The Crossing - October 2005
Edition
Hello again. All month I
was wondering who the heck I was gonna write about. Literally everything
you could possibly want has come out in the past two months. Last month
in particular, brought us new releases from the who’s who of the Rock elite.
New Stones, new
McCartney (he used to be
a Beatle before doing this solo thing...no kidding!), new Clapton, new
Neil Young, a Cream reunion (oh wait, that’s this month). Even new Dylan.
(Okay, it’s old Dylan made new again.) There were new and very good albums
from King’s X, Charlie Sexton, David Gray and The Proclaimers to name a
few. Even a new Switchfoot that’s not at all bad. Throw in a new album
from the Death Cab and how could things possibly get better? The answer:
I don’t know.
ARTIST of the MONTH:
I don’t have an artist of
the month for October. It all came out last month. What to do? What to
do? I haven’t really been keeping up with Fiona Apple. I’ve heard of these
Franz Ferdinand characters but that’s about it. I’ve heard really good
things about Kate Rusby but haven't heard enough of her to go: she’s the
artist of the month! Story Of The Year, well they’re a St. Louis band,
but I don’t know them too well either. Tell you what I’m gonna do...I’m
gonna write a little bit about this band Great Big Sea. They’ve got a new
one out called
“The Hard And The Easy”
which is available on October the 11th. They are from Halifax, Nova Scotia
and they are quite popular in
the Great White North ie.
Canada. They write catchy, usually upbeat original songs and cover many
old time maritime, traditional type songs from Newfoundland from many years
past that have been handed down and make them their own. The new
album is, I believe, their seventh album. They have covered in the past
songs like ‘When I’m Up, I Can’t Get Down’ from The Oysterband and also
‘It’s The End Of The World As We Know It...And I Feel Fine’ from, of course,
REM. In the live arena, they are very fan friendly and have toured with
another Canada favorite The Barenaked Ladies. Kind of gives you an idea
of their live show. Musically they use three part harmonies and play guitar,
mandolin, fiddle, bodhran, concertina and percussion. They’ve been around
for about thirteen years or so and they’re great to listen to if you just
want to get away for a little while into a different headspace. Kind of
like taking a long walk around a big lake next to a woods not far from
the cabin or tent under a gray, overcast sky with maybe a hint of the sun
setting on the horizon as night falls. No mosquitos either, so that’s a
bonus. It’s outdoorsy music, good stuff, perfect for this time of year.
Well, there we have it, Great Big Sea breezes in to be this month’s artist
of the month! That wasn't so hard. ;-) Rock on..... I'm sure you'll
find something.
Recently released and not
mentioned in last edition:
* King’s X - 3 CD Collection (Contains “Tapehead”, “Please Come Home...Mr.
Bulbous” and “Manic Moonlight”.)
* Rosie Thomas - “If Songs Could Be Held”
* Buddy Guy - “Bring ‘Em In”
* Orange Sky - “Upstairs”
* A-Ha - “Analogue”
* Supergrass - “Road To Rouen”
* Disturbed - “Ten Thousand Fists”
* Abandoned Pools - “Armed To The Teeth”
* Wynonna - “Her Story: Scenes From A Lifetime” (2 CD best of)
* Van Halen - “Van Halen 101” (a 400 page book by Abel Sanchez.)
10/4
* Franz
Ferdinand - “You Could Have It So Much Better”
* Fiona
Apple - “Extraordinary Machine”
* Liz
Phair - “Somebody’s Miracle”
* Melissa
Etheridge - “Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled”
* Nickelback
- “All The Right Reasons”
* Shinedown
- “Us And Them”
* Simple
Plan - “Live From The Hard Rock Cafe”
* Broken
Social Scene - “Broken Social Scene”
* Chris
Cagle - “Anywhere But Here”
* Metric
- “Live It Out”
* Andy
Bell - “Electric Blue”
* Bobby
Bare - “Moon Was Blue”
* James
Blunt - “Back To Bedlam”
* Tangiers
- “The Family Myth”
* Jesse
Colin Young - “Very Best Of”
* Cross
Canadian Ragweed - “Garage”
* Reverend
Horton Heat - “We Three Kings”
* Les
Nubians - “Echos”
* Ladytron
- “Witching Hour”
* The
Rasmus - “Hide From The Sun”
* The
Fall - “Fall Heads Roll”
* O.A.R.
- “Stories Of A Stranger”
* Jimmy
Eat World - “Stay On My Side Tonight” (EP.)
* Living
Things - “Ahead Of The Lions”
* Sinead
O’Connor - “Throw Down Your Arms”
* Journey
- “Generations” (US release.)
