Is it just me, or does this list just keep getting shorter and shorter each week?

Anyway, no matter. Before we get to this week's new album releases, a few housekeeping items are in order, as my ever faithful comrades Mark Saleski and Tom Johnson have once again abandoned me this week.

Not to worry. I fully expect both to be back here with their weekly picks in due course. In the meantime, we've recruited an ace pair of backup hitters.

Many of you already know El Bicho for his music reviews at BC, as well as a member in good-standing of those tireless champions of good taste in entertainment, The Masked Movie Snobs. Señor Bicho joins us here in just a bit to talk about the Bobby Womack reissues headed your way this week.

Likewise, Pico should be a familiar face to anyone who reads BC music regularly for his incisive jazz reviews, and for his music columns, One Track Mind and Quickies. Pico will also be joining us today to talk about the new one by the great John Hiatt.

Meanwhile, on to the business at hand.

The biggie this week is Usher's new Here I Stand. This release follows his breakthrough 2004 album Confessions, as well as his newfound marital status (that old Beatles standby, "sorry girls, he's married" definitely applies here). By all accounts, married life has done little to alter Usher's lyrical themes of young romance and the bump and grind sort of thing that goes right alongside it. BC's own Clayton Perry posted a more in-depth review earlier this week which you can check out by going here.

All-time R&B great Al Green is also back this week with his Lay It Down. Green gets assistance here from John Legend and members of the Roots, bringing a contemporary spin to his classic soul sound. The dance oriented Bring Ya to the Brink is "Fungirl" Cyndi Lauper's first album of new material in 12 years. The classic lineup of the great jazz-fusion band Return To Forever has a double-disc Anthology out just in time for their big reunion tour this summer.

And now without further adieu, we bring you...

If your musical collection is lacking soul, May 27th is the perfect day to rectify that situation with the help of Bobby Womack. He gets a label-spanning best-of available digitally and on CD, a great choice for those new to him. Seven albums from 1968 to '76 — six of which hit the R&B charts — make their digital debuts, and a newly discovered 1972 concert recording from New York's Apollo Theater will be released.