New Music Releases For June 30, 2009: Wilco, Levon Helm, Rob Thomas, Moby, Whitesnake, Twisted Sister, and The Woodstock Experience! - Page 2

Part of: New Album Releases

I'll confess to having been a Whitesnake fan in high school and yes, I even liked Slip of the Tongue at the time.  I was a big fan of Steve Vai and still think he's a brilliant musician.  It is not his fault this album aged so poorly.  At the time, there were songs on this record that made me wince.  Now I'd be shocked if there were songs that didn't.  As for Slide It In, that's the album that laid the groundwork for the smashing success of their self-titled record that sits between these two albums being re-issued today.  Both albums have been remastered and feature DVDs with rare and unseen bonus content.

Rob Thomas
cradlesong

If this guy has learned a single new trick since Yourself Or Someone Like You, I can't spot it.  I've heard the first single and it's paint-by-numbers Rob Thomas, which is about as paint-by-numbers as you can possibly get!  That anyone could run off a string of hits as a rock-oriented artist when the pop landscape is so beat-driven is actually a lot more impressive than the music.  He's a pedestrian vocalist and his melodic instincts are ordinary, but people keep buying what he's selling.

Here's the full list of this week's new releases...

Wilco
Wilco (The Album)

Levon Helm
Electric Dirt

Moby
Wait for Me

Brad Paisley
American Saturday Night

Rob Thomas
cradlesong

Ace Hood
Ruthless

Jon Balke/Amina Alaoui/Jonhassell/Kheir Eddine M'Kachiche/Bjarte Eike
Siwan

Beastie Boys
Hello Nasty

Dave Brubeck
Essential Standards

Ossie Davis
A Voice Ringing O'er the Gale! The Orato

Delain
April Rain

Ensemble devotio moderna
Loff unde ere (Praise and Glory): Music from Medingen Convent

Bill Evans
Essential Standards

Fine Arts Quartet
Fauré: Piano Quintets

Elliot Goldenthal
Public Enemies [Score]

Vince Guaraldi
Essential Standards

Robin Guthrie
Angel Falls

David Jaurequi
Fox Bat Strategy: A Tribute to Dave Jaurequi

Jefferson Airplane
The Woodstock Experience

Janis Joplin
The Woodstock Experience

Eleni Karaindrou
Dust of Time (Music for the Film by Theo Angelopolous)

Killswitch Engage
Killswitch Engage [2009]

Joseph Levine
American Ballets

Maino
If Tomorrow Comes...

Leslie Mendelson
Swan Feathers

Nouvelle Vague
NV3

Ted Nugent
Motor City Mayhem: 6,000th Concert

Michael Schønwandt
Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5

Evan Parker/Electro-Acoustic Ensemble
The Moment's Energy

Art Pepper
Essential Standards

Santana
Woodstock Experience

Andy Sheppard
Movements in Colour

Sly & Family Stone
The Woodstock Experience

Stephen Sondheim
Road Show

Rod Stewart
A Night on the Town [Collector's Edition]

Rod Stewart
Atlantic Crossing [Collector's Edition]

Tanya Tucker
My Turn

Twisted Sister
Stay Hungry: 25th Anniversary Edition

Various Artists
Now That's What I Call the 80s, Vol. 2

Various Artists
Now, Vol. 31 [US]

Whitesnake
Slide It In [25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition] [Bonus Tracks] [CD/DVD]

Whitesnake
Slip of the Tongue [20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition] [Bonus Tracks] [CD/DVD]]

Johnny Winter
The Woodstock Experience

Wu-Tang Clan
Playlist: The Very Best of Wu-Tang Clan

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Article Author: Josh Hathaway

Josh Hathaway is a Sr. Music Editor for Blogcritics.

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Article comments

  • 1 - MarkSaleski

    Jun 30, 2009 at 9:24 pm

    i'm pretty psyched for the Levon Helm disc, myself.

    Stay Hungry? hmmm...nah, i still have the vinyl. heck, it might even be a casssette now that i think of it.

  • 2 - MarkSaleski

    Jun 30, 2009 at 9:26 pm

    oh, and i want the Moby too.

  • 3 - SamKan

    Jun 30, 2009 at 9:48 pm

    Sorry, bud, but the Rob Thomas CD is excellent. Great tunes from an excellent vocalist. I think we must be listening to different records.

  • 4 - Josh Hathaway

    Jul 01, 2009 at 5:31 am

    Sam, I'm glad you're liking the disc but 'excellent vocalist' is the point at which we're just going to have to disagree.

    Mark, I'm not surprised that Stay Hungry is still in your pile of vinyl. The Moby record intrigues me a little but the last thing I heard from him really didn't do much for me. I'll wait for your review to see if there's anything there for me.

  • 5 - MarkSaleski

    Jul 01, 2009 at 7:53 am

    i'll dig up the link somewhere, but i listened to an interview with Moby and he didn't like his last record. he liked the songs but then after the recording process they didn't come out to his liking.

    so this time around he made an effort to make them (paraphrasing here) more 'personal'.

    also saw a video of him singing and playing the guitar. quite good. didn't even know he could do that.

  • 6 - Josh Hathaway

    Jul 01, 2009 at 8:40 am

    I knew Moby dabbled but not that he really played. That's interesting. His last album 18 felt too long, unfocused, and static. There just weren't many compositions that evoked anything for me. Hearing that he had something of a similar reaction makes me a little more interested in this new record. I might have to sample a few tracks.

  • 7 - MarkSaleski

    Jul 01, 2009 at 9:49 am

    yeah, darn it, i wish i knew where i saw that interview. in it he also talked about his friendship with David Lynch (where the animation for the new video came from).

    the song he played on guitar reminded me of something Beck would have done on Sea Change

  • 8 - Josh Hathaway

    Jul 01, 2009 at 11:07 am

    I remember reading something about Lynch in reference to this album. Thanks for clearing up the connection. Interesting. I'm going to listen to some sound clips of this one tonight.

    Sea Change is such a great album. I might dust that off after the Sox game.

  • 9 - Mat Brewster

    Jul 05, 2009 at 8:30 pm

    I'm with ya on the Wilco. It is a very solid record and by any other band I'd be calling it great. But a few listens in it just doesn't have that extra something special I've come to love about a new Wilco album.

  • 10 - Josh Hathaway

    Jul 06, 2009 at 6:58 am

    I'm reluctant to write a review on it, Mat, not because I can't bring myself to write anything but glowing reviews of my favorite bands but because I just haven't had a strong enough reaction to compel a review. I still love Wilco and I might listen to this record from time to time, but it's not where I'm going to start.

  • 11 - Melanie

    Aug 12, 2009 at 2:56 pm

    Does anybody know of a Whitesnake Tribute Band in Georgia?

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