News Roundup: 7/29/2010 29 Jul 2010, 4:50 pm

Just what we needed: The Cars might be revving up for a reunion, if Facebook is to be believed. A new photo of the band’s remaining members Ric Ocasek, Greg Hawkes, David Robinson, and Elliot Easton (original bassist Benjamin Orr died in 2000 after battling pancreatic cancer) working in a recording studio was posted to the band’s page on the social networking site. If the band is indeed making a new album, it would be the first since the Cars’ 1987 release Door to Door. [Stereogum.com]

The Love Parade’s death toll rose to 21 after a 25 year-old German woman died on Wednesday. The public prosecutor’s office in Duisberg, Germany said that of the 511 people injured in the electronic music festival’s stampede, 283 were treated in hospitals and 43 remain hospitalized. The tragedy occurred when people entered a tunnel on the site from both ends until it became dangerously overcrowded. [CNN.com]

R.I.P. soul singer Al Goodman, former member of the Moments, who died on Monday at age 67. Goodman’s heart failed during surgery to remove a tumor. With fellow Moments Harry Ray and William Brown, Goodman scored hits including 1970’s “Love on a Two Way Street” and 1975’s “Look at Me (I’m in Love).” After changing their name to Ray, Goodman and Brown because of a legal dispute with their old label, the trio recorded the hit “Special Lady”; after Ray passed in 1992, the remaining duo sang on Alicia Keys’ “You Don’t Know My Name.” [Spinner]

More Facebook music news: Kanye West performed at the site’s headquarters, debuting new songs that will appear on his upcoming, September-due album. West delivered a capella renditions of “Lost in the World/Chain Gang” and “Mama’s Boyfriend.” [Gigwise.com]

In an inspired collaboration, maverick auteur Terry Gilliam will direct the webcast of the Arcade Fire’s upcoming Madison Square Garden concert. The August 5 show will be streamed via YouTube and is the first of five concerts in the site’s “Unstaged” series. Online fans will be able to switch camera angles and vote on the band’s encore song. [BBC.co.uk]

Another apt pairing: Nick Cave is set to write a screenplay for a remake of The Crow. Cave will rewrite a script by Steven Norrington that takes the story to the Southwest and an urban setting of “Detroit or Pittsburgh or something like that.” [ConsequenceofSound.net]

Neil Young is prepping Archives Volume 2, which will feature four previously unreleased albums, including Chrome Dreams, Homegrown, and Odeon-Budokan Live, a concert album recorded in Japan and London in 1976. Young’s manager Elliot Roberts says that fans should get ready for even more archival material — Young’s crew has plans for at least three more Archives volumes. [Guardian.co.uk]

Punk rock shocker! Belgian punker Plastic Bertrand has confessed to not singing his biggest hit “Ça Plane Pour Moi.” Earlier in the week Bertrand denied the claims, but a linguist examined the song and discovered that the singer had a “distinctive twang” that was unlikely to be Bertrand’s. In fact, producer Lou Deprijck recorded the song, but his label wanted a flamboyant figure like Plastic Bertrand to be its face. [MusicRadar.com]

Hans Zimmer explains how his gorgeous Inception score was inspired by Edith Piaf’s “Non, je ne Regrette Rien,” another of the film’s key pieces of music. [NYTimes.com]

Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin was joined by former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice for Franklink’s Tuesday night concert in Philadelphia, PA. Rice, a classically trained pianist, accompanied Franklin on “I Say a Little Prayer” and “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” and performed pieces including the slow movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D Minor, K. 466. Franklin, meanwhile, sang her own classics as well as arias by Puccini and Gluck. The benefit concert raised $582,000 for arts education and the Mann Center, the summer home of the Philadelphia Orchestra. [WashingtonPost.com]

Rascal Flatts is moving to a new home for the group’s upcoming album. Nothing Like This, which is due in November, will be released by Big Machine Records, also the home of multi-million selling singer Taylor Swift. The band’s prior label, Lyric Street, closed in April. [AOLNews.com]

October 9, 2010 would have been John Lennon’s 70th birthday. To commemorate the day, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and BoxofVision LLC will create three authorized time capsules of his recordings, along with fan contributions. The capsules will be preserved and stored for 30 years in Ohio’s Rock Hall and two other international locations, and reopened on October 9, 2040. Contributions to the project will be accepted until September 15. [Blurt-Online.com]

Common’s budding acting career just turned a new leaf. The Grammy winning rapper will star in the pilot for Hell on Wheels, a series about the building of the underground railroad in the 1860s for AMC, home of critically acclaimed shows Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Common will play Elam, a half-black, half-white freed slave; he’s also appeared in the films Smokin’ Aces, Date Night, and Just Wright. [ChicagoTribune.com]

Man of many musical projects Robert Pollard will exhibit more than 60 of his collages in a two-day show at New York City gallery The 45 Space next month. [MatadorRecords.com]

Check out Chromeo’s mischievous video for “Don’t Turn Out the Lights.” [SomeKindofAwesome.com]

The Flaming Lips freaked out David Letterman with their performance of “See the Leaves.” [Pitchfork.com]

Founded in 1894, Cardiff, Wales’ Spillers Records may be the world’s oldest record store. Though it moved from its location of the past 60 years due to high rents, the store is ready to reopen in a Victorian arcade. [FactMag.com]

AllMusic Loves 1998 29 Jul 2010, 11:40 am

It was, as they say, a transitional year. It was, in many ways, the year where the hangover set in, as the biggest rock forces of the ’90s were in states of decline. Although there were some scuzzy sounds on the margin — not to mention such distinctive voices as Neutral Milk Hotel — American alt-rock had gone Hollywood, led by Hole’s ode to Southern California, the ultraglossy Celebrity Skin, but this was the year post-grungers like Matchbox 20 and Third Eye Blind ruled U.S. radio. In Britain, the heady years of Britpop collapsed, captured brilliantly on Pulp’s This Is Hardcore, but the U.K. had its own version of the slicked-up, straightened-out post-grunge in the form of friendly indie-guitar outfits like Catatonia, whose National Velvet topped Melody Maker’s year-end list. As these sounds faded out, new styles bubbled up, notably electronica — which had a banner year everywhere, with Air’s Moon Safari crossing over and garage and big beat sweeping the U.K. — and neo-soul spearheaded by the smash The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Then at the end of year came Britney Spears, whose “…Baby One More Time” wound up being Nevermind in reverse, pushing all these adventurous sounds back to the fringes.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Not my favorite year of the ’90s, but 1998 did have some of my favorite music of the decade, notably the New Radicals’ “You Get What You Give,” a single that still gives me thrills whenever I happen to hear it. It wasn’t the only great single but to my ears it was the best, coming very close to being a perfect record, eclipsing such otherwise addictive pop singles as All Saints’ “Never Ever” and Jennifer Paige’s “Crush,” along with some of the last great Britpop singles (Super Furry Animals’ “Ice Hockey Hair,” for instance). And there were terrific albums too — I still play my top three regularly and the rest all sound good whenever they’re revisited.

