Beastie Boys (file)
Photo: Capitol

Ch-check out this week's batch of new releases: a little bit of country, pop, rap — and a lot of rock and roll.

In July of 1998, a Brooklyn-bred rap trio said Hello Nasty to its fans after a four-year absence, and then bid them goodbye for the next six years. Bringing the music back To the 5 Boroughs, the Beastie Boys make their long-awaited return this week, fueled by the single "Ch-Check It Out."

Phish phans get some music to mourn to this week, as the band releases its final studio album, Undermind. Sixteen years after Phish put out their debut album, the kings of modern jam bands are releasing their last album and completing their last tour, then calling it a day.

For fans of pint-sized pop star Christina Milian, It's About Time she released her sophomore album, because it's been three years since her first.

What happened in a Las Vegas garage beginning in late 2002 didn't stay there. Sin City indie-rock outfit the Killers release their debut album, Hot Fuss, this week, while legendary British band the Fall release The Real New Fall LP, Formerly Known as Country on the Click.

Patti Scialfa, the first lady of New Jersey rock and roll and an E Street Band member, is branching out this week as she releases 23rd Street Lullaby.

Former "American Idol" contestant Josh Gracin, whose pop-country style put him at fourth place in the competition, releases his debut self-titled album. Also out this week are albums from Seether (Disclaimer) and Pink Grease (This Is for Real), and finally, weighing in with a live album is Cali-born mixmaster DJ Shadow, with Live! In Tune & on Time.

Out Tuesday, June 15:

• Dave Alvin - Ashgrove (Yep Roc)
• The Beastie Boys - To the 5 Boroughs (Grand Royal/Capitol)
  Read:"Beastie Boys Album Preview: Political Bleats And Old-School Beats"
  Buy Now: To the 5 Boroughs (Grand Royal/Capitol)
  
• Bond - Classified (Decca)
• Lori Carson - The Finest Thing (Meta)
• Communiqué - Poison Arrows (Lookout!)
• Chris Cook - Small Town Gone (Gaff Music)
• Larry Coryell Trio - Tricycles (Favored Nations)
• Celine Dion - A New Day ... Live in Las Vegas (Epic)
• DJ Shadow - Live! In Tune & on Time (Geffen)
• Emerson Drive - What If? (DreamWorks Nashville)
• The Fall - The Real New Fall LP, Formerly Known as Country on the Click (Narnack)
• Fleetwood Mac - Live in Boston (Reprise)
• Eddie Gale - Afro-Fire (Black Beauty)
• Josh Gracin - Josh Gracin (Lyric Street/Hollywood)
• Imperanon - Stained (Nuclear Blast)
• Killers - Hot Fuss (Island)
• Joseph Malik - Aquarius Songs (Compost)
• Christina Milian - It's About Time (Island)
  Read: "Christina Milian: Monster's Ball"
• Orphanage - Driven (Nuclear Blast)
• Philly's Most - Ring the Alarm (Universal)
• Pillar - Where Do We Go From Here (Flicker)
• Pink Grease - This Is for Real (Mute)
• Phish - Undermind (Elektra/Asylum)
• Patti Scialfa - 23rd Street Lullaby (Columbia)
• Seether - Disclaimer (Wind-Up)
• George Shearing - Like Fine Wine (Mack Avenue)
• Chris Stamey - Travels in the South (Yep Roc)
• Johnny Winter - I'm a Bluesman (Virgin)
• Various artists - Neurot Recordings I (Neurot)
• Various artists - What's Love? A Tribute to Tina Turner (Versailles)
• DVD: Cheap Trick - From Tokyo to You (Big 3/Cheap Trick Unlimited)

June 22:

• Mobb Deep - Amerikaz Nightmare (Jive)
  Read: "Mobb Deep Blinded With '80s Science For 'Twisted' Beat"
• Wilco - A Ghost Is Born (Nonesuch)
• Brian Wilson - Gettin' in Over My Head (Rhino)
• Stevie Wonder - A Time 2 Love (Motown)

June 29:

• Lloyd Banks - Hunger for More (Interscope)
  Read: "G-Unit's Lloyd Banks, Young Buck Recording Solo Albums"
• Brandy - Afrodisiac (Atlantic)
  Read: "Brandy On Growing Up: A Candid Chat"
• The Cure - The Cure (Geffen)
• Pixies - Wave of Mutilation: Best of Pixies (4AD)

July 6

• Ray Manzarek - Golden Scarab (Lemon Records)
• Angie Stone - Stone Love (J Records)

• Beastie Boys
• Phish
• Christina Milian
• Josh Gracin
• Killers

Mark E. Smith, leader of the veteran British post-punk band the Fall was in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday to answer a misdemeanor charge of assaulting his girlfriend, Julia Nagle, who also plays keyboards in the latest line-up of the group.

Smith was ordered to go back to England, get counseling, enroll in an alcohol- treatment program and send back monthly reports to the court, where he's due for a follow-up court appearance on September 30. The judge also granted Nagle a limited order of protection against Smith, which would still allow them to perform and record together.

As we previously reported (see "Fall Singer Due In Court To Face Assault Charge"), the singer allegedly assaulted Nagle last Wednesday, the day the Fall were due to play a tour-ending show in New York City, a concert which was subsequently canceled.

• The Fall

Mark E. Smith, the leader of the long-running British band the Fall, is due in a New York City court today to face a misdemeanor charge of having assaulted his girlfriend, band keyboardist Julia Nagle, last week.

Smith plead not guilty after his arrest last Thursday, the day after the band concluded the final date of its U.S. tour.

At a concert in New York two weeks ago, Smith turned up sporting a black eye which was said to have been the result of Nagle having hit the singer with a telephone.

The Fall's latest album -- their twenty-fifth, entitled "Levitate," is only available in this country as an import.

• The Fall

August 5 [14:00 EDT] -- Fans can take a trip to the heyday of British punks The Fall next week when six of the band's early albums are re-released.

The band (which has foreshadowed the rise of new wave, the Manchester rave scene, and techno as its sound has progressed) will see six of its works from the mid-to-late 80s hit record stores next Tuesday courtesy of Beggars Banquet Records.

Among the releases brought back into the light will be 1988's "I Am Kurious Oranj," which provided the score for an avant-garde ballet, and 1988's "The Frenz Experiment," which yielded a hit in the form of the band's cover of the Kinks' "Victoria."

In addition to these re-releases, old and new fans will be able to check out "The Wonderful Frightening World Of The Fall" (1984), "This Nation's Saving Grace" (1986), "Bend Sinister" (1986), and "Seminal Live" (1989) next Tuesday, August 12.

If heading out of the house is too much for you, fans can also get mail order information form the Beggars Banquet website at www.beggars.com.

• The Fall