The Fratellis

A Look Back At Lollapalooza 2007

3 Aug 2007 11:07:00 EDT

Watch our chats with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Lupe Fiasco and more from last year's festival, plus find out how you can contribute to our 2008 Lolla coverage.

Lupe Fiasco
Photo: MTV News

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Grunge Rebirth, Beyonce Nod — And Flavor Flav! — More SXSW Surprises

17 Mar 2007 10:43:00 EDT

Plus Damon Albarn's Queen gets loud, Hanson work 6th Street, Kirsten Dunst enjoys the show.
By MTV staff

Flavor Flav performs at SXSW on Friday
Photo: John Shearer/ Wire Image

AUSTIN, Texas — Every March, the music industry throws on a pair of shorts, slathers on the SPF 45 and heads on down to Austin for South by Southwest, a weeklong celebration of bands, BBQ and (sometimes free!) beer. It's a brutal bacchanal and music marathon powered by thousands of acts playing in hundreds of venues — at all hours — plus an unreal number of open bar tabs and fancy private parties.

Sleep is not exactly a top priority, so MTV News has dispatched three of its most tireless reporters into the fray. They'll be filing reports a few times each day (scroll down for the evening report), which will chiefly serve as a way of keeping you up to speed about what's going on deep in the heart of Texas, but also double as a convenient way — for us, anyway — of making sure everyone's still alive.

The Day

James Montgomery, MTV News writer: Another afternoon, another 36 Kool-Aid-colored wristbands to weigh down my wrists. At every day party I attend, my wrist gets slapped with a brightly colored piece of plastic (or, as is the case at the Levi's/Fader fort, two pieces), which — in theory — are supposed to keep the unwashed masses from gate-crashing and allow me preferred access to VIP areas and/or free booze. But the only thing they're really good for is snagging on clothing and making me look like this guy.

I know, I know ... cry me a river. But after only three days at SXSW, I'm totally starting to feel the inner Andy Rooney in me come to life (and he loves Robyn Hitchcock). Maybe it's the fact that every dude here is wearing a tank top, or the fact that every girl looks she's Karen O's stunt double. Who knows? ...

OK ... deep breath. Spent the afternoon at the SPIN party, where there was free popcorn, free ice cream, free cigarettes and, of course, more free wristbands! There was also a middling set from New Orleans funk act Galactic featuring cameos by a who's who of rappers that no one cares about (Lyrics Born, the Coup's Boots Reilly), a Kirsten Dunst sighting and a truly awesome early evening performance from the Kings of Leon, who rock nearly as hard as their pants are tight (and that's very).

Off now to get some dinner ... then hopefully catch a sweaty, late-night set from Girl Talk. Oh, also, my buddy in Beirut just invited me on a four-hour "BBQ excursion" set for Saturday afternoon. Wristbands or no, things are lookin' up, indeed!

John Norris, MTV News correspondent: By and large, the consensus in the local media and among people I have talked to seems to be that while the significance of SXSW has changed — I mean, we all know where music is "broken" in 2007, and it ain't at one gig at one festival — the festival still plays a vital role. As a one-stop shop for those who don't have bands rolling through their town every week, and for artists to get their music seen and heard by those in and out of the mainstream biz.

Among the bands, at varying levels of notoriety, that have introduced themselves to me on the streets of Austin and gotten their music into my hands in the past couple of days: Aloke, the GoStation, Locksley, New Year's Day, the Animators, the Stock Market Crash and some pretty cool garage girls from Atlanta who go by the lovely name the Coathangers (who count in their arsenal a fairly demure jam called "Nestle in My Boobies").

Finally, I have been avoiding going on a vegan rant for the last few days and just sucked it up and dealt with foraging around town to find non-animal-product dining. When in Rome ... yeah, yeah. Well, I'm sure as hell not gonna start eating flesh slathered in barbecue sauce, that's for sure. I'm often in situations like this — it means repeated trips to Asian places, which at least know what tofu is — so I've been twice to P.F. Chang's and once to Veggie Heaven. But then you slip and eat cheese sometimes. At last year's SXSW, even Chrissie Hynde — as much an icon of animal rights as a goddess of rock — told me she occasionally will eat cheese and she's been vegan for more than 30 years. Really, I love longhorns. To look at. Or pet. Not to eat, sit on or wear. End of screed.

