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 May 9th.
To go along with that new Weezer album, iTunes has an exclusive live version of their “Islands in the Sun,” a fan favorite from their “green album.”
Another exclusive single worth mentioning is “Friday Night in London” by Bryan Adams. The song is not found on his new album Room Service . “I’ve been ‘round the world,” he sings in the upbeat and perky pop tune, “but that ain’t enough ‘cuz you gotta be with someone special cuz being alone is kinda tough.” Perfect for a date movie’s soundtrack. He did do a good pronunciation of Leicester Square, I’ve gotta admit. Cheers, mate. For the intense storytelling and memorable choruses that you expect from Mr. Adams, Room Service is the way to go. This non-album song presents a different side of him.
For the TRL crowd, Tyler Hilton’s “How Love Should Be” is exclusively at iTunes. The song isn’t on the current edition of his CD The Tracks Of . It will be on the re-released version that will have different packaging (according to a message recorded by Tyler at his website).
Colombian heartthrob and all-around megastar Juanes has an exclusive live session available at iTunes called Intimo – iTunes Sessions. The seven tracks include two interview segments — one in Spanish and one in English.
The free iTunes song of the week is “Come to Mama” by Lina. Released by Hidden Beach (Jill Scott, Darius Rucker), the single is a preview of her upcoming album The Inner Beauty Movement (out June 28th). Definitely give this smooth R&B song a listen.
Nelly’s “Errtime” is all over the online stores. It’s from the upcoming soundtrack to the remake of the film “The Longest Yard.” It’s actually available as a five-song EP that includes “Errtime” plus short clips of “Shorty Bounce” by Lil’ Wayne, “Stomp” by Murphy Lee, “So Fly” by Akon and “Let Em Fight” by Ali.
Indie rock fans have reason to rejoice. Two Merge titles have been added to Rhapsody, and they’re big ones. The first is the excellent new Spoon album, Gimme Fiction , that was released yesterday. The other is the celebrated album by the Arcade Fire, Funeral .
Rhapsody has its Bryan Adams pre-release single of its own, the song “I Want It All.” This is 180-degree change from the iTunes exclusive. “I Want It All” is a reggae song (yes, honest) that’s very lighthearted. “I don’t need a piece of your heart, I want it all.” OK, that’s enough UB40 in your music collection, Bryan.
Recently added to the Rhapsody catalog are Ali Farka Toure’s Red & Green , Sam Prekop’s Who’s Your New Professor?, Built to Spill’s pre-major album Ultimate Alternative Wavers, Treepeople’s Just Kidding (a pre-Built to Spill album),
eMusic sent out a press release yesterday about some of the new labels that have been added. One label, the ultra-cool Vice Recordings (Bloc Party, The Streets), was mentioned here previously. Others are Chicago-based alt-country label Bloodshot Records (Ryan Adams, Old 97’s, Bobby Bare Jr., Michael Gira’s Young God Records (Devendra Banhart, Angels of Light), and Miles Copeland’s Ark 21 (the Moody Blues, Waylon Jennings, Squeeze).
Many great titles in the Merge Records catalog is now on eMusic, such as indie rock and underground classics by Dinosaur Jr, Superchunk, The Magnetic Fields, Versus, Neutral Milk Hotel and Crooked Fingers. It’s quite a bonanza.
Not too much to report on it yet, but Yahoo launched the beta version of its online music service today. It costs $6.99 a month (less if purchased as an annual subscription) and like Napster and Rhapsody’s services allows for unlimited listens as well as file transfers to certain (non-iPod) portable devices). Early reports say that the personalization aspects of the music player are very good, and there’s word that this low price is only an introductory price. And, again, it’s a very low price. Those interested in the service should get it while it’s cheap.