Facts in on New Arcade Fire

This is probably only news for those of you living under a rock. Merge and the band have announced a release date for Arcade Fire's third album, 'The Suburbs'. You can preorder the CD or double LP with download right now, but you'll still have to wait for Aug. 3 like the rest of us. Have you heard the first single and B-side yet? It sounds great but not much like what we're used to from these Canadians. Seems like they have scaled back from that full sound that occupies so much space on 'Funeral' and 'Neon Bible.' Now, obviously, you can rip the two new songs in the usual places. So, I'm not going to post mp3s this time around. Stream "The Suburbs" b/w "Month of May" at the band's Web site, right here.

When I started writing this post last night, Lollapalooza was the only U.S. stop for Arcade Fire, but a few more dates trickled in today. The big surprise is that in a few cities they will be playing with fellow Merge mates Spoon. Now that's a heck of a double bill. Here are the U.S. dates so far:

Aug. 1 - Boston - Bank of America Pavilion
Aug. 2 - Philadelphia - The Mann Center (with Spoon)
Aug. 4 - New York - Madison Square Garden (with Spoon)
Aug. 6 - Columbia, Md. - Merriweather Post Pavilion (with Spoon)
Aug. 8 - Chicago - Lollapalooza
Aug. 9 - Nashville - Ryman Auditorium
Aug. 11 - Atlanta - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre (with Spoon)

And this is from the CBC...

Two Sides of Summer

While you're eating your steamin' weenies and Uncle Red's macaroni salad, take a moment to remember why you're not stuck in your cubicle today. If you can, hug a veteran. Now on with the countdown, as Casey Kasem used to say. I'm trying to mix things up a bit from last year's summer collection. I know, I know... the '80s are overrepresented. Try to enjoy it anyway. Many of the songs on the sad side sound awfully happy, but listen closely. The lyrics tell a different story. Don't go searching for answers on the happy side. This is pure pop, folks, and I love the fluff.

Sad Side
1. Elvis Costello - The Other Side of Summer (mp3)
2. The Velvet Underground - Who Loves the Sun (mp3)
3. Bananarama - Cruel Summer (mp3)
4. The Drums - Saddest Summer (mp3)
5. Fountains of Wayne - It Must Be Summer (mp3)
6. The Zombies - Beachwood Park (mp3)


Happy Side
7. Katrina and the Waves - Walking on Sunshine (mp3)
8. The Go-Go's - Vacation (mp3)
9. Dire Straits - Twisting by the Pool (mp3)
10. Billy Idol - Hot in the City (mp3)
11. The Cars - Magic (mp3)
12. The Undertones - Here Comes the Summer (mp3)

Songs in Cinema: 'The Last American Virgin'

In the early '80s, I hit puberty at the same time teen sex comedies were popping up like my, well, never mind. We had HBO. So, like all curious kids, I held the cable-box remote and listened for movement from my parents upstairs. I saw them all, too: 'Porky's,' 'Losin' It', 'Spring Break' and this unforgettable 1982 flick with Diane Franklin.

If you're drawing a blank, she was the cute foreign-exchange student living across the street from John Cusak in 'Better Off Dead' (see photo) and one of the princesses in 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.' Sorry, that's all I've got. Life lessons learned from 'Virgin' were that crabs aren't just on a seafood menu and f-ing a girl your best friend likes isn't very nice. In case it didn't sink in, 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' hammered it home that same year.

There were no Academy Awards here, but the soundtrack got accolades from... me. Much like 'Something Wild' from yesterday's post, it could have been even better if all of the songs that appeared in the film had made it on the release. Here is a brief list of the tunes that didn't make the cut:

Love Action (I Believe in Love) - Human League
In the Flesh - Blondie
Shake It Up - The Cars
Zero Hour - The Plimsouls

Now, I'm not going to kid you. Not all of the music was catered to my tastes. There was REO Speedwagon, Journey and the Commodores, but most of the music was exactly what I was into. This was the first time I ever heard U2, and the Waitresses' tune was perfect for a funny and failed makeout scene. Apparently the Gleaming Spires song was such a success it was used again two years later on the 'Revenge of the Nerds' soundtrack. Here are the songs that made the cut. Just a heads up you can see the entire film on YouTube.

