New This Week
  • Counting Crow!

    Sad to report that I'm not in the best of spirits at themoment!

    Though with the anonymity of my computer keyboard I canadmittedly write whatever I like in this blog without retribution, I am vulnerable! And on occasion, if I saysomething that some of my more irrational, perhaps physically dangerous, readersdon't agree with--because of the picture at the top of this blog, they can feelfree to leave such comments as "I didn't realize Stephen King was reviewingalbums now" or, even more scarring, call me a"Stephen King-lookin' muthahfu**ah!"

    Imagine my chagrin, therefore, when I visited theinteresting internet site I Write Like this afternoon, andread the following: "Check which famouswriter you write like with this statistical analysis tool, which analyzes yourword choice and writing style and compares them with those of the famouswriters."

    Happy to follow the site's instructions, I pasted in a sampleof my sterling prose, clicked the "Analyze" button, and was told I write like...Stephen

    Read More »from Counting Crow!
  • I just had the most psychedelic listening experience of my life!

    It involved hearing Barbara Eden--star of TV's I Dream Of Jeannie--covering Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich's "Bend It" on her one and only 1967 solo album!

    Now admittedly, unless you travel in the same circles I do--a group of debonair young sophisticates who cluster around the stereo, mixed drinks in hand, watching obscure Japanese art films and making donations to questionable charities just because we can--this may mean little to you!

    Still, in a world where one of the week's best new albums features a member of Def Leppard covering old Mott The Hoople songs, can you begrudge me my smallest pleasures?

     

    M.I.A.: /\/\/\Y/\ (N.E.E.T./Interscope)  It struck me a few years ago that the innate talent young teens had with sending text messages--instinctively grasping which key needed to be pressed once, twice or three times in order to call up a specific letter of the alphabet--was remarkable but somehow sad, in that that

    Read More »from What’s M.I.A. Is Yours!
  • Hey There, Big Boi!

    Apologies for missing last week's New This Week post!

    I'm not one for offering excuses, but in this instance one of the following three will do:

    1) Incredibly, I slept through the entire week!

    2) I wrote a fine blog, but my dog ate it!

    3) In a stunning show of empathy by the entire record industry--which collectively realizes what a strain it is for any writer to document an entire year's worth of new album releases--they jointly opted not to release anything at all so that we could all get together in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, and watch salt water taffy being made on the boardwalk!

    Plus, getting locked out of my own house was a major bummer!

     

    Big Boi: Sir Luscious Left Foot...Son Of Chico Dusty (Def Jam)  With an album title just daring to be pronounced--in the tradition of Stevie Wonder's Fulfillingness' First Finale--comes this ripe entry from OutKast's Big Boi, a winner any way you look at it! Featuring guest stars like Janelle Monae, Jamie Foxx and George Clinton, and a song

    Read More »from Hey There, Big Boi!
  • New albums by Eminem and Miley Cyrus?

    Clearly, all's right with the world!

    This is one of those good weeks when I make a list of "likely prospects"--albums I might draw your attention to if I so desire--and decide, after maybe 16 or so, there's no point in listing any more! It must mean the music business is healthier than ever! It's back on its feet, and so are we!

    And to confirm your faith in my ability to single out today's most relevant and happening new music, let me share this: At this very moment, the computer on my left is ripping the complete works of Latin percussionist Pancho Sanchez, while the computer on my right is recording the last three vinyl albums produced by rockers Orleans before they were forbidden to make any more!

    I tell you this for one reason alone: That I would do both of these things simultaneously, on two separate computers--capturing for all eternity the complete works of artists I don't really care about--while writing this blog on yet a third, indicates

    Read More »from Eminem: Now With Pretzels!
  • Petty Sounds!

    Whoops! Apologies for posting this a day late!

    I spent the weekend in San Francisco and had no idea that the record industry--which recently underwent its worst sales week in years--was counting on me to write about the week's best new releases, encourage sales, and thus save the entire music business!

    And I just noticed a reader asked where my new blog was in last week's comments section!

    So admittedly a day late and a dollar short, here I am, ready to spread the word about why this is the best week ever for new releases--and why you should simply buy them all!

    But I'd rather write this instead!

    Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Mojo (Reprise)  A surprisingly strong album by Petty and his long-lived crew carries on the tradition that his groovy recent box set established--that is, of being one of the best live bands on the planet--largely because of its purposeful emulation of country and blues styles upon which all of rock 'n' roll has long been based! Still, time has taken its toll on

    Read More »from Petty Sounds!
  • It strikes me sometimes, as I write this internationally acclaimed blog, that I often am short-changing you, the hapless reader and listener!

    Why?

    Because though I often purport to write about each week's hottest new releases, I sometimes completely ignore albums that I know will sell in the upper dozens and thus top the charts!

    For example? This week I am ignoring The Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack as well as Glee: The Music--Journey to Regionals!

    Why, you ask? Merely because they are cynically created "product" generated by record companies desperately clamoring to release anything at all that might garner a positive retail response?

    No way! It's just because they suck!

     

    Christina Aguilera: Bionic (RCA)  What kind of lesson might be learned when one of this decade's most prominent singers--a former teen star--sells millions of records, marries, gives birth, and then returns with an album featuring hot collaborations with arty producers and co-writers and a music video that simply

    Read More »from The Six Million Dollar Woman!
  • Jack Of All Trade!

    I'm probably not alone in thinking that any week that brings us a new Clay Aiken album is a likely candidate for Best Week Of The Year!

