Rammstein - Reise, Reise

The mighty Rammstein are back, bigger and better than ever. Mainly bigger. Reise, Reise opens up with bigger guitars, bigger keyboards, and bigger German (really rolling those R's more than I remember). For those of you not familiar with Rammstein, you are going to be surprised how at well-suited the German language is for heavy metal. It's not much for ballads but when you set those hard consonants to loud guitars, you really have something there. I'm surprised it never occurred to the Scorpions (well, not too surprised). Check out Mein Teil and the single (fun video, BTW) Amerika. Big.

The Mamas & the Papas - All The Leaves Are Brown

If I had to describe The Mamas & The Papas in one word, it would have to be special. Not really a rock band, more than a pop band, not a folk band, and not just a bunch of hippies. What were they, anyway? They were a sound, really. The sound of those voices, apart but especially together, was magic. I am not aware of anything like them since their break-up. They put out only four albums in their few years together (one in 1966, two in 1967, one in 1968) and in one of the great bargains I've seen, all four of those albums are collected in the double-CD All the Leaves Are Brown plus a few bonus tracks thrown in. You don't have to hunt down the individual albums or make sure some greatest hits album has all the tracks you want because this album has them all. Well-known classics like California Dreamin' but also the lesser-known but still amazing songs like Twelve Thirty, Even If I Could, and the really lesser-known Dancing Bear. Listening to the music you alternate being overjoyed at the sounds and then your heart breaks when you think how it all fell apart so quickly and then Cass Elliot passing away a few years later. Well, I do, anyway. The cup's half full, though, gang so focus on the joy. Such a deal, this album.

Having written all that, though, while getting this ready I did find the ultimate (so far) Mamas & Papas collection. Not really a bargain but if you're a completist (and I usually am), it's a must. It's an import-only four-disc set called Complete Anthology and it has everything. It has the four classic albums plus People Like Us, Live at Monterey Pop and a disc of unreleased material including the songs they did with Barry McGuire. What, you didn't know that Barry sang the original version of California Dreamin'? It's true.

Bill Laswell - Operazone: The Redesign

Whenever I see the name Bill Laswell attached to something, I always try and check it out. The man behind Herbie Hancock's groundbreaking Rockit, Praxis, Buckethead, and a whole lot of jazzy, hip-hop influenced music (he is seriously prolific) is always worth a listen. With Operazone he has taken instrumental pieces from various operas and "redesigned" them. Adding a touch of rhythm and the occasional jazzy horn, these lush arrangements end up being really interesting. Sort of easy-listening that doesn't suck. Give a listen to The Elixer of Love and Tosca: Act Two.

Louis Armstrong - An American Songbook

Apple has been approaching record companies and proposing that they go into the archives and release their out-of-print albums through iTunes. It's not a bad idea at all. Record companies are only out the cost of remastering the albums; they don't have to print up CD booklets or the CDs themselves or mess with distribution. Digitize the music, scan the artwork, and send it all to Apple. Presto! Music that had been just sitting there is now available for people to enjoy and an otherwise dead asset can make money for the label. Verve has taken Apple up on the offer and has released a bunch of Jazz albums only on iTunes. The one that caught my eye was An American Songbook by Louis Armstrong. I'm not a big Jazz fan but how can you not like Louis Armstrong? Except for a few Christmas songs, though, I didn't have anything by him. I figured this would be a good way to get my feet wet. Check out Stormy Weather and I Get a Kick Out of You. I've probably started something my bank account is going to regret :-).