THIS WEEK

Bon Jovi: What About Now

New release (Island; tour dates)
Photo by David Bergman

It’s all about the challenges faced by everyday people: the wife who’s “so tired of living life in black and white,” the husband who’s “feeling like a broken promise,” the laid-off newspaperman who misses “the smell of paper and the ink on my hands,” the soldier who’s “been back from the desert for a year or so,” having “left more in that sand than you’ll ever know.” Bon Jovi is at its best when it speaks for them, imploring: “Who’ll stand for the restless and the lonely, for the desperate and the hungry / Down for the count, I’m hearing you now / For the faithful, the believer, for the faceless and the teacher / Stand up and be proud, what about now.” Much less effective are the awkward love songs, overreaching power ballads, and generic rockers that betray the band’s limited range. But when Bon Jovi hits its stride on “Because We Can,” “I’m with You,” “What’s Left of Me,” and the title track, it’s easy to believe there’s nothing in the world that can’t be faced with the heartening, anthemic chorus of a rock & roll song.

Various Artists: Sound City: Real to Reel

New release (Roswell/RCA)
Photo of Dave Grohl by Sami Ansari

Did you see that “Nirvana reunion” toward the end of the televised 12-12-12 benefit and wonder, “What the . . . ?” Well, the raison d’être for that was not only to help raise money for Hurricane Sandy victims but also to tease Dave Grohl’s documentary on Sound City, the celebrated studios that hosted everything from Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush in 1970 to the Arctic Monkeys’ Suck It and See in 2011, with Nirvana’s Nevermind smack in the middle in 1991. The 11 tracks on this companion album are all-new and all-original, written for the film and recorded on Sound City’s custom Neve console after it was installed in Grohl’s 606 Studios. With Grohl the director also acting as the musical muse, most of the tracks here are in the realm of good, solid meat-and-potatoes hard rock, with co-writers/co-players who are fellow Sound City alums from bands like Rage Against the Machine and Queens of the Stone Age. But Grohl also makes room for Stevie Nicks (1975’s Fleetwood Mac was recorded at Sound City), Rick Nielsen (ditto 1978’s Heaven Tonight by Cheap Trick), and Rick Springfield (ditto 1981’s Working Class Dog). Paul “Nirvana” McCartney’s “Cut Me Some Slack” is among the highlights, as is the Grohl/Joshua Homme/Trent Reznor 7½-minute closing “Mantra,” but the whole thing is a kick. And yes, it all sounds great.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Will the Circle Be Unbroken

Reissue (Capitol Nashville; vinyl and download; tour dates)

Remastered from the original analog tapes, this 40th-anniversary 180-gram Deluxe Edition is the first vinyl reissue of the 1972 three-LP set that has been overseen by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band itself. A new essay by the band’s John McEuen and an exclusive poster are included in the restored gatefold packaging. The songs, of course, are timeless, with two generations of primarily country and bluegrass musicians coming together to discover and share their common bonds. Just look at the names on the album cover. Many such summit meetings have been held since, but this was the groundbreaker. In addition to vinyl, the album is available from HDtracks as 96/24 or 192/24 files.

Also today, Capitol Nashville is reissuing four more classics from its country catalog on 180g vinyl: Wanda Jackson’s Rockin’ with Wanda! (1960), Merle Haggard’s Swinging Doors (1966), Glen Campbell’s By the Time I Get to Phoenix (1968), and Kenny Rogers’s The Gambler (1979).

Jellyfish: Stack-a-Tracks

Archival release (Omnivore)

According to Omnivore: “While recording their two studio albums, 1990’s Bellybutton and 1993’s Spilt Milk, Jellyfish and their producers created ‘instrumental’ versions of each record. These are not ‘remixes.’ That would have compromised the integrity of what was originally envisioned, potentially eliminating or dismissing elements that are actually there yet not as audible under the vocals. This is not a ‘re-imagining’ of what these records might have sounded like as instrumentals. They’re the real deal, transferred from the original quarter-inch masters.” Which is to say: You get to hear, in all their multilayered glory, the delectable power-pop arrangements and sonics devised by co-writers Andy Sturmer (on drums) and Roger Manning (on keyboards), mostly with guitarist/bassist Jason Falkner on Bellybutton and then with others (including guitarist Jon Brion and bassist Tim Smith) on Spilt Milk. A Limited Edition Digipak of this two-CD set was made available for last year’s Record Store Day, but it quickly sold out. Now you can buy it in a standard jewel box.