11
Nov
2008
The
long-awaited backyard film project from the Flaming
Lips, Christmas
on Mars, arrives on store
shelves this week. Nurtured over the past few years at the band's
command center in Oklahoma City, outer space, weirdness, and joy all
collide into a future cult classic.
Everything's gone covers crazy this week, with new spins on soul classics, numerical delights, and the return of Marianne Faithfull.
After years on hold, a punk-rock superstar "sing-along" side project featuring members of Bad Religion, NOFX, Social Distortion, and the Adolescents has finally been released, bringing the old-school party to basements and family rooms across suburbia. Calling themselves simply Punk Rock Karaoke, the original New Year's Eve spectacular was conceived in 1996 by Bad Religion/Circle Jerks guitarist Greg Hetson and went on to play a variety of weddings, bar mitzvahs, and the Warped fest before putting the madness to tape in 2001.
The long awaited return of Queen - well, at least half of the band - arrives this coming Tuesday with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor backing former Bad Company vocalist Paul Rodgers. The stargazing album's title The Cosmos Rocks is rather fitting, with May's recent doctorate in astrophysics. Sorry, but his Ph.D. thesis, A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud, is not included in the liner notes.
With Halloween approaching, it's not too early to get your "creep" on with a pair of spooky CDs. Lurking over his pipe organ, Theremin, and other noisemakers, Eban Schletter summons the fog with Witching Hour on the Oglio Records imprint - easy work for a composer whose work includes SpongeBob SquarePants and Mr. Show with Bob & David. Plenty of friends show up to sip from his cauldron, including Grant Lee Phillips, Jill Sobule, and comedians Paul F. Thompkins and Dave Foley. One highlight features the voice of SpongeBob, Tom Kenny, welcoming victims to his "Haunted Carnival."
One of the most important and heartfelt albums of 1968 gets a deluxe reissue next week. On Tuesday, Columbia Records releases the "Legacy Edition" of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, expanded to two CDs and a documentary DVD. With expletives restored and the revelation of an entire second show that was "lost" (except for a few selections culled for the original 16-song release), the box set contains a total of 51 tracks and a massive essay by Cash biographer Michael Streissguth.
The
UK's Parlophone Records imprint has announced an upcoming benefit
album to raise funds for War Child's efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq,
Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Heroes
is due November 24, and
follows in the tradition of Help!
in 1995, Hope
in 2002, and the fastest-selling digital album in history, Help:
A Day In the Life, in 2005.
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.
While Johnny Cash may be spinning in his grave over Snoop Dogg's free-form rap alongside his vocal samples in the QDT Muzic remix of "I Walk the Line," I think the Man in Black might just dig the rest of Compadre Records' new Johnny Cash Remixed. Given complete access to Cash's original master recordings, a bevy of hip-hop and up-and-coming knob-twisters give 13 of his hits a fresh workout to overall success. Approved by his son, John Carter Cash, the delightfully weird project is highlighted by The Sopranos theme superstars Alabama 3, slipping into "Leave That Junk Alone," Kennedy slapping around "Sugartime," and Australia's Midnight Juggernauts' dark journey through the "Port of Lonely." Not available on CD until next year, DJs and other wax-spinners get an early crack at the album in a two-LP vinyl edition available this coming Tuesday.
With election frenzy in the air, the Standard Recording Company of Indianapolis has compiled a three-CD set with a new song about each of the 43 presidents. Due next week, 43 Songs for 43 U.S. Presidencies was written and nourished by members of Above the Orange Trees and Nice Monster recording as Of Great & Mortal Men, aided by stars including Rosie Thomas, the Radar Bros., Califone, Alan Sparhawk of Low, Mark Kozelek of Red House Painters, Bill Callahan of Smog, Vince DiFiore of Cake, and James Jackson Toth of Wooden Wand. Song titles include "Lyndon B. Johnson: Ladybird Take Me Home," "William J. Clinton: The Mighty Lion Will Not Roar Again," and "Herbert Hoover: Woe Is a Spoon-Shaped Heart."
