Audio Video News

Shortly after the first of the year, I gave you some "Post-Holiday Clues" on how to spend some of your Christmas cash. One section of that two-part blog offered up some books about music (click here to revisit), but the bigger batch was a survey of 2007's tribute albums and collections of cover songs (click here to revisit). To be sure, that survey was never intended to be all-inclusive - and to be (don't call me) surely, when I was filing away some 2007 CDs at home, I came across several items I indeed forgot to include. "Continue reading" if you're still in needing. -Ken Richardson

TRIBUTES TO . . .

The Band
Various Artists: Endless Highway: The Music of the Band (429 Records/Savoy Label Group). Among the 17 tracks: the Allman Brothers Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," Lee Ann Womack's "The Weight," Widespread Panic's "Chest Fever," the Roches' "Acadian Driftwood," Rosanne Cash's "The Unfaithful Servant," My Morning Jacket's "It Makes No Difference," and Death Cab for Cutie's "Rockin' Chair."

Judy Garland
Rufus Wainwright: Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall (Geffen). That's right: This is Rufus "performing the entire classic album of Judy Garland's famous 1961 concert." It was recorded at Carnegie Hall over two nights in June 2006, with Phil Ramone producing and Frank Filipetti leading the engineering team. Guests: Judy's daughter Lorna Luft, Rufus's sister Martha Wainwright, and his mother, Kate McGarrigle, who also provides liner notes. And of course, the two CDs of music include everything from "Over the Rainbow" to "The Man That Got Away."

Heart
Heart: Dreamboat Annie: Legendary Albums Live (Shout! Factory). A self-tribute, as it were. Click here for my previous post on Heart.

Bach
Jacques Loussier: Jacques Loussier Plays Bach: Encore! (Telarc). Two CDs for the price of one: a newly remastered coupling of albums not available since 1992. The first disc has the pianist and his double bassist (Vincent Charbonnier) and drummer (Andre Arpino) jazzing up Bach's Little Fugue in G minor (BWV 578), Concerto in F minor (BWV 1056), Concerto in C minor (BWV 1060), and Partita in B-flat Major (BWV 825). The second disc has two original Loussier compositions - the Concerto for Violin and Percussion and the Trumpet Concerto - performed by the Prague Kammer Orchestra.

COLLECTIONS OF COVER SONGS

Tony Bennett: Tony Bennett Sings the Ultimate American Songbook, Vol. 1 (RPM/Columbia/Legacy). Despite the contemporary Tony shown on the booklet cover, this isn't a new album but, rather, a collection of previously released recordings. Some of the 15 tracks date all the way back to 1958 ("Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye") and 1959 ("You'll Never Get Away from Me"). You also get recordings from the '60s ("Anything Goes," "Ain't Misbehavin'," "The Very Thought of You"), the '70s ("That Old Black Magic"), and all the way up to the '90s, including several tracks from Perfectly Frank, "Moonglow" from MTV Unplugged, and "The Way You Look Tonight" from the soundtrack to My Best Friend's Wedding.

Bruce Hornsby/Christian McBride/Jack DeJohnette: Camp Meeting (Legacy). Pianist/bassist/drummer "re-envision" compositions by Miles Davis ("Solar"), Keith Jarrett ("Death and the Flower"), John Coltrane ("Giant Steps"), Bud Powell ("Celia"), Thelonious Monk ("Straight, No Chaser"), and Ornette Coleman (the never-recorded "Questions and Answers"). Plus an assortment of Hornsby originals.

New York Voices: A Day Like This (MCG Jazz). The vocal quartet tackles the likes of "Darn That Dream," "For All We Know," "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing," "Stoned Soul Picnic," and "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning," as well as its own material.

Mavis Staples: We'll Never Turn Back (Anti-/Epitaph). In an album that channels the civil-rights struggles of the 1950s and '60s, Staples sings J.B. Lenoir's "Down in Mississippi," Marshall Jones's "In the Mississippi River," and a host of traditionals, including "We Shall Not Be Moved," "This Little Light of Mine," "Turn Me Around," "Jesus Is on the Main Line," and "Eyes on the Prize." Produced by Ry Cooder, with accompaniment by Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the original Freedom Singers, and Cooder's roots band.

Ann Wilson: Hope & Glory (Zoe/Rounder). Click here for my previous post on Heart.