I do this once or twice a year as upcoming music releases line up like ducks in a row – very expensive ducks in a row, in some cases – just for giggles. And because the anticipation is part of the fun. And because you may want to have some participation in my anticipation. Okay, I’m done, let’s talk music.
August
Scattered Light: A Fan Tribute To Electric Light Orchestra
This charity compilation, due in just a few days, pretty much does what it says on the outside of the tin. Many of the participants got together to produce this via the ELO Showdown mailing list, which means there are friends I’ve known for years taking part. You go, guys. There’s a very interesting mix of ELO songs both overexposed and obscure here. Can’t wait.
Lost: The Final Season
Surprisingly, it’s only a single CD. I would’ve expected another 2-CD package here (one CD for the bulk of the season, one CD for the complete score to the series finale, a la the season 3 soundtrack). According to Amazon, this is due August 24th to tie in with the DVD release, but take that with a pinch of salt (and maybe some of that special water from the heart of the island) because the label says nothing about this release on its site.
September
Royksopp – Senior
The lamentably-delayed follow-up to Junior, this was originally supposed to be released in the winter of the same year as the previous album, linking the two in a kind of seasonal, age-themed double concept album. Record companies being the enlightened beasts that they are (i.e. not really), this album has been pushed back over the protests of both the fans and the band. There’s a tracklisting posted in the forum. Due September 13th.
Doctor Who: Music From Series 4 – The Specials
Even John Williams doesn’t go around making unapologetically brassy John Williams-esque music anymore, so thank goodness for Murray Gold, the composer behind the revived Doctor Who series. This 2-CD set (expanded to 2 CDs at the composer’s insistence) features music from the specials that followed the end of season 4, up to and including David Tennant’s finale, The End Of Time Part 2. Due in September in the UK, US release date unknown.
Ben Folds – Lonely Avenue
A new Ben Folds album isn’t a bad thing, though this one isn’t necessarily just Folds: the lyrics, such as they are, are from the literary works of Nick Hornby (“High Fidelity”). It’ll be intersting to see how this one works out.
Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Ron Jones Scores
From Film Score Monthly (which has already released a remastered and expanded edition of the Star Trek III soundtrack this year) comes a whopping huge 14 CD box set (with a whopping huge $150 price tag), containing the music from nearly every episode scored by Ron Jones (who makes his mark – and gets nominated for awards – these days on Family Guy). Jones was infamous for disregarding the insanely tight stylistic parameters set by executive producer Rick Berman, who later fired him in season 4. Jones was also infamous for creating some of the show’s most memorable music: Best Of Both Worlds, anyone? Tasha Yar’s funeral from Skin Of Evil? I could go on and on, but I’m sure you get the idea. Due to licensing issues with the label that issued Trek soundtracks in the 1990s, Best Of Both Worlds is actually not represented in this set, save for about 5 minutes of previously unreleased cues. There will also be numerous unused pieces of music that were deemed too dramatic, cinematic and just basically excellent for the tastes of Mr. Berman, as well as Jones’ final Trek contributions, the extra-rare music from the PC games Starfleet Academy and Starfleet Command. Due in early September, limited to 5,000 copies. Due to the price tag, this one’s gonna hurt, but I’m such a Jones fan – my friend Robert and I used to obsess over every note the guy composed back in the days when ST:TNG was airing new episodes – that it’s a must.
November
Doctor Who: Music From Series 5
Murray Gold reports for duty once more with a single CD covering the first Matt Smith season. As always, I have some minor quibbles with the “library of music cues endlessly reused throughout the season” approach, and as always, I’ll buy the CD anyway. Due in November in the UK; US release date unknown.
Tron Legacy
I’m sometimes not a big fan of change, unless it’s change that comes in the form of bills in large denominations. Seriously, though, I was very uneasy at the prospect of electronica group Daft Punk taking over Wendy Carlos’ rightful place as the musical force behind the new Tron sequel. Having heard some preview tracks, though, I’m warming to the idea. Quickly. Quickly enough that this album’s on my want list already. Due in November.
???
Jeff Lynne?
The rumors are swirling that Lynne will have something out by the end of this year. This, I must see to believe. Though rumors ran rampant, thanks to an off-hand comment from Neil Hannon, that Lynne’s new project would go out under the ELO banner (a la Zoom), the word from the folks who know is: no. This will be the first Jeff Lynne solo album since 1990’s Armchair Theatre. If it does drop this year, it’ll mean that Lynne, Neil Finn (by way of Crowded House) and Alan Parsons have all released new music in 2010, and the world will therefore explode in one great big awesome pop-music-gasm.
I can perish happily in the ensuing carnage with a list like this.
A quick list of pleasant surprises from the first half of the year: Broken Bells, remasters of Mike Oldfield’s Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn, the expanded 2-CD edition of the 2009 Star Trek movie’s soundtrack, remastered soundtracks from Batman and Krull, ComputeHer’s Modemoiselle, Royksopp’s free track-of-the-month downloads, Devo’s surprisingly awesome comeback album Something For Everybody.
Stuff I wish I hadn’t listened to this year: 95% of Peter Gabriel’s Scratch My Back and Sting’s Symphonicities. Guys, doing an album with a full orchestra is an awesome idea. But pick the right songs and don’t make the arrangements suck. Gah. There’s two awesome songs on each album, and that’s it.
By the way, if anyone thinks that somewhere in the above list is the blueprint for the 2010 end-of-the-year best-music-I-heard-during-this-orbit-of-the-sun podcast… you can go right on thinking that. 😉
If Lynne does release an album this year does that mean the Cubs will win the World Series next year before the world explodes in a pop-music-gasm?
I just hope the album will be more upbeat than his first solo effort. Man, that was a bummer.