Adam Sandler in "Click"
Photo: Sony Pictures

If the Hollywood movie system sank into the sea, and indie flicks were the only ones left to watch, we'd be passing some pretty grim hours with dismal Sundance duds like "Brick" and "Down in the Valley." Hollywood has an honorable purpose — well, a useful one, anyway — and if there were more high-concept, star-driven mainstream comedies crafted with the cheery, professional cleverness of "Click," the world might be, if not a better place, at least a somewhat more entertaining one.

This movie's concept is so highly distilled, you could scribble it on one side of a Post-it Note and still have room on the back for a bullet-point bio of its star, Adam Sandler. He plays Michael Newman, a work-frazzled architect who slaves endless hours at his firm in pursuit of a partnership that's kept dangling just out of reach by his oily boss, Ammer (David Hasselhoff). In his obsession with advancement, Michael tends to neglect his beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) and their two winsome kids, for whom he's forever failing to build a tree house or show up at athletic events. Consumed with a desire to insure a better life for them in the future, he's robbing them of the family life they could have here and now.

Among the things that get on Michael's frayed nerves is the plethora of remote controls scattered around his living room. Every time he wants to change TV channels, he seems to pick up the wrong one, and suddenly the ceiling fans start to whirl, the garage door goes rolling up, or the nippers' toy cars and helicopters come leaping to life. At his wits' end, he sets out one night to find and buy a universal remote that will bring order to this domestic electrical chaos. It's late, though, and after cruising the local retail thoroughfares, he finds that the only store still open (and suddenly doing big-time business in movie product-placement) is Bed, Bath & Beyond. As you may know, this home-furnishings chain doesn't actually trade in consumer electronics; but after sparring with a pixilated BB&B employee (Nick Swardson, the gay roommate in "Art School Confidential," and one of the funniest characters in the film), Michael makes his way to an obscure door in the back of the store that bears a single word: "Beyond."

Inside, he finds Morty, a mad scientist complete with lab coat, bow tie, shock-permed hair and a worktable full of inscrutable tools and tinkerings. (This ambiguous oddball could perhaps only be played — and therefore is — by Christopher Walken.) Morty hands Michael a slick-looking new universal remote-control handset (made by Sony, which is also releasing this movie) that turns out to deliver way more than Michael bargained for — it allows him to literally control his universe. Soon he's lowering the volume on barking dogs and jabbering acquaintances, fast-forwarding through an argument with his wife, using the language selector to eavesdrop on some Japanese architectural clients and putting his boss on pause in order to give him a few good bitch-slaps. Next, he discovers he can skip whole chapters of his life, and thus need no longer suffer through boring dinners with his parents (Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner). And when he hits the main-menu button, he can see his entire world, all the way back to childhood — with commentary, too, provided by James Earl Jones.

All of this is worked out with considerable invention. And when the story reaches the natural limit of its high concept (around the time Michael starts using the color control on his magical remote to do Hulk impressions), it segues smoothly into a sub-Dickensian mode, something akin to "A Christmas Carol," with Morty serving as all three of the ghosts of past, present and future. When Michael fast-forwards too far ahead in his life, he finds that he's become a middle-aged fat man, and that his wife has left him. After fast-forwarding way too far, he awakes to find himself an old man at death's door, with his son, Ben (Jake Hoffman), a now-grown architect himself, sitting by his hospital bed and telling him he's decided to cancel a honeymoon with his new bride in order to deal with a business problem. Michael, tragically aware at last of the many mistakes he's made in this area, is horrified. But being near death, what can he do?

"Click" holds no surprises for anyone familiar with sentimental mainstream Hollywood comedies. The pleasure of the movie is in watching it work out pretty much the way you'd hope it would. The writers, Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe (and presumably Sandler, too), have fueled the picture with snappy patter and some sharp situational humor, and the director, Frank Coraci, who also worked with Sandler on "The Waterboy" and "The Wedding Singer," knows how long to let a laugh line linger, and when to shift emotional gears. Also notable are the makeup effects created by the great Rick Baker. It's one thing to transform a young character into a wrinkly senior citizen — we've seen it, thanks. But aging a character by just a decade or so — from, say, 35 to 45 — is a subtler thing, and Baker brings it off with remarkable delicacy. You can sense that there's been a change, but looking at the slightly altered face up on the screen, you may not be able to put your finger on exactly what it is.

"Click" is a well-made movie, and a pretty funny one. Adam Sandler is sweet, in his trademark way, and there are no flare-ups of the broad whininess that non-admirers find so irritating. It's a movie with a message, of course, and it's a Hollywood message — which doesn't necessarily make it contemptible. But we hear it coming long before Michael realizes how badly he's screwed things up in his pursuit of wealth and his determination to sidestep all of life's little annoyances. As Morty explains, it's not weird science that's wrecked Michael's existence: "You were fast-forwarding through life long before you met me."

 
"Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man": Master Class

There can't be many songwriters who don't slump in defeated wonderment before the lyrical grace of Leonard Cohen. In this unvarnished concert documentary, shot by the Australian filmmaker Lian Lunson at the Sydney Opera House in January 2005, U2 guitarist the Edge attributes to Cohen "an almost biblical authority." Singer Bono says, "He's our Shelley, our Byron." Possibly they overstate the case; possibly the opposite.

