Seeing as how I’ve actually purchased two CDs released this calendar year*, I figure the least I can do is write up a couple of quickie reviews for all y’all (shut up – I live in The South now). So skip on past the break if you’re interested in hearing about the Counting Crows’ Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings and/or The Black Crowes’ Warpaint.

*This is a lie in that I don’t really recall the last time I bought a physical CD. (I downloaded these two on iTunes.)
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Counting Crows today released their fifth studio album, Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings, their first release in six years. I’m guessing at that figure. It could also be five or seven years – I really don’t feel like fact checking. Regardless, it’s been a while.

While I do have quite an interest in the album, I may not get around to acquiring it for a while. So, in lieu of a new review, I thought I’d take today to revisit the best of the past. That’s right, I burned a CD of my favorite Crows songs. Jump with me past the break to see the tracklist.

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having huey lewis and the news’s “walkin’ on a thin line” stuck in your head for hours and hours and hours.

Thanks to my lovely wife and her family, I’ve become addicted to listening to holiday music starting Thanksgiving Day. Each year I can’t wait for KOOL 108 to ditch their normal oldies play lists for the sounds of Bing Crosby, Burl Ives, Nat King Cole, and Jose Feliciano.

After listening to KOOL 108 for 4 weeks straight now, I have discovered there are a few songs that I absolutely cannot stand… for various reasons:
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I wouldn’t have instantly thought to use the word ‘groundbreaking’ to describe the upcoming new release from Radiohead. For my tastes, they peaked somewhere in between Kid A and Amnesiac. Then again, I sounded the death knell on Pearl Jam a while back, and then their last album went ahead and was pretty decent, so who knows.

Still, this is groundbreaking. And I’m all for it.

Come next Wednesday we’ll all be able to go out to the internets and download the new Radiohead album, In Rainbows, and when it’s time to pay up for the privilege we’ll be presented with the statement: “it’s up to you”. Pay as much or as little as you like. Or pay nothing. If this doesn’t speak to the fact that bands generally get screwed on album deals with record companies, I don’t know what does.

I’ll be very interested to see what the fallout is from this. Will other established bands follow suit? How much money will Radiohead make on the honor system? Will I be able to download first and then pay if I like what I hear? Regardless, I hope this is the start of a trend.