Backstage Pass

The CMJ Music Marathon, which opened its 26th annual conference yesterday at Lincoln Center and in 50 clubs across the New York area, has always had a strong do-it-yourself attitude, as more than 1,000 bands try to get attention almost any way they can.

Chuck D., however, proposed a whole new level of D.I.Y. yesterday at a panel discussion on musical activism that kicked off the five-day event. The Public Enemy rapper said that instead of spending time “looking for a fantastic recording artist, be one.”

He urged the audience to be vigilant about their beliefs. “I have never seen the level of disrespect for young adults higher than right now,” Chuck D. said. “Older people are leading them to the grave.”

It’s a concept that moderator Janeane Garofalo and alt-country singer Steve Earle echoed throughout the panel, applying it to politics, as well as music. Earle said the majority of the country gave its tacit approval for the Iraq War. “If you weren’t saying something against it, you were saying it was OK,” said Earle.

The panel was trying to encourage attendees to get informed and speak their minds, instead of simply accepting what their leaders tell them. “They are trying to get people to be crash test dummies for consumption,” said Chuck D. “Make sure someone else doesn’t make up your mind.”

CMJ has always been on the cutting edge of hip new music. But bloggers and downloading can't compete with a real, live concert.

Full story here.

7:30 p.m. MATT NATHANSON. The underrated singer-songwriter tells tales of answering machine arguments and sex in cars. Knitting Factory.

8:45 p.m. CUTE IS WHAT WE AIM FOR. The pop-punkers may sing, “This is a party without the people,” but they’ll be wrong. Irving Plaza.

10 p.m. YOUNG LOVE. New York’s next dance-rock party kings. Sin-e.

11 p.m. THE RAPTURE. New York’s current dance-rock party kings. Bowery Ballroom.

The Rolling Stones have postponed their Oct. 31 show at The Beacon Theater, after doctors ordered Mick Jagger to rest his voice. The show will take place on Nov. 1 instead. Show time remains at 8 p.m.

Pioneers of hip-hop, “college rock” and disco lead the slate of finalists for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s inductee class of 2007.

Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five came out of The Bronx in 1980 on Sugar Hill Records and were best known for the groundbreaking single “The Message,” which showed hip-hop was more than just a bunch of party songs.

R.E.M., who released its debut single “Radio Free Europe” in 1981, became the first “college rock” band from the ‘80s to crossover to mainstream success with its Top 10 hit “The One I Love” and its album “Document” in 1987.

Chic, who topped the charts with “Le Freak” and “Good Times,” were big in the Manhattan discos in the late ‘70s, but their funk-jazz roots gained Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards respect in the rock world as well.

Also among this year’s finalists: British Invasion band The Dave Clark Five, girl group The Ronettes, punk-poet Patti Smith, proto-punkers The Stooges, R&B singer Joe Tex and heavy metal virtuosos Van Halen.

Five of the finalists will become inductees, announced in January. Those five will be inducted into the museum at a ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria on March 12.

Watch Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" and Chic's "Le Freak" on the jump.

Watch R.E.M. do "Radio Free Europe" on Letterman below.

Diddy lands his first No. 1 album since 1997 with “Press Play,” which sold 170,000 copies last week, finishing ahead of Evanescence (112,000) and a strong debut from JoJo (108,000).

Full Billboard report
Newsday's Top Albums and Singles (compiled by Billboard) on the jump

Paging Daryl Hall!

Gym Class Heroes is after you.

"I really want him to be on our next record," said the band's singer Travis McCoy.
Other '80s stars that get shout-outs from McCoy: Pebbles, Sade, Terence Trent D'Arby, Poison and, of course, Jermaine Stewart.

Of course, there's a whole lot of hip-hop and emo that influence the band's eclectic sound too.

Full story

On its previous two albums, My Chemical Romance's ambitions have outstripped their execution - a good band striving for greatness by walking the line between bombast and grandeur.

That doesn't really change on "The Black Parade" (Warner Bros.), since My Chem's reach expands exponentially the more proficient its grasp gets. But, man, have they gotten better at taking risks.

