The Lonely Goatherd Blog And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats - Matthew 25:32
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Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
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All original content on MoreThings.com copyright 2008 Albert Barger or the respective authors
April 17, 2007
New Album Releases, 4-17-2007: Avril Lavigne, Nine Inch Nails, Bucky Covington Avril Lavigne has her third album out this week, Best Damn Thing. Judging by the songs she played on SNL, this might be a decent disposable pop album. In the current marketplace, she'd have to rate above average quality for teen pop stuff.
Where Avril Lavigne doesn't come off well is if you (or she) offers her music up as being somehow "punk rock" of any fashion. Avril Lavigne is not a self-loathing, suicidal, drug addicted whore. Therefore, while having a bit of aggressive musical energy, she still could never qualify as "punk rock." That aggression is not punk, but spunk - and that's nice too, unless you hate spunk like Lou Grant does. I'm just saying that young Avril more resembles Mary Richards than Courtney Love. That's a good thing.
Trent Reznor has him a new Nine Inch Nails album, Year Zero. Historically, he's pretty much got a couple of things that might be considered legitimate song compositions, padded out with bunches of studio noise effects passed off as music. Reznor himself describes this album as even more "sound collage" than previous efforts.
However, this project has a really interesting marketing campaign based on an elaborate set of seemingly disparate and cross-linked conspiracy websites. They spin out the dystopian storyline for this sci-fi record. If Mr Reznor spent as much energy on the composition of melody as on marketing shtick, he'd likely have been making much better music. On the other hand, the marketing seems to be working - it's the #1 album currently at Amazon. Plus, I would like to try a fat dose of Parepin. Sounds trippy.
Speaking of dystopian futures, the American Idol domination of pop culture continues with a "country" album by Bucky Covington - whom I so far blissfully have never been exposed to. Plus, he doesn't look quite gay enough to be a modern country singer. However, I'm becoming painfully aware of the American Idol idea of country music via Carrie Underwood. There's some ugly stuff in the water to be producing stuff like the American Idols, whether it's parepin or old fashion fluoridation. I'm just saying that something seems to be corrupting the purity of our precious bodily fluids.
Here's the complete list of this week's major new album releases, courtesy AMG:
Bucky Covington Bucky Covington Lyric Street Contemporary Country
Avril Lavigne Best Damn Thing Arista Punk-Pop, Teen Pop, Pop/Rock
Nine Inch Nails Year Zero Universal Japan Industrial Metal, Alternative Metal, Industrial
Noisettes What's the Time Mr. Wolf? Vertigo Garage Rock Revival, Indie Rock
Watermelon Slim and the Workers The Wheel Man Northern Blues Electric Blues, Acoustic Blues, Contemporary Blues, Folk-Blues, Country Blues, Electric Country Blues, Modern Acoustic Blues
Anya Alexeyev The Russian Music Box Marquis Russian Piano Music
Joseph Arthur Let's Just Be Lonely Astronaut Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative Singer/Songwriter
The Band Best of a Musical History Capitol Folk-Rock, Country-Rock, Rock & Roll, Album Rock, Pop/Rock
Breaking Benjamin Phobia [CD/DVD] Hollywood Alternative Metal, Post-Grunge
The Chrysler Cold War Classic [Bonus Tracks] Galaxy Gramophone Swedish Pop/Rock, American Trad Rock, Indie Rock
Guy Clark Live from Austin, TX New West Alternative Country, Country-Folk, Singer/Songwriter, Progressive Country
Clorox Girls J'Aime Les Filles Better Youth Organization Punk Revival
The Comas Spells Vagrant Indie Rock, Indie Pop
The Cowboy Junkies At the End of Paths Taken Latent/Zoë Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative Country-Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, College Rock
Elk City New Believers Friendly Fire Recordings Indie Rock
Fightstar Grand Unification Universal/Island Post-Hardcore, Emo, Hard Rock
Levinhurst House by the Sea What Are Records? Alternative Dance, Club/Dance
Lumidee Unexpected TVT Urban
Page McConnell Page McConnell Legacy Jam Bands, Jazz-Rock
Paul Mow Die Schoumlne Opus 33 Lyrichord Romantic Vocal Music
New Ruins The Sound They Make Hidden Agenda Alternative Singer/Songwriter, Indie Rock, Lo-Fi
1997 A Better View of the Rising Moon Victory Emo, Indie Rock
Alexandre Rabinovich Alexandre Rabinovich: Die Zeit Megadisc Contemporary Chamber Music
Original Soundtrack Hot Fuzz [Cherry Tree] Cherry Tree/Interscope Britpop, Soundtracks, New Wave, British Invasion, Punk
Michael Penn Palms and Runes: Best of Michael Penn RCA/Epic/Legacy College Rock, Pop/Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Pop Underground, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock
Radiohead Com Lag (2Plus2IsFive) Parlophone Experimental Rock
Paul Rodgers Live in Glasgow Eagle Hard Rock, Blues-Rock, Boogie Rock, Arena Rock, Rock & Roll
Slade In for a Penny: Raves and Faves Shout! Factory Glitter, Glam Rock, Hard Rock
Devon Sproule Keep Your Silver Shined Waterbug/City Salvage Alternative Folk, Alternative Singer/Songwriter
Superdrag Changin' Tires on the Road to Ruin Arena Rock Pop Underground, Indie Rock
June Tabor Apples Topic Contemporary Folk, British Folk
Pam Tillis Rhinestoned Stellar Cat Country-Pop, Contemporary Country
David Torn Prezens ECM Avant-Garde Jazz, Jazz-Rock, Experimental, Avant-Garde
Clay Walker Fall Curb New Traditionalist, Contemporary Country
