Wednesday, December 18, 2002
Eminem, Madonna, U2 among Golden Globe nominees
Eminem, Madonna, U2, Paul Simon and Hans Zimmer will vie for the 60th annual Golden Globe Award in the Best Original Song from a Motion Picture category.
Eminem, Madonna, U2, Paul Simon and Hans Zimmer will vie for the 60th annual Golden Globe Award in the Best Original Song from a Motion Picture category.
The nominated songs are Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” (from the film “8 Mile"), Madonna’s “Die Another Day” (from the James Bond film of the same name), U2’s “The Hands That Built America” (from “Gangs of New York"), Paul Simon’s “Father and Daughter” (from “The Wild Thornberrys Movie") and Hans Zimmer’s “Here I Am” (performed by Bryan Adams, who wrote the lyrics with Gretchen Peters for the animated film “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron").
Nominees for Best Original Score, the other Golden Globe music category, are Terrance Blanchard (for Spike Lee’s “25th Hour"), Peter Gabriel (for “Rabbit Proof Fence"), Philip Glass (for “The Hours"), Elmer Bernstein (for “Far From Heaven") and Elliot Goldenthal (for “Frida").
The Golden Globes are awarded in 13 movie and 11 television categories by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, whose members cover entertainment for overseas publications. The awards ceremony will take place on Jan. 19, and will be telecast live on NBC.
Papa Roach hits the road in 2003
Currently on hiatus for the holiday season, Papa Roach will kick off the New Year by mounting a headlining run that launches in mid-January.
Currently on hiatus for the holiday season, Papa Roach will kick off the New Year by mounting a headlining run that launches in mid-January.
The group will be making stops in theatre-sized venues throughout the U.S. as it continues to back its sophomore album, this year’s “Lovehatetragedy.”
Earlier this month, Papa Roach recorded a new track tentatively titled “Don’t Look Back, which is slated to appear on the Jan. 28 soundtrack for “Biker Boyz.” The Neptunes--a.k.a. Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo--produced, according to Papa Roach’s official website.
“Lovehatetragedy," which features the tracks “She Loves Me Not” and “Time and Time Again, surfaced in June. The album follows the group’s triple-platinum 2000 debut, “Infest,” which spawned the breakthrough hit “Last Resort.”
Tuesday, December 17, 2002
The Donnas, OK Go pair for club tour
Female punk-pop group The Donnas and pop-rock quartet OK Go will co-headline a month-long string of club dates that gets underway in January.
Female punk-pop group The Donnas and pop-rock quartet OK Go will co-headline a month-long string of club dates that gets underway in January.
The Donnas jumped to major label Atlantic--which recently released the group’s new album, “Spend the Night--after releasing four albums for independent labels over four years. “Take It Off,” the new album’s first single, is getting heavy airplay on MTV and rock radio stations.
“Take It Off” got additional exposure when it was featured in a national radio-advertising campaign for Budweiser beer.
Chicago’s OK Go released its self-titled debut album in September, but the album’s first single, “Get Over It,” debuted on the video football game “Madden 2002” in August.
OK Go won’t appear at the tour’s Brockport, N.Y., Cincinnati, and Minneapolis stops.
Album Chart: Shania, Dixie Chicks dominate top slots
Divas dominate the chart this week, as the latest from country vixens Shania Twain and the Dixie Chicks score the highest sales totals, and new albums from Aaliyah and Whitney Houston debut in the Top 10.
Divas dominate the chart this week, as the latest from country vixens Shania Twain and the Dixie Chicks score the highest sales totals, and new albums from Aaliyah and Whitney Houston debut in the Top 10.
For the fourth straight week since its release, Twain’s “Up!” will sit at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Holiday shoppers kicked the album’s one-week sales total up to about 373,000 copies, according to industry sources, an increase from the previous week’s total of about 317,000 copies.
Getting a giant boost of its own, meanwhile, is the Dixie Chicks’ “Home,” sales of which more than doubled from the previous week. The album--which sat at No. 17 two weeks back and climbed to No. 9 last week with one-week sales of about 143,000 copies--leaps all the way to No. 2 thanks to sales of another 295,000 copies. The surge coincides with NBC-TV’s Dec. 10 airing of a Dixie Chicks concert special.
Aaliyah fans haven’t forgotten the late singer, as evidenced by the No. 3 debut of her posthumous release “I Care 4 U.” The retrospective album--which combines seven of her hits with six previously unreleased tracks--sold about 280,000 copies during its first week out.
