Country legendDolly Parton isn't flattered by a recent Howard Stern parody, in which the satellite radio host mashed up Parton quotes to make it sound as if the singer were spewing offensive and racist remarks. In a post on her official website, Parton is quoted as saying she has "never been so shocked, hurt and humiliated" in her life, and even hints and at potentially suing the shock jock.
Parton was the victim of one of Stern's "audiobook" bits, in which celebrity quotes are pieced together to form chopped-up, raunchy sentences. In the past, Stern has remixed quotes from the likes of William Shatner and Oprah.
In the bit with Parton, which originally aired last week, Stern and his cohorts cut up Parton quotes in an attempt to make it sound as if the artist were saying a host of sexually explicit and racist remarks. Said Parton on her site: "In a blue million years, I would never have such vulgar things come out of my mouth. They have done editing or some sort of trickery to make this horrible, horrible thing. Please accept my apology for them and certainly know I had nothing to do with this. If there was ever going to be a lawsuit, it's going to be over this. Just wanted you to know that I am completely devastated by this."
While the explicit content of the Stern bit prevents me from linking to it, has Parton's response to the bit simply brought more publicity to Stern, or did the overtly racist content of the sketch warrant a response from the artist?
Three new and original songs grace the soundtrack to "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," all helping to fill out the credits of the family-friendly fantasy film (the credits are indeed long enough for three full songs).
While the tunes never break from mid-tempo and are graced with the type of polish and lushness required for a Hollywood blockbuster, the songs of "Prince Caspian" aren't without at least one surprise. Additionally, the "Prince Caspian" tunes handle themselves quite well, especially when compared to other pop music entrants from recent fantasy fare.
Whereas the first film in the series tapped eccentric singer/songwriter Imogen Heap and then the more mainstream Alanis Morissette for balance, "Prince Caspian" has cast Regina Spektor to sing the first credit song, followed by the lesser-known Oren Lavie.
The soundtrack, released today, can be previewed on the official Disney site, and Spektor's showcase song, "The Call," is a piano-based balled with a moderate temperance of orchestral flourishes. It brings the
film -- and the audience -- back to reality with a bittersweet feel.
Like the songs from the first "Narnia," it strays from fantasy film music cliches and avoids a New-Agey feel (see "The Golden Compass," "Lord of the Rings"), but is also isn't overly ornate (see "Beowulf").
In fact, it's not too far removed from Spektor's own music. Her vocals are a bit more strong and upfront, and the orchestral arrangement more grand than subtle, but she handles her first blockbuster song with grace, even if the track plays it a little safe. It's certainly not a showcase for Spektor's personality, as it comes across as a song made for a gala.
Newcomer Lavie follows, and I confess to being ignorant of his work, but his "A Dance 'Round the Memory Tree" worked well in wrapping up the fantasy film. It's a short, lullaby-like number, with hushed vocals mixed in with a surprisingly deft touch of strings.
Sans vocals, there are even moments the orchestration could have worked in the film, and I wasn't expecting to hear such a dreamy number in the Disney-distributed blockbuster.
Finally, bringing the credits to a close is Switchfoot's "This is Home." But expect this song to get a heavy promotion.
The band will perform it tonight on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," and already previewed it last month at gospel's Dove Awards. It's a pretty straight-ahead, overly-earnest rocker, and its association with "Narnia" is purely to move some soundtrack units.
Last week, Apple began taking pre-orders for Coldplay's "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends," and in so doing, offered buyers immediate access to the title track. As noted here, the single downloaded with DRM at 128 kilobits per second.
The post generated a call from an Apple spokesperson, who reported that the Coldplay track was to have downloaded at higher bit rate, the DRM-free and better-quality 256 kilobits per second that graces all music from EMI labels. But a quick iTunes check confirmed that the slightly lower-quality version did indeed download.
This week, Apple will rectify the error, according to a company spokesperson.
Those who received the 128-bit edition of Coldplay's "La Vida" should receive an e-mail from Apple sometime within the next 48 hours, explaining the error and offering a download of the 256-bit version. But regardless of the bit rate, the song is good.
Scarlett Johansson's debut "Anywhere I Lay My Head" was officially released today via streaming service Imeem. While not due in stores until next Tuesday (May 20), those with Imeem accounts can hear the full album now. Those without can make do with 30-second excerpts, but are also invited to embed the album like so:
While far from a new move, Johansson's label (Warner-owned imprint Atco/Rhino Records) certainly deserves credit for allowing fans a peek into Johannsson's highly anticipated debut a week early, especially considering the label is allowing fans to share the content. This, of course, comes after having some earlier leaked songs taken down from Imeem.
