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 July 11th.
The Foo Fighters have broken out of Nirvana’s shadow and are having a very successful 2005. In Your Honor, the band’s new double-album, bolted to the top of the charts and is primed to stay up there through the summer. When times are good everybody wants a piece of you. iTunes got a piece of the band by way of a live acoustic version of the song “Razor” that was recorded at Toronto’s The Edge 102.1 radio station.
Eric Clapton’s Back Home , his first album in almost five years, will be released on August 30th. Eric was joined in the studio by such luminaries as Robert Randolph, John Mayer, Toby Baker, Steve Gadd, Nathan East, Andy Fairweather Low and Doyle Bramhall II. iTunes (as well as Rhapsody, MSN Music and others) is giving customers a preview of the album with a special pre-release of the single “Revolution.” It’s a return to reggae for Clapton—give it a listen.
Carole King had a new album,The Living Room Tour, released yesterday. iTunes has a special exclusive track by King, “Up On The Roof.” She’s currently on tour and crossing the United States. Check the tour page at her website.
The underground indie rock scene has taken under its wing the Toronto duo Death From Above 1979. iTunes has an exclusive four-song Live Session EP that includes the band’s new single “Black History Month” (that has a killer riff that would make Queens of the Stone Age green with envy) and the album sessions b-side “Girl U R Lovely.”
Other pre-releases of note are the Dire Straits song “Millionaire Blues,” Tracy Chapman’s single “Change” (from her upcoming full-length out on September 13th) and James Blunt’s single “You’re Beautiful.”
In the pre-order section of iTunes is the new album by Babyface, Grown & Sexy. A pre-order will get you a digital booklet and a downloadable video video interview. The album will be release on July 26th. He’ll perform on The Tonight Show on July 19th and Good Morning American on July 25th.
The current iTunes single of the week is “Wires” by the British group Athlete. It’s from their second album, Tourist, a big hit in England but like most English rock albums lagging a bit in America. And typically it’s not lagging because of a lack of quality songwriting. Like a previous free download by the Brit pop group Embrace, “Wires” deserves to find an enthusiastic audience here as well.
Over at Rhapsody is an exclusive seven-track live set from The Foo Fighters titled Live At Roswell . Recorded before a small group of screaming fans, the EP captures the Foos at their loud, blistering best. It mixes new songs like “In Your Honor” and “Free Me” with older favorites like “Monkey Wrench,” All My Life,” and “This Is A Call.”
New to the Rhapsody catalog are Dignity and Shame by Crooked Fingers (ex-Archers of Loaf), Courage by Brazilian legend Milton Nascimiento and Permanent Record: The Very Best of the Violent Femmes .
MSN Music has a special section dedicated to the new reality show Rock Star: INXS that is using televised auditions to help the singer-less band find a new singer. There are pages dedicated to the music of the show, the best of INXS, the music of co-host Dave Navarro and Aussie rock.
Combine one blip-hopping laptop genius and a talented, understated electronic-based group and you’ve got one of the year’s finest collaborations. Prefuse 73 matches up with The Books in Prefuse 73 Reads The Books EP, now available on Bleep.com.
Everybody has a MySpace.com page these days. Even Throw Rag. This offbeat punk band from California’s Salton Sea is as entertaining as they come and just came off a tour with Queens of the Stone Age. Their MySpace.com page has four songs from their new album, 13 Feet and Rising.