MUSIC BITS ‘N’ BEATS
By your host Takis Haggiandreou

Week of 14/06/ -21/06/2009

This week’s Top 5 UK/US

UK

(1) Boom boom pow (Black Eyed Peas)
(2) Bonkers (Dizzee Rascal/Van Helden)
(3) Fire (Kasabian)
(4) Release me (Agnes)
(5) Red (Daniel Merriweather)

US

(1) Boom boom pow (Black Eyed Peas)
(2) I know you want me (Pitbull)
(3) Knock you down (Keri Hilson/Kanye West/Ne Yo)
(4) Birthday sex (Jeremih)
(5) Poker face (Lady GaGa)

(B) One Year ago….. Top 5 UK/US.

UK

(1) Singin’ in the rain (Mint Royale)
(2) Take a bow (Rihanna)
(3) That’s not my name (The Ting Tings)
(4) Warwick avenue (Duffy)
(5) Closer (Ne Yo)

US

(1) Lollipop (Lil Wayne/Static Major)
(2) Viva la vida (Coldplay)
(3) Bleeding love (Leona Lewis)
(4) I kissed a girl (Katy Perry)
(5) Take a bow (Rihanna)

5 Years ago……..Top 5 UK/US

UK

(1) I don’t wanna know (Mario Winans/Enya/P.Diddy)
(2) Come on England (4-4-2)
(3) Trick me (Kelis)
(4) Mass destruction (Faithless)
(5) All falls down (Kanye West/Seleena Johson)

US

(1) Burn (Usher)
(2) The reason (Hoobastank)
(3) I don’t wanna know (Mario Winans/Enya/P.Diddy)
(4) Naughty girl (Beyonce)
(5) Confessions PT II (Usher)

© This and that…………

….Rockers The Lemonheads have filed suit against bosses at General Motors accusing the car company of using their music without permission.
The lawsuit was filed by founding member Evan Dando in Federal Court in Los Angeles on Thursday.
The papers claim the band's track It's a Shame About Ray was re-recorded and used in the car firm's 2008 advertising campaign for Chevrolet and Buick vehicles.
Dando alleges General Motors executives never asked permission to use the song and is seeking unspecified damages and a slice of profits from the campaign.
Bosses at General Motors filed for official bankruptcy protection earlier this week….
…….. Dave Matthews Band takes a hearty swig of the Billboard 200, collecting its fifth No. 1 with "Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King."

The album marks the act's 22nd Billboard 200 entry (including Matthews' solo efforts) dating to its first, "Under the Table and Dreaming," on the Oct. 15, 1994, chart. In that span, only Bill & Gloria Gaither (40), Pearl Jam (29) and Phish (26) have made more appearances. George Strait also owns 22 charted albums since that date.

Here is a rundown of the peak positions of Dave Matthews Band's studio albums on the Billboard 200:

No. 11, "Under the Table and Dreaming," 1995
No. 2, "Crash," 1996
No. 1 (one week), "Before These Crowded Streets," 1998
No. 1 (two weeks), "Everyday," 2001
No. 1 (one week), "Busted Stuff," 2002
No. 2, "Some Devil" (Dave Matthews), 2003
No. 1 (one week), "Stand Up," 2005
No. 1 (one week to date), "Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King," 2009

…….. Another song continues a notable lengthy run on the Billboard Hot 100. Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" becomes just the sixth entry to spend at least 60 weeks on the survey. The song, which debuted May 3, 2008, and peaked at No. 6 last September, eases 31-33 in its 60th stanza. The track now needs nine more weeks on the Hot 100 to tie LeAnn Rimes' record 69-week stay with "How Do I Live."

Following are the entries to log 60 weeks or more in the chart's history:

69 weeks, "How Do I Live," LeAnn Rimes, 1997-98
65 weeks, "You Were Meant for Me/Foolish Games," Jewel, 1996-98
64 weeks, "Before He Cheats," Carrie Underwood, 2006-07
62 weeks, "You and Me," Lifehouse, 2005-06
60 weeks, "Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)," Los Del Rio, 1995-96
60 weeks, "I'm Yours," Jason Mraz, 2008-09

Of the singles above, only Los Del Rio's reached No. 1, commanding the Hot 100 for 14 weeks from August through November 1996……..

