New Releases, Oct. 24: My Chemical Romance, John Legend, Paul Stanley
My Chemical Romance "The Black Parade"
These modern goth-rockers return with the follow-up to their platinum-plus-selling major label debut, 2004's "Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge." The new album was produced by Rob Cavallo, best known for his work with Green Day.
In an August press conference, lead singer Gerard Way called the album "an epic, theatrical, orchestral, big record that is also a concept album. It has a very set story, but as you listen, the layers of that story peel away. What you're left with at the end is a story about mortality."
The band debuted the album's first single, "Welcome to the Black Parade," during this year's MTV Video Music Awards pre-show.
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John Legend "Once Again"
The Grammy-winning vocalist/pianist returns with the follow-up to his immensely successful debut, 2004's "Get Lifted." Kanye West, who produced Legend's first album, had a hand in the new disc, as did Raphael Saadiq and Will.I.Am.
The first single from the album is "Save Room," which was inspired by an old AM radio single, "Stormy," by the Classics IV, a '60s-era Top 40 band best known for the song "Spooky." Legend will support the new album with a lengthy tour, kicking off 10/26 in Washington D.C. and currently stretching through a 12/2 date in Norfolk, VA.
It's already been a very good year for Legend. Back in February, the vocalist picked up three Grammy awards: Best R&B Album ("Get Lifted"), Best R&B Male Vocal Performance ("Ordinary People") and Best New Artist.
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Paul Stanley "Live to Win"
Nearly there decades after the release of his first solo set, KISS singer/guitarist Paul Stanley returns to deliver his second.
While continuing to lead his popular rock band with bassist Gene Simmons, Stanley has remained pretty busy outside of KISS. His work in recent years includes a 1999 run as the lead in a Toronto production of "Phantom of the Opera." More recently, he made his debut as a painter and began exhibiting and selling original works of art last year.
Stanley is currently on the road in support of "Live to Win." The tour is scheduled to wrap up Nov. 14 in Los Angeles.
Stanley's first solo album was a 1978 eponymous effort released in conjunction with solo albums by the other three KISS members.
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Hannah Montana "Hannah Montana"
Hannah Montana is the current queen--or, perhaps, princess is more accurate--of the tween market. The singer (whose real name is Miley Cyrus, daughter of country crooner Billy Ray Cyrus) has a hugely popular show on Disney. Make no mistake about it: There's a real chance that this CD soundtrack could top the charts.
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Aimee Mann "One More Drifter in the Snow"
The Grammy-winning vocalist offers up a seasonal collection filled with such wintry favorites as "I'll Be Home for Christmas," "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," "Winter Wonderland," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen."
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Original Soundtrack "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas"
This expanded, two-disc soundtrack to one of the most popular holiday films of recent years features plenty of new songs as well as a 3-D cover. Adding weight to the original Danny Elfman score are such guest stars as Marilyn Manson, Fiona Apple, Fall Out Boy, She Wants Revenge and Panic! At the Disco.
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Other new releases:
George Benson, Al Jarreau, "Givin' It Up" (Concord)
Eisbrecher, "Antikorper" (Dancing Ferret)
Ben Folds, "Supersunnyspeedgraphic--The LP" (Sony)
Merle Haggard, George Jones, "Jones Sings Haggard, Haggard Sings Jones: Kickin' Out the Footlights ... Again" (Bandit)
Koop, "Koop Islands" (K7)
Lil Boosie, "Bad Azz" (Asylum)
Moby, "Go: The Very Best of Moby" (V2)
Montgomery Gentry, "Some People Change" (Sony)
Fernando Ortega, "The Shadow of Your Wings: Hymns and Sacred Songs" (Curb)
Skid Row, "Revolutions Per Minute" (Steamhammer)
Taylor Swift, "Taylor Swift" (Big Machine)
Various artists, "Butchering the Beatles: A Headbashing Tribute" (Restless)
Andreas Vollenweider, "Midnight Clear" (Denon)
Winger, "IV" (Frontiers)
Frank Zappa, "Trance-Fusion" (Zappa)
The Hip announce '07 Cdn. dates
The Tragically Hip have announced dates for their upcoming two-month Canadian winter tour.
In an email message to fans, the group revealed they will play 19 dates in January and February on a tour that is moving from west to east.
Tickets for all shows go on sale on October 27 and October 28. A special presale for registered users at thehip.com will be able to get first crack at the best seats in the house starting tomorrow (Oct. 24).
The tour is in support of the band's latest album, "World Container."
The band are currently gearing up for the bigger tour with intimate club dates in select cities across the country.
Here are the '07 dates:
January 8th -- Save On Foods Memorial Centre, Victoria, BC
January 10th -- Interior Savings Centre, Kamloops, BC
January 12th -- CN Centre, Prince George, BC
January 13th -- Canada Games Arena, Grande Prairie, AB
January 14th -- Rexall Place, Edmonton, AB
January 16th -- Enmax Centrium, Red Deer, AB
January 17th -- Enmax Centre, Lethbridge, AB
January 19th -- Brandt Centre At Ipsco Place, Regina, SK
January 20th -- Mts Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba
January 22nd -- Fort Williams Gardens, Thunder Bay, ON
January 23rd -- Steelback Centre, Sault St. Marie, ON
January 25th -- Barrie Molson Centre, Barrie, ON
January 27th -- Sudbury Arena, Sudbury, ON
January 29th -- Memorial Centre, Peterborough, ON
January 31st -- General Motors Centre, Oshawa, ON
February 2nd -- Scotiabank Place, Ottawa, ON
February 5th -- John Labatt Centre, London, ON
February 6th -- Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, ON
February 8th -- Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
Mellencamp Looks To Past For New Album Inspiration
John Mellencamp's new single, "Our Country," will be on his next album, but he tells Billboard.com it's hardly indicative of what the rest of the album will sound like. "It's pretty interesting," Mellencamp says of "Freedom Road," due in January via Universal Republic. "It sounds very 1966, but it sounds now. 'Our Country' is the most John Mellencamp-sounding record on it. I think people are gonna go, 'Wow!,' or they're gonna go, 'What is he trying to do?'"
Mellencamp, who wrote and produced all 14 songs on the album, says he and guitarists Mike Wanchic and Andy York have been working on "Freedom Road" for nearly a year, recording at his Belmont Mall studio in Bloomington, Ind. When he says 1966, Mellencamp means the garage rock side of things, and to get the flavor right they actually recorded in the rehearsal room of the studio, which is, in fact, a garage.
"We tore apart ... every song from 1966, 1965," Mellencamp says. "We listened to all that music, then we learned it, we listened to it, we examined it -- 'How did they do that?' We were inspired by it, we copied it, we stole it. We did everything we could from that era."
Among the songs is "Jim Crow," a duet with Joan Baez, as well as a track called "Cigarettes" that Mellencamp says Pat Boone "could sing in a second."
"Freedom Road" also brings Mellencamp back to his first recording home -- kind of. All of the labels the artist recorded for early in his career are now under the Universal Music Group umbrella, which Mellencamp signed to after a two-album stint with Columbia.
"I didn't even want a deal," says Mellencamp, who's selling "Our Country" on digital resale sites and has licensed it to Chevrolet for a truck commercial. "[Universal chairman/CEO] Doug Morris has come forward and I like Doug; he's an old school record guy. So I'm very happy to be putting this album out on Universal, but I'm dealing with ... guys who care about music and care about the artists."
Mellencamp plans to tour in support of "Freedom Road" after its release.