CD new releases June 30, 2009: Wilco; Levon Helm; Woodstock; Bjork; more!

New CD releases of note this week. If any of these items are of interest to you, please consider clicking the titles and ordering them from Amazon, as part of the proceeds help support this site!


Wilco (The Album) by Wilco


Wilco (The Album) [2 LP 180g vinyl with bonus CD] by Wilco


Electric Dirt by Levon Helm


The Woodstock Experience (Limited Edition Box Set)


Voltaic (Limited Edition) (2CD/2DVD) by Björk


Voltaic (CD/DVD) by Björk


David Lynch Presents: Fox Bat Strategy: A Tribute to Dave Jaurequi by Fox Bat Strategy


And Don't the Kids Just Love It by Television Personalities (Vinyl - 2009)

DVD new releases June 30, 2009: Entourage; Secret Diary of a Call Girl; Lucille Ball specials; Renown Picture crime and noir

New releases of note this week. If any of these items are of interest to you, please consider clicking the titles and ordering them from Amazon, as part of the proceeds help support this site!


Entourage: The Complete Fifth Season


Secret Diary of a Call Girl Season 2


The Lucille Ball Specials: Lucy Gets Lucky/Three for Two


British Cinema: Renown Pictures Crime & Noir: Blackout, Bond of Fear, Home To Danger, Meet Mr. Callaghan, No Trace, Recoil

Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs to release second Under the Covers set

Under the Covers Vol. 1, a set of 1960s covers by Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs, got a lot of airtime at our house when it came out a few years back. So it'll be fun to hear the duo's take on a batch of 70s nuggets on Vol. 2, due out July 21.

From Billboard:

The resulting 16 tracks -- plus an additional 10 songs that will be available as a bonus edition download -- cover a range of styles, from hits like Rod Stewart's "Maggie May" to record-nerd favorites like Big Star's "Back of a Car." Hoffs and Sweet even scored guest spots from Mick Fleetwood, Dhani Harrison and Yes' Steve Howe, who re-creates his Portuguese 12-string guitar part on "I've Seen All Good People."



Here's the complete CD track list:

1. Sugar Magnolia
2. Go All The Way
3. Second Hand News
4. Bell Bottom Blues
5. All The Young Dudes
6. You're So Vain
7. Here Comes My Girl
8. I've Seen All Good People: Your Move/All Good People
9. Hello It's Me
10. Willin'
11. Back Of A Car
12. Couldn't I Just Tell You
13. Gimme Some Truth
14. Maggie May Listen
15. Everything I Own
16. Beware Of Darkness

Pop links: BEM! Supremes meet the Andrews Sisters! Stan Lee as Larry King!

The Bronze Age of Blogs remembers BEM, the UK comics fanzine of the 1970s and 80s.


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From Booksteve: The Supremes meet the Andrews Sisters.

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Stan Lee will reportedly appear as Larry King--or a Larry King-like talk show host, anyway--in next year's Iron Man 2.

New G.I. Joe movie pictures

Remembering Sky Saxon and Farrah; Jeff Lynne to complete George Harrison songs

Among the celebrities who died this week (Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson) was Sky Saxon, lead singer of 1960s garage band, The Seeds. Since those other folks are getting lots of attention elsewhere, here's a video tribute to him.



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Photographer Bruce McBroom talks about shooting That Farrah Fawcett Poster.



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Fellow Wilbury and ex-ELO chief Jeff Lynne plans to complete a batch of unfinished George Harrison tunes:

A source said: 'George half-finished loads of songs and often just forgot about them. There is probably an album’s worth of material.

'Jeff and George were very close and worked together a lot in the later period of George’s life. He’s the right man to work on the material.'

Only recently, Harrison’s widow Olivia revealed she wanted to do something with her husband’s incomplete songs.

She said: 'There are lots of tracks. Some are closer to completion than others and with those I’d ask for help.'

More news at Beatles Blog Daily.

Pop links: So long Fortress of Fortitude; Marvel's Star Wars

The great Fortress of Fortitude blog is calling it a day. You'll be missed!

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A new blog reviews the entire run of Marvel Comics' Star Wars series.

Pop links: Kinks documentary! Wally Wood! Flying Saucer comics! New Plastic Ono LP! Virgil Finlay!

A new Kinks documentary, to be directed by Julien Temple, is in the works, but don't count on the band reuniting anytime soon, says Ray Davies.

"I gotta tell you - I miss the Kinks," says Ray. "I heard 'Lola' on the radio a few months back when Chris Evans played it, and I was amazed how strong the intro was. With the other, fuzz-guitar-driven stuff I could always get that energy and power from my brother Dave. Jimmy Page and Eric [Clapton] are great technical players, but you wouldn't have got that from them."




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Hooray for Wally Wood takes a look at the great comic artist's M.A.R.S. Patrol.





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Check out Dell Comics' Flying Saucers #1 from 1967.



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Yoko Ono is releasing an album with her new Plastic Ono Band.

