The mid-October blizzard of new music continues this week, with several dozen more major and minor releases being added to the ever-growing mountain of CDs inundating my home. Here's what topped the pile:
Various Artists
Twilight: New Moon
Soundtrack
****
This soundtrack to the next chapter in the teen vampire saga could be the biggest CD of the year. Sad as that is, it's not totally unwarranted -- the 15-track CD boasts strong new cuts from Death Cab for Cutie, Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Killers, BRMC, OK Go and more. Yes, your little sister is going to be into Thom Yorke. Just be glad it's not Creed.
Download: Meet Me on the Equinox (Death Cab for Cutie); Hearing Damage (Thom Yorke).
Bob Dylan
Christmas in the Heart
Carols
***
The first big holiday album of the year -- and the strangest. If you've ever wanted to hear Dylan croaking Christmas carols in his rusty-hinge voice over rich, rootsy backing tracks (complete with a septet of backup vocalists), now's your chance. Truth be told, it's a lot more listenable than you'd expect -- though it can be hard to shake the feeling you're listening to an SNL parody.
Download: Christmas Blues, Must Be Santa
SHAKIRA
She Wolf
Dance-Pop
***1/2
Her hips don't lie; and they've learned a few new moves on Shakira's third English disc. She Wolf finds the Colombian popstress roaming beyond her Latin comfort zone into the realms of electronica and new wave -- and accessorizing them with African, Indian and Middle Eastern touches, not to mention the production of Pharrell, Wyclef and others. So much for the lone wolf.
Download: She Wolf, Men in This Town
JOSS STONE
Colour Me Free
Soul
***1/2
The 22-year-old British soul phenom claims she fought EMI over the creation, content, commerciality and even cover art of her fourth CD. Not sure what the fuss was about; these dozen old-school slices of horn-laced R&B and slow-burning soul -- reportedly written and recorded in little over a week -- may not include a guaranteed chart-buster, but they won't disappoint fans.
Download: Free Me, Governmentalist
ROSANNE CASH
The List
Roots
****
In 1973, Johnny Cash listed 100 essential country songs for his eldest daughter. Here are a dozen of them -- including folk and honkytonk classics by A.P. Carter, Harlan Howard, Bob Dylan and Merle Haggard -- reinterpreted with Cash's magnificently mellow beauty, plus a little help from guest vocalists such as Springsteen, Costello, Rufus Wainwright and Jeff Tweedy. How about Vol. 2?
Download: Heartaches by the Number, Long Black Veil
JOE PERRY
Have Guitar, Will Travel
Blues-Rock
***
Whatever Aerosmith's problem is, it ain't Perry: The guitarist has put out two albums since the band's last CD. And as this raw home-studio work shows, he's still happy to crank out muscular blues-rockers and meaty ballads, along with the odd dash of rockabilly or psychedelia. And singer Hagen could give Steven Tyler a run for the money.
Download: We've Got a Long Way to Go, Somebody's Gonna Get (Their Head Kicked in Tonite)