Beastie Boys – Hello Nasty
Pulp – This Is Hardcore
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – Painted from Memory
Cat Power – Moon Pix
Belle & Sebastian – The Boy with the Arab Strap
Nick Lowe – Dig My Mood
Beck – Mutations
Original Soundtrack – Velvet Goldmine
Royal Trux – Accelerator
Queens of the Stone Age – Queens of the Stone Age
Kid Rock – Devil Without a Cause
Mercury Rev – Deserter’s Songs
Public Enemy – He Got Game
New Radicals – Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too
Silver Jews – American Water
Sheryl Crow – The Globe Sessions
Neil Finn – Try Whistling This
Air – Moon Safari
Sonic Youth – A Thousand Leaves
Manic Street Preachers – This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours

New Radicals – “You Get What You Give”
All Saints – “Never Ever”
Jennifer Paige – “Crush”
Britney Spears – “…Baby One More Time”
Super Furry Animals – Ice Hockey Hair EP
Fatboy Slim – “The Rockafeller Skank”
Cornershop – “Brimful of Asha”
Pulp – “Party Hard”
All Saints – “I Know Where It’s At”
Madonna – “Ray of Light”
Air – “Sexy Boy”
Robbie Williams – “Millennium”
Pulp – “This Is Hardcore”
Beastie Boys – “Intergalactic”
Alanis Morissette – “Uninvited”
Natalie Imbruglia – “Torn”
Hole – “Celebrity Skin”
Jay-Z – “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)”
Shania Twain – “Honey I’m Home”
Everclear – “I Will Buy You a New Life”

Greg Heaney
Coalesce – Functioning on Impatience
Jurassic 5 – Jurassic 5
Sloan – Navy Blues
Mos Def & Talib Kweli – Black Star
Quasi – Featuring “Birds”
Silver Jews – American Water
The Afghan Whigs – 1965
Harriet the Spy – Unfuckwithable
Beastie Boys – Hello Nasty
Make-Up – In Mass Mind
At the Drive-In – In/Casino/Out
His Hero Is Gone – The Plot Sickens
Converge – When Forever Comes Crashing
Pinback – Pinback
RZA – RZA as Bobby Digital in Stereo
Fugazi – End Hits
Queens of the Stone Age – Queens of the Stone Age
Mercury Rev – Deserter’s Songs
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosions – Acme
Shellac – Terraform

Matthew Garbutt
Air – Moon Safari
Andre Williams – Silky
Beastie Boys – Hello Nasty
Flat Duo Jets – Wild Blue Yonder
Goodie Mob – Still Standing
Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci – Gorky 5
Holly Golightly – Serial Girlfriend
Madredeus – O Paraiso
Manu Chao – Clandestino
Massive Attack – Mezzanine
Morcheeba – Big Calm
OutKast – Aquemini
Portishead – PNYC
Saint Etienne – Good Humor
Sparklehorse – Good Morning Spider
The Brian Setzer Orchestra – The Dirty Boogie
The Detroit Cobras – Mink Rat or Rabbit
The Dirtbombs – Horndog Fest
Thee Headcoats – The Messerschmitt Pilot’s Severed Hand
The Kaisers – Wishing Street

Aphrodite – “Wikki Wikki Plate”
Bis – “Eurodisco”
Bomb the Bass – “Bug Powder Dust (Kruder & Dorfmeister Remix)”
Busta Rhymes – “Turn It Up”
Cornershop – “Brimful of Asha (Norman Cook Remix)”
Krust – “Warhead”
Les Rythmes Digitales – “Jacques Your Body (Make Me Sweat)”
MJ Cole – “Sincere”
Peshay – “Miles from Home”
PJ Harvey – “Angelene”
Rockers Hi-Fi – “Going Under”
Rocket from the Crypt – “When in Rome”
Shy FX – “Bambaataa”
Smoke City – “With You”
Stardust – “Music Sounds Better with You”
Super Furry Animals – “Ice Hockey Hair”
The Cardigans – “My Favourite Game”
The Flaming Stars – “Sweet Smell of Success”
Manic Street Preachers – “If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next”
Wamdue Project – “King of My Castle”

Heather Phares
Air – Moon Safari
Beastie Boys – Hello Nasty
Boards of Canada – Music Has the Right to Children
The Boredoms – Super Ae
Cat Power – Moon Pix
Cornelius – Fantasma
Dirty Three – Ocean Songs
His Name Is Alive – Ft. Lake
Mercury Rev – Deserter’s Songs
Moloko – I Am Not a Doctor
OutKast – Aquemini
Pulp – This Is Hardcore
Queens of the Stone Age – Queens of the Stone Age
Quickspace – Precious Falling
Royal Trux – Accelerator
Silver Jews – American Water
Solex – Solex vs. The Hitmeister
Sonic Youth – A Thousand Leaves
Spoon – A Series of Sneaks
Tortoise – TNT

Aaliyah – “Are You That Somebody?”
Beastie Boys – “Intergalactic”
Beck – “Tropicalia”
Ben Folds Five – “Brick”
Green Day – “Time of Your Life (Good Riddance)”
Garbage – “I Think I’m Paranoid”
Lauryn Hill – “Doo Wop (That Thing)”
Hole – “Celebrity Skin”
Jay-Z – “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)”
Marilyn Manson – “The Dope Show”
Jennifer Paige – “Crush”
PJ Harvey – “A Perfect Day Elise”
Britney Spears – “…Baby One More Time”
Fatboy Slim – “The Rockafeller Skank”
Madonna – “Ray of Light”
Marcy Playground – “Sex and Candy”
Semisonic – “Closing Time”
Stardust – “Music Sounds Better with You”
Spice Girls – “Spice Up Your Life”
The Verve – “Bittersweet Symphony”

David Jeffries
Juan Atkins – Wax Trax! Mastermix, Vol. 1
The Beta Band – The Three E.P.’s
Boris – Amplifier Worship
Junior Delgado – Fearless
Garbage – Version 2.0
Hieroglyphics – 3rd Eye Vision
Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Infiniti – Skynet
Jay-Z – Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life
Killah Priest – Heavy Mental
Kruder & Dorfmeister – The K&D Sessions
Massive Attack – Mezzanine
Mr. Vegas – Heads High
Mos Def & Talib Kweli – Black Star
OutKast – Aquemini
Pulp – This Is Hardcore
RZA – RZA as Bobby Digital in Stereo
UNKLE – Psyence Fiction
Various Artists – Chain Reaction…Compiled
Various Artists – Connected

John Bush
Jurassic 5 – Jurassic 5
Beastie Boys – Hello Nasty
Boards of Canada – Music Has the Right to Children
Robbie Williams – I’ve Been Expecting You
Buckfunk 3000 – First Class Ticket to Telos
Cut Chemist/Shortkut – Live at Future Primitive Sound Session
Cat Power – Moon Pix
Saint Etienne – Good Humor/Fairfax High
Squarepusher – Music Is Rotted One Note
Air – Moon Safari
Massive Attack – Mezzanine
Beck – Mutations
Tortoise – TNT
A Tribe Called Quest – The Love Movement
4hero – Two Pages
Mercury Rev – Deserter’s Songs
System of a Down – System of a Down
Herbert – Around the House
Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Richard Davies – Telegraph

Stardust – “Music Sounds Better with You” (YouTube)
Dem 2 – “Destiny” (YouTube)
Robbie Williams – “Millennium”
Saint Etienne – “Goodnight Jack”
Beastie Boys – “Super Disco Breakin’”
4hero – “We Who Are Not as Others [Jazzanova Mix]”
Massive Attack – “Inertia Creeps”
Beck – “Nobody’s Fault But My Own”
Josh Rouse – “Dressed Up Like Nebraska”
Pearl Jam – “Do the Evolution”
The Dismemberment Plan – “The Ice of Boston”
Braid – “The New Nathan Detroits”
Cornershop – “Brimful of Asha [Norman Cook Remix]”
Britney Spears – “…Baby One More Time”
Busta Rhymes – “Turn It Up [Remix]/Fire It Up”
Paperclip People – “My Peepz [Shot]”
The Beta Band – “Los Amigos del Beta Bandidos”
Terry Callier – “Lazarus Man”
Air – “Kelly Watch the Stars”
The High Llamas – “Glide Time”

