10 BEST COMEBACK ALBUMS

I feel it's my duty to bring little news tidbits to this blog even if the news is 2 months old.  Thing is: I don't recall seeing this before.

Rolling Stone compiled the 10 Best Comeback Albums Ever.  George Harrison's Cloud Nine is #8.

WELL, AT LEAST GENE KELLY ON ROLLER SKATES LOOKS CLEARER NOW...

Xanadu: Magical Music Edition is in stores beginning today and as promised the sound and picture quality has been substantially improved.  So, all of that glitz and camp is more pronounced than ever before.

The bonus soundtrack CD is the current USA edition on MCA, so they didn't throw the fans a bone there.

The Going Back To Xanadu feature is admittedly a bit fun.  A few observations from that: ELO is mentioned just once, the whole bit about the lengths they went through for the customes was interesting, (in addition to the director, producers and other major crew members,) they interviewed several of the dancers and two muses, 2 of the Tubes turned up, Michael Beck wasn't even mentioned by name, Olivia apparently declined to be interviewed, and holy shit, Thaaattt's Gene Kelly's widow?!!?!

 

MORE FROM ROSSIF

Rossif Sutherland added three more songs to the player on his MySpace page, and although they're worth a listen, my hunch is none of those three involve Jeff Lynne. Makes one wonder if he's any closer to releasing his CD.

OT: LONG LIVE LIFE

Just as I hoped, the new Coldplay record is out of control.  For those of you who like Jeff's productions for the quality recordings they are, you might appreciate Cemeteries Of London (with a few seconds from the end of Life In Techicolor), Lost! and Yes.

Lost! was released in acoustic form (titled Lost? with a question mark) weeks before the album's release and it, without question, was a brilliant move.  I learned and love the song in its acoustic form.  When you get to the album version weeks later, you know it enough to sing along, only thing is: it blows the doors off your expectations.

What's also interesting is Reign of Love, Chinese Sleep Chant and The Escapist are presented more as interludes or segues instead of outright album tracks. Interesting idea. (Was Secret Messages the last time Jeff Lynne interluded between two songs??! Not sure I'd count Opening/Heaven Only Knows)

Between the free download of the first single, an exclusive b-side on vinyl, Lost?, the title track on iTunes and iTunes commercial, plus the full album on vinyl with full length CD inside of it, the marketing of this record is genius.

I recommend the lyrics to follow along.

The CD is already out in the UK, Tuesday for the States.

HEADS (AND SKATES) UP...

It's starting to look more and more like National Xanadu Month.

Cast members from Xanadu On Broadway will be performing on American TV starting this Thursday June 12 @ 9 am Eastern Time with All Over The World on Regis and Kelly...

Then, on Friday June 13 during the 8 am hour, they perform Magic, Don't Walk Away and Xanadu on the CBS Early show...

And this coming Saturday June 14 (Suspended in Time) during CBS Saturday Morning at 8 am.

And don't forget, the remastered DVD of the original movie with bonus soundtrack CD is in stores two weeks from tomorrow. (Hat Tip: Euan)

END OF THE LINE

         

The Traveling Wilburys two albums are back in stores today as individual titles.  Both Volume One and Volume 3 CDs have Traveling Wilburys Collection-style cardboard slipcases and inside, you'll find the CDs and inserts designed almost exactly the same as their originals except for some different markings and updated credits. No change in audio content from last year's releases.

In addition, both titles are available on iTunes.  But, in another par-for-the-course instance, someone filed them under Traveling Wilburys, whereas the rest of the Wilbury items are found under The Traveling Wilburys.  Ho-hum.

OT: COLDPLAY and EMI

After reading articles and posts from several people about the state of affairs at EMI (the company who gave us ELOs First Light Series among others), this New York Times article paints a pretty clear picture of how bad it is.  EMI was sold to a private equity group which is now in serious financal trouble because of that transaction.  What can save them?  Possibly Coldplay.

For the record, Coldplay is usually where I turn these days during my mental health breaks from ELO and related tunes.  The timing is perfect, their new album is just about here and there's seemingly nothing big in the pipeline from Bungalow Palace.

The stakes are high for EMI and they need Coldplay's album (Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends) to be a huge sales success.  Marketing-wise, they've pulled out all the stops.  On top of free concerts and high-profile appearances, there's (well, was) a single download for free, one week only, a 7" single (free with magazine) with exclusive b-side, a CD single with an acoustic mix of an album track, and for good measure, the title track exclusively on iTunes. Four songs unleashed already and I'm outright begging for more.  Brilliant marketing.

I really hope it works for all of them.  If any current band can pull it off, it's Coldplay.  And for my part, this is the most stoked I've been about an album in years.

XANADU: WEST END VERSION

In a turn of events I'm sure many didn't see coming, not only is Xanadu on Broadway becoming a national tour, and heading to Chicago, now there are plans to open in London according to Playbill.

It will be in a yet to be determined venue in London's West End in spring 2009. 

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