Boys Like Girls are good...WHAT!!??

Some quick reviews that got overshadowed by the awesomeness of the Foo Fighters leak last week:

-Going against the advice of Luis from Pretty Much Amazing, I went ahead and picked up the leak of James Blunt's All The Lost Souls. Luis, if you happen to be reading this, you were right. With a few marginal exceptions, its a snooze. If I want to hear a song like "1973", I'll stick with music that came out in 1973.
Ruling on the Field: 3/10
Highlight Reel:...Sad to say there really isn't one. If you really want a taste, I'll give you 1973.

-I've only barely gotten through all of Graduation, but it's definitely something that's gonna get a few more rounds on my iPod before it wears out. This is the only Kanye album I've heard in its entirety, so I don't really have a point of reference, but suffice it to say I'm impressed. Kanye's brand of rap is way more accessible than most of the rest of what the genre is offering up (with the exception of maybe Timbaland).
Ruling on the Field: 7/10
Highlight Reel: Stronger, Can't Tell Me Nothing

-I ruckused the self-titled debut from Boys Like Girls, primarily on the strength of this live version of "The Great Escape" I picked up from iTunes (the link is to the video of the AOL Session. The audio of the same performance is also on iTunes). "The Great Escape" is definitely one of the highlights of the album, but its matched by tracks like "Thunder" and "Five Minutes to Midnight". I don't know if there is a truly good way to do pop-punk, but Boys Like Girls put up something really fun.
Ruling on the Field: 8/10
No Highlight Reel for this because I ruckused it, but I'll try to get an mp3 of that live track up later in the week.

I think that's it for now. Back later with some other goodies.

==TJ==

New Singles from Jimmy Eat World, Springsteen, and AvA

OK, lots of cool stuff coming this entry, but first some clarifications;

-If you comment, please be kind enough to sign your post. Gina, I know you reminded me about the Backstreet Boys album dropping in October as well, but please do sign your comments so I can separate the legit from the spam.

-2 entries back I listed James Blunt's All The Lost Souls on the list of albums coming out in October, thus implying you should be excited about the release of said album. Such was a miscommunication; I do not expect you to wait with bated breath for the return of James Blunt, especially if "1973" is any indication.

-If you hadn't noticed, I added my CD Tracker to the list on the left; it keeps a mostly up-to-date list of what CDs I own. Go check it out.

And with that, onto the goods:

-Angels & Airwaves has announced October 23rd as the release date for their sophomore album I-Empire. A clip of the first single "Everything's Magic" is streaming on their MySpace. As of today it had not been released to iTunes.

-However, both Jimmy Eat World and Bruce Springsteen released their first singles "Big Casino" and "Radio Nowhere", respectively, to iTunes today. Springsteen's track is decent, though his voice is starting to show some wear and the message of the song is a bit curmudgeonly, while Jimmy Eat World delivers another great hit. If you hadn't gotten the message, I'm excited for these two albums

Jimmy Eat World - Big Casino
Bruce Springsteen - Radio Nowhere

-More information has come out about Exile on Mainstream, the forthcoming release from Matchbox 20. It will be a 2-disc set, the first disc containing six new tracks including "How Far We've Come", while the second disc is a best-of containing 11 songs even the most casual fans already have. Meanwhile "How Far We've Come" has yet to make it to iTunes. So, in conclusion you will most likely be paying 20 bucks for six songs. Smooth, guys, reeeaaal smooth.

That's all. I'll be back later this week with some more goodies.

Does Jack Bauer care if you buy your music or not? I don't know. But do you REALLY wanna find out if he does?

Jimmy Eat World on iTunes
Bruce Springsteen on iTunes

==TJ==

First Peek at New Jimmy Eat World

Because my brother is a huge Jimmy Eat World fan, and I alluded to this sometime last week, I present the following: a video of an acoustic performance of "Chase The Light", the title track from Jimmy Eat World's forthcoming album, due out October 16th.

Jimmy Eat World - Chase The Light (Live Acoustic) [Quicktime]

No mp3 of it because I'm holding out for an official single release.

Artists releasing albums in October:
Matchbox 20
Bruce Springsteen
Dashboard Confessional
Jimmy Eat World
James Blunt

You may get excited...now.

==TJ==