Brandon's Buzz

Your local record store’s new release wall is an utter dead zone this week, which finds not even one major new album jockeying for all those post-Christmas gift card dollars. (And buck up out there, cowboys, because a quick scan of the January slate reveals that next week ain’t lookin’ so hot, either.) But the week is not a total wash, rest assured:

And now, a true story: my beloved A, who is the great love of my life, absolutely detests television. He’s one of these people who would much rather be reading The New Yorker, or enjoying a measure of sunshine, or doing anything other than spending an hour or two or seven channel-surfing, and while I’ll confess that I find that quirk in his personality to be quite admirable (and even a little inspiring), I also find it very strange, and thoroughly crazy-making. Nevertheless, there are shows that can impel A to sit still for a spell and offer up his undivided attention, and — at least of late — none holds more powerful sway over him than the new Fox smash Glee, whose first thirteen episodes arrive on DVD this week in a sparkling four-disc set entitled Vol. 1: The Road to Sectionals.

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November kicks off with a bang, as country’s hottest-selling lass is back with her hotly-anticipated third album, which has her working with some eyebrow-raising collaborators. Dig in:

 

Pop music’s venerable Now series is back this week with a pair of new entries, as recent radio hits from A’s beloved Black Eyed Peas (their record-breaking number one smash “I Gotta Feeling”), Jordin Sparks (the terrific “Battlefield”), Katy Perry (“Waking Up in Vegas,” a guilty pleasure if I ever heard one), Michael Franti and Spearhead (their cheeky top 40 breakthrough “Say Hey (I Love You)”), and others punctuate Now That’s What I Call Music, Vol. 32; and a fascinating cross-section of unforgettable club smashes from the past three decades turn up on Now That’s What I Call Dance Classics!, including any number of one hit wonders from the likes of The Weather Girls (“It’s Raining Men,” with the amazing Martha Wash blowing the roof off the joint), CeCe Peniston (“Finally”), Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock (their oft-sampled touchstone “It Takes Two”), and others. This is all well and good, mind you, and will probably find its way into my collection, since I have a profound weakness for this kind of thing. But please don’t tell me I’m the only one who is shattered by the Now folks’ decision to omit Everything But the Girl’s legendary 1996 monster hit “Missing” from this tracklist. Gotta tell you, guys: Todd Terry’s brilliant decision to lay down a furiously insistent house beat just beneath Tracey Thorn’s abominably sexy croon made for what I call a dance classic every damn day o’ the week. Recognize.

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