In case you live under a rock and haven’t heard, Bruce Springsteen has a new album out today called Wrecking Ball. The new set from The Boss is said to be very much in the political commentary realm-more so than his last couple of albums, anyway. Of course, it’s also The E Street Band’s first album without Clarence Clemons, who passed away last summer, although several tracks feature his playing. The album’s already gotten a rapturous review in Rolling Stone (although that’s to be expected.) Bruce has unveiled new tracks from the album all last week on the web, and the publicity machine has been in overdrive, with his appearances on Jimmy Fallon’s show last week providing plenty of bloggers with material.
The release schedule is reasonably light this week, as it looks like folks are giving Bruce his proper time to shine. We’ve featured Every Time I Die on these pages before. How could you not, with songs entitled “Underwater Bimbos From Outer Space“? Makes me want to go on Amazon and see if I can find a copy of Amazon Women From the Moon (see what I did there?) At any rate, the veteran metalcore band is releasing their new album, Ex-Lives, today. It is their first release on legendary punk label Epitaph.
Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields were last seen on these pages appearing in our Best Albums of the ’90s list. Love At The Bottom Of The Sea is their new album, and have you read our review yet? It’s linked above. That’s okay, we’ll wait…
…Back? OK, now on to the rest of the new release schedule. Today also marks the launch date for Break It Yourself, the latest album from quirky singer/songwriter Andrew Bird. He’ll be joined on shelves (both actual, physical shelves and “virtual” ones) by albums from Aussie vocal group Human Nature (Motown covers,) British alt-rockers Kaiser Chiefs, and Broadway star Idina Menzel (also known as the wife of Taye Diggs, who makes an appearance on the album.)
Not much on the reissue tip, either. Universal Music is extending it’s Icon line with entries from Diana Ross, Michael Jackson (two artists who are completely over-compiled at this point) and Fall Out Boy. The only real reason I mention the latter title is to link you to an extremely interesting post on Patrick Stump’s blog. Although I think the piece is a bit whiny and self-pitying, the guy does have a point. Anyone who pays money to go to a show and heckle? Huge loser. However, as you may remember from our review, I (for one) think Soul Punk is a work of genius. Patrick should continue following his muse, and as he carves a new niche for himself (if Darius fucking Rucker can do it, he can too,) the hecklers (I hate saying “haters,” because it’s such a dumb and misused phrase) will decrease.
As always, make sure you check out Pause and Play for all your new release needs!