Aneet Nijjar
Pulp – This Is Hardcore
Belle & Sebastian – The Boy with the Arab Strap
Beck – Mutations
Mercury Rev – Deserter’s Songs
The Beta Band – The Three E.P.’s
Mansun – Six
R.E.M. – Up
Hole – Celebrity Skin
Manic Street Preachers – This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
Beastie Boys – Hello Nasty
Terry Callier – Timepiece
Massive Attack – Mezzanine
Air – Moon Safari
Alex Gopher – You, My Baby & I
Jurassic 5 – Jurassic 5
Kid Loco – A Grand Love Story
Rae & Christian – Northern Sulphuric Soul
Derrick May – Innovator
Mos Def & Talib Kweli – Black Star

Stardust – “Music Sounds Better with You”
Les Rhythmes Digitales – “Music Makes You Lose Control”
I-F – “Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass”
Cornershop – “Brimful of Asha”
Jungle Brothers – “Jungle Brother”
Clinic – “Cement Mixer”
Mercury Rev – “Goddess on a Hiway”
Hole – “Celebrity Skin”
The Jesus and Mary Chain – Cracking Up EP
Jurassic 5 – “Concrete Schoolyard”
The Cardigans – “Erase/Rewind”
Bis – “Eurodisco”
The Dandy Warhols – “Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth”
Madonna – “Ray of Light”
Cosmo Vitelli – “We Don’t Need No Smurf Here”

John Buchanan
PJ Harvey – Is This Desire?
Massive Attack – Mezzanine
Autechre – LP5
Hole – Celebrity Skin
Pearl Jam – Yield
Smashing Pumpkins – Adore
Unsane – Occupational Hazard
Garbage – Version 2.0
Fugazi – End Hits
Mark Snow – The X-Files
R.E.M. – Up
Pole – 1
Appleseed Cast – End of the Ring Wars
Come – Gently Down the Stream
Far – Water & Solutions
Girls Against Boys – Freak*on*ica
The Jesus Lizard – Blue
Manic Street Preachers – This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
Shellac – Terraform
Therapy? – Semi-Detached

Madonna – “Frozen”
Natalie Imbruglia – “Torn”
Pearl Jam – “Given to Fly”
Celine Dion – “My Heart Will Go On”
R.E.M. – “Daysleeper”
Massive Attack – “Teardrop”
MJ Cole – “Sincere”
PJ Harvey – “A Perfect Day Elise”
Brandy & Monica – “The Boy Is Mine”
Cornershop – “Brimful of Asha”
Goo Goo Dolls – “Iris”
Radiohead – “No Surprises”

James Christopher Monger
The Gourds – Stadium Blitzer
Captain Sensible – Universe of Geoffrey Brown
Komeda – What Makes It Go?
Brian Lillie and the Squirrel Mountain Orchestra – Rowboats
Lisa Germano – Slide
Paolo Conte – The Best of Paolo Conte
The Divine Comedy – Fin de Siècle
Jim Roll – Ready to Hang
Robyn Hitchcock – Storefront Hitchcock
Queens of the Stone Age – Queens of the Stone Age
Kathryn Tickell & Friends – Northumberland Collection
Danielson Famile – Tri-Danielson, Vol. 1 (Alpha)
Rufus Wainwright – Rufus Wainwright
Matt Wilson – Burnt, White and Blue
Pinetop Seven – Rigging the Toplights
Gillian Welch – Hell Among the Yearlings
Billy Bragg & Wilco – Mermaid Avenue
Belle & Sebastian – The Boy with the Arab Strap
Triakel – Triakel
Original Soundtrack – Six-String Samurai

The Gourds – “Gin and Juice”
Air – “Kelly Watch the Stars”
Neutral Milk Hotel – “King of Carrot Flowers”
Beck – “We Live Again”
Madonna – “Ray of Light”
Jeff Buckley – “New Year’s Prayer”
Neil Finn – “She Will Have Her Way”
Grant Lee Buffalo – “The Shallow End”
Squirrel Nut Zippers – “The Ghost of Steven Foster”
Pernice Brothers – “All I Know”
Semisonic – “Gone to the Movies”
Värttinä – “Laulutytto”
The Tannahill Weavers – “The Great Ships”
Black Box Recorder – “England Made Me”
Elliott Smith – “Waltz #2 (XO)”
Pulp – “The Fear”
Mercury Rev – “Holes”

Andy Kellman
Urban Tribe – The Collapse of Modern Culture
OutKast – Aquemini
Boards of Canada – Music Has the Right to Children
4hero – Two Pages
Long Fin Killie – Amelia
Burger/Ink – Las Vegas
Mark Hollis – Mark Hollis
Black Box Recorder – England Made Me
Pulp – This Is Hardcore
Photek – Form & Function
Burning Airlines – Mission: Control!
Gang Starr – Moment of Truth
Scrawl – Nature Film
Theo Parrish – First Floor
Goodie Mob – Still Standing
The Beta Band – The Three E.P.’s
Herbert – Around the House
Arab Strap – Philophobia
Gas – Zauberberg
Shellac – Terraform

Aaliyah – “Are You That Somebody?”
Shake – “Detroit State of Mind” (YouTube)
Moodymann – “Mahogany Brown”
Round Four – “Find a Way” (YouTube)
Kerri Chandler – “Love Will Find a Way”
Dem 2 – “Destiny”
D’Angelo – “Devil’s Pie”
K.P. & Envyi – “Swing My Way”
U.S. Alliance – “All I Know (Da Grunge Mix)” (YouTube)
Monifah – “Touch It”
Titonton – “Avenues”
Amira – “My Desire”
Nicole – “Make It Hot”
New Radicals – “You Get What You Give”
Total – “Trippin’”
Lauryn Hill – “Doo Wop (That Thing)”
Norma Jean Bell – “Dreams”
Jermaine Dupri – “Money Ain’t a Thing”
Rhythm & Sound – “Mango Walk”
Noreaga – “Superthug”

James Wilkinson
Mercury Rev – Deserter’s Songs
Belle & Sebastian – The Boy with the Arab Strap
Elliott Smith – XO
Plush – More You Becomes You
R.E.M. – Up
Graham Coxon – The Sky Is Too High
Beck – Mutations
Pernice Brothers – Overcome by Happiness
Bernard Butler – People Move On
Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Josh Rouse – Dressed Up Like Nebraska
Air – Moon Safari
Sparklehorse – Good Morning Spider
Quasi – Featuring “Birds”
The Sadies – Precious Moments
Pedro the Lion – It’s Hard to Find a Friend
The Beta Band – The Three E.P.’s
Manu Chao – Clandestino
Lambchop – What Another Man Spills
Saint Etienne – Good Humor

Michael Head Introducing the Strands – “Somethin’ Like You”
Beachwood Sparks – “Desert Skies”
Belle & Sebastian – “This Is Just a Modern Rock Song”
Super Furry Animals – “Ice Hockey Hair”
Grandaddy – “Summer Here Kids”
Elliott Smith – “The Ballad of Big Nothing”
Olivia Tremor Control – “Jumping Fences”
Olivia Tremor Control – “Hideaway”
Ian Brown – “My Star”
The Cardigans – “My Favourite Game”
Doves & Jane Weaver – “Seven Day Smile”
Fountains of Wayne – “Denise”
Paul Weller – “Brand New Start”
Doves – “The Cedar Room”
Bob Dylan – “Not Dark Yet”
Bob Dylan – “Love Sick”
Spiritualized – “I Think I’m in Love”
Smog – “Held”
James – “Runaground”
Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci – “Let’s Get Together (In Our Minds)”