Side A
Teen Angel Eyes - Tommy Tutone
De Do Do Do, De Da Da - The Police (mp3)
Whip It - Devo (mp3)
When I Find You - Phil Seymour
Better Luck Next Time - Oingo Boingo

Side B
Are You Ready For The Sex Girls? - Gleaming Spires (mp3)
Since You're Gone - The Cars (mp3)
I Know What Boys Like - The Waitresses
Airwaves - The Fortune Band
I Will Follow - U2 (mp3)

Songs in Cinema: 'Something Wild'

Unlike yesterday's submission, I have actually seen this film. I loved Jonathan Demme's flick when it came out in 1986, and it's still a pretty good watch today. It's the only time I can recall enjoying a Melanie Griffith performance. As for Jeff Daniels, I was already a bit of a fan because of 'Purple Rose of Cairo.' Throughout the years, Daniels has become one of my favorites. If he isn't one of yours, then you haven't seen 'The Squid and the Whale.' I digress.

The music in 'Something Wild' is stellar, but it doesn't necessarily mean the soundtrack reflected that. As often happens with soundtracks (for licensing and other reasons), the 10-song record omits many great tunes that appear in the film. Just a few examples of bands that didn't make the cut are Big Audio Dynmaite, Go-Betweens and X. Laurie Anderson and John Cale composed a really cool score that's nowhere to found on the album. For me, the biggest absence is the Feelies. A number of the group's songs are in the movie, and they even appear as the entertainment during the high-school reunion scenes. They perform rousing renditions of "I'm a Believer" and "Fame." Check out their take on the Bowie classic below.

I have spent quite a bit of time disparaging the soundtrack, and that's not really fair. A quick look at the tracklist below illustrates that. Demme directed 'Stop Making Sense,' and David Byrne returned the favor by providing the song that opens the movie. For me, that's why I initially bought the soundtrack. Sister Carol's appearance as a waitress that segues into her reggae rendition of the Troggs' "Wild Thing" to close the movie is a fan favorite. I still don't really understand why Jimmy Cliff was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but I really like his song here. As I have mentioned in the past, Oingo Boingo appears on just about every soundtrack from the '80s. This is one of their better moments. You can still purchase the 'Something Wild' soundtrack here. Like yesterday, the mp3s below are taken from my very old vinyl.

Side A
1. Loco de Mor (Crazy for Love) - David Byrne with Celia Cruz (mp3)
2. Ever Fallen in Love? - Fine Young Cannibals
3. Zero, Zero Seven Charlie - UB40
4. Not My Slave - Oingo Boingo (mp3)
5. You Don't Have to Cry - Jimmy Cliff (mp3)

Side B
6. With You or Without You - Steve Jones
7. High Life - Sonny Okosun
8. Man With a Gun - Jerry Harrison
9. Temptation - New Order (mp3)
10. Wild Thing - Sister Carol

Bonus From the Film: Go-Betweens - Spring Rain (mp3)

Songs In Cinema: 'That Summer!'

This week we'll take a listen to some of my favorite soundtracks. Wes Anderson's films will be noticeably absent since I covered every one of his flicks back in the fall.

I'm going to come out of the gate with the single most important collection of songs from my youth. That's quite an odd statement when you consider I have NEVER seen the film. 'That Summer!' is a British flick that came out in 1979. It stars a very young (and skinny) Ray Winstone of 'Sexy Beast' fame. See the bottom of this post for the only two minutes I have ever seen from the movie. It's difficult to realize now, but all of the songs were no more than a couple of years old when the film was released.

Because of my age, I didn't buy the soundtrack until 1983. I quickly learned there wasn't a bad moment on either side of the cool gold vinyl. Many of the artists -- Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Ian Dury, Ramones -- would help shape my musical taste for the whole of my teen years, but there were other bands I probably never would have heard without stumbling on this record. Eddie & The Hot Rods, Zones and Undertones still sound as fresh as they did more than 30 years ago. Here is the tracklist and a link to a couple of copies for sale on eBay. The following mp3s are ripped right from my three-decade-old vinyl.

