Upcoming & new releases: Marc Cohn, Scissor Sisters, Tommy Keene

Photo: Tommy Keene You Hear Me: Retrospective 1983-2009 is coming in July

I am still in the midst of listening to the many great releases I've received over the last couple of months, but I wanted to share some of the highlights of my inbox regarding upcoming releases. Also check out the Music Worth Buying site to read my review of the "Stones in Exile" DVD released by Eagle Vision Entertainment on June 22. If you are a fan of The Rolling Stones, grab this DVD asap.

Marc Cohn launches Listening Booth: 1970 with appearances on 'Good Morning America,' 'Nightline,' 'Mountain Stage' and more

Fairfax, VA (June 28, 2010) --- Grammy winner Marc Cohn releases his newest album, Listening Booth: 1970, on July 20, 2010 amidst a series of performances on television and national radio shows with additional support from Starbucks, which is stocking the CD in its stores across the country. Starting with an appearance on Good Morning America on July 22, Marc will perform on syndicated radio shows "Mountain Stage" and "Acoustic Café," as well as the nationally syndicated television shows "Daytime," "Better TV" and the WGN MidDay News through August. Marc will also be profiled during Nightline’s Playlist segment next month. In addition to Starbucks, Listening Booth: 1970 will be available at all major retail outlets, iTunes and Amazon.com via Saguaro Road Records.



“I couldn’t imagine how Marc and John Leventhal were going to tie the songs together given the wide variety of artists”, commented Mike Jason, Saguaro Road Senior Vice President, Retail. “Thankfully they did—warm, intimate, and drenched in laid back soul.”



Listening Booth: 1970 was recorded in the spirit of Bonnie Raitt's Nick of Time and Alison Krauss/Robert Plant's Raising Sand, where brilliant songwriters took on songs created by others and meticulously deconstructed them until they re-emerged as if they always belonged to them. The result is warmly familiar yet entirely fresh, with Marc’s vocals strikingly bare and placed thoughtfully into austere arrangements. “I’m singing in a different place in my voice on this record” explains Cohn. “It was ultimately extremely liberating to just be the singer, not the songwriter, and to try to find the most interesting, unforced way to approach what we already knew were such beautifully written songs.” Marc collaborated with producer John Leventhal (Roseanne Cash, Shawn Colvin) throughout the recording process and invited in India.Irie, Aimee Mann, Jim Lauderdale and Kristina Train for additional vocals.


Listening Booth: 1970 also stands as a remarkable testament to the groundbreaking songwriting and vastly different musical styles that emerged that year. From Smokey Robinson's "Tears of a Clown" to Simon and Garfunkel's "Only Living Boy in New York," "The Letter" (made popular by Joe Cocker), Bread’s “Make It With You,” John Lennon’s “Look At Me,” Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed” and Cat Stevens’ “Wild World,” 1970 remains one of the most influential in music even 40 years later, a rare moment in time when a single was as powerful as an LP. “Looking back, it was a pivotal year in music,” says Cohn. “It was not only the golden age of the single, but it was a window into the beginning of the golden age of the album, especially when it came to singer-songwriters. Even while all these deeply personal and poetic records were being released, there was this eclectic mix of pop music on the radio; it was great to be able to explore that range on this record.”

Although Cohn's tour will visit many parts of North America July through October, no Southern California dates were indicated on the press release. I'll let you know in a future post if any local dates are scheduled.

Night Work, Scissor Sisters' first album in nearly four years, is out today

Night Work, the third studio album from Scissor Sisters, was released today (Tuesday, June 29, 2010) by Downtown Records - as accesshollywood.com observed, "just in time for its playful summer sound to inspire romance and fabulousness throughout the nation."



"Three albums in, the Sisters are as gleefully hedonistic as ever," said Rolling Stone while The New York Times hailed the album as "dirty fun." Entertainment Weekly gave it an A-, observing: "New York's disco-new wave party people are in freak mode on their third disc Night Work, dropping crass come-ons and slutty entendres like parade confetti (gay, straight, you name it). The songs are pretty spicy too, mixing Elton John, the Bee Gees, and Depeche Mode in strobe-light heaven." "Scissor Sisters are back with a naughty new album that's a tour de force," said London's Sunday Times while Filter praised it as "a dance album filled to the brim that could make even a corpse twitch."



Spin.com named Night Work one of the "25 Summer Albums That Matter Most" and praised the "deliriously giddy mimics" in an album review. Q awarded the album four stars in a two-page lead review, remarking: "There is nothing cosy or vapid about the Scissor Sisters' good times: their pleasure is a serious business...they translate anxiety into dancefloor electricity." "'Night Work' makes no apologies...this here is the year's most striking reinvention," said NME.



"'Fire With Fire,' channels the band's inner disco ball with amped-up bass lines and a hedonistic spirit," said the New York Post of the album's lead singlewhile Filter called it"a propulsive theatrical ballad." The accompanying video, directed by Philip Andelman (Lenny Kravitz, Beyoncé, John Mayer), premiered onwww.perezhilton.com in the States, The Sun's website in the U.K. and a slew of websites around the world. You can check out the "Fire With Fire" video and the first episode of "sstv," which launches with a tongue-in-cheek television news broadcast, at:



www.scissorsisters.com



Album closer "Invisible Light," which features a spoken-word interlude bySir Ian McKellen,was awarded three-and-a-half stars by Rolling Stone and NPR's "All Things Considered" recently premiered the album's title track.