Richard Wilson
The Afghan Whigs – 1965
Mercury Rev – Deserter’s Songs
Sparklehorse – Good Morning Spider
Calexico – Black Light
Lambchop – What Another Man Spills
Mojave 3 – Out of Tune
Willard Grant Conspiracy – Flying Low
Buffalo Tom – Smitten
Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Airplane Over the Sea
Dirty Three – Ocean Songs
Godspeed You Black Emperor! – F# A# (Infinity)
Tortoise – TNT
Silver Jews – American Water
Seafood – Messenger in the Camp
Beastie Boys – Hello Nasty
Monkey Mafia – Shoot the Boss
Adam Freeland – Coastal Breaks, Vol. 2
Freestylers – We Rock Hard
Hardfloor – All Targets Down

Mercury Rev – “Goddess on a Hiway”
Grandaddy – “Summer Here Kids”
Beastie Boys – “Intergalactic”
The Crystal Method – “Keep Hope Alive”
Skeewiff – Absent Without Leave EP
Wide Receiver – “Breakbeat Sushi”
Freq Nasty – “Freqazoid”
Surreal Madrid – “Girls of the Night”
Deejay Punk-Roc – “My Beatbox”
Mucho Macho – “Rap Is Really Changing”
Germinating Seeds of Doda – “Upside Din”
Ceasefire vs. Deadly Avenger – “Evel Knievel”
Ils – “About That Time”
Krafty Kuts – Funky Elements
Beber – “Chief Rocka”

Jason Lymangrover
A Tribe Called Quest – The Love Movement
Air – Moon Safari
At the Drive-In – In/Casino/Out
Beastie Boys – Hello Nasty
Beck – Mutations
The Beta Band – The Three E.P.’s
Mos Def & Talib Kweli – Black Star
Boards of Canada – Music Has the Right to Children
Brand Nubian – Foundation
Cornelius – Fantasma
Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Make-Up – In Mass Mind
Massive Attack – Mezzanine
OutKast – Aquemini
Pinback – Pinback
Radiohead – Airbag/How Am I Driving?
Soul Coughing – El Oso
Tortoise – TNT
UNKLE – Psyence Fiction
Wagon Christ – Tally Ho!

Previously
AllMusic Loves 1956

AllMusic Loves 1965
AllMusic Loves 1968

AllMusic Loves 1971
AllMusic Loves 1974
AllMusic Loves 1977
AllMusic Loves 1979

AllMusic Loves 1980
AllMusic Loves 1984
AllMusic Loves 1987
AllMusic Loves 1988

AllMusic Loves 1990
AllMusic Loves 1992
AllMusic Loves 1993
AllMusic Loves 1999

AllMusic Loves 2000
AllMusic Loves 2001
AllMusic Loves 2002
AllMusic Loves 2003
AllMusic Loves 2004
AllMusic Loves 2005
AllMusic Loves 2006
AllMusic Loves 2007
AllMusic Loves 2008
AllMusic Loves 2009

The Summer Jams 2010: Bruno Mars Edition 29 Jul 2010, 10:51 am

It’s right up there on the cushy job list with consultant, mattress tester, and professional hacky sack player. Wouldn’t you love to be a Hook Singer? Breeze into a session, lay down a couple of quick vocal takes and then dash off to the beach, leaving behind a trail of hit records in your wake. Michael McDonald was probably the first great hook singer back in the ’70s, but the hip-hop era has raised the stakes and turned it into an art form. This summer nobody has done it as well as Bruno Mars. On B.o.B.’s “Nothin’ on You” and Travie McCoy’s “Billionaire”, Mars’ honey-sweet voice gives the tunes a laidback dose of pure summer sun. No matter where you are, hearing these songs back-to-back will make you feel like you’re floating in a swimming pool on blow-up raft, drinking Arnold Palmers and soaking up some serious UV rays.

“Nothin’ on You”

Click here to view the embedded video.

“Billionaire”

Click here to view the embedded video.

News Roundup: 7/27/2010 27 Jul 2010, 2:20 pm

Rihanna will make her film debut in May 2012 with Peter Berg’s “Battleship,” a sci-fi action movie based on the classic Battleship board game. Although Rihanna’s specific role has yet to be confirmed, she’ll be acting alongside Taylor Kitsch and Alexander Skarsgard, both of whom play brothers defending their ship against an alien invasion. [NYDailyNews.com]

Nigel Lythgoe, the influential choreographer/producer who launched Pop Idol in the U.K. and helped guide American Idol’s first steps in America, may return to the Idol franchise as Simon Cowell’s replacement. If he does come back, American Idol’s judging panel may be in trouble, since Lythgoe’s plan reportedly includes replacing the current judges with a new crop of celebrities. Elton John, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Chris Isaak, and former judge Paula Abdul are all possible candidates for the job. [Billboard.com]

Tom Jones’ new album, Praise And Blame, is currently the best-selling album in the Europe. If it stays that way until Sunday, the 70 year-old Jones will become the oldest male musician to have a number one album in the U.K. Currently sitting at number two is Eminem’s Recovery. [NME.com]

Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy dished out some Season Two spoilers at last weekend’s Comic-Con in San Diego. Looks like the musical numbers for each episode will be reduced from eight to five — a decision Murphy claims will allow the writers to focus more time on character development — and the cast will tackle songs from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and the Britney Spears catalog. The season, which is already in production, will start airing on September 21, 2010. [Billboard.com]

According to a family statement, Wyclef Jean may run for president of Haiti. The election takes place in November. [Guardian.co.uk]

The Klaxons have released the album art for their second record, Surfing the Void, which comes out in late August. What’s on the cover? A picture of a cat in a bright orange spacesuit. [Pitchfork.com]

Ben Keith, a respected session musician and longtime sideman for Neil Young, died earlier this month. Keith began working in recording studios during the late 1950s, making his first notable appearance on Patsy Cline’s “I Fall to Pieces.” He later met Neil Young on the set of The Johnny Cash Show and was recruited to play pedal steel on Young’s iconic 1972 album Harvest. The partnership with Young lasted until Keith’s death, with 2009’s Fork in the Road representing the musicians’ final collaboration. [Spinner.com]

Best Coast – Crazy for You 27 Jul 2010, 11:47 am

The duo of Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno are firm believers in simplicity. The songs they record as Best Coast are straight-ahead verse-chorus tunes influenced by various strains of pop and rock from the last 50 years (doo wop, garage rock, girl groups, early punk, ’90s indie rock), played without frills and sung super-earnestly. In the hands of people less talented, the end result could have been generic at best, snooze-inducing at worst. Cosentino’s copied-from-her-diary lyrics might sound juvenile (and cringy) if not sung with a touching sweetness and melancholy that’s unadorned by irony. The reliance on simple statements (“I love you”, “I miss you”, “you make me crazy”, etc.) related to affairs of the heart and the multiple references to weed would start to grate unless surrounded by instantly memorable melodies, sharp hooks, and production that adds just the right amount of noise and reverb to the songs. (The lyric about how she wishes her cat, cover star Snacks, could talk is pretty genius, though.)

Their debut album Crazy for You is loaded with songs that you’ll be walking around humming to yourself after only a play or two, songs you’ll be singing along to before they’re half over, and songs that just plain sound good in a familiar and comforting way. Unlike many of their contemporaries, Best Coast don’t add noise to push away the listener or hide the poppiness of the songs; the distortion and reverb they use are warm and inviting, especially when combined with Cosentino’s vocal harmonies. There are few tracks on the record that’ll stun anyone who’s familiar with either their sound or the classic noise pop formula (as established by bands like the Shop Assistants in the ’80s), but the band isn’t really about that.

