The Lonely Goatherd Blog And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats - Matthew 25:32
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Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
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All original content on MoreThings.com copyright 2008 Albert Barger or the respective authors
April 15, 2008
New CD Album Releases, 4-15-2008: Mariah Carey, Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus, Everclear The top big name release this week is from Mariah Carey, people's enemy #1. She's back with her 11th album E=MC2. Apparently dropping in the famous shorthand for Einstein's theory of relativity is supposed to make us think she's smart. Riiight.
A special moment of derision must be reserved for the arguments of her fans and PR flacks. Leastways I would hope that this "Rudy Palma" commenting about the album on Amazon is on her payroll to be writing stuff like "The biggest surprise about E=MC2 is that, aside from its being a consistently satisfying collection of unshakable pop melodies and inspiring ballads, it shares no obvious commonalities with other LPs in Carey's catalogue."
I've dutifully listened to this "Touch My Body" song that's her lead single, and it's just utter crap. It sounds just exactly like every other song she's recorded again and again her whole career. It's utterly bland Cream of Wheat diva r&b with no real passion or identifiable hook. I would call it "corporate music," except that a high-end corporate music hack would be conjuring much catchier ads/songs. After a half dozen careful listens, I can almost remember how the song goes while I'm actually listening to it. That's the best I can do even TRYING to see what other people see in it. There's no THERE there. I swear I'd rather listen to frickin' Barbara Streisand.
Having crossed swords with Mariah's vicious "lambs" before, I note that they tend to put a great argumentive emphasis on commercial statistics, so many millions of albums sold - as if that were some kind of proof that her music is actually good. It's not.
Which leads to the obvious question: How has she sold so many damned records for a couple of decades and running? I'm not particularly a religious person, but this Mariah conundrum does tend to make me think about belief in the supernatural. Could be that Mariah Carey is a subtle form of punishment from God for whatever he might be mad at us about. Couldn't we just have a plague of locusts instead? More realistically, she might be in a Devil and Daniel Webster deal. I would suspect more the Bill Hicks version, which involves special personal favors for the Dark Lord. It's really the only possible explanation for Mimi's popularity.
But this is still (more or less) a free country, so if Mariah Carey does it for you, knock yourself out. We'll save you a room at Camp Mimi.
In terms of girly pop music, the far better bet this week would be Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds Concert. It's the official #1 "children's album" at Amazon, and comes in a 2 disc CD/DVD version. Besides anything else, I'd certainly take the perfectly catchy, cheerful and modest bubblegum of "See You Again" 10 to 1 over anything from Mariah. Not that it has pretentions to High Art, but I'm actually somewhat infatuated with this good basic pop song.
Here's the listing of this week's new album releases, courtesy AMG:
Alkaline Trio Remains Vagrant Punk Revival, Punk-Pop, Emo
Ellen Allien Boogybytes, Vol. 4 Bpitch Control Club/Dance, Experimental Techno
American Princes Other People Yep Roc Indie Rock
Apocalyptica Worlds Collide 20-20/Jive/Zomba Heavy Metal, Classical Crossover, Neo-Classical Metal, Progressive Metal
Asia Phoenix Frontiers/EMI Album Rock, Arena Rock, Prog-Rock/Art Rock
Jon Balke Book of Velocities ECM Structured Improvisation, Process-Generated, Avant-Garde
Christopher Bissonnette In Between Words Kranky Experimental Ambient, Ambient, Electronic
Ketil Bjørnstad/Terje Rypdal Life in Leipzig ECM Folk-Jazz, Avant-Garde, Structured Improvisation, Modern Composition
Braille The IV Edition Syntax Hardcore Rap
The Brian Jonestown Massacre My Bloody Underground A Neo-Psychedelia, Indie Rock, Garage Rock Revival, Shoegaze, Space Rock
Mariah Carey E=MC2 Island Club/Dance, Urban, Dance-Pop
Commander Cody Live in the Ozone: 1973 US Tour Cleopatra Western Swing Revival, Country-Rock, Rock & Roll
Does It Offend You, Yeah? You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into Almost Gold Indie Electronic, Dance-Rock, Alternative Dance, New Wave/Post-Punk Revival, Indie Rock
Dave Douglas Moonshine Green Leaf Post-Bop
Everclear The Vegas Years Capitol Post-Grunge, Alternative Pop/Rock, Hard Rock
The Gossip Live in Liverpool [CD/DVD] Red Ink Indie Rock, Garage Punk
The Hoosiers The Trick to Life RCA Alternative Pop/Rock, Indie Pop, Britpop
James Hey Ma Mercury Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock
Nik Kershaw You've Got to Laugh Shorthouse Alternative Singer/Songwriter, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock
Carole King Tapestry [Legacy Edition] Sony Legacy Pop/Rock, Soft Rock
The Kooks Konk Astralwerks Indie Rock
Kottonmouth Kings The Kottonmouth Xperience, Vol. 2 Suburban Noize Rap-Metal, Post-Grunge, Alternative Metal, Funk Metal
Marilyn Mazur/Jan Garbarek Elixir ECM Improvisation, Structured Improvisation, Folk-Jazz
James McMurty Just Us Kids Lightning Rod Americana, Contemporary Singer/Songwriter, Alternative Country, Roots Rock
Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds Concert Disney Teen Pop, TV Soundtracks
Morgan Heritage Mission in Progress VP Contemporary Reggae, Roots Reggae
Elliott Murphy Notes from the Underground Last Call Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Rock & Roll
The Naked Brothers Band I Don't Want to Go to School [Bonus Tracks] Sony Pop/Rock, Teen Pop
Charlemagne Palestine From Etudes to Cataclysms Sub Rosa Contemporary Keyboard Music
John Schneider Por Gitaro: Lou Harrison Mode Contemporary Music for Guitar
Original Soundtrack Forgetting Sarah Marshall Verve Alternative Pop/Rock, Soundtracks
Phantom Planet Raise the Dead FBR Indie Rock
Tristan Prettyman Hello Virgin Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Contemporary Singer/Songwriter
Professor Longhair The London Concert JSP New Orleans R&B, New Orleans Blues, Piano Blues
Rush Snakes & Arrows Live Atlantic/WEA Album Rock, Prog-Rock/Art Rock, Hard Rock, Arena Rock
Sally Shapiro Remix Romance, Vol. 1 Paper Bag Alternative Dance, Euro-Dance, Indie Electronic
Southside Johnny 1978 Live in Boston Airline Heartland Rock, Album Rock, Rock & Roll
Tangele Tangele: The Pulse of Yiddish Tango Tzadik Jewish Music, Musical Theater, Jewish Folk, Tango
Various Artists Easy Beatles: Irresistible In-Sound Interpretations from the 60s and 70s Bureau B Vocal Pop, Pop, Folk-Pop
Jacob Young Sideways ECM Modern Creative, Avant-Garde Jazz, Folk-Jazz, Post-Bop
Jordan Zevon Insides Out New West Contemporary Singer/Songwriter, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock
But this is still (more or less) a free country, so if Mariah Carey does it for you, knock yourself out. We'll save you a room at 
Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus