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Avenged Sevenfold, Tom Jones, Fat Joe, 'Step Up 3-D' and Dean
& Britta
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July 27, 2010
By Kurt B. Reighley
Special to MSN Music
There's nothing like a death in the family to bring out the best and the
worst in people. Just ask Avenged Sevenfold -- or better yet, listen to
"Nightmare." Work on the fifth studio album from the So-Cal metalcore quintet,
which was produced by Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Eminem) was already underway when drummer Jimmy
"The Rev" Sullivan died suddenly in December 2009. But the surviving members
rallied, drawing on their anger and grief to inspire powerful new songs (like
"Victim," written the day they learned of Sullivan's passing) as well as
galvanizing the work completed before their loss. With Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater (who also helped finish "Nightmare")
behind the kit, Avenged Sevenfold will hit the road later this summer to
co-headline the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar tour along with Disturbed; the tour
kicks off Tuesday, Aug. 17, in Minneapolis.
A half-century as a pop culture icon has turned Welsh belter Tom Jones into a punch line, the swivel-hipped,
hirsute lothario with the bulging trousers, dodging panties tossed at him from
overexcited blue-haired ladies in Atlantic City. But as anyone who has
scrutinized late '60s/early '70s Jones albums like "I (Who Have Nothing)" will
attest, when paired with the right material and arrangements, he can reign in
the razzmatazz. And that's what he does throughout "Praise & Blame." Jones,
who turned 70 this June, assays a selection of devotional tunes popularized by
artists including Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Mahalia Jackson, Bob Dylan and John Lee Hooker. Cut with producer Ethan Johns and
a small combo, plus a few very special guests (Gillian Welch, Booker T. Jones, pedal steel great BJ Cole), Jones
sounds equally at ease with contemplative numbers ("What Good Am I?") and
uptempo fare ("Don't Knock"). No whoops, no dramatic swoops, no brass or strings
-- just sage interpretations featuring a crackerjack band. Highly recommended.
Heavyweight Latino rapper Fat Joe follows up last year's "Jealous Ones Still
Envy" with the new "The Darkside Vol. 1." As the title hints, the South Bronx
native aimed for a more hardcore, back-to-roots sound on his 10th studio
album. Featuring productions from Just Blaze, Cool & Dre and DJ Premier, the 13
tracks also include the roll call of all-star cameos one expects from an artist
with Fat Joe's credentials: Trey Songz, R. Kelly, Too $hort, Cam'ron, Busta Rhymes, Clipse, Lil Wayne, and Young Jeezy. Underscoring Joe's ability to play
well with others, Diddy recently tweeted that Fat Joe was the latest
addition to his expanding Dream Team supergroup, which also includes the
aforementioned Busta Rhymes, as well as Fabolous, Red Café, Rick Ross and DJ Khaled.
Why should animated features and adventure flicks have all the fun when it
comes to 3-D filmmaking? Fans of the "Step Up" franchise of silver screen
musicals can look forward to dancers flying into their laps when "Step Up 3-D" premieres on Aug. 6. The soundtrack
to this "high-stakes showdown" between various hip-hop dance crews features a
couple of killer cuts from the current go-to DJ-producer with the Midas touch,
David Guetta (Black Eyed Peas, Kelis, Kelly Rowland): the banging "Club Can't Handle Me"
by Flo Rida (who is currently in the studio
completing his third album, "The Only 1") and U.K. import Estelle's kooky "I Can Be a Freak." Rounding out
the program are a mix of new and previously released tunes from Trey Songz, N.A.S.A., Mims, Busta Rhymes, Chromeo, Jazmine Sullivan and others.
Andy Warhol's screen tests were the polar opposite
of a 3-D hip-hop musical. The pop art pioneer would train his camera on one of
his budding "superstars" and instruct them to basically do nothing for
two-and-a-half minutes. Then, just to intensify the dreamlike, glacial quality
of the, um, performances, he'd show them back at a slower speed. Last year, Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips (formerly of Luna) were invited to choose 13 of their favorite
Warhol screen tests from an archive of hundreds and to create a multimedia
presentation that married these short films to the duo's music. Dean & Britta's "13 Most Beautiful: Songs for
Andy Warhol's Screen Tests" compiles those dreamy selections, augmented with
liner notes explaining their creative choices. With its melange of woozy
originals, select covers (Dylan's "I'll Keep It With Mine," the Velvet Underground rarity "Not a Young Man
Anymore"), and slo-mo remixes by My Robot Friend, Sonic Boom, and Scott
Hardkiss, this double-disc sounds gorgeous even divorced from the program's
visual component.
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