Sure, there are a few songs that stand out as highlights (like the insistently catchy “Boyfriend,” which starts the album off perfectly by establishing the main themes and sound to follow; the laid-back ballad “Summer Mood”; and their best song to date, “When I’m with You”), but really, Crazy for You is meant to be an album that creates a mood, a feeling of gentle despair and wistful longing that grows with each song. On that count, it’s a complete success. By the end of the record, you just want to give Cosentino a hug and tell her things are going to work out. Bruno deserves a hug too; for creating a solid background for her longings, he’s a true friend. More importantly, when the record ends you’ll want to play it again. Maybe not right away, but definitely the next time you need some laid-back noisy comfort delivered in short, snappy bursts of near-perfect pop.

Click here to view the embedded video.

News Roundup: 7/26/2010 26 Jul 2010, 3:00 pm

Blues guitarist Phillip Walker died last Thursday of heart failure in Palm Springs, CA, at age 73. Walker joined Little Richard’s band early in his career, and also backed Etta James and Lowell Fulson during his 50 years playing the guitar. He also recorded many solo albums, including 2007’s Going Back Home, and toured with Clifton Chenier and in South Africa in later years. [AOLNews.com]

Bill Aucoin, manager of KISS from 1973 to 1982, has died following cancer surgery at age 66. Aucoin helped the band become superstars and pursue revenue streams like band merchandise ranging from comic books to Halloween costumes. After leaving KISS, Aucoin managed artists including Billy Idol and Lordi. [Guardian.co.uk]

Nineteen people were killed and over 500 were injured in a crowd stampede at the electronic music festival the Love Parade on Saturday in Duisburg, Germany. The 11 men and eight women, who range in age from 20 to 40, have been identified and Duisburg is planning a remembrance service for the victims. Police closed a tunnel at the festival’s entrance and were trying to direct the crowd away from the area when the stampede occurred. Prosecutors are investigating the festival organizers’ security plans; meanwhile, organizers say that the Love Parade has been canceled permanently. [BBC.co.uk]

In happier news, Al Jarreau’s condition has been upgraded from critical to stable after the singer suffered breathing problems in the French Alps. Jarreau was airlifted from a hospital in the Alps to one in Marseille, where he is expected to remain for about a week to undergo tests. The breathing problems began during his warm-up for his show last Thursday night at a jazz festival; the performance, along with several others, was canceled. Jarreau is in the midst of a lengthy tour through Europe and Japan. [Billboard.com]

Gorillaz became the first British band to perform in Damascus on Sunday night at an 11th century fortified palace. Said frontman Damon Albarn, “By virtue of being the first big western act to arrive in Damascus I think hopefully that’s the beginning of a dialogue, and that in itself is meaningful for Syria as a whole.” [NME.com]

Kings of Leon cut short their Friday set at St. Louis, MO’s Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre after bassist Jared Followill was hit by pigeon droppings. A spokesperson for the band said the bird droppings were a “toxic health hazard.” Their show the following night in Chicago went off without a hitch. [Gigwise.com]

If you couldn’t make it to the San Diego Comic Con to see sneak peeks of Tron: Legacy, take comfort in the fact that six Daft Punk instrumentals from the movie’s soundtrack are available to hear no matter where you are. [WeAllWantSomeone.org]

Check out the video for “Hang with Me,” the first single from Robyn’s upcoming Body Talk Pt. 2. [ConsequenceofSound.net]

Nick Cave’s Grinderman is back with the dark and lanky “Heathen Child,” the first taste of the project’s second, September-due album. [Pitchfork.com]

Who needs chillwave or nu-gaze when electro-shoegaze pioneers Seefeel return with the band’s first new album in 14 years? [Independent.co.uk]

40 Early Rough Trade Singles, Pt. 3 26 Jul 2010, 10:55 am

As we close out our feature on 40 of the first 100 singles/EPs released on Rough Trade (see parts one and two), it’s very important to note that the same span of time involved nearly 40 albums, including Cabaret Voltaire’s Red Mecca, the Fall’s Grotesque, Pere Ubu’s The Modern Dance, the Raincoats’ The Raincoats, Stiff Little Fingers’ Inflammable Material, Swell Maps’ Jane from Occupied Europe, This Heat’s Deceit, and Young Marble Giants’ Colossal Youth. And once the 100th single was released, there was hardly any looking back. Along came the Smiths, the Go-Betweens, Aztec Camera, the Dream Syndicate, Violent Femmes, and on and on. The label is the subject of a new book, Document & Eyewitness: An Intimate History of Rough Trade.

Essential Logic – “Music Is a Better Noise”
Known initially for splattering ecstatically caustic, loosely organized sounds every which way, Essential Logic began with two of 1978’s most frantic minutes — the self-released, Rough Trade-distributed “Aerosol Burns” — and managed to become increasingly weird and normal up to their 1981 flameout. The trebly, gently buzzing “Music Is a Better Noise,” the A-side of a single released in 1980, swings from sprightly pop to loose indie disco and offers a couplet that hasn’t been quoted nearly as often as anything written the same year by the Vapors or Devo: “The universe is crumbling/Music is a better noise.” Not quite as bashful as Young Marble Giants’ “Final Day” and not nearly as ambitious as ABC’s “Tears Are Not Enough,” the rough-hewn song nonetheless falls safely between those extremes. The band was done after one more single, but vocalist/saxophonist Lora Logic, who had previously been in X-Ray Spex and assisted the Raincoats and the Red Krayola, continued her association with Rough Trade. – Andy Kellman

Girls at Our Best – “Politics”
Injecting post-punk with a little bubblegum, Girls at Our Best began their career with a self-released single, “Getting Nowhere Fast” — later covered by the Wedding Present — and then joined Rough Trade for “Politics,” a wry number that earned them their cult following. With a cheesy keyboard, chirpy vocals, and lyrics like “I love to hear the Democrats when they’re partying all night long,” “Politics” could be any campaign assistant’s TGIF anthem. It appeared on their debut album, Pleasure, which also featured a guest appearance from Thomas Dolby. Even though BBC DJ John Peel declared them “one of the few bands that made the early part of the ’80s bearable,” they never rose above cult status and disbanded soon after Pleasure. “Politics” is hard to find since the track rarely appears on compilations and their lone full-length was only reissued on CD in Japan back in 1994. – David Jeffries

The Fall – “Totally Wired”
Although flippantly dismissing Fall leader Mark E. Smith as a crazy drunkard is the way to go today, people once blamed amphetamines for his in-yer-face eccentric ways. The band’s second single for Rough Trade is their “My Generation,” with Smith stuttering his way through the song’s simple, hooky chorus. One of the less wordy Fall songs, “Totally Wired” perfectly captures the amphetamine experience, but the lyrics could also be applied to an anxiety attack. “Life leaves you surprised/Slaps you in the eyes” and also leaves your “butterfly stomach round ground” in this punk hit, which the passing of time made a punk classic. After appearing on numerous disappointing compilations, the song became the title track for the best document of this era’s Fall, Totally Wired: The Rough Trade Anthology, which was released in 2002. – David Jeffries

Click here to view the embedded video.