Aside from the curiosity factor that comes with an actor turned musician, Johansson's album, largely a low-key mix of dreamy, studio atmospherics, is drawing attention for tackling the songs of cult hero Tom Waits, and working with a host of acclaimed artists like David Bowie and TV on the Radio producer Dave Sitek. A video for Johansson's "Falling Down," the song Bowie guests on, has already been released.
Early reactions have been mixed. Wired's Listening Post compared Johansson to the Cocteau Twins, and the Playlist was a bit more critical. In a Sunday essay, my colleague Ann Powers critiqued the album. Here's a brief excerpt from her review:
"Anywhere I Lay My Head" is, in fact, not a great success. But its ambitions are fairly huge. In fact, it's really three albums: an excellent Waits compilation that plunges deep into the soil of his catalog; a re-imagining of the Waits sound by Sitek, who delights at the chance to experiment with adding new elements to music that's clearly influenced his own work; and Johansson's debut. Had a band name graced the project instead of Johansson's, it might seem like a greater success; her voice is best understood as an element in Sitek's wide-ranging constructions, not a central force.
Though Sundance darling "American Teen" was filmed way back in 2005, the documentary will be infused with a bit of 2008, at least when it comes to its music.
Nanette Burstein's film, which follows four seniors at Warsaw Community High School in Indiana, is a compelling look at how teens balance the pressures of dealing with college and their parents during their graduating year. As it stands, "American Teen" has a fresh, indie-focused sound, one that keeps the film current without embellishing the inherit drama of teen life.
Credits roll to power-pop band the New Pornographers lilting "My Rights Versus Yours," while the score was composed by singer-songwriter Michael Penn, who has also worked on "Boogie Nights" and "The Last Kiss," among others. Just a few of the other artists featured in the film include Moby, indie-rockers the Unicorns and indie hip-hop duo Blackalicious.
The film's Facebook page (1,200 fans and counting) has a teaser for an upcoming soundtrack. It mentions some bands of the moment, such as peppy dance rockersthe Ting Tings, and spacey buzz band MGMT. (The latter's "Time to Pretend" opened gambling flick "21.")
But one interesting note: Neither of those bands is actually in "American Teen," at least as things stand now.
Having just caught the film, I was eager to hear a little bit of the Tings on the big screen, hoping the act would come off better than it does on thesmall screen. But "American Teen" came and went without any music from the acts being marketed with it, including two from Almost Gold Recordings -- the new-wavy electronics of Does It Offend You, Yeah and the retro-styled pop of the Black Kids. (Note: Reader Liv wrote in to inform me that the Black Kids are indeed in the film. See Liv's comment below, in which case I apologize for missing them.)
But expect that to change before the film opens for the public this summer.
A spokesperson for the film's distributor, Paramount Vantage, said such acts would most likely find their way into the movie. It's not entirely uncommon for a film's music to be altered as it works its way from Sundance to an official release date, and for a word-of-mouth film, a buzzed-about soundtrack could do wonders, as evidenced by "Juno"this past winter. Whether the addition of the Ting Tings and the Black Kids will give "American Teen" some indie cred remains to be seen, but it's yet another reason I'll look forward to seeing it a second time.
Fans of "American Teen" need not fear, as it will remain otherwise untouched from how it screened at Sundance, save for some updates on the whereabouts of the young adults featured in the film.
The film is on target for a summer break release date of July 25 in Los Angeles and New York. It will get an expanded release in August, and there will be more on the film and its soundtrack here on Extended Play closer to its release date.
Update: Music & movies blog the Playlist has followed-up with a a track listing for the "American Teen" soundtrack, which it says is due July 15.
While Madonna scored yet another No. 1 album, it may not have been the blockbuster opening that some were expecting.
She sold 280,000 copies of "Hard Candy," according to Nielsen SoundScan, in its first week in stores. First things first: With the days of the CD as the music format of choice seemingly numbered, any album that sells in the six-figure range is a bonus for the music biz these days.
And those who rolled their eyes at yet another blog alluding to the death of the CD, ask Madonna herself, who last year signed a $120-million deal with a touring company in Live Nation. And this summer, fans will get to see that deal start to pay off. Madonna will be generously coming to a whopping 16 North American markets, according to Billboard.
