Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Ne-Yo Ends Avril's Run To Debut In Billboard's Top Spot

9 May 2007 01:13:00 EDT

Michael Bublé, Rush, Tori Amos, Feist also crack top 20.
By Chris Harris

Ne-Yo
Photo: Def Jam

One's a charismatic American R&B singer and fledgling thespian with a beaming smile that makes thousands of teen girls' hearts flutter like the wings of a butterfly caught in a hurricane. The other's a Canadian big-band crooner with a funny-sounding last name and a legion of soccer-mom fans at his behest. But there wasn't enough room for both artists at the top of next week's Billboard albums chart, so one of them would have to settle for second place.

For Ne-Yo, a #1 opening would give him a perfect record: two for two. For Michael Bublé, it would end a years-long flirtation with the chart's coveted peak position. And with a mere 39,000 in sales separating them, it was a close contest, to be sure — just not close enough for Bublé. Repeating the success of his 2006 debut, In My Own Words, which sold more than 301,000 copies during its first week of release to bow at the chart's #1 spot, Ne-Yo once again lays claim to Billboard's apex, having scanned more than 251,000 copies of his sophomore set, Because of You.

According to the latest SoundScan totals, Ne-Yo ends pop-punk princess Avril Lavigne's two-week run at #1, leaving Bublé's Call Me Irresponsible in the proverbial dust. Bublé's 2005 LP, It's Time, debuted at #7, with close to 93,500 units snatched up; his latest outing racked up sales of more than 212,000 to finish at #2.

Next week's chart is chock-full of new releases — 18 in all, with six of those offerings cracking the top 10. Coming in at a distant third, with nearly 93,000 in week-one sales, is the latest disc from Rush, Snakes & Arrows, followed at #4 by Lavigne's The Best Damn Thing, which sold 86,300 copies during its third week in stores. Tori Amos' new one, American Doll Posse, opens at #5 with 54,000 scans, just in front of Miranda Lambert's latest, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which sold just 1,000 fewer copies. Amos' 2005 LP, The Beekeeper, also debuted at #5 but with much stronger sales of 82,600.

Falling two chart positions to #7 this week is the self-titled debut set from "American Idol" season-five finalist Chris Daughtry's rock group, Daughtry, which sold 50,000-plus copies, pushing overall sales of the disc past the 2.4 million mark. Country artist Blake Shelton's Pure BS is the last of the newcomers to breach the chart's top 10, finishing at #8 with 48,500 scans, while the 24th installment in the Now That's What I Call Music! compilation series drops five spots to #9, selling 46,400 copies. Rounding out the top 10 is Carrie Underwood's Some Hearts, which generated sales of 43,900.

The Reminder, the third full-length solo outing from Broken Social Scene associate Feist, opens at #16, having sold a reported 31,000 copies. The live version of the soundtrack to the Disney Channel original movie "High School Musical," last year's unexpected blockbuster hit, opens at #28; High School Musical: The Concert sold more than 21,800 copies its first week out. Meanwhile, the soundtrack to "Spider-Man 3," featuring contributions from Snow Patrol, the Killers, the Flaming Lips and others, pops up at #33 with 20,800 scans, followed at #36 by "High School Musical" star Corbin Bleu's debut, Another Side, which scanned 17,900 units.

Garage rockers Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's newest, Baby 81, finishes within the chart's top 50 at #46, having sold 14,500 copies during its first week of sales. Angélique Kidjo's latest, Djin Djin, surfaces at #61, with 11,000 copies sold, while formerly extinct alt-rockers Dinosaur Jr.'s first new studio album in more than a decade, Beyond, claims the chart's #69 slot with 10,000-plus scans. The Fall of Troy's Manipulator debuts at #76, with 9,500 units sold, while American heartland singer/songwriter Jon McLaughlin's Indiana finishes at #81 with sales of 8,800.