Cabaret Voltaire – “Seconds Too Late”
If any band ever could sum up the Rough Trade spirit, it was Cabaret Voltaire. Not because they remained long on the label, but because of cuts like this one. A lone synth pulses, a tapping foot is miked on the floor, a high-hat cymbal is drenched in reverb, and loose, ominous, eerie sounds — handmade from tapes for samplers were not yet widely in use — usher in one of the more frightening tracks from an equally frightening and obsessive group. “Seconds Too Late” is about nuclear disaster ushered in by careless, slip-of-the-mind neglect. The paranoia, fear, and prophetic resignation the Cabs layer into Richard H. Kirk’s disembodied voice — perfect for disembodied music — splits the voids of the unspeakable into the results of such a mistake. It’s trance-inducing in its slow, labyrinthine way of ushering in a tension that never abates. – Thom Jurek

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pere Ubu – “Not Happy”
Early in their career, “Not Happy” would have been the perfect title for one of Pere Ubu’s chaotic urban soundscapes, but by 1980 David Thomas and his colleagues were in a different frame of mind, and this non-LP single (recorded during the same sessions as The Art of Walking) is three minutes and 40 seconds of cheerfully fractured whimsy. With Thomas’ eccentric sing-song delivery, playful lyrics about mice, birdies, and dancing, and the charming backing vocals chiming a soothing “Happy!” every so often, “Not Happy” sounds like an avant-garde children’s record, though it’s hard to say if Allen Ravenstine’s layers of whizzing, whistling analog synthesizers would make kids laugh or give them strange dreams. Either way, this was a 180-degree turn from “Heart of Darkness” or “Final Solution,” though in its own cheery way it’s every bit as outré. – Mark Deming

The Fall – “Middle Mass”
It’s not often you can say that the Fall “swing,” but “Middle Mass” does just that with a jazzy Manchester beat. Over the easy-strolling backing track, vocalist Mark E. Smith cuts a young upstart to shreds, with his smart comments accusing the boy of being “like a tape loop” and of having “soft mitts” and unable to fight. One of the greatest myths that surround the group — and there are plenty to chose from — stems from the song. It was long thought that “Middle Mass” was pointed at former member and indie legend Marc Riley, who had moved to London to try his hand at more conventional songwriting and the “hard drugs” Smith mentions. The story was debunked later by both Riley and Smith but not before landing in Mick Middles’ entertaining biography The Fall. – David Jeffries

Tav Falco’s Panther Burns – “Train Kept a-Rollin’”
In 1981, singer, bandleader, and rabid roots music heretic Tav Falco released his only Rough Trade album, Behind the Magnolia Curtain, alongside a tremendous single version of the rock & roll standard “Train Kept a-Rollin’.” Recorded live at an undisclosed juke joint in Memphis, Falco’s longtime home base, the single best captures the primordial concoction of rockabilly, blues, and art damage of Falco and his revolving door of like-minded musicians known as Panther Burns. The combined primitivism of the band and the crowd’s response to it puts this adaptation of “Train Kept a-Rollin’” in the same league as other renowned versions of the song by the Yardbirds, Aerosmith, Johnny Burnette, and perhaps even the original 1951 version by Tiny Bradshaw. Since the Rough Trade single is worth its weight in gold, keep an eye open for the out of print CD Midnight in Memphis on Triple X. – Al Campbell

Wire – “Our Swimmer”
This one-off, released a couple years after 154 and several years before the Snakedrill EP, instantly slipped through a large crack in the Wire timeline. “Our Swimmer” is succinct, sharp, and simple, like a lot of the best Wire. Inspired by a common sight, Colin Newman seems at once amazed and amused by a hyper-repetitive display of athletic agility that happens within a tightly confined place. On one hand, the swimmer is doing something of tremendous beauty; on the other, the swimmer’s nothing more than a hamster on a treadmill. Perhaps it’s a metaphor for Wire’s pop songs. Since it has only shown up on CD as a tack-on to the completists-only live album Document and Eyewitness (as well as a couple obscure compilations), the song has remained relatively unknown when compared to the likes of “12XU” and the untouchable “Map Ref. 41 °N 93° W.” A louder and faster version can be heard on Turns and Strokes. – Andy Kellman

Jackie Mittoo – “These Eyes”
He’s a legend but that doesn’t mean “keyboard king” Jackie Mittoo didn’t release a dull record once in a while. A release spawned from Rough Trade’s friendly relationship with the Black Roots label, Mittoo’s “These Eyes” is an adaptation of the famous Guess Who song, which the keyboardist first cut with Alton Ellis for the singer’s 1970 album Sunday Coming. Once a name known only to reggae fanatics, Mittoo’s profile has risen since Soul Jazz issued the critically acclaimed The Keyboard King at Studio One compilation in 2000. Other compilations followed, but none of them has included “These Eyes,” meaning the original Rough Trade 12″ commands a fairly high price. Buyers are usually disappointed by the lightweight A-side, although the backing dubs are considerably more filling. – David Jeffries

Bunny Wailer – “Riding”
Originally released on his own Solomonic label, “Riding” is one of Bunny Wailer’s first dancehall tracks. An adaptation/update of “Riding High” — a track Bunny first recorded with the Wailers and producer Lee “Scratch” Perry — “Riding” was surrounded by the Jamaican singles “Crucial” and “Cool Runnings,” a trio of hits that would put the singer back on top of the Jamaican charts, which were now more dancehall than roots. The Solomonic 12″ appeared in 1979, the Rough Trade version in 1981, and the track landed on the Solomonic album Hook, Line & Sinker the year after that. A horribly slick redo was found on Bunny’s 1993 album Just Be Nice. – David Jeffries

DNA – “Blonde Red Head”
While the first wave of punk bands threw down a gauntlet of making rock challenging again, DNA and their comrades on New York’s no wave scene eagerly picked it up and ran as far as they could. The brittle and dynamic report of 1981’s A Taste of DNA, their first EP after Robin Lee Crutchfield left the band, is even starker than their earlier efforts, with Arto Lindsay’s strangulated guitar and vocals bouncing over the rocky plains of Ikue Mori’s drums and Tim Wright’s bass. But on “Blonde Red Head,” Mori’s drums smooth out to a steady gallop as Wright’s bass carries something like a melody and Lindsay’s scratchy guitar gives way to a cry of “Hit me, big head/Dance with me, big face.” In this context, “Blonde Red Head”’s subtle textures sound almost sensuous, and offer a glimpse into Lindsay’s warped but pleasurable future in samba. – Mark Deming

Click here to view the embedded video.

Lora Logic – “Wonderful Offer”
After Essential Logic broke up, Lora Logic joined up with the Hare Krishnas (not a band) and pointed her life in a different direction. Thankfully enough, that direction didn’t involve dropping out of music. Backed by a band involving fellow Red Krayola associate Ben Annesley (bass) and Essential Logic partner Rich-Tea (drums), Logic’s first solo single is a beaming splash of sexy, full-blown pop that draws from funk without mimicking the form. Tightly wrapped and yet lusciously buoyant, “Wonderful Offer” picks up where her former band’s “Music Is a Better Noise” left off. Disregard the negative connotations carried by words like “sophisticated” and “mature”; this song has all the spontaneity and spunk of “Aerosol Burns.” Already established as a terrific creative force with several years of experience behind her, Logic was, at this point in time, barely out of her teens. – Andy Kellman

Virgin Prunes – “Come to Daddy”
These Irish cast-out sons looked and sounded nothing like the Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers, or U2, but in performance they could blow the doors off those other bands. (Singer Gavin Friday actually finished U2’s sets in the early days when Bono ran out of steam.) This slab of barely controlled mayhem painted by Strongman’s bass throb and Dik’s guitar thrum (his real name is Richard Evans, the Edge’s brother) and pushed into the red by Mary D’Nellon’s tom tom-heavy drumming is pure tribal thrash, and exhilarating as hell. With two chords played constantly as Friday screams nearly unintelligibly about child abuse and sex, over the top of a wall of feedback and primeval noise, what more could you want? A listen or two will mash your head up, but you won’t be able to resist moving your body to it. It later showed up on the CD version of Hérésie. – Thom Jurek

Scritti Politti – “The ‘Sweetest Girl’”
Given the benefit of hindsight, Green Gartside’s turn toward lover’s rock-imbued pop was only a matter of time. No one could have predicted before “The ‘Sweetest Girl,’” however, that he’d produce something so irresistible, sincere-sounding, and impossibly charming — the song fits this description despite scare quotes and perplexed scrutiny beneath its glistening, swoon-inducing exterior. After he recuperated from a heart attack, Gartside returned with a hissing machine rhythm, fluttering keyboards (provided by longtime Scritti favorite Robert Wyatt), and his liveliest vocal. Going by the sound of his voice alone, he could be in the throes of newfound love, but he’s observing and analyzing a relationship rather than taking part in one. Either way, the thing is heavenly. A few years later, Gartside released the most lavish album of the mid ’80s. Twenty years after that, he appeared with a fifth album. The label? Rough Trade. – Andy Kellman

[A version of this was originally published as a www.allmusic.com front-page feature in June 2006.]

