I kinda knew this would be a rough week going in.

But once I saw this week's edition of Mark Saleski's Tuesday Morning Purchase (he was only able to come up with two new releases to spotlight), I knew I was in even deeper trouble than first thought. With Tom Johnson's Breakdown column covering only one new release this week, my worst suspicions and deepest fears were then confirmed.

The weeks of new music purgatory are officially upon us.

By this, I of course refer to that year-end no-man's land for new releases that means the labels have officially given us everything they've got for 2007. What started so promisingly a few weeks back with new music from the likes of Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell, and continued with an unusually promising glut of reissues from Led Zeppelin, Dylan, Genesis, and U2 is now officially over.

This is what you've got for this year my friends, so learn to live with it. Because between right now and sometime probably lasting well into January 2008, what you are going to see from the labels is well, not much.

That is of course not to slight what we have this week in the way of new releases. We've got something for example from Public Enemy frontman Chuck D, backed by the SLAMjamz Artist Revue called Tribb to JB, which I would presume is a tribute to the great James Brown. There are greatest-hits packages from rapper Common and former Deep Purple/Black Sabbath screamer Ian Gillan.

There are also two brand spanking new Ultimate Grammy Collection's, devoted to Contemporary Pop and Contemporary R&B. But from there, the pickings get pretty slim. You want various artist compilations? How about Isreal Unleashed: The Best Rock and Metal From The Holy Land or Si Para Usted: The Funky Beats of Revolutionary Cuba? That oughta get the kids excited this Christmas!

Or how about the eagerly anticipated releases from Alcoholics Unaminous, Aspera, Candidate, and the cleverly named rappers CunninLynguists? And for the love of God, can somebody please tell me who in the hell are Gob, and what exactly is a Muertos Vivos?