Great Diva Sales Race of 2008
Yet it's also hard not to note that Madonna's "Hard Candy" sold about 180,000 fewer copies than Mariah Carey moved two weeks ago. She's still significantly ahead, though, of the 181,000 copies sold by Janet Jackson's "Discipline" when it debuted in March.
But back to Carey. Her "E=MC2" scored the highest debut of the year when it opened at No. 1 after selling 463,000 copies. In just three weeks on the chart, "E=MC2" has sold more than 740,000 copies.
Album sales may be down across the board, but Madonna would certainly be expected to be closer to Mariah than, say, Leona Lewis on the diva totem pole. Newcomer Lewis entered at No. 1 a few weeks ago, her debut, "Spirit," selling 205,000 copies.
To compare "Hard Candy's" stats to Madonna's last record: In 2005 her Euro-influenced "Confessions on a Dance Floor" opened with 350,000 copies, according to Billboard. It's rare these days for an artist to actually top the first-week sales of a prior album, but if anyone could do it, it would certainly be Madonna. And Mariah just did it.
So it's easy to view Madonna's sales tally as a disappointment, a sign that she's losing her grip on the pop marketplace. But don't.
CD sales just an added bonus
Billboard downplays Madonna's sales dip, noting that "Confessions" opened during the holiday season. The trade also fairly points out that Mariah may have benefited from appearances on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and "American Idol."
On one hand, Madonna is a bigger international brand than Mariah will ever be, and she was just inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
But on the other, the marketing campaign for "Hard Candy" was one based less on promotion than on partnerships. The album may not have been endorsed by Oprah, but the marketing campaign leading up the release of "Hard Candy" has been far from what anyone would call subtle. There are the Sunsilk commercials, the branding promotions with Verizon, the odd YouTube video and the video gift to gossip blogger Perez Hilton.
Additionally, Madonna's lead single, "4 Minutes," has been inescapable. It's still a top-10 hit, and her second single, "Give It 2 Me," has just debuted in the top 100. But even more important, "4 Minutes" has given Madonna something she didn't have at all with "Confessions on a Dance Floor," and that's a hit on U.S. radio.
But if there's a problem -- if this is a problem -- with "4 Minutes," it's that it is as much a Justin Timberlakeor Timbaland single as it is one from Madonna. It's also a song that will spur download sales, but not necessarily album sales.
For instance, as fun and silly as it may be, "4 Minutes" also could have appeared on Timbaland's 2007 album "Shock Value," or Timberlake's "FutureSex/LoveSounds." It's a song fit for an iTunes playlist as much as it is a new Madonna album.
Indeed, by lining up today's top producers and superstars -- Timberlake, Timbaland, Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, etc. -- Madonna has created an album that may sound swell stacked up with everyone else on the radio, but it also risks the danger of failing to set itself apart.
But "Hard Candy" doesn't really need to stand alone in order to be a success. The end result is an album seemingly built to sell millions of single-track downloads, ring tones, videos and bits of whatever digital accessories exist. And for pop music as business plan, that may prove to be one of Madonna's smartest moves yet, whether intentional or not.
Photo: Madonna performing in Paris on May 6 / Associated Press
Coldplay's "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" recently went up from pre-order from Apple's iTunes store, and those who make the pledge for the album will get immediate access to the title track.
It's a nice little coup for the Steve Jobs store, considering Coldplay's first single, "Violet Hill," has been downloaded more than 2 million times, according to multiple press reports.
Of course, the 2-million figure was helped by the fact that the song was free. To hear the title track, as purchased from iTunes, one will essentially have to fork over $9.99, and the cut unfortunately comes encoded with DRM at 128 kilobits per second.
But how does it sound?
Pretty good, and my initial reaction* is that this is a stronger cut than "Violet Hill." It opens with a triumphant string melody, and it's the violins that carry much of the song. It's a cleaner-sounding cut than the more aggressive "Violet Hill," but it still glides along with an urgency not heard often enough in Coldplay's music.
By tapping producer Brian Eno, comparisons to U2 will be inevitable, and "Viva La Vida" brings a bit of U2 grandeur with its epic build, but it still colors the song with enough fresh sounds to demand repeated listens. Things get rolling with a frisky violin, and Chris Martin puts it in check with a commanding vocal turn, singing "I used to roll the dice / Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes."