Hot Damn Jammz 61: Make Wit Da Jammz, Bub! 23 Jul 2010, 12:30 pm

So, we had a staff meeting this week. One of those dramatic, soul-searching kind of meetings where you check your ego at the door, take stock of your portfolio, establish goals and commit your heart and soul to the project. Each member of the HDJz team came out feeling like we’d been through the wringer, but we also left with a re-determination to grow the business, explode the brand, and capitalize on the market in order to increase the customers happiness index. Or we just kind of remembered to do the Jammz this week. Your choice….

Papa Topo
This duo from Spain plays cute and simple synth-pop that seems rather twee on the surface, but judging from their video (NSFPL) (Not Safe for Panda Lovers), a current of gleeful violence runs just below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Doldrums
Slow-motion, experimental post-rock for rainy days or watching dust motes in a sunbeam.

Coasting
Lo-fi garagey girl-rock with muscle and edge! The Vivian Girls might want to watch their backs.

Kendl Winter
Banjo pickin’ indie folker on K Records.

The Cyanide Pills
Perhaps the rockin’-est band to come out of Leeds since Whitesnake. Oh, Chumbawumba came from there? I stand corrected.

The Samps
Psychedelic, lo-fi electronics is the medicine that The Samps prescribe for your groove “problem.”

railcars
Scratchy 8Tz pop attack! Railcars bust off the tracks into your melon.

Evan Voytas
He tells his story on his website better than we ever could: “At age 18, he moved to Harlem where he immersed himself in various religious texts and ’70s New Age paperbacks. He grew a beard, moved to the desert, moved back, shaved the beard, played lead guitar for a few pop acts, toured the world, moved to a farmhouse on a dirt road in Pennsylvania, started recording music, and finally ended up in Los Angeles.” Now playing with Flying Lotus but also recording dreamed-out pop songs like “I Took a Trip on a Plane” (which you can download here.)

Bare Wires
It sucks all kind of rocks that Jay Reatard isn’t around anymore, but on their new record Seeking Love, these guys help fill the musical void with their high-energy, low-fidelity sound that owes a lot to Jay’s influence.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Blondes
This duo from Brooklyn makes dance music that makes you want to lie underneath a tree contemplating the wonders of life. Their sound is melancholic pastoral in some places, late night streetlights on wet pavement in others; it makes their new EP Touched some of the most well-rounded and interesting electronic music on the scene.

Infinite Body
Sometimes dirty, sometimes soft, but always a nice soundscape from California’s Infinite Body.

Père Lachaise, Paris: Where the Great Composers Go to Decompose, Part II 23 Jul 2010, 7:54 am

Frédéric Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 35, III. Marche funebre

 
Even though Vienna’s Zentralfriedhof (the subject of a previous Classical Corner feature) may claim the largest number of classical composers interred within its hallowed precincts, Paris also has an illustrious burial ground that holds the mortal remains of many of music’s greats. Indeed, the most famous cemetery in Paris and one of the most visited in the world is Père Lachaise Cemetery, known officially as the Cimetière de l’Est, or “East Cemetery.” (Other cemeteries established in Paris in the 19th century included the Cimetière de Montmartre in the north of the city, and the Cimetière du Montparnasse in the south.) Named after Père François de la Chaise, the Jesuit confessor to Louis XIV, Père Lachaise was founded in 1804 under Napoleon Bonaparte’s edict to establish cemeteries within the boundaries of Paris, where burials had previously been banned for health reasons. The over-crowded churchyards which had been in a state of decay for centuries were replaced by something brand new in urban design: a well-maintained public burial ground that would also serve as a memorial park. The founders of Père Lachaise envisioned it as place to honor France’s great contributors to culture, and banked on it as a fabulous investment opportunity. From the start, the cemetery was planned to house the mortal remains of the nation’s notables, but plots were difficult to fill in the early years.

 
Pierre Abélard (1079-1142) and Héloïse d’Argenteuil (1101-1164)
In an attempt to attract publicity and wealthy patrons, the reputed remains of the 12th century lovers Abélard and Héloïse were moved to Père Lachaise in 1817. In addition to being an important medieval philosopher and a sharp debater, Abélard is noted for writing a number of sacred chants which are comparable to hymns by his contemporary, Hildegard of Bingen. Having the bones of Abélard and Héloïse entombed at Père Lachaise made it a fashionable tourist spot, especially for young couples, and the number of burials increased within a few years from dozens to thousands.
 
Ensemble für Fruhe Musik Augsburg – Abélard: Dolorum Solatium
Ensemble für Fruhe Musik Augsburg – Abélard: O Quanta Qualia
 
Marie Louis Charles Zénobi Salvador Cherubini (1760-1842)
Italian by birth, Luigi Cherubini was a major composer of operas in France, and he was esteemed by no less a master than Ludwig van Beethoven. He was the most significant figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic periods in France, and as director of the Paris Conservatoire, he embodied tradition rather than revolutionary change. Composed in 1836, Cherubini’s Requiem in D minor was performed at his funeral, as he requested.
 
Igor Markevitch, cond. – Cherubini: Requiem in D minor
Introitus
Dies Irae
 
Frédéric François Chopin (1810-1849)
No grave of a classical musician is more familiar to Père Lachaise’s visitors than the tomb of Frédéric Chopin, one of the most lavishly festooned with flowers all year round. The great pianist and composer was a fervent Polish nationalist who lived in France during the Russian occupation of his country, yet expressed his revolutionary feelings in his music. Robert Schumann colorfully described Chopin’s works as “cannons buried in flowers.” But Chopin’s long struggle with pulmonary tuberculosis prevented a return to his homeland, and he died in Paris. Chopin’s corpse was buried in Père Lachaise, but according to his wishes, his heart was removed, preserved in brandy, and sealed up in a pillar in Holy Cross Church in Warsaw, Poland. (Apart from his patriotic sentiments, Chopin feared premature burial.)
 

Martha Argerich, piano – Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor – III. Marche funebre
 
Daniel François Esprit Auber (1782-1871)
For almost four decades, Daniel Auber and his librettist Eugène Scribe dominated the field of French comic opera, and though Auber was often discounted for his light music, he won praise from his peers and became the director of the Paris Conservatoire. The severe lack of food and other deprivations of the Franco-Prussian War were hard on the elderly Auber, and his death in May, 1871 nearly coincided with the disastrous collapse of the Paris Commune.
 
Jean-Pierre Marty, cond. – Auber: Le Cheval de bronze – Act 2, O torments du veuvage!
 
