New Album Releases, 10-17-2006 - Vince Gill, Ruben Studdard, Diddy

Yee-haw! Vince Gill is swingin' a big stick this week with a huge career moment - a four CD set of all new songs, with a big array of groovy guests, including the king's wife - Diana Krall. They're separately named and stylistically themed, per the Amazon description, "rock The Rockin' Record, romance The Reason Why, vintage honky-tonk Some Things Never Get Old, and acoustic Little Brother." Other guests include Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, Rodney Crowell, Phil Everly, the Del McCoury Band, Emmylou Harris, Amy Grant, LeAnn Rimes, and Gretchen Wilson. The whole set, titled These Days, is currently #2 at Amazon, and priced for a modest $24.

Meanwhile, Diddy also has a big buttload of famous names on his new Press Play album. Only instead of Bonnie Raitt and Emmylou Harris, he's got the real A-list musicians- Christina Aguilera and Jamie Foxx, for example. I was disappointed to see no song on the album called "Vote or Die." That would at least sound more promising as a title than "Diddy Rock." No is the answer, or so I'd take it from the ludicrously serious look he gives on the cover.

The good side of some Diddy wah diddy hogwash is that it makes the idea of a new Ruben Studdard album sound almost promising. No American Idol is allowed to have a personality, but he is at minimum a competent professional quality singer who can carry a tune. That's more claim to musical legitimacy for The Return than anything I can think to say for Diddy.

Everyone knows that Primus sucks. Ask any fan. Their first hits collection, They Can't All Be Zingers: Best of Primus looks like it will suck beyond all belief.

Here's the complete list of this week's major new album releases, courtesy AMG:

Badly Drawn Boy Born in the U.K. Astralwerks
Singer/Songwriter, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock

Dierks Bentley Long Trip Alone [CD/DVD] Capitol
Contemporary Country

Diddy Press Play Bad Boy
Pop-Rap, Urban

Vince Gill These Days MCA Nashville
New Traditionalist, Contemporary Country, Contemporary Singer/Songwriter, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Honky Tonk, Bluegrass, Country-Folk, Pop/Rock, Roots Rock, Pop, Adult Contemporary, Rockabilly, Country-Rock, Progressive Bluegrass, Rock & Roll

Ruben Studdard The Return J/19 Recordings/S
Urban, Adult Contemporary

Aerosmith Devil's Got a New Disguise: The Very Best of Aerosmith Sony
Arena Rock, Hard Rock, Album Rock

Davie Allan The Cycle Breed Sundazed
Obscuro, Hot Rod, Instrumental Rock, Surf

Billy Bragg Volume 2 Yep Roc
Alternative Folk, British Folk, Folk-Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Urban Folk, College Rock

Article Author: Al Barger

Unreformed hawkish Hoosier hillbilly Al Barger runs the still squeezin' down the psychodelic Kentucky moonshine at More Things. What with the paranoid religious visions, the Pentecostal music, visions of God and anarchy running amok and such, somebody …

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