Big thumbs up for Oasis, taking a unique approach to publicize their upcoming album by slapping moronic Guitar Hero enthusiasts with a dose of reality. Joining forces with their home country's Arts Council of England and the weekly music magazine NME, the cheeky lads are encouraging fans to lay off the colorful little buttons and pick up an actual guitar.
Last week's issue features three songs from Dig Out Your Soul, but not as a bonus CD pasted to the issue's cover - a popular promotional strategy that accounts for 10 percent of the CDs manufactured in the UK. Yes, the songs "Bag It Up," "The Turning," and "(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady" are free, but only if you play them yourself from the sheet music and lyrics printed in the magazine. Budding fans can then show off their own "pre-cover" versions by uploading them on a dedicated YouTube site. Can't wait for the real deal? At the same hip record stores that might carry the issue stateside, next week debuts the album's first single, "The Shock of the Lightning," which arrives with a Chemical Brothers remix of "Falling Down" on the B side.
Television Alert
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno hosts the Plain White T's tonight and The Hives on Thursday; The Late Show with David Letterman bows down to Kings of Leon on Thursday and The Virgins on Tuesday; Late Night with Conan O'Brien presents Jakob Dylan on Thursday overnight; The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson boasts Alice Cooper on Tuesday overnight; Jimmy Kimmel Live features Elvis Costello on Tuesday overnight; The Ellen DeGeneres Show chats up Kid Rock on Thursday; Saturday Night Live's musical guest this weekend is Duffy; and VH1's Behind the Music offers a new episode with New Kids on the Block, followed by a 30-minute concert live from Boston.
New Releases Coming Tuesday, September 30
Anberlin - New Surrender (Republic/Universal) hot off the main stage of this year's Vans Warped Tour
The Asylum Street Spankers - What? And Give Up Show Biz? (Yellow Dog) two-CD live album featuring a cover of Ivory Joe Hunter's "Since I Met You Baby" and a witty twist on "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree" with "Stick Magnetic Ribbons on Your SUV"
Richard Barbieri - Stranger Inside (Kscope) solo album from the Japan and Porcupine Tree keyboardist
Bayside - Live at the Bayside Social Club (Victory Records) recorded last month in an intimate setting with 200 fans
Bayside - Shudder (Victory Records) hitting the road - and acoustic in-store appearances - on the Involuntary Movement Tour
Will Bernard - Blue Plate Special (Palmetto) sizzling, funky jazz grooves with John Medeski on a variety of keys and drummer Stanton Moore, and featuring a soft, slippery cover of the traditional "How Great Thou Art"
Rory Block - Blues Walkin' Like a Man (Stony Plain) tribute to the great Son House, whom she met when she was 15; with guest John Sebastian of The Lovin' Spoonful on harmonica
Blood Ceremony - Blood Ceremony (Rise Above) conjuring Black Sabbath heaviness fueled by flute and '60s-style organ theatrics
Bomb the Bass - Future Chaos (IK7 Records) the return of Tim Simenon, fleshing out his beats with guest vocalists Mark Lanegan and Jon Spencer
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue: 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition (Columbia/Legacy) reissue from 1959, with an LP-sized 60-page hardbound book, poster, vinyl LP, DVD, and two CDs
Ani DiFranco - Red Letter Year (Righteous Babe) terrific new album, no doubt influenced by the birth of her daughter, Petah Lucia, housed in a plastic-free case and multi-page booklet of lyrics
Dion - Heroes: Giants of Guitar Rock (Saguaro Road) CD/DVD set covering hits by Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Carl Perkins, The Everly Brothers, and Bo Diddley
Dressy Bessy - Holler & Stomp (Transdreamer Records) featuring Apples in Stereo guitarist John Hill
Ben Folds - Way to Normal (Epic) with guest Regina Spektor on the first single, "You Don't Know Me"; also available in a deluxe CD/DVD box-set edition and 180-gram vinyl with a bonus CD
Gemma Hayes - The Hollow of Morning (Second Motion) with guest guitarist Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine
