Street Date May 7: Lauryn Hill, Tom Waits
ByMay 5, 2002 10:00 PM
[B]Also:[EB] “Family Values Tour 2001,” K’s Choice, Ray Charles, Coal Chamber, Pitchshifter and more.
[B]Also:[EB] “Family Values Tour 2001,” K’s Choice, Ray Charles, Coal Chamber, Pitchshifter and more.
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Lauryn Hill - “Unplugged” (Columbia)
This two-CD collection, which is the ex-Fugee’s first album since 1998’s Grammy-winning “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” captures a two-hour performance of new acoustic music, which Hill originally premiered on MTV2 on March 10. A DVD/VHS edition of the program is scheduled for a late May release. Hill appear’s on this year’s Smokin’ Grooves tour.
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Tom Waits - “Alice “ and “Blood Money” (Anti/Epitaph)
Three years after the critically acclaimed “Mule Variations” hit stores, the eccentric star releases two separate albums on the same day. Waits wrote and produced both albums with Kathleen Brennan, his wife and frequent collaborator. The songs on “Blood Money” are based on the unfinished Georg Buchner play “Woyzeck,” an 1820s tale of a poor soldier driven mad by medical experiments and an unfaithful wife. The songs on “Alice” were written for an avant-garde Robert Wilson opera that ran during 1992 and 1993 in Hamburg, but weren’t previously recorded. Waits appears on CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman” on Wednesday (5/8).
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Various artists - “The Family Values Tour 2001” (Elektra)
Last year’s Family Values Tour spawns this live set, which follows live releases from the ‘98 and ‘99 outings. Josh Abraham (Staind, “Family Values Tour ‘98,” Limp Bizkit) produced the 12-track collection, which features performances from Staind, Linkin Park, Static X and headliners Stone Temple Pilots, the latter of whom contribute four tracks to the set. Staind frontman Aaron Lewis shows up on STP’s performance of “Creep,” as well as on Linkin Park’s “One Step Closer.” More info is available at the album’s official website.
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K’s Choice - “Almost Happy” (Sony International)
Belgian quintet K’s Choice--fronted by brother and sister duo Gert and Sarah Bettens--returns with this two-disc follow-up to 1998’s “Cocoon Crash.” The release features one disc of new studio material, and another that houses a live set. The group is streaming the album’s title track at its official website. K’s Choice gained popularity in the U.S. with its 1996 hit “Not an Addict.”
Click here to read a review of “Almost Happy.”
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Ray Charles - “Thanks for Bringing Love Around Again” (Crossover)
The 71-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member’s first album in six years, which he is releasing on his own label, includes a new rendition of his hit “What’d I Say,” a song Charles first recorded in 1959. The album features a dozen tracks in all, most of which are contemporary R&B.
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Coal Chamber - “Dark Days” (Roadrunner)
Coal Chamber’s third album surfaces amidst reports of turmoil within the band. Following an on-stage scuffle between some of the group’s members during a recent show in Lubbock, Texas, frontman Dez Fafara ditched the group mid-set, and the band subsequently scrapped several scheduled performances, according to Roadrunner Records. A release-day show at the Key Club in Los Angeles is still on, however; fans can get a ticket to the show by purchasing “Dark Days” at the Tower Records store on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, according to the group’s official website.
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Pitchshifter - “P.S.I.” (Sanctuary)
This industrial-metal act’s latest is its first for Sanctuary records, and follows 2000’s MCA Records release, “Deviant.” The British quartet is offering free mp3 downloads of the album’s tracks “Shutdown” and “Down” at its official website. The group has also arranged a contest through which fans can remix “Shutdown,” the winning version of which will appear on the B-side of the group’s second single. Details are available at the group’s website.
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Other new releases:
Howard Alden - “My Shining Hour” (Concord Jazz)
Baucom, Bibey & Blueridge - “Come Along with Me” (Sugar Hill)
Belle Louisiane - “Bande Feufollet” (Louisiana Red Hot)
The Blamed - “Give Us Barabas” (Tooth & Nail)
Bratmobile - “Girls Get Busy” (Lookout!)
Henry Butler - “The Game Has Just Begun” (Basin Street)
Jon Cleary - “Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen” (Basin Street)
Kellie Coffey - “When You Lie Next to Me” (BNA)
Concentrick - “Lucid Dreaming” (Emperor Jones)
The Contrast - “Mystery 1” (Rainbow Quartz)
Crooked Fingers - “Reservoir Songs” (Merge)
Curl Up and Die - “Unfortunately, We’re Not Robots” (Revelation)
Dave Davies - “Bug” (Koch)
Deus Ex Machina - “Cinque” (Cuneiform)
Jerry Douglas - “Lookout for Hope” (Sugar Hill)
Early Day Miners - “Let Us Garlands Bring” (Secretly Canadian)
Earshot - “Letting Go” (Warner Bros.)
