umbrella, standing in the rain like an idiot, with the legend "When it rains, it pours" next to her!

Again like me, that was probably the precise moment you realized that if you had any sort of future whatsoever, it would lie in writing thought-provoking music reviews, perhaps years in the future, in which you would incorporate virtually every thought that had ever crossed your mind in order to personally fulfill your word quota!

"One day," you perhaps reasoned, "I'll use that expression to convey the joy of an album release week bubbling over with fantastic new product! It will be really artful, and people will admire the analogy!"

Sadly, however, you big brother will then remind your parents that you've once again come to the dinner table without your pants! That too will scar you!

But as you stare at them all...you'll remember!

Various Artists: Chimes Of Freedom: The Songs Of Bob Dylan (Amnesty International)  Certainly one of the week's most ambitious releases is this massive, 4-CD

Whew! Just made it back to my computer!

Like everyone else, I count on the feedback of my peers to determine my taste in music, and did I ever have a rough weekend!

Last Saturday night, I scrambled down to Amoeba Records in Hollywood to pick up whatever music I could by up-and-coming starlet Lana Del Ray, because I heard she was the next big thing! Luckily for me, I found a few pricey imports, plopped down the requisite big bucks, and strolled out of that store cockily, completely convinced that I was on the cutting edge of timeless critical taste and about to join my enlightened brethren in anointing her a goddess while there was still time!

As fate would have it, though, before I could actually break the records out of their packaging, I was captivated by a spectacular box set of 5 Godzilla DVDs that occupied me through the remainder of the weekend! They were, as you might expect, quite good!

Yet this very morning, I'd heard that young Lana had made a fool of herself on Saturday

Welcome to the New Year!

It's been a few weeks now since I've cobbled together this much-loved blog, largely because that which inspires it--the seemingly unlimited supply of new album and DVD releases--dried up during the holidays!

Fortunately for all of us, I didn't!

But those weeks of apparent inactivity weren't entirely fruitless! During that time, I deliberately spent time examining--or re-examining--albums that somehow escaped my full attention during the past few decades! And I'm pleased to report that I spent some serious listening time to 1) The complete works of Kiki Dee, 2) The entire Rush catalog, 3) Most of the recordings by '70s mid-level Brit rockers Stray, and 4) the deluxe reissue of Jethro Tull's Aqualung!

My findings? Those albums are all completely excellent--with the exception of all the dopey Rush lyrics--but still nowhere near as thrilling as the news that Jay-Z and Beyoncé have named their new daughter Blue Ivy!

Earlier today I had a hangnail!

Snow Patrol: Fallen Empires (Island)  When it comes to melodic rockers Snow Patrol--a fine band whose popularity perhaps crested a few albums ago--one

Welcome to the week before the worst week ever!

Well, let's refine that. Welcome to the week where all the really good stuff has already been released two weeks ago by record companies intent on making big bucks before the year's all over!

This week's new releases are those borderline projects that someone somewhere decided to release now, purely because it didn't seem worth it to wait until the New Year for what would likely be a minimal cash return! Or that labels were simply contractually obligated to release, so what the heck! Here it is, take it or leave it!

In short: Looking for a good holiday present and Target's all out of fingernail clippers? Check out the album department!

Anthony Hamilton: Back To Love (RCA)  Well, now I feel kind of

I've often felt that the best way to review music--to really get at the innate greatness or, for that matter, horror, of any new album release--is to completely flush your mind of all preconceived notions of what constitutes good, bad, or compellingly worthless!

And so it is that this evening, just a few short hours ago, I took the wearying drive home and enjoyed a complete listening of the third album by Blood, Sweat & Tears!

I'm happy to report that the album's many highlights--including "Hi-De-Ho," the boldly sexual "Lucretia Mac Evil," and simply the best version of "Sympathy For The Devil" that's ever been recorded--wiped me out emotionally, once again making me long for the innate charisma that BS&T vocalist David Clayton-Thomas almost evilly flaunted, and made me the perfect receptive audience for this week's new releases!

Just in case, I've decided to write this blog with a paper bag over my head!

The Black Keys: El Camino (Nonesuch)  When it comes to garage/blues rock duos