Chrisette Michele sets personal high, industry low

Perhaps everyone was saving their extra cash for new albums from Eminem and Green Day.  In a slow release week, R&B singer Chrisette Michele tops the U.S. pop chart, selling only 83,000 copies of her “Epiphany,” according to Nielsen SoundScan.

That’s the lowest-ever debut on the U.S. pop charts since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data in 1991, according to Billboard’s Chart Alert. It’s also only the third newcomer to land atop the chart with less than 100,000 copies sold.

Def Jam's “Epiphany” joins the ranks of Johnny Cash’s “American V: A Hundred Highways,” which entered in 2006 with 88,000 copies sold, and the Notorious B.I.G.’s “#1’s,” which bowed atop the chart in 2005 with 99,000 copies sold. Michele’s “Epiphany” isn’t the lowest No. 1 total, however. The soundtrack to“Dreamgirls” topped the chart in January 2007 with only 60,000 copies sold.

Yet even in the down market, Michele’s chart-topper is still a large achievement for the neo-soul artist. Her debut, “I Am,” never sold more than 27,000 copies in one week, and went on to scan a total of 431,000 copies. Sales of “Epiphany” were no doubt helped by the low-low-low price of $2.99 on Amazon.com, and 14,000 sales were from the digital sector.

Michele has a narrow lead at the top, as the Disney soundtrack to “Hannah Montana: The Movie” is close behind at No. 2, having sold 82,000 copies. That pushes the soundtrack to a total of 826,000 copies, showing there’s plenty of life left in the Disney vehicle. “Hannah Montana” is on the verge of passing one of 2009’s earlier blockbusters, as U2’s “No Line on the Horizon” stands this week at 882,000 copies sold. 

New at No. 3 is the more pop-leaning R&B singer Ciara, who’s LaFace/Zomba release “Fantasy Ride” sold 81,000 copies in its first week. As Michele experiences a career high, Ciara falls victim to a career low. In 2006, her “Ciara: The Evolution” sold 338,000 copies when it debuted at No. 1. Her “Love Sex Magic” featuring Justin Timberlake is at No. 37 on the U.S. single’s chart, and seems to be treading down. But perhaps her upcoming tour with Jay-Z will put bring her numbers back up.

Other notes from this week’s chart:

In “Together Through Life,” the latest missive issued from his woodshed out in Malibu, the bard of America calls up some obvious influences. Bob Dylan has said this album was inspired by midcentury Chess and Sun label recordings, and indeed, the hearty ghosts of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf stomp through most tracks, with Doug Sahm and Edith Piaf stopping in for a dance or two. But John Bunyan? Leave it to Dylan to pull up some really old roots.

Bunyan's 1679 "A Treatise of the Fear of God" may or may not be the inspiration for "Forgetful Heart," the most ominous song on this mostly romping collection. Dylanologists, such as the historian Sean Wilentz, have noted that "the fourth part of the day" that Dylan gently intones about in "I Feel a Change Coming On" refers to an Old Testament passage (Nehemiah 9:3, for the curious) about penitence and paying Heaven its due.

Chasing allusions is half the fun of listening to Dylan's music. On "Together Through Life," the other half involves plainer pursuits, shaking a tail feather and shouting along.

Both tossed off and carefully designed to feel that way, "Together Through Life" was recorded with cronies including Tom Petty's longtime guitarist Mike Campbell and Los Lobos co-founder David Hidalgo, whose Creole-Latino accordion playing sets the mood throughout. Dylan's lyrics employ the old blues technique of finding the soul in the jellyroll -- using tales of love and sex to get to deeper matters of mortal bondage and spiritual transcendence.

It's a trick he's used throughout his career, but here his touch is particularly light.

With such titles as "Shake Shake Mama" and "It's All Good," some feel a little hackneyed at first. Repeated listening peels off the layers, but Dylan's singing, especially frog-ified to pay tribute to the "raw" in early rock, reminds us to not get too serious. "It's all good," Dylan says while documenting the apocalypse in the roadhouse stomp that closes the album.

Take this old bluesman any way you want to, baby, and be glad he's still here.

