Welcome to February, and another very short list of new album releases to chomp on this week. I guess Springsteen really is a hard act to follow. But we'll give this week's new entries their well-earned props for trying.
They include country dude Dierks Bentley, who is hoping to burn a few cash registers this week with his latest, Feel That Fire. Bentley does what he does best here, which is to take the best of the traditional Nashville and put the sort of heapings of modern studio gloss on it that usually sells buttloads of those shiny compact discs.
One American Idol runner-up who a lot of people still think should have won is Melinda Dolittle. She's finally got her own CD out, where she shows exactly why she was so highly regarded as a gem amongst the karaoke singers a few seasons back. On Coming Back to You, Doolittle shows 'em how it's done, sounding at times like a second coming of everyone from Tina Turner to Gladys Knight.
To some folks, The Fray may always be the house band for those castaways on ABC's Lost. But on their new self-titled album they continue to churn out the sort of great songs that could even melt Benjamin Linus' cold black heart.
The top reissue this week is Graham Nash's boxed set Reflections, which features solo material as well as stuff from his days with the Hollies and his various collaborations with those other three guys from CSN&Y.
This week's picks include El Bicho shamelessly campaigning for The Cure to get their due from the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and Pico talking about a collaboration between two master pianists representing for two generations.
Duet is a live meeting of two master performers, both of which happen to be virtuosic pianists. The old master Corea and the new master, Japenese former child prodigy Hiromi, run through some very delicate but melodic compositions played with jaw-dropping proficiency. Not to mention they intertwine their styles so fluidly, it often sounds like a single player with an extra pair of hands.
This is a real treat for anyone who appreciates unaccompanied piano, regardless of music style.
Recorded live on November 11th and 12th in 2002 at the Tempodrom Berlin, The Cure played a concert that had Cure fans, usually associated with the color black, turn green with envy at the announcement the band would perform in their entirety the albums Pornography, Disintegration, and Bloodflowers, which as Robert Smith says, “are inextricably linked in so many ways.”
Coming in at over three hours, Trilogy is a wonderfully draining experience, musically and emotionally. The show is constantly awash in an ever-changing kaleidoscope of colors and the Blu-ray brilliantly recreates them.
![The Cure: Trilogy - Live In Berlin [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51cjDEwryBL._SL120_.jpg)
Article comments
1 - janet m
Feel That Fire is spawning a lot of blazing clichés this week, and all of them are right! This is one hot CD that is going to go places " read that up! Dierks has said he wanted to stay in the moment, as well as have fun. He’s done it with style and grace. Style with the Warren Brothers in the title cut, grace with the incomparable Patti Griffin in Beautiful World, Better Believer, co-written with Rivers Rutherford, and Pray, written with Rodney Crowell. For fun you can’t beat Sideways and Here She Comes. My favorite today is I Wanna Close Your Eyes, but tomorrow it may change to that motorcycle revving Life on the Run with Mike McCready (Pearl Jam). You may remember McCready’s previous contribution with Bentley on Distant Shore on his first CD. Feel that Fire? You bet. Get yours today.
2 - Glen Boyd
You're either a really hardcore fan, or you're on the payroll in some capacity. Either way, we appreciate the comment. We'll be keeping an eye on Mr. Bentley....
-Glen