Elvis Costello returns to Billboard's top 200 at #110, with his retrospective, The Best of Elvis Costello: The First 10 Years, selling 7,200 units. Christian rockers Building 429's Iris to Iris claims the #140 slot with 5,500 copies sold. "American Idol" season-three finalist Kimberley Locke's sophomore LP, Based on a True Story, opens at #160 with 4,800 in sales. In related news, Bon Jovi's appearance last week on the current season of "Idol" paid off big, as the band's 2005 release, Have a Nice Day, returns to the chart after more than seven months off, thanks to a 333 percent sales boost that landed the LP at #113, with 7,000 units scanned.

Related Artists

New Releases: Jim Jones, Bjork, Kurupt, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Every Time I Die

22 Aug 2005 08:56:00 EDT

Also due Tuesday are discs by Public Enemy, Chuck Leavell, New Pornographers and Hush.
By Kurt Orzeck

Jim Jones' Harlem: Diary of a Summer
Photo: Koch Records

Jones' Diary: Jim issues Harlem: Diary of a Summer in multiple configs, including DualDisc form, with enhanced stereo and a 35-minute bonus DVD, plus additional videos. Tracks include: "Throw Back Muzic '86," "Speak in It" and "Tha Past" (featuring Dave Hollister).

2-Packed: Kurupt's Against the Grain brings back 2Pac on "My Homeboys (Back to Back)" and ushers in Roscoe and M.O.P. on "Jealousy." Other tracks include "Deep Dishes," "Anarchy '87" and "Can U Feel It" (featuring Potion).

Singing Along To Barney: Björk widens her ever-widening boundaries with the "Drawing Restraint 9" soundtrack, an abstract audio accompaniment to the film made by her longtime boyfriend, Matthew Barney. Tracks include "Ambergis March," "Vessel Shimenawa" and "Holographic Entrypoint."

Red Hot: The Bled's Found in the Flood, the Flaming Lips' "VOID: Video Overview in Deceleration" DVD, Leon Redbone's Live - October 26, 1992: The Olympia Theater, Paris, France, Chad VanGaalen's Infiniheart and Young Bleed's Rise Thru Da Ranks. Also sexy: the Big Screen's Left Coast Love Affair, the Lovemakers' Time of Romance and the New Pornographers' Twin Cinema.

Song Titles Of The Week:

"It's Not About Breaking Hearts, It's About Breaking Faces" (Bobaflex's Apologize for Nothing)

"540,000 Degrees Fahrenheit" (Fear Factory's Transgression)

Other Notables:

Hush's Bulletproof: Eminem, D12, Nate Dogg, Talib Kweli and, bizarrely, Motörhead guitarist Phil Campbell, lend a hand on the Detroit rapper's debut, sprucing up a lineup fitted with "Real T.V." and "Woodpecker."

The various-artists DVDs "Burn to Shine: Chicago IL 09.13.2004" and "Spend an Evening With Saddle Creek": Ante up with Bright Eyes, the Faint and Rilo Kiley on the Saddle Creek set, or shine on with the Chicago-centric "Burn to Shine," which features live performances by Tortoise, Shellac and Wilco.

Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon's Sixty Six Steps: The guitarist and erstwhile Phish member get even more experimental on their second collabo, glancing over Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion" with a Turkish banjo and Pete Seeger's "Living in the Country."

Chuck Leavell's Southscape and Dickey Betts & Great Southern's "Back Where It All Begins: Live at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" DVD: Rolling Stones pianist Leavell glosses over "Jessica," written by Allman Brother Dickey Betts, while Betts revisits that tune and a whole lot more on "Back Where It All Begins," a double disc recorded last year at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

New releases:

Alycone - The Stars Are Real (System)
American Princes - Little Spaces (Yep Roc)
Amsterdam - The Sore Score (Aeria)
Jasy Andrews - Little Girl (Versailles)
Animosity - Empires (Black Market/ Metal Blade)
August Born - August Born (Drag City)
Bayside - Bayside (Victory)
Beautiful Creatures - Deuce (Spitfire)
Sarah Bettens - Scream (K's Choice singer; Hybrid)
The Big Screen - Left Coast Love Affair (Undecided)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl (RCA)
The Bled - Found in the Flood (Vagrant)
Buy Now: Found in the Flood (Vagrant)
Björk - "Drawing Restraint 9" soundtrack (One Little Indian)
Bobaflex - Apologize for Nothing (TVT)
Boozoo Bajou - Dust My Broom (Studio K7)
Broken Spindles - Inside/Absent (Saddle Creek)
Bucho - Omit the Harsh (DIG)
Cafe Soul Allstars - Love Pages (You Entertainment)
Noam Chomsky - The Imperial Presidency: Sovereignty, Terror, and the "Second Superpower" (G7 Welcoming Committee)
The Classic Struggle - Feel Like Hell (Metal Blade)
Crazy Frog - Crazy Frog Presents Crazy Hits (Universal)
Criteria - When We Break (Saddle Creek)
Terry Cummings - Nothing Is What It Seems (Pyramid)
Krishna Das - All One (live, features Def Leppard's Rick Allen plus a choir of 70 and an orchestra of 20; Triloka)
Nob Dylan and His Nobsoletes - Positively 12 Stiff Dylans (Alternative Tentacles)
El Michels Affair - Sounding Out the City (Fastlife)
Every Time I Die - Gutter Phenomenon (Ferret)
Buy Now: Gutter Phenomenon (Ferret)
Fear Factory - Transgression (Calvin/ Liquid 8)
Orenda Fink - Invisible Ones (one-half of Azure Ray; Saddle Creek)
FJ & Living Souls - Ambient Africa (Eagle)
Guy Forsyth - Love Songs: For & Against (Small & Nimble)
Nnenna Freelon - Blueprint of a Lady: Sketches of Billie Holliday (Concord)
Friends of Dean Martinez - Live at Club 2 (Aero)
Gabin - Mr. Freedom (Astralwerks)
Richard Galliano - Ruby, My Dear (Dreyfus)
The Get Quick - How the Story Goes (Rainbow Quartz)
The Grates - The Ouch. The Touch. EP (Cherry Tree)
Matthew Herbert - Plat du Jour (Accidental)
Warren Hill - Pop Jazz (Pop Jazz)
Hush - Bulletproof (Interscope)
I Am Kloot - Gods and Monsters (Echo)
I Wayne - Lava Ground (VP)
Infusion - Six Feet Above Yesterday (Thrive)
Jack's Mannequin - Everything in Transit (enhanced; Maverick)
John Wilkes Booze - Telescopic Eyes Glace the Future Sick (Kill Rock Stars)
Jim Jones - Harlem: Diary of a Summer (Koch)
Buy Now: Harlem: Diary of a Summer (Koch)
Read: "Jim Jones Goes 'Miami Vice' For New Clip"
Josh Joplin - Jaywalker (Eleven Thirty)
JT the Bigga Figga - Who Grind Like Us (Get Low)
Judd & Maggie - Subjects (RCA)
June - If You Speak Any Faster (Victory)
Juvenile - Reality Check (UTP/Atlantic)
Buy Now: Reality Check (UTP/Atlantic)
Read: "Juvenile Gets Busy At The Holiday Inn; Making An Album>"
Josh Kelley - Almost Honest (Hollywood)
Kennedys - Half a Million Miles (Appleseed)
Khanate - Capture & Release EP (Hydra Head)
Steve Kimock Band - Eudemonic (Sci Fidelity)
Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon - Sixty Six Steps (RCA)
The Kronos Quartet and Asha Bhosle - You've Stolen My Heart: Songs From R.D. Burnham's Bollywood (RCA)
Kurupt - Against the Grain (Death Row)
Buy Now: Against the Grain (Death Row)
Chuck Leavell - Southscape (Evergreen Arts)
Lofty - In the Beginning (33rd Street)
The Lost Patrol Band - The Lost Patrol Band (Burning Heart/ Epitaph)
Lovemakers - Time of Romance (Cherry Tree/ Interscope)
Lurker of Chalice - Lurker of Chalice (Southern Lord)
Timo Maas - Pictures (Ultra)
The Makers - Everybody Rise! (Kill Rock Stars)
