New Album Releases 12/02/08: Britney Spears, Neil Young, Akon, Cadillac Records - Page 2

Burl Ives and Danny Kaye have got your Christmas cheer for this week. In the meantime, Mark Saleski has a selection that is sure to cure all of your holiday blues.

I'm not one to argue with casting before I've laid a single beady eye on a film, but Cedric the Entertainer as Willie Dixon? Mos Def as Chuck Berry? We'll just have to wait and see. I mean, Mos Def does look like a young Mr. Berry, and I would have rather seen Matt Dillon in the Leonard Chess role over Adrien Brody. Truth be told, I'm pretty psyched to see this movie about Chess Records. The story, and the story of the blues itself, should be taught in our schools. Kids should know who the Chess brothers and Howlin' Wolf, and Muddy Waters are. They just should.

I can't help it, but I do like Beyonce's cover of "At Last," and the fact that Jeffrey Wright had the guts to sing the Muddy Waters parts really won me over. The soundtrack is available in single disc and two-disc deluxe versions.

Here are all of this week's new album releases courtesy of All Music Guide:

Akon
Freedom
Universal
Pop, Urban

Britney Spears
Circus
Jive
Pop, Club/Dance, Dance-Pop

Neil Young
Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968
Reprise
Folk-Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Country-Rock

Leonard Bernstein
Paul Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Shout! Factory
Post-Romantic Orchestral Music

Boston Camerata
A Boston Camerata Christmas
Erato
Christmas Music for Chorus

René Clemencic
Eine schöne Rose blüht
Oehms Classics
Hungarian Christmas Music for Chorus

Craig David
Greatest Hits
Warner Music
Contemporary R&B, 2-Step/British Garage, Club/Dance, Urban, Garage/House

Adam Fischer
Kodály: Háry János Suite; Summer Evening; Variations on a Hungarian Folk Song
BMC
Modern Orchestral Music

Burl Ives
Favorites for Children
Shout! Factory
Children's Stories, Children's Folk

Danny Kaye
Grimm's & Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales for Children
Shout! Factory
Fairy Tales, Children's Stories

Robert Uchida
Andrew Violette: Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin
Innova
Contemporary Music for Violin

Original Soundtrack
Cadillac Records
Music World Music/Columbia
Movie Themes, Original Score, Film Music, Soundtracks, Modern Electric Chicago Blues, Electric Blues

Original Soundtrack
Cadillac Records [Bonus CD]
Music World Music/Columbia
Neo-Soul, Movie Themes, Original Score, Film Music, Soundtracks, Modern Electric Chicago Blues, Electric Blues

Panic at the Disco
...Live in Chicago
Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen
Emo-Pop, Punk-Pop

Scarface
Emeritus
Rap-A-Lot/Asylum
Southern Rap, Hardcore Rap, Gangsta Rap

Carly & Lucy Simon
Sing Songs for Children [2008 Reissue]
Shout! Factory
Folk Revival

Simply Red
25: The Greatest Hits
Simplyred.com
Sophisti-Pop, Blue-Eyed Soul, Adult Contemporary, Pop/Rock, Dance-Pop

Various Artists
Best of Chess: Original Versions of Songs in Cadillac Records
Chess
Blues, Chicago Blues, R&B

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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