Gil Kaufman, MTV News writer: I'm going to announce a moratorium on the bad-name thing, though Chicago's Flosstradamus get an honorable mention. Let me just say this now: If Australia's Youth Group don't become the next U2, something is seriously amiss. These guys have the kind of swaying, epic songs — like "Shadowland" — that fill up a dingy daytime bar show and make it feel like a stadium.

The pressure to melt down in public for new hot messes like Amy Winehouse must be intense, but it doesn't seem to be slowing down the hottest mess on everyone's tongue this week, Atlanta's notorious Black Lips. More than six years into their career, the band still knows how to shock, or revolt, as when guitarist Cole Alexander lost his lunch mid-solo just two songs into the band's set. Pro that he is, he never missed a lick, though the crowd did take a step back.

Note to the dude walking down the street with earplugs in: Bro, yeah, it's loud in the venues sometimes, but you can take them out on the way to lunch.

One of the reasons rock stars love South By (that's what the cool kids call it, for real) is they can just blend in, because every hipster doofus worth his salt has rats-nest hair, too-tight jeans and an expensive-looking ripped shirt. So, if you walk down the street and see Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore hanging on the corner, or Joan Jett waiting for a cab outside your hotel, yeah, it's them.

Speaking of which, I was on the phone in the elevator and I see a guy walk in with a huge clock around his neck and a bunch of dookie chains and my first thought is, "What kind of a bozo thinks he can cop that look from Flavor Flav in 2007?" Oh, my bad, it was Flavor Flav! We chatted, I wished him luck on his show Friday night (March 16) and when the doors opened, he gave me a knuckle pound and zoomed out into the lobby on his wheelies.

Here's what I missed today but heard about from people who were better line-jumpers than me: Pete Townshend jamming on "The Seeker" with the Fratellis, and Vietnam — or "those dudes with the giant beards," as one patron described them.

The Evening

James Montgomery: If you like slightly tubby guys with super scraggly beards, rare, out-of-print Boredoms 7-inches and uttering the phrase "They're still playing the same song?!" then the Ecstatic Peace Records and Tapes showcase was the place to be Friday night. Owned and operated by Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore, Ecstatic Peace releases records (actual records; like, on vinyl and everything) by a whole lot of erudite, experimental bands that you've never heard of, many of which — including the ethereal Gown, the drone-y Black Helicopter and the unpronounceable Charalambides — were on display tonight.

Of course, doe-eyed dreamboat Michael Pitt's little grunge outfit, Pagoda was there too, but I spotted John digging them pretty hard, so I'll leave it to him to document their set. Needless to say, it didn't take me long to get my fill of avant instrumentalism, and I was quickly out the door. But not before snagging a copy of the free Ecstatic Peace 'zine for my reading leisure. Thanks, Thurston!

Then it was off to Stubb's, where a little of the old "I'm with MTV News ... my camera crew is inside, and I need to get to them now!" routine (note: professional!) got me to the front of the line and into the much-hyped gig by Damon Albarn's new project, the Good, the Bad and the Queen. I'd been hearing a lot about how the whole thing was some sort of semi-conceptual play, a sort of time-skipping portrayal of life in London throughout the 20th Century, and I was anxious to check it out myself.

Sadly, all I got out of the performance a whole lot of former Clash bassist Paul Simonon's booming, bubbly low-end (I mean, seriously, dude was loud) and a few pictures of Albarn in a top hat. Playing on a stage littered with streamers and Union Jacks, in front of an impressionistic portrait of London, the atmosphere was right, but the music — all percolating, dubby basslines and three-quarter-speed guitars — wasn't. Truth be told, the whole thing was a complete snoozer. And if it was come sort of concept, I wasn't getting it. Maybe, on this night, I just wasn't smart enough for any of it. Not sleeping and existing solely on ribs and cigarettes tends to do that to a person.

John Norris: While I didn't stick around at Stubb's long enough to check out the Good, the Bad and the Queen, there was still plenty of the Snide, the grungy and the unexpected to go around.