Side A
1. Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll - Ian Dury And The Blockheads
2. Spanish Stroll - Mink DeVille
3. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea - Elvis Costello
4. She's So Modern - The Boomtown Rats (mp3)
5. New Life - Zones (mp3)
6. Another Girl, Another Planet - The Only Ones (mp3)
7. Whole Wide World - Wreckless Eric
8. Because The Night - The Patti Smith Group (mp3)

Side B
1. Kicks - The Boomtown Rats
2. Rockaway Beach - The Ramones
3. Teenage Kicks - The Undertones
4. Do Anything You Wanna Do - Eddie & The Hot Rods (mp3)
5. What A Waste - Ian Dury And The Blockheads
6. I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass - Nick Lowe
7. Watching The Detectives - Elvis Costello
8. Blank Generation - Richard Hell & The Voidoids (mp3)

Cover Me Impressed: 'This Will Be Our Year'

Well, it was 2004, and it didn't turn out to be THE year for the folks at MoveOn.org. With the help of Spike Jonze, John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants and Barsuk Records, however, they did assemble a really nice compilation called 'Future Soundtrack for America.' All proceeds went to liberal organizations with the purpose of voting George W. Bush out of office. That part didn't work out so well (in the short run, anyway), but the collection of covers and live songs by Tom Waits, Sleater-Kinney, R.E.M., David Byrne, the Flaming Lips, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and many others was a complete success.

One of the best from the lot is "This Will Be Our Year" from OK Go. If you don't know the original from the Zombies, then it's likely you haven't discovered the '60s classic 'Odessey & Oracle.' I have never made a best albums of the '60s list, but I'm confident that one would be in my top 20.

As for OK Go, I was once a big fan and saw them many times around Chicago in their infancy before they were signed. OK Go's demos from that time period were brilliant. Many of those songs made their full-length debut for Capitol in 2002, but they lost their charm to, I'm guessing, major-label producers and other brass. One thing is for sure, these guys have great taste in music. Every cover I have ever heard them do has been by a band I love. Some of my favorites have been by the Pixies, the Smiths and the Specials. Seek out these covers. You will not be disappointed. Yes, you can still buy 'Future Soundtrack for America.'

OK Go - This Will Be Our Year (mp3)
The Zombies - This Will Be Our Year (mp3)

Snare New Song From The Drums

It will be tough to top last year's 'Summertime!' EP (they appear twice on my Top Tracks of 2009 list), but the Drums are about to try. Their self-titled full-length LP will be out on June 15, and you can download a new song from the lads below. Here's a new video, too. There is a bit of bad news. It's seems to be only available in America as an expensive import. You can pre-order it here.

Do You, Like, Like The New Like?

I bought The Like's first full-length release, 'Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking?' before ever hearing a song from it. I took the risk because of the gals' fathers. Guitarist "Z" Berg's pop is a Geffen A&R man and producer. Drummer Tennessee Thomas is the daughter of Pete Thomas, skin man from Elvis Costello & The Attractions fame. The bassist at the time was Charlotte Froom. Yep, she's the daughter of producer/musician Mitchell Froom. For the most part, I ended up not liking the record very much. In fact, before today, I don't think I had listened to it since it was first released in 2005.

A few days ago I found out the band has gone through quite a transformation. Froom is no longer on bass, but the Like gained two members, including an organist. They have a new record coming out, and it isn't on Geffen this time. The Like is now a member of the Downtown Music stable with indie hipsters like Art Brut, Cold War Kids and Fyfe Dangerfield. Downtown has released a download for the song "Fair Game," and the girls sound much different. I mean this in the best way possible. Give it a listen, and mark your calendars for June 15 when 'Release Me' hits the stores. Preorder now.

The Like - Fair Game (mp3) from 'Release Me'
The Like - What I Say And What I Mean (mp3) from 'Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking'

Free Sampler From Our Friends At Yep Roc

Hot on the heels of Merge's free digital sampler, the folks at Yep Roc have put together a free mix from their stable. It's actually a bit better than Merge's mix because while Merge collected songs that had, for the most part, already been given away as previews for album releases, Yep Roc is giving us 13 unreleased demos, B-sides and other extra bonus material that you only received if you had purchased entire albums from the label. Check out the tracklist for volume one of 'Songs From The Vault,' and click here to download. Thanks, Yep Rock... you rawk!