(D) CD Spotlight

“Chickenfoot” by Chickenfoot.

It's impossible not to be excited about this ridiculously named super-group, which teams former Van Halen bandmates Sammy Hagar on vocals and Michael Anthony on bass with guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. Chickenfoot's self-titled debut favors straight-ahead rockers like the single "Oh Yeah" or the blues-fed "Sexy Little Thing," and "Soap on a Rope" sounds like a Led Zep outtake sent back from the year 2019. There are darker, grungy tones on the heavy "Get It Up" and the driving "Runnin' Out," which speak to a nation facing crisis. Co-produced by Andy Johns (Van Halen), the set captures the fun energy of a mind-blowing all-star jam: Satriani's fretwork is surprisingly raw, loose and gritty, while Smith channels John Bonham more than once. But it's Anthony's signature backing vocals—set against Hagar's tequila-rubbed wail—that make these new songs arena-ready.

(D) CD Spotlight

"Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” by Phoenix

Paris-based quartet Phoenix continues its run of success with this fourth full-length, blending retro and futuristic sounds with a panache shown by few contemporaries. The group has polished its '60s-rock-revivalist sound to near perfection, but keeps expanding its aural palette, experimenting with layered rhythms and sonic textures. Opener "Lisztomania" captures the group at its peak: Sprightly rock rhythms and shimmering guitar licks intertwine beautifully with Thomas Mars' lead vocals, which ruminate on musical fame throughout raucous verses and spare, keyboard-plinking choruses. But in a departure from past releases, Phoenix doesn't linger in a thematic box, and there's something for everyone: "1901," with its pulsating fuzz bass riff, is the hardest rock moment in the group's catalog, while "Fences" gives a nod to sophomore album "Alphabetical," with its slinky, dancefloor-ready groove. And the two-part centerpiece "Love Like a Sunset" juxtaposes an ominous instrumental with a heartfelt open-chord ballad.

… Eminem charges onto the Billboard 200 at No. 1 with "Relapse," his fifth consecutive chart-topping set. He first appeared with the No. 2-peaking "The Slim Shady LP," on March 13, 1999, and followed with the No. 1s "The Marshall Mathers LP" (2000), "The Eminem Show" (2002), "Encore" (2004) and "Curtain Call: The Hits" (2005).

How rare is the feat of linking at least five straight No. 1s on the Billboard 200? In the chart's 53-year history, only seven artists have enjoyed such a run of continuous success:

8 consecutive No. 1s, The Beatles (1965-69)
5 consecutive No. 1s, Eminem (2000-09)
5 consecutive No. 1s, DMX (1998-2003)
5 consecutive No. 1s, U2 (1987-97)
5 consecutive No. 1s, Paul McCartney (1973-77)
5 consecutive No. 1s, Chicago (1972-75)
5 consecutive No. 1s, Elton John (1972-74)

….Here are the 20 acts that have sold the most albums since the first week of January 2000. The number immediately after the artist's name is the total number of albums that the artist has sold in this decade. I also identify when the artist first cracked The Billboard 200, and the title of their best-selling album since January 2000.

1. Eminem, 31,127,000. First charted: 1999. Eminem, 36, is the top male artist and the top rap artist so far in this decade. His 2000 album The Marshall Mathers LP is his best-seller. It has sold 10,178,000 copies.

2. The Beatles, 27,591,000. First charted: 1964. The Beatles have sold more albums in the 2000s than any other group, rock act or foreign act. Their 2000 compilation 1 is their best-seller. It has sold 11,402,000 copies. The Beatles were the #5 album-selling act of the 1990s.

3. Tim McGraw, 24,295,000. First charted: 1994. McGraw, 42, is the #1 country artist so far in the 2000s, nosing out Toby Keith. McGraw was the #38 album-selling act of the ‘90s. His 2000 compilation Greatest Hits is his best-selling album of the decade. It has sold 5,995,000 copies.

