Almost as weird as when kids' TV star Steve from Blue's Clues turned up collaborating with the Flaming Lips back in 2003, sweet and smarmy Hal Sparks, former host of E's Talk Soup, winds up with an A-list lineup of guitarists on a blistering metal release. This coming Tuesday, Doug Pinnick of King's X takes his cosmic blaze to new landscapes of sludgy soul as "Dug" Pinnick. An air guitarist's fantasy album of sizzling leads, the Magna Carta Records' release, Strum Sum Up, is Viagra for aging headbangers. The album features Wally Farkis of Galactic Cowboys, Alain Johannes of Eleven, and the ever-devastating Steve Stevens of Billy Idol fame. Sparks holds his own with the big boys, fronting his own top-notch band, Zero 1. Other players in on the fun include Natasha Shneider of Queens of the Stone Age, Ray Luzier of Army of Anyone, Kellii Scott of Failure, and David Henning of Big Wreck.
Next week the Yep Roc Records imprint releases the five-disc I Wanna Go Backwards box from Robyn Hitchcock, the first of twin sets that pluck three choice albums from his catalog, slather each with associated outtakes and demos, and ice the layer cake with two CDs of B sides. Selecting three fan-favorite albums of solo work, the offering includes Black Snake Diamond Role from 1981, the pensive I Often Dream of Trains from 1984, and the haunting Eye from 1990. Hitchcock's wit and image associations are socially progressive, brutally honest, and seductively mad. Too timid to slide into the full box set or the eight-LP vinyl version? All three expanded albums are being reissued individually.
Two corporate brands are looking to snuggle up with taste-making young consumers with new CDs. Toyota's Scion line has always been serious about its factory-installed sound systems, and now its audio/visual department has teamed with five hip record labels - Ninja Tune, Vice, Light in the Attic, Greensleeves, and Strictly Rhythm Records - for a series of pumping remix discs. Letting each label's stable of artists cut loose on a label-mate's work, highlights include knob-twisting from Modeselektor, Max Glazer & Federation of Sound, and Holy Ghost.
Do you remember the book-and-seven-inch-single sets for children, with each page turned to the ring of a bell? The publishers at The Secret Mountain are continuing that nifty idea. Next week a new book-and-CD set, Down at the Sea Hotel, is released, developed from a single song by Greg Brown, illustrated into a full book by Mireile Levert, and then fleshed out into an accompanying 14-track audio CD. Featuring a wonderful collection of lullabies written by Tom Waits, Don Henley, Bruce Cockburn, Nanci Griffith, Steve Earle, Marc Cohn, and more, the album's mood is sewn together by the cast of Americana artists that cover the selections, including roots luminaries John Gorka, Eliza Gilkyson, and Guy Davis. Two highlights shine bright: The Wailin' Jennys' grace through Neil Young's "Barefoot Floors" and Lucy Kaplansky's beautiful sway in Billy Joel's "Goodnight, My Angel." Benefiting the Breast Cancer Fund, the project is available two ways: in a traditional hardcover book with the CD tucked inside, or as a cardboard digipak CD with bonus files of all the music charts, illustrations, and lyrics.
It's a woman's world in two upcoming CD tribute projects that benefit breast-cancer support and awareness. Later this month New Jersey's Face Down Records will release About a Girl, collecting cover contributions from Philadelphia-area artists taking aim at songs with a woman's name in the title. AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie" is found within, covered by Beretta 76, as is the Jukebox Zeroes' spin on The Sonics' "Cinderella" and the Creeping Weeds' hand at Arthur Alexander's "Anna." With proceeds benefiting the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition, the disc also includes covers of Elvis Costello's "Allison," Weezer's "Suzanne," The Kinks' "Victoria," and the AM-radio nugget by The Looking Glass, "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)."
Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno presents a grand, glorious history of this land in Song of America, a (literally) red, white, and blue three-CD set that opens with a "Lakota Dream Song" from 1492 and travels all the way to the Civil Rights movement and beyond. Rather than drag out scratchy 78s, Reno enlisted a train car of today's finest to join the nation in songs that defined us. Highlights include John Wesley Harding's "God Save the King," Marah standing over "John Brown's Body," Jake Shimabukuro's ukulele transformation of "Stars & Stripes Forever," Suzy Bogguss putting on the gloves of "Rosie the Riveter," and Devendra Banhart's suburban tour of "Little Boxes." Modern classics are represented as well, from Ben Taylor's cover of Neil Young's "Ohio" to The Dynamites' funk of James Brown's "Say It Loud (I'm Black & I'm Proud)."
Airing 58 episodes from 1969 through 1971, The Johnny Cash TV Show is brought back alive in a new two-DVD set next week from the Columbia Legacy imprint. Sixty-six performances are collected, showcasing a magnificent lineup highlighted by Bob Dylan. Joni Mitchell, Merle Haggard, the Everly Brothers, Tammy Wynette, Ray Charles, and Creedence Clearwater Revival.Subscribe & Listen to Reader Podcasts
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