This Week’s Releases: Sept. 24, 2013
New stuff
Artist: | Title: | Label/Due date: |
Aloe Blacc | “Wake Me Up EP [MP3]” (Hear here; Read here) | (Aloe Blacc / XIX Recordings / Interscope) |
Rafal Blechacz (Polish pianist) | “Chopin Polonaises” (Hear here; MP3) | (Deutsche Grammophon) |
Black Label Society | “Unblackened” (two-CD live album recorded at Club Nokia in Los Angeles; MP3; DVD; Blu-ray) | (eOne Music) |
David Bromberg Band | “Only Slightly Mad” (producer: Larry Campbell; guests: John Sebastian, John McEuen; Hear here; MP3) | (Appleseed Recordings) |
Cher | “Closer to the Truth” (her first studio album since 2001; first single: “Woman’s World”; Hear here; Read here; MP3) | (Warner) |
Chvrches (Scottish electro-pop band) | “The Bones of What You Believe” (first single: “Gun”; Hear here; See here; Vinyl) | (Glassnote) |
Claire (Munich synthpop band) | “Broken Promise Land [MP3]” (four-song EP; first single: “Games”; Hear here) | (Astralwerks) |
Clannad | “Nádúr” (their first album since 1998; Hear here; MP3) | (ARC Music) |
The Colours of Kings (synthpop band) | “Up EP [MP3]” (four songs; first single: “My Heart Is a Drum Machine”; Hear here) | (Red Corduroy Music) |
Ian Davis | “Things I Think About [MP3]” (five-song EP; guests: Magan Sade, E&L Beats; Hear here; See here) | (The Foundation Music Group LLC) |
Deer Tick | “Negativity” (producer: Steve Berlin; guest: Vanessa Carlton; first single: “The Rock”; Hear here; See here; Vinyl; MP3) | (Partisan) |
Jason Derulo | “Tattoos EP [MP3]” (producers: Ammo, Martin Johnson, Wallpaper.; first single: “The Other Side”; Hear here; Read here) | (Beluga Heights / Warner) |
Al Di Meola | “All Your Life: A Tribute to the Beatles” (recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London; Hear here; Read here) | (Valiana / Songsurfer) |
Drake | “Nothing Was the Same” (producers: Bink!, Chilly Gonzales, Detail, Hit-Boy, Hudson Mohawke, Jake One, James Blake, Jamie xx, Just Blaze, Key Wane, Majid Jordan, Mike WiLL Made It, Mike Zombie, Nineteen85, T-Minus, Young Chop, Zaytoven; guests: Jay-Z, 2 Chainz, Big Sean, Hudson Mohawke, Lil Wayne; Hear here; Read here; MP3) | (OVO Sound / Young Money / Cash Money / Republic) |
Dream Theater | “Dream Theater” (producer: guitarist John Petrucci; Hear here; Vinyl; Deluxe edition) | (Roadrunner) |
Stewart Eastman | “The Man I Once Was [MP3]” (producer: Burke Ericson; Hear here) | (Long Bar Music) |
The Foreign Exchange (Grammy-nominated alt-R&B duo of Phonte and Nicolay) | “Love In Flying Colors” (first single: “Call It Home”; Hear here) | (+FE Music / Hard Boiled) |
Ghostpoet (a.k.a. Obaro Ejimiwe) | “Some Say I So I Say Light [MP3]” (producers: Lorca, Richard Formby; Hear here) | ([PIAS] America) |
Glee Cast | “Glee Sings the Beatles [TV soundtrack]” (Hear here) | (Columbia) |
Matthew Good | “Arrows of Desire” (Hear here; MP3) | (eOne / FrostByte Media) |
Gov’t Mule | “Shout!” (their first studio album in four years; contains a bonus disc of versions with guest vocalists; producers: Warren Haynes, Gordie Johnson; Hear here; Read here; Vinyl) | (Blue Note) |
Sammy Hagar | “Sammy Hagar & Friends” (collaborations on originals and covers with Nancy Wilson, Kid Rock, Ronnie Dunn, Michael Anthony, Neal Schon, Chad Smith, Joe Satriani; producers: Hagar, John Cuniberti; Hear here; Read here; Deluxe edition; MP3) | (Frontiers) |
Ha Ha Tonka | “Lessons” (producers: Dan Molad, The Ryantist; first single: “Colorful Kids”; Hear here; Vinyl) | (Bloodshot) |
Harleighblu (hip-hop/soul singer) | “Forget Me Not” (first single: “Play Me”; Hear here; Read here) | (Tru Thoughts) |
Headstones (Canadian punk rockers) | “Love + Fury” (producers: frontman Hugh Dillon, Chris Osti; first single: “longwaytoneverland”; Hear here; MP3) | (Frostbyte) |