The concert was a Cohen tribute, organized by that invaluable record producer and cultural archivist Hal Willner. It brought together a disparate group of musicians — including Rufus Wainwright, Beth Orton, Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, Teddy Thompson and Antony Hegarty (of Antony and the Johnsons), along with U2 — to perform 13 of this great artist's many great songs. Apart from some offstage interview material, and a number of mesmerizing conversational interludes with Cohen himself, that's pretty much it. The stage set is minimal, the lighting is basic, and since we don't see much of the band (which includes fiddles, accordion, a glockenspiel and even a musical saw), our attention is entirely focused on the performers, a few of whom are extraordinary. And through them, of course, we are able to contemplate the magical, compressed eloquence of Leonard Cohen's words.

Rufus Wainwright, for example, a playfully sardonic performer and a true star, brings just the right rueful tone to "Everybody Knows":

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost

But remember when I moved in you
And the Holy Ghost was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

The high point of the show, however, at least until U2 comes on, is provided by Antony Hegarty. Wearing some sort of ripped fishnet smock over a white shirt, with his now-darkened hair swaying around his shoulders and his body fidgeting to some mysterious inner rhythm, this extraordinary singer all but disappears into "If It Be Your Will," rising back up again only at the end, when the song builds to a resounding gospel-style climax. Another true star.

Then U2 comes on, and we are forced to contemplate once again the possibility that there may not be anything of a musical nature that these guys can't do pretty darn well. Here, they back Leonard Cohen himself, which would seem to be an impossibility — the world-conquering arena-rock band and the 70-year-old Zen-monk recluse? The tune is another of Cohen's little classics, called "Tower of Song," and he sings it — or intones it, rather — while standing in sublime stillness in front of the band. Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr., lay back on bass and drums, Bono mans a minimalist synthesizer, and the Edge ornaments Cohen's murmurous phrases with whispery slide-guitar lines. It's a consciously small and eerily gorgeous performance, especially when Bono weighs in with a low-key backing vocal toward the end. Worth the price of admission, as they say.

Leonard Cohen's work, from the beginning of his creative life ("when I prayed to have some response to the things I thought were beautiful," as he recalls), has been a documentation of his passage through this world on his way to the next one, such as that may be. Given his advanced age, there's an unavoidably elegiac tone to this film. But Cohen leaves one last candle lit as his performance with U2 comes to a close:

Now I bid you farewell, I don't know when I'll be back
They're moving us tomorrow to that tower down the track
But you'll be hearing from me, baby, long after I'm gone
I'll be speaking to you sweetly
From a window in the Tower of Song

Check out everything we've got on "Click" and on "I'm Your Man."

Want trailers? Visit Movies on MTV Overdrive for the newest, scariest and funniest coming attractions.

Visit Movies on MTV.com for Hollywood news, interviews, trailers and more.

• "Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man" Photos
• "Click" Photos

• U2
• Bono
• Rufus Wainwright
• Nick Cave
• Antony and the Johnsons

Arctic Monkeys' <i>Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I Am Not</i>
Photo: Domino

Arctic Breeze: The British music press is no stranger to hyperbole, but after topping the charts and picking up a key Brit Award (for Best British Breakthrough Act) in their homeland, the Arctic Monkeys could be on to something. The Stateside release of their debut, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, is frill-free, but songs like "Mardy Bum," "Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But ..." and "Red Light Indicates the Doors Are Secure" are fun for the whole family.

Diddy on Their Minds: In what could be one of the weakest disses ever recorded — if you could even call it that — Dilated Peoples take one of Diddy's famous lines ("Don't worry if I write rhymes/ I write checks") and turn it into — don't look! — "Don't worry if I write checks/ I write rhymes." Whichever way they're facing on "Back Again," the good-natured Peeps — who featured Kanye West on their 2004 single "This Way" — get a few lay-ups by Talib Kweli and a bunch of underground talent: Dr. Greenthumb, Defari, Capleton and Krondon.

Wicked World: Stumble across the Wicked Wisdom Web site and you probably wouldn't guess the band is Jada Pinkett Smith's metal project, for which she is apparently going by the name Jada Koren. But judging from the track list of the Wicked's self-named debut, there's little doubt as to who this record's about: "Something Inside of Me," "Bleed All Over Me," "Set Me Free" and "Don't Hate Me." (Also feeling wicked this week is Bird York, whose 12-track Wicked Little High features her "In the Deep" contribution to "Crash.")

Hello William: So what's William Orbit been up to since producing Blur's Think Tank in 2003? Well, cultivating some Depeche Mode archival releases, but also fine-tuning his first solo record since 2000's Pieces in a Modern Style. His new one, Hello Waveforms, features Tricky's brother Finley Quaye — Orbit produced his Much More Than Much Love — plus the Sugababes and his old Strange Cargo pal, Laurie Meyer. Let's hold off on the astronomical puns this time around, people.

Unrepentantly Indie: Death Cab for Cutie's hop from career-long label Barsuk to major label Atlantic for last year's Plans helped generate that many more radio spins of "Soul Meets Body." But Chris Walla & Co. are going covert again for The John Byrd EP, which cobbles together live cuts from the band's Transatlanticism tour. Gaining them a few extra indie-cred points, Death Cab tack on an unreleased cover of Sebadoh's "Brand New Love."

Not to be confused with Sebadoh's Jason Loewenstein is Tim Loewen, who plays bass on the new Destroyer album, Destroyer's Rubies. New Pornographer contributor Dan Bejar expands his side project into a full ensemble this time around, turning to Mayo Thompson of Red Krayola and saxophone player Scott Morgan on tracks like "A Dangerous Woman Up to a Point," "Priest's Knees" and "Sick Priest Learns to Last Forever."

