Burgernoodle

‘Blackout’, Britney’s first studio album in four years hits stores tomorrow and so far most of the reviews have been on the positive side.  Whether we can attribute these praises to Britney herself or the magical producing of Timbaland protégé Nate “Danja” Hills and the Swedish duo Bloodshy & Avant is really up for debate.  Here are a few of the reviews, according to AOL Music:

Nekesa Mumbi Moody of the Associated Press raves about Britney’s new work. “‘Blackout’ is not only a very good album, it’s her best work ever - a triumph, with not a bad song to be found on the 12 tracks.”

PEOPLE gave ‘Blackout’ three stars, musing, “There is plenty of hot music for dancing one’s troubles away.”

The New York Times was decidedly mixed in its review.

“[Britney] has done almost nothing, in the recording studio or outside it, to convince fans that ‘Blackout’ is really hers, or really her. That doesn’t make it any harder to delight in how good the best songs sound. But that may well make it hard (or impossible) for fans and skeptics to treat this CD as a serious comeback attempt.”

I’ve got to be honest, I’m curious about this album and although I won’t drop 10 bones to purchase it, you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll sample 30 seconds of each song from the iTunes store and then unleash some wild opinions on Burgernoodle next week.  It’s completely understandable if you can’t go buy the album because of last minute costume shopping…or because you’re watching ants traverse across the plains of your backyard.  Understandable.

According to Mac Daily News those glossy plastic album cards that you see at the Starbucks counter (you know the ones, you’re wondering who KT Tunstall is so you pick it up, inspect the shiny little copy of her album cover, then put it back the second the cashier hands you your change) are actually doing quite well.  These cards have debuted with great success at Starbucks retailers and Safeways around the country.  So instead of giving someone an iTunes gift card, you’re essentially giving them a gift card that will buy them that specific album from iTunes.  You know, it’s kind of like giving someone a cd without the physical jewel case, liner notes, and album pictures.  The cards cost the exact same as the album price on iTunes itself, so why this is any better than the generic gift card, which gives someone the liberty to buy what they please, is beyond me.  Maybe it’s just Apple’s way of coming up with yet another random product, like the square nano. And surprise, surprise they’re masters at marketing said products.

Billboard’s Ed Christman reports, “iTunes Vice President Eddie Cue said that Apple views the cards as ‘a way to leverage digital in the physical space.’ Conventional music merchants are open to the concept as well. ‘We would carry both the CD album and the card,’ one retail executive at a traditional chain said.”

Currently, KT Tunstall’s Drastic Fantastic and Eddie Vedder’s soundtrack to Into the Wild are available at 1,000 of the 1,600 Starbucks stores.  You can also find album cards for popular artists such as Maroon 5, Nora Jones, and Kelly Clarkson at Safeway, a grocery chain that is apparently no longer satisfied with just selling groceries.

See?  She’s a decent mother afterall.  She did what any loving mother would do for their children towards the end of the fall harvest…make a trip to the pumpkin patch to prep for Hallows Eve!  Oops, close.  Turns out, according to US Magazine, that when Britney and the gang stopped at the Calabasas pumpkin patch, she made the kids stay in the car.  Aren’t patches sort of for the children?  Isn’t that why you go?  Otherwise, wouldn’t you just snag a pumpkin on sale at the check-out line of Safeway?

Despite all the negative press Britney is getting for loving her mocha frap lattes more than her kids, her latest single “Gimme More” is definitely getting plenty of airtime, and recently hit #3 on Billboards Hot 100 List.  And don’t ask why.  It’s Britney, bitch.

Earlier this week, the founder of OiNK, the world’s largest “peer-to-peer” music download site, was arrested after a 2-yr criminal investigation.  Well now that the young lad has posted bail and is temporarily out of the slammer, he speaks up about the site.  24 yr old Alan Ellis, who set up the site 3 1/2 years ago told the British tabloid The Daily Telegraph that he hasn’t done anything wrong.  According to him, OiNK is no different than Google:

“If Google directed someone to a site they can illegally download music they are doing the same as what I have been accused of. I am not making any Oink users break the law. People don’t pay to use the site…My site is no different to something like Google.”

  I’m not sure I agree with that, but in any event he goes on to say: 

“People who download music also buy CDs as well. A lot of people download music on the internet to get a taste of it and then later buy the CD.”

  Ehhh. Wrong again.  How redundant is that?  Why would you download a song, then go buy the cd, and then upload it to iTunes?  Who needs two digital files for one song?  There are two schools of music-listeners: the freeloaders and the cd purchasers (iTunes shoppers can be included in the latter). If you download and then buy, check your dusty dictionary for the phrase “big fat waste of time.”

It was a slow week in music, but here are the top selling albums this week (because believe what you may, you need this information)…

#1) Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s Magic

#2) Kid Rock’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Jesus

#3) Rascal Flatts’ Still Feels Good

#4) Josh Groban’s Noel

#5) Jimmy Eat World’s Chase the Light

I’m awfully surprised that Josh Groban’s Christmas album didn’t whiz past the Boss.  Don’t baby boomers (his main audience, I’m assuming) take up a great deal of the population?  What doesn’t surprise me, however, is that the High School Musical 2 soundtrack beat out Kanye West by two spots (#7 and #9, respectively).  At least now he can’t drunkenly blab about how he is the number one human being in music.

As it turns out, bigger isn’t always better.  According to the New York Times, Radiohead will likely sign their latest album, In Rainbows (the album they let their fans determine the price of) to an independent label.  In lieu of one of the larger contenders. 