Began my travels at Buffalo Billiards, where you rack 'em up downstairs and upstairs you hear music — cool music on this night, in the form of Nashville's Clem Snide, the band fronted and really embodied by one of the dryer, wittier guys in indie music, Eef Barzelay. He led his two backing players through a 40-minute set full of Clem Snide's trademark tunes that build and build ... and suddenly end. Eef's sarcasm was in abundance as well, in songs like "Girls Don't Care" and in his between-song patter, like when he told the SXSW crowd "You quench me. Your applause is like calamine lotion on my mosquito-bitten skin." Oh and he even busted out a bit of Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable."

Three encounters making my way down a packed 6th Street: former MTV VJ and walking musical encyclopedia Matt Pinfield, shooting a show for DirectTV; my old pals Taylor and Zack Hanson, being interviewed for another video outlet; and Damaris Drummond, a performance artist who is planning to cover herself with vintage Atari joysticks on Saturday and ask people to choose one to play with. Where in Austin will this happen? "Wherever they will let me," says Damaris. I am not kidding.

Nor am I kidding when I say that Michael Pitt rocks. Pitt may be the easy-on-the-eyes actor who starred in "The Dreamers" and "Last Days," but he has apparently put acting on the backburner indefinitely to concentrate on his neo-grunge band Pagoda, who played outdoors at the Mohawk. With Pitt on guitar and wailing vocals (playing a Cobain-like character has clearly had an impact on him), plus bass, drums and cello (!) the band ripped through one impassioned song after another, and you might have thought it was 1993 all over again. Only one beef though: say something, dude. I get it, you want to downplay the "movie star as frontman" thing; who wouldn't? But apart from "Thanks Thurston" and "This is our last song," Pitt was totally mute ... and he tended to overdo the whole back-to-the-crowd thing. Mike — you can play guitar, you can sing and scream, your band is good. Lighten up.

Plenty light and comfortable is Mancunian troubadour Damon Gough, a.k.a. Badly Drawn Boy. Although large open-air Stubb's may not have been the best setting for his sound, Gough lit up the night with his peppy alt pop, including the winning title track from his most recent release, Born in the U.K. Plus, he's a dead ringer for my MTV News buddy Aaron Pinkston, who was watching the show with me. There could be a sitcom in here. Couple of bearded, longhaired, beanie-wearing dudes from opposite sides of the Atlantic. It could work ...

Gil Kaufman: If there's anyone who loves the Ramones more than me, it's Japanese punk bands. Which is why the Japan Night showcase is always at the top of my list. This year was no disappointment, with a killer set from Osaka's The50Kaitenz, a power trio who rocked a blistering set of Ramones-inspired rockabilly while wearing matching black suits with Colonel Sanders-style black string ties. They were followed by the equally off-the-charts Pistol Valve, a 10-woman collective with eight horn players, an electric violinist and DJ, all combining forces (like Voltron!) to create a truly unique brand of Afro-Cuban-funk-jazz-hip-hop-a--go-go, all while wearing fedoras and varying stages of lingerie.

After flashing my badge, dropping some names, pretending to call my nonexistent cameraman and using every slimy excuse I could think of to jump in front of the two-block long line, I finally got in to see hot not-mess Brazilian funk carioca trio Bonde do Role. The group — really just two MC's and a DJ — mash up party-ready Bailefunk rhythms with hip-hop and samples that range from classic rock to Brazilian dance and snatches of the "Grease" soundtrack, and they had the packed house bouncing off the walls. They got even the most jaded hipsters to throw down.

Can James snag himself a nap? Are there more Beyoncé covers in John's future? Will Gil's line-cutting come back to haunt him? Check back all weekend for our SXSW coverage!

Earlier this week:

· "Tom Morello's SXSW Gig Turns Into Raucous All-Star Jam With Slash, Perry Farrell"

· "Amy Winehouse Raises Eyebrows, Bloc Party Draw A Mob As SXSW Wakes Up"

· "Pete Wentz Clones Descend, Lily Allen Warbles As SXSW Gets Under Way"

For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports.

[This story was originally published on 3.16.2007 at 8:45 p.m.]