Identity Crisis: An album of songs sung by '80s action-star/cyborg Robocop might come across as rather, uh, one-note, but luckily there's Nuremberg, Germany's Robocop Kraus to take up the mantle. The man-machine would probably have trouble understanding one track in particular on They Think They Are the Robocop Kraus: "You Don't Have To Shout" revolves around Mathias Rust, who flew took off in a plane in Hamburg and landed in Communist Moscow — smack-dab in the middle of the Red Square — at age 19.

Back to cases of mistaken identity, that's not Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" who's putting out The Day the River Sang. It's the John Stewart of your parents' (or grandparents') generation, the Kingston Trio guy. One standout track is "New Orleans," on which Stewart reminisces about the Katrina catastrophe amid a spare piano.

And speaking of veteran musicians paying tribute to the Crescent City, Kinks leader Ray Davies provides a similar reflection on "The Tourist," which is centered around his home in New Orleans.

Heavy on the Visuals: As the tension builds over the major-label debut by metal's latest and greatest hope, Atlanta's Mastodon, their former label, Relapse, has been emptying out the archives. Call of the Mastodon, issued earlier this month, huddled together the band's earliest recordings, while this week's "The Workhorse Chronicles" DVD has a startling 30 tracks (the band's only put out two albums so far) and loads of interview material.

Eels also dump a bundle of tracks onto Live at Town Hall, for which E is backed with a string quartet and two multi-instrumentalists. The concert release comes as a digipak or as a standalone DVD with additional songs, four short docs and more.

Elbow are also feeling the video bug: A limited edition of their Leaders of the Free World comes with a bonus DVD, and they're distinguishing the special package with an olive-green cover.

But while many are transforming audio content to video this week, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (Bad Seeds, Dirty Three) head in the opposite direction with their soundtrack to "The Proposition." Cave wrote the screenplay to the Australian indie flick, which stars Guy Pearce and Emily Watson; the funereal musical accompaniment features a lot of tribal drumming and extended drones.

Cracker Vs. Cracker: One, two, three, four, Virgin and Cooking Vinyl declare a Cracker war. The major label — which released Cracker's first four albums — wants fans to get Get on With It: The Best of Cracker. Virgin advertises the "first single-disc compilation of their best songs," which has the original versions of classics like "Euro-Trash Girl" and "Low," as being "produced in collaboration with the band!" Cooking Vinyl, however — they who put out a 2002 Cracker live record — say Greatest Hits Redux is "the officially sanctioned greatest-hits package," even though the songs themselves are re-recordings. To make matters worse, the track lists are nearly identical ... who said a little competition wasn't good for the marketplace?

Song Titles of the Week:

"Engrish Bread," "Push the Eagle's Stomach" and "Fishstick Gumbo" from Man Man's Six Demon Bag

New Releases:

• Adair - The Destruction of Everything Is the Beginning of Something New (Warcon)
• Agnes Chan - Forget Yourself (with DVD; Bungalo)
• Arab Strap - Last Romance (Transdreamer)
• Architects - Revenge (Anodyne)
• Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (Domino)
  Read: "You Hear It First: Arctic Monkeys"
• Bad Wizard - Sky High (Howler)
• Bleeding Kansas - Dead Under Decor (Abacus)
• Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - "The Proposition" soundtrack (Mute)
• Chicago Underground Duo - In Praise of Shadows (Thrill Jockey)
• Coldcut - Sound Mirrors (Ninja Tune)
  Buy Now: Sound Mirrors (Ninja Tune)
• BJ Cole - Trouble in Paradise (DualDisc; Silverline)
• Cowboy Mouth - Voodoo Shoppe (Eleven Thirty)
• Ray Davies - Other People's Lives (V2)
• Death Cab for Cutie - The John Byrd EP (Barsuk)
  Read: "Death Cab For Cutie Live EP Due March 1; Next LP In The Works"
• Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies (Merge)
• Dilated Peoples - 20/20 (Capitol)
  Buy Now: 20/20 (Capitol)
• Jimmy Edgar - Color Strip (Warp)
• Eels (With Strings) - Live at Town Hall (digipak; Vagrant)
• Elbow - Leaders of the Free World (limited-edition version with DVD also available; V2)
• Evans Blue - The Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume (Hollywood)
• Ex-Boyfriends - Dear John (Absolutely Kosher)
• Folly - Resist Convenience (Triple Crown)
• Stephen Fretwell - Magpie (Interscope)
• Gamble Brothers Band - Continuator (Emergent)
• Tony Gilkyson - Goodbye Guitar (Rolling Sea)
• Jesse Harris - Mineral (digipak; Secret Sun)
  Buy Now: Mineral (digipak; Secret Sun)
• Head Like a Kite - Random Portraits of the Home Movie (Pattern25)
• Hell Is for Heroes - Transmit Disrupt (Burning Heart)
• Janis Ian - Folk Is the New Black (Cooking Vinyl)
• Bob James - Urban Flamingo (Koch)
• Arden Kaywin - Quarter Life Crisis (Arden Kaywin/PEGA)
• Kidz Bop Kids - Kidz Bop 9 (with comic book; Razor & Tie)
• Nils Landgren and Joe Sample - Creole Love Call (Highnote)
• The Lashes - Get It (Red Ink/ Epic)
• Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra - Strings and Things (Ubiquity)
• Lilys - Everything Wrong Is Imaginary (Manifesto)
• The Loved Ones - Keep Your Heart (Fat Wreck Chords)
• Andrew Hill - Time Lines (Blue Note)
• Man Man - Six Demon Bag (Ace Fu)
• Marley's Ghost - Spooked (Sage Arts)
• Metal Hearts - Socialize (Suicide Squeeze)
• Midstates - Blocking Twilight (Reincarnate Music)
• Willie Nile - Streets of New York (Reincarnate)
• William Orbit - Hello Waveforms (Sanctuary)
• Anna Oxygen - This Is an Exercise (Kill Rock Stars)
• Lori Perry - I Found It in You (Alliant Music Group)
• Gianluca Petrella - Indigo4 (Blue Note)
• The Product - Scarface Presents the Product: One Hunid (Koch)
• Remembering Never - God Save Us (Ferret)
  Buy Now: God Save Us (Ferret)
• Robinella - Solace for the Lonely (Dualtone)
• Robocop Kraus - They Think They Are the Robocop Kraus (Epitaph)
• Shanice - Every Woman Dreams (Playtyme)
• The Slackers - Peculiar (Hellcat)
  Buy Now: Peculiar (Hellcat)
• Slave to the System - Slave to the System (Spitfire)
• Souls She Said - As Templar Nites (Dim Mak/ Vice/ Atlantic)
• John Stewart - The Day the River Sang (Appleseed)
• Street Drum Corps - Street Drum Corps (Warcon)
• Teddy Thompson - Separate Ways (Verve Forecast)
• Torture Killer - Swarm! (Metal Blade)
• The Derek Trucks Band - Songlines (Columbia)
• Two Gallants - What the Toll Tells (Saddle Creek)
• Wicked Wisdom - Wicked Wisdom (Suburban Noize)
  Read: "Jada Pinkett Smith Lives Out Her Axl Rose Dreams"
• Bird York - Wicked Little High (Narada)
• Various artists - Kidz Bop 9 (Razor & Tie)
• Various artists - Take Action! Volume 5 (enhanced; Sub City)
• Various artists - Texas Unplugged - Vol. 2 (digipak; Palo Duro)
• Various artists - "Madea's Family Reunion" soundtrack (Motown)

