| The
Crossing - May 2006 Edition
Welcome back folks! I don’t
have any one thing that I’m excited about this month. Instead, there’s
quite a few things coming out that are looking very interesting or just
plain worth hearing. Bill Mallonee will set forth on a new chapter in his
life with the upcoming “Permafrost”. There’s new Pearl Jam which is already
said to be a return to form for the Seattle band. There’s new Red Hot Chili
Peppers...a 2 CD set. There’s new Keane and Snow Patrol. There’s new Glen
Phillips. There’s a return to the studio by...or should I say a return
to the mic by long-time producer extraordinaire T Bone Burnett. Also a
new album by Paul Simon called “Surprise” and almost as surprising, but
not quite, not really, a new album by a very upset Neil Young who’s got
some things to say about the country. And finally, based on who’s involved,
you’ve gotta be intrigued by the upcoming Dixie Chicks album. More info
below. So, on that note, I’m taking the month off and I’m not gonna pick
just one artist of the month. Instead, let’s just celebrate the music,
celebrate our freedom of speech, and enjoy the wealth of tunes coming our
way from all the great artists...
On your marks...get set...go!
Recently released and not mentioned in last edition:
* Bill Mallonee - “Permafrost” (To be released soon with no specific release
date; order at billmallonee.net)
* Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers - “Four Unlike Before” (4 song EP.)
* Kidikarus - “Maritus Vir” (Check out kidikarus.com)
* The Longshadows - “Simple Minded Way” (Robin Wilson of Gin Blossoms side
project.)
* The Yayhoos - “Yayhoos Put the Hammer Down” (Featuring Dan Baird.)
* David Allan Coe - “Rebel Meets Rebel” (Coe fronts the remaining members
of Pantera.)
* Richard Dobson - “On Thistledown Wind”
* Jeffrey Foucalt - “Ghost Repeater” (Produced by Bo Ramsey.)
* Jolie Holland - “Springtime Can Kill You”
* The Rakes - “Capture/Release”
5/2
* Pearl Jam - “Pearl Jam” (Seattle quintet’s 8th album.)
* Glen Phillips - “Mr. Lemons”
* The Waterboys - “Fisherman’s Blues” (2 CD remaster; import.)
* World Party - “Dumbing Up” (w/DVD.)
* Jewel - “Goodbye Alice In Wonderland”
* Alejandro Escovedo - “The Boxing Mirror”
* Lisa Germano - “In The Maybe World”
* Linda Perry - “Ladyland”
* Tool - “10,000 Days”
* Wolfmother - “Wolfmother”
* Gomez - “How We Operate”
* The Black Keys - “Chulahoma”
* Thursday - “City By The Light Divided”
* The Charlatans UK - “Simpatico”
* Robin McKelle - “Introducing: Robin McKelle”
* Jon Auer - “Songs from the Year of our Demise”
* Osi - “Free” (import.)
* Gary Moore - “Old, New, Ballads, Blues”
* Japan - “Very Best of”
* Willie Nelson - “Live from Austin, Texas”
* Sir Douglas Quintet - “Live from Austin, Texas”
* The Family Stone - DVD
* Casanova - DVD
* Hoodwinked - DVD
* Last Holiday - DVD
* The Warrior - DVD
5/9
* Neil Young - “Living With War” (Described as a metal folk protest album.)
* Paul Simon - “Surprise” (Produced by Brian Eno.)
* Kieran Kane & Kevin Welch - “Lost John Dean”
* Keane - “Under The Iron Sea”
* Snow Patrol - “Eyes Open”
* Red Hot Chili Peppers - “Stadium Arcadium” (2 CD set; also available
with DVD.)
* Danielson Famile - “Ships”
* Grandaddy - “Just Like The Family Cat”
* Eighteenth Day Of May - “S/T”
* Yonder Mountain String Band - “S/T”
* Matmos - “The Rose Has Teeth...”
* The Stills - “Without Feathers”
* Charlie Musselwhite - “Delta Hardware”
* Jeb Lee Nichols - “Now Then”
* Mission Of Burma - “The Obliterati”
* The Like Young - “Last Secrets”
* Dirty Pretty Things - “Waterloo To Anywhere” (import.)
* The Aggrolites - “S/T”
* The Beautiful South - “Gold” (2 CD best of; import.)
