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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October 16, 2007
New Album Releases, 10-16-2007: REM, Aretha Franklin, Toby Keith It looks pretty slow this week in new albums. The one top exciting thing is Rare & Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul. This album consists of 35 songs on two CDs of demos and unreleased songs from Aretha Franklin's early Atlantic era from 1967 to 1973. That is pretty much universally recognized as Sister Ree's prime time.
Most interesting, this features her original previously unreleased recording of "Fool on the Hill." I'm to understand that McCartney originally gave her the song, and it only became a Beatles song when she for some reason didn't release this recording. If she does half as much for "Fool on the Hill" as she did for "Eleanor Rigby," that justifies paying the $15 for two CDs right there.
Also, this has a rare Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin live recording of "Ain't But the One" from a 1973 CBS tv tribute to Duke Ellington.
R.E.M. Live is the first full fledged live album from REM, documenting a 22 song show at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, on February 27, 2006. This spills the last five songs of the audio onto a second disc, with a DVD providing the whole show.
Not to put too fine a point on it, I've never been nearly as enamored of this band as other college boys of my generation - though I was certainly a likely prime audience. I wouldn't deny their better moments, but they were never in the major league with the Beatles or Prince. A lot of their reputation depends on maybe a dozen songs across these decades of material. That's ok - but with this whole package they couldn't include their best song, which is of course "Driver 8."
Nor could they find space for "Stand" or "Shiny Happy People," which were major hit pop singles - which they didn't have that many of. I know, I know - those are mere pop trifles with which these serious artistes cannot now be bothered.
Also though, now that Al Gore's got a Nobel Peace Prize and is running for Pope to save us from Manbearpig, we could all use a good live rundown of "It's the End of the World as We Know It."
A Classic Christmas comes as a two CD set. I appreciate the organizational thought of this, in that Toby Keith separates the more cutesy contemporary classics like "Frosty the Snowman" as a separate disc from the proper religious songs on the second disc, like "O Come All Ye Faithful."
Here's the complete list of this week's major new album releases, courtesy AMG:
Aretha Franklin Rare & Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul Atlantic/Rhino Deep Soul, Soul, Southern Soul, Pop
Jimmy Eat World Chase This Light Interscope Alternative Pop/Rock, Emo
Underworld Oblivion with Bells ATO Techno, Acid Techno, Club/Dance
Alabama 3 M.O.R. One Little Indian Electronica, Alternative Pop/Rock, Trip-Hop
Cecilia Bartoli Maria Decca Romantic & Classical Vocal Music
Behold... The Arctopus Skullgrid Metal Blade Progressive Metal, Speed Metal
The Blakes The Blakes Light in the Attic Indie Rock
The Capstan Shafts Environ Maiden Rainbow Quartz Indie Pop, Lo-Fi
Natalie Clein Elgar: Cello Concerto EMI Classics Post-Romantic Cello Music
Edwyn Collins Home Again EMI/Heavenly Indie Pop, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock
DJ Spooky Creation Rebel Sanctuary Trojan Us Contemporary Reggae, Downtempo, Roots Reggae, Dancehall
Juan Diego Florez Arias for Rubini Decca Romantic Opera Arias
The Fray Reason EP Epic Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, American Trad Rock
Stephen Fretwell Man on the Roof Universal/Polydor Contemporary Singer/Songwriter, Folk-Rock
Gov't Mule Mighty High ATO Southern Rock, Hard Rock, Blues-Rock, Rock & Roll
Peter Grant Traditional Universal Adult Contemporary, Standards, Traditional Pop, Vocal Pop
Grit Boys Ghetto Reality in Texas MoBetta Music/TVT Southern Rap, Hardcore Rap
The Jimi Hendrix Experience Live at Monterey Experience Hendrix Album Rock, Psychedelic, Hard Rock, Blues-Rock, Acid Rock
Various Artists Alex Shapiro: Notes from the Kelp Innova Contemporary Chamber Music
Various Artists City of Dreams: A Collection of New Orleans Music Rounder New Orleans Brass Bands, Jazz Blues, New Orleans R&B, New Orleans Jazz, New Orleans Blues, Piano Blues
Various Artists Coolest Songs in the World, Vol. 3 Wicked Cool Record Garage Rock Revival, Garage Rock
Various Artists Summer Records Anthology 1974-1988 Light in the Attic Roots Reggae, Dub, Reggae-Pop
Ben Webster Dig Ben! Storyville Swing, Mainstream Jazz ******************* Sister Ree's Scrapbook
