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New Releases For The Week Of September 28, 2008
Edited by Jonathan Cohen
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Make Like 'Paper'
It's been a tumultuous year of offstage drama for T.I., but "Paper Trail," due this week via Grand Hustle/Atlantic, finds him back in the driver's seat. The MC reasserts his lyrical skills on tracks like "I'm Illy," clearly recorded during his house arrest stint on weapons charges, where he speaks frankly about his life.
The Kanye West-produced "Swagger Like Us" featuring Jay-Z, West and Lil Wayne is a clear highlight, as is the Rihanna-led "Live Your Life." And the single "Whatever You Like" recently set a record for the biggest jump to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 by soaring 71-1.
"I think it's a new sound for me, something people aren't necessarily used to hearing," he says of the latter. "It's one of those risky records. It just happened to work in our favor."
Despite appearances by Swizz Beatz, John Legend, Usher and Ludacris (surprising, considering their long rivalry), the focus remains squarely on T.I. throughout. When you've got a lot of distractions, especially looming prison time, it's not always the best muse. But T.I. hasn't given in to his situation. Instead, he's embodied literature's most popular archetype -- the survivor -- by transforming his woes into a reflective, enjoyable album.
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In The 'Spotlight'
At 26, Jennifer Hudson's career path may be impossible to duplicate: She went from being a choir singer at her church in her hometown of Chicago to a Disney Cruise Line chanteuse to an "American Idol" contestant to an Academy Award winner for best supporting actress for her role in "Dreamgirls." Thanks to the ever-expanding entertainment landscape, what this means is that Hudson has built a significant career on a multiple-octave voice -- without releasing an album.
All that changes this week, when her self-titled debut drops on Arista/RMG. Even under the guidance of Sony BMG U.S. chief creative officer Clive Davis and RCA Music Group senior VP of A&R Larry Jackson, "Jennifer Hudson" faced a difficult task: With a voice that can do anything and an artist who has generated a fan base from numerous outlets, how do you narrow down what the album will contain so that it retains her broad appeal?
The answer: You don't. "Jennifer Hudson" defies classifying and offers up everything from pop to R&B to gospel. The set features a gospel tribute to her days in the church choir with a rendition of "Jesus Promised Me a Home Over There" and a track that Diane Warren penned for the singer's lung-busting balladeer side, "You Pull Me Through." The album also includes the classic "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from "Dreamgirls" and "All Dressed in Love" from the recent "Sex and the City" soundtrack.
"It is risky, because people expect you to just do one thing," Hudson says. "I'm going to take the chance and show what else is a part of me."
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'Something' For Everyone
Hoping to repeat the success of 2006's "The Evolution of Robin Thicke," the R&B singer/songwriter will release his third album, "Something Else," this week via Star Trak/Interscope.
The set was produced entirely by Thicke and longtime collaborator Pro-Jay. And, unlike "Evolution," it features no guest appearances. The album, as Thicke describes it, is a cross between "classic Philly, Motown and '70s black disco meets the creativity of the Beatles and Bob Dylan."
"These new songs are talking about a time for change and hope; to get away from all the sadness, loneliness and depression that I used to live in," he says. "This album expresses the celebration I'm going through and the healing I want to give to people. It's also about what's going on in the world with politics and race."
To that end, Thicke admits he's found it difficult as a white artist making R&B music to be taken seriously by the industry at large. "People ask me, 'Why did you choose to make R&B music?' R&B music chose me. I have no choice; I make what I love. That's like asking, 'Why did you choose that woman to marry?' It just happened. I'm a soulful artist who crosses genres of music just like Sly Stone, Prince, Stevie Wonder and the Beatles."
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Gotta Have Faith
Summer's over and it's still hot, but even so, Faith Hill is quick to warm up to talk about Christmas. Which is more than appropriate as she sets up the first -- and, quite possibly, only -- Christmas album of her career, "Joy to the World," due this wek on Warner Bros.
While many Nashville-based artists record holiday records early and relatively often, Hill's was several years in the making and intended to be her definitive take on the season. "Joy to the World" is overwhelmingly a collection of standards, be it the big, booming orchestral arrangements of the title track or "Oh, Holy Night" or swinging, big-band, vintage-sounding versions of more lighthearted fare such as "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" and "Holly, Jolly Christmas."
"I love everything about Christmas, and I have wanted to record a Christmas album since the beginning of my career," Hill says. Song selection was one of the "toughest things" about putting the project together, Hill says. She wanted to ensure she had the perfect team in place in the studio; the album's producers are Hill, Dann Huff and Byron Gallimore, and the entire album was arranged and conducted by David Campbell and engineered by Allen Sides.
"Fortunately, most of these songs I've known my entire life," she says, adding that she and Campbell took care to deliver the songs as written-even if they were written a century ago. "On some of them I was used to singing the lyric I grew up with, which was not really always the original lyric. I guess over time things just change, or people take their own interpretation of what the song was originally."
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Additional titles hitting stores this week include:
Holiday albums from Bela Fleck and Flecktones ("Jingle All the Way," Rounder) and Melissa Etheridge ("A New Thought for Christmas," Island).
Singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco's "Red Letter Year" (Righteous Babe).
The multi-disc Jesus & Mary Chain boxed set "The Power of Negative Thinking" (Rhino).
The latest album from singer/songwriter Joseph Arthur and his band the Lonely Astronauts, "Temporary People" (Lonely Astronaut).
Singer/songwriter Ben Folds' "Way to Normal" (Epic).
Former "American Idol" contestant Kellie Pickler's self-titled sophomore album for RCA Nashville.
A new album from veteran indie rock act Mercury Rev, "Snowflake Midnight" (Yep Roc).
A new album from folk legend Pete Seeger, "At 89" (Appleseed).
Swedish psychedelic rock combo Dungen's "4" (Kemado).
Fantasy's expanded reissues of six Creedence Clearwater Revival albums: "Bayou Country," "Cosmo's Factory," "Creedence Clearwater Revival," "Green River," "Pendulum" and "Willy & the Poor Boys."
An expanded reissue of U2's "Live at Red Rocks" and "Under a Blood Red Sky" (UMe).
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It's undeniable that the Pussycat Dolls have what it takes to put out a successful album. Their 2005 Interscope debut, "PCD," has sold 2.9 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and spawned such chart-topping hits as "Don't Cha" and "Buttons" featuring Snoop Dogg.
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Kings of Leon may be from Tennessee, but so far, the band's music has resonated in a bigger way overseas than it has in its own backyard. The group and its team believe that will change with "Only by the Night," due this week via RCA.
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For a band that makes such edgy, experimental music, TV on the Radio is almost quaint when it comes to its business strategy.
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While it took Rilo Kiley the better part of a decade to rise through the indie rock ranks, frontwoman Jenny Lewis proved an immediate force to be reckoned with her 2006 solo debut, "Rabbit Fur Coat."
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