    In fact, I really had no idea that any such album was due until I heard--with maximum joy, I must add--the opening bars of his version of '60s classic "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" being played in the office from a desk mere inches away from own!

    For a brief second, I shut my eyes and imagined a world where Clay himself had the original hit--forget Frankie Valli and his  talentless 4 Seasons!--and the entire mythology of pop music was rewritten, with Aiken's name, bold as love, emblazoned at its very peak!

    Then I imagined myself being able to fly! And to become invisible at my very whim, able to enter girls' locker rooms at my leisure if I so desired--or to turn all the guns in the entire world into rubber to force mandatory gun control upon a world unwilling to accept it, even for its own self-preservation!

    Then I realized that I had, of course, fallen

    Read More »from Jack Of All Trade!
  • A plethora of mildly interesting new releases should keep our pulses completely stable through the week!

    That's right--absolutely nothing that's setting the world buzzing is being released, and the world is all the better for it!

    Reliable names, tired faces, and the same-old/same-old is pretty much all that's available this week, allowing most of us to stay home, watch the season finales of our favorite television shows, and contemplate ways to say precisely the same thing in three separate sentences!

    Still, it could be worse!

     

    Leela James: My Soul (Stax)  It's fitting that Ms. James, one of our better young R&B vocalists, has moved over to the distinguished Stax label--which has a proud history of expressive vocalists, precise but minimal musical accompaniment, and girls with Afros on their album covers! Sounding fully contemporary yet cognizant of the tradition of which she is clearly a part, James sings expertly, to fine musical backing, and such tracks as "Party All Night," "Supa

    Read More »from New Releases Excite Few!
  • Let’s Go Get Stones!

    It's been an eventful week in pop music, what with the sad passing of rock singer Ronnie James Dio--whose presence will certainly be missed--the re-release of the Rolling Stones' 1972 classic Exile On Main Street, and new albums by younger artists Janelle Monáe and LCD Soundsystem, both of whom seem poised for great things!

    It's also been an interesting week for aquatic life in the Gulf Of Mexico!

    Yep, in the scheme of things, new albums--whether in CD or vinyl configuration--and gaping ecological disasters that will have a profound effect on all of us for the remainder of our lives both rely on petroleum products to get their point across!

    It's just one more reason why it may be best for all of us to stay inside with our doors closed until this whole music and "ecology" thing blows over!

    As always, happy to help out!

     

    The Rolling Stones: Exile On Main Street (Deluxe Edition) (Universal)  One of the best things about the lovable Rolling Stones still being alive and kicking is that

    Read More »from Let’s Go Get Stones!
  • It isn't easy spotlighting the best records of the week!

    For starters, I have to pay attention to all the new releases--which takes valuable time away from to all the older, better albums I don't have to force myself to like!

    Furthermore, when I do my research--I scour Amazon daily for hints of great new stuff--I find myself captivated by things like Foghat's new album's title, Not Live At The BBC, or that Amazon's metadata includes startling new artists such as James, Blood & Ulmer, whose new album In And Out is probably yet another David Crosby rip-off!

    Finally, the chance to mention groups whose music probably stinks but hey, check out their names--We Were Exploding Anyway, I Am Abomination, and the lovable Holy F*ck, surely just one hit single away from the top of the charts--is often simply too overwhelming!

    But then I remember that the youthful populations of South Carolina, Nebraska and New Hampshire are awaiting my critical verdict on the week's new music and will literally pay

    Read More »from The National’s Anthem!

Pagination

(287 Stories)

News for You

  • NYers furious over photos taken through windows

    NEW YORK (AP) — In one photo, a woman is on all fours, presumably picking something up, her posterior pressed against a glass window. Another photo shows a couple in bathrobes, their feet touching beneath a table. And there is one of a man, in jeans and a T-shirt, lying on his side as he takes a nap.

  • 'Iron Man 3' races past $1 billion dollar mark on monster foreign take

    By Todd Cunningham LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "Iron Man 3" was soaring past $1 billion at the worldwide box office Thursday, in a display of world domination that would make one of Marvel's super villains proud. The box-office bounty - roughly $700 million from abroad and $300 million domestically - is a major triumph for Disney, which bet big on comic book superheroes when it bought Marvel Studios for $4 billion in 2009. And its decision to bring aboard a Chinese partner for "Iron Man 3" and focus the Disney marketing machine on the booming foreign market looks pretty good right now, too. ...

  • Denmark favorite to win Eurovision Song Contest

    MALMO, Sweden (AP) — An ethno-inspired flute and drum tune from Denmark is the bookmakers' favorite to win this year's Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday, which also features a bizarre opera pop number from Romania and an Armenian rock song written by the guitarist of Black Sabbath.

  • NYC artist's secret photos raise privacy issues

    NEW YORK (AP) — In one photo, a woman is on all fours, presumably picking something up, her posterior pressed against a glass window. Another photo shows a couple in bathrobes, their feet touching beneath a table. And there is one of a man, in jeans and a T-shirt, lying on his side as he takes a nap.

  • 'American Idol' finale draws record low ratings

    NEW YORK (AP) — Ratings for the "American Idol" finale plunged to a record low for the 12-year-old show.

  • NBC's 'The Voice' confirms Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton returning

    By Jethro Nededog LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The gang's back together! NBC announced on Friday that pop diva Christina Aguilera and funk singer Cee Lo Green will be reuniting with pop star Adam Levine and country singer Blake Shelton for Season 5, as TheWrap was the first to report. The network also said that Shakira and Usher are set to return on Season 6, which will air in midseason 2014. ...

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