Generally speaking, releasing a best-of is a sign of a career that’s pretty much finished. Obviously there are major exceptions: Madonna’s Immaculate Collection, Pet Shop Boys’ Discography, and R.E.M.’s Eponymous come to mind, with the latter being a shining example of a specific sort of best-of, the contract-ender. (Eponymous documented the band’s tenure on IRS; they’d go onto bigger and sometimes better things on Warner Bros.) But there are many others where the sunset is plainly in sight and/or earshot. Besides “Ghostbusters,” what did Ray Parker Jr. do of note following his ’82 Greatest Hits? (Which, I hasten to add, came out the same year as The Other Woman, his most successful solo album–curious, that. Some people, it seems, see the writing on the wall faster than others.) Which brings us, naturally, to the Chemical Brothers.
Noel Gallagher has big bold plans for Oasis’ upcoming album, Dig Up Your Soul. “I wanted to write music that had a groove; not songs that followed that traditional pattern of verse, chorus and middle eight,” he tells the NME. “I wanted a sound that was more hypnotic; more driving. Songs that would draw you in, in a different way. Songs that you would maybe have to connect to–to feel.” Wow, just when you think these guys are going to be stuck repeating former glories, they come with something fresh, unprecedented and not remotely Beatlesque. That title, though…Dig Up Your Soul. It reminds me of another album title that went “Dig something something…word that rhymes with ‘Soul.’ ” Hmmm. I just can’t place it…
Lily Allen is pregnant with Chemical Brothers member Ed Simons’ kid. I don’t know about you, but the thought of Lily Allen entering the world of “mommyblogging” is enough to make me want to never open my RSS reader again. More »
Lily Allen is pregnant with Chemical Brothers member Ed Simons’ kid. I don’t know about you, but the thought of Lily Allen entering the world of “mommyblogging” is enough to make me want to never open my RSS reader again. More »