4. Toby Keith , 24,189,000. First charted: 1993. Keith, 47, is the #2 country artist of this decade. His 2003 album Shock'n Y'All is his best-seller. It has sold 4,420,000 copies.

5. Britney Spears, 22,937,000. First charted: 1999. Spears, 27, is the youngest artist on this list, edging out Josh Groban by one year. She is also #1 female artist in this decade. Her 2000 album, Oops!...I Did It Again, is her best-seller of the decade. It has sold 9,183,000 copies. Spears was the #108 album-selling act of the ‘90s.

6. Kenny Chesney, 21,396,000. First charted: 1996. Chesney, 41, is the #3 country artist of this decade. His best-selling album is 2004's When The Sun Goes Down, which has sold 4,111,000 copies.

7. Nelly, 21,206,000. First charted: 2000. Nelly, 34, is the #1 new artist to emerge in this decade, edging out Linkin Park. He's also the #1 African American artist, edging out Jay-Z, and the #2 rap artist. Nelly's 2000 debut, Country Grammar, is his best-selling album. It has sold 8,454,000 copies.

8. Linkin Park, 21,125,000. First charted: 2000. Linkin Park is the #2 rock group of the decade, behind the Beatles. It's also the #2 new artist. The band's 2000 debut album, Hybrid Theory, is its best-seller. It has sold 9,600,000 copies.

9. Creed, 20,398,000. First charted: 1997. Creed is the #3 rock group of the decade. 1999's Human Clay is the band's best-selling album. It has sold 9,480,000 copies since January 2000. Creed was the #167 album-selling act of the ‘90s.

10. Jay-Z , 19,379,000. First charted: 1996. Jay-Z, 39, is the #3 rap artist of the decade. 2003's The Black Album is his best-selling album of this decade. It has sold 3,338,000 copies. Jay-Z was the #152 album-selling act of the ‘90s.

11. Nickelback, 19,158,000. First charted: 2000. The Canadian group is the #2 foreign act of this decade (after the Beatles). Nickelback is also the #3 new artist and the #4 rock group. 2005's All The Right Reasons is its best-seller, with sales of 7,159,000 copies.

12. Josh Groban, 19,115,000. First charted: 2001. Groban, 28, is the #1 pop male artist of this decade. He's the #4 new artist. The pop/classical star's 2003 album Closer is his best-seller, with sales of 5,746,000 copies.

13. Rascal Flatts, 18,831,000. First charted: 2000. The trio is the #1 country group of this decade, nosing out Dixie Chicks. It's also the #5 new act. 2004's Feels Like Today is the act's best-selling album. It has sold 5,134,000 copies.

14. Metallica, 18,490,000. First charted: 1984. Metallica is the #1 hard rock act of the decade (unless you count the genre-bending Linkin Park). The band's 1991 blockbuster Metallica is the band's best-selling album of this decade. It has sold 3,691,000 copies since January 2000. Metallica was the #3 album-selling act of the ‘90s.

15. Alan Jackson, 18,479,000. First charted: 1990. Jackson, 50, is the oldest solo artist on this list, edging out Toby Keith. 2002's Drive is his best-selling album of this decade. It has sold 3,508,000 copies. Jackson was the #17 album-selling act of the ‘90s.

16. *NSYNC, 18,402,000. First charted: 1998. The boy band is the #1 pop group of this decade (assuming you classify the Beatles as rock). *NSYNC's 2000 album No Strings Attached is its best-seller, with sales of 11,111,000 copies. The quintet was the #80 album-selling act of the ‘90s.

17. Dixie Chicks, 18,293,000. First charted: 1998. The female trio is the #2 country group so far in this decade. 2002's Home is the act's best-selling album of this decade. It has sold 5,997,000 copies. Dixie Chicks was the #105 album-selling act of the ‘90s.

18. Johnny Cash, 17,860,000. First charted: 1958. The country legend, who died in 2003 at age 71, is the most surprising name on the list. He made it on the strength of an enormous catalog and a renewed focus on him after his death. His 1999 compliation 16 Greatest Hits is his best-seller of the decade. It has sold 2,846,000 copies since January 2000.