-- Ann Powers

Bob Dylan
"Together Through Life"
Columbia Records
Four stars

Bob Dylan can do whatever the bejeezus he wants. He's made more albums than America has had presidents, he's transformed rock in the process, and in his later years he's almost singlehandedly sustained the fashion relevance of the bolo tie. No one should object if the old man just wants to go out to the woodshed and play some blues.

Longtime fans and neophytes will all probably be grateful for the economical punch provided by "Together Through Life," the bard's new studio effort, to be released without further ado April 28. Overtaken by a gush of inspiration after penning "Life Is Hard," a Django Reinhardt-kissed meditation on loneliness, for the upcoming Olivier Dahan film "My Own Love Song," Dylan wrote this bunch of fairly direct and visceral tunes. He enlisted some buddies -- an interview with scribe Bill Flanagan on Dylan's website mentions Tom Petty's longtime guitarist Mike Campbell and Los Lobos cofounder David Hidalgo -- and hit on a sound that returns to -- and refreshes -- the roots of rock and roll.

I was lucky enough to attend a listening session Thursday night, where I sat on a comfy sofa in front of a good sound system and scribbled down some notes on the 10-song set. I got one listen. Here's a quick response.

Insights abound in a book on Dylan and boxed sets for Buddy Holly and Bob Wills.

Can you imagine attending a Bob Dylan concert and hearing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"? Or "The Marines' Hymn"? Those are among some 550 songs that rock's greatest songwriter has turned to over the years, according to a fascinating new book.

In "The Songs He Didn't Write: Bob Dylan Under the Influence," Derek Barker doesn't just list the songs, he also gives us their history and Dylan's ties to them.

When stepping beyond his own compositions, Dylan turned mostly to folk, country and blues numbers.

The book is one of three new works that offer valuable insight into the musical psyche of three major American artists of the 20th century. The others, both CD boxed sets, are devoted to rock pioneer Buddy Holly and Western swing king Bob Wills.

Derek Barker
"The Songs He Didn't Write: Bob Dylan Under the Influence"
Chrome Dreams

Even Barker, who edits the Dylan fanzine Isis in England, can't explain the thinking behind "Old MacDonald." He just tells us "this rather odd choice of a song" was performed as an instrumental at five of Dylan's concerts in 1990. Dylan performed "The Marines' Hymn" at 17 concerts the same year.

Indeed, part of the fun of the book, which was released late last year in England and is just now surfacing in this country, is in looking for surprises. Among Dylan's unlikely choices: Marty Robbins' "El Paso" (he sang it one night in 1989 in Las Cruces, N.M.), the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar" (several shows in fall 2002) and Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" (one night in New Haven, Conn., in 1990).

What is perhaps most instructive about Dylan's choice of outside material is how he has virtually ignored the so-called Great American Songbook and other pop standards that dominated the music scene before rock 'n' roll.

The recording company side of Chrome Dreams allows us to sample more of Dylan's tastes through Volumes 1 and 2 of "The Best of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour." They are two-disc sets devoted to recordings featured on Dylan's satellite radio show.

They’ve bottled and sold Elvis’ sweat, so I guess there’s a certain logic to offering rock fans a shot at some of Bob Dylan’s spit.  Once you get past the initial “eewww!” factor, though, the new collaboration between rock’s poet laureate and the Hohner harmonica company holds a certain fascination. 

It’s the first time Dylan has ever endorsed any product, in this case a signature line of the Hohner harmonicas he’s been wheezing into for the better part of a half century. The Bob Dylan Collection is on exhibit at the Sam Ash music store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood and boasts the answer of what to get for the truly expectorating, er, discriminating Dylan fan: a harmonica actually played by the man himself.

There’s a hand-signed set of seven harmonicas — one in the key of each note of the C major scale — and they’re authenticated to guarantee that Dylan not only owned them but blew into them at some point in time.
      

Album review: Bob Dylan's 'Together Through Life'

In “Together Through Life,” the latest missive issued from his woodshed out in Malibu, the bard of America calls up some obvious influences. Bob Dylan has said this album was inspired by midcentury Chess and Sun label recordings, and indeed, the hearty ghosts of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf stomp through most tracks, with Doug Sahm and Edith Piaf stopping in for a dance or two. But John Bunyan? Leave it to Dylan to pull up some really old roots.