The leadoff single, "Welcome to the Black Parade," promises the world in just over five minutes - a call-to-arms to become "the savior of the broken, the beaten and the damned," a demonstration of how punk-pop can be an effective venue for ideas beyond broken hearts, and the centerpiece of a concept album about death and dying. And, despite the odds, it delivers on every point.

What makes "The Black Parade" such a thrill is that it swings for the fences like that on every track. Sometimes they strike out - on the crazy "Mama," which features a cameo from Liza Minnelli. But, most of the time they connect, in a variety of styles, no less.

"Dead!" bounces manically from Queen-like bluster to stylish punk-pop. "Teenagers" is a grandiose grind, built on testosterone and T. Rex-styled guitars. "I Don't Love You" opens like Coldplay's "Yellow," before turning into an anthem like Green Day's "Wake Me When September Ends." (Producer Rob Cavallo, who worked on Green Day's "American Idiot," helps My Chemical Romance build a concept album that's just as good.)

"The Black Parade" is fearless and outrageous, yet melodic enough to hook even the most casual listener. It sets the bar incredibly high for any band looking to be the next leader of the punk-pop/emo scene. ("The Black Parade," in stores today; Grade: A)

More on THE A-LIST

Listen to "Welcome to the Black Parade" here

With so much being made of sophomore slumps lately (yeah, Brandon Flowers, I'm talking to you), worries about John Legend's follow-up to his Grammy-winning debut, "Get Lifted," make sense. Well, fear not, Legend fans. "Once Again" (G.O.O.D./ Sony) is a quantum leap ahead for the singer, packed with enough sweet soul ballads to melt even the coldest heart.

Like the first single "Save Room," most of "Once Again" - from the Sade-flecked "Heaven" to the gorgeous "Each Day" - sounds like Legend has absorbed Smokey Robinson smoothness and Stevie Wonder energy and applied them to timeless Hal David-Burt Bacharach classics to create something new. He updates the sound with '80s handclaps and a Santana-like guitar solo to make "PDA (We Just Don't Care)" a bit more current, while the passing references to the Iraq war in "Tonight I Wanna Dance" are the only giveaway that the stunning soul ballad is his and not Robinson and the Miracles. ("Once Again," in stores today; Grade: A-)

LIsten to "Once Again" here

With each passing single, Eminem seems less and less interested in continuing to rap. His verses on Akon's "Smack That" (SRC/Konvict Muzik), already a throwaway ode to ladies' butts, couldn't be more cliche-ridden. On Em's new single "You Don't Know" (Shady), from the forthcoming compilation "The Re-Up," where he introduces new rappers, he pops in almost like an afterthought with talk of beefs and partying, while 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks do the song's heavy lifting. If Eminem wants a break, that's cool, but he shouldn't waste fans' time with these half-hearted attempts.

Listen to "Smack That" here

Listen to "You Don't Know" here

After two years of secrecy surrounding its upcoming album, Brand New has officially leaked the first track over the Internet.

Queens represents for Jamaica’s Lloyd Banks, who tops the Newsday charts, while finishing at No. 3 (143,000 copies sold) nationally, behind Rod Stewart (184,000) and Evanescence (164,000).

Full Billboard report
Newsday's Top Albums and Singles (compiled by Billboard) on the jump

The Scissor Sisters, who are still based in Manhattan, say they feel more at home in England these days.

"They have really adopted us as their own," said singer Jake Shears, calling from a tour stop in Chicago. "It's always fun to play New York, and we have a lot of friends in the crowd, but London just feels like more of a homecoming show for us, now. There's more love there."

"Love" may be an understatement. The Scissor Sisters' eponymous debut album, with its flamboyant '70s pop strutter "Take Your Mama" and the discofied cover of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb," came from nowhere to become Britain's biggest-selling album in 2004. Their latest album, "Ta-Dah" (Universal Motown), and its first single, "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'," have both already hit No. 1 there, beating out American chart-toppers Justin Timberlake and Beyoncé.

