Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
Let's see now, where to begin?
Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy is honest to God, really, finally out. I haven't heard any of it yet, but I know for a fact that it's out and I've got my can of Dr. Pepper to prove it.
Whether or not Chinese Democracy can really be called an actual GNR record or not is a matter of some debate, since neither Slash, Izzy or any of the other original gunners are on the record, save for Axl Rose. Either way, the first new music in some 14 years from a band calling itself Guns N' Roses is finally here, and it can now be yours by heading to your neighborhood Best Buy. Yup. Another one of those deals.
This past Sunday night at the American Music Awards, Kanye West boldly proclaimed that he wants to be the new Elvis. Whether or not his new 808s & Heartbreak is a step in the right direction remains to be seen. Advance reviews on the album have been decidedly mixed, and the biggest news here seems to be the heavy use of processed vocals on the tracks leaning more towards R&B than hip-hop. Kanye has up to this point been pure gold at the cash register though, so we wouldn't bet against him.
Another highlight of the AMAs was a very stoned looking Scott Weiland introducing Pink by calling her "one of the great artists of our time." Weiland's new solo disc — his first in 10 years — is said to lean more towards STP glam-pop than Velvet Revolver crunch.
The Killers third full length album Day & Age is a return to the wave-pop of Hot Fuss and a step away from the loftier ambitions of Sam's Town. Jeff Beck turns in a blistering live set of guitar mechanics on Performing This Week… Live at Ronnie Scott's. Coldplay offer up a companion piece to their smash hit Viva La Vida with the new EP Prospekt's March. Ludacris takes some time out from his acting career to explore the Theater of the Mind.
Mark Saleski has a few choice words on guilty pleasures as he considers the new live set from Hall & Oates. But first, Tom Johnson is here to report on the return of a band who've been away from the limelight for nearly as long as GNR. Take it away, Mr. Johnson…
Bands taking 15 years to put another album out must be a theme this week, as Cynic's sophomore album emerges the same week as Guns 'N Roses' long-awaited new album. I don't know exactly what kept Cynic apart in the decade and a half since 1993's groundbreaking Focus, but the band returns almost as if little time had passed – still technical, still heavy, and not a little bit weird and jazzy in places — maybe even "beautiful," some odd minds might call it.
What makes this band so special is that these guys possess a skill so few metal bands like this do – a sense of subtlety. There is brutal and heavy in equal measure with the delicate and intricate. That said, is it a sign of the times that the "tech" in this album doesn't seem quite so technical? Has metal advanced so much since their first album that it caught up to what they were doing? I'm not sure, and I'm not sure it matters too much – it's simply great to have them back, and hopefully they're going to stick around this time and give us a lot more than one album every 15 years.
I've written about this before, but Hall & Oates used to be on my list of guilty pleasures. Wait, better make that secret guilty pleasures. Super-secret, that is. There was no way I was going to let on to my friends, all of whom were heavily into stuff like Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, Foghat, and Ted Nugent, that I totally dug tunes like "Rich Girl." Well, everybody grows up after a time and with that maturation process should come the realization that you just can't help who you like.
What's that cliché ? The heart wants what the heart wants? Yeah, I know…too often that's applied as a sort of "rationalization salve" to wounds created by affairs of the heart. Luckily, my love of the pop and soul music of Hall & Oates has produced no such casualties — except for maybe my 'indie cred' as applied to my writing. But heck, since I never had any 'indie cred' to begin with, I can just go ahead and say that I'm looking forward to this release and it's companion DVD. This documents their return to the famed Troubadour in L.A. after 35 years.
Here are all of this week's new album releases courtesy of All Music Guide:
The Fireman
Electric Arguments
ATO
Neo-Psychedelia, Pop/Rock
Guns N' Roses
Chinese Democracy
Geffen
Album Rock, Heavy Metal, Hard Rock
The Killers
Day & Age
Island
New Wave/Post-Punk Revival, Alternative Pop/Rock
Scott Weiland
Happy in Galoshes
Soft Drive
Alternative Pop/Rock, Hard Rock, Neo-Psychedelia, Post-Grunge
Kanye West
808s & Heartbreak
Roc-A-Fella
Midwest Rap, Urban, Pop-Rap, Pop
Trace Adkins
X
Capitol/EMI
New Traditionalist, Contemporary Country
Arild Andersen
Live at Belleville
ECM
Avant-Garde Jazz, Post-Bop
Arion
Maria, Madre di Dio
Early-Music.com
Baroque Solo Cantatas & Sacred Music
Jeff Beck
Performing This Week: Live at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club
Eagle
Guitar Virtuoso, Hard Rock, Blues-Rock
David Byrne/Brian Eno
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Todomundo
Adult Alternative Pop/Rock
Los Campesinos!