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Kings Of Leon, Mastodon, Flava Flav, More Rock SXSW '07

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New Releases: Lloyd, Musiq Soulchild, Fratellis, Rich Boy & More

13 Mar 2007 06:00:00 EDT

Also due Tuesday: William Tell, 8Ball and MJG, Death by Stereo, Rosie Thomas, Radio Disney Jams 9.
By Kurt Orzeck

Lloyd's Street Love
Photo: Motown

"Beware the ides of March," Titus once told Julius Caesar. The Roman leader disregarded the warning — and was fatally stabbed by conspirator Brutus a few days later. Harsh. While we're hoping a similar fate doesn't befall any of the artists putting out new releases this week, in the interest of friendly competition, we've paired them off as rivals. No conniving!

Lloyd's Street Love and Musiq Soulchild's Luvanmusiq - Lloyd got some assistance from Lil Wayne, Ashanti and Ja Rule on his 2004 debut, Southside. Weezy's back to give the Atlanta R&B crooner another leg up — this time on "You" — and Nas is also climbing into the action with a spot on the album-closing remix of "I Want You." Another singer, Philadelphia's Musiq, flies totally solo on his fourth effort, which he's hoping will follow in the platinum and gold tradition of his albums past. His first item for Atlantic features "Buddy," "Today" and "Ridiculous."

Rich Boy's Rich Boy and 8Ball and MJG's Ridin High - Atlanta's Rich Boy tapped a wealth of friends for his debut: Nelly; Outkast's Andre 3000 and Big Boi, who guest on separate tracks; Jim Jones; Pastor Troy; Polow Da Don; David Banner; and even John Legend, who performs on "Ghetto Rich." Another Southern rap act, Memphis' 8Ball and MJG, are seeing stars too — their seventh outing is underscored with guest appearances by Diddy, Three 6 Mafia, Yung Joc, Juvenile, Killer Mike, 112's Slim and Notorious B.I.G.

Various artists' Radio Disney Jams 9 and Girl Authority's Road Trip - On what CD can Rascal Flatts cozy up to Gwen Stefani and Weezer? Why, on a Radio Disney Jams comp, of course — this week's installment of the popular kids' series also calls on Hilary Duff, Jesse McCartney, Daniel Powter and the cast of "High School Musical" to kick out the jams. An accompanying DVD features five clips, most notably of Hannah Montana, the Cheetah Girls and Aly & AJ. Girl Authority's new one also comes with a video disc, furthering the collection of family-friendly tunes ("The Loco-Motion," "We Are Family," etc.) as sung by nine girls. Sprinkled among the cover songs are a few new tracks written specifically for Girl Authority by none other than Vince Clarke (Erasure, Depeche Mode) and Tanya Donelly (Breeders, Throwing Muses).

The Fratellis' Costello Music and the Sterns' Sinners Stick Together - You Hear It First-ers Jon, Barry and Mince Fratelli hail from Scotland — and met while working at a carnival! — but recorded their first release in Los Angeles with Beck buddy Tony Hoffer. The Brit Award winners' LP has already charted high in their homeland, on the strength of songs like "Everybody Knows You Cried Last Night," "Got Ma Nuts From a Hippy" and "Henrietta." While all three Fratellis share that last name, only two of the four members of another act have their band's name on their driver's licenses. The Sterns rally against the Bush administration on "Supreme Girl" — written from the perspective of failed Supreme Court nominee Harriet Myers — "Papa, You're in Your Prime" and "About the Author."

William Tell's You Can Hold Me Down and Marc Ford's Weary and Wired - Tell broke from Something Corporate three years ago to pursue a solo career, and he's dishing up the 10 fruits of his labor in the form of You Can Hold Me Down. Co-produced and mixed by Thom Panunzio (U2, No Doubt), the set includes "Slipping Under (Sing Along to Your Favorite Song)" — which was featured in an "American Idol" promotional spot — and "Fairfax (You're Still the Same)." Ford also split from his former troupe, the Black Crowes — but according to a statement, he did so to stay sober. A year and a half after leaving that band, Ford dishes up his second solo entry, which features his son Elijah Ford plus "Featherweight Dreamland," "Just Take the Money" and more.