The middle of the Top 10 shows only nominal movement, as Tim McGraw’s “Tim McGraw & the Dancehall Doctors” slips two spots to No. 4, the “8 Mile” soundtrack and Avril Lavigne’s “Let Go” stay put at Nos. 5 and 6, respectively; “Now That’s What I Call Music! 11” dips three spots to No. 7; and Jennifer Lopez’s “This Is Me ... Then” falls one notch to No. 8.
A pair of debuts close out the Top 10, with Whitney Houston’s “Just Whitney"--her first new studio effort since 1998’s “My Love Is Your Love"--enters the chart at No. 9 with sales of about 205,000 copies; and B2K’s “Pandemonium!” coming in at No. 10 with sales of about 195,000 copies.
One diva who didn’t fare as well as her peers this week is Mariah Carey, whose “Charmbracelet"--which debuted at No. 3 last week--drops 11 spots to No. 14. The album is the only among this week’s Top 20 to see its sales drop from its previous one-week total; every other Top 20 release experienced a holiday-shopping-induced increase.
Joining the ranks of those Top 20 albums is Nas’ “God’s Son,” which makes its debut at No. 18. The album’s first-week sales total about 156,000 copies.
Debuts happening further down the chart include: Phish’s “Round Room” at No. 46; Common’s “Electric Circus” at no. 47; 504 Boyz “Ballers” at No. 49; the Swizz Beatz compilation “Swizz Beatz Presents G.H.E.T.T.O.” at No. 50; “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” soundtrack at No. 62; and GZA/Genius’ “The Legend of the Liquid Sword” at No. 75.
Monday, December 16, 2002
R. Kelly’s ‘Chocolate Factory’ due in January
Embattled R&B star R. Kelly will release his seventh album, titled “Chocolate Factory,” on Jan. 28.
Embattled R&B star R. Kelly will release his seventh album, titled “Chocolate Factory,” on Jan. 28.
The self-produced album will be packaged with a 6-song bonus CD featuring songs from Kelly’s unreleased album “Love Land,” the tracks from which are circulating widely on the Internet.
Among the songs on “Love Land” is “Heaven I Need a Hug,” a single that Kelly released this summer after he was arrested on child pornography charges. [Kelly is accused of filming sex acts involving him and a minor. Kelly’s next court hearing in the case is set for Friday (12/20).]
“Ignition," the first single from “Chocolate Factory,” is currently getting heavy airplay on urban, R&B and hip-hop radio stations.
The track listing for the “Chocolate Factory” follows:
Chocolate Factory
Dream Girl
Forever More
I’ll Never Leave
You Knock Me Out
Step in the Name of Love - Remix
Heart of a Woman
Showdown (featuring Ron Isley)
Ignition
Ignition - Remix
Forever
You Made Me Love You
Step in the Name of Love
Here I Am
The following is the track listing for the bonus CD:
Love Land
What Do I Do
Heaven I Need a Hug
The World’s Greatest
Far More
Raindrops
Jane’s Addiction readies new album for 2003
Jane’s Addiction is finishing up its first new studio album in more than ten years, and plans to release the set early next summer.
Jane’s Addiction is finishing up its first new studio album in more than ten years, and plans to release the set early next summer.
Titled “Hypersonic,” the album marks the group’s first full-fledged studio effort since its hit 1990 album, “Ritual de lo Habitual.”
Legendary producer Bob Ezrin--whose production credits include Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” KISS’ “Destroyer” and Lou Reed’s “Berlin"--and his partner Brian Virtue are producing the new album.
In a message posted at the band’s official website, guitarist Dave Navarro wrote about the forthcoming release, and how well relations are within the band.
“I think that the combined energies of Bob, Brian and all of us in Jane’s Addiction has made this time in the band’s career the most comfortable and enjoyable it has ever been,” wrote Navarro. “We have never been happier, freer and more unified.”
Navarro said that the new album “should be out early next summer so we can all look forward to meeting up as we embark upon a world tour in 2003.”
The guitarist went on to explain that bassist Martyn LeNoble has left the group to pursue other interests, and has been replaced by Chris Chaney. LeNoble is a former member of Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell’s post-Jane’s outfit Porno for Pyros. He replaced original Jane’s bassist Eric Avery during the group’s 2001 reunion tour. Original drummer Stephen Perkins rounds out the current lineup.
Jane’s Addiction is scheduled to perform a New Year’s Eve show in Los Angeles, and will then embark on a three-week tour of Australia and New Zealand as part of the Big Day Out festival.
