Even More Useless Pop Information
Trivial stuff about the artists and releases coming out this week (May 10-16):
NEW RELEASES
DAVID DUCHOVNY
“Hell or Highwater” … It takes guts for an actor to cut his first album at age 54, but with a B.A. in English Literature from Princeton University and an M.A. in English Literature from Yale University, it’s not such a stretch that Duchovny has a breezy, ’70s-like folk-rock style. And his timing is perfect … he’ll be back as Mulder for a six-episode reboot of “The X-Files” in January on Fox.
BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE
“Power in the Blood” … Don Simpson, producer of “An Officer and a Gentleman,” wanted “Up Where We Belong” deleted from the 1982 film because he felt it wouldn’t be a hit. Boy, was he ever wrong. The Joe Cocker-Jennifer Warnes duet spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard chart and sold more than 2 million copies. And the co-writers – Sainte-Marie, her then-husband Jack Nitzsche and Will Jennings – won Oscars for Best Original Song.
J.D. SOUTHER
“Dance Real Slow” … In the late 1960s, Souther and Glenn Frey teamed for a folk duo called Longbranch Pennywhistle. Frey went on to join the Eagles, and Souther helped form the Souther Hillman Furay Band. Their friendship continued into the late ’70s, with Souther co-writing some of the Eagles’ biggest hits, like “Best of My Love,” “Heartache Tonight” and “New Kid in Town”
BEBE REXHA
“I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” … The alt-pop singer/songwriter was the former front woman of Pete Wentz’s post-Fall Out Boy project, Black Cards. Later, Eminem turned her song “Monster Under My Bed” into his Grammy-winning duet with Rihanna, “The Monster.”
BUNNY SIGLER
“Bundino” … The Philly soul legend co-wrote “The Ruler’s Back,” the opening song on Jay-Z’s “The Blueprint.”
REISSUES
GEORGIE FAME
“Yeh Yeh: The Georgie Fame Collection” … The R&B/jazz performer had only three Top 10 hits in his native U.K., but all three went No. 1: “Yeh, Yeh” (1964), “Get Away” in 1966 and “The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde” in 1967.
ANDREW GOLD
“The Late Show – Live 1978” … The singer-songwriter-musician, who died of heart failure in 2011, had some famous parents. His mother was singer Marni Nixon, who provided the singing voice for Natalie Wood in “West Side Story,” Deborah Kerr in “The King and I” and Audrey Hepburn in “My Fair Lady.” And his father was Ernest Gold, who won an Academy Award for his score for the film “Exodus” (1960).
VINCE MATTHEWS AND JIM CASEY
“The Kingston Springs Suite” … This lost 1972 album was produced by Shel Silverstein, with help from Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Cowboy Jack Clement. The album had been derailed by label disinterest and Matthews’ substance abuse.
THE SMOKE
“My Friend Jack Eats Sugar Lumps: An Anthology” … The British psychedelic pop band recorded only one album, 1967’s “It’s Smoke Time.” That’s included here, along with pre-Smoke tracks from the Spots and The Chosen Few, as well as the group’s only U.K. hit, “My Friend Jack.”
VARIOUS ARTISTS
“Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll” … This is the soundtrack to the new documentary film about young Cambodian musicians embracing Western culture and rock ‘n’ roll in the 1960s just as the country was moving toward war. New York Times film critic A.O. Scott says: “Even as you revel in the sounds of newly rediscovered artists, you are aware that their careers were cut brutally short, and that the further flowering of Cambodian rock ‘n’ roll was sacrificed on the altar of fanaticism.”
About the Author
Gerry Galipault Gerry Galipault debuted Pause & Play online in October 1997. Since then, it has become the definitive place for CD-release dates — with a worldwide audience.
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