1. The Apples in Stereo - Atom Bomb
2. Chuck Prophet - Bring On The Love
3. Bell X1 - The Snowman
4. Peggy Sue - Alice In The Kitchen
5. Dave Alvin - Krazy and Ignatz
6. John Doe - The Big Blue House
7. Liam Finn - I Will Explode
8. Drink Up Buttercup - King Day
9. Paul Weller - Rise and Fall
10. Los Straitjackets - Twist and Slide
11. Reckless Kelly - Pickin' Up Cans
12. Robyn Hitchcock - No Way Out of Time
13. The Gourds - Drunk Song

Meet Black Joe Lewis

It took about five months, but now I'm quite sure my best albums and tracks of 2009 list is incomplete. Inexplicably, until this past week, I completely missed 'Tell 'em What Your Name Is!' by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears. My embarrassment is tempered only by that giddiness you get upon hearing an absolute gem.

I'm a huge fan of James Brown, the old Stax scene and most of Atlantic's R&B division. Well, Black Joe Lewis and the boys wear all of these influences on their sleeves. So much so, in fact, it could be a turnoff to some in the same way early Sugarplastic was considered too derivative because they sounded so much like XTC. Well, I'm swallowing these tunes, hook, line and sinker anyway. I don't care that the horns on the album's opener, "Gunpowder," sounds exactly like The Bar-Kay's "Soul Finger." If you're going to steal, plunder from the best. If you have been digging Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, this is going to be right up your alley. Buy it here.

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Sugarfoot (mp3)
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Gunpowder (mp3)

Bonus: The Bar-Kays - Soul Finger (mp3)

You Say It's Your Birthday...

...It's this blog's birthday too, yeah. Linear Tracking Lives! turns 1 today. So, pardon me while I pat myself on the back. Should I post birthday-themed songs by the Beatles, Altered Images, Sugarcubes and the like? That seems too obvious. I think I'll sum up LTL's best and most popular moments instead.

My favorite series was Big Country Chronicles. About once a week for five months I posted every 12" single, B-side, live performance, radio appearance and rarity from Big Country I could get my hands on between 1982 and 1986. I really enjoyed Wes Anderson Week, too. I started with the music from 'Fantastic Mr. Fox,' and I posted it at the end of October... a few weeks before the film's opening. I hit the soundtracks of each film that week, and I rediscovered how much I love Anderson's work and musical choices. It turns out 'Mr. Fox' was my favorite film last year. Countdowns included my top 50 tracks and top 20 albums of 2009, as well as top 100 tunes and 41 LPs from the entire past decade. I hope it helped you discover a few new gems. I have no explanation for it, but this was my single favorite post from the last year.

Based on reader feedback and number of downloads, I would say you folks are big fans of Jason Falkner, Devo, Cheap Trick, Wondermints, Big Country, OMD and Marshall Crenshaw. Good group. I'm with you.

There were two low points on this blog. I received a couple of DMCA notices during the course of the year. One of them was for posting "Cousins" by Vampire Weekend. I had the song up for a few hours before I received an email asking me to remove it. I immediately obliged. A few days later I was permanently locked out of Fileden, my file storage service at the time. The lesson for me was that I realized as much as I love doing this, it could be taken from me at any time. Let's just all enjoy the music together for as long as we can. Here is a mix of our favorites. Happy birthday to me...

Big Country - In A Big Country (Album Version) (mp3)
The Zombies - The Way I Feel Inside (mp3)
Tracey Ullman - They Don't Know (mp3)
Jason Falkner - Princessa (mp3)
Devo - Theme From Doctor Detroit (mp3)
Cheap Trick - She's Tight (mp3)
OMD - Secret (Extended Mix) (mp3)
Marshall Crenshaw - For Her Love (U.S. Remix) (mp3)
Wondermints - Silly Place (mp3)

Minor Hits Of The '80s: Paul Carrack Edition

Although I love Paul Carrack's work with Nick Lowe and Squeeze, my affinity for Carrack as a solo artist is limited to one album. In 1981, Carrack took Jools Holland's spot in Squeeze for one LP, 'East Side Story.' In a real coup when you consider he was in a band with Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, Carrack sang lead on the signature tune "Tempted." At the time, the song was the band's biggest hit, peaking at No. 49.

Carrack released the Lowe-produced album 'Suburban Voodoo' the next year, and it spawned the single "I Need You." Although it's a nice song, it sure sounds a lot like a slightly inferior take on "Tempted," don't you think? Shockingly, it fared a bit better on the Billboard chart, peaking at No. 37.

He would go on to have major hits with Mike + The Mechanics and, later, a Top 10 solo smash with "Don't Shed A Tear." I don't think any of these successes can touch "I Need You."

Paul Carrack - I Need You (mp3)