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Location: Music
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The Suburbs
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Merge Records
List Price: $15.98 Lowest Price: $9.89 You can save: $6.09 (38%)
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Written, arranged, performed, and produced by the Arcade Fire and co-produced by Markus Dravs, The Suburbs was recorded around Montreal and New York over the past two years. |
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Grammy nominated and critically acclaimed, Ray LaMontagne returns with his anticipated fourth studio album, God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise. Entirely self produced (for the first time) the album was recorded in two weeks at LaMontagne's home in the woods of western Massachusetts. The newly restored historic home served as a homemade recording studio for Ray and his fellow musicians. With Ray's vocals at the forefront of the songs and a loose, almost live sounding recording, the album stands as a testament to a band at the height of their powers. The newly coined 'Pariah Dogs', consists of Jay Bellarose (drums), Jennifer Condos (bass), Patrick Warren (keyboard), Eric Heywood (guitar) and Greg Leisz (pedal steel guitar). Individually these musicians have contributed to the live work of such heralded musicians including Beck, Joe Henry, Tom Waits, Lucinda Wlliams, Ryan Adams and Joe Cocker to name a few of their career highlights. Together with Ray they shared a sense that the sessions for this record were rare and extraordinary. |
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Teenage Dream
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Capitol
List Price: $18.98 Lowest Price: $7.20 You can save: $11.78 (62%)
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"I can't run from where I came from, nobody can," says Katy Perry. When it came time to make her exhilarating second album "Teenage Dream," Katy found herself increasingly drawn back home to Santa Barbara, Calif. Back to where they knew her before she became a superstar. Before she kissed a girl and liked it. And, certainly, before she sold 5 million copies of her Capitol Records blockbuster, "One of the Boys." "I love the vibe that Santa Barbara gives off and I wanted to really tap into the purity of my childhood and that feeling," says the two-time Grammy nominated singer. "It was really fun to get away and walk into the studio with no make-up on." "Teenage Dream," will move you, both emotionally and physically. "When I was touring, I wanted people to dance more," Katy says. "So I wrote an album that made people move, yet didn't sacrifice the story substance that I had on the last record." The album, whose producers include Max Martin, Tricky Stewart, Stargate, Dr. Luke and Greg Wells, is a glorious evolution from "One of The Boys," It showcases an artist who dares us to join her as she experiences every facet of life. "I'm giving everyone the full spectrum on this record," Katy says. "You're getting the sugary sweet, but you're also getting the `Oh my goodness, she had to sit down for a minute and let some things off her chest'." Fun first single, "California Gurls," declared by Entertainment Weekly as "unforgettable," is the undeniable summer anthem of 2010. Featuring Snoop Dogg, "Gurls" is a sizzling salute to sun-kissed days spent in Daisy Dukes and a bikini top. Other album highlights include the heartbreakingly wistful "The One that Got Away," the naughty, playful strut of "Peacock," the uplifting "Firework," the pulsing, stinging "Circle the Drain," and the spiritual quest of "Who Am I Living For." And then, of course, there's the passionate, thumping title track. "I called the album `Teenage Dream' because I feel like I will always want to be that pin-up poster," Katy says. "I definitely want to be in everybody's dreams at all times until I get to Liz Taylor's age when I'm not in your dreams anymore, and I'm just a diva!" It's irreverent statements like this that have branded Katy a true American original. She's the extremely talented girl next door with slyly captivating charm. After Katy topped Maxim's Hot 100 this Spring, Maxim editor-in-chief Joe Levy mused of her appeal: "It's that feeling you get when you suddenly realize that the smartest, funniest, coolest girl you know also happens to the best looking and a pretty good skateboarder, too. All of sudden, your crush goes supernova, and this is Katy's supernova moment." She's the face most likely to adorn the bedroom walls of young girls who adore Katy not only for her musical brio, but for her playful yet sophisticated fashion sense (Who else could wear a blinking dress that lights up to the Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute's Gala?) "I don't ever really want to come off as trashy," she says. `But I want people to know I'm definitely having fun." Of that, there's no doubt. Seldom has an artist catapulted onto the world scene and captured not only people's ears, but their hearts as well. Since the 2008 release of "One of the Boys," Katy has taken a jet-fueled rocket pack to the top, wowing fans with her often whimsical, irresistible pop songs. Katy topped charts in more than 25 countries with cultural phenomenon "I Kissed a Girl," "Hot N Cold," "Thinking Of You" and "Waking Up in Vegas," and has sold more than 22 million digital tracks and mobile products worldwide. Katy erases any barrier between pop star