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David Bowie Crafts Collection of His Personal Favorites

David Bowie could likely be counted among some of the most unique rockers of all time. With a penchant for reinventing himself numerous times through the years, and creating an aura of mystery around issues involving his sexual orientation, one word that does not come to mind when I think of David Bowie is "boring."

Regardless of the controversies over his sexual orientation, and some of the wild rumors that circulated about the rocker through the years, there is no arguing with his success as a musician and performer. With an impressive number of hits such as "Fame," "Young Americans" and "Major Tom," Bowie has been a major force on the music scene for nearly four decades.

The most recent news from 61-year-old Bowie is that he will be releasing a new compilation of songs that represent his personal favorites. Culled from decades worth of his work, the new compilation, called iSelect: Bowie, will contain 12 songs that the performer himself says that he never tires of.

The compilation was originally included as a bonus CD that was bundled with the June 29 edition of the U.K. newspaper Mail on Sunday, which Bowie agreed to create after being asked by the newspaper to compile 12 of his own favorite songs for a limited edition CD to use as a giveaway.

Bowie obviously took the task very seriously and put together a selection of songs from his catalog that might be a bit surprising, considering the absence of the tracks that most of us think of as his major hits. The CD also includes commentary from Bowie for each track, outlining his reasons for selecting it as a personal favorite.

As an additional surprise, Bowie has included two tracks that are exclusive to this new compilation — one entitled "Time Will Crawl" (a re-mix from 1987’s Never Let Me Down) and the other "Some Are."

The new compilation is scheduled for release on October 14, although Amazon.com is advertising a September 30 release date on their site.

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Tags: CD, Compilation, David Bowie, iSelect

Rush’s Geddy Lee To Guest On Children’s CD

Geddy Lee is lending his talents to a new children’s CD that will be coming from Barenaked Ladies. Entitled Snack Time, the new CD is scheduled to be released on May 6.

Other artists that are set to be part of the new CD include Lyle Lovett, Jason Priestley, Sarah McLachlan and Gordon Lightfoot.

It’s kind of interesting to hear about a kid’s CD coming from a group with a name like Barenaked Ladies. If something like that came out when I was a youngster, I probably would have wanted to get it just because of the name of the group!

Details on the new CD seem a bit hard to come by at the moment, but it appears to be about healthy eating for kids. We don’t often see stuff like this coming from rockers like Barenaked Ladies, so kudos to them for promoting healthier kids.

Thanks to Power Windows for the scoop.

Tags: Barenaked Ladies, CD, Geddy Lee, Rush, Snack Time

Rush Hopes To Begin Work on New Album Next Year

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As the start date for the second leg of the Snakes & Arrows tour draws near, late word from Rush reveals that the group hopes to begin work on a new studio album next year.

A few days after Rush opens the tour in San Juan, Snakes & Arrows Live will be released on April 15. The new CD will feature some special treats like live performances of "Circumstances" and "Entre Nous" which had not been performed live previous to last year.

Later on in the year, a DVD will be available from the same show in Rotterdam where the material for the CD was recorded. The video footage was shot in HD, which is good news for HD snobs like myself.

Although the plans for the new album are not firm at this point, Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson reports that the group will probably take a break after the tour is finished and probably won’t be ready to work on any new material until the spring of next year.

For more on this story, check out Reuters.

Tags: CD, DVD, New Album, Rush, tour

Keith Richards No Fan of Modern Rock

Rolling Stones legend Keith Richards must be big fan of old time rock and roll and he seems to prefer the sound of the old LP records that were once the most popular medium used to bring that music to the masses.

Richards says he does not care for the sound of music from CDs since it sounds “tinny” to him. As a notorious sound quality snob myself, I can relate to his pickiness, but I’m one of those people who does not find fault with the quality of digital sound.

Beyond his dissatisfaction with CDs, Richards does not have much good to say about the quality of modern rock music itself, referring to groups like Oasis and the Sex Pistols as “crap” and says that he has never really liked British rock music.

I guess nobody is going to accuse Keith Richards of holding back when it comes to his opinions on music.

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Tags: CD, Keith Richards, Modern Music, Oasis, Sex Pistols

New Life For The Vinyl LP Record

I’ll be the first to admit that I did not see this coming. It appears that the old vinyl LP record is making a comeback. And it’s not only old albums that are available on vinyl. New albums are being released on the venerable format from artists like Amy Winehouse and The Shins.

I guess I first started to notice this trend on David Letterman’s show. He regularly displays a musical group’s CD on the show when he announces their performances and lately I have noticed that he has been hauling some big LP covers out onto his desk for the camera.

I was one of those people that welcomed the digital music era with open arms. Although some say that they can hear a difference between digital music and the "warmer" sound of the old vinyl records, that is something I have had a hard time making my mind up about.

What drove me crazy about the old vinyl records was that I could never seem to banish the hiss and pops that resulted from dirt, dust, scratches or whatever else it was on the surface of the record that interrupted my listening pleasure no matter what record-cleaning gizmo I tried. The sound of interference-free digital music ushered in a new era of peace and harmony between myself and my music collection.

Apparently there is a perception among some of today’s young music fans that vinyl is cool, and is the new in thing in some circles and that’s fine with me. I think music fans have the right to choose their tunes on whatever format they prefer and those producing the vinyl are keeping up with the times by offering records in different colors and including useful bonuses like certificates for free digital downloads of the music that is on the record that was purchased.

I’m still somewhat on the fence on whether vinyl sounds warmer, richer or better when compared to digital music, but I’d be willing to give it a listen some day. It has been a couple of decades or so since I have heard anything on vinyl, so it would probably be easier for me to pick up on any differences now. I’ll be sure to report back if I get a chance to spin an LP or two on a turntable somewhere.

Tags: CD, Digital, Format, LP, Record, Vinyl