New Release Tuesday
This week offers up many new releases that we know you've all been waiting for with great anticipation. Well friends, the wait is over. Exhale and read on.
In the we're-so-sick-of-that-song, we're-shocked-the-album's-not-out-already category, we have Gwen Stefani's Love, Angel, Music, Baby and U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. Fantasia's Free Yourself is the debut album from this year's "American Idol" winner. You can pick it up with a copy of last year's "AI" winner Ruben Studdard's brand-new gospel release I Need an Angel. Jessica Simpson's Re-Joyce: The Christmas Album is also out today. We haven't seen such a clever misspelling since her husband Nick Lachey's solo record Soulo. Get it? So clever, those two. For you soft jazz lovers, check the CD racks for Kenny G's At Last...The Duets Album. At last, indeed!
Not sure what to get the adult alternative music fan on your list? Today's choices include the Goo Goo Dolls' Live in Buffalo CD/DVD, Sarah McLachlan's Afterglow Live, and Shawn Colvin's Polaroids: A Greatest Hits Collection. Not coincidentally, Shawn Colvin was just on Oprah this week, in the "Depressed, Mentally Ill and Famous" episode, proving once again that stars will drag out any old skeleton from their closet to get a chance to hawk their wares on Oprah.
Nirvana's 3-CD + DVD boxed With the Lights Out is finally out today. It contains 60 previously unreleased tracks including outtakes and rarities, Kurt's home recordings, and a 60-page booklet with liner notes penned by Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore. Visit the special website for tracks, videos and more. Other rock releases include John Frusciante's confusingly titled A Sphere in the Heart of Silence, Anthrax's Greater of Two Evils, and The Makers' Stripped.
The folks at Collectables Records bring us many tantalizing reissues this week, including Kool & The Gang's Ladies Night, James Brown's 70's Funk Classic, Sister Sledge, The Commodores' Brick House, and the erroneously titled Best of Cameo, which is conspicuously missing their megahit "Word Up." For those of you who enjoy the sweet, sweet sounds of Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck in equal amounts and preferably in the same sitting, Collectables offers you Back to Back: Their Greatest Hits.
Some of us haven't played a video game since our Atari 5200 went on the fritz, but we do have our eyes on the soundtrack for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Who knew that an 8-disc boxed set of our favorite songs could come disguised as a video game soundtrack? Selections include Eddie Rabbit's "I Love A Rainy Night," Heart's "Barracuda," Cameo's "Candy," and songs by Bobby Brown, Eddie Money, Willie Nelson, Soundgarden, Faith No More and about 50 others. It's going on our Amazon wish list right now.
If any of the songs, albums or artists we mentioned strike your fancy, click on their names to be taken directly to their iTunes Music Store page. If you don't have iTunes already, download it here.
SFist would love to bring you more news on local releases, but we're lacking information! Bay area bands and record labels: please email information on new releases to Krissy here.