New Music releases of interest for 3/21

[Jared]

Queens of the Stone Age
Lullabies to Paralyze
Interscope
Queens of the Stone Age's frontman Josh Homme kicked out his longtime partner Nick Oliveri just as the band was ready to record Lullabies to Paralyze, their followup to their 2002 breakthrough Songs for the Deaf. Oliveri may be gone — as is Dave Grohl, who drummed on Deaf — but QOTSA is stronger than ever on Lullabies, a dark, moody masterpiece that towers above all hard rock albums released this year.


Ben Folds Five
Whatever and Ever Amen [Bonus Tracks]
Sony
The 2005 Whatever and Ever Amen is remastered, and features testimonials from bassist Robert Sledge and drummer Darren Jessee in addition to Folds' notes. It includes seven B-sides and non-LP tracks, the highlights being a Japanese-language version of "Song for the Dumped" ("You *****" evidently doesn't translate), "For All the Pretty People", and a cover of Flaming Lips classic "She Don't Use Jelly", and features an enjoyable, previously unreleased version of "Video Killed the Radio Star". And now we meet in an abandoned studio; we hear the playback and it seems so long ago.


Billy Idol
Devil's Playground
Sanctuary
The most remarkable thing about the 12 year wait between Billy Idol's fifth album Cyberpunk and his sixth, Devil's Playground, isn't the enormity of the gap between records, it's that almost nobody noticed that he was gone. Such was the magnitude of Cyberpunk's failure - it erased him popular consciousness, shaming Billy into an ignoble exile where he barely seemed to register outside of a cameo in Adam Sandler's The Wedding Singer. With his trusty sidekick guitarist Steve Stevens in tow, Idol cranks up the volume and never lets it slide, even on the infrequent ballads. Occasionally, they lighten things up a touch and wind up with some killer tunes. Devil's Playground points toward an interesting, fruitful direction for Idol -- one that acknowledges his veteran status without sounded aged -- that he hopefully may wind up taking next time out.

Ozzy Osbourne
Prince of Darkness
Sony
Here you have an artist who fronted one of the world's most influential and coveted heavy metal bands and put out a string of excellent solo albums and singles, then went on television and became the world's most gawked-at wreck on the pop culture highway since Michael Jackson turned white and hijacked Diana Ross' nose. A must have at first glance, yet oddly, the track listing isn't inspiring. The four-disc set aims to satisfy fans of both Osbourne personas. Discs one and two storm through the singer's '80s and '90s solo heydays with an emphasis on previously unreleased live recordings ("Goodbye to Romance"), B-sides ("Spiders"), as well as classics like "Flying High Again" and "Crazy Train." Disc three is a compilation of bizarre collaborations with everyone from Kim Basinger ("Shake Your Head [Let's Go to Bed]") to Miss Piggy ("Born to Be Wild") to Dweezil Zappa ("Staying Alive") that culminates in an oddly affecting ballad ("I Ain't No Nice Guy") with Motörhead mouthpiece Lemmy Kilmister. Disc four features newly recorded covers, (King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" and Mountain's "Mississippi Queen"). Big price tag. Buy at your own risk.

Brendan Benson
The Alternative to Love
V2
Detroit-based pop singer/songwriter Brendan Benson delivers his third album The Alternative to Love this week. Like his previous cult classic Lapalco, it should prove that Benson is arguably the finest practitioner of power-pop this decade.


The Yellowjackets
Altered State
Heads Up
The finest jazz quartet working today. Everything they record is awesome. Good evening music.

[Uula Bear]

Queens of the Stone Age
Lullabies to Paralyze
Interscope
Queens of the Stone Age's frontman Josh Homme kicked out his longtime partner Nick Oliveri just as the band was ready to record Lullabies to Paralyze, their followup to their 2002 breakthrough Songs for the Deaf. Oliveri may be gone — as is Dave Grohl, who drummed on Deaf — but QOTSA is stronger than ever on Lullabies, a dark, moody masterpiece that towers above all hard rock albums released this year.

I loved the album "songs for the deaf" that album rocked, thanks for the info about their new release, I had no idea.

[Jared]

I loved the album "songs for the deaf" that album rocked, thanks for the info about their new release, I had no idea.

Excellent. Glad I could help out.


I was flipping around, and get this newsletter, and thought "man, non radio people never know when CD's come out, unless they are die hard fans"

So I thought it could be useful.

[ATL5515]

Queens of the Stone Age
Lullabies to Paralyze
Interscope
Queens of the Stone Age's frontman Josh Homme kicked out his longtime partner Nick Oliveri just as the band was ready to record Lullabies to Paralyze, their followup to their 2002 breakthrough Songs for the Deaf. Oliveri may be gone — as is Dave Grohl, who drummed on Deaf — but QOTSA is stronger than ever on Lullabies, a dark, moody masterpiece that towers above all hard rock albums released this year.

i'll be buying that then

[NJBRONCOSFAN]

Dancing with myself is perhaps the greatest song ever written.

[horsesense]

W/O hi-jacking Jareds thread here, Id like to throw in that the school where Im employed (FVHS) was lucky enough to make a video with Gwen Stefani that should be out any day...