November New Releases

As if October wasn't great enough, November is another very heavy month of notable new album releases. What I'm most looking forward to: Dido, The Killers, Girls Aloud, Beyonce, and Kanye West.

Nov 3/4
Girls Aloud - Out of Control. Girls Aloud returns with their fifth album, featuring the UK's currnt #1 hit "The Promise." Like their last three albums, British production team Xenomania returns for that duty. Word is that there is more retro sounds this time, as evidenced by the '60s-influenced first single, and a collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys, "The Loving Kind."





Razorlight - Slipway Fires. "Wire to Wire" is a fantastic single, but I'm still skeptical about this band, as I didn't care for their last album (despite Q Magazine giving it a 5). This is their third release.

Grace Jones - Hurricane. Grace Jones isn't a major force in pop music, but she's certainly interesting. Perhaps best known (unfortunately) as one of the villians in the 1985 James Bond entry A View to a Kill, Jones returns with her first album in almost 20 years.

Shiny Toy Guns - Season of Poison. The synth pop group whose first album We Are Pilots offered the great single "You Are the One," returns with their second album. I haven't heard anything from it.

Enrique Iglesias - Greatest Hits. He's been scoring hits in English for almost 10 years now--time to package them all together. This appears to have all the major releases ("Bailamos," "Be With You," "Hero," etc.), except for "Sad Eyes," which is more a personal favorite than a big hit.

Nov 10/11

The Flaming Lips - Christmas on Mars. This has to be the month's biggest surprise. The Flaming Lips have gone and made a psychedelic science fiction film. This release will include the film on DVD and the film's score on CD.

David Archuleta - David Archuleta. The American Idol runner-up, currently enjoying chart success with his single "Crush," releases his debut.

Enya - And Winter Came. Irish singer who made "new age" a household name around the world releases her 7th album, much of which is Christmas-themed.

Seal - Soul. Having struck out doing the dance thing with Stuart Price on last year's System, Seal tries for a quick rebound working with David Foster on this collection of soul covers. First single "A Change is Gonna Come" is pretty good, but Seal isn't what he used to be.

T-Pain - Thr33 Ringz. T-Pain releases his third album. Auto-tune fans everywhere rejoice.

Il Divo - The Promise. No, it doesn't include their version of the new Girls Aloud single, which is a shame. Instead I think there's more Celine Dion remakes.

Jason Donovan - Let It Be Me. It's been 15 years since there's been a new album from Jason Donovan, the Australian pop singer who scored a number of big UK hits in the late '80s/early '90s and is best known for his Kylie duet "Especially for You."

Christina Aguilera - Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits. Christina Aguilera's only had 3 albums--far fewer than her peer Britney Spears has released in the same period of time--yet her hits collection is pretty robust. This set has all her major hits except "Can't Hold Us Down," and includes non-album tracks like "Lady Marmalade" and her Ricky Martin duet "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely," as well as new single "Keeps Gettin' Better."

Stereophonics - A Decade in the Sun: Best of Stereophonics. It's about time for this this collection, pulling together all the hits from the British rock band's six albums spanning an 11-year chart career. This is available in a 20-track, one-disc version with most of the major hits (except "Madame Helga") and a 2-disc set that is completely comprehensive. Includes new single "You're My Star."

Hilary Duff - The Best of Hilary Duff. Hilary Duff has released three albums and now two greatest hits collections, an equation that really smacks of record company greed. What do you get here since her last greatest hits collection was released 3 years go? Well, there's 3 singles from her last album Dignity, 2 new tracks (and remixes of both of them), and 5 hits that were included in the previous package--"Wake Up," "Fly," "Come Clean," "So Yesterday," and "Why Not." This is so lean as to be embarassing--clearly a holiday cash grab.

Nov 17/18

Beyoncé - I Am...Sasha Fierce. One of the biggest new releases this month is the third studio album from Beyoncé, the decade's biggest female pop singer. I Am... is a 2-disc concept album--a real risk in the current music market. The first disc is the more personal and downbeat set, including the great current single "If I Were a Boy." Disc 2 is more upbeat and finds Beyoncé channeling her on-stage persona "Sasha Fierce." That disc includes the other new single, "Single Ladies." There are also two versions of this album, a standard 11-track version (which is still split over 2 discs) and a longer 16-track deluxe edition.

Dido - Safe Trip Home. It's been 5 years since Dido has released a new album--a very long time in pop music terms. Dido was a surprising success early this decade--her first album, No Angel, was the UK's biggest selling album in 2001, and its follow-up, Life for Rent, the biggest seller in 2003. New single "Don't Believe in Love" isn't exactly setting the world on fire, still, I'm hopeful this will be up to the standard she set with her first two releases.

Nickelback - Dark Horse. It may feel too soon for Nickelback to be releasing their sixth album, but that's only because there were so many hit singles from their last album, All the Right Moves, that its promotion stretched out 2.5 years. This includes current single "Gotta Be Somebody."

David Cook - David Cook. Not to be outshined by the other American Idol David, David Cook, this year's winner, releases his debut album. Includes current single "Light On."

Britannia High Soundtrack. Britain's answer to High School Musical, which began airing on ITV last Sunday, releases the soundtrack.

Now That's What I Call Music Volume 71. Another worthy entry in the series gathers every major UK hit over the last few months--"The Promise," "So What," "I Kissed a Girl," "Viva la Vida," etc.

Nov 23-25
Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy. To some, this is the most anticipated release of the year--something that looked like it would never happen. Hard rock band Guns N' Roses haven't released a new album in 15 years, since The Spaghetti Incident, which was largely considered a disappointment after their magnificent 2-disc Use Your Illusion achievement from 1991. Time and again it was announced this album was coming, only to see it put off further. Now it's finally set to go. This will be a Best Buy exclusive, which is a shame.

The Killers - Day and Age. The Killers are back with their third album, this time with Stuart Price (Madonna's Confessions on a Dancefloor) at the studio helm. First single "Human" shows his influence, a surprising switch back toward the new wave/pop direction of first album Hot Fuss after the U2-inspired second album, Sam's Town.






Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak. This promises to be an interesting album. For his fourth release, the first not to feature a college-themed title, Kanye West turns away from hip-hop and toward pop, with an album reportedly entire sung (no rap) with auto-tune. Interesting. First single "Love Lockdown" has proven to be a "grower" in both the US and the UK. Originally slated for December, the album's release was recently moved up.



Alesha Dixon - The Alesha Dixon Show. The former Mis-Teeq member releases her first solo album in the UK, featuring current single "The Boy Does Nothing," another Xenomania-produced pop confection.

Coldplay - Prospekt's March (EP). Coldplay releases some of the additional material from the Viva la Vida recording sessions. Disappointingly, the Coldplay/Kylie Minogue collaboration "Lunar" has disappeared from the reported tracklisting. Too bad.

Lemar - The Reason. British R&B singer best known for his 2003 and 2004 hits "Dance" and "If There's Any Justice" releases his fourth album.

Craig David - Greatest Hits. Craig David compiles his hits spanning four albums and 9 years. Again, there are shorter and deluxe versions coming out.

December...

Looking ahead to next months shows a hip-hop heavy month with new releases from 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Akon, Common, Scarface and Bow Wow. There's also new albums from Britney Spears, Take That, Fall Out Boy, and Brandy.