Moments later the song gets more interesting, with a flash of rhythm briefly sending a more electronic-sounding beat to the background. References to Catholicism grace the song, and Martin repeatedly declares that Saint Peter won't be calling his name.
But never mind the biblical nods. The song further reveals the Coldplay of "Viva La Vida" to be a hungrier, more challenging band. Indeed, as the song builds, strings disappear into a twittering of electronic atmospheres that bridge the verses.
Even the addition of church bells sound off just enough to not be corny. As the song comes to a close, a jaunty piano helps carry some background "whoa-whoas," and there's not a guitar in sight. Instead, "Viva La Vida" is a swift-moving minimalist orchestra.
Earlier this week, the eccentric Tom Waits staged a YouTube press conference to announce his upcoming tour. It was a humorous bit of performance art from the veteran left-of-center artist.
While it generated plenty of press in the music world, the following day one of Waits' label-mates -- and an artist just as wonderfully weird -- released a brand-new album to significantly less fanfare. But Waits fans, and pop fans, and heck, even Public Enemy fans, may want to give Tim Fite a listen, an artist who has a penchant for some outlandish, sometimes childish visuals, and oddball, folksy melodies.
Last year, he gave away an album for free. His "Over the Counter Culture" was a sarcastic, hip-hop- influenced album, a working man lashing out at everything from supermarkets to war profiteering (the PE fans should start here).
"Fair Ain't Fair" is his third release, and the second one he's selling through Anti- Records, the adventurous imprint of Los Angeles-based Epitaph. It moves away from the activist rap of "Over the Counter Culture," and instead is a mix of laid-back samples, Fite's speak-sing vocals and a host of weird carnival sounds and loops.
Those who got hip to Fite on "Over the Counter Culture" will notice this album is more reflective, less of an unfiltered rant at the world around him. But those who didn't will need only to know that Fite has a gift for crafting simple melodies and an ability to bring a matter-of-fact sort of humor to everything he touches.
This is a man who can bring some laughs to a song about being dirt poor and consumerism. See "Fair Ain't Fair's" "More Clothes," which bounces along with some lazy-day whistling, almost toy-like guitars and some high school marching band horns. As Fite takes a look at those around him, he observes the following: "I think I need to make more dough so I can buy more clothes so I can look like them folks who buys clothes."
Or give a listen to "Yesterday's Garden," which begins with a lovely, trickling piano melody, and mixes it up with some cartoon-like whoops and clacks. It's orchestral pop with a playfully absurdist streak. Fite, who sings of working overtime to please the object of his affection, can't help himself from destroying her flowers with tire tracks.
The song seems to build to an apology, but the listener gets some yodeling instead.
But Fite is an artist best appreciated live. His concerts veer toward performance art, but don't roll your eyes. His visuals are hysterical additions to songs -- crayon-like drawings of unidentifiable monsters give way to a giant chorus of Fite's -- and they're multimedia additions that follow the melodies. Take a look at this teaser clip for "Fair Ain't Fair:"
His tour starts Saturday night in New York. Go.
Dates here. Cali kids: he'll be at the Troubadour in L.A. on May 21, and the Rickshaw Stop in S.F. on May 20.
The news this weekend that Amy Winehouse would not, in all likelihood, be recording the theme song for the upcoming James Bond film was disappointing in that it again turned the focus away from the British singer's music and onto her personal life.
This Associated Press story quotes Winehouse producer Mark Ronson as stating that the soul revivalist is "not ready" to record any music, a comment that seems to have been disputed by Winehouse's press team. Other stories claim to quote an unnamed Winehouse rep as saying the reason Winehouse won't record the theme for "Quantum of Solace" is a result of artistic differences.
An official statement from Winehouse's U.S. rep implies that Winehouse and Ronson couldn't agree on the song. "Mark had presented a track to Amy but she had other ideas about the direction it should take. She’s always made her own decisions about her music. Needless to say, this is part of the process between artist and producer and we're sure they will continue to make great music together."
But regardless of the reason, it is indeed a shame that Winehouse's career continues to play out in the tabloids. Getting a healthy Winehouse back in the studio could potentially quiet the tales of drug abuse and police run-ins that dominate headlines about her.
Nevertheless, the Grammy darling, no matter your take on her music, was still the wrong choice for "Quantum of Solace."