Elf Power - “Creatures” (spinART)
Elk City - “Hold Tight the Ropes” (Warm)
Michael Feinstein - “And the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra” (Concord Jazz)
French Kicks - “One Time Bells” (Star Time)
Gipsyland - “Arte” (Hollywood)
The Gossip - “Arkansas Heat (EP)” (Kill Rock Stars)
Wayne Gratz - “A Place Without Noise” (Narada)
Joe Grushecky - “Fingerprints” (Schoolhouse)
Hakim - “Talakik” (Ark 21)
Paul Hardcastle - “Hardcastle III” (V2)
Tom Harrell - “Live at the Village Vanguard” (Bluebird/RCA Victor)
Highway 9 - “What in Samhill?” (Epic)
Icon of Coil - “The Soul Is in the Software” (Metropolis)
Etta James & the Roots Band- “Burnin’ Down the House” (Private Music/RCA)
Jenai - “Cool Me Down” (Curb)
Jim & Jennie & the Pinetops - “One More in the Cabin” (Overcoat)
Journalist - “Scribes of Life” (Universal)
Kings County Queens - “Big Ideas” (Rubric)
Jim Lauderdale - “The Hummingbirds” (DualTone)
Jim Lauderdale, Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys - “Lost in the Lonesome Pines” (DualTone)
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver - “Hard Game of Love” (Sugar Hill)
Leftover Salmon - “Live” (Compass)
Louisiana Red - “A Different Shade of Red” (Severn)
Sylvain Luc - “Trio Sud” (Dreyfus)
The Makers - “Strangest Parade” (Sub Pop)
Buddy Miles - “Blues Berries” (Ruf)
Monstrosity - “Millennium” (Conquest)
The Muffins - “Bandwidth” (Cuneiform)
Mull Historical Society - “Loss” (Beggars Banquet)
Musiq - “Juslisen” (Def Jam)
New Orleans Juice - “All Lit Up” (Louisiana Red Hot)
Nikkos - “Angels Flying” (Nikkos)
O.A.R. - “Any Time Now” (Everfine)
Lou Pride - “Words of Caution” (Severn)
Radar Brothers - “And the Surrounding Mountains” (Merge)
Judith Ren-Lay - “Out of Nowhere” (Knitting Factory)
Daryle Singletary - “That’s Why I Sing This Way” (Audium)
Slavic Soul Party - “In Makedonija” (Knitting Factory)
Steven R. Smith - “Lineaments” (Emperor Jones)
Spaceways Inc. - “Version Soul” (Atavistic)
Spokane - “Able Bodies” (Jagjaguwar)
St. Thomas - “I’m Coming Home” (Misra)
Strapping Fieldhands - “The Third Kingdom” (Omphalos)
The Strawberry Smell - “Odorama” (Rainbow Quartz)
Andy Timmons - “That Was Then, This Is Now” (Favored Nations)
Track Star - “Lion Destroyed the Whole World” (Better Looking)
Trans Am - “TA” (Thrill Jockey)
Trio da Paz - “Café” (Malandro)
20 Miles - “Keep It Coming” (Fat Possum)
Univers Zero - “Rhythmix” (Cuneiform)
Wayne - “Music on Plastic” (TVT)
Peter Welker - “Paradise Is Awfully Nice” (33rd Street)
Michael White - “Jazz from the Soul of New Orleans” (Basin Street)
Wonderlick - “Wonderlick” (Future Farmer)
Warren Zevon - “My Ride’s Here” (Artemis)
Various artists - “156 Strings” (Cuneiform)
Various artists - “Atticus & Side One Present: Dragging the Lake (Side One Dummy)
Various artists - “Dub Your Brains Out” (Victory)
Various artists - “Fields & Streams” (Kill Rock Stars)
Various artists - “Nu Afro Latin” (Murena)
Various artists - “2nd Annual Sacred Steel Convention” (Arhoolie)
Various artists - “Songcatcher II: The Tradition That Inspired the Movie” (Vanguard)
Various artists - “Chillout 2002: The Ultimate Chillout” (Nettwerk)
Soundtracks and scores:
“Felicity: Senior Year” (Nettwerk)
“Of Thee I Sing” (DRG/Koch)
“Queer as Folk: Second Season” (RCA)
Click here to read last week’s “Street Date” feature.
SoundSpike’s weekly “Street Date” feature is published on Monday morning.