Bunyan's 1679 "A Treatise of the Fear of God" may or may not be the inspiration for "Forgetful Heart," the most ominous song on this mostly romping collection. Dylanologists, such as the historian Sean Wilentz, have noted that "the fourth part of the day" that Dylan gently intones about in "I Feel a Change Coming On" refers to an Old Testament passage (Nehemiah 9:3, for the curious) about penitence and paying Heaven its due.

Chasing allusions is half the fun of listening to Dylan's music. On "Together Through Life," the other half involves plainer pursuits, shaking a tail feather and shouting along.

Both tossed off and carefully designed to feel that way, "Together Through Life" was recorded with cronies including Tom Petty's longtime guitarist Mike Campbell and Los Lobos co-founder David Hidalgo, whose Creole-Latino accordion playing sets the mood throughout. Dylan's lyrics employ the old blues technique of finding the soul in the jellyroll -- using tales of love and sex to get to deeper matters of mortal bondage and spiritual transcendence.

It's a trick he's used throughout his career, but here his touch is particularly light.

With such titles as "Shake Shake Mama" and "It's All Good," some feel a little hackneyed at first. Repeated listening peels off the layers, but Dylan's singing, especially frog-ified to pay tribute to the "raw" in early rock, reminds us to not get too serious. "It's all good," Dylan says while documenting the apocalypse in the roadhouse stomp that closes the album.

Take this old bluesman any way you want to, baby, and be glad he's still here.

-- Ann Powers

Bob Dylan
"Together Through Life"
Columbia Records
Four stars

Bob Dylan can do whatever the bejeezus he wants. He's made more albums than America has had presidents, he's transformed rock in the process, and in his later years he's almost singlehandedly sustained the fashion relevance of the bolo tie. No one should object if the old man just wants to go out to the woodshed and play some blues.

Longtime fans and neophytes will all probably be grateful for the economical punch provided by "Together Through Life," the bard's new studio effort, to be released without further ado April 28. Overtaken by a gush of inspiration after penning "Life Is Hard," a Django Reinhardt-kissed meditation on loneliness, for the upcoming Olivier Dahan film "My Own Love Song," Dylan wrote this bunch of fairly direct and visceral tunes. He enlisted some buddies -- an interview with scribe Bill Flanagan on Dylan's website mentions Tom Petty's longtime guitarist Mike Campbell and Los Lobos cofounder David Hidalgo -- and hit on a sound that returns to -- and refreshes -- the roots of rock and roll.

I was lucky enough to attend a listening session Thursday night, where I sat on a comfy sofa in front of a good sound system and scribbled down some notes on the 10-song set. I got one listen. Here's a quick response.

Insights abound in a book on Dylan and boxed sets for Buddy Holly and Bob Wills.

Can you imagine attending a Bob Dylan concert and hearing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"? Or "The Marines' Hymn"? Those are among some 550 songs that rock's greatest songwriter has turned to over the years, according to a fascinating new book.

In "The Songs He Didn't Write: Bob Dylan Under the Influence," Derek Barker doesn't just list the songs, he also gives us their history and Dylan's ties to them.

When stepping beyond his own compositions, Dylan turned mostly to folk, country and blues numbers.

The book is one of three new works that offer valuable insight into the musical psyche of three major American artists of the 20th century. The others, both CD boxed sets, are devoted to rock pioneer Buddy Holly and Western swing king Bob Wills.

Derek Barker
"The Songs He Didn't Write: Bob Dylan Under the Influence"
Chrome Dreams

Even Barker, who edits the Dylan fanzine Isis in England, can't explain the thinking behind "Old MacDonald." He just tells us "this rather odd choice of a song" was performed as an instrumental at five of Dylan's concerts in 1990. Dylan performed "The Marines' Hymn" at 17 concerts the same year.

Indeed, part of the fun of the book, which was released late last year in England and is just now surfacing in this country, is in looking for surprises. Among Dylan's unlikely choices: Marty Robbins' "El Paso" (he sang it one night in 1989 in Las Cruces, N.M.), the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar" (several shows in fall 2002) and Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" (one night in New Haven, Conn., in 1990).

What is perhaps most instructive about Dylan's choice of outside material is how he has virtually ignored the so-called Great American Songbook and other pop standards that dominated the music scene before rock 'n' roll.

