Although its not our usual practice to spotlight reissues over new releases featuring actual new music, there are two notable collections of previously released music which really stand out from the rest of the pack this week.
David Bowie's iSelect is certainly not the first collection to draw upon his past material. It is however, the first where the artist himself has hand picked a selection of some of his favorite songs over the years, and added his own commentary to them. As it turns out, the somewhat obscure album tracks he has chosen here — songs like "Win" (from Young Americans) and "Sweet Thing/Candidate" (from Diamond Dogs) — also happen to be among my own Bowie favorites. The closet thing to an actual hit single included here would probably be "Loving The Alien."
The Legacy Edition of Johnny Cash's classic At Folsom Prison is also worth a second look here, since it includes a DVD, as well as the complete, never before released second set from that historic jailhouse stand. Legacy always does a great job on these deluxe editions of the classics, and this one is no exception.
Getting back to the new releases which actually feature new music, Kenny Chesney's Lucky Old Sun is probably the most likely to be ringing cash registers of the lot. The country superstar's twelfth album is said to be a decidedly mellower outing, and if you spring for the deluxe version you get an additional disc featuring live tracks.
Lucinda Williams is joined by the likes of Elvis Costello, Matthew Sweet and the Bangles' Susanna Hoffs for Little Honey, which is rife with her usual beautifully sung songs of love and regret. Nikka Costa does Stax Records proud by turning in an old school, retro-soul record on her new Pebble to a Pearl. British popsters Keane are in Perfect Symmetry on their third album.
Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas this week are Los Lonely Boys, Al Jarreau, Tony Bennett, and (if you happen to shop at Borders anyway), the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin.
I love a good musical crossover. By that I don't mean when a country star has a pop hit. No, what I'm talking about is a tune that is taken completely out of context by being covered in a different genre. One of my favorite records is called Brand New Second Hand, a collection of pop tunes that have been Reggae-fied. The amazing thing is that there are songs that I used to absolutely hate, but ended up loving in Reggae form. Remember "On and On"? "Down in Jamaica they got lots of pretty women...."? Stephen Bishop? Super-icky. As a Reggae tune (by Aswad)? Awesome.
Article comments
1 - sally beard
Kenny Chesney's cd is awesome. All of his cds are awesome!! This cd has a great beach vibe! I love it!!