New Releases: Aaron Carter, Aqualung, Pink Floyd, Breaking Laces

13 Jan 2006 07:33:00 EST

Also due Tuesday are reissues by Nina Simone and a Doctors Without Borders benefit set.
By Kurt Orzeck

Come Get It: The Very Best of Aaron Carter
Photo: Jive

Aftershocks: Aaron Carter's been off the music radar since his 2002 album Another Earthquake!, living the actor's life instead with flicks like "Popstar" and "Fat Albert." While Carter can get some more mileage out of his "teen idol" moniker — he just turned 18 — his record label's giving him vintage status with Come Get It: The Very Best of Aaron Carter. If you already have 2003's Most Requested Hits, you might want to put away your purse: This comp has virtually the same track list, but with three fewer tunes. Ones that didn't appear on Most Requested but crop up here are "A.C.'s Alien Nation," "My Internet Girl" and "Bounce."

Aqua Pink: In case you haven't heard him on the Volkswagen Beetle ad or read raves about him in Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly, Aqualung is getting one more big push this week before he goes out on the towns with David Gray. Matt Hales' U.S. debut, Strange & Beautiful, is getting a DualDisc makeover and will be finessed with video content like a short film, two live performances and an instructional clip called "It's Easy to Play the Aqualung Way - How to Play 'Strange & Beautiful.' " Dive right in.

Speaking of "colorful" video content, Pink Floyd will be giving Aqualung a run for their money with "Pulse," a two-disc souvenir from the psych gods' 14th night at London's Earls Court on their 1994 Division Bell Tour. Crowning the affair is a first-ever filmed version of Pink Floyd's red letter, Dark Side of the Moon, performed by David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright. There's also some original screen films from the band's '70s shows and behind-the-scenes content, plus the packaging transforms into its very own laser-light show (well, at least you can pretend).

Reissue Roundup: Up for some vault spelunking? RCA/Legacy is touching up its Nina Simone catalog with two expanded editions — Nina Simone Sings the Blues and Silk & Soul — as well as a new compilation the label's releasing in time for Black History Month in February, Young, Gifted and Black: Songs of Freedom and Spirit. Legacy's dishing up a handful of other collections this week: Do You Love Me Like You Say: The Very Best of Terence Trent D'Arby has rare concert cuts and 12-inch mixes, saluting the poet/musician whose 1987 debut sold more than 12 million copies; The Best of the Guess Who has three bonuses not included on the original 1971 pressing; Daryl Hall & John Oates' Rock & Soul Part 1 also has a pair of extras; and Cult of Personality: The Very Best of Living Colour provides a single-disc overview.

Song Title of the Week:

Breaking Laces - "(The) Ocean (That Lies Between Us)" (Lemonade)

Other Notables:

Various artists' Not Alone: Sick of all those flimsy single-disc benefit releases that don't seem to reflect the enormity of their causes? Not Alone to the rescue! More than 75 artists have banded together for this humungous, five-disc set, which encompasses unreleased contributions by Damon and Naomi, Matmos, Allen Ginsberg and Devendra Banhart — and that's just on the first disc. Also stepping up to the plate are Jarboe, Richard Buckner, Six Organs of Admittance, Angels of Light, Michael Yonkers, the Bevis Frond, Jad Fair, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Teenage Fanclub, Isobel Campbell, James William Hindle, Marc Almond, Jim O'Rourke, Ghost and Thurston Moore. That impressive lineup will hopefully give Doctors Without Borders an extra boost as they work on the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

Sarissa's Masters of Sins: Last week saw the release of R&B singer Sharissa's Every Beat of My Heart. This week sees the release of metal band Sarissa's Masters of Sins. Weird, huh?

