Foo Fighters, “Wasting Light” (RCA)
This album reunites Nirvana “Nevermind” producer Butch Vig with the man whose drumming did so much to make that album what it was, Dave Grohl. As the Foo Fighters leader explained his decision to send out for Vig in a recent chat with Rolling Stone, “It needed to sound like an atom bomb.” The album also finds him reunited with Nirvana’s old touring guitarist, Pat Smear (an original Foo Fighter) and Krist Novoselic of Nirvana, who plays accordion and bass on one song. “I know it’s our best record,” Grohl told Rolling Stone. “It’s definitive, like AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black,’ Metallica’s ‘Black Album’ or ‘Nevermind.’ It takes that last 15 years and reduces it to 48 minutes.” Vig and the Foo Fighters recorded “Wasting Light” in Grohl’s garage on analog.
Alison Krauss and Union Station, “Paper Airplane” (Rounder)
The bluegrass fiddler’s first release since hooking up with Robert Plant for “Raising Sand” isn’t nearly as likely to sweep the Grammys, but it is her first release with Union Station since 2004, when “Lonely Runs Both Ways” hit No. 29 on Billboard’s album chart (and subsequently won three Grammys). Krauss’ 14th album, “Paper Airplane” features songs by Jackson Browne (“My Opening Farewell”) and Richard Thompson (“Dimming of the Day”).
Atmosphere, “The Family Sign” (Rhymesayers Entertainment)
The full-length follow-up to 2008’s “When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint that (Expletive) Gold” will reportedly feature Erick Anderson on keyboards and Nate Collis on guitar, fleshing out Slug’s family oriented rapping. Slug told Pitchfork “There’s a lot of my life and my family-ness involved. We’re all reaching that point. When you’re 20-something, you can be whatever. But as you get older, you start reaching these signs that point your life the way it’s supposed to go. In the band, we’ve all escaped the whole associate-friend thing – you know, people who you’ve seen and don’t really know but you’ll sit and talk in a bar with them. We’ve all gotten past that and now we’re back to our core family and friends.”
Paul Simon, “So Beautiful or So What” (Hear Music)
The folk-rock legend’s first release since 2006’s “Surprise” was recorded with longtime producer Phil Ramone in a cottage on Simon’s Connecticut property. Roger Friedman at Showbiz 411 says Simon told him it was his best work in 20 years, and the star told Rolling Stone he did his best to keep it simple. “I didn’t want to build the record too much. One I put two or three guitars on, that was all.” The album features two songs recorded with bluegrass artists Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, but that doesn’t mean you should expect a bluegrass album. Lawson’s manager, Josh Trivett, told a Bluegrass Blog writer that one of the songs they backed him on had something closer to an Afro-Cuban beat. NPR listeners should be familiar with one of the songs, “Getting Ready for Christmas Day,” which features a sample of a sermon by the Rev. J.M. Gates. Another track samples blues great Sonny Terry. Rolling Stone responded with a four-star rave, declaring it his strongest effort since “The Rhythm of the Saints,” combining “the freewheeling folk of 1972’s ‘Paul Simon’ with the brilliant studio sculpting of ‘Graceland.’ ”
Related Articles
No user responded in this post
Leave A Reply