"I have no idea why it's so different," Shears said. "But I'm not losing any sleep over it. We're perfectly happy. Even without the success in England, we're really proud of what we've done. It's more than I've ever expected. If you told me five years ago that we would have an album in the Top 20, I would've said you were crazy."

Full story

PHOTO by Joseph Gultice

When TV on the Radio singer Tunde Adebimpe performs, his left arm alternates between the studied strength of a preacher dispensing healing and the arm-waving frenzy of a lost soul seeking salvation – the most visible demonstration of the Brooklyn band’s push-pull of musical styles and the creative tension that causes.

The one constant in the band’s music, especially in its new album “The Return to Cookie Mountain” (Interscope), is the lure of a familiar style – from ‘50s doo-wop to ‘70s soul to ‘90s hip-hop – followed by the yank in an unexpected direction. It showed up time and time again in the band’s 90-minute set Tuesday night at Irving Plaza, from the opener “Dirtywhirl,” with its chugging guitars, dub-style keyboards and whistling, to the final encore, the gorgeous “Ambulance,” which could have come from The Platters, if the “Twilight Time” singers would deliver lines like “I will be your ambulance, if you will be my accident.”

SETLIST: Dirtywhirl / Dreams / Province / The Wrong Way / Young Liars / Wolf Like Me / I Was a Lover / Hours / Wash the Day / Satellite // ENCORES: Poppy / Staring at the Sun / Let the Devil In /Ambulance

Early this morning, Fabolous was shot in the thigh, as he waited in front of a parking garage near Diddy's Justin's restaurant in Chelsea. After Fab's crew pulled him into their car, they sped off to the hospital, but cops stopped them for running a red light and arrested them all on weapons possession. Fabolous is reported in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital. No arrests have been made for the shooting and there is no word yet on motive.

Full story

Diddy is a man of many talents: performer, producer, marketer, party-thrower, entrepreneur and pitch man.

Rapper should be on the list, too, though not very high, considering all his other successes. He's a decent rapper, but that's often not the point. And that becomes pretty clear on "Press Play" (Bad Boy/Atlantic), Diddy's first album in five years.

It turns out, you see, that Diddy is best in small doses. The album opens with five Diddy-dominated songs, filled with the boasting rhymes, sometimes-stilted flow, and even a sample from an odd new-wave hit (in this case, "Testimonial" features Tears for Fears' "Head Over Heels") that mark all his albums. On "The Future," where he rhymes "breakfast" with "brake pads," Diddy hammers away with lines such as "Bang like chitty chitty, here to disturb you/New CD, watch it spread like bird flu" over a menacing beat. That gets old pretty quick.

But once the "Press Play" guests start arriving, suddenly Diddy finds his footing. Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger sexes up the first single, "Come to Me," cooing over the spacey synth-funk groove. Christina Aguilera is just as steamy on "Tell Me," offering one of her most straightforward, stripped-down vocals since "Genie in a Bottle." And, of course, Mary J. Blige brings the house down with a passionate performance on "Making It Hard," where producer Rich Harrison smooths out the brash horns and jagged beats of Jennifer Lopez's "Get Right" to suit Blige's soul vibe better.

Diddy even stretches the boundaries of Diddiness a bit, with the dance-flavored, double-speed "Thought You Said," featuring a lovely vocal from Brandy and an irresistible skittering beat. "Wanna Move," which teams Diddy with OutKast's Big Boi, Scar and Ciara, is another dance-floor winner, adding a layer of darkness to an airy, Dirty South dance groove.

The strangest of the bunch, though, may be "Diddy Rock," where Timbaland helps construct one of the spacey hip-hop backdrops that have helped Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado dominate the charts this year. However, instead of going for a catchy theme like bringing sexy back or getting promiscuous, Diddy goes dada, offering "Let me take you to Indonesia, where nobody can reach us" and "I'm your burgers, you my fries" before standing back once Twista and Shawnna start trading rapid-fire rhymes.