Shawn Holt and the Teardrops (son of the late Magic Slim) | “Daddy Told Me” (guest: John Primer; Hear here) | (Blind Pig) |
Huerco S. (Kansas City electronic-music artist Brian Leeds) | “Colonial Patterns” (Hear here; Vinyl) | (Software Recording Co.) |
Icona Pop | “This Is … Icona Pop” (new single: “All Night”; Hear here; Amazon Exclusive CD + Tote; MP3) | (Record Company Ten / Big Beat) |
Into It. Over It. (Chicago-based songwriter Evan Weiss) | “Intersections” (producer: Brian Deck; Hear here; Vinyl) | (Triple Crown) |
Alan Jackson | “The Bluegrass Album” (includes eight songs penned by Jackson, plus other originals and covers, including a ¾-time version of Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky”; producers: Keith Stegall, Jackson’s nephew Adam Wright; Hear here) | (Alan’s Country Records / EMI Records Nashville) |
Sarah Jarosz | “Build Me Up From Bones” (producers: Jarosz, Gary Paczosa; first single: “Over the Edge”; Hear here; Vinyl) | (Sugar Hill) |
Jessie J | “Alive” (guests: Brandy, Big Sean, Dizzee Rascal, Becky G; new single: “It’s My Party”; Hear here; See here) | (U.K. – Lava / Republic, Sept. 23) |
Jewel | “Let It Snow: A Holiday Collection” (her second Christmas album; producers: Jewel, Joe Mardin, Steve Skinner, Robbie Kondor; Hear here; Read here) | (Somerset Group Ltd.) |
Tiff Jimber (piano pop singer-songwriter) | “The Foundation [MP3]” (six-song EP; Hear here) | (Cormac, Sept. 24) |
Elton John | “The Diving Board” (his first solo album since 2006; 12 new songs written by John and his longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin; producer: T Bone Burnett; first single: “Home Again”; Full stream; Hear here; See here; Read here; Vinyl; Super Deluxe Edition) | (Capitol / Universal) |
Lily Kershaw | “Midnight in the Garden” (producer: John Fields; Hear here; MP3) | (Nettwerk) |
Kings of Leon | “Mechanical Bull” (producer: Angelo Petraglia; first single: “Supersoaker”; Hear here; Read here; Vinyl) | (RCA) |
Kneebody (mult-genre ensemble) | “The Line” (producers: Kneebody, Chris Dunn; Hear here) | (Concord) |
Krewella (electronic dance group) | “Get Wet” (new single: “Live for the Night”; Hear here; MP3) | (Columbia) |
Lorde | “Pure Heroine” (new single: “Live for the Night”; Hear here; MP3) | (Lava Music / Republic) |
Mazzy Star | “Seasons of Your Day” (producers: members Hope Sandoval and David Roback; guests: the late Bert Jansch, My Bloody Valentine’s Colm O Ciosoig; Hear/read here; Vinyl) | (Rhymes of an Hour) |
Dara Maclean (contemporary Christian singer-songwriter from Fort Worth) | “Wanted” (producer: Paul Mabury; Hear here; See here) | (Fervent) |
Michelle Makarski / Keith Jarrett | “Johann Sebastian Bach: Six Sonatas for Violin and Piano” (two CDs, 25 songs; Hear here; MP3) | (ECM) |
Neal McCoy | “Pride: A Tribute to Charley Pride” (guests: Darius Rucker, Trace Adkins, Raul Malo; Hear here; Read here) | (Slate Creek) |
Megadeth | “Countdown to Extinction: Live” (recorded and filmed at Los Angeles’ Fox Theatre during the band’s “Countdown to Extinction” 20th anniversary tour last November and December; Hear here; DVD) | (Tradecraft / UMe ) |
Metallica | “Metallica Through the Never (Music from the Motion Picture)” (double album features their classics and new songs, recorded at Rexall Place in Edmonton and Rogers Arena in Vancouver; it will debut in IMAX theaters Sept. 27; See here; Read here; see related reissues below) | (Blackened Recordings / Rhino) |
Joshua Micah (dance-pop/rock artist) | “Let It Go [MP3]” (five-song EP; Hear here) | (Sea To Sun Recordings) |
Embee Normann (Norwegian singer-songwriter) | “In-Between Dusk & Dawn [MP3]” (producers: Stig Enger, Jon Karlsen; first single: “Shimmer”; Hear here; See here) | (Enger Music, Sept. 23) |