Masters at Work - The Kings of House (Studio K7)
Delbert McClinton - Cost of Living (New West)
Neal McCoy - That's Life (enhanced; 903)
Hendrik Meurkens - Amazon River (Megaforce)
Minus the Bear - Menos El Oso (Suicide Squeeze)
Michael Martin Murphey - Storm Over the Rangelands: Cowboy Songs, Vol. 5 (Emergent/92e)
Mossyrock - Zero to One Sessions (Nice & Smooth)
Najee - My Point of View (Heads Up)
New Buffalo - The Last Beautiful Day (Arts & Crafts)
New Pornographers - Twin Cinema (Matador)
Buy Now: Twin Cinema (Matador)
Nural - Weight of the World (Hopeless)
One Block Radius - Long Story Short (Avatar)
Orange - Welcome to the World of ... Orange (Epitaph)
Shane Owens - Let's Get on It (Rust)
Ozomatli - Live at the Fillmore (with bonus DVD; Concord)
Buy Now: Live at the Fillmorea (Concord)
The Pale Pacific - Urgency (SideCho)
Mike Park - North Hangook Falling (Sub City)
Pitch Black [nz] - Ape to Angel (Waveform)
Portastatic - Bright Ideas (Merge)
Prurient - Black Vase (Load)
Public Enemy featuring Paris- Rebirth of a Nation (Guerrilla Funk)
Buy Now: Rebirth of a Nation (Guerrilla Funk)
T. Raumschmiere - Blitzkrieg Pop (enhanced; Mute)
Real McKenzies - 10,000 Shots (Fat Wreck Chords)
Leon Redbone - Live - October 26, 1992: The Olympia Theater, Paris, France (Rounder)
Amy Rigby - Little Fugitive (Signature)
Robots in Disguise - Get Rid (Studio K7)
Rogue Wave - 10:1 EP (Sub Pop)
Rooftop Suicide Club - Always Like This (Stop Pop & Roll)
Rupee - 1 on 1 (Atlantic)
Sawyer Brown - Mission Temple Fireworks Stand (Curb)
The Setup - The Pretense of Normality (GSR)
Shark Soup - Fatlip Showbox (BYO)
The Jason Sinay Band - The Jason Sinay Band (Tomato)
Smash Mouth - All Star: The Smash Hits of Smash Mouth (Interscope)
Buy Now: All Star: The Smash Hits of Smash Mouth (Interscope)
Sons of Champlin - Hip Li'l Dreams (DIG)
Spacehead - Live @ Hawkfest 2003 (United States Dist.)
Stellastarr* - Harmonies for the Haunted (RCA)
Tierney Sutton - I'm With the Band (Telarc)
Swing Out Sister - Live (Shanachie)
Syd Matters - Syd Matters (V2)
Otis Taylor - Below the Fold (Telarc)
Tenement Halls - Knitting Needles & Bicycle Bells (Merge)
B.J. Thomas - Hooked on a Feeling - The Best Of (DualDisc release featuring new recordings of hits; Goldenlane)
Tom & Joy - Antigua (Tommy Boy)
Kevin Toney - 110 Degrees and Rising (Shanachie)
Trick Pony - R.I.D.E. (Curb)
Buy Now: R.I.D.E. (Curb)
Turbonegro - Party Animals (Epitaph/ Burning Heart)
Armin van Buuren - Shivers (Ultra)
John Vanderslice - Pixel Revolt (Barsuk)
Chad VanGaalen - Infiniheart (Sub Pop)
Laura Viers - Year of Meteors (Nonesuch)
Warlocks - Surgery (Mute)
Jim Wilson - A Place in My Heart (Artemis)
Ya' Boy - Rookie of the Year (SMC)
YOB - The Unreal Never Lived (Metal Blade)
Young Bleed - Rise Thru Da Ranks (West Coast Mafia)
Yuns - Storyteller (Eastside)
Joe Zawinul& The Zawinul Syndicate - Vienna Nights: Live at Joe Zawinul's Birdland (BirdJAM/BHM)
Zox - The Wait (Armo)
Various artists - "The Brothers Grimm" soundtrack (Milan)
Various artists - Dimension Mix (Eenie Meenie)
Various artists - "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" soundtrack (Shout! Factory)
Various artists - "Four Brothers" soundtrack (Motown)
Various artists - Live at Continental: Best of NYC, Vol. 2 (Continental NYC)
Various artists - Timeless Soul Ballads (Sumday)
Various artists - Tommy Boy Presents: Hip-Hop Roots (Tommy Boy)
Various artists - "Undiscovered" soundtrack (Ashlee Simpson's in the film but not on the soundtrack; Lakeshore)