19. Kid Rock, 17,606,000. First charted: 1999. Kid Rock, 38, is the #1 male rock artist of this decade. Kid's 2001 album Cocky is his best-seller of the decade. It has sold 5,045,000 copies.

20. Celine Dion, 17,579,000. First charted: 1991. The Canadian diva, 41, is the #2 pop female artist of this decade, behind Britney Spears. Dion's 1999 greatest hits album, All The Way...A Decade Of Song, is her best-seller in the decade. It has sold 4,971,000 copies since January 2000.

(D) CD Spotlight

“Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King” by The Dave Matthews Band

Big Whiskey" is a big moment for the Dave Matthews Band—it's the act's first album in four years and first since the sudden August death of founding saxophonist (and titular king) LeRoi Moore. But this eulogy is a celebration, and "Big Whiskey" is a dense, humid album that, befitting its New Orleans origins, shrewdly cuts its melancholy with exuberance and vice versa. "Shake Me Like a Monkey" is classic DMB stutter-stepping funk, "Squirm" is an Eastern-flavored epic, "Why I Am" is a radio-directed bottle rocket with a sneaky little time shift, and "Time Bomb" unfolds into a full-blast rocker with Matthews doing his best Eddie Vedder. Moore's ghost haunts throughout—the saxman's fluttery work appears sporadically, most visibly on the sweet, sad "Lying in the Hands of God"—and the band clearly poured grief into the swelling carpe diem tune "Dive In." Matthews' lyrics can be of the make-love-shine variety, and there are a few meandering detours as usual, but "Big Whiskey" finds the band at its most pointed and purposeful in years.

(4) CD Spotlight

“21st Century Breakdown” by Green Day.

Five years after "American Idiot" restored Green Day as a modern-rock powerhouse, the trio returns with an even riskier album. "21st Century Breakdown" mixes the pop-punk charge of the band's "Dookie" days with the political awareness of "Idiot," resulting in an arena-ready record with a sense of purpose. Much of "Breakdown" is as sprawling as its 69-minute length would suggest: Ballads like "21 Guns" build into fiery singalongs, while "American Eulogy" uses a song-suite structure to voice social dissatisfaction. Billie Joe Armstrong's lyrics are just as riveting, with images of bleeding hearts, falling towers, endless wars and atom bombs. While "Breakdown" offers a harsh reality, an underlying sense of hope runs throughout, with Armstrong singing, "I just want to see the light/I need to know what's worth the fight." The album is a call to arms for the digital age, and 20 years into its career, Green Day's ambition continues to dazzle

CD Spotlight

“Together through life” by Bob Dylan.

Bob Dylan's recent trifecta of "Time Out of Mind," "Love and Theft" and "Modern Times" represents the kind of late-career renaissance so many stars shoot for and nobody actually hits. Those albums were based in an often near-apocalyptic darkness. "Life" hangs loosely on the concept of the highs and horrors of actual, carbon-based love. Dylan wastes no time, dealing out both a consuming love and a bruising void in the opener, "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'." It's pretty close to the archetypal new, froggy-voiced Dylan—odd, as lyric co-writing credit goes to Robert Hunter on eight of 10 songs, which tamps things down noticeably. And there are clunkers, like the half-there torch song "Life Is Hard." But the great thing about 67-year-old Dylan is that even when it's not working, it's working. His band, anchored by Heartbreaker Mike Campbell's guitar and David Hidalgo's blissful border-town accordion, create a sublime atmosphere built from scraps of 100 years of American music: porch-blues, but also Cajun swing, ragged folk, saloon boogie, the circus and a cast of dusty characters who drift into towns and wander. And there are plenty of peak moments, including "I Feel a Change Comin' On" and "It's All Good," a sharp-tongued send-off about failure and shackled-up hope. (He's being sarcastic with the title.) Lacking a fireworks moment or a big revelation, "Together Through Life" might not be on par with Dylan's newest holy trinity, but as a continuation of the inscrutable, impenetrable Dylan story, it's all good.

