Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
Wow. I'm getting to this a day later than I wanted to and I'm having a tough time making the case this was somehow worth the wait. I can think of a lot of exciting records we're going to see issued at the end of an ass-biting cold winter 2009, but they aren't being released this week. What is being released this week? It's not all bleak. There are a couple things worth noting.
For example, we've got new music from indie singer/songwriter Matthew Ryan. Dear Lover is getting some great writeups in USA Today, American Songwriter, Blurt, and The Tennessean.
Okay, now we're to the bleak part. There's a Legacy Edition of Santana's Supernatural album. I love Carlos Santana's guitar work and the man has a legacy… I just like to pretend Supernatural wasn't part of it. Look, that tune with Rob Thomas was a decent FM tune the first four times I heard it. Listens 5-10,000 revealed it to be an agent of torture and thus subject to arrest and trial before a U.N. tribunal. "My Spanish Harlem Mona Lisa" embarrassed me the first time I heard it and I still wince just thinking about it. Rob Thomas will run laps for that line until the end of time. Yeah, Rob, we get it. Santana has Hispanic heritage. You, sir, are a moron.
Supernatural sold a metric buttload of copies. It's the type of release that has the commercial bona fides to get re-released in expanded format. The problem is many of the buyers aren't hardcore Santana fans. The people who bought that record liked the Rob Thomas tune, maybe a couple of the other guest spots. Those people aren't coming back for a second helping, no matter what you put on that second CD.
Okay, I feel better. We're a day late but getting to mock Rob Thomas makes an otherwise bleak week all worthwhile. We'll reconvene next week and hope for the best…
Nick Curran & the Lowlifes
Reform School Girl
Field Music
Field Music (Measure)
Lightspeed Champion
Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You
Tindersticks
Falling Down a Mountain
Ellen Allien
Watergate 05
Kasey Anderson
Nowhere Nights
The Art Museums
Rough Frame
Dan Black
((Un))
Bomb the Bass
Back to Light
Jamie Cullum
Devil May Care!
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
The Treasury Shows, Vol. 14
Alton Ellis
Soul Train Is Coming
Everybody Was in the French Resistance…Now!
Fixin' the Charts, Vol. 1
Gentle Friendly
Ride Slow
Adam Green
Minor Love
The Herbaliser Band
Session 1
Henry "Junjo" Lawes
Volcano Eruption: Reggae Anthology
Byron Lee & the Dragonaires
The Man and His Music
Mako Sica
Dual Horizon
Jon Manasse
Mozart, Spohr: Clarinet Concertos
Denis Matsuev
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3; Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Joey McIntyre
Here We Go Again
Moon Duo
Escape
Mumford & Sons
Sigh No More
Schoenberg Quartett
Garden of Eros: String Quartets by Louis Andriessen
Kai Schumacher
Frederic Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated
Vocal Concert Dresden
Abschied vom Walde
Overnight Lows
City of Rotten Eyes
Ewan Pearson
We Are Proud of Our Choices
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Preservation: An Album to Benefit Preservation Hall & the Preservation Hall
Matthew Ryan
Dear Lover
Santana
Supernatural
Seven Fields of Aphelion
Periphery
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra
Kollaps Tradixionales
Ben Sollee/Daniel Martin Moore
Dear Companion
The Souljazz Orchestra
Rising Sun
Story of the Year
The Constant
Various Artists
Nigeria Afrobeat Special: The New Explosive Sound in 1970s Nigeria
Wu-Tang
Return of the Wu & Friends