Scissor Sisters embarked on an extensive worldwide tour earlier this month. The band played the Glastonbury Festival last weekend, where they were joined by special guest Kylie Minogue on "Any Which Way," a track from the new album. They'll headline the iTunes Festival at The Roundhouse in London on July 1st and play festivals in Europe, Australia and Japan thereafter. U.S. tour dates will be announced shortly.



With over seven million albums sold worldwide, Scissor Sisters are, in the words of Rolling Stone "one of the most improbable and endearing success stories of recent years." The band - comprising Jake Shears, Ana Matronic (vocals), Babydaddy (guitar/bass/keyboards) and Del Marquis (guitar) - released its self-titled debut album in 2004. It became the best-selling album in the UK that year and earned the band three BRIT awards in 2005. Stateside, Scissor Sisters performed on "Saturday Night Live" and enjoyed success at pop radio with "Take Your Mama," which was licensed by numerous TV shows. Ta-Dah, released in 2006, debuted at No. 1 on the UK album chart while lead track "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'" simultaneously topped the UK singles chart.


Tommy Keene to release career retrospective on July 13

In 1984, the pop-rock world changed forever, as a six-song platter of pop perfection titled Places That Are Gone (Dolphin) put Tommy Keene onto the CMJ charts and atop the Village Voice EP of the Year poll. Blatantly romantic, unapologetically melodic, bittersweet but absolutely invigorating, it was the sort of record that you could put on before you went out on a Saturday night, or sit around and mope to if you didn’t feel like facing the world. It still stands as a powerful statement, not only establishing Tommy as a unique singer-songwriter, but also as a guitarist with a sound as distinctive as Pete Townshend or Johnny Marr.

From 1983-2009 Keene has released nine albums, four EPs and three Compilations/Live releases including 2009’s critically acclaimed In The Late Bright (Second Motion) which continued to establish Keene as one of the critically acclaimed (and commercially ignored) power-pop singer-songwriters of our time.
For the very first time in his amazing 27 year career, a retrospective of Keene’s finest work can be found in one place. Tommy Keene You Hear Me is a stunning and near perfect collection of tracks that is a must-have for the hard-core fans as well as first-time buyers to introduce them to Keene’s craft.
This 41-song collection of perfectly crafted tunes contains the classics: “Places That Are Gone,” “My Mother Looked Like Marilyn Monroe,” “Love Is A Dangerous Thing,” “Compromise,” “Warren In The ‘60s”, all with glorious melodies, indelible hooks and note-perfect guitar solos ideal for radio. The collection also includes some rare or unreleased tracks such as a T-Bone Burnett/Don Dixon produced “Gold Town”, the unreleased “Don’t Sleep In The Daytime”, a guest appearance co-written by Jules Shear on “When Our Vows Break”, a live version of “Long Time Missing”, acoustic version of “Black & White New York” and cover versions of Lou Reed’s “Kill Your Songs” and the 20/20 cover of “Leaving Your World Behind.”

Tommy himself admits his stuff isn’t groundbreaking. “It’s just fun,” he once said. “It’s good music and good songs.” Uh, yeah.. that’s an understatement
AND Tommy will be touring in September with a full band playing shows that will feature for the very first time the album Songs From The Film preformed in it's entirety along with other selections from the new retrospective!

Sept 8-Milwaukee WI-Shank Hal
Sept 9- Chicago IL-Schuba's
Sept 16-Pittsburgh-Club Cafe
Sept 17-Washington DC-930 Club
Sept 18. Bordentown NJ-The Record Collector
Sept 22-Los Angeles CA-Spaceland
Sept 24- San Francisco CA-The Hemlock Tavern

TRACKLISTING:

CD1
Back To Zero Now
Mr. Roland
Baby Face
Back Again
Safe In The Light
Gold Town
Places That Are Gone
Paper Words and Lies
Kill Your Sons
Call On Me
My Mother Looked Like Marllyn Monroe
Underworld
Astronomy
Run Now
Nothing Can Change You
This Could Be Fiction
Based on Happy Times
When Our Vows Break
Highwire Days
Don’t Sleep In The Daytime
A Way Out

CD2:
Love Is a Dangerous Thing
Driving Into The Sun
Down, Down, Down
No One In This City
Turning On Blue
Your Heart Beats Alone
SIlent Town
Good Thing Going
Compromise
Long Time Missing (Live)
The World Outside
Never Really Been Gone
Big Blue Sky
Black & White New York (Acoustic)
Warren In The 60's
Lives Become Lies
A Secret Life of Stories
Save This Harmony
Tomorrow’s Gone Tonight
Leaving Your World Behind

(go to main Artist page and click on second album image to sample all 2xCD album tracks)

Bonus 10-Track Digital Only Album (exclusive to pre-orders ONLY)

Places That Are Gone (alt mix by Bill Wittman from Songs From The Film
Nothing Is Grey (demo 1982)
Stuck On A Ship (Demo 1983 from Dolphin Places That Are Gone EP)
Fall Down Too (Unreleased track from T-Bone/Don Dixon album recorded July 1984
All Your Love Will Stay (Home Demo 1999)
Eyes of Youth (Home Demo 1999)
Never Really Been Gone (Live in Chicago 1998)
Call One Me (Live at Campbell University NC - 1996)
Compromise (Live at Campbell University NC - 1996)
Love Is A Dangerous Thing / Brad's Boogie (Live at Campbell University NC - 1996)