Notable Reissues and Archival Material:

• APB - Something to Believe In - 20th Anniversary Edition (two CDs; Young American)
• Billy Bragg - Billy Bragg: Volume 1 (box set), Brewing Up With Billy Bragg, Life's a Riot With Spy Vs. Spy, Live & Dubious/ The Internationale and Talking With the Taxman About Poetry (Yep Roc)
• The Byrds - Preflyte (Sundazed)
• Califone - Roomsound (Thrill Jockey)
• Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash - 16 Biggest Hits (Columbia/Legacy)
  Buy Now: 16 Biggest Hits (Columbia/Legacy)
• The Chieftans - The Essential Chieftains (two CDs; RCA/Legacy)
• John Coltrane - Coltrane Live in Paris (Passport Audio)
• Cracker - Get on With It: The Best of Cracker (Virgin)
• Cracker - Greatest Hits Redux (Cooking Vinyl)
• Flamin' Groovies - Bust Out at Full Speed: The Sire Years (box set; DBK Works)
• Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Twelve Inches (ZTT)
  Buy Now: Twelve Inches (ZTT)
• Merle Haggard - Hag/ Someday We'll Look Back, Mama Tried/ Pride in What I Am, Sing Me Back Home/ The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde and Strangers/ Swinging Doors and the Bottle Let Me Down (Capitol)
• Merle Haggard - Live From Austin TX (New West)
• The Knickerbockers - Rockin'! With the Knickerbockers (Sundazed)
• Mott the Hoople - All the Young Dudes and Mott (Columbia/Legacy)
• Santana - Santana III: Legacy Edition (two CDs; Columbia/Legacy)
• Seven Dub - Dub Club Edition: Rock With Me Sessions (Collision Cause Chap)
• Various artists - Essential Irish Drinking Songs and Singalongs (two CDs; RCA/Legacy)
• Various artists - Original Irish Tenors: The Legendary Voices of Celtic Song (RCA/Legacy)

DVDs:

• GG Allin and the Murder Junkies - "Terror in America - Live 1993" (Music Video Distributors)
• Syd Barrett - "Under Review" (Music Video Distributors)
• Blow Monkeys - "Animal Magic - Blow Monkeys Live" (Cherry Red)
• Eels (With Strings) - "Live at Town Hall" (Image Entertainment)
• Europe - "Live From the Dark" (special edition with bonus CD; Music Video Distributors)
• Iron Maiden - "Death on the Road" (three DVDs; Columbia)
• Kid Dynamite - "Four Years in One Gulp" (Jade Tree)
• Mastodon - "The Workhorse Chronicles" (Relapse)
• Elvis Presley - "The Memphis Flash: Elvis Presley, Sun Records and How It All Began" (Music Video Distributors)
• Third World - "Music Hall in Concert" (Music Video Distributors)
• Turbo - "The History: 1980-2005" (Music Video Distributors)
• Johnny "Guitar" Watson - "Music Hall in Concert" (Music Video Distributors)
• Various artists - "Metal's Darkside: The Hard and the Furious, Volume 1" (Music Video Distributors)

Coming Attractions:

February 28:

• Hawthorne Heights - If Only You Were Lonely (Victory)
  Buy Now: If Only You Were Lonely (Victory)
• Kid Rock - Live Trucker (Atlantic)
  Buy Now: Live Trucker (Atlantic)
• Ne-Yo - In My Own Words (Def Jam)
  Read: You Hear It First: Jay-Z's Picks
  Buy Now: In My Own Words (Def Jam)

March 7:

• Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad of the Broken Seas (V2)
  Buy Now: Ballad of the Broken Seas (V2)
• Juvenile - Reality Check (Atlantic)
• Matisyahu - Youth (Epic)
  Buy Now: Youth (Epic)

March 14:

• E-40 - My Ghetto Report Card (Warner Bros.)
  Buy Now: My Ghetto Report Card (Warner Bros.)
• Fall Out Boy - From Under the Cork Tree: Limited Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour Edition (Island)
  Read: "Fall Out Boy Promise An 'Event' Video For 'Sixteen Candles' "
  Buy Now: From Under the Cork Tree: Limited Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour Edition (Island)
• Hard-Fi - Stars of CCTV (Atlantic)
  Read: "You Hear It First: Hard-Fi"

• Arctic Monkeys
• Death Cab For Cutie
• Dilated Peoples
• Mastodon
• Nick Cave

The Pixies (file)
Photo: Chapman Baehler

Now that the Pixies have wrapped their 2004 reunion tour, the alt-rock veterans are preparing to chronicle the eight-month-long trek around North America in an as-yet-untitled DVD. A live-concert disc, culled from seven shows that were filmed, is also being prepared for a 2005 release. ...

A two-page handwritten letter from Kurt Cobain to Courtney Love was sold to the highest bidder in a rock and roll memorabilia auction on Friday at the auction house Christie's. The letter, which details the late Nirvana frontman's life on tour, says in part: "I really do care but I'm not very convincing. He's sad. I'm sad. My throat is a swollen tumor, blood sausage — colon. I puke air after coughing. It was morning by the time I fell asleep after talking to you. 200 lbs. I thought of a great idea for our video. Oh, forget it." Christie's estimates that the letter, which sold for $19,120, was written on November 28, 1991, the night after Nirvana performed on the BBC series "Top of the Pops," since the show is mentioned in the letter. ... A few months after the first soundtrack to "Ray" dropped, a second LP is on the way. Ray: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Vol. 2, due February 1, features many tracks the late Ray Charles re-recorded for the movie. ...

Snoop Dogg just finished shooting the independent film "The Tenants," in which he plays Willie Spearmint, a black militant writer. ... JoJo is helping her fans listen to her music on the go with a new contest posted on her Web site. The JoJo lot in the "Discover the Secret Strength of Today's Hottest Rising Music Stars" sweepstakes, which previously featured items by such artists as Hilary Duff, includes an iPod, printer, iPod tattoos and JoJo paraphernalia including an autographed CD, autographed photo and a T-shirt. ...

After touring the States with Good Charlotte, Sum 41 are returning to their native Canada for a month's worth of shows. The Go Chuck Yourself Tour, supporting their latest album, Chuck, kicks off January 14 in Montreal and runs through February 13 in Saint John, New Brunswick. Two weeks later, the band heads to Japan. ... Glitch-hop producer Prefuse 73, a.k.a. Scott Herren, will release his fourth disc, Surrounded by Silence, on March 22. Guests include the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA, GZA and Ghostface, as well as El-P, Blonde Redhead, Masta Killa, Beans and the Books. ...

Though they haven't yet revealed the dates for their upcoming tour, a reunited Queen — featuring Paul Rodgers on vocals — have announced one special performance, spearheading the 46664 South Africa concert on March 19. Former South African president Nelson Mandela announced on Monday that Queen would return to perform at the concert for the second year in a row. "This is a great occasion for Queen to fulfill our continuing commitment to Nelson Mandela's AIDS cause," said guitarist Brian May. The full lineup for the event will be announced early next year. ... For more than 20 years, mope-masters Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have been on a mission to spread their anti-mirth worldwide, and now the odds and ends of that quest have been collected in one place. Mute Records is getting ready to release B-Sides & Rarities, a three-disc set that features never-before-heard material. The set hits shelves on March 22. ...

12.20.2004

Break out the parka and the long underwear: The first batch of dates for the 2005 SnoCore Tour have been announced. The winter trek, which features Chevelle, Helmet, Crossfade, Future Leaders of the World and Strata, kicks off January 22 in Vail, Colorado, with confirmed shows running through March 6 in Poughkeepsie, New York. More dates are expected to be added. ...

Handmade holiday cards created by the likes of Jay-Z, Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda, Jessica Simpson, Howard Stern, Adam Sandler and others are being auctioned off on eBay. Proceeds from the "Cards for Charity" project benefit the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research. ... Pennywise, Camper Van Beethoven and Ozomatli are among the bands donating tracks to Look At All the Love We've Found, a Sublime tribute album due in the summer. Blackalicious' Gift of Gab and Spearhead are collaborating for "What I Got" and Fishbone are recording "Date Rape," while No Doubt, Jack Johnson and G. Love and Special Sauce have also expressed interest in contributing. ...