Notable reissues:

Oren Ambarchi - Triste (original LP plus remixes and a poster; Southern Lord)
Pat Boone - Glory Train: The Lost Sessions (Oak)
John Entwistle - Rigor Mortis Sets In (remastered; Sanctuary)
John Entwistle - Smash Your Head Against the Wall (remastered; Sanctuary)
Gentle Giant - Playing the Fool: 35th Anniversary Addition (DRT)
Charles Mingus - A Modern Jazz Symposium of Music and Poetry (remastered; Shout! Factory)
Roy Orbison - I Can't Stop Loving You (Sumday Entertainment)
Buy Now: I Can't Stop Loving You (Sumday Entertainment)
Jerry Garcia - The Jerry Garcia Collection Vol. 1: Legion of Mary (Rhino)
Buy Now: The Jerry Garcia Collection Vol. 1: Legion of Mary (Rhino)
Rise Against - The Unraveling (remastered and remixed with bonus tracks; Fat Wreck Chords)
Rufio - Perhaps, I Suppose ... - Deluxe Edition (with five bonus original demos; The Militia Group)
Yes - The Word Is Live (three discs of live recordings from 1970-1988; Rhino)

DVDs:

Bad Manners - "Don't Knock the Bald Heads" (Music Video Distributors)
Dickey Betts & Great Southern - "Back Where It All Begins: Live at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" (Red Distribution)
Deep Purple - "Inside Deep Purple 1969-1976: An Independent Critical Review" (two DVDs and a book; Classic Rock Legends)
Dizzy Gillespie - "Live in London" (Kultur)
The English Beat - "In Concert at the Royal Festival Hall" (Music Video Distributors)
Flaming Lips - "VOID: Video Overview in Deceleration" (Warner Bros.)
Human League - "Live at the Dome" (Music Video Distributors)
Tom Jones - "Hits" and "Duets" (Tango Entertainment)
Willie Nelson & Friends - "Live and Kickin' " (Lost Highway)
Orgy - "Trans Global Spectacle: 1997 to 2004" (D1/DLC)
T. Rex - "Inside T. Rex 1974-1977" (Classic Rock Legends)
Shinedown - "Live From the Inside" (Atlantic)
Beanie Sigel - "The B. Coming of Beanie Sigel" (Universal)
Johnny Thunders - "Eve of Destruction" (Recall)
Various artists - "Burn to Shine: Chicago IL 09.13.2004" (Trixie)
Various artists - "Spend an Evening With Saddle Creek" (Recall)

Coming attractions:

August 30:

Death Cab for Cutie - Plans (Atlantic)
Read: "Death Cab For Cutie Living Up To The 'Death' Part On Next LP"
Rihanna - Music of the Sun (Def Jam)
Kanye West - Late Registration (Def Jam)
Read: " 'Can He Do It Again?' -- Kanye West Says New LP Backs Up His Bragging"