(CD) Spotlight

“Roadsinger (To warm you through the night)” by Yusuf

While Yusuf (formerly known as Cat Stevens) officially returned to the pop world in 2006 with the welcomed "An Other Cup," his re-entry has only now been fully realized with the thoroughly engaging "roadsinger (To Warm You Through the Night)." The 11-tune collection marks Yusuf's harking back to his "Tea for the Tillerman"/"Teaser" vein of reflective spiritual quest in a musical setting that is largely acoustic and intimate, recorded live with minimal overdubs. His jangly acoustic guitar rhythms buoy the times-roll-on leadoff track "Welcome Home," and he quotes the piano open of "Sitting" (from 1972's "Catch Bull at Four") on his catchy "Be What You Must," a tune about the wisdom of seeking a fulfilled life. While Yusuf probes the dark throughout (most poignantly on the string-turbulent "Rain"), the underlining buoyancy of "roadsinger" is his troubadour spirit embodied in a confident faith that provides the light.

CD Spotlight

“Sounds of the Universe” by Depeche Mode.

While most of its '80s electro-pop contemporaries have faded into semiobscurity, Depeche Mode continues to produce darkly atmospheric tracks about love, lust and death that have the vulnerability and immediacy of a shared secret. The chirps and bleeps that marked the band's debut, "Speak & Spell," gradually gave way to emotionally raw, expansive songs under the guidance of songwriter Martin Gore. After nearly 30 years, the trio—now comprising Gore, Dave Gahan and Andrew Fletcher—still imbue every aspect of its 12th studio album, "Sounds of the Universe," with imagery and sonic flourishes that make its music fresh and familiar. "Corrupt" and "Wrong" wouldn't be out of place on "Violator" or "Music for the Masses"; they possess the taut, Gothic glamour of those albums. And, Gahan, who wrote two worthy tracks ("Come Back" and "Miles Away"), handles provocative lyrics with his usual swagger. Some of the album's less successful songs—"Little Soul," for example—are also its sunniest and most languorous, and lack the dramatic tension that has been Depeche Mode's calling card. Despite the departure of Alan Wilder in 1995 and tales of intraband combustibility, "Sounds of the Universe" captures an act with enough passion and inspiration to teach the artists it has influenced a few new tricks.

CD Spotlight

“R.O.O.T.S.” by Flo Rida.

The acronym in the title of Flo Rida's sophomore set stands for "Route of Overcoming the Struggle," but "R.O.O.T.S." doesn't bother the listener with much in the way of hardship. As he did on last year's "Mail on Sunday," Flo Rida spends most of these 13 pop-rap confections pondering the finer points of his growing bank account and his incomparable way with women. The best cuts are those that mirror the MC's usual themes with even more familiar sounds: "Right Round," a surging, Dr. Luke-produced rehash of Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)"; "Sugar," which rides an unlikely interpolation of "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" by Eiffel 65; and "Gotta Get It (Dancer)," a rowdy strip-club celebration that keeps threatening to turn into Madonna's "Music."

CD Spotlight

“A woman a man walked by” by PJ Harvey & John Parish.

PJ Harvey's solo work might be taking on the self-aware sheen of maturation. But John Parish has a way—perhaps it's his angular rhythms or his aimless melodies begging to go down a dangerous lyrical path—of bringing her back to the primal scenes of 1993's "Rid of Me" and her 1995 breakthrough, "To Bring You My Love." In that sense, the frequent collaborators' second co-billed outing (he provides the music, she the words) is more like the Harvey of old than 2007's "White Chalk." She sighs and croons and rasps her way through Parish's twisted folk landscape, jabbing at an eternally disappointing lover with renewed ferocity and fresh heartbreak. Such a musical mind-meld, so expressive of both artists' perspective, is rare.