In the five years since his last album, the disappointing "The Saga Continues," Diddy has learned what so many CEOs and politicos haven't. A great leader knows when to stand back and let others shine. He understands that when the entire project does well, so does he, and that sometimes your strongest role can be behind-the-scenes.

This new strategy has definitely helped to revitalize Diddy's Bad Boy Entertainment, which has seen smash hits this year from Danity Kane and Yung Joc, after a short dry spell. And it is sure to pay off when "Press Play" spawns hit singles deep into next year. ("Press Play," in stores today; grade: B)

Listen to "Press Play" here

Jay-Z's comeback single "Show Me What You Got" (Roc-a-Fella) is built around a silky horn solo and some flashy flourishes that sound like a less serious continuation to "Encore" from "The Black Album." Like a lot of Jay's lead singles, "Show Me" plays like the appetizer to the album's main courses - even opening with a sly, half-joking apology, "What you want me to do? I'm sorry. I'm back." It's a charmer, but it also suggests there's more to come, making us wait until "Kingdom Come" drops on Nov. 21 before Jay shows us what he's got going on.

Listen to "Show Me What You Got" here

In honor of the Long Island Music Hall of Fame inductions on Sunday, a vintage clip of Gary U.S. Bonds...

From the I-can't-believe-it's-true file: Freestyle/pop queens Jeanette Jurado, Ann Curless and Gioia Bruno -- better known as Exposé -- announced today that they have reunited, with their first appearance set for Miami's American Airlines Arena next Saturday night.

“The chemistry between us is pure magic, plain and simple,” Curless said in a statement. “It’s such a fabulous experience to be back working with these incredibly talented ladies. I’ve got goose bumps already!”

No tour info yet, though the ladies behind "Let Me Be The One," "What You Don't Know" and "Come Go With Me" have too big a following in New York not to pay a visit. Now if only we could reunite The Jets.

Here's the gals' video for "Point of No Return" to tide you over.

And the video for the underrated "Your Baby Never Looked Good in Blue" is on the jump.

Two big sophomore efforts top the week's sales, as Evanescence sold 445,000 copies of "The Open Door" (Wind-Up) in its first week, beating out The Killers' "Sam's Town," which sold 315,000 copies.

Full Billboard report
Newsday's Top Albums and Singles (compiled by Billboard) on the jump

Punk rock's most diabolical toilet will never flush again - at least not in Manhattan.

By this time next week, CBGB, the Lower East Side dive that brought live music to the Bowery 33 years ago and birthed the U.S. punk and new-wave music scenes, will be as lifeless as Johnny Thunders. Or Jerry Nolan. Or ____________ (insert name of favorite dead punk star here). It's a real heartbreaker - we're not kidding. Little Steven Van Zandt, who spearheaded the fight to save CB's last year, isn't giving interviews about it; his press person said he is, in fact, "too heartbroken."

The club's official cause of death will be listed as "rent dispute"; a lengthy disagreement between CBGB and its landlord, the nonprofit homeless aid group Bowery Residents' Committee, could not be resolved.

Hilly Kristal, the venue's owner, chooses to remember the good times instead of the impending end.

Full story

PHOTO: Hilly Kristal and Little Steven during the fight to save CBGB by Associated Press.

On the jump, video of The Ramones doing "Rockaway Beach" at CBGB

For her first New York concert in six years, Barbra Streisand should have left the boys -- popera hunks Il Divo and a George W. Bush impersonator -- at home. They ruined the flow of the show and detracted from what was a gorgeous, skilled performance. Nevertheless, despite the setbacks, Streisand still triumphed.

SETLIST: Funny Girl Overture / Starting Here, Starting Now / Down with Love / The Way We Were / Come Rain or Shine / Ma Premiere Chanson / Evergreen (with Il Divo) / Unchained Melody-Il Divo / Unbreak My Heart-Il Divo / My Way-Il Divo / Don't Rain On My Parade / Funny Girl / The Music That Makes Me Dance / My Man / People / ACT TWO: Passera-Il Divo / Music of the Night (with Il Divo) / When The Sun Comes Out / Carefully Taught/Children Will Listen / Unusual Way / What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life? / Happy Days Are Here Again / Have I Stayed Too Long at the Fair? / Somewhere (with Il Divo) // ENCORE: Don't Rain On My Parade

Full review here
PHOTO: Ari Mintz for Newsday

OK, I don't want to shatter any illusions of Oprah's infallibility, but at last night's Barbra Streisand show at Madison Square Garden, she led the standing ovation for Il Divo after they massacred "My Way," which they dedicated to Streisand and their "biggest new fan, Miss Rosie O'Donnell." Rosie has had the sense to say, diplomatically, of course, that the operatic boy band is, um, not so good in the concert. Maybe Oprah was just trying to be polite.

Which is exactly what Streisand told a heckler who, like a handful of others, started yelling during the skit where she chats with a George W. Bush impersonator. The needling was tame (she suggested they sing "What Kind of Fool" or "Guilty" or "Enough Is Enough" before settlilng on "Happy Days Are Here Again"; he said that if he was worried about polls, he'd run for president of Poland) but when one of the hecklers didn't stop, she moved from "Be polite!" to "Shut the ---- up if you can't take a joke!"

(After all, Streisand was a uniter, not a divider, bringing in Republican fundraiser Georgette Mosbacher, who sat with Rosie and her spouse Kelli Carpenter, and Democratic firebrand The Rev. Al Sharpton. Of course, they didn't get nearly as many cheers as the arrival of Oprah and Gayle King or the ovation of Oprah greeting Rosie with a hug.)

What wasn't a joke was Streisand's explanation about her lack of a sound check yesterday, after getting stuck in traffic on her way to The Met to see the Rembrandt exhibit that it took her an hour to go one block. She was also pretty serious about her shout-outs for New York food: a Yonah Schimmel's knish, a Zabar's bialy and Serendipity's frozen hot chocolate.

Streisand's favorite joke of the night: "What? There are gay people here?" She used it twice.

Cobra Starship is no joke band, even if it does get pretty funny.

The side project of Midtown's Gabe Saporta trades the voice-quivering drama and super-intense rock of his regular band for a more lighthearted, groove-oriented style on the debut "While the City Sleeps, We Run the Streets" (Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen).

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Saporta has already secured a new audience with Cobra Starship's first single, "Bring It," the guitar-driven dance-rock theme from Samuel L. Jackson's "Snakes on a Plane" that also features pals Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes, William Beckett from The Academy Is ..., and Maja Ivarsson from The Sounds.

Cobra Starship, however, has much more to offer than that. "While the City Sleeps, We Run the Streets" is loose, a bit funky and so-not-serious. One minute, Saporta is biting a bit of Madonna's "Music" for the chorus of "Send My Love to the Dancefloor, I'll See You in Hell (Hey Mr. DJ)" - a song that somehow bounces among a U2-ish opening, '70s synth whistles and an '80s new wave bass line - and the next he is revving up the infectious "The Church of Hot Addiction."

Strong hooks on dance songs "It's Amateur Night at the Apollo Creed" and "The Kids Are All -- Up" let Cobra Starship surpass new-new-wave bands like The Bravery and The Rapture at warp speed. Saporta's hooks also work well on rockers like the emo-skewering "Pop-Punk is Sooooo '05" ("You're just a boy who's afraid of the dark," Saporta sneers), while the new single "It's Warmer in the Basement" is as catchy as anything his Fall Out Boy pals have come up with yet.

When Saporta says Cobra Starship's mission as "teaching hipsters to not take themselves so seriously and by telling emo kids to stop being [wimps]" or when he encourages the band's fans to "put your fangs up," he may be half-joking. But make no mistake, "While the City Sleeps, We Run the Streets" is completely entertaining. (Grade: A-)

Listen to "While the City Sleeps, We Run the Streets" here
PHOTO: Saporta and friends from Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen

It's been 10 years since the Spice Girls began exporting "girl power," flashing peace signs and building a tween army of wanna-bes. So it only seems right that a new generation of British female artists are queuing up for their shot at taking over America this fall. Lady Sovereign - the pint-size rapper who comes across as part Sporty Spice, part Eminem - is unleashing "Love Me or Hate Me" (DefJam), a catchy single that twists Em's "Without Me" in a darker, more electronic direction. Lily Allen, who combines her Debbie Harry edginess with Baby Spice cuteness, is offering "Smile" (Capitol), which may seem like cutesy reggae until you get to the chorus of "When I see you cry, it makes me smile." Together, they should be conjuring up some "girl power" of their own soon over here.