The sessions happened at NYC’s Sear Sound, the same studio that used to house the old Hit Factory, where Double Fantasy was recorded. Sean Lennon both produced with Yoko and acted as musical leader for a group evenly divided between Japanese avant pop musicians, and downtown Manhattan improvisers. In the Japanese contingent is Yuka Honda of Cibo Matto, plus the current group led by Keigo “Cornelius” Oyamada, which includes Yuko Araki and Hirotaka Shimmy Shimizu. Cornelius and Ms. Ono performed together in Tokyo in January, and Yoko was so happy with the result she invited them over to record. In the Manhattan improv camp we find Shahzad Ismaily (guitar, bass, percussion), Erik Friedlander(cello), Michael Leonhart (trumpet, vibes), Daniel Carter (reeds) and Indigo Street (guitar) -- a singularly gifted group of instrumentalists.

Between My Head and the Sky is out Sept. 22. See more Beatles-related news at Beatles Blog Daily!

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Golden Age Comic Book Stories presents another batch of Virgil Finlay pulp art.

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland cast pictures

Mia Wasikowska as Alice.


Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter.


Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen.


Anne Hathaway as the White Queen.


Matt Lucas as Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

Toy Story 3 teaser art

New comics June 24, 2009: Turok! Batwoman! Gotham Sirens! Phantom Zone! Starman! Doctor Strange! More!

New comics releases of note this week. Click the links to order discounted items from Amazon.


TUROK SON OF STONE ARCHIVES VOL 2 More stone-age action!


COSBABY BATGIRL FIGURE
COSBABY CLASSIC BATMAN FIGURE
COSBABY ROBIN FIGURE
COSBABY TWO FACE FIGURE Ok, as I understand this, these are cos-play/anime-influenced vinyl collector toys that look like Batman and the like as babies. But why? And who buys this stuff?!! Makes my brain hurt.


BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #6 Could this be the coolest comic DC publishes? I mean, Batman teams up with Kid Eternity and the Seven Soldiers of Victory!


DETECTIVE COMICS #854
GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #1 Two more post-Bruce Wayne Batman-related comics. Sirens is a Paul Dini-scripted cheesecake fest, while 'Tec features a Greg Rucka-scripted Batwoman. I'll pass on the former, check out the latter.


SUPERMAN TALES FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE I've always dug the Phantom Zone. Not as much as the Negative Zone. Or the Twilight Zone. But still, fun stuff. Collects ADVENTURE COMICS #283,300, ACTION COMICS #336, SUPERMAN'S GIRLDFRIEND, LOIS LANE #33, SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN #62, SUPERMAN #157,205, SUPERBOY #89,104 and WHO'S WHO #18.

GOLDEN AGE STARMAN ARCHIVES VOL 2 Some swell Golden Age superhero stuff from Gardner Fox, Jack Burnley and others. Collects ADVENTURE COMICS #77-102.


AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #598 Man that's an icky cover... The American Son storyline continues.


ESSENTIAL DOCTOR STRANGE VOL 4 Collecting DOCTOR STRANGE #30-56; CHAMBER OF CHILLS #4 and MAN-THING #4, featuring work by a zillion different people, including Roger Stern, J.M. DeMatties, Chris Claremont, Gene Colan, Paul Smith, Marshall Rodgers (oh, yeah, I remember that all-to-brief run. Great stuff!)and more.

Vintage Tarzan paperback book covers

Pop links: So long Ed McMahon; Hembeck; Doctor Who novels; preview Bjork's new LP

Ed McMahon, the most famous second banana of all time, has died at age 86.

"You can't imagine hooking up with a guy like [Johnny] Carson," McMahon said an interview with the Associated Press in 1993. "There's the old phrase, hook your wagon to a star. I hitched my wagon to a great star."

McMahon, who never failed to laugh at his Carson's quips, kept his supporting role in perspective.

"It's like a pitcher who has a favorite catcher," he said. "The pitcher gets a little help from the catcher, but the pitcher's got to throw the ball. Well, Johnny Carson had to throw the ball, but I could give him a little help."

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Happy 30th anniversary Fred Hembeck! (Who also has some great new cartoons up for sale.



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BBC Magazine pays tribute to all those great Doctor Who novels from Target Books.

In an age before video and DVD, the Target novelisations were a chance to relive the television adventures. Many of the black and white 1960s stories had been wiped by the BBC altogether, so the books were the only record. Through them you could experience stories that had disappeared into the programme's folklore.

I devoured these books. Not literally. Though I did live in the north and was always hungry. I remember going into a shop in 1975 and seeing the novelisation of the series' 10th anniversary story The Three Doctors, which had been on TV a couple of years before.

The cover illustration showed the power-crazed Omega, crackling cosmic energy over all three incarnations of the Doctor. I just had to have it. I bought it for 35p, and while my parents went shopping at a garden centre in Darlington I sat in the back seat of the Hillman Minx and read it straight through. My first Target book. I read it, I reread it. I think I knew every word.

I have fond memories of these books, too. In fact, I first met Doctor Who in the late 1970s via U.S. reprints of some the Target novels. And I loaded up on British Doctor Who novels during a couple of visits to England that I was fortunate enough to have taken in my early-to-mid-teens. Great stuff, particularly the novels penned by Terence Dicks. I haven't read any of the more recent books that have emerged along with the revived Doctor Who TV series, but it's good to know that the Doctor's adventures in print continue.



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NPR is streaming Bjork's new album.