* Jethro
Tull - “Aqualung Live 2005” (Import.)
* Cream
- “Live at Royal Albert Hall May 2005” (Reunion album.)
* The
Talking Heads - “Brick” (Boxset.)
* Donnie
Darko - Complete 2 CD Soundtrack; import only
* Cinderella
- DVD (the Disney classic.)
* The
Interpreter - DVD
* House
of D - DVD
* Amityville
Horror - DVD
10/11
* Great
Big Sea - “The Hard And The Easy”
* Kate
Rusby - “Girl Who Couldn’t Fly” (US release.)
* Susan
Tedeschi & Doyle Bramhall II - “Hope And Desire”
* Paul
Weller - “As Is Now”
* Story
Of The Year - “In The Wake Of Determination”
* John
Fogerty - “Long Road Home: Ultimate Fogerty/Creedence Collection”
* Jackson
Browne - “Solo Acoustic Volume 1”
* Alicia
Keys - “MTV Unplugged”
* T.A.T.U.
- “Dangerous And Moving”
* Constantines
- “Tournament Of Hearts”
* Default
- “One Thing Remains”
* Sevendust
- “Next”
* Gang
Of Four - “Return The Gift”
* Dolly
Parton - “Those Were The Days”
* Jerry
Garcia - “Ladder To The Stars: Garcia Plays Dylan” (2 CD unearthed set.)
* Kingdom
Of Heaven - DVD
* The
Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants - DVD
* Kicking
And Screaming - DVD
* Unleashed
- DVD
10/18
* Marah
- “If You Didn’t Laugh You’d Cry” and “A Christmas Kind Of Town”
* Thrice
- “Vheissu”
* Starsailor
- “On The Outside”
* Boards
Of Canada - “The Campfire Headphase”
* June
Tabor - “At The Wood’s Heart”
* Billy
Currington - “Doin’ Something Right”
* Mest
- “Photograph”
* Simply
Red - “Simplified”
* Dead
Can Dance - “Momento: the Very Best of”
* Garth
Hudson - “Live at the Wolf Trap”
* North
Mississippi Allstars - “Best of”
* Martina
McBride - “Timeless”
* Stevie
Wonder - “A Time 2 Love” (finally gets released.)
* Brian
Wilson - “What I Really Want For Christmas”
* Rod
Stewart - “The Great American Songbook 4”
* Depeche
Mode - “Playing The Angel”
* Batman
Begins - DVD
* George
A. Romero’s Land Of The Dead - DVD
* Saving
Face - DVD
* Herbie:
Fully Loaded - DVD
* Mad
Hot Ballroom - DVD
10/25
* Cardigans
- “Super Extra Gravity”
* The
Fiery Furnaces - “Rehearsing My Choir”
* Mary
J. Blige - “The Breakthrough”
* Robbie
Williams - “Intensive Care”
* They
Might Be Giants - “They Got Lost” (Rarities collection.)
* Aerosmith
- “Rockin’ The Joint” (Live.)
* George
Harrison - “Concert For Bangladesh” (Remastered reissue.)
* Bryan
Adams - “Stripped” (All acoustic.)
* Various
Artists - “Iagniappe” (Hurricane Katrina benefit by Saddle Creek Records;
includes new songs by Bright Eyes and Cursive.)
* Various
Artists - “For A Decade Of Sin: 11 Years of Bloodshot Records” (Includes
16 Horsepower, Old 97’s and The Bottle Rockets.
2 CD set.)
* The
Police - “Synchonicity Concert in Atlanta” (DVD; new date.)
* Voivod
- “DVOD - 1” (All of their videos and concert clips.)
* Leolo
- DVD (a great film from 1993; first time on DVD.)
* House
Of Wax - DVD
* Bewitched
- DVD
* KISS
Meets The Phantom Of The Park - (First time on DVD.)
10/31
* Helloween
- “Keeper Of The Seven Keys - The Legacy” (2 CD set. Follow-up to the classic
Keeper Of The Seven Keys
parts 1 and 2.)
* TNT
- “All The Way To The Sun”
* Guided
By Voices - “Suitcase 2: American Superdream Wow” (4 CD Boxset.)
11/1
* Wilco
- “Kicking Television: Live In Chicago” (2 CD set.)
* Nirvana
- “Sliver: Best of the Boxset”
* Deep
Purple - “Rapture Of The Deep”
* Ozzy
Osbourne - “Undercovers”
* Santana
- “All That I Am” (New date.)