September 6:

50 Cent - The Massacre (re-release; Interscope)
Sarah McLachlan - Sarah McLachlan in Bloom (remix album; Arista)
The Rolling Stones - A Bigger Bang (Virgin)
Read: "Rolling Stones Announce World Tour, Unveil New Song"

September 13:

David Gray - Life in Slow Motion (RCA)
The Juliana Theory - Deadbeat Sweetheartbeat (Paper Fist/Abacus)
Switchfoot - Nothing Is Sound (Columbia)
Read: "Switchfoot Look Like California Raisins After Video Shoot"

Related Artists

New Releases: Linkin Park, Raveonettes, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Beth Orton, 'Underworld' Soundtrack & More

2 Sep 2003 03:46:00 EDT

The Raveonettes
Photo: Sony

The Raveonettes are back on the chain gang again, the Chain Gang of Love, that is. The group's major-label debut will lead with the single "That Great Love Sound," and a dark video shot by Sophie Muller (Coldplay, Radiohead) in which the Danish duo try to kill each other.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club follow up their 2001 debut, B.M.R.C, with Take Them On, On Your Own, a rock record through and through, best seen on "Stop" and "Six Barrel Shotgun."

Linkin Park reissue their "Frat Party at the Pancake Festival," a DVD of the group's videos from Hybrid Theory, including "Crawling" and "Points of Authority," as well as concert footage and a peek into a day in the life of Linkin Park.

Jeff Buckley re-releases Live at Sin-e, except this time the album contains more than two more hours of music than the original, plus a bonus DVD featuring more music and a poem by Buckley. The extended version of the album features Buckley covering Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan and Nina Simone.

Beth Orton finds herself on The Other Side of Daybreak, a remix album of last year's Daybreaker. Orton's music gets tinkered with by the likes of the Chemical Brothers and Roots Manuva.

The soundtrack to "Party Monster," the upcoming film starring Macaulay Culkin as nightclub kingpin turned murderer Michael Alig, features "The La La Song" by Marilyn Manson, "Seventeen" by Ladytron, and such classic dance songs as Stacy Q's "Two of Hearts" and Shannon's "Give Me Tonight."

Finally, the soundtrack to the vampire flick "Underworld" mostly features new songs including material by Wes Borland, John Frusciante, A Perfect Circle and David Bowie.

Out Tuesday, September 2:

31knots - It Was High Time to Escape (54º40' or Fight!)
93 Million Miles - 93 Million Miles (EP, Simba)
Ace - Sounds Still Hungry (Snapper)
The Actual - Songs on Radio Idaho (Eyeball)
Airport Girl - Do You Dream in Color? (EP, Matinee)
Corey Andrew - We're All Stars (A1s)
Anti-Establishment - Oi! Collection (Captain Oi!)
Barcode - Hardcore (Progress)
Gene Bertoncini - Acoustic Romance (Sons of Sound)
Black Box Recorder - Passionoia (One Little Indian)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Take Them On, On Your Own (Virgin)
Michael Bolton - Vintage (Passion Group)
Jeff Buckley - Live at Sin-e (DVD, Sony)
Buttless Chaps - Love This Time (Mint)
The Caseworker - These Weeks Should Be Remembered (Manifesto)
Cerberus Shoal - Claiming the Knoblessone (North East Indie)
Chateau - Fight to the Last (Castle)
Jesse Cook - Nomad (Narada World)
Chris Cortez - Hold It Right There (Blue Bamboo)
Crackdown - Rise Up (Progress)
Pernell Disney - Severn Way (Disney Whirl)
Linda Eder - Storybook (Angel)
Either Orchestra - Neo-Modernism (Accurate)
Fingertight - In the Name of Progress (Columbia)
Daggers - Light Up Your Daughters (Unity Squad)
Dead End Cruisers - Patron Saints of Wheeless Lane (Unity Squad)
Destruction Made Simple - Revolution Evolution (One Shot)
Devante - Ready or Not (A1s)
Disrespect - Hit the Ceiling (Progress)
Elegy Radio Ensemble - Elegy (Chairkickers)
Elektrofant - Flipstick (Beatservice)
Erika - Devuelveme la Vida (WEA)
Erotic - Million Empty Lives (A1s)
Evil Devil - Breakfast at the Psychohouse (Crazy Love)
F-Minus - Sweating Blood (Bridge Nine)
Find Him and Kill Him - Cut Them to Pieces (Happy Couples Never)
The Fitness - Call Me for Together (The Control Group)
Five Deez - Kinkynasti (K7)
Freebase - My Life, My Rules (Progress)
Freedom and Whiskey - Freedom and Whiskey (Progress)
Goldblade - Strictly Hardcore (Thick)
Holland - Little Monsters (Wounded Bird)
Mike Holober - Canyons (Sons of Sound)
Jesus and Mary Chain - BBC Live in Concert (Strange Fruit)
Danko Jones - Born a Lion (Simba)
Mick Karn - Each Path a Remix (United States)
Knifehandchop - Rockstopper (Tigerbeat)
Landmine Spring - Are We the Culprits? (Abstract Sounds)
Graham Lindsey - Famous Anonymous Wilderness (Catamount)
Little Wings - Discover Worlds of Wonder (K)
Lee Mallory and Joey Stec - Japan (Sound City)
Los Halos - Leaving VA (Loveless)
Los Kung-Fu Monkeys- End Transmission (One Shot)
Rick McLaughlin - Study of Light (Accurate)
The National - Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers (Brassland)
Scout Niblett - I Am (Secretly Canadian)
No-Man - Together We're Stranger (Snapper)
Okkervil River- Down the River of Golden Dreams (Jagjaguar)
Beth Orton - The Other Side of Daybreak (Astralwerks)
Penance - Spiritualnatural (Martyr)
The Raveonettes - Chain Gang of Love (Columbia)
Read: "Raveonettes Attempt To Commit Murder In New Video"
Noel Redding & Friends - Live from Bunker-Prague (Track)
Riot Squad - Jump! (Castle)
Rogue Nation - Sedition (Uprising)
Dan Rose - Fountains (Midlantic)
Roughnecks - Real Deal (Crazy Love)
Alejandro Sanz - No Es Lo Mismo (Warner Music)
Ken Schaphorst - Indigenous Technology (Accurate)
Sham 69 - At the BBC (Strange Fruit)
Naja Shiri - Dat Bomb (On the Block)
Slipside - World Can Wait (Matinee)
Soul-Junk - 1958 (Sounds Familyre)
Speed Dealer - Bleed (DeAd Teenager)
Spoken - A Moment of Imperfect Clarity (Solid State)
Strangeways - Living in the Danger Zone (Castle)
Stray - Time Machine: Anthology 1970-76 (Castle)
There Were Wires - Somnambulists (EP, Iodine)
Thou Shalt Not - The White Beyond (Dancing Ferret)
Thug Law - Thug Life Outlawz, Chapter 2 (Riviera)
Up to Vegas - Voodoo Truckin' (Crazy Love)
Brad Upton - Lionheart (Black Orchid)
The Wailing Souls - Souvenir from Jamaica (AO!)
Woven Hand - Blush Music (Sounds Familyre)
Richard X - Presents His X Factor, Vol. 1 (Astralwerks)
Various artists - #1 Pop Hits (Madacy)
Various artists - Aliens, Psychos, and Wild Things, Vol. 3 (Arcania)
Various artists - Attack of the Killer Rock Sound (Columbia)
Various artists - Definitive American Songbook, Vols. 1 and 2 (Capitol)
Various artists - Fado: Exquisite Passion (Narada World)
Various artists - Orange Twin Sampler (Orange Twin)
Various artists - "Party Monster" soundtrack (TVT Soundtrax)
Various artists - String Quartet Tribute to Jeff Buckley (Also John Cougar and Iron Maiden, Vitamin)
Various artists - A Tribute to AFI (Also Ministry and Mudvayne, Big Eye)
Various artists - "Underworld" soundtrack (Lakeshore)
DVD: Linkin Park - Frat Party at the Pancake Festival (Warner Bros.)

