we’re shooting for the moon and smiling
(or: july 13 — a thumbnail sketch)
posted at 11:32 pm by brandon in tuesdays in the record store with brandon
Another slow-ish week on tap, although one of the true seminal recordings of the ’90s returns to print in a triumphant new deluxe edition re-release, and that’s more than enough cause for celebration. Behold:
Never one to shy away from his own ambitious nature, the legendary Sting returns this week with Symphonicities, a gorgeous new record of orchestral reworkings of some of his best-loved recordings. To his credit, he largely shies away from the iconic hits — at very least, give the man credit for seemingly being smart enough to understand that he managed to nail tunes like “Every Breath You Take” and “Fields of Gold” and “Wrapped Around Your Finger” the first time, and that there was no need to mess with perfection — in favor of deeper album cuts, but if it has been a while since you’ve given “Roxanne” or “Englishman in New York” your full attention, this record may just be up your alley.
Twenty years ago, as tiny fissures were opening up within the top 40 landscape and the initial storm clouds of the grunge revolution were forming in earnest in the Pacific Northwest, a theretofore nondescript modern rock band name of Concrete Blonde hurled themselves into the mainstream with their harrowing and heartstopping third album Bloodletting and its breakneck breakthrough smash “Joey.” The band’s straight-ahead rock sound juxtaposed against Johnette Napolitano’s searingly dreamy vocals made for a thrilling, killer combo, and for a short while there, it looked as though this one-of-a-kind band was about to pick up just where Blondie had left off a generation prior. Didn’t quite work out that way, but Bloodletting unquestionably remains one of its decade’s most important, most influential albums (you have to believe that there would be no Live Through This or even Little Earthquakes without the trail that Napolitano blazed so brilliantly), and this week it returns to your local record store’s shelves with six bonus tracks, including a handful of impossible-to-find b-sides, as well as a live take on “Tomorrow, Wendy” — the album’s shattering closer, about a young girl dying of AIDS — that is even more haunting and horrific than the original. If you missed this one the first time, you’ve got a lot of make-up work to do.
Also noteworthy this week:
- Speaking of reissues, R.E.M. celebrates the 25th anniversary of
their classic third album Fables of the Reconstruction
with a sterling new double-disc set. - Experimental hip-pop goddess M.I.A. returns with a challenging new album, the elliptically-titled /\/\ /\ Y /\
. Early critical word on this one is mixed, but the general consensus seems to be: don’t expect another left-field smash like “Paper Planes” to pop out of this woodwork.
- Neil Finn and the boys of Crowded House are blessedly back
with their latest effort, Intriguer.
- A fascinating lineup of talent — Suzanne Vega, The Cardigans’
Nina Persson, The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas, and even director David Lynch — help Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse navigate their
Dark Night of the Soul.
- And finally, a pair of entries in Sony/Columbia’s Essential series of retrospectives, with new two-disc sets celebrating the careers of
Jim Brickman(which features his smash collaborations with
Martina McBride, Collin Raye, and Michael Bolton) and the legendary Etta James(which features, thankfully, her beyond brilliant 2006 cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain”).
. Early critical word on this one is mixed, but the general consensus seems to be: don’t expect another left-field smash like “Paper Planes” to pop out of this woodwork.
.
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(which features his smash collaborations with 
(which features, thankfully, her beyond brilliant 2006 cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain”).
