Here is a selection of albums that should have gotten more attention than they got in 2009:
Country music traditionalist Joe Nichols’s latest release, “Old Things New,” slipped in under the radar this fall.
“Old Things New,” Joe Nichols (Universal South)
He repeats this wave-and-trough approach throughout the album, bouncing from the unabashed drinking song, “Cheaper Than a Shrink” to the breakup lament, “The Shape I’m In.
Peter Gabriel eschews traditional rocknroll instrumentation on his upcoming album, “Scratch My Back,” which sports orchestral covers of material originally recorded by David Bowie, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Radiohead and Arcade Fire, among others.
“Scratch My Back,” due February 15 on Virgin Records, is Gabriels first studio album since 2002s “Up,” which peaked at No.
Scottish singer Susan Boyle narrowly failed to claim honors for the years best-selling album in the United States on Wednesday, but still has another sales week to wrest the title from country star Taylor Swift.
Swifts “Fearless,” the No. 3 seller in 2008, has sold 3.16 million copies this year, giving the 20-year-old a margin of about 175,000 over Boyle.
The drummer with Avenged Sevenfold, a rising force in the heavy metal scene, died on Monday at his home in southern California, the group and authorities said.
“It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we tell you of the passing today of Jimmy The Rev Sullivan,” the band said on its Web site.
Imagine this: By day you’re a typical businessman, working the 9 to 5. Your nights and weekends, however, are spent sharing a stage with nine other guys just like you - performing a cappella songs in small venues while recording an album under Atlantic Records.
They say their pursuit in music was experimental at first.
Jimmy Wayne has been waiting for years to record the Hall & Oates song “Sara Smile.” So when the country singer finally did it, it was only fitting that he made it the title of his third album.
But if it hadn’t been for a chance encounter with a bargain box years earlier, Wayne may not have found his lucky song.
While most of Lil Waynes fans will have to wait until at least February for the rappers often-promised and often-delayed album, about 500 Amazon customers who pre-ordered “Rebirth” are enjoying the record already, thanks to a shipping mishap.
The release-date change — the sixth time “Rebirth” was pushed around the schedule — was announced December 10.
Chris Browns recent complaint that U.S. music retailers are boycotting his new album “Grafitti,” appears to be unfounded.
“im tired of this sh-t. major stores r blackballing my cd. not stockin the shelves and lying to costumers. what the f–k do i gotta do… … yeah i said it and i aint retracting s–t im not biting my tongue about s–t else.
Fifty years after jazz legend Miles Davis recorded “Kind of Blue,” the House voted Tuesday to honor the landmark album’s contribution to the genre.
Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat who sponsored the measure, said the group “made musical history and changed the artistic landscape of this country and in some ways the world.
As a medium, the rock album is so under siege that even Radiohead made noise in 2009 about giving it up for downloadable singles and EPs.
1. Animal Collective, “Merriweather Post Pavilion”: It’s a trip, to be sure. The strength of Animal Collective has never been in the lyrics or even in songcraft.