Listen to "Love Me or Hate Me" here
Listen to "Smile" here

While Ludacris' "Release Therapy" (DTP/DefJam) topped the charts across the country, selling 309.000 copies, Long Island showed its love for Tony Bennett's "Duets: An American Classic" (RPM/Columbia) giving the singer the No. 1 spot on the Newsday charts.

Full Billboard report
Newsday's Top Albums and Singles (compiled by Billboard) on the jump
PHOTO: Ken Spencer for Newsday

It seems like Mat Kearney's music is everywhere these days - everywhere except, well, you know, the radio.

The Nashville-based singer-songwriter saw his song "All I Need" close out the season premiere of "Grey's Anatomy" (so prominently, in fact, that the show's producers took the unusual step of identifying Kearney and his album in the credits) and his song "Crashing Down" made it into the show's second episode. Kearney's John Mayeresque "Undeniable" is in the commercials for NBC's "Friday Night Lights" and the title track from his album "Nothing Left to Lose" (Aware/Columbia) has been in the promos for TNT and MTV's "Laguna Beach."

Sure, Kearney's dramatic, Coldplay-with-a-twang guitar ballads work well behind shots of mourning doctors or rich Cali kids, but they're pretty decent songs on their own. Like David Ford and David Gray (shouldn't he be a shoo-in for "Grey's Anatomy"?), Kearney cuts the melodrama with a touch of humor and unusual touches like the rap-singing through "Undeniable," keeping a nice, laid-back vibe intact throughout the album.

The buzz from "Grey's Anatomy" has generated new interest in "Nothing Left to Lose," which was released in April. Who knows? It may even get him played on the radio.

Listen to "Nothing Left to Lose" here

Natalie Cole will turn a lot of heads with her new album, "Leavin'" (Verve), which features her versions of Fiona Apple's "Criminal," Kate Bush's "The Man With the Child in His Eyes," Neil Young's "Old Man" and the first single, Aretha Franklin's "Day Dreaming." But it's her cover of the Tom Jans hit "Lovin' Arms," usually associated with Elvis Presley and Etta James, that shows how Cole has recaptured an artistic spark and R&B edginess that suggests she isn't ready to trot off into the smooth-jazz sunset just yet. Built over a single acoustic guitar line and sweet backing vocals with a hint of Bob Marley and the Wailers, "Lovin' Arms" gives Cole a chance to show off her raucous, soulful side, sounding more like Macy Gray than Miss "Miss You Like Crazy." Who knew she still had surprises up her sleeves?

"Hello, stranger," Massive Attack's Robert "3D" Del Naja said.

He was talking to his longtime collaborataor Grant "Daddy G" Marshall, who was making his first appearance of the tour at Roseland after skipping the earlier dates to stay home with his newborn son. But Del Naja could've been addressing the crowd, many of whom had been waiting more than eight years to see the trip-hop pioneers play New York again.

Luckily, with longtime collaborator Horace Andy, newcomer Deborah Miller and Cocteau Twin Elizabeth Fraser in tow, it was worth the wait.

SETLIST: False Flags / Risingson / Black Milk / Man Next Door / Karmacoma / Butterfly Caught / Hymn of the Big Wheel / Mezzanine / Teardrop / Angel / Future Proof // ENCORES: Inertia Creeps / Unfinished Sympathy / Group Four

Full review on jump

DMX, drama. Drama, DMX.

The rapper threw a fit at Hot 97's "Back to School Jam" at Nassau Coliseum late Saturday night. Someone in his entourage threw a metal chair into the audience, which hit a 29-year-old woman in the head and sent her to Nassau University Medical Center.

