New Album Releases 11/18/08: Beyonce, Belle & Sebastian, David Cook, Jason Mraz, Isobel Campbell/Mark Lanegan, Sammy Hagar, Mudvayne, Nickelback, The Fireman, Tuatara & More

As expected, it's another big week of new album releases here at the mothership, as the big guns continue to be rolled out for the holiday buying season.

Leading the way, we have the new one from Beyonce, who introduces a new alter ego for her new double disc I Am...Sasha Fierce. Dividing the discs between an "I Am" side (that features mainly ballads), and a "Sasha Fierce" side (where she takes on the edgier, uptempo stuff), Beyonce continues to distinguish herself as a singer who can stand apart from the Britneys of the world. What we'd really like to see though is something that challenges the diva a bit more musically. Something along the lines of Christina Aguilera perhaps?

Belle & Sebastian's new one isn't really that new. The BBC Sessions brings together previously unreleased sessions that Belle & Sebastian did for the BBC from 1996 to 2001, including a complete live show on the deluxe version. Nickelback's latest CD Dark Horse should be ringing plenty of cash registers this season, as should the debut album from American Idol David Cook.

Jason Mraz is joined by British soul man James Morrison and Colbie Caillat on his first album of new material in three years, We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things. The deluxe edition boasts 2 CDs and a DVD. The old school of Rawk n' freaking Roll is represented on Sammy Hagar's new disc Cosmic Universal Fashion. Meanwhile, metalheads have The New Game from Mudvayne to chew on.

With so much great stuff to talk about, we're breaking tradition at NAR and inviting not one, not two, but three of our esteemed contributors to make picks this week. That's right, we're talking three for the price of one here.

Mark Saleski will be along shortly to talk about Tuatara, as will Josh Hathaway to heap fanboy praise upon Mark Lanegan. But first, Pico is here to reveal what Paul McCartney does when he moonlights away from his day job as a beloved ex-Beatle and all around rock and roll institution. Take it away, Pico...

Paul McCartney always had an experimental bent going back to the Beatles, but it's taken a pseudonym and a collaboration to produce his most successful undertaking of this sinister side. "The Fireman" is what McCartney credits his albums to when he makes them with DJ/knob twiddler Youth, but unlike the ambient trance of their first two albums, Electric Arguments contains actual, hummable songs.

These thirteen tracks were entirely conceived and performed in a day each by Paul, with Youth apparently adding production touches that give the songs an early 21st century veneer. The cuts swerve wildly from the heavy, heavy blues rock of "Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight" to the bright, Wings pop of "Sun Is Shining", the brief "Blackbird" rewrite of "Two Magpies," and the Spectoresque shimmer of "Dance 'Till We're High." "Highway" might be Macca's strongest bid to top the singles chart since 1982.

Article Author: Glen Boyd

You'll find Blogcritics assistant music editor Glen Boyd sharing his Thoughtmares on his personal blogs The World Wide Glen, and The Rockologist. In a previous life, Glen was a music professional and journalist whose work has appeared in The Rocket, SPIN, Pulse!, and The Source. …

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