Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
Lots to talk about this week, so let's get right to it.
Mariah Carey's E=MC2 is the new arrival that is probably being watched most closely this week. The reasons for that should be obvious to anyone who has been watching the declining fortunes of the music industry for the past couple of years. As the biggest superstar release so far this year, the big question is whether or not "Mimi" can bring the fans back into the stores.
Meanwhile, other more morbid observers are on flame-out watch, wondering if the comeback of the R&B diva's last album was simply a fluke or not. BC's own Clayton Perry offered up his two cents on the subject in a review published earlier this week, which we urge you to check out.
There are also a couple of big reissues this week. Air has a tenth anniversary deluxe edition of their landmark electronica release Moon Safari. Meanwhile Carole King has the two-disc deluxe legacy edition of her all-time classic Tapestry album. I was never that big a fan of the whirring and beeping brand of Air's synthesized atmospheres. I probably will check out the Carole King though, if for no other reason than to relive that part of my youth that was spent brooding in coffeehouses.
Frank Black's new EP SVN FNGRS is said to draw upon Irish mythology, and be otherwise heavy on the quirky weirdness that fans of his work with the Pixies and as Black Francis already know and love. The Brian Jonestown Massacre's My Bloody Underground was reviewed here earlier this week by BC's own Kevin Eagan, who liked the album's combination of experimentation and noise.
Finally this week, we have a couple of live albums of note. Tom Johnson has all the dope on Rush's new Snakes & Arrows Live, which is being released this week to coincide with a summer tour — but we'll let him tell you all about that. Meanwhile, I can hardly wait to check out Southside Johnny's 1978 Live in Boston, where the New Jersey soul-shouter (and sometime Springsteen collaborator) is captured in a red hot show around the time of his great Hearts Of Stone album.
Spring has sprung and it's time for some blues! Sure, true believers know that it's always time for some blues. Well, this record from Yellow Dog artist Eden Brent is the kind of thing that just might create a few true believers. Brent has a beautifully soulful voice (with just enough rasp) and wide-ranging piano technique that brings to mind both Marcia Ball and Professor Longhair.
So yeah, while spring's arrival has lifted my spirits a little, Eden Brent's high energy walks through "Close The Door," "Mississippi Flatland Blues," and "Fried Chicken" are making me look ahead to a long, hot summer.
By now, after over 30 years of live albums, you'd think Rush would have perfected the art, but it seems like every time they put one out, something has been not quite right. Limits of vinyl hobbled the early ones, song choices or the mix and sound quality stunted later ones.
So here we are, one more live album on … did they get it right? They might just have – early reports are very encouraging – sound quality from this set, recorded over two nights in Rotterdam, is said to be excellent, and the full setlist — including all nine songs played off of 2007's Snakes & Arrows, and the "rarities" like "Entre Nous," "Mission," "Circumstances," "Witchhunt," and "Subdivisions" — looks very promising. It's hard as a long-time Rush fan to call some of those early regulars "rarities," but the truth is, many of them haven't been heard in concert in 20 years or more. Even better, the band still has it, playing at the peak of their game like they did ages ago. This might just be as close to perfect as we're going to get.
Here are all of this week's new album releases courtesy of All Music Guide:
Air
Moon Safari [10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition]
Astralwerks
Indie Pop, Ambient Pop, Electronica, Club/Dance, Trip-Hop
Frank Black
SVN FNGRS
Cooking Vinyl
Alternative Singer/Songwriter, Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock
M83
Saturdays=Youth
Mute
Indie Electronic, Ambient Pop
Robyn
Robyn [2007]
Konichiwa
Club/Dance, Euro-Dance, Dance-Pop, Hip-Hop, Urban
Absentstar
Sea Trials
Sony
Alternative Pop/Rock
Alkaline Trio
Remains
Vagrant
Punk Revival, Punk-Pop, Emo
Ellen Allien
Boogybytes, Vol. 4
Bpitch Control
Club/Dance, Experimental Techno
American Princes
Other People
Yep Roc
Indie Rock
Apocalyptica
Worlds Collide
20-20/Jive/Zomba
Heavy Metal, Classical Crossover, Neo-Classical Metal, Progressive Metal
Asia
Phoenix
Frontiers/EMI
Album Rock, Arena Rock, Prog-Rock/Art Rock
Jon Balke
Book of Velocities
ECM
Structured Improvisation, Process-Generated, Avant-Garde
Christopher Bissonnette
In Between Words
Kranky
Experimental Ambient, Ambient, Electronic
Ketil Bjørnstad/Terje Rypdal
Life in Leipzig
ECM
Folk-Jazz, Avant-Garde, Structured Improvisation, Modern Composition
Braille
The IV Edition
Syntax
Hardcore Rap
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
My Bloody Underground
A
Neo-Psychedelia, Indie Rock, Garage Rock Revival, Shoegaze, Space Rock
Mariah Carey
E=MC2
Island
Club/Dance, Urban, Dance-Pop
Commander Cody
Live in the Ozone: 1973 US Tour
Cleopatra
Western Swing Revival, Country-Rock, Rock & Roll
Does It Offend You, Yeah?
