Each week, Playlist’s Glenn Peoples looks at special tracks offered by the iTunes Music Store and other select online music merchants. Here are the selections for the week of February 7th.
iTunes’ free download of the week is by Urban Mystic. His smooth jam “ Long Ways ” will surprise you. He’s a mere 20 years old and sings well beyong his age.
Exclusive to iTunes are some of the bigger names in music. One is Jennifer Lopez, whose new single “ Get Right ” is now ready to go at the store. The song features rapper Fabolous. Macy Gray also has a new single, “ Walk This Way.” It is a previously unavailable track from her album The Very Best of Macy Gray .
Moby’s new single, “ Beautiful,” is now at iTunes. It’s a change for the famed producer and DJ, a song that is more straight-up pop (with a funky edge) than the dance/electronic style he’s known for. Yeah, that’s right, it’s pop. It has both acoustic and electric guitars. (Moby, have you been hanging with John Mayer?)
One of the most buzzed about new bands is The Bravery, the latest in a recent long line of New York bands that takes its cues from the early ’80s. New to iTunes is the Superdiscount Remix of their great song “Honest Mistake.” For a penny less than a buck you get a dirty house remix than stretches almost eight minutes. The album version is also available.
In the mood for metal? Judas Priest’s new track, “ Revolution,” is a new iTunes exclusive. It’s from the album Angel of Retribution , out on March 1st.
The Postal Service’s new EP, We Will Become Silhouettes , is ready for downloading at iTunes. Two of its four songs are remixes by some of electronic music’s most hipster names, Matthew Herbert and Styrofoam.
Another iTunes exclusive is the “Guitar Vocal Version” of Lee Ann Womack’s “Time for Me To Go.”
New to iTunes are The Smith’s Meat Is Murder , Digital Underground’s Sex Packets , Love’s Da Capo , four albums by The Meters, The Force MD’s Chillin’ , The Raveonettes’ new single “ Love in a Trashcan,” and the Velvet Underground’s 1972 classic Loaded .
Free is good. Free downloads of hit songs are even better. MSN’s music store is giving away free downloads of some Grammy-nominated artists. Each day a different song will be available for the taking. Check out the site’s 2005 Grammy Awards page to see what’s available.
Napster’s list of recently added titles runs the gamut of genres. Among the new albums are Steve Martin’s A Wild and Crazy Guy , The Cars’ Candy-O , The Cure’s Join the Dots B-sides and rarities collection, Deep Purple’s Machine Head and Scarface’s Balls and My Word . Napster also has The Bravery’s album version of “Honest Mistake” (but not the remix that’s available at iTunes).
eMusic just added a great one by the late great Tim Buckley, Dream Letter Live in London (discs one and two). Also added were a number of titles on Nitro’s expansive punk catalog that features A.F.I., The Damned, The Start and Don’t Look Down, among others.
Wal-Mart’s music store has some nice exclusives. Mario’s Turning Point comes with an exclusive four-track interview. A new Gerald Levert song, “Make It With You,” is exclusive to the Wal-Mart store, as is Omarion’s “O” (Maurice’s Big O Lounge Mix).
New additions to Rhapsody: That’s Right! by Roomfull of Blues, Tim Hecker’s Mirages (great ambient electronic album) and Samba Mapangala & Orchestra Virunga’s Virunga Roots Volume 1 (for fans of Afropop).