You probably already knew that vinyl is experiencing a retail resurgence with sales on the up and up.   More and more new titles are being released on LP but the labels are finally hip to the demand and have begun re-issuing classic titles on LP.   EMI/Capitol recently released a slew of great catalog titles including albums by Radiohead, Coldplay, Perfect Circle, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, etc.  Universal Music is following suit with album re-issues by Guns N’ Roses, U2, Velvet Underground, Allman Brothers, Kiss, etc.

So dust off that turntable and head down to your local record store and grab some of these classic albums on vinyl!

Very cool, new product alert!  On Sept. 23rd, Philip Glass released a 10 CD retrospective box set, Glass Box.  Pitchfork lays out the details:

it’s no mere box set. In addition to the 10 CDs, there is a 191-page booklet with photos, texts, a composer’s note, and liner notes from friends and admirers including David Byrne, Paul Simon, Laurie Anderson, director Errol Morris, artist Chuck Close, and Kronos Quartet founder David Harrington, among others. All of this comes packaged in a cube with each of its sides featuring an image of Glass by one of the following artists: Robert Mapplethorpe, Annie Leibovitz, Chuck Close, Robert Wilson, and Francesco Clemente.

Visit your local record store and grab the perfect gift this holiday season for the minimalist composer lover in your family!

NPR’s All Songs Considered is offering a live recording of Radiohead at Santa Barbara last month.    The jewel on this recording is “The National Anthem,” in which dubbed audio sound bites jolt and contort this classic Radiohead song.  “Build a sense of self-dignity into your life, not living off the government,” a Brit pol lectures amidst the pounding, synthesized beat; tell it to Wall Street, or what is left of it.

http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=37&agg=1

Playing last night as part of the Hard Rock’s “Ambassadors of Rock” series at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida, diva-licious singer Fergie was perhaps a bit miscast. She might make a worthy “Ambassador of Pop” or “Ambassador of Hip-hop,” but an “Ambassador of Rock” she’s not.

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Robin Williams in the first of two sold out stand-up shows at Chicago Theatre (Photos By Andy Argyrakis)

Between four Golden Globes, four Grammys and an Oscar, it’s easy to forget Robin Williams first found fame as a stand-up comic. Even though the dramatic funny man behind “Good Morning, Vietnam,” “Dead Poets Society,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Good Will Hunting” and “Patch Adams” hasn’t hit the road in six years, he’s more than making up for lost time with an extensive trek that runs through the end of this year. “It’s an election year, which is basically Christmas for stand-up comics,” says the superstar of his “Weapons of Self Destruction” show. “And I figured I should get my ass on the road while the Shrub is still in office. A lot has happened in the world and in my life since I last did this six years ago and there’s no better thrill and no better therapy than getting on that high-wire in front of a live audience.”

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“American Idol” may lead the ratings by a landslide when it comes to competitive reality television, but in the world of stand-up silliness, the clear forerunner is NBC’s “Last Comic Standing.” Having just wrapped its sixth season, the funny bone tickler is finding impressive longevity for merging a nail biting round of weekly eliminations alongside a slew of celebrity talent scouts (which recently included Angela Kinsey and Oscar Nunez from “The Office,” Dave Foley from “Newsradio,” Neil Flynn from “Scrubs” and George Wendt from “Cheers”). (more…)

Got an advance screening of the first episode of the new season of Yo Gabba Gabba!, the Nickelodeon show that’s not just for kids. The first episode, which airs at 11:30 a.m. EST on Monday, Sept. 22, features guests such as Melora Hardin (who plays Jan on The Office) and Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh. (more…)

johnny foreigner

Over the weekend I went through a stack of promotional cds, and the one that intrigued me the most was Johnny Foreigner’s Waited Up ’til It Was Light cd.  Comparisions are immediate to Bloc Party:  lead vocalist Alexei Berrow sounds so much like Kele Okereke that I thought the CD was the latter vocalist’s side project.  But where Johnny Foreigner breaks with Bloc Party is in its explosive tempo and rhythm changes–much harsher than Bloc Party, more like early Dinosaur Jr.  The vocal contortions of bassist Kelly Southern–reminsicent of Bork, the Sundays’ Harriet Wheeler–bring a gleeful indulgence to the band’s blistering, feedback-happy guitar attack.

Stereophonics front man Kelly Jones (Photo By Andy Argyrakis)

In a month that’s seen Oasis make headlines for getting attacked on stage and The Verve scoring almost as much ink for its new reunion CD, anyone who questioned the pulse of Brit-rock circa 2008 could certainly be silenced. Add in a sold out stop at Chicago’s Metro by the Stereophonics, plus a deluxe edition of its 2007 CD Pull the Pin (Vox Populi Records) just hitting streets, and it might as well be 1998 all over again.

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