You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into
Almost Gold
Indie Electronic, Dance-Rock, Alternative Dance, New Wave/Post-Punk Revival, Indie Rock
Dave Douglas
Moonshine
Green Leaf
Post-Bop
Everclear
The Vegas Years
Capitol
Post-Grunge, Alternative Pop/Rock, Hard Rock
The Gossip
Live in Liverpool [CD/DVD]
Red Ink
Indie Rock, Garage Punk
The Hoosiers
The Trick to Life
RCA
Alternative Pop/Rock, Indie Pop, Britpop
James
Hey Ma
Mercury
Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock
Nik Kershaw
You've Got to Laugh
Shorthouse
Alternative Singer/Songwriter, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock
Carole King
Tapestry [Legacy Edition]
Sony Legacy
Pop/Rock, Soft Rock
The Kooks
Konk
Astralwerks
Indie Rock
Kottonmouth Kings
The Kottonmouth Xperience, Vol. 2
Suburban Noize
Rap-Metal, Post-Grunge, Alternative Metal, Funk Metal
Marilyn Mazur/Jan Garbarek
Elixir
ECM
Improvisation, Structured Improvisation, Folk-Jazz
James McMurty
Just Us Kids
Lightning Rod
Americana, Contemporary Singer/Songwriter, Alternative Country, Roots Rock
Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus
Best of Both Worlds Concert
Disney
Teen Pop, TV Soundtracks
Morgan Heritage
Mission in Progress
VP
Contemporary Reggae, Roots Reggae
Elliott Murphy
Notes from the Underground
Last Call
Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Rock & Roll
The Naked Brothers Band
I Don't Want to Go to School [Bonus Tracks]
Sony
Pop/Rock, Teen Pop
Charlemagne Palestine
From Etudes to Cataclysms
Sub Rosa
Contemporary Keyboard Music
John Schneider
Por Gitaro: Lou Harrison
Mode
Contemporary Music for Guitar
Original Soundtrack
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Verve
Alternative Pop/Rock, Soundtracks
Phantom Planet
Raise the Dead
FBR
Indie Rock
Tristan Prettyman
Hello
Virgin
Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Contemporary Singer/Songwriter
Professor Longhair
The London Concert
JSP
New Orleans R&B, New Orleans Blues, Piano Blues
Rush
Snakes & Arrows Live
Atlantic/WEA
Album Rock, Prog-Rock/Art Rock, Hard Rock, Arena Rock
Sally Shapiro
Remix Romance, Vol. 1
Paper Bag
Alternative Dance, Euro-Dance, Indie Electronic
Southside Johnny
1978 Live in Boston
Airline
Heartland Rock, Album Rock, Rock & Roll
Tangele
Tangele: The Pulse of Yiddish Tango
Tzadik
Jewish Music, Musical Theater, Jewish Folk, Tango
Various Artists
Easy Beatles: Irresistible In-Sound Interpretations from the 60s and 70s
Bureau B
Vocal Pop, Pop, Folk-Pop
Jacob Young
Sideways
ECM
Modern Creative, Avant-Garde Jazz, Folk-Jazz, Post-Bop
Jordan Zevon
Insides Out
New West
Contemporary Singer/Songwriter, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock
