Welcome to our Cinco De Mayo edition of the weekly New Album Releases rundown. In the tradition of that ever-so-festive holiday, we begin this week by heading south of the border.
Few artists these days draw the once dreaded "new Dylan" kiss of death anymore, but with the numerous albums he has recorded under the Bright Eyes moniker, Conor Oberst is one of the handful who have done exactly that. So when Oberst emerged from the Mexican countryside with his first solo album using his own name last year, a lot of people didn't quite know what to expect.
On Outer South, his second album with his new mates in the Mystic Valley Band, Oberst has actually turned the tables by making things into a bit more of a democracy. His Mystic Valley bandmates share both songwriting and vocal duties on nearly half of the tracks here, making things much more like...well, like a band. And while Oberst may still be the only writer here who will ever come close to any of those Dylan comparisons, the rest of these guys sound pretty damned good too.
The ever musically restless Ben Harper also returns this week, and turns up the volume considerably on the new album with his band the Relentless7, White Lies For Dark Times, which arrives in both standard and deluxe double disc editions.
This week NAR welcomes Masked Movie Snob General Jabbo into the contributors circle to talk about a newly unearthed concert gem from Ol' Blue Eyes himself. But first, we coaxed Mark Saleski out of his hut long enough to polish off the spandex and stacked heels and give us the lowdown on the new Todd Rundgren-produced album from the New York Dolls.
Yes, there's only David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain left from the original Dolls. So what? Did you give their previous One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This a listen? Great piece of work. Fun songs, grinding guitars, hooks that were impossible to remove from the ear parts. Todd Rundgren is back as the producer this time around (he produced their debut back in 1973). What does this mean? I have no freaking idea and frankly, I don't care. I'm picking this one up without hearing a single chord because I know it'll bring me back to when glam was in, songs were mostly not serious, and there wasn't so much cynicism dripping all over everything.
Article comments
1 - JC Mosquito
I caught some streaming of the Dolls album - there's some absolute killer tracks here - they play it as only the Dolls can. Gotta bbuy it right away.
2 - Glen Boyd
I liked the live Dolls album from about a year ago quite a bit, and am equally anxious to hear this one.
-Glen
3 - Tom Johnson
That NY Dolls gets a bonus live EP exclusively at Best Buy, saw it in the ad this weekend.
4 - free arabic music
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