and audience by writing all her own material. "You're getting a pure connection to the artist," Katy says. "You're not getting some idea of what that artist should be, you're getting a direct voice." Nowhere is Katy's voice and vision clearer than in concert. She is a relentless road warrior, albeit one who comes complete with gigantic, blow up plastic strawberries to toss into the audience. As a newcomer, she stormed the Warped Tour stage for 47 dates in 2008, immediately winning over hardened rock fans with her ceaselessly energetic live show. Since then, she has steadily built audiences across the planet by touching down in more than two dozen countries and filling increasingly larger venues each time she returned to a city. 2009's headlining "One of the Boys" tour was a phenomenal success, selling out around the world. She's also a popular television draw, appearing on countless talk shows, presenting and performing on the Grammys living out her lifelong dream of being lowered from the ceiling in a 600 lb. banana, serving as a guest judge on "American Idol," a celebrity contestant on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and hosting MTV's Europe Music Awards twice. More often than not she's adding to her trophy case at each stop, winning Best New Act at the Europe Music Awards, Best Pop Video at the MTV Japan Awards and International Female Solo Artist at the Brit Awards. As much as her life seems to play itself out in the press--she's appeared on the cover of more than 15 magazines--she reminds us the real Katy is in every note and every word of her music. "If you ever want an answer about how I felt about something or what I was going through or what I believe or my convictions or my love," she says, "You just have to listen to the lyrics." We can't wait to hear every word she has to say. |
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Recovery
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Aftermath Records
List Price: $13.98 Lowest Price: $9.73 You can save: $4.25 (30%)
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The much-anticipated new album - EMINEM RECOVERY On Recovery, his seventh major label studio album, EMINEM has reached out to an exciting list of first-time collaborators, including DJ Khalil, Just Blaze, Jim Jonsin and Boi-1da, among others. EMINEM releases Recovery just over a year after his last album, 2009's Relapse. Relapse put the cap on an impressive ten years of recorded output, and contributed to EMINEM being the biggest selling artist of 2000-2009. In recognition of this, Neilsen SoundScan named him their Artist of the Decade. Relapse entered the charts at #1 and, at nearly double platinum, was the best selling rap album of last year. It also earned EMINEM his 11th Grammy award, winning in the Best Rap Album category. Relapse's first single, "Crack A Bottle" from EMINEM, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent, soared to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Eminem's second #1 after 2002's "Lose Yourself") and set a SoundScan record at the time of its release for opening week download sales (418,000). The album also spun off two other hits; the Top 10 "We Made You" and Top 20 "Beautiful." "I had originally planned for Relapse 2 to come out last year," remarked EMINEM. "But as I kept recording and working with new producers, the idea of a sequel to Relapse started to make less and less sense to me, and I wanted to make a completely new album. The music on Recovery came out very different from Relapse, and I think it deserves its own title." EMINEM has sold more than 78,000,000 albums worldwide. After 1999's quadruple platinum The Slim Shady LP, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) and The Eminem Show (2002) became two of the Top 5 best selling albums of the 2000s, with approximately 10,000,000 copies of each sold in the U.S. alone. 2004's Grammy-nominated Encore reached #1 and was certified quadruple platinum. The #1, double platinum, 2005 greatest hits collection Curtain Call: The Hits and #2, platinum, 2006 various artists compilation Eminem Presents: The Re-Up followed. |
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2010 album from the Rock 'n' Roll legend. Pioneering musical genius Brian Wilson, co-founder of the Beach Boys, has teamed up with George Gershwin, in Wilson's latest album release, Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin. Featuring timeless classics like "Rhapsody in Blue," "I Got Rhythm" and "Summertime," the album makes history with "The Like in I Love You" and "Nothing But Love" - two new songs Wilson crafted from never-before-published music by Gershwin. Produced by Brian Wilson, mixed by multi-Grammy winner Al Schmitt and joined by his longtime acclaimed band, the new album features the trademark stacked vocal harmonies and orchestrations that made Wilson a towering and revered figure in popular music. |
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No Better Than This
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Rounder / Pgd
List Price: $18.98 Lowest Price: $10.55 You can save: $8.43 (44%)
