Neil Young has a greatest hits album out today. Young has shown remarkable restraint over the years in not loading up bunches of compilation albums. This is his first ever single disc hits set. Looks pretty good.
The Beatles have a new box set, The Capitol Albums, Vol. 1. It contains the first four American Capitol records (Meet the Beatles!, Second Album, Something New, Beatles '65), which were famously made from slicing and dicing the several albums they had already put out in England, where there were never albums of these titles. These four albums were the primary inspiration for the famous butcher block cover.
Artistically, it makes much more sense to skip these, and get the standard English albums as the boys put them out. However, they would quite understandably be a big point of nostalgia for American Beatles fans of a certain age.
Destiny's Child has a new album out, Destiny Fulfilled.
Eminem's Encore album is out. On the basis of the couple of songs I've heard, he seems to be about played out.
Besides Eminem, there are several big name rap albums this week, including entries from Snoop Dogg, Chingy, and a hits album by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.
Bon Jovi has a box set, 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong. I don't really give a rat's ass about Bon Jovi, me being a music fan and all. However, the title and album cover are cute.
Here's the complete list of this weeks major new albums, courtesy of AMG:
The Beatles
The Capitol Albums, Vol. 1
Capitol
Merseybeat, British Invasion, Rock & Roll
Destiny's Child Destiny Fulfilled Sony Urban Music/Columbia
Urban, Contemporary R&B, Dance-Pop
Eminem Encore Aftermath
Hardcore Rap, Hip-Hop
Snoop Dogg R&G - Rhythm and Gangster: The Masterpiece Geffen
West Coast Rap, Gangsta Rap
The A-Bones Daddy Wants a Cold Beer and Other Million Sellers Norton
Hot Rod Revival, Garage Punk, Garage Rock Revival, Rockabilly, Rock & Roll, Rockabilly Revival, Garage Rock
Clay Aiken Merry Christmas With Love RCA
Adult Contemporary, Teen Pop
Marin Alsop Philip Glass: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3 Naxos
Contemporary Orchestral Music
Pete Anderson Daredevil Little Dog
Americana, Guitar Virtuoso, Instrumental Country, Instrumental Rock
Bon Jovi 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong Island
Pop-Metal, Hair Metal, Pop/Rock, Hard Rock, Arena Rock, Album Rock, Heavy Metal
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Greatest Hits Ruthless (Red)
Hardcore Rap, Gangsta Rap, Hip-Hop
Lenny Breau, Don Franks & Eon Henstridge At the Purple Onion Art of Life
Mainstream Jazz, Vocal Jazz
The Brian Jonestown Massacre Tepid Peppermint Wonderland: A Retrospective Tee Pee
Garage Rock Revival, Neo-Psychedelia, Indie Rock, Rock & Roll, Space Rock, Shoegaze
Ian Brown Solarized Fiction
British Trad Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock
Chingy Powerballin' Capitol
Southern Rap, Pop-Rap, Dirty South, Party Rap
Collective Soul Youth El Music Group
Post-Grunge, Alternative Pop/Rock, Hard Rock, American Trad Rock
Rodney Crowell The Essential Rodney Crowell Sony
New Traditionalist, Singer/Songwriter, Contemporary Country, Neo-Traditionalist Country, Country-Rock, Progressive Country
Daddy G DJ Kicks K7
Downtempo, Trip-Hop, Dub, Club/Dance, Funk
Goo Goo Dolls Live in Buffalo: July 4, 2004 [CD+DVD] Warner Brothers
Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Post-Grunge
Heart A Lovemongers' Christmas Sovereign Artists
Holiday, Pop, Christmas, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock
Michael Jackson The Ultimate Collection Columbia/Legacy
New Jack Swing, Club/Dance, Pop/Rock, Urban, Funk, Dance-Pop
Larry the Cable Guy A Very Larry Christmas Warner Brothers
Standup Comedy
Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz Crunk Juice [Bonus CD & DVD] TVT
Dirty South, Party Rap, Bass Music, Southern Rap, Hardcore Rap
Los Lonely Boys Los Lonely Boys [Special Edition] Sony
Roots Rock, Tex-Mex, Conjunto, R&B, Norteño
Maggini Quartet Peter Maxwell Davies: Naxos Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 Naxos
Contemporary Chamber Music
Original Score Bad Education Sony
Original Score, Film Music, Soundtracks
Original Soundtrack Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason Geffen
Soundtracks
Pearl Jam Rearviewmirror: Greatest Hits 1991-2003 Sony
Grunge, Alternative Pop/Rock, Hard Rock
Rusted Root Rusted Root Live Touchy Pegg
American Trad Rock, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock
Wayne Shorter Footprints: The Life and Music of Wayne Shorter Legacy
Modal Music, Hard Bop, Post-Bop
Various Artists The Best of Can't You Hear Me Callin': Bluegrass - 80 Years of American Music Sony
Bluegrass-Gospel, Contemporary Bluegrass, Bluegrass, Traditional Bluegrass, Progressive Bluegrass
The Verve This Is Music: The Singles 92-98 EMI
Noise Pop, Dream Pop, Space Rock, Shoegaze, Alternative Pop/Rock, Neo-Psychedelia, Britpop
Rufus Wainwright Want Two Geffen
Chamber Pop, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Singer/Songwriter
Hugh Wolff George Antheil: Symphony No. 3 "American" and Other Orchestral Works CPO
Modern Orchestral Music
James Yorkston and the Athletes Just Beyond the River Domino
Indie Rock, British Folk-Rock, British Folk
Neil Young Greatest Hits [Bonus DVD] Warner Brothers
Album Rock, Folk-Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Country-Rock
Article comments
1 - Smenkharon
I think the new MF Doom album-MM Food was supposed to come out yesterday too, but I couldn't find it in my local store today. Doom has been on a tear recently with the great Madvillain and Viktor Vaughn albums, and if you are feeling that Eminem is washed up and want to check out some top of the line hip-hop, look for MF Doom!
2 - thrasher
Al,
Another big album release week. Gee Neil Young and the Beatles in the same week? Must've been that Bridge concert last month with Paul McCartney?!
Here's a review of Neil Young's Greatest Hits on Blogcritics @
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/11/17/223627.php
Keep on Rockin!
Thrasher
3 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
having suffered the fourth one, The Eminem Show, i find this new one to be most refreshing, ie, very good, for the most part. Also, the verve and the beatles will be hitting the shelves de duke. i don't belive we ever had a chance to own these records in the uk. course we had the ones they were pieced from, but still...
4 - Yensid
The Bon Jovi box set kicks ass if you are a fan. Go get it now!
5 - Mark Saleski
al's protesting too much.
i betcha he listens to "Wanted Dead Or Alive" when he's gettin' dressed in the morning.
;-)
6 - Al Barger
I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride...
Yee-haw!
7 - Mark Saleski
that can be the lead-in music on your radio show.
heh.
8 - Scoota Rey
Aaron, the Eminem Show was Em's third CD.
Hey, did you notice that none of hhis albums sound the same? That's proof of how good he is, even though Marshall Mathers LP was still his best work.