MATT'S MUSIC REPORT

Recent Releases of Note

Apple Records - Catalog reissues [available separately or 17-disc box set] (read Matt's review)
Beatles - now available on iTunes
Phil Collins - Going Back
Phil Collins - Live at Roseland Ballroom [DVD]
Elvis Costello - National Ransom
Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series Volume 9: The Widmark Demos, 1962-1964 (read Matt's review)
Bob Dylan - The Original Mono Recordings [6-CD box]
Electric Light Orchestra - Live – The Early Years [DVD]
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass [vinyl reissue]
Indigo Girls - Holly Happy Days
Jayhawks - Hollywood Town Hall [CD reissue]
Jayhawks - Tomorrow the Green Grass [2-cd reissue]
Jenny & Johnny - I’m Having Fun Now
Billy Joel - Last Play at Shea [documentary]
Elton John - Gnomeo & Juliet soundtrack
Elton John/Leon Russell - The Union
John Lennon - Solo reissues (read Matt's review)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Mean Old Man
Paul McCartney - Band on the Run [multiple reissue formats]
Monkees - Head [3-CD Rhino reissue]
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Classic Albums: Damn the Torpedoes [DVD]
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Damn the Torpedoes [2 CD reissue]
Ravi Shankar/George Harrison - Collaborations [3 CD/1 DVD box]
Frank Sinatra - Best of Vegas
Frank Sinatra - Concert Collection [7 DVD box]
Regina Spektor - Live in London (read Matt's review)
Bruce Springsteen - The Promise [2 CD] (read Matt's review)
Bruce Springsteen - The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story [3 CD/3 DVD]
Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band - Live at the Greek Theatre 2008 [CD or DVD, 7/27]
30 Rock - Soundtrack
K.T. Tunstall - Tiger Suit
Neil Young - Le Noise
Various artists - The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concerts [3 DVD]

Upcoming Releases

Johnny Cash - From Memphis to Hollywood: Bootleg Vol.2 [2/22]
Billy Joel - Live at Shea Stadium [2 CD/DVD][3/1]
Allison Krauss & Union Station - Paper Airplane [4/11]
Nick Lowe - Labour of Lust [reissue] [3/15]
Stevie Nicks - In Your Dreams [5/3]
Roy Orbison - The Monument Singles Collection [4/5]
Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What [Spring]
Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water: 40th Anniversary Edition [CD/DVD][3/8]
Joe Walsh - TBD [May]

On Tour in the Tri-State

Abbey Road on the River - Louisville – 5/26-529
Dan Bern - Cleveland – 3/2; Dayton – 3/5
Elvis Costello - Cincinnati - 5/16
Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart - Wapakoneta – 3/17; Cleveland – 3/18; Barnesville – 6/17
Colin Hay - Cincinnati – 4/27
Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen - Bean Blossom – 6/2
Davy Jones - Ashtabula – 3/27
New Pornographers - Indy – 4/22; Cleveland – 4/23; Cincinnati – 4/26
Robert Plant - Louisville – 4/8
Neil Sedaka - Cincinnati – 4/29
Jerry Seinfeld - Louisville – 3/11

GUEST REVIEWS!
JIM BATES of A Scale Canadian reviews LE NOISE by Canada's NEIL YOUNG...
At first blush, a Neil Young and Daniel Lanois collaboration sounds quite attractive, both being Canadians and all. Sadly, "Le Noise" doesn’t quite live up to what could have been. We start off with "Walk with Me" and "Sign of Love,” which are both sonically and lyrically connected. Slashing electric guitar chords and electronic atmospherics set off Neil’s whine about love and the passage of time. It isn’t till part way through "Someone's Gonna Rescue You" that it all becomes clear…these aren’t bad songs or performances…they just need a rhythm section. Neil has missed what the Black Keys and the White Stripes know…you can drop the bass, but don’t forget the drums. If only some of the electronic bleeps and blips were replaced with real percussion. "Love and War" rises out of the electric noise as a much needed acoustic respite. It also may be Neil’s most honest and autobiographical song in years. He sings “When I sing about love and war, I don't really know what I'm saying” over some vaguely “Eldorado” guitar. We return to songs in need of a rhythm section on “Angry World.” Not a bad song, and not a bad performance, but you can just imagine how much better it would be with Crazy Horse or Young and the Restless backing Neil up. Much the same can be said for the pharmacological travelogue "Hitchhiker." A very old song,…in fact part was cannibalized for use in “Like an Inca”…the version here is just muddled. "Peaceful Valley Boulevard" is another acoustic track that starts off as a Western allegory and then morphs into an ecological hymn without making much sense along the way. The album ends with "Rumblin'" another track in need of some percussion. This isn’t a bad album, but it sounds more like a sketch then a finished product. Neither great nor terrible, it is just another in a long line of average Neil Young albums. Maybe next time we’ll get another classic.

NEXT WEEK...Legendary Evansville reviewer TED HAYCRAFT returns to music criticism with SOUND BIT(E)S...