The recording company side of Chrome Dreams allows us to sample more of Dylan's tastes through Volumes 1 and 2 of "The Best of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour." They are two-disc sets devoted to recordings featured on Dylan's satellite radio show.

They’ve bottled and sold Elvis’ sweat, so I guess there’s a certain logic to offering rock fans a shot at some of Bob Dylan’s spit.  Once you get past the initial “eewww!” factor, though, the new collaboration between rock’s poet laureate and the Hohner harmonica company holds a certain fascination. 

It’s the first time Dylan has ever endorsed any product, in this case a signature line of the Hohner harmonicas he’s been wheezing into for the better part of a half century. The Bob Dylan Collection is on exhibit at the Sam Ash music store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood and boasts the answer of what to get for the truly expectorating, er, discriminating Dylan fan: a harmonica actually played by the man himself.

There’s a hand-signed set of seven harmonicas — one in the key of each note of the C major scale — and they’re authenticated to guarantee that Dylan not only owned them but blew into them at some point in time.
      

Snap Judgment: Bob Dylan's 'Together Through Life'

Bob Dylan can do whatever the bejeezus he wants. He's made more albums than America has had presidents, he's transformed rock in the process, and in his later years he's almost singlehandedly sustained the fashion relevance of the bolo tie. No one should object if the old man just wants to go out to the woodshed and play some blues.

Longtime fans and neophytes will all probably be grateful for the economical punch provided by "Together Through Life," the bard's new studio effort, to be released without further ado April 28. Overtaken by a gush of inspiration after penning "Life Is Hard," a Django Reinhardt-kissed meditation on loneliness, for the upcoming Olivier Dahan film "My Own Love Song," Dylan wrote this bunch of fairly direct and visceral tunes. He enlisted some buddies -- an interview with scribe Bill Flanagan on Dylan's website mentions Tom Petty's longtime guitarist Mike Campbell and Los Lobos cofounder David Hidalgo -- and hit on a sound that returns to -- and refreshes -- the roots of rock and roll.

I was lucky enough to attend a listening session Thursday night, where I sat on a comfy sofa in front of a good sound system and scribbled down some notes on the 10-song set. I got one listen. Here's a quick response.

Insights abound in a book on Dylan and boxed sets for Buddy Holly and Bob Wills.

Can you imagine attending a Bob Dylan concert and hearing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"? Or "The Marines' Hymn"? Those are among some 550 songs that rock's greatest songwriter has turned to over the years, according to a fascinating new book.

In "The Songs He Didn't Write: Bob Dylan Under the Influence," Derek Barker doesn't just list the songs, he also gives us their history and Dylan's ties to them.

When stepping beyond his own compositions, Dylan turned mostly to folk, country and blues numbers.

The book is one of three new works that offer valuable insight into the musical psyche of three major American artists of the 20th century. The others, both CD boxed sets, are devoted to rock pioneer Buddy Holly and Western swing king Bob Wills.

Derek Barker
"The Songs He Didn't Write: Bob Dylan Under the Influence"
Chrome Dreams

Even Barker, who edits the Dylan fanzine Isis in England, can't explain the thinking behind "Old MacDonald." He just tells us "this rather odd choice of a song" was performed as an instrumental at five of Dylan's concerts in 1990. Dylan performed "The Marines' Hymn" at 17 concerts the same year.

Indeed, part of the fun of the book, which was released late last year in England and is just now surfacing in this country, is in looking for surprises. Among Dylan's unlikely choices: Marty Robbins' "El Paso" (he sang it one night in 1989 in Las Cruces, N.M.), the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar" (several shows in fall 2002) and Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" (one night in New Haven, Conn., in 1990).

What is perhaps most instructive about Dylan's choice of outside material is how he has virtually ignored the so-called Great American Songbook and other pop standards that dominated the music scene before rock 'n' roll.

The recording company side of Chrome Dreams allows us to sample more of Dylan's tastes through Volumes 1 and 2 of "The Best of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour." They are two-disc sets devoted to recordings featured on Dylan's satellite radio show.

They’ve bottled and sold Elvis’ sweat, so I guess there’s a certain logic to offering rock fans a shot at some of Bob Dylan’s spit.  Once you get past the initial “eewww!” factor, though, the new collaboration between rock’s poet laureate and the Hohner harmonica company holds a certain fascination. 

