Brandon's Buzz

Sorry for the late (and rather truncated) record store report this week; the upshot of it is, there’s not a hell of a lot to get excited about this time at bat, particularly if the idea of a new Bob Dylan album doesn’t exactly set you alight. Take a look:

• Her smoky debut Worrisome Heart raised more than a few eyebrows last year; now comes gorgeous chanteuse Melody Gardot‘s chance to capitalize on the buzz with her second disc, My One and Only Thrill.

 

• His given name is Dan Keyes, his stage name is Young Love, and his sophomore effort is One of Us.

 

• Second records would seem to be this week’s overriding theme: indie pop heroes Great Northern follow up their thrilling 2007 debut with the brand new Remind Me Where the Light Is, and rising country star Jason Michael Carroll, who landed a surprise smash a couple of years back with the heartrending child abuse anthem “Alyssa Lies,” returns with Growing Up is Getting Old.

 

• A smash called “Love, Me” made him a Midas-touch superstar in Nashville throughout the ’90s, the crunchy establishment inexplicably turned its back on the supremely talented Collin Raye at the turn of the century, but he resurfaces this week with Never Going Back, his first studio record in three years.

 

• Australian pop star Ben Lee is up with his seventh record,
  The Rebirth of Venus.

 

• The Concerts, a three-DVD set of classic live performances from the inimitable Barbra Streisand.

 

• So, if that new Bob Dylan record does put your liver aquiver, it’s called Together Through Life.