Lots to talk about this week, so let's get right to it.
Mariah Carey's E=MC2 is the new arrival that is probably being watched most closely this week. The reasons for that should be obvious to anyone who has been watching the declining fortunes of the music industry for the past couple of years. As the biggest superstar release so far this year, the big question is whether or not "Mimi" can bring the fans back into the stores.
Meanwhile, other more morbid observers are on flame-out watch, wondering if the comeback of the R&B diva's last album was simply a fluke or not. BC's own Clayton Perry offered up his two cents on the subject in a review published earlier this week, which we urge you to check out.
There are also a couple of big reissues this week. Air has a tenth anniversary deluxe edition of their landmark electronica release Moon Safari. Meanwhile Carole King has the two-disc deluxe legacy edition of her all-time classic Tapestry album. I was never that big a fan of the whirring and beeping brand of Air's synthesized atmospheres. I probably will check out the Carole King though, if for no other reason than to relive that part of my youth that was spent brooding in coffeehouses.
Frank Black's new EP SVN FNGRS is said to draw upon Irish mythology, and be otherwise heavy on the quirky weirdness that fans of his work with the Pixies and as Black Francis already know and love. The Brian Jonestown Massacre's My Bloody Underground was reviewed here earlier this week by BC's own Kevin Eagan, who liked the album's combination of experimentation and noise.
Finally this week, we have a couple of live albums of note. Tom Johnson has all the dope on Rush's new Snakes & Arrows Live, which is being released this week to coincide with a summer tour — but we'll let him tell you all about that. Meanwhile, I can hardly wait to check out Southside Johnny's 1978 Live in Boston, where the New Jersey soul-shouter (and sometime Springsteen collaborator) is captured in a red hot show around the time of his great Hearts Of Stone album.
Spring has sprung and it's time for some blues! Sure, true believers know that it's always time for some blues. Well, this record from Yellow Dog artist Eden Brent is the kind of thing that just might create a few true believers. Brent has a beautifully soulful voice (with just enough rasp) and wide-ranging piano technique that brings to mind both Marcia Ball and Professor Longhair.
Article comments
1 - Josh Hathaway
Love that Eden Brent record.
2 - JC Mosquito
Southside Johnny - Hearts of Stone era - cool. Touch the Sky was recorded in 1980, I think, so this 1978 recording ought to be good, too.