Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
Blame it on the 4th of July holiday. This week’s roster of new music is shallow. There were fewer albums to choose from but there are some titles worthy of our attention and discussion.
Miles Davis
The Complete Columbia Album Collection<
I’m still an infant learning to crawl my way around the jazz universe but something tells this 70 CD box set caught my attention. I don’t know if all four books of The Gospel of Jazz can be found in this box set but I gotta imagine an awful lot of what you need to know is right here. It would take a lifetime to listen to all those compositions enough times to learn all it had to teach, but that doesn’t sound like a bad way to spend a few years. Anyone wanting to contribute to my Fund Drive, the box is retailing for $365. I’ll tell you how to get those donations to me.
70 CDs, $365. Wow.
Jimmie Vaughan
Plays Blues, Ballads & Favorites
This is being billed as Vaughan’s first album in nine years and it is… and it isn’t. Vaughan teamed up with Omar Kent Dykes for a Jimmy Reed tribute album featuring some of the biggest names in the blues. Vaughan has been all over the place touring and playing with other musicians but this is his return to center stage with an album of his own. In light of the time away, it’s a little surprising that Vaughan’s new record is mostly a collection of standards and covers. Vaughan has not been known as a prolific songwriter but one might have thought he’d have collected some ideas in nine years. That’s not to suggest this album can’t or won’t be very good. Vaughan is a wonderful guitar stylist who has made a name for himself as an interpreter. He’s wonderful at it and this album gives him a chance to do just that once more.
Ed Kowalczyk
Alive
Kowalczyk’s break from his band Live was acrimonious as these things often are, but Kowalczyk is ready to step out on his own with his first solo album. Live had a brief moment as one of the most popular bands of the ‘90s but Kowalczyk’s focus on a brand of spirituality somewhat out of the mainstream and changing musical tastes quickly pushed them aside. It’s hard to imagine his solo career will reach the heights of his former band but maybe this is the path he needs to walk before the lucrative reunion tour commences.
Delphic – Acolyte
Al Green – Love Ritual
Big Boi – Sir Luscious Left Foot…The Son Of Chico Dusty
Capleton – I-Ternal Fire
Cheap Trick – Budokan! Friday, April 28, 1978
Davis, Miles – The Complete Columbia Album Collection
Ed Kowalczyk – Alive
Enrique Iglesias – Euphoria
Five For Fighting – Slice
How To Destroy Angels – How To Destroy Angels
Jerry Lee Lewis – The Essential Sun Records Country Hits
John Phillips – Many Mamas, Many Papas
Kelis – Flesh Tone
Kottonmouth Kings Presents Johny Richter – Kottonmouth Kings Presents Johny Richter
Minogue, Kylie – Aphrodite
Soundtrack – Despicable Me
Soundtrack – Knight And Day (John Powell)
Soundtrack – The Special Relationship (Alexandre Desplat)
The Rescues – Let Loose The Horses
The Roots – How I Got Over / [Lp]
Tony Danza Tapdance Extragavanza – Danza Iii: The Series Of Unfortunate Events
Trailer Choir – Tailgate
Various – Npr Discover Songs: Soul Revival
Various – La Nueva Generacion
Vaughan, Jimmie – Plays Blues, Ballads & Favorites
Walter Trout – Common Ground
