"Always Got Tonight"
Chris Isaak
Our price: $12.99 | You save: $5.99
...available here
San Francisco's favorite lovelorn rocker returns with "Always Got
Tonight." The guy who did a "bad, bad thing" is still singing sad,
sad songs, saving the brighter sides of his personality for his hit
TV show.
"Lovers Live"
Sade
Our price: $13.28 | You save: $5.70
...available here
Sade is known for her meticulous studio recordings, so it was a
delightful surprise to hear her well-known songs reworked for the
stage. "Lovers Live" was recorded on the tour supporting her first
album after a seven-year break, "Lovers Rock," and after listening
to these lovely live songs, one would hope that she'd stay on the
road a little longer before she disappears again.
Posted 17 January 2002
"Rock Steady"
No Doubt
Our price: $13.29 | You save: $5.69
...available here
With an elite corps of producers rotating behind the mixing board
on "Rock Steady," No Doubt romp in a playground of sound that takes
them as far as Jamaica. The result is an incredibly fun album that
is also the most substantive they've ever turned out.
"Smash Mouth"
Smash Mouth
Our price: $13.99 | You save: $4.99
...available here
Smash Mouth's lyrics have always been somewhat socially and
politically charged, but more attention has always been focused on
their kitschy image and sun-soaked ska-punk melodies. On their
self-titled third release, their songs are more suited to their
persona, with a cover of the Monkees "I'm a Believer" and singles
such as "Pacific Coast Party" and "Sister Cleo," which is about the
well-known TV tarot card reader.
JOOLS'S JEWELS
"Jools Holland's Big Band Rhythm & Blues"
Jools Holland
Our price: $13.99 | You save: $4.99
...available here
Jools Holland was the keyboardist for the popular '80s group
Squeeze, and now he's become something of a British Brian Setzer
with "Jools Holland's Big Band Rhythm & Blues." The album
contains 22 tracks featuring guest artists like Sting, Eric Clapton,
Jamiroquai, and Van Morrison. Most importantly, it contains the last
song George Harrison ever recorded.
BRITISH BEAT
"Swing When You're Winning [IMPORT]"
Robbie Williams
Our price: $20.99
...available here
Robbie Williams is a megastar in the U.K. and Europe, but American
shores have very decidedly not encountered the Robbie invasion,
despite the fact that "Entertainment Weekly" voted his U.S. debut,
"The Ego Has Landed," album of the year in 1999. His latest, "Swing
When You're Winning" (a pun on his second U.S. release, "Sing When
You're Winning"), fulfills his fantasy of being a 21st-century,
one-man Rat Packer. The album is filled with pop standards as well
as a new song, including a duet with Nicole Kidman. It is currently
only available in the U.S. as an import, but it's climbing our
charts nonetheless.
"Fever [IMPORT]"
Kylie Minogue
Our price: $20.99
...available here
Australian-native Kylie Minogue is also largely unknown in the U.S
while enjoying household-name status in Britain. Some older pop fans
might remember her rather silly cover of "(Do the) Locomotion,"
where poor Minogue was caught at the tail end of the
leotards-and-headbands craze, but since then she's grown sexy and
sophisticated, falling between Madonna and Britney on the
controversy scale. Her duet with Robbie Williams, "Kids," on his
album "Sing While You're Winning," was the disc's highlight, and her
new solo release, "Fever," jumps into dance-club action with the
techno/house "More More More" and never stops. It's also currently
only available as an import.
THE FLOODGATES OPEN ON "LET THE RIVER RUN"
"The Very Best of Carly Simon: Nobody Does it Better [IMPORT]"
Carly Simon
Our price: $25.99
...available here
What did the fast tomato say to the slow tomato? "Ketchup!" What
does this really stupid joke have to do with Carly Simon, you ask?
Well, barely anything, except that her commercial endorsements have
graduated from popular condiments ("Anticipation") to the anthemic
theme of the recent USPS ad ("Let the River Run"). Both songs are
included on "The Very Best of Carly Simon: Nobody Does It Better,"
which also contains "You're So Vain" and "Haven't Got Time for the
Pain."