CD Spotlight

“Metamorphosis” by Papa Roach

Papa Roach could have joined a fair number of its rap-rock contemporaries locked in an early-21st-century time capsule when "Last Resort" topped Billboard's Modern Rock chart and its "Infest" album went triple-platinum. But the Sacramento, Calif., quartet has pushed beyond the dated parameters of its claim to fame, becoming more accomplished in its craft even if its sales haven't quite held up. "Metamorphosis," which follows 2006's commercially stillborn "The Paramour Sessions," is the most polished and wide-ranging of Papa Roach's six releases. Frontman Jacoby Shaddix still vents "a head full of wreckage," both personal and political, with metallic fury on such tracks as "Change or Die" and "Live This Down." But "Metamorphosis" is also loaded with the smooth and decidedly mainstream-accessible ebb and flow of the first single, "Lifeline," the acoustic-flavored pop anthem "March Out of the Darkness" and the soaring choruses of "Carry Me" and "State of Emergency." Neither setting nor following trends, this music will certainly give Papa Roach a longer shelf life.

(D) CD Spotlight

“Voices” by Yanni.

Yanni's orchestral compositions had the "popera" crowd eating from his hand long before the genre had a name, so his first album of vocal-driven pop songs would make bank even if the project wasn't as good as it is. But "Voices" is one of the better adult records around. Its exotic flourishes are authentic, given the musician's Greek heritage and seasoned world view: The desert dance numbers "Our Days" and "Ritual De Amor (Desire)" get the blood pumping, and the bright chimes of "Orchid" salute the Far East. Titles like "Kill Me With Your Love" and "Set Me Free" may sound trite, but that's overridden by their seductive singing and fresh pop appeal. The album only falters when the singer's voices are overdubbed to previously released orchestra tracks like "Omaggio (Tribute)" and "Amare Di Nuovo (Adagio C Minor)," where bold strokes weren't intended for lead vocals. (No disrespect to singer Nathan Pacheco, whose appeal to Josh Groban lovers is apparent.) Those flaws aren't enough to mar the album's enjoyment, and other such attempts, like "Mi Todo Eres Tu (Until the Last Moment)," fare better.

(D) CD Spotlight

“Blue lights on the runaway” by Bell X1.

You've got to respect anyone who declares, "I want to be a better band," and puts it on a record, as Paul Noonan and Bell X1 do on their fourth outing. Mission accomplished. Coming on the heels of 2005's lauded "Flock" and the 2008 departure of Brian Crosby, the Irish quartet holds up its end with an album of melodically memorable and inventively arranged songs, most clocking in at more than five minutes and massaging listeners with a wash of keyboard and guitar textures. There are echoes of the past throughout "Blue Lights": "The Ribs of a Broken Umbrella" has a synth hook that rolls out like vintage Echo & the Bunnymen, "The Great Deflector" cops Talking Heads so obviously Noonan has even acknowledged it, and "One Stringed Harp" boasts the kind of epic pop construction associated with Burt Bacharach tunes. But Bell X1 also shows it can kick up a convincing bit of guitar noise ("Breastfed"), integrate classical piano figures ("Blow Ins") and New Orleans brass ("The Curtains Are Twitchin' ") and even spend seven minutes singing about "Amelia" (that would be Earhart).

(D) CD Spotlight

“Not without a fight” by New Found Glory.

New Found Glory goes into its eighth studio album, "Not Without a Fight," with its dukes understandably up. The Florida quintet parted with Geffen Records after 2006's "Coming Home" and spent the intervening years revisiting its favorite film soundtrack songs ("From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II") and having some fun with its alter ego International Superheroes of Hardcore ("Tip of the Iceberg/ Takin' It Ova!"). So the stakes are high as the group's Epitaph debut seeks to re-establish it as the band that reeled off three consecutive gold albums earlier in the decade. With Blink-182/+44 bassist Mark Hoppus producing, "Fight" does pack a wallop, enveloping frontman Jordan Pundik's angsty relationship paeans on a dozen compact, dynamic and hooky tracks in a mere 35 minutes. The full-on "This Isn't You" and the ringing, tuneful "Tangled Up" are the standouts, but NFG also scores with the galloping "Listen to Your Friends," the rhythmic punch of "Don't Let Her Pull You Down," the twisting guitar signature in "I'll Never Love Again" and the rich acoustic-electric mix of "Reasons."

(D) CD Spotlight

“No line on the horizon” by U2.