While tapping Winehouse could be seen as a risk, she was actually a risk-free, obvious choice, her music steeped so much in the soul of the '60s and '70s that Winehouse can sometimes look as if she's playing a part. To compare her with a former Bond songstress, Winehouse is Shirley Bassey with a rebel's streak. It's hard to imagine Winehouse crafting anything that didn't sound a bit like a rip on Bassey's own "Diamonds Are Forever." In fact, much of Winehouse's 2007 album "Back to Black" does.
So there's no doubt that Winehouse could have crafted a perfectly acceptable Bond theme, as any of the songs on "Back to Black" would have fit in comfortably with the jazzy Bond songs of the '70s. They're dapper and sexy and attempt to exploit a sort of vintage coolness, and that's the problem.
Check her 2008 Grammy appearance. Stripped of all the drama as to whether she would appear, Winehouse and her black cocktail dress could be dropped 20 to 30 years in the past and no one would be the wiser. Indeed, the song "You Know I'm No Good" comes complete with a reference to former Bond man Roger Moore.
But 2006's Bond film "Casino Royale" marked a change in direction for the series. It was a Bond less concerned with the kind of retro charm that Winehouse is steeped in. Although some here in the office would argue that "Casino Royale" saw 007 copping a few moves from Jason Bourne, it was nevertheless a sleeker, tougher, more modern Bond, and one less concerned with where the films had already gone ("Casino Royale" essentially restarts the Bond myth).
A Winehouse song opening the new Bond film would be a step backward for the new Daniel Craig Bond flicks, a nod to a period when the Bond films where championing Bassey, Louis Armstrong and Carly Simon, among others. Winehouse's music essentially celebrates playing a game of dress-up, and a case could be made that it easily fits within the constraints of the Bond formula -- the formula of the pre-"Casino Royale" Bond films.
"Casino Royale," we hope, began a new Bond trend -- redefining the series so it's one that's less concerned with tradition.*
* Note: That doesn't mean allowing a Madonna to pander to now-outdated pop trends.
A better alternative:
The best choice for the job, while still staying on a soul-music tip, would be Gnarls Barkley, who could bring an appropriate sense of outlandish grandeur to the tune. Through its two albums, the electro-soul duo has shown an ability to add orchestral flourishes and modern accessories without sounding indebted to an era or obsessed with the latest sounds.
NEW NINE INCH NAILS:Trent Reznor has done it again, releasing more Nine Inch Nails music straight to the Web. Only this time, it's free.
The album, "The Slip," is said to be a bit more "song-oriented" than "Ghosts I-IV," which Reznor unveiled a few months back. Reznor writes on his website that "The Slip" is a "thank you to our fans" and notes -- in bold print -- that's it's "one hundred percent free."
The music is available in variety of formats, including MP3, FLAC or 24-bit, 96-kHz WAV files, which are said to be sound better than a CD, although I haven't been able to test it (the download link arrived in about 90 minutes). A CD/vinyl edition will be available in July.
Why the good cheer? Perhaps because Reznor announced back in March that his multivolume set of instrumental music, "Ghosts I-IV," brought in more than $1.6 million in revenue in one week alone.
With the release of "The Slip," Reznor has once again gone without label entanglements, taking advantage of a release schedule that probably would not have been possible had he remained signed to Interscope.
In April of last year, Reznor released the vastly underappreciated "Year Zero," his last new album for Interscope. But now free of label contracts, Reznor has issued two collections in three months, a pace generally unheard of on a major, where getting music to fans comes second behind drafting a marketing plan.
NEW NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: People.com unveiled a snippet of the return of the New Kids on the Block this morning. Apparently the public cannot be trusted with the full song.
Because I like to do things like buy groceries and pay rent, I agreed to mention the overly produced, stuck-in-the-past nostalgia ballad "Summertime" in this post. It begins with a prom-theme-worthy piano, and soon gives way to some '80s-sounding synths. Then some electronic sounds start to zip back and forth, their presence a halfhearted attempt to modernize the song.
But what sticks is not just how the song is stuck in another era, but how the New Kids on the Block seem to dreaming of the past as well, romanticizing the days when women told them not to "call after 10 p.m."
AND FINALLY, PRINCE: Entertainment Tonight reports that Prince will release his first book, "21 Nights," this fall. Said to chronicle the artist's 21-night stay at London's O2 Arena in 2007, the book will apparently include 124 never-before-seen photographs.
No word yet if the book will be overly priced by about $150, a la Prince concert tickets. Photo: Courtesy of http://theslip.nin.com/
While 