Georges Alexandre César Léopold Bizet (1838-1875)
The composer of Carmen, Les Pêcheurs de perles, and La jolie fille de Perth, Georges Bizet was a phenomenal talent, admired for his many memorable melodies and regarded by the virtuoso Franz Liszt as “one of the three finest pianists in Europe” (no doubt including himself at the head of that triumvirate). Bizet died prematurely of a heart attack at the age of 36, brought on by quinsy, a streptococcal infection of the tonsils. Briefly, there was suspicion of murder or possible suicide, because the perforated lesion on Bizet’s neck resembled a gunshot wound. At the time of his death, Carmen was a critical failure in France, mostly because its story was condemned as immoral, but in five years it was hailed as a masterpiece on the strength of Bizet’s unforgettable music.
 
Yan Pascal Tortelier, cond. – Bizet: Carmen – Prelude to Act I
 
Édouard Victoire Antoine Lalo (1823-1892)
Édouard Lalo is best remembered for his popular Symphonie espagnole, written for the great virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate, though he came to be admired late in life for his ballets, orchestral music, and chamber pieces. While his death “during the tumult caused by dynamiters at Paris” received little comment in the press, his funeral at Père Lachaise was well-attended by his musical friends and associates. Jules Massenet gave the eulogy.
 
Joshua Bell, violin – Lalo: Symphonie espagnole – I. Allegro non troppo
 
Amédée Ernest Chausson (1855-1899)
Inspired by the chromatic style of his teacher, César Franck, and influenced as well by Massenet and Richard Wagner, Ernest Chausson composed richly Romantic works that are best represented by his celebrated composition for violin and orchestra, Poème. A comfortable financial situation allowed Chausson to pursue music, and he was well-placed at the center of Parisian cultural activity. Just as his career appeared to be taking off, Chausson died at the age of 44 from a freak bicycle accident. Losing control on a steep slope, Chausson crashed into a brick wall and died instantly.
 
Leila Josefowicz, violin – Chausson: Poème for violin and orchestra
 
Eugène Marie Henri Fouques Duparc (1848-1933)
As the composer of one of the smallest oeuvres in classical music, Henri Duparc is one of the most enigmatic figures of late French Romanticism. He stopped composing at age 36, and he destroyed most of his compositions. This was once thought due to a mental illness, though it was more likely because of a neurasthenic condition called hyperaesthesia. His fame rests on 17 songs, including Chanson triste and L’invitation au voyage.
 
Barbara Hendricks, soprano – Mélodies Françaises
Duparc: Chanson triste
Duparc: L’invitation au voyage
 
Paul Dukas (1865-1935)
A composer, critic, and teacher, Paul Dukas was an industrious musician despite being plagued with self-doubt. His best-known work is the tone poem The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, thanks to Walt Disney’s use of the music in Fantasia. The ballet La Péri and the monumental Piano Sonata in E flat minor have also attracted serious attention, though Dukas, like Duparc, threw away many of his compositions before his death because of his nagging perfectionism.
 
Leonard Bernstein, cond. – Dukas: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
 
Jehan Alain (1911-1940)
An innovative composer for the organ, Jehan Alain was killed during an engagement with the enemy in World War II. His posthumous reputation has been fostered by his sister, organist Marie-Claire Alain, who has regularly performed his works in recitals around the world.
 
Marie-Claire Alain, organ – Alain: Litanies
David Briggs, organ – Alain: Le jardin suspendu
 
George Enescu (1881-1955)
Famous as a composer and as a violinist, Enescu was best-known for his Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A major, though his output included chamber music, symphonies, and an opera, Oedipe. He suffered a severe stroke in 1954, which led to partial paralysis and eventually death.
 
Remus Azoitei, violin – Enescu: Andante malinconico
 
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (1899-1963)
A member of Les Six, Francis Poulenc was perhaps the most celebrated of the group for his witty, anti-Romantic music and cosmopolitan flair. However, the death of a friend in 1936 caused him to renew his Roman Catholic faith, and this change inspired some of his most serious sacred music and the opera, Dialogues des Carmélites. (Note the sounds of the guillotine in the opera’s final scene, sampled below.)
 
Pierre Dervaux, cond. – Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmélites – Act II, Scene 4, “Salve Regina, mater misericordiae”
Calliope – Poulenc: Ave Maria (arranged from Dialogues des Carmélites)
Robert Shaw, cond. – Poulenc: Stabat Mater
Some famous musicians were only temporary residents of the cemetery. Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) and Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) were buried in Père Lachaise, but their remains were later sent back to their native Italy. Their empty tombs are kept today as memorials. The ashes of the great opera diva Maria Callas (1923-1977) were also buried here, but after being stolen and relocated, they were scattered in the Aegean Sea and the empty urn was returned to the cemetery.
 
A tour of Père Lachaise certainly must include other important gravesites, and musicians from the fields of jazz and popular music have been buried here as well. The jazz violinist, Stéphane Grappelli (1908-1997), pianist Michel Petrucciani (1962-1999), chanteuse Édith Piaf (1915-1963), and perhaps most notorious of all, lead singer for The Doors, James Douglas Morrison (1943-1971) are among the dead who attract a steady stream of visitors to the cemetery. However, it is a depressing fact that Morrison’s pilgrims are often disruptive of the neighboring graves, spray-painting graffiti and leaving debris around the area. But considering that this cemetery was once the scene of a mass execution in the crushing of the Paris Commune in 1871, and that numerous other graves have been vandalized or subjected to various indignities over the years, including alleged orgies and black masses, Morrison’s sometimes messy marker (below) is not especially shocking.
 

News Roundup: 7/22/2010 22 Jul 2010, 5:01 pm

The Beach Boys will reform for a special show commemorating the legendary band’s 50th anniversary. Though the group has yet to settle on a date or location for the concert, founding guitarist Al Jardine confirmed in an interview with Rolling Stone that the band’s lineup will feature Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Bruce Johnston and possibly early guitarist David Marks. Jardine added that he would like to see the reformed band go on tour: “We’re going to have to rehearse one hell of a show. My point is, if we’re going to rehearse and make this such a wonderful show, we should take it on the road.” [NME.com]

Eminem made a surprise appearance at Rihanna’s Wednesday night show at Los Angeles’ Staples Center, performing the duo’s chart-topping single “Love the Way You Lie” for the crowd. The pair have been shooting the video for the song with director Joseph Khan. [Idolator.com]

Check out Jack White’s version of the Beatles’ “Mother Nature’s Son” from his performance last month at the White House for President Barack Obama and Paul McCartney. [WeAllWantSomeone.org]

Looks like Robyn will release at least two of her promised three albums in 2010. Body Talk Pt 2 will arrive in early September and features the single “Hang With Me,” a collaboration with Snoop Dogg, and an acoustic version of “Indestructible.” [FactMag.com]

Guitar virtuosa Marnie Stern is back on October 5 with her third, self-titled album. Though she’s reteaming with Hella drummer Zach Hill, Stern say this set of songs will feature quieter moments: “I wanted to pay more attention to the delicate and subtly layered spaces in between sound and just make things louder and fuller where I didn’t on my last two records… It’s direct and honest and real. I’m no longer taking cover under guitar lines or yelping vocals.” [Pitchfork.com]

Foxy Brown was arrested Wednesday for allegedly violating a protective order filed by one her neighbors. Arlene Raymond, who filed a restraining order against the rapper after being assaulted with Brown’s BlackBerry, alleges that Brown yelled insults at her and then lifted her skirt. Brown was charged with criminal contempt, a Class E felony. [TheDailySwarm.com]

Spinner presents the movie world’s biggest music geeks. [Spinner.com]