Beck, Morissette, Son Volt, Manson rack up new releases
By Joan Anderman, Globe Correspondent, 09/13/98
It looks to be an especially strong season for pop music recordings, with fresh faces and veterans, boxed sets and live recordings, tributes and soundtracks trotted out en masse in anticipation of the mega-retail moment that arrives at the end of each year with a massive kachink of the holiday cash register. Never fear, there's much beyond bodacious divas in fur-trimmed red velvet and a cappella R&B versions of "Good King Wenceslaus" (would we have it any other way?) to look forward to. Following are some of the most promising releases due out in the next few weeks. Remember, the recording industry is a tad unpredictable; release dates are subject to change.
Best bets
Beck, never one to stick with a conventional schedule of album releases, looses "Mutations" (Geffen), a fan-appreciation project recorded live in the studio with his band from the "Odelay" tour. (The official "Odelay" follow-up will be out next year.) Record company sources describe the disc (due Nov. 3) as more subdued, less sample-driven, and minus the hip-hop beats that have powered recent Beck tracks. Expect a stripped, trippy folk feel geared more toward gratifying members of the fold than making a loud commercial splash.
Alanis Morissette finally unfurls "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie" (Maverick), her long-awaited follow-up to 1995's 16-million selling debut, "Jagged Little Pill," on Nov. 3. With producer and co-writer Glen Ballard on board again, the smart-and-angry hits are sure to flow more freely than the album title. Listen for the first single, "Thank You," Sept. 22.
Britain's brave, brash Polly Jean Harvey filters fire and ice through an ambient-punk sonic spectrum. "Is This Desire" (Island), due out Sept. 29, finds PJ Harvey divided among atmospheric soundscapes, prickly howlers, and beat-heavy invocations.
No matter how much he grosses you out, Marilyn Manson matters. On "Mechanical Animals" (Interscope), the newly glam androgyne's first project without mentor Trent Reznor, big guitars and hooky melodies replace industrial clatter, and Satan takes a back seat to strange romance.
If Son Volt's new "Wide Swing Tremolo" (Warner Bros., Oct. 6) is half as tragically beautiful as last year's luminous "Straightaways," ravaged hearts will be spilling tears into beers across the heartland.
Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach -- need more be said? Two of the finest songwriters in pop history release "Painted from a Memory" (Mercury), an album of new, collaborative songs due out Sept. 29.
The divas
Joni Mitchell releases the pop-oriented "Taming the Tiger" (Reprise), her first studio album in four years. Mariah Carey's best-of package, succinctly titled "1's" (Sony) features 13 of her No.1 hits plus duets with Whitney Houston and Jermaine Dupri (Nov. 10). Sheryl Crow releases "Riverwide" (A&M) Tuesday. Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot's "You Can't Do What I Do" (Elektra) hits sometime in November. Jewel's as-yet-untitled sophomore effort comes Nov. 17 on Atlantic. Shawn Colvin releases "Holiday Songs and Lullabies" (Columbia) on Oct. 27.
The boxed sets
Yoko Ono executive-produced the upcoming "John Lennon Anthology" (Capitol), a four-CD collection of 100 previously unreleased live tracks, home recordings, studio outtakes, and TV appearances, due Nov. 3. There's no firm release date for Columbia's four-CD Bruce Springsteen set, which will feature previously unreleased studio recordings; start looking late next month or early November. "Judy" (32 Records), an exhaustive Judy Garland retrospective, includes a video and 100-page book along with four CDs that move chronologically through Garland's career -- out Oct. 13. Rush's three-CD set will be out Nov. 17.
The live recordings
Boston's own Mighty Mighty Bosstones release "Live From the Middle East" (Mercury), 21 tracks culled from a five-night stint at the Cambridge club (Oct. 6). In other homey news, Aerosmith puts out a double live CD on Geffen Oct. 20. Spiritualized makes sleepy/happy noise with a full orchestra and choir at the Royal Albert Hall, due out Oct. 27. The Rolling Stones' "Bridges to Babylon" tour is captured on "No Security" (Virgin), due out next month. Screaming girls make the new, as-yet-untitled Hanson CD (Mercury) a virtual concert reality; out Nov. 3. Black Sabbath's double live CD also features two new studio tracks. A forgotten box of live tapes led to the upcoming, not-yet-titled Clash CD from Columbia, recorded at various gigs throughout the band's lifetime.
Soul and R&B
Kelly tries to stay aloft with "R" (Jive/RCA), Sept. 29. Seal returns in November, after a four-year recording hiatus, with "Human Being" (Warner Bros.). Genuwine's as-yet-untitled collaboration with superproducer Timbaland will be out Oct. 13 on Epic. D'Angelo releases "Voodoo" (EMI/Brown Sugar). Dru Hill releases "Enter the Dru" (Island), Oct. 27. Blackstreet returns with "Finally" (Interscope), Nov. 3.
Alternative nation
Eccentric intellectuals the Eels release "Electro-Shock Blues" (DreamWorks), a challenging, funereal song cycle (Nov. 20). Goo Goo Dolls are back with "Dizzying up the Girl" (Warner Bros.), Sept. 22. The Cardigans infuse their breezy kitsch with a darker, rougher edge on "Gran Turisimo" (Mercury), due Nov. 3. Afghan Wigs release "1965" (Columbia) on Oct. 27. Sugar Ray promises that "Raised by Wolves" (Atlantic), due Nov. 17, will be an ear-opening follow-up -- complete with melodies and drum loops -- to last year's "Fly."
Rap and hip-hop
"N.W.A. Straight Outta Compton 10th Anniversary Tribute" (Priority) celebrates the album regarded as ground zero for gangsta rap, with tributes from Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Coolio, Big Punisher, and others. Ice Cube comes out with the first half of his "War and Peace" (Priority) opus Nov. 17; "Peace" will arrive in the spring. Wu-Tang Clan's Method Man releases his second solo CD, "Tical 2: Judgment Day" (Def Jam), Nov. 3. A promising debut to look out for: from PRAS of the Fugees, in October from Interscope.
Other key releases
R.E.M. releases "Up" (Warner Bros.), the band's first since drummer Bill Berry left, Oct. 27. Duncan Sheik waxes philosophic on his sophomore effort "Humming" (Atlantic), Oct. 6. Boston's Peter Wolf releases "Fool's Parade" (Mercury), Oct. 20. Metallica's as-yet-untitled, all-covers double CD is out Nov. 17. Hootie and the Blowfish, "Musical Chairs" (Atlantic), Sept. 15. PHISH, "The Story of the Ghost," (Elektra), Oct. 27. Oasis, "Masterplan" (Epic), Nov. 3. A pair of Boston's best singer-songwriters: Jim's Big Ego, "Don't Get Smart" (Eastern Front), and Ellis Paul, "Translucent Soul" (Rounder), both on Tuesday. Bette Midler returns to her campy roots with "Bathhouse Betty" (Warner Bros.), out Tuesday. Henry Rollins's as-yet-untitled spoken word album (DreamWorks) and Chris Isaak's "Speak of the Devil" (Reprise) are both due Sept. 22. Morrissey's early B-sides show up on "My Early Burglary Years" (Reprise), Tuesday. "Prince of Egypt," DreamWorks's animated flick, will produce three separate soundtracks: "Main," "Nashville," and "Inspirational," Nov. 17.
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