Everything's gone covers crazy this week, with new spins on soul classics, numerical delights, and the return of Marianne Faithfull.
Seal is back with the simply titled Soul album, due this coming Tuesday on Warner Bros. Produced by David Foster, 11 old-school selections from Otis Redding, The Impressions, Ann Pebbles, and Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes receive his smooth, powerful treatment. Highlights include takes on James Brown's "It's A Man's Man's Man's World," Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," and two songs by Al Green: "I'm Still in Love With You" and "Here I Am (Come & Take Me)."
Doing the Sesame Street stroll with The Count, sunny-sweet Miami indie band The Postmarks have gone one further with By the Numbers, a 12-track collection due next week on the Unfiltered Records imprint. Starting with Antonio Carlos Jobim's "One Note Samba" and climbing through Nancy Sinatra's "You Only Live Twice" and Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds," other stepping stones include David Bowie's "Five Years," The Cure's "Six Different Ways" and The Byrds' "Eight Miles High."
Speaking of The Cure, next week also brings a two-CD collection of Cure covers that benefits the Invisible Children organization. Manimal Vinyl serves up the 34-track set, Perfect as Cats: A Tribute to The Cure, with The Dandy Warhols, Bat for Lashes, Kaki King, Jesu, Army Navy, and Rainbow Arabia. Not to be outdone, American Laundromat Records has its own Cure covers caravan set for January titled Just Like Heaven: A Tribute to The Cure, with Tanya Donelly, The Wedding Present, Dean & Britta, The Rosebuds, and Grand Duchy (featuring Violet Clark and Black Francis).
Marianne Faithfull has just released an import-only affair on Naïve Records, Easy Come, Easy Go. With guests Keith Richards, Rufus Wainwright, Nick Cave, Cat Power, and Sean Lennon, Dolly Parton's "Down from Dover," Morrissey's "Dear God Please Help Me," Merle Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home," The Decemberists' "The Crane Wife," and Traffic's "Many a Mile to Freedom" go under her smoky vocal spell with producer Hal Willner.
More cover kicks are due later this year from The Lemonheads, whose Varshons album promises guests Liv Tyler and Kate Moss, and production by Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers and Anthony Safferty of Cornershop. What's on Evan Dando's list to reinterpret? Alongside odd selections by Townes Van Zandt, G.G. Allin, Christina Aguilera, Wire, and the Fuckemos, must-hear tracks include Gram Parsons' "I Just Can't Take It Anymore" and Leonard Cohen's "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye."
Television Alert
The Late Show with David Letterman presents Alicia Keys on Tuesday; The Tonight Show with Jay Leno hosts Tracy Chapman tonight, TV on the Radio on Friday, Dido on Monday, and the Kaiser Chiefs on Tuesday; Late Night with Conan O'Brien boasts Chromeo on Friday and Conor Oberst on Tuesday overnight; Last Call with Carson Daly unleashes Panic at the Disco on Monday overnight; and VH1 premieres the Peter Bogdanovich-produced documentary The Story of Mudcrutch on Tuesday evening.