The Killers, the Crystal Method, Paul Oakenfold, John Digweed, Mark Farina and Jason Bentley will headline the four stages of the fifth annual Giant Village New Year's Eve celebration in Los Angeles. This year's party, running from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m., will take place on Wilshire Boulevard in downtown L.A. ... In the wake of 2001's "Being Mick," Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger and his production company, Jagged Films, are getting behind a "Being" series. Like Mick's episode, the A&E series takes viewers inside the daily life of a celebrity. "Being" is expected to air in 2006. ...

For Geezer Butler, there's no going out to play until his Ohmwork is done. The Black Sabbath bassist's solo album is expected to drop in late April. ... Gomez are heading out on a five-city, 10-date tour of the western U.S. in January, starting in the San Diego area on January 14. The run will feature two shows in West Hollywood, three in San Francisco, two in Boulder, Colorado, and a concluding show in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on January 26. ...

• The Pixies
• Kurt Cobain
• Snoop Dogg
• JoJo
• Sum 41

With just under two weeks until the Grammys, it's time to start revisiting the songs that were the most popular — and by extension, the most grating — last year. And what better way to jog your memory than the Grammy Nominees 2003 album?

The disc includes Pink's "Get the Party Started," Britney Spears' "Overprotected," Avril Lavigne's "Complicated," Norah Jones' "Don't Know Why," Eminem's "Without Me," Nelly's "Hot in Herre," 'NSYNC's "Girlfriend" and Nickelback's "How You Remind Me."

On the other end of the spectrum are new releases from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Massive Attack. Cave's Nocturama comes two years after No More Shall We Part and features, among other tormented songs, a 14-minute "Babe, I'm on Fire." Meanwhile, following a five-year absence, Massive Attack return with 100th Window. The album offers the standard soaring Massive Attack sound, but this time with the addition of Sinead O'Connor on "What Your Soul Sings" and "A Prayer for England."

John Mayer's live Any Given Thursday shares shelf space with cheeky Supergrass' fourth album, Life on Other Planets.

And finally, the Ramones tribute album We're a Happy Family features the second all-star lineup of the week. Rob Zombie takes on "Blitzkrieg Bop," Marilyn Manson interprets "The KKK Took My Baby Away," Green Day and the Offspring weigh in with their versions of "Outsider" and "I Wanna Be Sedated," respectively. U2 sings "Beat on the Brat," while the Red Hot Chili Peppers tackle "Havana Affair."

As for the rest of this week's releases — hey, ho, let's go ...

Out Tuesday, February 11:

