Welcome to New This Week--the exciting blog which details the week's hottest new releases, points out which ones are worth purchasing and which are worth ignoring, and does so in a friendly, highly readable format.

While this week seems better than the norm--and seasonally, it's to be expected during this Back To School month--it does have one major failing.

Unfortunately, neither Taylor Swift nor Beyonce have new releases this week, so there's no possible way to justifiably imply one being superior to the other.

But on the bright side: The playing field is level, and true quality can be our guide.

Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson: Break Up (Atco/Rhino)  This unexpectedly delightful pairing teams Yorn, a respected singer/songwriter, with actress/singer Johansson, whose prior solo album of Tom Waits covers took a few critical blows unjustifiably, in my opinion, and comes up a complete winner. The duo harmonize well, Johansson sings in a slightly higher

I am peculiarly fascinated by the release of this week's new album by Whitney Houston!

This because I believe her entire career has been based on the number of records she can sell!

I remember back in the old days, before her first album came out, when her label sent out an expensive calendar featuring Whitney in many rather enticing poses; it was the first indicator that they had planned on spending an extraordinary amount of money on this artist! They did not do this for the A's, D.L. Byron, the Sports or the Thompson Twins!

And yes, she sold lots and lots of records! In fact, she's famous for it!

So if this new album doesn't sell lots of records--because, after all, that's what she's famous for--it must mean her new album is very bad!

Sometimes record companies make this stuff easy!

Whitney Houston: I Look To You (Arista)  Aside from the fact that she has sold lots of records, what meaning does Whitney Houston have for me, a human? Well, she sang "Memories," an old Soft Machine

A batch of welcome, unexpected reissues makes this week one of the year's best release weeks ever!

True, someone might take a look at some of the recordings below and note, My, how odd, a significant number of the spotlighted releases appear to be by well-established, sometimes legendary and sometimes dead artists rather than current label signings!

On the other hand, others might say, Wow, that newly signed Jessie James looks like she's gonna sound great!

But, as always, there's enough to go around for everyone!

So there's no point in thinking absolutely nothing of any interest is being released anymore! Because now that Soundscan is going to start considering T-shirts albums...everything has changed!

Various Artists: Woodstock --40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm (Rhino)  Speaking of clothes, hats off to Rhino Records for one of the finest reissues in memory! On the heels of the 40th anniversary of the original Woodstock Festival--that historic moment when everything peaked and

I'm pretty excited as I write this, and I'll bet you would be, too!

Why? In about 10 hours, on Tuesday morning, I'll be at the dentist's office getting a root canal!

The down side? Maybe it'll hurt! The up side? It may be more fun than listening to this week's new releases! Either way, sleep enters the picture!

Modest Mouse: No One's First And You're Next (Epic)  It's a great week when a budget-priced release of also-ran tracks and B-sides by a "platinum-selling" "alternative rock" "band" is the hottest release, but with an album cover like this, who wouldn't want to pick it up? Featuring "newly recorded" songs from the We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank and Good News For People Who Love Bad News sessions and a couple of "rare" b-sides, this can only be a prelude for their long anticipated next real record, provisionally entitled We Like To Use Excessive Quotation Marks To Denote Irony Because Frankly It Disturbs Us That Some People Out There Are Waiting For Us To Record "Here I