Aqualung's Memory Man and Matthew Jordan's Horizon - Matt Hales — better known as Aqualung — steps up with his second Statewide set and first since being named a VH1 You Oughta Know artist in 2005. With help from brother Ben Hales, mixer Eric Valentine (Good Charlotte, Queens of the Stone Age) and others, Matt Hales brings "Something to Believe In," "Vapour Trail" and "Broken Bones." Jordan is another solo artist with a VH1/MTV background — he was in Five for Fighting's "100 Years" video and was a finalist on MTV's "Duets" with Vanessa Carlton. His first opus features "I'm on My Way," "Eventually" and more.

Jon Rauhouse's Steel Guitar Heart Attack and Paula Frazer and Tarnation's Now It's Time - Pedal-steel genius Rauhouse is backed by Calexico, who he has collaborated with before, throughout his new release, which also features some chanteuse action courtesy of Neko Case, Kelly Hogan and Visqueen's Rachel Flotard. While Rauhouse's third effort is a mostly instrumental affair, he does step to the mic for a special occasion: to sing the theme song to "The Andy Griffith Show." Frazer gets back together with her former group, Tarnation, for Now It's Time, although Frazer handled most of the instrumentation at her Victorian house in San Francisco. The singer, the daughter of a minister, also includes her name on the release because she had "walked away from the name 'Tarnation' in order to free herself from the structure that the band concept inevitably imposed," according to a press release. In other words, they broke up.

Hubert Selby Jr.'s "It/ll Be Better Tomorrow" and Guns N' Roses' "November Rain in Paradise City" - It's doubtful you know Selby Jr. by name, but if "Requiem for a Dream" and "Last Exit to Brooklyn" ring a bell, then you're more familiar with the controversial author than you realize. Paying a visit on "Tomorrow" — a chronicle of Selby Jr.'s battles with tuberculosis, drugs and financial ruin — are Jared Leto, Henry Rollins, Lou Reed and Robert Downey Jr., who narrates. Way more unauthorized is the GN'R documentary, which traces the band's entire career — its "rise, fall and rise," if you will, in the parlance of a press release.

The Tragically Hip's World Container and Uncle Earl's Waterloo Tennessee - The Hip — who recently opened for the Who — enlisted Metallica conspirator Bob Rock for their new one, which is being powered by the top 40 single "In View." In terms of producer prestige, they'll have to duke it out with Uncle Earl, who roped in Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones to help hammer out their second offering. Jones did his best to capture every sound the Waterloo, Tennessee, band made with fiddles, banjos, mandolins, crystalline tender harmonies and wobbleboard.

Song Title of the Week:

Tie between "No Cuts, No Butts, No Coconuts" and "High School Was Like Boot Camp for a Desk Job" from Death by Stereo's Death Alive

Other Notables:

Rosie Thomas' These Friends of Mine
Thomas is quiet and spare as usual on her fourth album, but before this goes under your radar, be aware that there's a little fellow by the name of Sufjan Stevens helping her throughout the effort. Odd for an indie stalwart like Thomas, her LP's already been getting play on TV's "Grey's Anatomy" and "Bones." The album features "All the Way to New York City," "Why Waste More Time?" and a cover of R.E.M.'s "The One I Love" with Stevens.

Ken Andrews' Secrets of the Lost Satellite
Andrews has been involved in music to varying degrees for decades — as the leader of Failure, as a member of a side project featuring members of Tool, and as a producer/mixer for Beck, Tenacious D and wife Charlotte Martin. His first solo affair as "Ken Andrews" — and the first release from his own Dinosaur Fight label — was actually produced by Beck's live musical director, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, and features "Secret Things," "Write Your Story" and more.

Chuck E. Weiss' 23rd & Stout
Cuban surf guitar, lounge swing, alt-rock and other sounds come together to form "discom-bop-ulated jive," the self-described blend Weiss is responsible for. The Denver, Colorado, musician — who had the honor of playing with Lightnin' Hopkins, Willie Dixon and others — ganged up with longtime drummer Don Heffington to produce his fourth effort. It marks the first time the singer/songwriter has used the digital format and features a detective theme throughout proving that after all these years, Weiss knows what he's doing.