U2 has been so reliable for so long that even its occasional missteps are fascinating, like a master French chef suddenly taking up sushi. Since 2000's "All That You Can't Leave Behind," the band has played it almost completely straight down the middle, with satisfying results. This time, U2 has it both ways. "Get On Your Boots" and "Stand Up Comedy" are big, visceral rockers. But there are also intriguing stylistic experiments like the seven-minute soul ballad "Moment of Surrender"; the gang vocals of "Unknown Caller"; the weary-sounding, chorus-free "Cedars of Lebanon"; and the Middle Eastern-flavored "Fez—Being Born," inspired by Morocco. Digesting the blend takes some time, but the best moments offer that immediacy, as on the opening punch of the groovy title track and the chiming "Magnificent."

(D) CD Spotlight

“Wrath” by Lamb of God.

This veteran Virginia metal act has been steadily working its way out of the underground for the last decade, earning a Grammy Award nomination for a track from 2006's "Sacrament" and opening for Metallica on the latter's American arena tour late last year. The benefits of that increasing mainstream renown can be heard on the band's third major-label disc in the form of a production job more elaborate than on any previous release. Cuts like "In Your Words" and "Grace" cover an impressive amount of sonic ground, from delicate acoustic atmospherics to full-on rhythmic pummeling. Yet with frontman Randy Blythe's guttural growl—not to mention his bile-soaked lyrics about religious hypocrisy—this is hardly a bid for an active-rock breakthrough. Resolutely uncompromising.

(D) CD Spotlight.
“The Century of Self” by…. AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD.

After severing ties with Interscope following one masterpiece ("Source Tags & Codes") and two uneven follow-ups ("Worlds Apart," "So Divided"), this Texas rock combo returns to form on "The Century of Self," with producer Chris Coady stepping in for longtime collaborator Mike McCarthy. The album recalls the epic rock of 2002's stellar "Source Tags" rather than the admirable but often failed attempts at variety on its other two Interscope projects. The instrumental opener "Giants Causeway" sets the tone for an album that's grand in scope and ideas, from the bombastic reach of "Far Pavillions" to accelerated rockers like "Isis Unveiled" and the in-your-face punch of "Ascending." The guitar-fueled chaos is balanced against piano-led cuts like "Insatiable One" and the group-sung chorus of "Fields of Coal." Having cleared away its major-label entanglements, Trail of Dead has once again found its footing.

(D) CD Spotlight.
“It’s not me, it’s you” by Lily Allen.

The one-time wild child of U.K. electro-pop, Lily Allen is currently spending her nights a little differently from how she did during the era documented on "Alright, Still," her hit 2006 debut. "You'll make me beans on toast and a nice cup of tea," she sings of one dream date on "Chinese." "Then we'll get Chinese and watch TV." Yet thanks to Allen's still-sharp lyrical wit and an exceedingly crafty production job by Greg Kurstin, "It's Not Me, It's You" is hardly the grown-up buzz-kill it might have been. In fact, Allen is probably better (and funnier) detailing her disdain for the party scene than she was describing her love of it. Who could resist a tune about God ("Him") in which "suicidal" rhymes with "Creedence Clearwater Revival"?

(D) CD Spotlight.
“Tonight: Franz Ferdinand” by Franz Ferndinand.

Since Franz Ferdinand's emergence in 2004, it has owned the field of smart, energetic dance-rock epitomized by singles like "Take Me Out." Rumblings that its third studio album would be heavily influenced by reggae and dub music presented the prospect of an intriguing fusion. But these influences play only supporting roles here, on such songs as the engaging, strutty "Ulysses," the urgent yet melodic "Send Him Away" and the resonant "Can't Stop Feeling." While it would have been interesting to hear a further evolution of the band's sound, the album offers plenty of adrenaline, pheromones and stealthy sophistication, thanks to Bob Hardy's driving bass, Alex Kapranos' expressive crooning and the band's unusual ability to make every song sound like a single. Of special note is closer "Katherine Kiss Me," an acoustic ballad about an alleyway hookup and a perfectly timed comedown from the rest of the album's sustained high.

