I guess this is a trend? I kinda like it.

To commemorate the 15 year anniversary ATO reissue of the had-been-out-of-print Exile In Guyville, Liz Phair recently announced a second round of shows that will feature a beginning-to-end performance of the album.

In celebration of the 15th year anniversary of the groundbreaking album Exile in Guyville and its reissue by ATO Records, Liz Phair will perform the entire album at three engagements: August 27 at Theater of the Living Arts in Philadelphia; August 28 at 9:30 Club in Washington DC; and August 29 at The Paradise in Boston. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, July 23 via Ticketmaster.

These three additional shows come on the heels of four hugely successful sold out June events - two in New York City and one in each San Francisco and Chicago. Said Jon Pareles of The New York Times in his recent review of one of Phair's Exile in Guyville shows, "After 15 years of other people's indie-rock idiosyncrasies, "Exile" still holds up in all its conflicting impulses: its determination to be 'adamantly free' and its longing for someone to trust, its swagger and its pain." A modern classic, Pitchfork recently gave the album a 9.6 rating while both Rolling Stone and Blender gave Exile in Guyville a perfect score of five stars ("*****").

A few notes:

1. I never knew Exile In Guyville was written as a song-by-song response to Exile on Main St. before. I guess there really are things to be learned from press releases after all.
2. I'm sure he wasn't the first to do it, but the first guy I recall recently doing full-album performance of records that weren't by Pink Floyd was Ben Kweller a while back. This could be an ATO thing, then? Or maybe just coincidence. What am I, motivated to do research? If it were an ATO thing, though, It'd be rad to see Mike Doughty do all of Skittish.
   
3. Here are 5 other records I'd like to see performed in full (off the top of my head):

• Bruce Springsteen - Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.
  
• Idlewild - The Remote Part
• The Format - Dog Problems
• The Decemberists - Castaways & Cutouts
• Stone Temple Pilots - Tiny Music...Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop (Quiet, you.)
• *BONUS SIXTH* Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
  

Note: this is not just an excuse to post a bunch of Amazon links in fact The Format's link is to Amie Street, this is a prompt for discussion.

Someone who loves Springsteen more than I do

...stabbed her boyfriend to death when he objected to her playing a Springsteen CD. I gotta be honest with you, I only started writing this post because I thought that I'd be able to come up with some snappy punchline about it, and now I'm drawing blank. It happened in Australia. Maybe something like "That's not a knife -- That's a knife?"

Hah. Hysterical.

Download Springsteen's "Radio Nowhere" (legally) for free

"Is there anybody alive out there?"

Springsteen asked this question in concert long ago, immortalized on the first disc of the Live/1975-85 set. 30-some-odd years later, he's still wondering.

Go here. Scroll down. Not sure how much longer this promotion lasts, but while it does, it's a 128kbit .mp3 with no DRM. However, (because nobody can ever get anything 100% right) you're going to have to add the metadata yourself if you want to scrobble the shit.

**Update: Apparently it's also available for free on iTunes, although I don't know why you'd prefer that format to .mp3.

Bruce Springsteen - Radio Nowhere

I saw the post on Stereogum, listened to the song (shitty quality rip, but it rocks), and went to lunch, with the intention to write a post of my own when I got back. Turns out in the 30 mins or so I was gone, the big bad wolf knocked on the 'gum's door. If you're resourceful, you can still find a way to listen to Magic's opening track "Radio Nowhere" (for now), but I'm not going to bother linking you to it directly. This house is only made of straw.

I really like it. The lyrics are nothing to write home about, but it rocks harder and sweeter than anything off The Rising, the highlights of which were all the slow, contemplative tracks. I had been afraid The E Street Band had grown too old to properly rock. "Radio Nowhere" proves my fears unwarranted.

Tracklist for Magic here.

New Springsteen record: Magic

Bruce Springsteen (& The E Street Band) will release Magic on October 2, 2007.

The tracklisting (according to Wikipedia):

1. "Radio Nowhere"
2. "You'll Be Comin' Down"
3. "Livin' in the Future"
4. "Your Own Worst Enemy"
5. "Gypsy Biker"
6. "Girls in Their Summer Clothes"
7. "I'll Work for Your Love"
8. "Magic"
9. "Last to Die"
10. "Long Walk Home"
11. "Devil's Arcade"

Sources who work in a place that makes me think they probably know tell me a tour with the full band will accompany this release.

So this is what this guy was talking about. I still stand by my doubts that such a release will do anything to save Columbia records, but I'm absolutely pumped anyway.

Jesse Malin - Broken Radio video

I'm not going to lie to you. I'm posting this because it features Bruce Springsteen, and not because I'm a huge Jesse Malin fan. I've spent more time in the photo booth at the bar he owns than I have listening to his music. This song is pretty ok though.

[As seen on Stereogum]

Everything dies baby

Roger Friedman over at FOXNews.com (yeah, I know) writes that an impending new Springsteen release (very likely E Street Band, not side project Bruce) might bail some water out of the sinking ship that is Columbia Records.

I don't mention it often on this blog, but I was almost NAMED after Bruce Springsteen, and from an early age I've been indoctrinated into the Boss's church. I know every record by heart, and I cherish his contribution to rock and roll. That said, there's no way Columbia is ever going to see black ink again with Sprinsteen after the 100 million contract they gave him to continue to record for them. That kind of money simply doesn't happen in the record business anymore. The touring business? Sure, maybe. The record business? No way. Not anymore.