New Releases:

· 8Ball and MJG - Ridin High (Bad Boy) [Buy Now]
· Alternate Routes - Good and Reckless and True (Vanguard)
· Ken Andrews - Secrets of the Lost Satellite (digipak; Dinosaur Fight)
· Aqualung - Memory Man (Columbia) [Buy Now]
· Artimus Pyle - Artimus Venomous (Cleopatra)
· Wendy Atkinson - Pink Noise (Get to the Point)
· Baby Teeth - The Simp (Lujo)
· Black Milk - Popular Demand (Fatbeats)
· Brazzaville - East L.A. Breeze (Vendlus)
· Johnny Bush - Kashmere Gardens Mud (Icehouse)
· Cadence Weapon - Breaking Kayfabe (Upper Class)
· Death by Stereo - Death Alive (Reignition)
· Dollyrots - Because I'm Awesome (enhanced; Blackheart)
· Spencer Durham - Much More Than Words (Burnside)
· Thomas Dybdahl - Science (Rykodisc)
· SJ Esau - Wrong Faced Cat Feed Collapse (Anticon)
· Marc Ford - Weary and Wired (Blues Bureau)
· The Fratellis - Costello Music (Cherry Tree) [Buy Now]
· Paula Frazer and Tarnation - Now It's Time (Birdman)
· Marty Friedman - Loudspeaker (Shrapnel)
· David Galas - The Cataclysm (Vendlus)
· Girl Authority - Road Trip (with DVD; Zoë/Rounder)
· Grand Champeen - Dial T for This (In Music We Trust)
· Grayceon - Grayceon (Vendlus)
· Green Lizard - Las Armas del Silencio (I Scream)
· Heavenly - Virus (Locomotive)
· The Innocence Mission - We Walked in Song (Badman)
· The (International) Noise Conspiracy - Live at Oslo Jazz Festival (Alternative Tentacles) [Buy Now]
· Glenn Jones - Against Which the Sea Continually Beats (Strange Attractors)
· Matthew Jordan - Horizon (Quiet Thunder)
· Lucy Kaplansky - Over the Hills (Red House)
· Jorma Kaukonen - Stars in My Crown (Red House)
· Lloyd - Street Love (Motown) [Buy Now]
· Lodger - Hi-Fi High Lights Down Low (Rykodisc)
· Brad Mehldau - Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz Radio Rebroadcast (Jazz Alliance)
· Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau - Quartet (Nonesuch)
· Minmae - 835 (Greyday)
· Monarch - Dead Men Tell No Tales (two CDs; Crucial Blast)
· Eddie Money - Wanna Go Back (Big Deal)
· James Morrison - Undiscovered (Interscope) [Buy Now]
· Musiq Soulchild - Luvanmusiq (Atlantic) [Buy Now]
· Nadja - Touched (Alien 8)
· Nakatomi Plaza - Unsettled (Reignition)
· Graham Parker - Don't Tell Columbus (Bloodshot)
· Steve Porter - Porterhouse Vol. 2 (two CDs; EQ)
· Jon Rauhouse - Steel Guitar Heart Attack (Bloodshot)
· Rich Boy - Rich Boy (Interscope) [Buy Now]
· The Roches - Moonswept (429)
· Shadetek - Pale Fire (Sound Ink)
· Alex Skolnick Trio - Last Day in Paradise (Magnatude)
· Starcastle - Song of Times (Progrock)
· The Sterns - Sinners Stick Together (Omnirox)
· William Tell - You Can Hold Me Down (New Door)
· Rosie Thomas - These Friends of Mine (Nettwerk)
· The Tragically Hip - World Container (Fontana)
· Tricky Bizzniss - Tricky Bizzniss (EsNtion)
· Type O Negative - Dead Again (SPV) [Buy Now]
Read: "Type O Negative Remember Dimebag Darrell On 'Positive' New LP"
· Uncle Earl - Waterloo Tennessee (Rounder)
· Unsane - Visqueen (Ipecac) [Buy Now]
· Chuck E. Weiss - 23rd & Stout (Cooking Vinyl)
· Hayley Westenra - Celtic Treasure (Decca)
· Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (Republic) [Buy Now]
· Various artists - If You Ain't Got the Do Re Me: Songs of Rags and Riches (Smithsonian Folkways)
· Various artists - Radio Disney Jams 9 (with DVD; Disney)
· Various artists - Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of the Beatles, Björk and Bob Marley (Baby Rock)
· Various artists - VIP 01 (two CDs; Swank)