Now DMX may have had every reason to be upset. J. Edward Keyes says that the sound went out and there was a 90-minute delay between Yung Joc's set and Lloyd Banks taking the stage with 50 Cent and G-Unit, which, in turn, delayed DMX. Then, the sound went out during his set.

Unfortunately, delays and bad sound happen at a lot of hip-hop shows, especially the ones with long slates of performers. The problem at this show was that DMX then began fighting with the sound man, police told Newsday's Jennifer Smith. Altercations broke out after that and then police had to end the show and clear the venue. It's not clear whether Foxy Brown and Jim Jones, who were scheduled to perform, were supposed to have gone on after DMX or not.

Keyes' review here
Smith's news story here
Photo by Wayne Herrschaft for Newsday.

The Killers wanted "Sam's Town" (Island) to be great.

They dress it up in the trappings of grandeur - offering a "enterlude" and an "exitlude" to book-end the album, epic production from Alan Moulder and Flood, styling and photography by Anton Corbijn. Singer Brandon Flowers then set the hype machine in motion by declaring that "Sam's Town" would be "one of the best albums in the past 20 years."

Unfortunately, "Sam's Town" is not one of the best albums in the past 20 days. It's not even one of the best albums of the past 20 hours (especially considering The Hold Steady's new Vagrant album "Boys & Girls in America" also comes out today).

Flowers has cited Bruce Springsteen as an influence for the new album, and that's evident on the puffed-up "This River Is Wild," with its talk of Mary and its "Darkness at the Edge of Town" ending, and in the way he tries to sound Boss-ish in some of his vocals.

This doesn't work, mainly because The Killers are a synth-pop band, not The E Street Band. "For Reasons Unknown" sounds like The Cars circa "Shake It Up." "Bling (Confessions of a King)" opens like an Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark B-side. And "Read My Mind" plays like a long-lost Flesh for Lulu track, as does the first single, "When You Were Young."

Not that there's anything wrong with any of that. After all, The Killers' debut, "Hot Fuss" succeeded by playing off Duran Duran's pop flair with "Somebody Told Me" and "Mr. Brightside."

On "Sam's Town," The Killers do themselves (and their songs) a disservice by trying to be something they're not. "Fake it 'til you make it" may work in business, but in music, it only makes you look pompous and silly. ("Sam's Town," in stores today; grade: C+)

Listen to "Sam's Town" here

Maybe Evanescence is brilliant. Maybe Amy Lee and whoever is in that band now have pioneered the musical equivalent of those movie franchises, where they churn out one sequel after another to make as much money as they can before people realize they're making the same movie over and over again. Maybe the reason "The Open Door" (Wind-Up) sounds almost exactly like the band's multiplatinum debut "Fallen" - matching the focus-grouped balance of guitar churn, piano tinkle and mewling from Lee - is part of this master plan. Maybe it will all end in a chain of mall stores that market Lee's brand of "goth" to suburban teens who want to rebel but don't know any better. Maybe the over-the-top dramatics of "Lacrymosa" and piano ballad "Your Star" will be seen as so-bad-they're-good. Then again, maybe not. ("The Open Door," in stores today; grade: D)

Listen to "The Open Door" here

It started with an old box of tapes that Concord Records had received from its purchase of Fantasy Records.

John Burk, a Concord executive, found a tape marked "Ray Charles and Count Basie" - a pairing that would have made musical history. Burk says he practically ran to a tape machine, but his find turned out to be a '70s concert that featured Charles and the Count Basie Orchestra playing separately.

Rather than chalking it up as another musical "what if," Burk began thinking, "Why not?"

After listening to the tape, Gregg Field, who had played drums for both Basie and Charles, could name many reasons. "Someone just put a mike on Ray Charles and not the rest of the band," says Field, adding that you could hear the band through Charles' mike. "We didn't have a clean vocal."

What they did have, however, was an amazing performance from Charles. "It would have been lost for the ages," Field says. "What we wanted to do would allow the world to hear him in the prime of his career."