With the new U2 set to hit stores next week, it's not surprising to see a lack of heavy hitters volunteering to play opening act on this week's new release list. For his first new album in seven years however, leave it to Chris Isaak to step up to the plate.
Time will tell whether or not Isaak's Mr. Lucky proves to live up to the promise of its title, but you really can't beat the setup — Isaak's new show on cable's A&E gets him plenty of tube time just in time for the release. Isaak's retro-crooning gets a bit of a facelift here in terms of production, but his smooth voice and retrograde vibrato guitar sound as sharp as ever. Now if he can just find that followup to the karaoke classic "Wicked Game."
At the ripe old age of 70, J.J. Cale shows he isn't about to roll over just yet on the follow-up to his Road To Escondido collaboration with Clapton a few years back. Clapton is back to help out the guy who penned his own hits "Cocaine" and "After Midnight" on Cale's Roll On. The new album features such songs as "Cherry Street," where "the girls are lookin' fine/when they put their hand in your pocket, they ain't lookin' for no dime." Seventy years old you say?
Those Jo-Bros are back this week with Music from the 3D Concert Experience, the soundtrack from their 3D concert movie (which presumably means this is a live album). The Black Lips rock the garage-punk on 200 Million Thousand. Joe Bonamassa's The Ballad of John Henry should earn him his rightful place among the blues greats, at least according to Pico's review.
El Bicho's pick this week upgrades a classic 1970 Who concert with Blu-ray bells and whistles. And speaking of Pico, he's sticking with the blues this week and is here to tell us all about the impeccable blues pedigree of Shemekia Copeland.
Shemekia Copeland is the offspring of one blues legend (Johnny Copeland) in pursuit of the lofty status of another one (Koko Taylor). With Never Going Back she gains more ground on Taylor. Never Going Back is bolstered by Oliver Wood's tradition-minded production, guest appearances from such terrific musicians such as Marc Ribot (a Top Ten Greatest Guitarist according to Mark Saleski), and a uniformly strong set of songs. This one deserves to be on a lot of year-end "best of blues records" lists.
The Blu-ray of Live…1970 marks its fifth entry into the home video market and the enhanced audio makes the upgrade worth it. Capturing The Who at the height of their power, Academy Award-winning documentarian Murray Lerner and his team recorded the band at 2am on August 30, 1970 to an enthusiastic crowd estimated at 600,000. Although not presented in its proper order, the 85-minute set reveals why the band is held in such high regard among rock aficionados and why all four excelled at their respective roles. The audio is massive and demonstrates both the power of The Who and Blu-ray to drive the parents and the neighbors crazy.
Here are all of this week's new album releases courtesy of All Music Guide:
Black Lips
200 Million Thousand
Vice
Garage Punk, Garage Rock Revival
J.J. Cale
Roll On
Rounder
Boogie Rock, Roots Rock, Blues-Rock
Chris Isaak
Mr. Lucky
Wicked Game/Reprise
Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Pop/Rock
And Then There Were None
Who Speaks for Planet Earth?
Tooth & Nail
New Wave/Post-Punk Revival, Dance-Rock, Indie Electronic
Laura Barrett
Victory Garden
Paper Bag
Indie Pop, Indie Rock
Diego Bernal
For Corners
Exponential
Left-Field Hip-Hop, Hip-Hop
Joe Bonamassa
The Ballad of John Henry
J & R Adventures
Blues-Rock, Modern Electric Blues
Pete Brown & His Battered Ornaments
A Meal You Can Shake Hands with in the Dark
Repertoire
Prog-Rock/Art Rock, Soul
Pete Brown & Piblokto!
Things May Come and Things May Go But the Art School Dance Goes on Forever
Repertoire
Prog-Rock/Art Rock, Rock & Roll, Soul
Pete Brown & Piblokto!