(D) CD Spotlight.
“Music from the Motion Picture Slumdog Millionaire”

The star of this soundtrack set is M.I.A.'s already lauded "Paper Planes" —which appears in two versions, one of them a groovilicious, gunshots-free DFA remix that is worth the price of admission by itself. But if there's justice in the world, that established hit will serve to expose pop and club fans to the music of A.R. Rahman, the prolific Indian film composer who wrote the other 11 tracks on this set. There are definitely trad moments in the polyrhythmic wash of "Ringa Ringa" and the album-closing tattoo of "Jai Ho," but Rahman focuses more on synthesis, bringing slinky funk overtones to "Gangsta Blues," thumping Germanic electronic patterns to "Millionaire" and a popping synthesizer straight out of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" to the tuneful "Aaj Ki Raat." It's one of those rare soundtracks that holds up well independent of its film.

(D) CD Spotlight.

“Greatest Remixes” by Good Charlotte.

Diehard fans of Good Charlotte's early pop-punk records can't say they didn't see "Greatest Remixes" coming—at least not if they heard last year's dance-flavored "Good Morning Revival," much of which could've passed for an album by singer Joel Madden's ex, Hilary Duff. Still, the electro-rock remixes collected here (by the likes of Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump, the Academy Is . . . and Joseph Hahn of Linkin Park) should serve as definitive notice that GC has left behind its three-chord roots for good. What's less clear is precisely whom this set is intended to lure, considering that "Revival" didn't exactly build the band a base in dancefloor-hipster circles. One diamond amid the head-scratching, infrequently booty-moving rough: a hilariously overdriven pump-up of "Girls & Boys" by the Ed Banger Records Allstars.

(D) CD Spotlight

“Folie a Deux” by Fall Out Boy.

Change will come," Patrick Stump sings on "(Coffee's for Closers)," a typically excitable cut from the new Fall Out Boy album. Considering the Chicago band's original plan to release "Folie à Deux" on Election Day, that lyric was likely intended as a tip of the hoodie to Barack Obama. Now it plays more like an acknowledgement of the evolution of FOB's sound, which since 2005's breakthrough "From Under the Cork Tree" has taken on new complexities without losing the fist-pumping qualities that made Stump and his bandmates mall-punk superstars. "Folie" is easily the group's most adventurous outing yet, with assured forays into blue-eyed soul ("What a Catch, Donnie"), arena-ready glam ("I Don't Care") and '80s-style electro ("Tiffany Blews"). Next time, maybe we'll get that long-promised polka jam.

(D) CD Spotlight

Twilight---Original Sountrack

Since Stephenie Meyer's hugely popular series of vampire books, Twilight, included thank-yous to the bands that inspired her writing, it makes sense that the Twilight soundtrack includes some of her favorite acts. Chief among them is Muse, whose darkly funky "Supermassive Black Hole" kicks off this mix of alt-rock brooding (Linkin Park, Collective Soul) and more eclectic -- but still mostly melancholy -- tracks. Paramore contributes two tracks, the churning "Decode" and the soaring ballad "I Caught Myself," neither of which match the best moments from the band's albums, even though Hayley Williams' crystalline vocals make a fitting backdrop to Bella Swan's supernatural love triangle angst. Most of Twilight follows suit with slickly dark songs like Mutemath's "Spotlight (Twilight Mix)" and Blue Foundation's "Eyes on Fire," and while they're not bad, they are predictable. The Black Ghosts' spookily folktronic "Full Moon" and Perry Farrell's dance-tinged "Go All the Way (Into the Twilight)" offer some changes of pace, with the former working better than the latter. The album's last moments offer a few glimpses of originality, even if actor Robert Pattison (aka beautiful teen vampire Edward Cullen)'s "Never Think" is heavily influenced by Jeff Buckley. Iron & Wine's "Flightless Bird, American Mouth" and Carter Burwell's "Bella's Lullaby" close the album on a relatively high note, elevating some of the overly typical choices earlier on the soundtrack. Even if it's often too predictable, Twilight fits the mood of the books -- and the musical tastes of the books' fans -- well enough to make it a reasonable success.

Takis Haggiandreou
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