Notable Reissues and Archival Material:
· Agnostic Front/ Discipline - Working Class Heroes (live; I Scream)
· Tracy Byrd - The Definitive Collection (MCA Nashville)
· Guy Clark - Americana Master Series: Best of the Sugar Hill Years (Sugar Hill)
· The Corrs - Dreams: The Ultimate Corrs Collection (Rhino)
· Floyd Cramer - Pop Classics - Volume One (Yell)
· Dokken - From Conception: Live 1981 (Rhino)
· Jerry Douglas - Americana Master Series: Best of the Sugar Hill Years (Sugar Hill)
· José Feliciano - Live at the Blue Note New York (Ryko)
· G.B.H - Race Against Time: The Complete Clay Recordings (three CDs; Castle)
· Gillie Da Kid - The Best of the GDK Mixtapes (Babygrande)
· Merle Haggard - The Definitive Collection (MCA Nashville)
· Holy Moses - World Chaos (Locomotive)
· Looking Forward - What This Means To Me (with DVD; Blood & Ink)
· James McMurtry - Americana Master Series: Best of the Sugar Hill Years (Sugar Hill)
· Wilson Pickett - Hey Jude (DBK Works)
· Shiner - Making Love E.P. (Sidecho)
· Tankard - Kings of Beer (Locomotive)
· Traffic - The Definitive Collection (Hip-O/UMe)
· Jack Wagner - All I Need (Friday) · Chely White - The Definitive Collection (Hip-O/UMe)
· Mark Wills - The Definitive Collection (Island/Mercury)
· Neil Young - Massey Hall 1971 (with DVD; Reprise)
· Various artists - Hollywood Hits: 70 Years of Memorable Movie Music (three CDs; Shout! Factory)
· Various artists - Northern Stars: A Canadian Singers & Songwriters Collection (Time Life)
· Various artists - Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration (two CDs; Stax)

Music DVDs:
· Big Audio Dynamite - "Live: E=MC2" (MVD Visual)
· Charms - "Easy Trouble: Bird's Eye View of a DIY Band" (MVD Visual)
· Eric Clapton - "Layla: Interviews" (MVD Visual)
· Albert Collins & the Icebreakers - "In Concert: Ohne Filter" (MVD Visual)
· Damn Yankees - "Uprising Live!" (Rhino)
· Dokken - "Unchain the Night" (Rhino)
· Egilsson, Perdersen, Darling - "Live in Vienna" (MVD Visual)
· Einstuerzende Neubauten - "Palast der Republik" (MVD Visual)
· Crystal Gayle - "Live in Tennessee" (Immortal)
· Genesis - "In Their Own Words" (with book; Classic Rock Legends)
· Guns N' Roses - "November Rain in Paradise City" (Locomotive)
· Kinks - "In Their Own Words" (with book; Classic Rock Legends)
· Led Zeppelin - "In Their Own Words" (with book; Classic Rock Legends)
· Metallica - "Phantom Puppets: Interviews" (MVD Visual)
· Oasis - "Morning Glory: A Classic Album Under Review" (MVD Visual)
· Oscar Peterson Trio - "The Berlin Concert" (MVD Visual)
· Hubert Selby Jr. - "It/ll Be Better Tomorrow" (Eclectic)
· Frank Sinatra - "Stage & Screen Collection" (Passport)
· The Smiths - "Still Ill: Interviews" (MVD Visual)
· Mary Wells - "Greatest Hits" (MVD Visual)
· Various artists - "Appetite for Deconstruction: A Punk Rockumentary" (MVD Visual)
· Various artists - "Favela Rising" (Genius Products)

Coming Attractions:

March 20:
· C-Murder - Screamin' 4 Vengeance (Capitol) [Preorder]
· Decemberists - "A Practical Handbook" DVD (Kill Rock Stars)
· LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (Capitol) [Preorder]
· Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (Epic) [Preorder]