• David Ackles - American Gothic (Collector's Choice)
• Alathea - What Light Is All About (Rocketown)
• Paul Anka - Absolutely the Best: The 70s (Varese)
• Atom and his Package - Attention! Blah Blah Blah (Hopeless)
• The Bad Plus - These Are the Vistas (Columbia)
• Baka Beyond - East to West (Narada World)
• Bass Hit - Bass Re-Loaded (Neurodisc)
• Bloody Mary - Day of Resurrection (Danger)
• Boulevard Knights - Boulevard Knights (Familia)
• Kenny Brown - Stingray (Fat Possum)
• Michael Bublé - Michael Bublé (143/Reprise)
• C-Bo - West Coast Mafia: Chopped and Screwed (West Coast Mafia)
• Rodney Carrington - Nut Sack (Capitol)
• Karan Casey - Distant Shore (Shanachie)
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Nocturama (Anti/Epitaph)
  Read: "Nick Cave Delivers More Tales From The Dark Side"
  Buy Now: Nocturama (Anti/Epitaph)
• Chevelles - Girl God (Zip)
• Coachwhips - Get Yer Body Next Ta Mine (Narnack)
• Corporation 187 - Perfection in Pain (Wicked World)
• Data 80 - Data 80 (EFA/Caroline)
• Debbie Davies - Key to Love: A Tribute to John Mayall (Shanachie)
• Dr. Demento - Hits From Outer Space (Laugh.com)
• Duke - 21st Century Man (produced by Eddy Grant) (Ice)
• Tim Easton - Break Your Mother's Heart (New West)
• Eightball and MJG - On Top of the World (Draper)
• DJ Envy - The Desert Storm Mixtape: Blok Party Vol. 1 (Desert Storm/Epic)
• Fabulous Disaster - Panty Raid (Pink & Black)
• John Fahey - Red Cross (Revenant)
• Five Way Friday - Wrecked (Redeye)
• Flatline - Dead Man Walking (Thug City)
• Matt Flinner Quartet - Walking on the Moon (Compass)
• Fo Clips - Just Be Thankful (Danger)
• Foys Boys - My Life My Hustle (Dog Team)
• Funk Porcini - Fast Asleep (Ninja Tune)
• Further Seems Forever - How to Start a Fire (Tooth & Nail)
• Jeffrey Gaines - Toward the Sun (Artemis)
• Vince Gill - Next Big Thing (MCA Nashville)
• Girls in the Club - Girls in the Club (Downsouthrap.com)
• Grade 8 - Grade 8 (Lava/Atlantic)
• Hall & Oates - Do It for Love (U-Watch)
• John Hammond - Ready for Love (Back Porch)
• Stefon Harris - The Grand Unification Theory (Blue Note)
• JoJo Hermann - Defector (Fat Possum)
• Hexstatic - Solid Steel Mix (Ninja Tune)
• Holland - Photographs & Tidal Waves (Tooth & Nail)
• Jackpot - Bone-Ville (Future Farmer)
• Jackstraw - Jackstraw (High Horse)
• Kingzmen - Not of this World (Holy Hip Hop)
• Kissing Chaos - Enter With a Bullet (Fueled by Ramen)
• DJ Krush - The Message at the Depth (Red Ink)
• Patty Larkin - Red = Luck (Vanguard)
• Erik Larson - The Resounding (Small Stone)
• Kenny Lattimore/Chante Moore - Things That Lovers Do (Arista)
• Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Hearts of Oak (Lookout!)
• Lil Mac - From the Cracks to the Stacks (Lock Down)
• Madder Mortem - Deadlands (The End)
• Madhouse - Holiday (Radikal)
• Massive Attack - 100th Window (Virgin)
  Buy Now: 100th Window (Virgin)
• John Mayer - Any Given Thursday (Sony)
• John McCusker - Goodnight Ginger (Compass)
• My Sick Friends - Simple (Hapi Skratch)
• Willie Nelson - Crazy: The Demo Sessions (Sugarhill)
• Gary Numan - Scarred: Live at Brixton Academy (2 CDs, Eagle)
• Erlend Oye - Unrest (Source/Astralwerks)
• Pacifier - Pacifier (Arista)
• Pumpkinhead - A Beautiful Mind (EP, Third Earth)
• Rae - Rae (Relentless)
• Rapture - Songs for the Withering (Century Media)
• Rush - The Spirit of Radio: 1974-1987 (Universal)
• Rusty Humphries - Bomb Iraq (Laugh.com)
• Joshua Ryan - By Design (System)
• Sanctus Real - Say It Loud (Sparrow)
• Slater - Can You Feel Me (T.O.P.)
• Stephan Smith - The Bell (Synchronic)
• Socialburn - Where You Are (Elektra)
• Sofia - Sofia (Big Sur)
• Spiv - Don'tcha Know (Pop Sweatshop)
• Tammy Faye Starlite & the Angels of Mercy - Used Country Female (Diesel Only)
• Miriam Stockley - Second Nature (Narada)
• George Strait - For the Last Time: Live from the Astrodome (MCA Nashville)
• Strapping Young Lad - SYL (Century Media)
• Supergrass - Life on Other Planets (Island)
  Read: "Supergrass Get Thrown For A L.O.O.P, Party With Skanks"
  Buy Now: Life on Other Planets (Island)
• Tech N9ne - Anghellic (MSC)
• Troika - Kingdom of the Sun (Narada)
• Twelfth Gate - Summoning (Crash Music)
• Paul van Dyk - Global (Mute)
• Vexers - The Vexers (Ace Fu)
• Cosmo Vitelli - Clean (Astralwerks)
• Viva - Blanksidesongs (Pitch a Tent)
• Otto Von Schirach - Chopped Zombie Fungus (Schematic)
• Voodou - Your Basic Evil Black Squadron (Underground Inc.)
• Doc Watson - Then and Now (Tomato)
• Carol Welsman - The Language of Love (Savoy Jazz)
• Yanni - Ethnicity (Virgin)
• Various artists - The American Song-Poem Anthology: Do You Know the Difference Between Big Wood and Brush (Bar/None)
• Various artists - "Ash Wednesday" soundtrack (Koch)
• Various artists - Buenos Aires Cafe (Narada)
• Various artists - Duck Down Records Presents: Collect Dis Edition (Duck Down)
• Various artists - Global Hits 2003 (Motown)
• Various artists - Grammy Nominees 2003 (Rhino)
• Various artists - Motown Soul Jams Vol. 1 (Motown)
• Various artists - Oil: Chicago Punk Refined (Thick)
• Various artists - Rollin on Dubs (Thump)
• Various artists - The Songs of Hank Williams Jr.: A Bocephus Celebration (Warner Bros./Curb)
• Various artists - Tribute to Bob Marley (K-Tel)
• Various artists - We're a Happy Family: A Tribute to the Ramones (DV8/Columbia)
  Read: "Garbage Give Ramones Electro Sheen While Manson Moans, Marches"
• DVD: Various artists - "Pass the Mic!" (Image Entertainment)
• DVD: The Gathering - "In Motion" (Century Media)
• DVD: John Mayer - "Any Given Thursday" (Columbia)
• DVD: Jane Monheit - "Live at the Rainbow Room" (N-Coded)

March 4:

• Cursive - Ugly Organ (Saddle Creek)
• Fabolous - Street Dreams (Elektra)
  Buy Now: Street Dreams (Elektra)
• Hootie & the Blowfish - Hootie & the Blowfish (Atlantic)
  Buy Now: Hootie & the Blowfish (Atlantic)
• Lil' Kim - La Bella Mafia (Atlantic)
  Buy Now: La Bella Mafia (Atlantic)
• Special Goodness - Land Air Sea (Control Group)
• Voivod - Voivod (Navarre)
  Read: "Jason Newsted Says His New Band Can Kick Metallica's Ass"

March 11:

• Various artists - Punk Goes Acoustic (Fearless)

March 18:

• Buzzcocks - Buzzcocks (Merge)

March 25:

• Celine Dion - One Heart (Sony)
• Linkin Park - Meteora (Warner Bros.)
  Read: "Linkin Park Discuss Meteora, Plan Surreal Video"

• Nick Cave
• Massive Attack
• John Mayer
• Supergrass
• Paul Van Dyk

Nick Cave
Photo: Polly Borland

From his days in the early '80s with the Birthday Party to his more recent work with the Bad Seeds, Australian gloom icon Nick Cave has established a musical oeuvre that doesn't exactly evoke sunny days or happy thoughts.