It’s the first time Dylan has ever endorsed any product, in this case a signature line of the Hohner harmonicas he’s been wheezing into for the better part of a half century. The Bob Dylan Collection is on exhibit at the Sam Ash music store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood and boasts the answer of what to get for the truly expectorating, er, discriminating Dylan fan: a harmonica actually played by the man himself.

There’s a hand-signed set of seven harmonicas — one in the key of each note of the C major scale — and they’re authenticated to guarantee that Dylan not only owned them but blew into them at some point in time.
      

Backtracking: Dylan does 'Old MacDonald' and other mysteries

Insights abound in a book on Dylan and boxed sets for Buddy Holly and Bob Wills.

Can you imagine attending a Bob Dylan concert and hearing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"? Or "The Marines' Hymn"? Those are among some 550 songs that rock's greatest songwriter has turned to over the years, according to a fascinating new book.

In "The Songs He Didn't Write: Bob Dylan Under the Influence," Derek Barker doesn't just list the songs, he also gives us their history and Dylan's ties to them.

When stepping beyond his own compositions, Dylan turned mostly to folk, country and blues numbers.

The book is one of three new works that offer valuable insight into the musical psyche of three major American artists of the 20th century. The others, both CD boxed sets, are devoted to rock pioneer Buddy Holly and Western swing king Bob Wills.

Derek Barker
"The Songs He Didn't Write: Bob Dylan Under the Influence"
Chrome Dreams

Even Barker, who edits the Dylan fanzine Isis in England, can't explain the thinking behind "Old MacDonald." He just tells us "this rather odd choice of a song" was performed as an instrumental at five of Dylan's concerts in 1990. Dylan performed "The Marines' Hymn" at 17 concerts the same year.

Indeed, part of the fun of the book, which was released late last year in England and is just now surfacing in this country, is in looking for surprises. Among Dylan's unlikely choices: Marty Robbins' "El Paso" (he sang it one night in 1989 in Las Cruces, N.M.), the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar" (several shows in fall 2002) and Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" (one night in New Haven, Conn., in 1990).

What is perhaps most instructive about Dylan's choice of outside material is how he has virtually ignored the so-called Great American Songbook and other pop standards that dominated the music scene before rock 'n' roll.

The recording company side of Chrome Dreams allows us to sample more of Dylan's tastes through Volumes 1 and 2 of "The Best of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour." They are two-disc sets devoted to recordings featured on Dylan's satellite radio show.

They’ve bottled and sold Elvis’ sweat, so I guess there’s a certain logic to offering rock fans a shot at some of Bob Dylan’s spit.  Once you get past the initial “eewww!” factor, though, the new collaboration between rock’s poet laureate and the Hohner harmonica company holds a certain fascination. 

It’s the first time Dylan has ever endorsed any product, in this case a signature line of the Hohner harmonicas he’s been wheezing into for the better part of a half century. The Bob Dylan Collection is on exhibit at the Sam Ash music store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood and boasts the answer of what to get for the truly expectorating, er, discriminating Dylan fan: a harmonica actually played by the man himself.

There’s a hand-signed set of seven harmonicas — one in the key of each note of the C major scale — and they’re authenticated to guarantee that Dylan not only owned them but blew into them at some point in time.
      

Bob Dylan signature harmonicas unveiled

They’ve bottled and sold Elvis’ sweat, so I guess there’s a certain logic to offering rock fans a shot at some of Bob Dylan’s spit.  Once you get past the initial “eewww!” factor, though, the new collaboration between rock’s poet laureate and the Hohner harmonica company holds a certain fascination. 

It’s the first time Dylan has ever endorsed any product, in this case a signature line of the Hohner harmonicas he’s been wheezing into for the better part of a half century. The Bob Dylan Collection is on exhibit at the Sam Ash music store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood and boasts the answer of what to get for the truly expectorating, er, discriminating Dylan fan: a harmonica actually played by the man himself.

There’s a hand-signed set of seven harmonicas — one in the key of each note of the C major scale — and they’re authenticated to guarantee that Dylan not only owned them but blew into them at some point in time.