New Releases Coming Tuesday, November 11
18th Dye - Amorine Queen (Crunchy Frog) all new from the Danish band that toured with Stereolab and Yo la Tengo in the mid 1990s
Christina Aguilera - Keeps Getting Better: A Decade of Hits (RCA) available only at Target
The Answer - Never Too Late (The End Records) fantastic four-track CD EP and DVD package from this Irish band touted heavily by the British press as the next big thing, strutting out a swaggering bravado like a mix of The Cult and The Black Crowes in bell-bottoms and greasy suede
David Archuleta - David Archuleta (Jive) debut from the American Idol runner-up
Natasha Bedingfield - Pocketful of Miracles: Deluxe Edition (Epic) featuring a bonus second disc featuring five tracks live at the Nokia Theatre in New York and four videos
Tracy Chapman - Our Bright Future (Atlantic) all new
Clutch - Full Fathom Five: Audio Field Recordings 2007-2008 (Weatherman) live CD recorded at four concerts over their past world tour
Lee Coombs - Lot 49 Presents Lee Coombs (Lot 49) career retrospective of the electronica pioneer, with remixes by UNKLE, Meat Katie, and Miles Dyson
Neil Diamond - Home Before Dark (Columbia) two-LP vinyl edition featuring a download card and covers of Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love" and Harry Nilsson's "Without Her"
Edie Sedgwick - Things Are Getting Sinister & Sinisterer (Dischord) Justin Moyer's wildly wicked alter ego is back with a digital or colored-vinyl LP, this time bowing down to the cult of celebrity with chaotic audio shrines to Rob Lowe, Sissy Spacek, Anthony Perkins, and a strange pairing of Bambi and George W. Bush
Alejandro Escovedo - Live Animal (Back Porch) recorded at the Sirius Satellite Radio studios; the EP features the song he performed live at the Democratic National Convention, "People (We're Only Gonna Live So Long)"
Gnarls Barkley - "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" (Atlantic) EP with the album, instrumental, demo, and MTV 52 Bands versions of the single
Japanther - Tut Tut Now Shake Ya Butt (Wantage USA) fascinating multimedia project with two extended spoken-word pieces by Crass poet Penny Rimbaud
Jurassic 5 - J5 (Decon) reissue with a 17-track bonus CD of rarities and live DVD filmed at the Brixton Academy
Less Than Jake - Deluxe GNV FLA (Sleep It Off) box set of their recent CD plus a poster, DVD, and three seven-inch singles of demos, live tracks, and acoustic versions
Live - Live at the Paradiso (Vanguard) CD or DVD recorded this past summer in Amsterdam
Love Is All - A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night (What's Your Rupture?) Internet pre-orders receive a bonus seven-inch single of "Wishing Well" with a B-side cover of Faith No More's "Epic"
Mudcrutch - Extended Play Live (Reprise) four tracks from Tom Petty and company's reunited run of shows this past April at the Troubadour in West Hollywood
Jacqui Naylor - You Don't Know Jacq (Ruby Star) highly anticipated seventh album from the jazz-pop artist, putting her unique style on covers of The Rolling Stones' "Miss You," REM's "Losing My Religion," and The Bee Gee's "How Deep Is Your Love"
New Order - Movement: Collector's Edition (Rhino) two-CD reissue from 1981 with 10 B sides and remixes
New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies: Collector's Edition (Rhino) two-CD reissue from 1983 featuring an alternative version of "Confusion" and the "Blue Monday" B side "The Beach"
New Order - Low-Life: Collector's Edition (Rhino) two-CD reissue from 1985 featuring an instrumental version of "Elegia"
New Order - Brotherhood: Collector's Edition (Rhino) two-CD reissue from 1986 featuring 12-inch versions of "Bizarre Love Triangle" and "Touched by the Hand of God"
New Order - Technique: Collector's Edition (Rhino) two-CD reissue from 1989 featuring the World Cup theme "World in Motion"
The Police - The Police: Certifiable (Universal) available only at Best Buy, this live two-CD/two-DVD set was filmed in Buenos Aires and features Better Than Therapy, a 50-minute behind-the-scenes documentary
The Sight Below - Glider (Ghostly International) gorgeous ambient waves and cinematic rushes crafted from treated guitar loops and E-bowed baptisms
Smashing Pumpkins - If All Goes Wrong (Coming Home Media) two-DVD documentary of the band's week-long residencies at the Orange Peel in Asheville, North Carolina, and San Francisco's Fillmore in June of last year, plus the bonus mini-movie "Voices of the Ghost Children" and an interview with Pete Townshend
The Smiths - Hang the DJ: The Very Best of the Smiths (Warner Bros/Rhino) 23-track career retrospective CD, also available with a second disc of B sides and rarities highlighted by the Tony Tate session of "Pretty Girls Make Graves" and the New York vocal mix of "This Charming Man"
various artists - Fillmore: The Last Days (Rhino) DVD debut of the 1972 film, featuring the Grateful Dead, Cold Blood, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Santana, Hot Tuna, and the historic venue's house band, Moonalice