Many of his songs are about betrayal, depression and death, and even when he croons about love, religion and redemption, he does so in a dusky, grandiose style overflowing with beauty but bereft of joy.

So, choosing a brooding album title like Nocturama seems only natural for the duke of darkness, especially considering the term's definition: a large pen where zoo animals are kept at night.

Strangely, Cave was almost pressured into changing the name.

"A lot of people had problems with the name," he said. "I always thought of it as a warm kind of title. Other people objected to it because they thought that it was dark, unnecessarily dark. But I didn't find it that way."

Nocturama, which comes out February 11, is a natural progression from 2001's sweeping No More Shall We Part. Again, Cave explores various shades of love — from black and ugly to fiery and blood-red — with gorgeous, broody ballads filled with delicate piano, gliding strings, meandering basslines, feather-light drumming and Cave's resonant, pain-stricken vocals. But after three down-tempo numbers that sound like suicidal show tunes, Cave and the Bad Seeds inject urgency into the proceedings with "Bring It On" and "Dead Man in My Bed." Then, there are four more reflective cuts before the band again kicks into overdrive with the nearly 15-minute tumbling super-jam "Babe, I'm on Fire."

"We had difficulty on the order of the songs because we were dealing in extremes," Cave said. "It makes a big difference how they're actually ordered. For me, I love the slow stuff, and it was very important to me to focus on that first. So that's kind of why it requires patience for some people to get into the record. Everyone was telling me, 'Put the loud songs first so that people are thrown into the record.' But I couldn't do that."

The first single from Nocturama will be "Bring It On," which features guest vocals by Chris Bailey, the singer for influential Australian late-'70s punk and pop band the Saints.

"They're one of my great influences," Cave said. "As a kid, I used to go to all of their gigs, and I was taught everything I needed to know about music, as far as I was concerned at the time. So, it was an absolute joy to get Chris to come sing with us. We chose the song as the single because, well, if there was anything that was going to get played anywhere, it would be that one."

Cave is understandably proud of his band's new record and is looking forward to playing U.S. shows this summer to support the disc. But Nocturama isn't the only music on his mind.

"I write all the time and I'm midway through our next record," he said. "In this day rock bands take so long to get to their next record because you have to do the press and the promotion and the touring. And there's a certain idea that you have to pull your head in at certain times, wait for the market to open up again and come out in a blaze of glory. I can't be bothered that. We want to try and make an album a year for the next three years, writing and recording them very quickly, and just kind of keep them coming out."

• Nick Cave

Destiny's Child
Photo: MTV News

Nearly a week after the most devastating terrorist attack in U.S. history, artists are still canceling shows and postponing tours as the concert industry struggles to return to some semblance of normalcy.

The "TRL" tour featuring Destiny's Child, Eve, Nelly and City High has been delayed indefinitely, while Britney Spears has nixed her promotional tour of Europe and South America.

Though representatives for the Recording Academy announced last week that the Latin Grammys — slated for September 11, the day of the attacks — would not be rescheduled, an Academy spokesperson said Monday (September 17) that officials are reconsidering whether or not to stage the ceremony.

Shows scheduled for Monday by Stereophonics and Redman were also called off, while Tuesday's postponed or canceled shows include O-Town, Powerman 5000, Earth Wind & Fire and Nick Cave, according to Ticketmaster.com. Judas Priest have rescheduled their imminent tour for early next year.

While other artists, including the Backstreet Boys and Weezer, charged onward, several performers last week announced their decisions to postpone tours, including System of a Down and Slipknot, whose joint Pledge of Allegiance tour will start a week later than planned (see "Destiny's Child, Janet Jackson, Pantera, Others Cancel, Postpone Concerts").

The Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine Online Music Awards, scheduled for Thursday (September 20) in New York, have been postponed until further notice, organizers announced. Pete Townshend, Aerosmith, Widespread Panic and Ludacris were to perform.

• Britney Spears
• O-Town
• Destiny's Child
• Eve
• Nelly

Axl Rose
Photo: MTV News

Despite the tragic deaths at last year's Roskilde Festival, the Denmark show will go on this year, with several major artists set to perform at the June 28-July 1 event.

Guns 'N Roses, Tool, Beck, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Robbie Williams and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are all on the bill, according to festival organizers.

Sweden's Hammerfall and Hâkan Hellström, Denmark's Filur, Ireland's JJ72, Norway's Mayhem and England's Ski Oakenfull also are tapped for the event, to be held at a field 30 miles from Copenhagen.

This year's festival follows one of the most disastrous concerts in history — nine people were crushed to death during a performance by Pearl Jam.

There were reports of poor communication among volunteer security guards at the front of the stage where the trampling occurred. Roskilde officials held several investigations, and festival organizers were not found responsible for the incident.

Promoters have promised to improve safety at this year's event and have outlined their plans on their official Web site (www.roskilde-festival.dk).

First staged in 1970, the Roskilde Festival is the world's longest-running outdoor music event and has attracted as many as 90,000 people.

• Guns N' Roses
• Beck
• Neil Young
• Nick Cave
• Bob Dylan

An eclectic group of artists will be performing at St. Ann's Church in Brooklyn, New York, next month for a pair of shows paying tribute to Harry Smith, the avant-garde filmmaker who was responsible for compiling "The Anthology Of American Folk Music."

-- Brian Ives

• Nick Cave
• Lou Reed
• The Velvet Underground
• Wilco
• Sonic Youth