It's a week dominated by women!

Well, women who've released new albums, that is! And what a line-up: Melissa Etheridge, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Courtney Love's Hole, iCarly's Miranda Cosgrove, and even a fabulous hits collection by Carole King!

It's as if men no longer mattered anymore!

Luckily, however, thanks to inequities in the workplace, only men can afford to buy new albums these days! So it all works out!

Melissa Etheridge: Fearless Love (Island)  Only a cynic would note that the release of this new album came within a week of singer Etheridge's telling Oprah Winfrey that her breaking up with partner Tammy Lee Micheals was "as mutual as those things can be"! Heck, all I know is that she was the last thing on my mind until that announcement made me wonder what Melissa's been doing lately! And what's this? A brand new album? Heck, I think I'll buy it and listen to see if there are any lyrical "clues" about what was going on in the couple's life! So what's the verdict? Heck, I

New releases by Madonna, the Doors, former J. Geils Band singer Peter Wolf and the BoDeans conclusively prove that 2010 is really the '80s with a better health plan!

And in an era when record labels have voiced their interest in reducing the number of individual album tracks to "decrease consumer cost," and decided it might make better strategic sense to release a pair of "mini-albums" by a brand new artist in a given year--rather than a full-fledged debut set that might easily tank and lay all their plans to waste--I say why not?

After all, I'm saving all my money to buy the Ke$ha box set this Christmas!

Madonna: Sticky & Sweet CD/DVD (Warner Brothers)  As time goes by, it becomes easier and easier to enjoy Madonna and value her enormous contribution to popular culture! This generous set--which captures the pop goddess in live performance in Argentina before 65 billion fans and includes both a CD and DVD--gives us all a chance to step back, hear such hits as "Like A Prayer" and

In a fascinating experiment, major record labels have apparently met in secret and agreed that this week--just for kicks--they'd release absolutely no albums of interest just to see if anybody noticed!

Why?

Accountants at the labels have determined that since most new releases lose money, by issuing absolutely nothing worthwhile, losses will be kept to a minimum and they'll be praised by their higher-ups for saving money!

In short: whoever loses the least money wins!

That said, the new Kate Smith reissue is quite the stunner!

The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights (Third Man/WB)  A live album by Detroit's acclaimed White Stripes is not a bad idea; whatever oomph they have is probably best experienced in a live, sweaty concert hall, where the aroma of smoke, beer, and sweat mixes with the primal odors of pure, unadulterated rock 'n' roll! It's just one more reason why the band's devoting this album to the decades-long marketing of Northern Bathroom Tissue is such a good

Apologies for being a day late in posting this blog, but I have a valid excuse!

Last night, at about 9:30, I was just about to start writing it, but first decided to think about what I might be writing. Then, like you, I simply fell asleep!

But I'm wide awake now, 24 hours later, and newly enthused by a touching reader's comment on last week's post!

"This really is a confusing blog," said young reader Alicia. "I'm going to try to forget that I even read it."

Trust me, Alicia--I don't even remember who wrote it!

Jimi Hendrix: Valleys Of Neptune, Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love, Electric Ladyland, First Rays Of The New Rising Sun (all on Experience Hendrix/Legacy)  I remember when I was back working at Billboard a millennium ago and wrote a piece pointing out that even back then I owned maybe five different versions of Hendrix's classic Electric Ladyland, all of which theoretically sounded better than the last, and I wondered how many more would come before they got it right.