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New Releases For The Week Of October 15, 2006
Edited by Jonathan Cohen
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'Play' It Again
Sean "Diddy" Combs is surrounded by some of the biggest names in music on his new album, "Press Play." Due this week via Bad Boy, the set boasts contributions from Christina Aguilera, OutKast's Big Boi, Mary J. Blige, Jamie Foxx, Nas, Brandy and Keyshia Cole, among others.
Production on "Press Play" was supplied by Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Just Blaze, will.i.am, Mobb Deep's Havoc and Rich Harrison. Diddy says the set is reflective of where he is in his life; he and longtime girlfriend Kim Porter are expecting twins. "I can't do a crunk record, and I'm not shooting anybody so I can't do that kind of music," he says. "This is a vulnerable album meant to make you feel good."
"Press Play" is a fusion of R&B, soul, hip-hop and live instrumentation. Combs calls it "hip-hop soul. That's where music is going," Combs says. "It's hop-hop soul. It's musical and has melody. It's a mix of gutter and sophistication. Like me, I guess."
"Press Play" is Combs' first artist album since 2001's "The Saga Continues," which debuted at No. 2 on The Billboard 200 and has sold more than 1.1 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
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The 'Long' Road
Shedding his neo-traditional label one song at a time, country singer Dierks Bentley says his third album, "Long Trip Alone," is a snapshot in time. The set is due this week via Capitol Nashville.
"I have certain ideas musically that continue to evolve so all of that is reflected on this record," Bentley says. "I think sonically it falls somewhere between Waylon [Jennings] and U2, maybe. There are definitely some bigger songs on there that take love and expound on that subject. And there's some good Waylon groove stuff on there as well. I call them 'guy songs.' Songs that guys like myself want to drink beer to and hang out and listen to country music."
Appealing to both guys and gals has been the secret to Bentley's platinum success over the past few years. Bentley, who got married in 2005, explores relationships from a range of perspectives on the new album, from the inspirational title track to the Jerry Reed-esque "Band of Brothers" and the fun love song "That Don't Make It Easy Loving Me."
Bentley just returned to familiar stomping grounds on tour. He says over the past four years, he's toured more than anyone else, including 250 dates last year and an expected 160 shows in 2006. "I feel like we earned it but we have a long way to go," Bentley says. "But it all depends on how well this tour does this fall. If this doesn't do well, I don't know ... I don't have a plan B."
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Four For The Price Of One
Usually when an artist releases a multiple-CD collection, it is a boxed set of greatest hits with maybe a few previously unreleased tunes thrown in. In a possibly unprecedented move, Vince Gill's new MCA project, "These Days," is a 43-song, four-CD set of new material that will hit the shelves this week.
"I'll always write a whole bunch of songs and then try to pick what I like best out of that batch of songs," Gill says. "I found that some pretty good songs just kind of get put in a desk drawer somewhere and you kind of lose sight of them."
This time, Gill decided no song should be left behind, so he went to Universal Music Group Nashville co-chairman Luke Lewis with the idea to release multiple CDs during the course of a year. Instead, Lewis encouraged him to record another CD of acoustic music and said the label would release all four simultaneously.
The four discs are subtitled "Some Things Never Get Old" (country), "Little Brother" (bluegrass/acoustic), "Workin' On a Big Chill" (which has more of a rock sound) and "The Reason Why" (more of a soul/jazz flavor). Guests include Diana Krall, Bonnie Raitt, Gretchen Wilson, Trisha Yearwood, Phil Everly, the Del McCoury Band and Emmylou Harris, Gill's daughter Jenny and his wife, Amy Grant.
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'Little' Women
Teen pop stars arrive by the dozens, but 15-year-old Joanna Levesque (JoJo for short) has all but bypassed the teenie-bop phase, crafting tunes that can dwell comfortably on both the pop and AC charts -- her current power ballad hit "Too Little Too Late" is already breaking records and reaching listeners of all ages. Levesque's sophomore album, "The High Road," arrives this week via Da Family/Blackground/Universal.
Fueled by 121,000 digital sales, "Too Little Too Late" recently made the biggest jump ever into the top three of the Billboard Hot 100, leaping 66-3 and breaking the record previously held by Mariah Carey's 2001 hit "Loverboy."
Levesque attributes the success of the song -- written by Billy Steinberg (Madonna's "Like a Virgin," Whitney Houston's "So Emotional") and produced by Da Family founder/president Vincent Herbert -- to its universal draw. Its music video has already been No. 1 on iTunes, Yahoo and AOL. "A lot of people, especially women, can relate to it regardless of age," Levesque says from her Boston home.
"It's hard to get over your first heartbreak and that's what it's about-moving on," she says. "Although it's still a pop song, we added more R&B elements to it with the harmonies and the progressions, but still kept it rock in the hook when it explodes. And there's some acoustic guitar there as well as some electric."
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Additional titles hitting stores this week include:
Former "American Idol" champ Ruben Studdard's third album, "The Return" (J).
The first solo album in 10 years from Sunny Day Real Estate frontman Jeremy Enigk, "World Waits" (Lewis Hollow/Reincarnate Music).
New albums from rapper Xzibit ("Full Circle," Koch) and producer/rapper Hi-Tek ("Hi-Teknology Vol. 2," Babygrande).
A new album from country chart-toppers Lonestar, "Mountains" (BNA).
Electronica figurehead Squarepusher's "Hello Everything" (Warp).
The latest release from R&B artist Frankie J, "Priceless" (Columbia).
Holiday collections from pop veteran Sarah Mclachlan ("Wintersong," Arista) and theatrical hard rock act Twisted Sister ("A Twisted Christmas," Razor & Tie).
A new retrospective from Aerosmith, "Devil's Got a New Disguise" (Columbia), featuring two new songs.
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Sting says he's fully aware that an album of 16th century lute songs is not exactly a commercial slam-dunk. But he's holding out hope that his "Songs From the Labyrinth," due this week via Deutsche Grammophon, will find an audience.
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Most bands fear the worst when their albums get bumped back from their original release dates. But for Robert Randolph and the Family Band, the two-week delay of its sophomore Warner Bros. set, "Colorblind," has proved quite fortuitous.
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"I have had it with these motherf*ckin' snakes on this motherf*ckin' plane!" was one of the more memorable movie quote of the summer, even if the film from which it sprung, "Snakes on a Plane," bombed at the box office.
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