New Album Releases - Week of June 15th
Drake - Thank Me Later: “Thank Me Later,” the prettiest rap album since the heyday of De La Soul, encourages slow dances, not lap dances. Drake rhymes over gorgeous synthesizer pads, artfully muffled drums and gossamer-smooth backing harmonies by the-Dream, Alicia Keys and others. On “Find Your Love,” he coaxes another damaged, moody pop song out of the “808s And Heartbreak” team (West, No I.D. and the talented Jeff Bhasker), stops emceeing altogether and sings, auto-tune off, as sweetly as any contemporary R&B crooner.
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Mojo: Some time in the last few years Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers took a left turn. Maybe it was when Petty woke up in the night with the idea of reuniting his first band, Mudcrutch, to cut the album they never got a chance to make back in the early 70′s. Maybe it was when the Heartbreakers assembled the mammoth multi-disc ‘The Live Anthology,’ which detailed thirty years of concerts. Maybe it was when they gave all their home movies, outtakes and live footage to director Peter Bogdanovich to create the Grammy-winning four-hour career documentary ‘Runnin Down A Dream.’ There have been side projects and experiments since the band last went into the studio to cut a new Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers album. With ‘MOJO,’ they have taken their recent freedom and experimentation to heart. They have gone off the reservation and all signs indicate they aren’t coming back.
The Steve Miller Band - Bingo!: Recorded at film producer George Lucas’ infamous studios at Skywalker Ranch, ‘BINGO!’ is The Steve Miller Band’s first studio album in 17 years.
‘BINGO!’ is the album Steve Miller has waited his entire life to make. Reaching back to his apprenticeship as a young man on the Chicago blues scene, Miller and co-producer Andy Johns brought classic rhythm and blues numbers that have been at the foundation of his music throughout his career into the 21st century. A true return to Miller’s roots, ‘BINGO!’ echoes his early years in the Chicago music scene and features carefully chosen and crafted blues tracks performed in distinctive Steve Miller Band fashion. ‘BINGO!’ was co-produced by Andy Johns (Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Van Halen), with artwork designed by the legendary Storm Thorgerson.
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