…and the bad plays on words just don’t stop.

Pretty quiet week at your local music emporium, with just a few interesting new releases. I guess we were due for one, since it seemed like new music was getting spit out at an alarming frickin’ rate for the last month or so.

From a commercial perspective, the key new release is arguably the 40th version of the venerable “Now That’s What I Call Music” series. Yes, they keep making these motherfuckers, even as less and less people buy them. Once guaranteed multi-platinum sales, the last several volumes have petered out at about the 500,000 mark-presumably selling to people who are too lazy to create playlists on their media player of choice. Included in this volume: ubiquitous hits like “Moves Like Jagger” and “Pumped Up Kicks” that the average radio-listening person must already be sick of.

The album I’m most excited about? Meshell Ndegeocello’s new joint, Weather. First of all, Meshell is fucking flawless-she has YET to make even an average album. Secondly, this album unites her with Joe Henry, an amazing artist in his own right, and a solid producer probably best known for working with Mavis Staples on her most recent album, You Are Not Alone. Not that Meshell and Mavis have anything at ALL in common musically, but Joe seems a good fit for both of them. Joe and Meshell have also worked together before–on the track “Wasted Time”, which closed her phenomenal Bitter album.

Been following the site recently? Then you’ll know that there are new albums out today from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds (because we’ve already reviewed it! We’re psychic!) and Jonathan Coulton (because we interviewed the man himself last week).

The rest of the mixed schedule almost reads like a potpourri category in Jeopardy! Disturbed is releasing The Lost Children, a collection of rarities and B-sides, while country trio Rascal Flatts are going the greatest hits live route. Neo-classical troupe Il Divo are going after some of that Simon Cowell money with their new album Wicked Game (I’ll go out on a limb and say that a cover of the Chris Isaak classic is probably on this), while blues and soul legend Etta James, who has been ailing lately, wraps up her career with The Dreamer. Perhaps the oddest release of the week comes from filmmaker David Lynch. Crazy Clown Time is the title of the album, and I expect it to be…weird. After all, it is David Lynch. The only thing creepier would be if Tim Burton started making records.

On the reissue tip, there’s another Pink Floyd best-of now in circulation, entitled A Foot in the Door. There’s also a brand new 2-disc remaster/reissue of the band’s classic album Wish You Were Here (which certainly boasts the best cover of any Pink Floyd album.) We’ll wrap up this week’s column with a quick word about the expanded edition of Billy Joel’s Piano Man, which contains a second disc containing a previously unreleased concert from 1972. That was a quick word. So we’re done, right? Okay.

As always, make sure you check outfor a full list of this week’s (and any other week’s) new releases.