King Crimson drops ‘The Power to Believe’ in March
King Crimson’s 13th studio album--and the group’s first in three years--is scheduled to reach stores on March 4.
King Crimson’s 13th studio album--and the group’s first in three years--is scheduled to reach stores on March 4.
The band’s lineup for the album, titled “The Power to Believe,” includes guitarist Robert Fripp, vocalist/guitarist Adrian Belew, touch guitarist/rubber bass guitarist Trey Gunn and drummer Pat Mastelotto. The same group recorded the 2000 King Crimson album “The ConstruKction of Light.”
“We did things differently this time in that we actually went in to a real studio-- The Tracking Room in Nashville--to record most of this new album, other than the drum tracks we did at my studio,” Mastelotto said in a statement. “And we also brought in producer Machine (White Zombie, Pitchshifter) for assistance.”
Much of the material on “The Power to Believe” evolved on the band’s last tour, which included some time on the road with Tool, according to Mastellotto.
“Robert considers an album to be the end of a chapter and a tour to be the start of a chapter, which is the opposite way most musicians work,” he said. “The songs are worked out and perfected on tour before they are recorded for an album.”
Fripp formed King Crimson in 1969, and the band has gone through many personnel changes over the years.
The track listing for The Power to Believe is:
The Power to Believe I: A Cappella
Level Five
Eyes Wide Open
Elektrik
The Power to Believe II
Facts of Life: Intro
Facts of Life
Dangerous Curves
Happy With What You Have to Be Happy With
The Power to Believe III
The Power to Believe IV: Coda
Rosanne and Johnny Cash duet on ‘Rules of Travel’
Rosanne Cash, who hasn’t released a new studio album in a decade, returns from her respite in March with a new album, titled “Rules of Travel.”
Rosanne Cash, who hasn’t released a new studio album in a decade, returns from her respite in March with a new album, titled “Rules of Travel.”
The album will feature Cash’s first-ever duet with her father, Johnny. Other guest vocalists include Sheryl Crow, Steve Earle and Teddy Thompson.
Cash wrote or co-wrote eight of the 11 songs on the album, which also features writing contributions from John Leventhal (who also produced), Marc Cohn, Jakob Dylan and Joe Henry.
According to Capitol Nashville, Cash suddenly lost her voice when she began recording the album in 1998, and was unable to sing for more than two years. After working with a voice therapist, she was eventually able to resume her work.
“It was such a revelation losing my voice, and getting it back,” Cash said in a statement. “I feel a lot of passion about singing, and a lot less fear.”
Sunday, December 15, 2002
Reunited Joe Jackson Band hits the club circuit
The original Joe Jackson Band, which first formed in 1978 and played its last show in 1980, has regrouped for a new tour and album.
The original Joe Jackson Band, which first formed in 1978 and played its last show in 1980, has regrouped for a new tour and album.
According to Jackson’s official website, the band played seven September warm-up gigs in the U.K., before recording 11 new songs in Surrey, England. A March 11 release date has been set for the album, which Jackson produced.
In a statement, Jackson described the album as “high-energy, fun, and in the spirit of the first couple of albums, but more mature.”
The reunion of Jackson with bassist Graham Maby, guitarist Gary Sanford and drummer Dave Houghton came in part to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the recording of “Look Sharp,” the band’s debut recording.
Hank Williams Jr. and Hank III to share the Opry stage
Hank Williams Jr. and Hank Williams III will perform together onstage for the first time to commemorate the 50th anniversary of country legend Hank Williams’ death.
Hank Williams Jr. and Hank Williams III will perform together onstage for the first time to commemorate the 50th anniversary of country legend Hank Williams’ death.
Several of Williams’ classic songs will be performed by his son and grandson on Grand Ole Opry Live, which will be broadcast on Jan. 4 from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times on the CMT cable network.
“It was a year ago that I made my first performance on the Grand Ole Opry in over 17 years,” Hank Williams Jr. said in a statement. “And boy, it was a sad night as I honored my brother Waylon Jennings. This time I will be honoring my father, and who better to be performing with but my own son, Shelton [Hank III].”
Hank Williams--whose best-known songs include “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “Lovesick Blues” and “Cold, Cold Heart"--made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry on June 11, 1945, and was brought back to perform six additional times. He died--apparently after mixing drugs and alcohol--on New Year’s Day of 1953 at the age of 29.
CMT will also pay tribute to Williams with a new episode of its biography CMT Inside Fame, which debuts on Jan. 1.