Thousands on a Raft
Repertoire
Jazz-Rock, Prog-Rock/Art Rock
Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band
Safe as Milk
Buddha
Proto-Punk, Psychedelic, Prog-Rock/Art Rock, Blues-Rock, Experimental Rock
Johnny Cash
Original Sun Singles '55-'58
Sundazed
Rock & Roll, Traditional Country, Rockabilly, Country-Pop
Clem Snide
Hungry Bird
429
Indie Rock, Alternative Country-Rock
Company of Thieves
Ordinary Riches
Wind-Up
Indie Rock
Norman Connors
Star Power
Shanachie
Smooth Jazz, Quiet Storm, Crossover Jazz, Urban
Shemekia Copeland
Never Going Back
Telarc
Modern Electric Blues, Soul-Blues
Brian Dewan
Ringing at the Speed of Prayer: Brian Dewan with the Liverpool Cathedral Bell Ringers
Innova
Romantic & Contemporary Arrangements for Bells & Tuned Stones
John Fred & His Playboy Band
With Glasses: The Very Best of John Fred and His Playboy Band
Fuel 2000
Pop/Rock, Frat Rock, AM Pop, Blue-Eyed Soul
Bill Frisell
The Best of Bill Frisell, Vol. 1: Folk Songs
Nonesuch
Folk-Jazz
Green River Ordinance
Out of My Hands
Virgin
Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Pop/Rock
Uri Gurvich
The Storyteller
Tzadik
Avant-Garde Jazz, Progressive Jazz, Folk-Jazz, World Fusion
Lightnin' Hopkins
Blues from Dowling Street
Fuel 2000
Electric Texas Blues, Electric Blues, Country Blues, Acoustic Texas Blues, Texas Blues
Jonas Brothers
Music from the 3D Concert Experience
Hollywood
Pop/Rock, Teen Pop
K'naan
Troubadour
A&M/Octone
Alternative Rap, Political Rap, Underground Rap
Kinky
Barracuda
Kin-Kon/Nettwerk
Alternative Dance, Rock en Español, Alternative Pop/Rock
L'Arpeggiata
Monteverdi: Teatro d'Amore
Virgin Classics
Baroque Vocal Music
Lamb of God
Wrath
Epic
Death Metal/Black Metal
Jerry Lee Lewis
Sun Singles Collection
Sundazed
Rock & Roll
Kurt Masur
Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 8; Liszt: Wanderer-Fantasie
Apex
Romantic Orchestral Music
Jackie McLean
Bluesnik [RVG]
Blue Note
Hard Bop, Post-Bop
Original Soundtrack
Coraline
Koch
Original Score, Soundtracks
Jake Owen
Easy Does It
RCA
Neo-Traditionalist Country, Contemporary Country
Pan-American
White Bird Release
Kranky
Experimental Ambient, Dark Ambient, Post-Rock/Experimental, Electro-Acoustic
Shawn Phillips
At the BBC
Hux
Jazz-Rock, Folk-Rock, Soft Rock, Singer/Songwriter
Django Reinhardt
Postwar Recordings 1944-1953
JSP
Continental Jazz, Gypsy, Bop, Swing
Roberto Juan Rodriguez
The First Basket
Tzadik
Jewish Music, Avant-Garde Jazz, Hebrew, Son, Rhumba, Klezmer, Latin Folk, Mambo, New York Salsa, Salsa, World Fusion
Tom Rush
What I Know
Appleseed
Contemporary Folk, Singer/Songwriter, Folk-Blues, Traditional Folk
Daphna Sadeh and the Voyagers
Reconciliation
Tzadik
Continental Jazz, World Fusion
School Boy Humor
School Boy Humor
Vagrant
Emo-Pop
Screaming Blue Messiahs
Live at the BBC
Hux
Alternative Pop/Rock, Hard Rock
Horace Silver
The Tokyo Blues
Blue Note
Hard Bop, Soul-Jazz
Various Artists
Adventures in Sound: Schaeffer, Stockhausen, Xenakis, Varèse, Henry
El
Modern & Contemporary Electronic & Electro-Acoustic Music
Various Artists
Elliott Carter: A Nonesuch Retrospective [Box Set]
Nonesuch
Contemporary Vocal, Chamber & Orchestral Music
Various Artists
Singing Through the Hard Times: A Utah Phillips Celebration
Righteous Babe
Neo-Traditional Folk, Folksongs, Folk Revival
Baby Face Willette
Stop and Listen
Blue Note
Hard Bop, Soul-Jazz
Tony Williams
Spring
Blue Note
Post-Bop, Avant-Garde Jazz