* John
Fogerty - “Long Road Home: Ultimate Fogerty/Creedence Collection”
* Dwight
Yoakam - “Live from Austin, TX”
* John
Hiatt - “Live from Austin, TX”
* Terri
Clark - “Life Goes On” (New date.)
* Imogen
Heap - “Speak For Yourself”
* Trey
Anastasio - “Shine”
* The
Tragically Hip - “Hipeponymous” (4 CD plus DVD boxset; import, Canada.)
* Magnum
- “Livin’ The Dream” (2 DVD set.)
* Star
Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith - DVD
* Aliens
Of The Deep - (DVD; James Cameron documentary.)
* Dear
America - Letters Home From Vietnam - (First time on DVD; 1988 documentary.)
11/8
* Bob
Seger - “Face The Promise”
* Kate
Bush - “Aerial”
* The
Mob - “The Mob” (New side project featuring Doug Pinnick of King’s X, Reb
Beach of Winger and Kelly Keaggy of Night Ranger.)
* Mars
Volta - “Scabdates”
* My
Chemical Romance - “Life On The Murder Scene”
* Alanis
Morrisette - “The Collection”
* Cyndi
Lauper - “The Body Acoustic”
* Beastie
Boys - “Solid Gold Hits”
* Jimmy
Buffett - “Live At Fenway Park”
* Neil
Diamond - “Neil Diamond”
* Patti
Smith - “Horses” (Expanded edition reissue.)
* Live
8 Concerts - Four DVD Set.
* Charlie
And The Chocolate Factory - DVD (Burton.)
* 9 Songs
- DVD
11/15
* Bruce
Springsteen - “Born To Run” (30th Anniversary Edition w/remastered CD,
2 DVD’s and a photo book.)
* Madonna
- “Confessions On A Dancefloor”
* Johnny
Cash - “Walk the Line”
(Soundtrack featuring Joaquin Phoenix & Reece Witherspoon singing the
songs of the Man in Black.)
* U2
- “Live From Chicago On The Vertigo Tour” (DVD.)
* Rush
- “R30” (Live from Frankfurt, Germany; 2 DVD set.)
* Guided
By Voices - “Final Show at the Chicago Cabaret Metro” (DVD.)
* Peter
Gabriel - “Still Growing Up: Peter Gabriel Live and Unwrapped” (2 DVD set.)
* Green
Day - “Bullet In A Bible” (DVD; concert film.)
* Madagascar
- DVD
* Skeleton
Key - DVD
11/22
* Live
- “Songs From Black Mountain”
* Enya
- “Amarantine”
* Scott
Stapp - “The Great Divide” (former Creed singer.)
* System
Of A Down - “Hypnotize”
* Shy
- “Anthology 1983-2005: Break Down The Walls”
* Seinfeld
- “Seasons 5 and 6” (DVD.)
* War
Of The Worlds - DVD (Spielberg.)
* Polar
Express - DVD
11/29
* INXS
- “Switch” (w/ new singer J.D. Fortune)
* The
Darkness - “One Way Ticket To Hell...And Back”
* Nick
Cave - “The Proposition”
* Millions
- DVD
* Mr.
And Mrs. Smith - DVD
* March
of The Penguins - DVD
* Sky
High - DVD
12/6
* P.O.D.
- “Testify”
* Korn
- “See You On The Other Side”
* Cinderella
Man - DVD
12/13
* Neil Peart - “Anatomy Of A Drum Solo” (DVD; do I need to tell you Neil
is the drummer for Rush?)
* Bad News Bears ‘05 - DVD
* Valiant - DVD
12/20
* Four Brothers - DVD
12/27
* Dark Water - DVD
1/17
* Be Good Tanyas - “TBA”
1/24
* Roseanne Cash - “Black Cadillac”
* The Strokes - “First Impressions Of Earth”
* Yellowcard - “Lights And Sounds”
Also in 2006:
Tom Petty
Pearl Jam
Neko Case
Evanescence
Dixie Chicks
Red Hot Chili Peppers
LYRICS of the MONTH:
Summerland in my past. Days
were full and I knew it
would last. I never thought
there was
anything else but you. Summerland,
the wind is getting
cold. Summerland, you’re
finally getting
old. Not much time, there’s
much to do. Look ahead and
walk on through. No one’s
taking sides
this time, it’s you. Summerland,
your sky can still be
blue. Summerland, always
in love with you.”
King’s X from the song “Summerland”
off the album Gretchen Goes To Nebraska.
Can anyone believe November
is the next month? Bundle up and see you then....
Happy Halloween!
Chris Barlow
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