Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
I eclipsed the 400-article mark last week and next month will mark five years as a part of Blogcritics. That's a lot of work, some of which I'm still reasonably proud of. There have been many changes at Blogcritics over that time, as well. Friendships have been formed, the site has gotten more facelifts than Joan Rivers, and we've formed our partnership with Technorati. Anyway, here's to another 400 articles and another five years. To that end, let's take a look at a few of the new albums being released this week.
David Bowie
VH1 Storytellers
Oh, the world would swing if I were king! Yes, I know that's Tom Petty and that's not why we're here but Tom is right. If I were king, we wouldn't have waited this long for this performance to be released on CD/DVD. In fact, an awful lot of these Storytellers performances would have been released long, long before now and this would have been one of the first.
Unabashed Bowie-philes like myself might be the only ones interested in this set, but you'd think there are enough of us that we wouldn't have to beg and hope and wait. This performance was recorded as Bowie was promoting his album Hours… It's a good album and it's good he was promoting that one as it was, in many ways, the most 'retro' thing he'd done in years. The new songs from Hours… make sense alongside classics like "Life on Mars?" and "Rebel Rebel." I remember watching this when it first aired and I loved it. I hope it's as good as I remember.
Dead Weather
Horehound
This has two things going for it: Jack White and a great album title. What separates this from other Jack White-led bands is that this isn't actually a Jack White-led band. The White Stripes frontman and Raconteurs co-frontman takes a bit of a backseat on this record… or should I say a seat back behind the drum kit. Jack plays several instruments on the record, but primarily drums. He sings… some. He co-wrote several songs. His presence is felt, but he's not the center of the musical universe on this record. "3 Birds," a spooky cool instrumental, will be a great theme song for The Groovy Ghoulies update that will one day surface.
The Rolling Stones
Voodoo Lounge, Steel Wheels, Dirty Work, Bridges to Babylon, A Bigger Bang
Let's begin by saying nothing could be a bigger waste of your cash than an A Bigger Bang remaster. The record is about 20 minutes old. What could there possibly be to remaster? Anyway, the Stones are remastering their catalog from their years with Virgin records and this is the latest drop of albums in that category. Snobs and dickheads will tell you with the exception of Exile On Main Street these albums all sucked. Of course they're completely wrong. I'd like to take this opportunity to once again stand up for the seriously underrated Voodoo Lounge. Of course it's five songs too long. Listen to this record carefully and make your own cuts. Then go listen to it again in leaner form. It stands up. It big time stands up.
Unfortunately, early word is that the remastering job on these records has been terrible. The music is louder compressed to hell and back. The packaging is virtually the same as the previous release of these discs. There are no extra tracks. If you own the records, keep them. If you don't, you should but maybe not these re-issues.
Bleu
A Watched Pot
Bleu's third solo album is another in a long line of albums that almost never happened. Wilco fans will find this story familiar. Following up his Redhead album, listed on NPR's Top 10 of 2003, he started working on A Watched Pot in 2005. He was dropped by Sony before the album could be released, leaving him and the record in limbo. He continued to tour, playing songs he didn't know if he'd ever get to release. He collaborated with other friends in various side projects, never forgetting about A Watched Pot. Four years later, he negotiated the rights to his own music and the album gets its release today.
Here's the full rundown of new releases:
Daughtry
Leave This Town
The Dead Weather
Horehound
George Jones
A Good Year for the Roses: The Complete Musicor Recordings, 1965-1971, Pt. 2
Emitt Rhodes
The Emitt Rhodes Recordings 1969-1973
Sick Puppies
Tri-Polar
Adelitas Way
Adelitas Way
Air Supply
Free Love
Leif Ove Andsnes
Shadows of Silence
August Burns Red
Constellations
Beastie Boys
Ill Communication [Remastered] [Bonus CD]
Billy Talent
Billy Talent III
Bleu
A Watched Pot
David Bowie
VH1 Storytellers
Olivia Broadfield
Eyes Wide Open
Greg Brown
Dream City: Essential Recordings. Vol. 2 1997-2006
Care Bears on Fire
Get Over It!
Imogen Cooper
Schubert: Live, Vol. 1
Dan Cummins
Revenge Is Near
Cunninlynguists
Strange Journey, Vol. 1
The Dandy Warhols
The Dandy Warhols Are Sound
Jimmy Dell
Cool It, Baby
DevilDriver
Pray for Villains
Billy "The Kid" Emerson
Red Hot: The Sun Years, Plus
Eskimo Joe
Inshalla
Guarneri Trio Prague
Dvorák: The Complete Piano Trios
George Hamilton IV
The Drugstore's Rockin': To You and Yours
Joe
Signature
Alexis Kossenko
C. P. E. Bach: Concerti a flauto traverso obligato, Vol. 2
Crosby Loggins
Time to Move
Amos Milburn
Rocks
Hannah Montana
Hannah Montana 3 [CD/DVD]
The Most Serene Republic
…And the Ever Expanding Universe
Thomas Zehetmair
Stravinsky: Violin Concerto; Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 6
Original Soundtrack
(500) Days of Summer
Quantic and His Combo Barbaro
Tradition in Transition
Raiders
Indian Reservation/Collage
Charlie Rich
Charlie Rocks
The Rolling Stones
A Bigger Bang
The Rolling Stones
Bridges to Babylon
The Rolling Stones
Dirty Work
The Rolling Stones
Steel Wheels
The Rolling Stones
Voodoo Lounge
Gil Scott-Heron
Bottle/Best of Gil Scott-Heron
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
Up from Below
Archie Shepp
Phat Jam in Milano
Nina Simone
Live at Berkeley/Gifted & Black
Summer Cats
Songs for Tuesdays
Twista
Category F5
Neil Young
After the Gold Rush
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Neil Young
Harvest
Neil Young
Neil Young