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In an age of auto-tuned, computerized recordings, John Mellencamp's approach on his Rounder debut, No Better Than This, is refreshing. The entire album was recorded with Mellencamp and his band all playing live in one room using a 55 year-old Ampex tape recorder and just one vintage microphone. Legendary producer T Bone Burnett captured the stunning thirteen new Mellencamp originals at three historically important locations: Sun Studio in Memphis, TN (where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis all first recorded); the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, GA (the oldest Black church in North America, dating to 1775); and in Room 414 of the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, TX (where Robert Johnson made his first recordings in 1936). The songs on No Better Than This reflect classic American musical traditions including blues, folk, gospel, rockabilly, and country, while addressing such themes as the need for hope, the nature of relationships, and narratives that recount extraordinary occurrences in everyday life. Mellencamp says of the album, "It was absolutely the most fun I've ever had making a record in my life. It was about making music - organic music made by real musicians - that's heartfelt and written from the best place it can come from." |
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Red Velvet Car
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Sony Legacy
List Price: $9.99 Lowest Price: $7.52 You can save: $2.47 (24%)
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Ann Wilson and her sister Nancy first showed the world that women can rock when their band Heart stormed the charts in the 70s with songs like Crazy On You, Magic Man, and Barracuda, and many more. They continued topping the charts through the 80s and into the 90s with huge hits like These Dreams, Alone, What About Love, If Looks Could Kill, Never, and a string of other hits that showcased the sisters enormous talents. Along the way, Heart sold more than 30 million records, had 21 Top 40 hits, sold out arenas worldwide, and had a profound influence on rock music.
Red Velvet Car -- the most personal and powerful work yet from Ann and Nancy Wilson, and their first album in 6 years -- takes generations of Heart fans on what truly feels like the musical ride of a lifetime. Powerfully produced by Ben Mink, Red Velvet Car is a thoroughly electrifying song cycle of largely acoustic-based sound and a stunning album with a true and renewed sense of purpose. Ann and Nancy committed themselves to writing and recording an album that was as authentic as possible, culling from their own personal experiences and some universal themes. The result on Red Velvet Car is an album of breathtaking intimacy and honesty. |
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Asylum
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Reprise
List Price: $18.98 Lowest Price: $9.99 You can save: $8.99 (47%)
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Disturbed began building 'Asylum' as soon as they got off the road in the summer of 2009. Officially entering Groovemaster Studios in February 2010, the band set about self-producing the album, as they did with 'Indestructible.' Draiman declares, 'This record shows a certain degree of maturation and enhanced complexity. 'Asylum' is still identifiably Disturbed, but the evolution is clear. It preserves the elements of what we do but at a more advanced level.' Each CD includes a card to access exclusive download or stream of the documentary 'Decade of Disturbed' that recalls ten years of history in the most candid of ways. It takes you through years of countless tours, dedication and sacrifice stripping away all the gloss and letting the real story be told... the documentary is about the fans and their brotherhood that has been formed with the band.
Also Available as a Limited Edition CD+DVD: -Expanded packaging in digi-pak with 16-page booklet -CD: Standard album track listing plus 2 bonus live tracks 'Down With The Sickness' & 'Stricken' -DVD: 'Decade Of Disturbed' (documentary) and Disturbed 'Dissected' (band showing/teaching fans to play tracks): -Dan - Intro to the Asylum, Asylum, Another Way To Die, The Animal -Dan/John - Stricken, Indestructible, Inside The Fire, The Night, Haunted |
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In November of 1970 James Taylor and Carole King first performed together at the Troubadour on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California. Taylor had just released his debut album for the Beatles' newly formed Apple Records and King was finding her way as a first time solo performer even though by then she was a famous songwriter with a string of hits for other artists. When they returned to the club for a two-week co-headlining run in 1971 their lives were somewhat different. That summer Taylor's "Fire and Rain" was topping the charts and King's landmark Tapestry was on its way to making her a music superstar. Thirty-six years later, in November 2007, James Taylor, Carole King and members of their renowned original band "The Section" (featuring guitarist Danny Kortchmar, bassist Leland Sklar and drummer Russell Kunkel) returned to the Troubadour for a three-night, six-show run to celebrate the venue's 50th anniversary. Those historic shows are documented in Live at the Troubadour, a special 2-disc CD/DVD. This remarkable recording, culled from these unforgettable shows, features 15 songs and 75 minutes of pristine video and audio including stunning performances of the pair's most beloved hits such as Carole King's "So Far Away," "It's Too Late," and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" as well as James Taylor's "Carolina in My Mind," "Sweet Baby James," and "Fire and Rain," to name just a few.