Jack's Mannequin - The Glass Passenger (Sire) look out for the video for the single "The Resolution," directed by Twilight author Stephanie Meyer
Jesus & Mary Chain - The Power of Negative Thinking (Rhino) four-CD box set featuring demos, alternative takes, and acoustic rarities, featuring a double-sided poster with the Jesus & Mary Chain family tree
The L.A. Chillharmonic - The L.A. Chillharmonic (Artistry Music) with guitarist Richard Smith channeling the smooth '70s jazz of Tom Scott & the L.A. Express; highlights include a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Boogie on Reggae Woman" and the appearance of Patrice Rushen on "Gift"
Look Daggers - Suffer in Style (Up Above) debut from the underground rapper 2Mex and Mars Volta's Ikey Owens, with guests from Reel Big Fish, Thelonious Monster, and Sublime
Taj Mahal - Maestro (Heads Up) with guests Ben Harper, Los Lobos, Ziggy Marley, Jack Johnson, and Anjelique Kidjo
Mercury Rev - Snowflake Midnight (Yep Roc) also available in a two-LP vinyl set, featuring the 11-track instrumental Strange Attractor and a free "download card" for MP3s of both albums
Monte Montgomery - Monte Montgomery (Eminent Records) named one of Guitar Magazine's "Top 50 All-Time Greatest Guitarists," his seventh studio album features a 10-minute sonic interpretation of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing"
Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman - The Fabled City (Epic) with guests Shooter Jennings and System of a Down's Serj Tankian
John Oates - 1000 Miles of Life (U-Watch Records) featuring a cover of Daniel Lanois' "Sometimes," this new solo album from half of Hall & Oates has guests Blind Boys of Alabama, Béla Fleck, John Popper of Blues Traveler, and Bonnie Bramlett of Delaney & Bonnie
Porter Batiste Stoltz - Moodoo (PBS) with guest Page McConnell of Phish, a cover of Curtis Mayfield's "Check Out Your Mind," and a medley fusing The Meters, Sly Stone, and Bob Dylan
RocknRolla - original motion picture soundtrack (Hip-O) peppered with dialogue from the upcoming Guy Ritchie crime caper and music from The Clash, The Hives, Flash & the Pan, Lou Reed, The English Beat, and Wanda Jackson
Saint Etienne - London Conversations: The Best of Saint Etienne (Heavenly/Universal) also available in a deluxe edition in a hardbound book, featuring a bonus CD and DVD of videos
Santana - Multi Dimensional Warrior (Columbia/Legacy) personally selected from over three decades of material, with a second disc of instrumentals
Simian Mobile Disco - Fabriclive 41 (Fabric) DJ mix CD with personal selections by Tomita the Firebird, Raymond Scott, Moon Dog, and The Walker Brothers
Nina Simone - To Be Free: The Nina Simone Story (RCA/Legacy) three-CD box set collecting tracks from a variety of record labels from 1957 through 1993, plus a bonus DVD featuring a documentary film from 1970
T.I. - Paper Trail (Grand HustleAtlantic) with guest Kanye West
James Taylor - Covers (Hear Music) with interpretations of songs by Big Mama Thorton, The Dixie Chicks, The Temptations, and George Jones, highlights include Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne," Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues," and Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away"
U2 - Under a Blood Red Sky (Island) CD and 180-gram vinyl reissue from 1983
U2 - Live at Red Rocks (Island) first time on DVD for this stellar concert from 1983, packed with five bonus songs and a commentary track
Brian Vander Ark - Brian Vander Ark (Second Motion) new from The Verve Pipe founder
Joe Louis Walker - Witness to the Blues (Stony Plain) produced by Duke Robillard, with a killer duet with Shemekia Copeland on a cover of Jo Jo Benson & Peggy Scott's "Lover's Holiday"
Jack White & Alicia Keys - "Another Way to Die" (XL Recordings) import-only seven-inch single of the theme song to the upcoming James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, with an instrumental B side
Various artists - Les Paul & Friends: Children of the Future - A Tribute to a Legend (Immergent) all-star jam with Joe Perry, Peter Frampton, Slash, Richie Sambora, Johnny Rzeznik, Mick Hucknall, and Edgar Winter
