Elton sure knows how to throw a good holiday party! Or at least someone at the record label does. This diverse CD with personal liner notes by the superstar songwriter throws the ancient surf rock licks of the Ventures together with the contemporary genius of Rufus Wainwright, the eccentric rock of the Flaming Lips […]
This compilation of sacred Christmas songs performed by popular artists is a great companion piece to the film (in theaters December 1st), and the perfect soundtrack to your holiday season. “The Nativity Story” tells the tale of two common people - Mary and Joseph - a miraculous pregnancy, an arduous journey, and the history-defining […]
I’m a big Bootsy fan from way back, but when I picked this up I expected it to be sort of a goofy novelty. But the music on here is really incredible. Bootsy knows when to fill out the arrangements with bizarre sounds and textures, without making it feel cluttered. It just adds to […]
Not only is The Nightmare Before Christmas one of the best musicals of the past two decades; it may well be Danny Elfman’s masterpiece, successfully integrating his main influences (from Cab Calloway to Nino Rota) into a fantastic whole. The first disc of this reissue features the original soundtrack, its songs still teetering between […]
With “The Evolution,” Ciara aims to take the success of her 2005 debut, “Goodies,” to a new level musically and creatively. This “evolution” is evident with the slow-burning hit “Promise,” which finds the 21-year-old dance queen exploring her sultry side. In addition to appearances by Pharrell, Will.i.am, 50 Cent and Chamillionaire, crunk king Lil […]
One of the messages written on former Pulp frontman Cocker’s first solo CD reads: “Do not adjust your tone control — it’s meant to sound like that.” And, indeed, the 14 songs on the U.K.-only release are a long way from Pulp’s high-gloss Britpop days, with lo-fi production and an endearingly ramshackle approach to […]
Mexican crooner Luis Miguel’s first foray into holiday fare doesn’t include a single “Latin” Christmas track but instead consists entirely of translated Christmas standards. The repertoire is consistent with the big-band arrangements of this set, although hearing these songs in Spanish may be disconcerting to some, particularly in the cases where the lyrics diverge completely […]
Although Mischa Barton and original plot lines may be history on “The OC,” the Fox teen drama continues to feature up-and-coming indie acts on its compilation CDs. This time the show’s latest soundtrack is a covers-only disc. Most of the songs are stripped-down or tamer versions of the originals, such as Mates of State’s […]
Since emerging from New York’s Knitting Factory jazz scene in the late ’90s, Nora York has ignored musical boundaries. Like sister in song Nellie McKay, she has no use for the words “musical genre.” On her third album, the aurally delicious “What I Want,” York stands tall and proud at the intersection of Joni […]
On Wynton Marsalis’ upcoming CD, he criticizes political leadership in America, cultural corruption, and sex and violence in rap — and that’s just on one song. “I don’t speak from outside, I’m not finger-pointing,” the 45-year-old jazz great told The Associated Press in a recent interview.
“I’m a part of it, I’m speaking from inside […]
This year’s winner in a landslide of the Beavis and Butt-Head Experience Award for Best Audio Component of an Absurdly Dominant Cultural Event, the “Borat” soundtrack is a tempting enough impulse buy, if only so one can install “You Be My Wife” on his or her next iPod party shuffle. All the great Borat hits […]
Not a bad start. That goes for both the holiday selling season and the return to duty by a certain recording artist.
A stronger release slate than we saw during Thanksgiving week 2005 makes for a busy top 20 on the Billboard 200. In all, overall album volume is essentially flat compared with last year’s same-week […]
Jennifer Lopez’s first husband, Ojani Noa, told a judge Friday that he plans to fight her efforts to quash a tell-all memoir.
Noa, 31, said in a pretrial hearing that he regrets agreeing to a June 30 preliminary injunction that prohibits him from “criticizing, denigrating, casting in a negative light or otherwise disparaging or causing disparagement” […]
Paris Hilton won’t joke about her peeps. The hotel heiress canceled an appearance at next week’s Billboard Music Awards because she didn’t like the jokes written for her, according to a spokesman.
“It is my understanding that some satirical references ridiculed some of her peers,” her spokesman, Elliot Mintz, said in a statement. “Paris did not […]