New Releases:

Breaking Laces - Lemonade (Meeka Salise)
Bob Brozman - Blues Reflex (Ruf)
Juanita Bynum - A Piece of My Passion (Flow)
Canvas Solaris - Penumbra Diffuse (Sensory)
Aaron Carter - Come Get It: The Very Best of Aaron Carter (Jive/Legacy)
Buy Now: Come Get It: The Very Best of Aaron Carter (Jive/Legacy)
Mark Dvorak - Every Step of the Way (Waterbug)
Toulouse Engelhardt - Martian Lust (Lost Grove)
Everchanging Nomad - Hero Today Gone Tomorrow (Turner)
Go Set Go - Ordinary World (TSR)
Hiromi - Spiral (available as hybrid SACD or limited-edition enhanced CD; Telarc)
Ayanna Hobson - I Wish for Love (PPL)
Candye Kane - Diva La Grande (Ruf)
Amy LaVere - This World Is Not My Home (Archer)
Bradley Leighton - Back to the Funk (Pacific Coast Jazz)
Luis Mario Ochoa - Luis Mario Ochoa and Friends (Cuban Music Productions)
Sarissa - Masters of Sins (Black Lotus)
T.N.T. - All the Way to the Sun (MTM)
Various artists - Baddest Ting (VP)
Various artists - Not Alone (five-CD box; Durtro Jnana)
Various artists - The Now Sound of Brazil, Vol. 2 (Six Degrees)
Various artists - "B You" soundtrack (BMG Strategic Marketing)

Notable Reissues and Archival Material:

All Mighty Senators - Checkered Past, New Tomorrow: Essential AMS (1988-2005) (Severn)
Aqualung - Strange and Beautiful (DualDisc also available; Columbia)
Buy Now: Strange and Beautiful (Columbia)
Bad Company - Bad Company (gold disc; Audio Fidelity)
Paul Butterfield - North-South (Wounded Bird)
Jonathan Cain Band - Windy City Breakdown (Wounded Bird)
Felix Cavaliere - Destiny and Felix Cavaliere (Wounded Bird)
Terence Trent D'Arby - Do You Love Me Like You Say: The Very Best of Terence Trent D'Arby (Columbia/Legacy)
Gentle Giant - Acquiring the Taste (Repertoire)
The Guess Who - The Best of The Guess Who (RCA/Legacy)
Daryl Hall & John Oates - Rock & Soul Part 1 (RCA/Legacy)
Living Colour - Cult of Personality: The Very Best of Living Colour (Epic/Legacy)
Gershon Kingsley - God Is a Moog (Reboot Stereophonic)
Mac Dre - Bobble Head Thizzelle Washington Doll (Thizz Entertainment)
Romeo Void - Benefactor (Wounded Bird)
Nina Simone - Nina Simone Sings the Blues, Silk & Soul and Young, Gifted and Black: Songs of Freedom and Spirit (RCA/Legacy)
Buy Now: Nina Simone Sings the Blues (RCA/Legacy)
Sparks - A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing and Sparks (Wounded Bird)
Johnny "Guitar" Watson - Johnny "Guitar" Watson and the Family Clone, Love Jones and What the Hell Is This? (Shout! Factory)
Jesse Winchester - Jesse Winchester (Wounded Bird)
Various artists - Big Country Hits (RCR)
Various artists - Bluegrass Heaven (Landmark)
Various artists - Crossroads Chartbusters (Crossroads)

DVDs:

The Clash - "Punk Icons" (Classic Rock Legends)
Chick Corea - "Remembering Bud Powell Live" (Image Entertainment)
Chick Corea and Gary Burton - "Duets" (Image Entertainment)
Genesis - "The Ultimate Review" (Classic Rock Legends)
Taj Mahal and the Phantom Blues Band - "Taj Mahal and the Phantom Blues Band in St. Lucia" (Image Entertainment)
Pink Floyd - "Pulse" (EMI)
Thin Lizzy - "The Ultimate Collection" (three DVDs; Classic Rock Legends)
Yes - "Inside Yes Plus Friends and Family" (three DVDs; Classic Rock Legends)

Coming Attractions:

January 24: