New CD releases October 4th 2011

It feels so good to be back, even though we are now Slapping Penguins instead of Twisting the News. A rose would smell as sweet by any other name so I won't be mixing up the format too much. Here are the 5 new releases that caught my eye this week.

Scotty McCreery - Clear As Day

American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery finally releases his first contractual obligation, a 12 track pop/country offering, produced by Mark Bright and featuring a bunch of Nashville names. Producer Mark said that it was a pleasure to work with someone who has such  a deep, rich voice.

In fact Scotty's voice is so deep and rich that my Dynex subwoofer bottomed out and ripped and now I have to return it to Best Buy.

Hard Ons - Suck And Swallow : 25 Years 25 Songs

Intelligent, imaginative, inspirational - 3 words that begin with 'I'. As for the Hard Ons, they are Australian but that is no excuse for such blatant vulgarity. I only included this CD for shock value and to get more random search traffic from the internet.

Normally, I would enjoy a collection of 2 minute punk/pop songs, but do yourself a favor and go buy Now For A Feast the debut release from Pop Will Eat Itself instead. Incidentally, Clint Mansell from PWEI is now a hot shot Hollywood movie score composer.

Zucchero - Chocabeck
Italian superstar and (some might say) sex-god, Zucchero Fornaciari, releases his tribute to the musically indefinable Beck. (I'm a loser baby... so why don't you kill me).
Chocabeck, when translated from Zucchero's native Reggiano dialect becomes 'A tribute to Beck' and he has certainly taken inspiration for this CD from across Beck's whole career. Listen out for the line "due giradischi e un microfono" on track 2.

Jersey Boys - Seasons Greetings: A Jersey Boys Christmas

This should have been subtitled, "A Castrato Christmas" considering that The Jersey Boys franchise is centered around Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.

From the perspective of a Christmas compilation CD, it does cover pretty much every angle of the festive season, even if it is with a falsetto feeling. If you enjoy listening to songs by men in pants 2 sizes too small then this could be a great stocking stuffer for you.

Compa Choy - Mas Poderoso

Don't buy this. But please do click the link and listen to the samples. Wait, don't go yet, take a look at the cover art too. It looks like Chaz Bono going through a Chuck Norris phase.

Anyway, the music. Take 3 people from a mariachi band and marinate in hard liquor overnight. Then give them some Polka sheet music, but make sure each one gets a different song. Next, light the fuse, press 'Record' and stand well back. Finally, press a CD and sell it on Amazon.com.

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