Oh Land (a.k.a. Danish alterna-pop star Nanna Øland Fabricius) | “Wish Bone” (first single: “Renaissance Girls”; Hear here; See here) | (Federal Prism – label launched by TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek) |
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band | “Take Me to the Land of Hell” (producer: Sean Lennon; first single: “Moonbeams”; Hear here; Vinyl) | (Chimera Music) |
Pink Martini | “Get Happy” (guests: the late Phyllis Diller, Philippe Katerine, Meow Meow, Ari Shapiro, the von Trapps, Rufus Wainwright; Hear here; MP3) | (Heinz) |
Promised Land Sound (young Nashville pop-rock band) | “Promised Land Sound” (producers: Jem Cohen, Andrija Tokic, William Tyler; first single: “Fadin’ Fast”; Hear here; Vinyl; MP3) | (Paradise of Bachelors) |
Matt Redman | “Your Grace Finds Me” (recorded live at LIFT 2013; first single: “Your Grace Finds Me”; Hear here; See here) | (sixsteprecords / Sparrow) |
R5 (led by Disney star Ross Lynch) | “Louder” (Hear here; See here) | (Hollywood) |
Frankie Rose (formerly of the Vivian Girls, Crystal Stilts and Dum Dum Girls) | “Herein Wild” (first single: “Sorrow”; Hear here; Vinyl; MP3) | (Fat Possum) |
The Smashing Pumpkins | “Oceania: Live in NYC” (filmed in 3D in December 2012 at Barclays Center; Read here; DVD; Blu-ray) | (Universal Music Enterprises) |
Spyro Gyra | “The Rhinebeck Sessions” (Hear here; MP3) | (Crosseyed Bear Productions) |
Sting | “The Last Ship” (his first album of all-original material in 10 years; guests: Jimmy Nail, Becky Unthank; Hear here; Read here; Vinyl; Amazon-exclusive Super Deluxe Edition; MP3; MP3 Super Deluxe) | (Cherrytree / A&M / Interscope) |
Billy Thompson | “Friend [MP3]” (producer: Thompson; guests: Bill Payne, Ron Holloway, James “Hutch” Hutchinson, Kenny Gradney, Mike Finnigan; first single: “While the World’s Winding Down”; Hear here) | (Soul Stew) |
Allen Toussaint | “Songbook” (Hear here) | (Rounder) |
Traams | “Grin” (producers: Rory Atwell, MJ from Hookworms; first single: “Flowers”; Hear here; See here; Vinyl) | (FatCat) |
Tropic of Cancer | “Restless Idylls [MP3]” (Hear here; CD; Vinyl) | (Blackest Ever Black, Sept. 23) |
Various artists | “NCIS: Benchmark (The Official TV Soundtrack)” (14 tracks, featuring Neon Trees, Patty Griffin, Lady Antebellum, The Boxer Rebellion, Jane Monheit, etc.; MP3) | (Artists’ Addiction) |
Various artists | “WOW Hits 2014” (two CDs, 33 tracks; Deluxe edition, two CDs, 39 tracks) | (Capitol Christian Music Group) |
The Watson Twins | “Pioneer Lane” (producer: Everest’s Russell Pollard; Hear here; MP3) | (The Watson Twins) |
Reissues
Artist: | Title: | Label/Due date: |
The Band | “The Last Waltz [Box set]” (2002 four-CD reissue of the legendary Thanksgiving Day 1976 concert, with 24 tracks of previously unreleased rehearsals, performances from the show, film, and studio demo tracks; Vinyl; MP3) | (Rhino) |
Rosemary Butler | “Rose [MP3]” (1984 album) | (R.D.E.G.) |
Ray Charles | “Ray Charles Forever [CD/DVD]” (remixed and remastered versions of his classic hits and the previously unreleased “They Can’t Take That Away From Me”; MP3) | (Concord) |
Lenny Kravitz | “Are You Gonna Go My Way (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)” (1993 album; remastered, with seven bonus B-sides; with a second disc of bonus acoustic material; Read here; MP3) | (Virgin / UMe) |
Love | “De Capo [Hybrid SACD – DSD]” (1967 album; remastered) | (Mobile Fidelity) |
The Mamas & the Papas | “The Mamas & the Papas” (1966 album; remastered; Vinyl), “Deliver” (1967 album; remastered; Vinyl) | (Friday Music) |
