I'm one of the many codgers who bemoans the commercialization of Christmas and I'm given to offering my lamentations about who the crassness feels like it comes earlier every year. I mean it when I say it but it would probably be a hell of a lot more believable if I didn't get so damn excited to see what the fall and winter will bring in terms of new releases. As we turn the calendar to September, we can quote Bob Dylan: “Things should start to get interesting right about now.” He's right.
There are different kinds of “big” new releases. There is the kind that is big to me and the kind that's big to everyone else. Because I write this column and not everyone else, we'll start with the release that's most important to me.
The Black Crowes
Before The Frost...Until The Freeze
We should have seen this coming. Some of you probably did. Once Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, and others demonstrated you can just give it away there was no doubt Black Crowes would one day follow in those footsteps. This is just so... them. For Radiohead, it was name your own price. Trent Reznor first offered multiple packages at different price points, including free. He then actually gave away The Slip. The Black Crowes have opted for a buy one, get one free concept.
Before The Frost picks up where Warpaint left off. I know people think all Black Crowes albums pick up where the last one left off, but that's Maxim lazy and we're better than that here at Blogcritics. With all due respect to the talented guitarists who've played with the band, Luther Dickinson was born for this gig. His slide work is tailor made not only for this band but for these songs.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
Kicking Maxim in the virtual gonads never ceases to entertain me.
I know you don't make the list, but Amazon shows the John Hooker release coming out 10/27, so who's playing head games.
Continuing the "what won't make the iTunes list" section of this comment, I may be tempted to get that 3.0 ELP.
2 - Josh Hathaway
Maxim needs to wear our scorn in perpetuity. You did such a fine job busting their balls that I'll have to link to it every time.
Hooker's discography is such a mess and spread over so many labels and these posthumous releases pop up all over. I wouldn't be surprised if a date got moved up or back and not everyone knew.
3 - R.P.M.
I can't speak for Whitney (a fellow Atlanta native), but I hear her album isn't half bad. It's nice to see after all those crack induced incidents.
As for Drive by Truckers they are long appreciated by me and fellow Univ. of Georgia grads and most folks in Athens, GA where there is a lot more good music going on than just R.E.M. ;p
- R.P.M.