There are a couple of CD releases on Tuesday, June 3rd that I need to address.
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Brendan James officially releases The Day Is Brave this Tuesday. I've previously talked about his new album and EP and judging from readers' comments, they really love this guy.
I'm looking at Amazon's "Customers who bought this also bought": Duffy, Death Cab for Cutie, and Jack Johnson, so you get the general idea just how popular James is.
So, just as a reminder, his album is finally almost here, for all the people that asked me about The Day is Brave and it looks like he'll be on tour this Summer:
06/04/08 New York - Highline Ballroom
06/06/08 Tuscon, AZ - Rialto Theatre
06/09/08 Chapel Hill, NC - WestEnd Wine Bar
06/10/08 Washington, DC - Corcoran
06/11/08 Boston, MA - Club Passim
06/12/08 New Haven, CT - Space
06/13/08 Easton, MD - Coffee East
06/17/08 Ridgewood, NJ - Blendbar
06/19/08 Londonderry, NH - Tupelo Music Hall
06/21/08 Philadelphia, PA - Tin Angel
06/22/08 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
06/23/08 Ann Arbor, MI - The Arc
06/24/08 Indianapolis, IN - Birdy's
06/26/08 Madison, WI - Cafe Montmarte
06/27/08 Chicago, IL - Matyres
06/29/08 Des Moines, IA - Vaudeville Mews
06/30/08 Columbia, MO - Mojos
07/01/08 Iowa City, IA - Englert Theatre
07/05/08 Chicago, IL - Schuba's
07/08/08 New York, NY - Canal Room
07/10/08 Vienna, VA - Jammin' Java
07/11/08 Nashville, TN - 3rd & Lindsey
07/13/08 Atlanta, GA - Eddie's Attic
07/14/08 Fayetteville, AK - Music Hall
07/15/08 Dallas, TX - House of Blues
07/20/08 Tuscon, AZ - Club Congress
07/22/08 Los Angeles, CA - Hotel Cafe
Radiohead is having their first ever Best Of collection out on their former EMI Records. Since I have all their albums and there's nothing new in this release, I probably won't pick up the album. There are two version: a single disc and a 2-disc set, the later disc containing such hits (with fans) as "You", "How To Disappear Completely", and "Let Down".
Radiohead apparently have been fighting against this release, and Thom Yorke is pretty unhappy about it, stating in the magazine Word:
We haven't really had any hits so what exactly is the purpose? There's nothing we can do about it. The work is really public property now anyway, in my head at least. It's a wasted opportunity in that if we'd been behind it, and we wanted to do it, then it might have been good.
That's not exactly true, Radiohead did have some chart success with "Creep" (their best-known work), "Paranoid Android", and "No Surprises".
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Radiohead's sound may have changed and evolved to their current experimental sound - but one band that doesn't want to evolve is Weezer. Their new album Weezer (The Red Album) is out on Geffen on Tuesday.
I'm sorry to say that I'm less than excited about their lack of a title (following their previously two releases of Weezer (the Blue Album) and Weezer (The Green Album)) and it seems to me that the band is just rehashing the album that made them famous: the Blue album.
Clearly the superior album that they need to imitate is Pinkerton, a commercial disaster, but much-loved by hardcore fans.
I do really respect Rivers and Patrick Wilson (I love this guy), but I just think the cover art and album title just doesn't ring excitment - at least for me anyway.
Admittedly, their video for "Pork & Beans" is actually pretty funny. It mixes a bunch of meme/viral videos together, so you'll recognize that dramatic prairie dog, to the "Will it Blend", to that Numa Numa kid, etc. Strangely it is missing the Rick Roll, because that would be awesome to see Rick Astley in a Weezer video.
Update: Apparently Weezer's had Tay Zonday to cover their "Pork & Beans" song. The video was uploaded last night for promotion for today's release. I have a soft spot in my heart for Zonday because he is from Minneapolis (I just wish they'd put a mic there so he can pull his head away to breath).
Links: myspace.com/brendanjames www.radiohead.com www.weezer.com
| W♥M wrote:
Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 6:53 AM
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There's also a Radiohead DVD being released today in the USA, but like the "best-of" album and the previously released box set, it's not endorsed by the band. It's being released by their former record label, no doubt in retaliation for dropping them in favor of XL Recordings.
-randy
| vu wrote:
Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 11:31 AM
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I think I'll pick up the DVD, even though I have some of their videos from 7 Television Commercials and various compilation such as the Director's Label. Like a lot of things, the packaging and pricing does factor in, so if it's too expensive, I may just skip out on it.
I also noticed that Radiohead's back catalogue is now available on iTunes, according to BBC news.
| Jeff D wrote:
Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 11:43 PM
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After listening to the album, I couldn't disagree more about Weezer. The Red Album is absolutely nothing like the Blue or Green with the possible exception of Pork and Beans. The Greatest Man That Ever Lived would easily fit on Pinkerton. It's downright bizarre.
At their core, Weezer has always been about writing good solid rock and roll songs and has never made any apologies for it. Rivers Cuomo has talked about it interviews for years.
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