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Home > Atlanta Music Scene > Archives > 2008 > October > 20
Monday, October 20, 2008
Rate The New Usher Video
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As Atlanta R&B superstar Usher’s latest CD “Here I Stand” bubbles under at the No. 98 spot on Billboard’s pop chart this week, a video for the Prince-like single “Trading Places” has surfaced.
See the YouTube clip BELOW and tell us what you think. (And are you planning to see Usher Nov. 10 at the Tabernacle? Get tickets HERE).
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R.E.M. to Reissue “Murmur” For 25th Anniversary
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The full-length debut from Athens rock icons R.E.M., “Murmur,” is being reissued in a two-CD 25th anniversary deluxe edition Nov. 25.
The bonus disc is of a previously unreleased concert at Larry’s Hideaway in Toronto three months after “Murmur” hit stores in April 1983.
“R.E.M. was a product of the record store, the library, and the college classroom colliding with the ultimate counter-culture, nerd, dance, ambiguous sex party,” “Murmur” co-producer Don Dixon writes in an essay in the deluxe edition. “They were a band in the most classic sense of the word. The perfect amalgam of The Velvet Underground and The Doors.”
Also in the package, former I.R.S. exec Jay Boberg remembers his initial reaction to Murmur: “The first crystallization of the R.E.M. sound, a beautiful noise that will never be duplicated.”
Do you remember what you thought the first time you heard “Murmur”? Happen to be at that Larry’s Hideaway show? Have a Top 5, all-time R.E.M. albums list you’d like to share?
Oh - and if you’re curious, here’s the track listing from the anniversary set:
R.E.M. Murmur deluxe edition
Disc One The Album
- Radio Free Europe
- Pilgrimage
- Laughing
- Talk About The Passion
- Moral Kiosk
- Perfect Circle
- Catapult
- Sitting Still
- 9-9
- Shaking Through
- We Walk
West Of The Fields
Disc Two Live at Larry’s Hideaway
Laughing
- Pilgrimage
- There She Goes Again
- 7 Chinese Brothers
- Talk About The Passion
- Sitting Still
- Harborcoat
- Catapult
- Gardening At Night
- 9-9
- Just A Touch
- West Of The Fields
- Radio Free Europe
- We Walk
- 1,000,000
- Carnival Of Sorts (Box Cars)
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Janet Jackson’s Triumphant Homecoming
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Soooo, Janet Jackson was really, really sick, right?
Hospitalized a few weeks back (due to what was later reported as migraine-associated vertigo), and taking so long to recover that she had to reschedule this, and other dates on her first tour in seven years, yes?
Couldn’t have been.
As the part-time Atlantan that appeared before a just-over half full Philips Arena Sunday night gave a 100% performance. A performance so well-crafted and enthusiastically-received that many in the audience appeared exhausted after spending two plus hours on their feet.
“It feel so good to be home,” an often smiling, giggly and seemingly indefatigable Jackson said. “I love you ATL!”
The superstar appeared on the stage alone and at top speed - charging through the hits that helped make her one of the biggest contemporary pop and R&B artists ever: “Pleasure Principle.” “Control.” “What Have You Done For Me Lately?”
And even when she hit the next tune, “Feedback” — from the album “Discipline,” one of three or four commercial disappointments of recent years — the crowd sang and danced to it like it was of her 1986-2001 height.
Speaking of dancing, that is one of the more remarkable things about Jackson — and her shows. Where most fans are likely to sing along to the act they paid to see’s hits; Jackson fans go the extra step — literally, pantomining every move from the MTV-annointed “Icon’s” videos in the small space between their chair and the one in front.
Choreography was apparently a top priority to Jackson as well as there were 10 dancers on stage to her three band members (including Atlanta drummer Lil John Roberts); who were set off in a corner, and mostly in the dark.
What should have been left in the shadows — if not scrapped altogether — were Jackson’s unflattering mohawk hair piece, often unfortunate, Cher-in-Vegas choices of costumes and confusing video clips between songs. But as long as she hit every move fans remembered from the “Rhythm Nation” or “Miss You Much” videos those kinds of things probably registered with the thousands as minute.
(And you know, after all of that sweating Jackson did, that pinned-up mohawk kind of made at least practical sense).
Spotted in the arena were Mayor Shirley Franklin, Atlanta entertainment mogul Tyler Perry, local Grammy winners Ciara (who has often cited Jackson as an influence) and Ne-Yo (whose vocals are a modern take on Jackson’s brother, Michael), producer Tricky (who worked on Jackson’s most recent CD, “Discipline”) and in the corner of a VIP section on the floor — on his feet and dancing too — Jackson’s longtime boyfriend Jermaine Dupri.
Were you there — and if so what was your take on the show? (See the rest of our photo gallery HERE).