“Major labels including Warner Bros. Records, Columbia Records, and Starbucks were reportedly engaged in a bidding war for the album, but it looks as though Radiohead will be leaving the major labels behind for a more independent business model.”

Whatever the band’s reasons may be, and as noble as it may seem, it makes complete fiscal sense.  You could be an indie band that makes a couple of albums and gains enough popularity to sign to one of the big guns and then risk having your fans call you a sell-out or you could beef up your piggy bank first and then finish your career with the artistic freedom that goes hand-in-hand with an independent label.  It’s like working for a corporate monolith and then suddenly deciding to tap into your creative outlets and boom, you’re self-employed.  Except you have a much smaller paycheck. Or no paycheck.  Support my advertisers!

Self-named Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens (and formerly formerly known as Steven Demetre Georgiou) is performing once again, nearly 3 decades after he converted to Muslim and retired from the music business.  I guess all that’s changed is that he’s sporting a little less denim and the fact that he entered into an arranged marriage, auctioned off his possessions, and founded a Muslim school near London.  Other than that, pretty much the same guy.  Cat Stevens reached pop success in the early 70s topping the charts with “Wild World”, “Moon Shadow”, and “Peace Train” (among others).  In the late 80s his music was banned by some radio stations and the 10,000 Maniacs took the cover of “Peace Train” off their record when he supported the death sentence against novelist Salman Rushdie for writing the book The Satanic Verses.  He later claimed the media misconstrued the whole thing.

Enough about Cat back in the day.  What’s every college student’s favorite songwriter up to now?? Tentatively returning to show business, apparently.  Last march he gave his first full length concert in 28 years.  In a recent interview brought to us by Yahoo News, Yusuf was asked what his biggest indulgence is.  This was his response:

“Let me think about this … tea. I have to say tea, because I love tea and I love to drink it.”

  Ooo baby, baby, it’s a wild world indeed.

For those of you who have read The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band, which takes you on Motley Crue’s drug-infused roller coaster rider through Hollywood, Hell, and everywhere in-between, get ready for the sister-sequel, Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star.  Arguably the best (and definitely the best-looking)  member of the Crue, Nikki Sixx (bassist and main song-writer) has emerged from his heroin soaked days of rock and roll and amazingly enough, is alive to share his story.  There but for the grace of god goes Nikki. 

Although this candid memoire will never see the likes of Oprah’s book club,  I’m sure many Crue fans and rock music lovers/historians, will find it as riveting and disturbing as Dirt.  Here’s a description from Amazon:

When Mötley Crüe was at the height of its fame, there wasn’t any drug Nikki Sixx wouldn’t do. He spent days — sometimes alone, sometimes with other addicts, friends, and lovers — in a coke and heroin-fueled daze. The highs were high, and Nikki’s journal entries reveal some euphoria and joy. But the lows were lower, often ending with Nikki in his closet, surrounded by drug paraphernalia and wrapped in paranoid delusions.

  Sounds like the perfect rainy day read to me!

To share or not to share - that is the question that only idiodic fools ask themselves these days.  In a world where a single mother living paycheck to paycheck is forced to pay $222K for downloading and sharing 24 songs, no one is safe.  If you’ve got a Kazaa account, you might as well get a second job now, start saving, and then count how many of those pennies are lucky.  What a risky business this has become.  Mtv News reports that UK-run music file-sharing site, OiNK.cd  has been shut down as a result of a criminal investigation into suspected illegal music distribution. 

According to police, OiNK was an “extremely lucrative” site that provided illegal downloads of pre-release music and media to its members, who’d joined the site on an invite-only basis and were asked to contribute donations via debit or credit card. That money, believed to be in the region of hundreds of thousands of pounds, is being tracked down by the IFPI and the BPI.

Now, the estimated 180,000 paid members are being investigated and identified.  Call me old fashioned, but this is yet another reason why I love my cds.

For those looking to kill about 6 minutes of your workday, there’s a great website that tells you what song hit No. 1 on the day you were born. Or the day the microwave was invented.  Or any day that occupies a special little corner in your heart.  I was very pleased to find out that the No. 1 song on March 20, 1977 was “Rich Girl” by Hall and Oates.  Unfortunately for me, this wasn’t any kind of prophecy, just a really catchy pop song that suited the late 70s well (or the year 2007, check out the Gym Class Heroes next album release).  Curious to know what was No. 1 the day you walked in on your boyfriend and your ex-best friend?  Find out at This day in music… It’s incredibly fun.

Although, probably not all that well since the Fleetwood Mac singer claims to have spent close to a million dollars on drugs during her 10 years of addiction (which she kicked at the Betty Ford Clinic back in the 80s).  I’m no math genius, but I do own a calculator and 1 million divided by 10 divided by 365 is about $274 a day.  I’m not sure what the going rate was for an ounce of nose candy back in the gypsy years, but I know a little bit about inflation and by my calculations Stevie probably would have been dead by day three.  Unless she was mixing it with water and making paper mache volcanoes.  Every day.  Or maybe that’s just par for the course when you put out a best-selling album (Rumors, in 1977).  You just throw a really massive 10 year party.

Reuters.com reports that British rock music legend Led Zeppelin is one of the last major pop acts to offer their music in digital format.  I would make fun of the band for just now recognizing that this is the year 2007 if they weren’t the greatest rock band that ever lived.  If it was anyone else, perhaps the Eagles, I would say something like “well done boys! and did you also know that you can buy little portable telephonic devices that fit into the pocket of those skin tight jeans?”  But of course I wouldn’t because, again…greatest rock band of all time.

Sorry for the delay in posts…there was something really good on tv.  Get ready for some mind-blowing music news…