Fortune's Favor
Great Big Sea
Warner Music Canada 2008.

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Great Big Sea's latest release, Fortune's Favor, departs from the previous release (The Hard and the Easy) and returns to the pattern of previous albums such as Play.

Where the Hard and the Easy was entirely the folk songs of Newfoundland, the majority of the songs in Fortune's Favor are rock or folk rock in sound. There are a few of the traditional types of music, such as the songs England and Banks of Newfoundland.

I personally prefer the Irish folk songs of The Hard and the Easy, so while this album does not have as many of those, there are enough to keep me happy. The rock songs are decent, not bad by any measure, just not what I listen to Great Big Sea for. If you are a fan of Great Big Sea I do not think you will be disappointed with this album, as it is more of what they do best. If you like folk rock or east coast folk music you should give this album a listen to as well. If on the other hand you are into more modern "Urban" style sound, then this album is not for you.

Well the Grammy awards were last weekend, and for those interested here are some of the winners and the items we have here at the Library.

Record Of The Year
Rehab
Amy Winehouse
Track from: Back To Black

Album Of The Year
River: The Joni Letters
Herbie Hancock

Song Of The Year
Rehab
Amy Winehouse
Track from: Back To Black

Best New Artist
Amy Winehouse

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
Rehab
Amy Winehouse
Track from: Back To Black

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
What Goes Around...Comes Around
Justin Timberlake

Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
Makes Me Wonder
Maroon 5
Track from: It Won't Be Soon Before Long

Best Pop Instrumental Performance
One Week Last Summer
Joni Mitchell
Track from: Shine

Best Pop Instrumental Album
The Mix-Up
Beastie Boys

Best Pop Vocal Album
Back To Black
Amy Winehouse

Best Dance Recording
LoveStoned/I Think She Knows
Justin Timberlake
Track from: FutureSex/LoveSounds

Best Electronic/Dance Album
We Are The Night
The Chemical Brothers

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
Call Me Irresponsible
Michael Bublé

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
Icky Thump
The White Stripes
Track from:Icky Thump

Best Hard Rock Performance
The Pretender
Foo Fighters

Best Metal Performance
Final Six
Slayer
Track from: Christ Illusion

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance
Radio Nowhere
Bruce Springsteen
Track from: Magic

Beauty & Crime
Suzanne Vega
New York : Blue Note, p2007.

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Her name rendered in an Art Deco typeface, Vega poses on the cover of her Blue Note debut in a chic trench coat and bright red lipstick. Yes, it's an album of torch songs--but the lover she's pining for is the NYC of her past, from the formerly gritty Lower East Side ("Ludlow Street") to "the 27th floor above the midtown roar" ("New York Is a Woman"). The brushed drums and acoustic guitars of "Anniversary" allow her whispery voice room to breathe; elsewhere, club rhythms and stabs of violins conjure up an exultant roar of their own. A-

Review from Entertainment Weekly - Sean Howe

High School Musical 2
Burbank, CA : Walt Disney Records, p2007.

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If at first you don't succeed, try, try ... whoops. Disney did succeed with "High School Musical," to the tune of 7 million albums sold worldwide, a catalog of DVDs, a concert tour, stage and ice shows, and lyrics that every teen on the planet knows by heart. "High School Musical 2" doesn't dance too far off the beaten path. The full-cast opener, "What Time Is It," even references its predecessor's closing "We're All in This Together" as it sends the kids of East High School off for a summer vacation filled with the requisite romantic tribulations, light class warfare and, yes, a Midsummer Night's Talent Show for everyone to strut their stuff. The music again skews toward hip-hop beats and hooky pop melodies, and such tracks as "Work This Out," the sports-themed "I Don't Dance," "Bet on It" and "All for One" make you feel like Backstreet's not only back, but never left.

Review from Billboard - Gary Graff, 8/18/07

So Metallica is apparently thinking of premiering their new single through the game Rock Band (thanks Joystiq).

Having defeated Napster, Metallica goes on to conquer new forms of media!

Well, if all this vidjamagame nonsense is not for you, you can still rock out old school with the CDs we have in our Catalogue.

Underclass Hero
Sum 41
Montréal : Aquarius Records, p2007

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"Weird Al" Yankovic may have stolen a bit of Sum 41's thunder when he wrote "Canadian Idiot" for his latest album. The Great White North (now L.A.-based) trio's fourth full-length is, wittingly or not, something of a homage to Green Day's "American Idiot," from its thematic (though not narrative) "us against them" unity to the fierce political sloganeering of "March of the Dogs" to the sophisticated arrangements that bolster Sum 41's punk roots with references to Queen, Weezer and Linkin Park. And with its acoustic guitar and strings, "So Long Goodbye"--a paean to departed guitarist Dave Brownsound--ends the album on a decidedly "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" note. But don't write off "Underclass Hero" as mere imitation; its growth feels genuine and, unlike Sum 41's punk peers, its musical maturation doesn't come at the expense of that all-important snotty 'tude.

Review from Billboard - Gary Graff,7/28/07.

Absolute Garbage
Garbage
Santa Monica, CA : Almo Sounds, p2007
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A newly recorded Garbage single, "Tell Me Where It Hurts," will be included on an upcoming best-of collection, "Absolute Garbage." Due July 17 via Geffen, the CD/DVD set includes 17 audio tracks on its first disc, a second disc with 14 remixes and a DVD with 15 music videos, live clips and behind-the-scenes footage. Among the acts chipping in with remixes on the bonus disc are UNKLE, Massive Attack, the Crystal Method, Todd Terry and Felix Da Housecat.

Review from Billboard - Jonathan Cohen.

Big Dog Daddy
Kieth, Toby
[United States] : Show Dog Nashville, p2007.

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Anyone looking for a dose of Keith's famous attitude won't be disappointed on his new release The thumping title cut finds him channeling Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry on a song that one could easily imagine pumping across the border from a Mexican AM station back in the day. "Hit It" is a rocking number about taking advantage of opportunities and first single "High Maintenance Woman," which recently peaked at No 3 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, is a working man's take on the fairer sex. But like Sears, there's a softer side to Keith, who produced the album and wrote or co-wrote nine of its 11 cuts. "1 Know She Hung the Moon" is a tribute to the singer's love interest and "Burnin' Moon Light" reflects on a late-night rendezvous that turns into a long-term relationship.

Review from Billboard - Ken Tucker 6/16/07

Zeitgeist
Smashing Pumpkins
[United States] : Reprise, p2007

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The long, weird saga of the Smashing Pumpkins opens a new chapter with "Zeitgeist," their first disc since splitting in 2000. The group was always primarily a fancy name for Billy Corgan anyway, so this quote-fingers comeback, which features only he and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin from the glory days, is actually more genuine than most. It's still a mess, though an ambitious and grandiose one. Corgan certainly hasn't forgotten how to make a Pumpkins record, as gleaming serrated guitars, fantastic torrents of drums and twisting layers of vocals dominate. But though his celestial indulgences are still in place (especially on "United States," the record's end-times centerpiece), Corgan's rock tracks sound weirdly thin, an odd development coming from Queen vet Roy Thomas Baker. He's more disarmingly effective on tracks like "That's the Way (My Love Is)," a pop gem that leaps off the record, and the "Mellon Collie"-referencing closer "Pomp and Circumstance."

Review from:Vrabel, Jeff. "The Smashing Pumpkins: Zeitgeist." Billboard 119.28 (July 14, 2007): 43(1)