Album anticipation – fall ’06

It doesn’t happen too often anymore, but maybe once a year there’s a confluence of musical talent, old favorites, and stuff I’m Just Curious About all hitting at roughly the same time. (There was a time, long ago, when this was more of a quarterly thing.) Some stuff I’ve already ordered, some stuff I’m still slobbering over, and other stuff I’m just thinking about. Here’s a rough rundown of this fall’s candidates for curing my mystery melody malady.
ELO remasters – On The Third Day, Face The Music, A New World Record. Q: How do you instantly get money out of Earl’s wallet? A: Dangle a new ELO album in front of him. Okay, maybe not new, but old favorites with new tracks aplenty, including instrumental mixes, something which is long overdue in the ELO catalog. You could reissue every ELO album minus vocals, and I’d buy ’em all over again. That there are actual unheard song with vocals is pure gravy. There are on the “already ordered” list.
Lost Volume 2. Music from the second season. I was susprised at the variety of material on the first soundtrack CD that was issued earlier this year, and I’ve paid more attention to the music in the show itself since then. There’s a lot more to it than that muffled gunshot sound at the end of each act. I haven’t ordered this yet, but it is already in the store if you wanna snag a copy.
Roger Manning Jr. – The Land Of Pure Imagination. Nope, it’s not a Willy Wonka tribute album. Manning was one of the founding members of Jellyfish, possibly the greatest pop entity to emerge from the early 90s, and I’ll just about follow the former Jellyfish members anywhere, even if they release a CD of the sound of themselves going to the bathroom. Other Jellyfish spinoffs have included Umajets and Jason Falkner – I have yet to hear a dud ex-Jellyfisher project.
Doctor Who soundtrack. Still no release date and no ordering info, but this is my most anticipated soundtrack of the year. I’ve been reading vague hints that Murray Gold is also pushing to do Babylon 5-style “episodic CDs” of music from individual stories, which fills my heart with glee and my wallet with dread. I kinda want to see that, and I kinda don’t. This is just the sixth album on my list, and though the one Doctor Who CD confirmed so far is pretty much paid for (I’m sitting on some Amazon UK store credit, thanks to the site’s loyal readers across the Atlantic), I’m already experiencing pangs of “How much am I spending on music this fall?!?”
Jars Of Clay – Good Monsters. My one great guilty pleasure of Christian rock happens to be the Jars, and judging from the one song they turned in for the “music inspired by…” Chronicles Of Narnia album almost a year ago as well as the first single from this album (which my wife downloaded for me), they’ve actually found something like their old sound again after some major detours. This one’s already out, so hopefully I can budget for it soonish.
Pete Yorn – Nightcrawler. I’ve liked each of Yorn’s albums better than the last, so this one should be a humdinger. This one’s already out, and there are used copies floating around already, so maybe I can augur this one in for Christmas.
Already out but still would like to get it at some point: The Complete Sound of Katamari. The music from the Katamari Damacy video game franchise simply has not disappointed me yet, and this import is kinda like the “odds and sods” collection of tracks that didn’t make it onto the first two CDs, plus tracks from the PSP Katamari game. If you’re looking for Katamari music, that’s already in the store too.
Coming in 2007: Alan Parsons Project remasters. And on Sony, no less (also the home of the ELO remasters). This adds up to about a dozen albums, and once again unreleased stuff, alternate mixes and instrumental mixes are promised. That’s enticing, and I will find a way to get them, but the most intriguing, titillating thing about this coincidence is: Jeff Lynne and Alan Parsons on the same label. Please, please, please, somebody stick these two in a room together with several reels of multitrack tape and don’t let them out until they’ve filled all the tapes. I’ve loved both their work for so long that the thought of them working together is too much for me to not think about. I guess the catch is that, both being mega-producers, they’re probably also both mega-control freaks.
Pure speculation for 2007: More Battlestar Galactica music seems like a no-brainer; maybe more Doctor Who and more Lost, and I’d also expect that, with Babylon 5: The Lost Tales on the horizon, I’ll be adding to the Christopher Franke section of my CD shelf for the first time in many years. There aren’t many un-remastered ELO albums left – Out Of The Blue and Balance Of Power are it, with a much smaller chance of remastered Xanadu or the original double-LP version of Secret Messages complete with “Beatles Forever.” I’ll be extremely surprised if those latter two happen. These things being the way they are, I fully expect to see Crowded House remasters with extra material before long. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I’m ready for more Jason Falkner, more Neil Finn, and maybe even more Peter Gabriel, though it hasn’t been ten years since Up, so it’s not time for Pete’s next album yet.
It’s funny how a lot of what’s on the above list is indie label stuff, imports, or major label reissues of existing material that I already know I like. There’s probably a commentary in there somewhere, but I doubt I really need to shine a spotlight on it.