Metallica | “Kill ‘Em All” (1983 album; remastered), “Ride the Lightning” (1984 album; remastered), “Master of Puppets” (1986 album; remastered), “… And Justice for All” (1988 album; remastered), “Metallica” (1991 album; remastered), “Garage Inc.” (1998 album; two CDs; remastered) | (Blackened Recordings / Rhino) |
Elliott Murphy | “Lost Generation & Night Lights: The RCA Years” (1975, 1976 albums on one CD; remastered; Hear here; Read here) | (Raven) |
Nirvana | “In Utero: 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition” (1993 album; remastered; See here; Box set; standard CD; Vinyl; see related DVD below) | (Geffen / UMe) |
Jeannie C. Riley | “Harper Valley P.T.A.: Best of the Plantation Years” (two CDs) | (Snapper) |
Roosevelt Sykes | “The Original Honeydripper” (recorded live in 1977 in the small basement blues club of the Blind Pig Café in Ann Arbor, Mich.; with two bonus tracks) | (Blind Pig) |
Various artists | “Woodstock – 40 Years On: Back to Yasgur’s Farm [Box set]” (six CDs; originally released in 2009; Read here) | (Atlantic) |
The Waitresses | “Just Desserts: The Complete Waitresses” (two CDs, 30 songs; Hear here; Read here) | (Omnivore Recordings) |
DVD / Blu-ray
Artist: | Title: | Label/Due date: |
Robert Downey Jr. | “Iron Man 3 [DVD]” (2013 film; Blu-ray + DVD) | (Walt Disney) |
Bryan Ferry | “Live in Lyon [DVD]” (filmed in 2011; guests: Nile Rodgers, Dave Stewart, Marcus Miller, David Gilmour, Flea, Scissor Sisters; See here; Read here; Blu-ray) | (Eagle Rock) |
Green Day | “¡Cuatro! [DVD]” (documentary film, directed by Tim Wheeler; See here; Read here) | (Reprise) |
Billy Joel | “The Last Play at Shea (Collector’s Edition) [Blu-ray]” | (Millennium Media Services) |
Nirvana | “Live and Loud [DVD]” (final touring lineup of Cobain, Novoselic, Grohl, and Pat Smear recorded at Seattle’s Pier 48 on Dec. 13, 1993, with previously unreleased bonus material) | (Geffen) |
Neil Young | “Neil Young: Heart of Gold – Special Collector’s Edition [DVD]” (2006 documentary and concert film directed by Jonathan Demme; See here) | (Paramount Catalog) |
Music books
Subject: | Title: | Publisher/Due date: |
Nick Carter (of Backstreet Boys) | “Facing the Music and Living to Talk About It [Hardcover]” | (Bird Street Books) |
John Hartford | “John Hartford: Pilot of a Steam Powered Aereo-Plain [Hardcover]” (with a previously unreleased 14-track CD of a 1994 live concert at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium; author: Andrew Vaughan) | (StuffWorks Press Inc.) |
Sean Kelly | “Metal on Ice: Tales from Canada’s Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Heroes [Paperback]” | (Dundurn) |
Mathew Klickstein | “Slimed! An Oral History of Nickelodeon’s Golden Age [Hardcover]” (Read here; Kindle) | (Plume / Penguin Book Group USA) |
John Lennon | “The John Lennon Letters [Paperback]” (editor: Hunter Davies) | (Phoenix / The Orion Publishing Group Ltd., Sept. 26) |
Charlie Parker | “Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker [Hardcover]” (author: Stanley Crouch; Kindle) | (Harper) |
Phish | “The Phish Companion: A Guide to the Band and Their Music — 3rd Edition [Paperback]” | (Backbeat Books) |
Bruce Springsteen | “Bruce Springsteen in Focus 1980-2012 [Hardcover]” (author: Debra L. Rothenberg) | (Turn the Page Publishing, Sept. 21) |
John Taylor | “In the Pleasure Groove: Love, Death & Duran Duran [Paperback]” (author: Stanley Crouch; Kindle) | (Plume) |
Eddie Trunk | “Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Volume II [Paperback]” (foreword by Slash; Kindle) | (Abrams Image) |
Kenny Weissberg (host of the eclectic radio show “Music Without Boundaries”) | “Off My Rocker: One Man’s Tasty, Twisted, Star-Studded Quest for Everlasting Music [Hardcover]” | (Sandra Jonas Publishing House) |