The return to the intimate Troubadour--the fertile ground that served as the unofficial home to a some of the era's defining musicians such as the Eagles, Elton John, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt and Joni Mitchell--rekindled King's and Taylor's love for making music together. Variety enthused at the time, "Taylor and King reminded us about the intensity of the song, that the artistically-rich and commercially-viable are not mutually exclusive and how one tiny club continues to be a birthing room for some of this city's most memorable music." The experience was deeply felt by everyone, the musicians on stage, and the fans in attendance as well as the project's technical crew: audio producer Peter Asher (an instrumental figure throughout Taylor's career) and Emmy-winning video director, Martyn Atkins. Live at the Troubadour is captured in sterling 5.1 stereo and state-of-the-art high definition video.
In the album's liner notes, Taylor states: "The Troubadour in 1971 wasn't the beginning, but it was a big step into the light for both of us. When we reunited for the Troubadour's 50th Anniversary celebration in 2007, it felt like yesterday. It was, and still is, all about the music and the celebration of performing together." King adds, "What's even more remarkable is that James's and my musical connection and friendship continue to transcend time and place. Whenever we're together, there we are. I feel a tremendous gratitude to be able to share this experience with James, with this fine band, and most of all, with the fans." |
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Intimacy
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Motown / Pgd
List Price: $13.98 Lowest Price: $10.12 You can save: $3.86 (27%)
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Intimacy was inspired by KEM's deeply personal lessons on intimacy and it will allow fans to experience him unlike ever before musically, lyrically, and visually. For the first time in his career, KEM will lay all of his cards on the table and grant fans the opportunity to get up close and personal while delivering a 10-song collection of timeless music for the grown and sexy. Intimacy features vocal and production collaborations with the likes of Grammy-winning soul diva Jill Scott and the late Motown legend David J. Van dePitt, who famously produced Marvin Gaye's 1971 masterpiece, What's Going On. Scott delivers enchanting verses of spoken word in "Golden Days," while Van dePitt arranged the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's string section on the first single, a gorgeous ballad called "Why Would You Stay." Los Angeles producer Rex Rideout (Luther Vandross, Angie Stone) also joined KEM in the studio to help round out the Intimacy listening experience. The result is a richer sound buttressed by classical instruments and a greater range of musical styles that will certainly expand KEM's audience by garnering success across multiple formats, including pop, R&B, and urban adult contemporary. The first online video to be released offers a revealing behind the scenes look of the making of a promotional commercial for the new album that was filmed at the MGM Grand in Detroit. The second clip will be the actual promotional commercial, which depicts a night in the life of KEM, partying with friends at Detroit's MGM Grand and breaking out in an impromptu performance at the club. It serves as a formal introduction of the new album and KEM's understanding of intimacy. "The moment you realize you're not alone is your finest hour," he says at the start of the commercial. "When you can finally allow yourself to be seen as you truly are--that's what intimacy is to me." Smooth grooves, powerful vocals, heartfelt lyrics, and just plain feel-good music best describe KEM's instantly recognizable sound. In 2002, the self-taught musician wrote and produced his critically acclaimed debut solo album, Kemistry, which spawned the hit single "Love Calls." The classic track went on to break records for longevity on the Urban A/C chart while the disc achieved gold-plus status and solidified KEM's position as a leading man in the world of jazz-influenced R&B music. The success of his gold certified follow-up CD, 2005's KEM Album II--which debuted at an impressive No. 5 on Billboard's all-important Top 200 Chart--proved KEM's staying power in the very competitive world of R&B. Now with the release of Intimacy, KEM is opening up to reveal the elusive man behind the voice. In fact, working on this project not only led KEM, a proud father of two daughters who self-produced his first two albums, to a deeper understanding of the true meaning of intimacy, but it also helped him achieve a greater appreciation for the significance of intimacy in all aspects of his life beyond romantic relationships. "I've spent the past five years working on this project in the midst of many personal trials, which caused me to pause and take a more introspective look at myself, my family relationships, my walk with God, and even how I relate to my music," said KEM. "What I found was that giving each more time and attention is essential." |
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