* Jellyfish - “Best of” (Import.)
* Jaci Velasquez - “Best of”
* Chris Isaak - “Best of”
* Various Artists - “Sail Away: the Songs of Randy Newman”
* Munich - DVD
* Nanny McPhee - DVD
* The New World - DVD
* Rumor Has It... - DVD
* Transamerica - DVD
* Forty Shades Of Blue - DVD
5/16
* Fish - “Return To Childhood” (2 CD live set; includes performance of
the entire Misplaced Childhood album.)
* T Bone Burnett - “The True False Identity” (Dualdisc; first album in
14 years.)
* T Bone Burnett - “Twenty Twenty: the Essential T Bone Burnett” (2 CD’s;
40 song retrospective.)
* The Raconteurs - “Broken Boy Soldiers” (Jack White of White Stripes side
project.)
* Johnny Cash - “Children’s Album”
* Fred Eaglesmith - “Milly’s Cafe”
* Ron Sexsmith - “Time Being”
* Dan Zanes - “Catch That Train”
* Regina Spektor - “Begin To Hope”
* Tim Easton - “Ammunition”
* Twilight Singers - “Powder Burns” (Greg Dulli formerly of Afghan Whigs.)
* Sam Roberts - “Chemical City”
* Don Caballero - “World Class Listening Problem”
* Annie Stela - “There Is A Story Here” (EP.)
* Starfield - “Beauty In The Broken”
* Rock Kills Kid - “Are You Nervous?”
* House of Lords - “World Upside Down”
* Michael Kiske - “Kiske” (Former Helloween singer; import.)
* Wonder Stuff - “Suspended By Stars”
* The Beautiful South - “Superbi” (import.)
* The Producers ‘05 - DVD
* Tristram Shandy - DVD
* Why We Fight - DVD
* When A Stranger Calls ‘06 - DVD
* Duma - DVD
* Something New - DVD
* Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey - DVD
* London - DVD
* The Ringer - DVD
* Doogal - DVD
5/23
* The Dixie Chicks - “Taking The Long Way” (Produced by Rick Rubin and
includes Chad Smith of Chili Peppers and Mike
Campbell and Benmont Tench of The Heartbreakers in the band; all songs
co-written by the Dixie Chicks and some
co-written with Pete Yorn and Gary Louris.)
* Zero 7 - “The Garden” (import.)
* Johnny Cash - “Personal File” (2 CD opening of the vault.)
* Angels & Airwaves - “We Don’t Need To Whisper”
* Scott Walker - “Drift”
* Tilly & The Wall - “Bottoms of Barrels”
* The Walkmen - “A Hundred Miles Off”
* Sebadoh - “III” (reissue.)
* Def Leppard - “Yeah!” (Covers collection.)
* Kansas - “Works In Progress” (2 CD set.)
* Slaid Cleves - “Unsung”
* Alexi Murdoch - “Time Without Consequence”
* Allman Bros. Band - “Eat A Peach” (Deluxe 2 CD reissue.)
* Candlebox - “Best of”
* Huey Lewis - “Greatest”
* Various Artists - “Big Star Small World: Tribute to Big Star”
* Son Volt - “6 String Belief: Live at the Orange Peel, Ashville, N.C.”
(DVD.)
* Cheaper By The Dozen 2 - DVD
* Bloodrayne - DVD
5/30
* Les Claypool - “Of Whales and Woe”
* Peeping Tom - “S/T” (Mike Patton formerly of Faith No More.)
* Sophie Barker - “Earthbound”
* Boards of Canada - “Trans Canada Highway” (EP.)
* Amy Milan - “Honey From The Tombs” (import.)
* Dave Alvin - “West of the West”
* Ralph Stanley - “A Distant Land To Roam: Songs of the Carter Family”
(Produced by T Bone Burnett.)
* Date Movie - DVD
6/6
* Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint - “River In Reverse”
* Cheap Trick - “Rockford”
* The New Cars - “It’s Alive” (Todd Rundgren and founding members Elliot
Easton and Greg Hawkes cover The Cars.)
* Primal Scream - “Riot City Blues” (import.)
* The Replacements - “Bastards of Young: the Best of”
* Saga - “Trust” (import; Canadian quintet’s 16th album.)
