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New Releases For The Week Of March 11, 2007
Edited by Jonathan Cohen
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A Fine Wine
For all the exciting promotional plans being conceived on Amy Winehouse's behalf as her second album "Back to Black" (Island) takes her around the world, the artist remains unusually insouciant. "I love doing music and playing gigs," she says, "and I'm really grateful for the opportunity to do so. But to be honest, I'm not the kind of person that will think about the demographic."
The 23-year-old singer/songwriter's pop-friendly, soul-tinged style has translated to U.K. shipments of more than 650,000 for "Back to Black" since its Oct. 30, 2006, release, according to Universal Music U.K. Released Feb. 5 in most European territories, the album streets this week in the United States via Universal Republic. That release in itself is a measure of Winehouse's burgeoning mainstream potential.
Reports of Winehouse's colorful social life as a bon viveur, continuingly fed on by British newspapers, were hardly discouraged by the release of "Rehab" as the first U.K. single from "Back to Black" (sample lyric: "They tried to make me go to rehab/I said no, no, no." It hit the British top 10 in November -- her first top 40 single.
"I've just come out of a really bad relationship and literally written songs off the top of my head; there wasn't anything premeditated about them," Winehouse says.
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Back In The Game
Up until this point, Lloyd's career hasn't gone quite as planned. "I came to play ball but was sitting on the sidelines," the R&B singer recalls of watching friends like Bobby Valentino score hit singles. "I kept thinking I could change the game if I had some time on the court."
The newly minted 21-year-old isn't sitting on the sidelines now. The singer/songwriter is jump-starting interest in his sophomore set, "Street Love," thanks to the hit single "You." Featuring rapper Lil' Wayne, the radio-friendly R&B/hip-hop love song is the first single from Lloyd's new album -- whose release will inaugurate the joint venture established last September between Irv Gotti's the Inc. Records (formerly Murder Inc.) and Universal Motown.
Pumping up "You" is the song's bouncy beat, which incorporates a sample of "True" by Spandau Ballet (formerly utilized in the P.M. Dawn smash "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss"). Not to be discounted is the vocal interplay between Lloyd and Lil' Wayne, both of whom hail from New Orleans.
"Our fathers were both murdered when we were kids," says Lloyd, who was born in New Orleans and grew up in Atlanta. "Music is our refuge, our distraction from destruction."
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The Rich Get Richer
Rich Boy was a mechanical engineering student at Tuskegee University when he first fell victim to the producing bug. Upon running into future A-list producer Polow Da Don in 2001, he naturally gave Polow a CD of his beats. Polow encouraged him to stay in touch, but what really grabbed him was Rich Boy's lyrical delivery.
"I told him he could say, 'I'm going to the store,' and it'd sound cool," Polow says. Six years down the line, hip-hop fans seem to agree: Few MCs can rock a song sampling early-'80s R&B group Switch in 2007, but Rich Boy's hit "Throw Some D's" does just that. Now the single sits near the top of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart after six months. Born Maurice Richards, the 23-year-old is putting his hometown of Mobile, Ala., on the rap map.
Working the smaller markets near Mobile, Rich Boy and Polow created a buzz that pushed "Throw Some D's" up radio's urban and rap charts. The track comes from Rich Boy's self-titled debut album, due this week via Interscope. And while plenty of recent rappers seem to be plucked out of the South with ready-made albums, Polow has been developing Rich Boy since shortly after their first chance meeting, back when Polow was still a member of Southern rap group Jim Crow.
With Polow's connections, Rich Boy signed to Interscope in 2002. "He shopped my demo around, and before I knew [it] I got a deal," Rich Boy says. "It was just meant for me to do it."
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The Great White North
On the heels of the first release from his Archives Performance series last fall, Neil Young will unveil another vintage concert this week via Reprise. "Live at Massey Hall" was taped Jan. 19, 1971, at the Toronto venue and finds Young performing solo on guitar and piano.
Beyond favorites such as "Don't Let It Bring You Down," "I Am a Child," "Ohio" and "Down by the River," Young debuted material that wound up appearing on his next studio album, "Harvest." Among those songs were "The Needle and the Damage Done," "Old Man" and "Heart of Gold," the only No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit of his career.
Young claims producer David Briggs urged him to release the Massey Hall concert instead of the studio version of "Harvest," a suggestion he didn't follow. "I was very excited about the takes we got on 'Harvest,' and wanted 'Harvest' out," Young says. "David disagreed. As I listen to this today, I can see why."
In the fall, Reprise will finally unveil "Archives Volume I," a vault-clearing project Young has been promising for decades. The collection will comprise 8 CDs and 2 DVDs full of previously unreleased studio and live recordings as well as concert footage and memorabilia.
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Additional titles hitting stores this week include:
An album of rock covers from veteran artist Eddie Money, "Wanna Go Back" (Bungalo).
A second collaborative album between jazz guitarist Pat Metheny and pianist Brad Mehldau, "Quartet" (Nonesuch).
The Atlantic debut from R&B artist Musiq Soulchild, "Luvanmusic."
U.K. singer/songwriter James Morrison's "Undiscovered" (Universal).
Hot Tuna principal Jorma Kaukonen's "Stars in My Crown" (Red House).
Up-and-coming U.K. rock combo the Fratellis' "Costello Music" (Interscope).
The double-disc retrospective "Stax 50: A 50th Anniversary Celebration" (Stax).
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The Arcade Fire takes it sound to new and exciting places on its slavishly anticipated new album, "Neon Bible," due this week via Merge. The 11-track set was primarily recorded in a church outside the revered indie rock band's Montreal homebase.
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Air's fourth studio album, "Pocket Symphony," finds the French duo having a love affair with the very concept of love. "It became a cycle of songwriting, like a loop," band member Nicolas Godin says.
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Esteemed guitarist Ry Cooder follows his 2005 album "Chavez Ravine" with "My Name Is Buddy," due this week via Nonesuch. On it, Cooder narrates from the perspective of Buddy Red Cat, a fictional feline who sets off and sees the world.
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