We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
Arts & Crafts
Indie Rock, Indie Pop
Coldplay
Prospekt's March
Capitol
Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock
Rivers Cuomo
Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo
Geffen
Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock
The Datsuns
Smoke & Mirrors
Hell Squad/Cooking Vinyl
Garage Punk, Hard Rock
Death Cab for Cutie
Something About Airplanes [Deluxe Edition]
Barsuk
Indie Rock, Twee Pop, Alternative Pop/Rock
E-40
The Ball Street Journal
Reprise/BME
West Coast Rap, Hip-Hop, Gangsta Rap
Feist
The Reminder [Deluxe Edition]
Cherry Tree/Interscope
Alternative Singer/Songwriter, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Indie Electronic, Indie Rock
Angela Gheorghiu
My Puccini [CD+DVD]
EMI Classics
Romantic Opera
Goldfrapp
Seventh Tree [Bonus DVD]
Mute
Alternative Pop/Rock, Electronica
Good Charlotte
The Greatest Remixes
Epic
Punk-Pop, Punk Revival
Hall & Oates
Live at the Troubadour
Shout! Factory
Blue-Eyed Soul, Pop/Rock, Soft Rock, Adult Contemporary
Hollyridge Strings
The Beach Boys Song Book, Vols. 1-2
Collectors' Choice Music/EMI
Mood Music, Orchestral Pop
Jaheim
Classic Jaheim, Vol. 1
Warner Bros.
Contemporary R&B, Neo-Soul, Urban
Al Jourgensen
Wicked Lake
13th Planet/Megaforce
Alternative Metal, Soundtracks
Linkin Park
Road to Revolution Live at Milton Keynes
Warner Bros.
Alternative Metal, Post-Grunge, Rap-Metal
Ludacris
Theater of the Mind
Disturbing Tha Peace/Def Jam
Dirty South, Southern Rap, Hardcore Rap
Magazine
The Complete John Peel Sessions
EMI/Virgin
Post-Punk, New Wave
Barry Manilow
The Greatest Songs of the Eighties
Arista
Adult Contemporary, Soft Rock, Pop/Rock, Vocal Pop
Metro Area
Fabric 43
Fabric
Left-Field House, Club/Dance, House, Post-Disco
Moby
Last Night Remixed
Mute
Club/Dance, House, Techno, Progressive Trance
Shawn Mullins
Live at the Variety Playhouse
Vanguard
Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Contemporary Singer/Songwriter, Americana
Anna Netrebko
Souvenirs
Deutsche Grammophon
Opera Arias
Anthony Spiri
W.F. Bach: Fantasias; Fugues; Sonatas
Oehms Classics
Classical Piano
Fei Wu
Yuan
Tzadik
Contemporary Chamber Music
Original Soundtrack
Juno: Music from the Motion Picture [Deluxe Edition Soundtrack]
Rhino
Indie Pop, Film Music, Indie Rock, Pop/Rock
Paramore
The Final Riot! [CD/DVD]
Fueled by Ramen
Emo-Pop, Punk-Pop
Various Artists
Badd Santa: A Stones Throw Records Xmas
Stones Throw
Holiday, Underground Rap, Alternative Rap, Novelty, Funk
R.E.M.
Murmur [Deluxe 25th Anniversary Edition]
IRS/Universal
College Rock, Jangle Pop, Alternative Pop/Rock, American Underground
The Rapture
Tapes
!K7
Club/Dance, Left-Field House, House, Disco, Funk
Rick Springfield
Mission Magic! [Bonus Track]
Master Classics
AM Pop, Bubblegum, Pop/Rock
The Sword
Age of Winters/Gods of the Earth
Kemado
Heavy Metal, Doom Metal, Stoner Metal
Various Artists
Red House 25: A Silver Anniversary Retrospective
Red House
Contemporary Folk, Country-Folk
White Zombie
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie
Geffen
Metal, Hard Rock, Industrial, Horror-Rock