* Firewall - DVD
* Glory Road - DVD
* Underworld: Evolution - DVD
* The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada - DVD
* The Syrian Bride - DVD
* Running Scared - DVD
* Sarah Silverman - DVD
6/13
* Live - “Songs From Black Mountain” (7th album for the York, Pennsylvania
quintet.)
* The Alarm - “Under Attack” (US release.)
* Allison Moorer - “Getting Somewhere” (Produced by Steve Earle; 5th album
for the Alabama native.)
* Sonic Youth - “Rather Ripped”
* Guster - “Ganging Up On The Sun”
* The Futureheads - “News and Tributes”
* Boston - “Boston” and “Don’t Look Back” (Remastered reissues; new date.)
* Neil Young: Heart of Gold - DVD
* Rush - “Replay x 3” (DVD collection of ‘Exit...Stage Left’, ‘Grace Under
Pressure’ & ‘A Show of Hands’ concerts;
first time on DVD for all; also includes CD of ‘Grace Under Pressure’ show.
Rush fans rejoice!)
* A Good Woman - DVD
* 16 Blocks - DVD
* Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang - DVD
* The World’s Fastest Indian - DVD
* End Of The Spear - DVD
6/20
* Frank Black - “Fastman/Raiderman” (2 CD set.)
* Madonna - “I’m Going To Tell You A Secret”
(DVD.)
* Syriana - DVD
* The Hills Have Eyes ‘06 - DVD
6/27
* Richard Thompson - “1,000 Years of Popular Music” (w/DVD; traditional
and contemporary covers.)
* Dashboard Confessional - “TBA”
* The Libertine - DVD
* Imagine Me And You - DVD
* Madea’s Family Reunion - DVD
* Ultraviolet - DVD
* Annapolis - DVD
7/3
* The Polyphonic Spree - “The Fragile Army”
* The Matador - DVD (new date.)
7/11
* Bruce Cockburn - “TBA”
* Soul Asylum - “The Silver Lining”
* Ani Difranco - “Reprieve”
7/18
*
Golden Smog - “Another Fine Day” (The alt-country supergroup returns
with their 4th release; as before the band includes
Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, Gary Louris, Marc Perlman & Kraig Johnson of
The Jayhawks and Dan Murphy of Soul Asylum.)
7/25
* Sufjan Stevens - “Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois album”
(Shouldn’t he be working on that next State?)
* Tim O’Reagan - “TBA” (Jayhawks drummer and occasional singer.)
* The Long Winters - “Putting The Days To Bed”
* Final Destination 3 - DVD
ALSO COMING SOMETIME IN JUNE:
* The Who - “The Glass Household” (EP.)
* Tom Petty - “Highway Companion” (Still no release date confirmed; tour
starts in June so it should be released fairly soon.)
* Audioslave - “Revelations”
LYRICS of the MONTH:
This song has such ambiguous
lyrics but a lot of imagery. You don’t really know what the song is about
exactly, but you get a sense that something beyond all the imagery is going
on. It’s got a great month of May type feel to it, so I thought I’d go
with this song...
Sittin
in the kitchen, a house in Macon
Loretta’s singing on the radio
Smell of coffee, eggs and bacon
Car wheels on a gravel road
Pull the curtains back and look outside
Somebody somewhere don’t know
Come on now child, we’re gonna go for a ride
Car wheels on a gravel road
Car wheels on a gravel road
Car wheels on a gravel road
Can’t find a damn thing in this place
Nothing’s where I left it before
Set of keys and a dusty suitcase
Car wheels on a gravel road
There goes the screen door slamming shut
You better do what you’re told
When I get back this room better be picked up
Car wheels on a gravel road
Chorus
Low hum of voices in the front seat
Stories nobody knows
Got folks in Jackson we’re going to meet
Car wheels on a gravel road
Cotton fields stretching miles and miles
Hank’s voice on the radio
Telephone poles, trees and wires fly on by
Car wheels on a gravel road
Chorus
Broken down shacks, engine parts
Could tell a lie but my heart would know
Listen to the dogs barkin’ in the yard
Car wheels on a gravel road
Child in the backseat, about four or five years
Lookin’ out the window
Little bit of dirt mixed with tears
Car wheels on a gravel road.
Lucinda Williams, from the song “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” from the
album of the same name.
See you in June!
Chris Barlow
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