September 9:

John Mayer - Heavier Things (Sony)
Read: "John Mayer Tries Hip-Hop With Help From Roots' ?uestlove"
Buy Now: Heavier Things (Sony)
Seal - Seal (Warner Bros.)

September 16:

Elvis Costello - North (Universal)
Bubba Sparxxx - Deliverance (Interscope)
Read: "Bubba Sparxxx Softens Bumpkin Image, Teams Up With Justin For A 'Hootnanny' "
Carnie Wilson - For the First Time (KMA)

October 7:

Jin - Almost Famous (Virgin)
Read: "Ruff Ryders' New Dog: Jin"

October 14:

Mariah Carey - Remixes (Sony)

Related Artists

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Hit The Highway

4 May 2001 08:34:00 EDT

San Francisco band brings 'new Americana' sound to the masses.
By Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Photo: Virgin

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin — What do you do when Noel Gallagher calls you his favorite band? If you're Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, you just laugh.

"Especially because he got the name wrong," said guitarist/bassist/vocalist Robert Turner with a smile, thinking back to the Oasis guitarist's comments in Mojo magazine in 1998. "But people always get our name wrong." No matter how you say it — it mistakenly comes out B.M.R.C. with some frequency — Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have been building steam and generating an ever-louder buzz with their live shows and their self-titled debut album.

The San Francisco three-piece, whose name actually shortens to B.R.M.C., has a psychedelic sound of the kind that not many U.S. bands make anymore — distortion and feedback wrapped around haunting melodies and lyrics that express hope as often as they do rage.

Take "Red Eyes and Tears," the second track on the album, which came out April 3. Bandmate Peter Hayes sounds almost sinister as he sings "Red eyes and tears/ No more for you my love, I fear," over Turner's menacing bassline and his own slashing guitar. But a closer listen reveals a song about the beginning of a new relationship, not the end.

Sitting in the Cactus Club, one of the hippest little venues in the Midwest, before the fifth show of the band's tour, Turner said the band tries to capture emotional extremes in their music, sometimes all during one song.

"In life, there are always two sides," he said. "That was really something we tried to get across, to create a balance. We're not showing everyone only one side of the story." Playing in front of a small but rapt audience, the band doesn't just recreate its lush sound onstage; they kick it up a notch both sonically and emotionally. Trading lead vocals back and forth, Turner and Hayes are dark, dreamy frontmen, while drummer Nick Jago pounds the skins with both aggression and nuance.

Between the punk rock assault of "Whatever Happened to My Rock 'n' Roll," the garage band swagger of "Spread Your Love" and the soaring, ethereal "Awake," B.R.M.C. hearkens back not just to British bands like the Stone Roses and My Bloody Valentine but also to original psychedelic rockers like the 13th Floor Elevators.

Turner calls the group's sound "new Americana," a mix of U.S. and British influences that ultimately sounds like nothing else but itself. Their road from a Bay area cult following to international success — they've toured with both the Dandy Warhols and the Waterboys — might seem like a short one, but Turner and Hayes have been playing together on and off for eight years.

The British-born Jago joined the band in 1997 when he answered a newspaper ad Turner had placed. When Turner and the drummer first got together, things didn't gel, but when the three of them hooked up, their musical connection became immediately apparent.

"It's kind of an unspoken thing, because we don't speak a lot," Hayes said, laughing. "Not even to ourselves," Turner whispered. Jago just sat and nodded.

"We kind of all do our own thing, but we come together for the music," Turner added. "And hopefully, in 10 years, we'll still be sitting here together." B.R.M.C. tour dates, according to Virgin Records: