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While this week's new release list is a tad lighter than we've seen in recent weeks, there are nonetheless some very noteworthy titles to talk about…not the least of which is Tell Tale Signs, the eighth volume in Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series of rare, live, and unreleased gems.
Tell Tale Signs focuses on the period from 1989's Oh Mercy right on up through Dylan's much more recent creative renaissance on the albums Time Out Of Mind, Love & Theft, and 2006's brilliant Modern Times.
What makes this set such an essential purchase is that while many of the songs here, like "Mississippi," "Everything Is Broken," and "Someday Baby" will be familiar to Dylan fans, the alternate versions offered up here are often so radically different from those released on the original albums as to constitute a new Dylan album altogether.
"Mississippi" for example is barely recognizable in an early, stripped-down version (one of three offered here if you buy the three-disc version), until Dylan sings the chorus. "Most Of The Time," awash in Daniel Lanois atmospherics on the Oh, Mercy album is likewise stripped down to the sort of a bare core of Dylan on guitar and harmonica that wouldn't be at all out of place on his earlier, more folk-influenced albums. There are also a number of great new songs, including the bluesy Time Out Of Mind outtake, "Marchin' To The City."
The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs – Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006 is available in both one- and two-disc versions, as well as a deluxe three-disc package, and comes with the usual booklet featuring liner notes and track-by-track analysis. If you're anything like me, you'll need everything here.
In non-Dylan related news, Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders make their long awaited studio return this week with Break Up the Concrete. Wu-Tang Clan assemble all of their numerous members and sub-clans minus Old Dirty Bastard for Soundtracks from the Shaolin Temple. Wishing you a Merry Christmas this week are the Brian Setzer Orchestra, Neil Sedaka, and George Strait.
Josh Hathaway returns to the NAR contributor's circle this week to confess that he actually still listens to Oasis, and is about to plunk down 100 bucks for the deluxe version of their new one. In the meantime, Mark Saleski remembers the first time he ever heard the Clash on the eve of their first live album, some 25 years after the fact.
Every music fan has moments they hold dear. Maybe it was the time they performed "that" song at a concert. Or maybe it was a song what happened to be playing when an important relationship began. Perhaps most simple is when we hear a particular artist for the first time…and everything afterward seems different. Here are my own words related to the 2004 release the 25th anniversary edition of London Calling by The Clash:
To this day I can remember where I first heard side one. It was up in my high-school buddy's bedroom at his house on the little lake deep in central Maine. His dad's stereo was normally used for blasting John Phillips Souza-type stuff but on that day "London Calling" and then "Brand New Cadillac" pinned me to the wall.
Partner-in-crime Glen Boyd rightly reminds us that The Clash were once known as the only band that mattered. Hyperbole? Give Live at Shea Stadium a listen and then make up your own mind.
It's not fashionable to be an Oasis fan these days, but I'm a fat, grouchy, 35-year-old music dork in Huntsville, Alabama. Fashion went out my window long ago.
Those who can get past the surrounding silliness where Oasis is concerned know the band has been on a big upswing that started with Heathen Chemistry, continued in a big way with Don't Believe The Truth, and I'm hoping Dig Out Your Soul will be the culmination of the band's return to greatness. How confident am I? I've fallen in love with the "first single "The Shock of The Lightning" and I plunked down $100 for the big box version of this album as a birthday present to myself. For those less obsessive, the album is also being released as a single CD and as a CD/DVD combo package.
Here are all of this week's new album releases courtesy of All Music Guide:
Deerhoof
Offend Maggie
Kill Rock Stars
Indie Rock, Noise-Rock, Noise Pop
Bob Dylan
The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs – Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006
Columbia/Legacy
Singer/Songwriter, Rock & Roll
Lambchop
OH (Ohio)
Merge
Chamber Pop, Alternative Country-Rock, Indie Rock
Margot & the Nuclear So and So's
Not Animal
Epic
Indie Rock
Oasis
Dig Out Your Soul
Big Brother/Reprise
British Trad Rock, Britpop, Pop/Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Hard Rock
Jay Reatard
Matador Singles '08
Matador
Indie Rock, Lo-Fi, New Wave/Post-Punk Revival, Garage Punk
Damon Aaron
Highlands
Ubiquity
Alternative Singer/Songwriter, Indie Electronic, Urban Folk
John Adams
John Adams: Hallelujah Junction – A Nonesuch Retrospective
Nonesuch
Contemporary Orchestral, Vocal and Chamber Music
The Annuals
Such Fun
Columbia/Red
Indie Rock
Antony and the Johnsons
Another World
Secretly Canadian
Indie Pop, Chamber Pop
Aqualung
Words & Music
Verve Forecast
Contemporary Singer/Songwriter, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock
Big & Rich
Big & Rich's Super Galactic Fan Pak, Vol. 2
Warner Bros.
Contemporary Country, Country-Pop, Progressive Country
Charles Bruffy
Spotless Rose: Hymns to the Virgin Mary [Hybrid SACD]
Chandos
Modern and Contemporary Choral Music
Harold Budd/Clive Wright
A Song for Lost Blossoms
Darla
Modern Composition, Minimalism, Ambient
Castanets
City of Refuge
Asthmatic Kitty
Indie Rock
Catfish Haven
Devastator
Secretly Canadian
Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock
The Clash
Live at Shea Stadium
Epic/Legacy
British Punk, Punk, Dance-Rock, Hard Rock
Crooked Fingers
Forfeit/Fortune
CAI/Red Pig
Indie Rock, Alternative Country-Rock
Crystal Antlers
EP
Touch & Go
Experimental Rock, Neo-Psychedelia
Department of Eagles
In Ear Park
4AD
Indie Electronic, Post-Rock/Experimental
Front 242
Moments…
Alfa Matrix
Electro-Industrial, Industrial Dance, Industrial
Ezra Furman & the Harpoons
Inside the Human Body
Minty Fresh
Indie Pop, Alternative Singer/Songwriter
Philip Glass
Glass Box
Nonesuch
Contemporary Orchestral, Vocal and Chamber Music
Grails
Doomsayer's Holiday
Temporary Residence
Experimental Rock, Post-Rock/Experimental
Robin Guthrie
3:19 Bande Originale du Film
Darla
Original Score, Ambient, Experimental Ambient
Merle Haggard
20 Hits, Vol. 2
Curb
Western Swing Revival, Bakersfield Sound, Honky Tonk, Traditional Country, Progressive Country
Matt Hires
Live from the Hotel Cafe
Ada/Atlantic
Contemporary Singer/Songwriter
Jolie Holland
The Living and the Dead
Anti
Alternative Folk, Contemporary Singer/Songwriter, Urban Folk
Hot Lava
Lavalogy
Bar/None
Indie Pop
I Am Ghost
Those We Leave Behind
Epitaph
Post-Hardcore, Punk Revival, Goth Rock
Japanese Motors
Japanese Motors
Vice
Garage Rock Revival, Indie Rock
Julian Koster
The Singing Saw at Christmastime
Merge
Holiday, Christmas
Land of Talk
Some Are Lakes
Saddle Creek
Indie Rock
Suzie Leblanc
Messiaen: Chants de Terre et de Ciel
Atma Classique
Modern Vocal Music
The Little Ones
Morning Tide
Chop Shop/Atlantic
Indie Rock, Indie Pop
Del McCoury
The Best of Del McCoury: The Groovegrass Years
Condon
Bluegrass, Bluegrass-Gospel, Country Gospel
Tim McGraw
Greatest Hits, Vol. 3
Curb
Contemporary Country, Adult Contemporary, Country-Pop, Neo-Traditionalist Country
Sarah McLachlan
Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan
Arista
Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Adult Contemporary, Pop/Rock
Jon McLaughlin
OK Now
Island
Contemporary Singer/Songwriter, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock
Pat Metheny & Anna Maria Jopek
Upojenie
Nonesuch
Contemporary Jazz, Jazz-Pop, Vocal Jazz
Juana Molina
Un Dia
Domino
Indie Electronic
Daniel Martin Moore
Stray Age
Sub Pop
Alternative Singer/Songwriter, Alternative Folk
Michala Petri
Mozart: Flute Quartets [Hybrid SACD]
Our Recordings
Classical Chamber Music
Charlie Pickett
Bar Band Americanus: The Best of Charlie Pickett And…
Bloodshot
Roots Rock, Bar Band, Alternative Pop/Rock
The Pretenders
Break Up the Concrete
Shangri-La
Pop/Rock, Americana, Singer/Songwriter, Hard Rock
Sun Ra
Secrets of the Sun [Bonus Track]
Atavistic
Avant-Garde Jazz, Avant-Garde, Free Jazz
Red Car Wire
Let's Never Get Older
Universal
Punk-Pop, Emo
Rise Against
Appeal to Reason
Interscope
Punk Revival, Post-Hardcore
Rosebuds
Life Like
Merge
Indie Rock
Neil Sedaka
The Mircale of Christmas [Razor & Tie 2 CD]
Razor & Tie
Holiday, Christmas
Senses Fail
Life Is Not a Waiting Room
Vagrant
Screamo, Emo, Punk-Pop
Brian Setzer Orchestra
The Ultimate Christmas Collection
Surfdog WEA
Retro-Rock, Retro Swing, Rockabilly Revival, Roots Rock
Spinto Band
Moonwink
Park the Van
Indie Rock
Marnie Stern
This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It And She Is It And…
Kill Rock Stars
Experimental Rock, Noise-Rock, Indie Rock
George Strait
Classic Christmas
MCA Nashville
New Traditionalist, Contemporary Country
The Streets
Everything Is Borrowed
679
British Rap, Garage Rap/Grime, Club/Dance
Tesla
Forever More
Tesla Electric
Pop-Metal, Hair Metal, Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, Album Rock
Various Artists
The First Chapters
XL
Electronica, Rave, Club/Dance, Techno
Michelle Williams
Unexpected
Music World/Columbia
Urban, Dance-Pop, Adult Contemporary
Women
Women
Jagjaguwar
Noise-Rock, Indie Rock
Wu-Tang Clan
Soundtracks from the Shaolin Temple
Wanderluxe
Hardcore Rap, East Coast Rap
Rachael Yamagata
Elephants…Teeth Sinking Into Heart
Warner Bros.
Adult Alternative Pop/Rock
Elliott Yamin
My Kind of Holiday
TRP
Neo-Soul, Contemporary R&B
Yo Majesty
Futuristically Speaking: Never Be Afraid
Domino
Urban, Pop-Rap
