Ok, today we have a no-frills day. Since we have no news of any releases (other than that Appleseed Recordings is planning the release of the new Pete Seeger album, Tomorrow's Children, on July 27), nor a review to post (we do for Monday, though), and given the fact that you have tolerated my senseless ramblings for so long, we have an old favorite to post instead.

We always talk about studio classics but we hardly ever pay close attention to a staple of the old world gone by, that is the Live album. We all know that there are some absolutely great ones out there that are as buried in your consciousness as any studio album that you can remember. And so (thanks to a suggestion by a TAP reader), we want to know what Great Live Albums there are out there. I do have one favourite amongst a few and that is Live Dates by Wishbone Ash. It's perfect track for track. I also love Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out by The Rolling Stones. Yes, I have more. What I want now is to hear what you appreciate as great Live works. We'll post results.

Have a GREAT weekend, all!

It really pleases me to present the review of the 2010 Remaster for The Alchemist by '70s band, Home. The review is done by Robert Metcalf.

As some of you know, I have recreated this MusicTAP website. It's in the process of being completed after 6 months of intensive work, I'm hoping that you'll like it as much as I do. Here's the link; take a peek. I'm continually updating it even though it is not live as of yet. If you have suggestions, let me know. I've already fielded a few and have made some changes. There are also some lids being closed on some things, most notably the review pages. I'm reducing the info (removing the Facebook, MySpace, Last FM buttons and links, produced by info, etc) that is found within the content of the pages. Click the lnk below to get a sneak peek.

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I want to alert TAP readers to the fact that I have finally put together a FaceBook fan page that you can access and join by clicking on the badge below.  What this offers is the exact same thing as my Twitter feeds provide and that is first buzz on upcoming releases and free offered downloads, many announcements  that beat our main post, sometimes by days.  We also provide a Google BUZZ page that expands on most of the Twitter/FB feeds. On Buzz, you can even hear the music stream if a stream is offered.  There are still things that I'm working on in the FB page, like calender notes as well as links to great sites like The Second Disc.  I invite you to join us at our FB page and bookmark it.  Visit it daily and you'll be rewarded with much news and info.  Of course, you'll still want to come to the main MusicTAP page for our noisy commentaries.  Remember, with our Twitter feeds, you can elect to receive the news bursts as text on your mobile phone keeping you effortlessly up to date with stuff.  Lots of choices.  Find one, or two, that fits.

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Universal Republic Records will release Tear The World Down, the debut from We Are The Fallen, on May 11. We Are The Fallen is comprised of Evanescence members and American Idol finalist, Carly Smithson.

Metal Gods Records will release a series of Halford classics at various points. Watch for Halford - Live in Anaheim in the reissued 2CD set due on June 21; Halford Crucible - Remixed and Remastered, planned for July 12; and Halford - Live in Anaheim DVD with a 2-hour, 23-song set in bone-crushing 5.1 surround scheduled for August 3.

Voyageur Press is set to release a 224-page, 9.25" x 10.75" book featuring Neil Young called Neil Young - Long May You Run: The Illustrated History, compiled and assembled by Daniel Durchholz and Gary Graff. This book will contain 150 colour photos with 100 B/W photos and is due on May 15. Costs will range from $30 US / $34.99 CN / and £18.99 UK. Nice!

I'm copying and pasting the press release for the upcoming 4CD John Mellencamp retrospective On The Rural Route 7609 just because it says it so much nice than I could:

On The Rural Route 7609 is a four CD set that chronicles, in a most unique way, the arc of John Mellencamp’s career, with a focus on his songwriting.  Universal Music Enterprises has set June 15th as the release date for the collection through its Mercury imprint. The package, unlike typical box sets that tend to slavishly offer a chronological presentation of hits and near-hits, is programmed as if each of the discs were a freestanding album. The 54 tracks included in the collection are presented, in essence, as four albums with songs juxtaposed in a manner that offers the listener the experience of hearing them in a context that sheds new light on the themes and artistry that have made Mellencamp’s music so cherished by so many over the course of four decades.

While On The Rural Route 7609 offers a wealth of well-known material, a significant number of the tracks included are less familiar but equally compelling, especially in terms of providing an in-depth picture of Mellencamp's spectrum of creativity.  The concept behind the four “albums” of the collection is to give long-term Mellencamp fans and newer listeners alike, a more complete and insightful view of the artist's role as a writer and artist whose catalog of songs and recordings resound with substance and nuance. 

The songs selected reflect the artist’s pop idol origins through his ascent to the ranks of America’s most respected and socially active writers and performers.   On The Rural Route 7609 offers 17 tracks previously unreleased on any John Mellencamp CD including guest readings of Mellencamp’s lyrics by Academy Award® winning actress Joanne Woodward and best selling author/educator Dr. Cornel West.  The discs are packaged within a 72-page book that includes an exhaustive essay and comprehensive track-by-track annotation by award-winning writer Anthony DeCurtis. His marathon interviews with Mellencamp were conducted in Bloomington, IN where DeCurtis, coincidentally, earned his PhD in American literature at Indiana University. Mellencamp tells the story behind each of the songs included in the set and there's a scholarly introductory essay by DeCurtis as well.  The package, a truly lavish assemblage, includes rare and evocative photos printed on heavy stock that make On The Rural Route 7609 a distinctive set of albums, in the sense that albums -- as originally conceived in earlier times -- are cohesive collections of music.

While such Mellencamp hits including “Rain On The Scarecrow,” “Jack and Diane,”  “Jackie Brown,” “Pink Houses,” “Your Life Is Now,”  “Our Country” are presented, less familiar songs as well as demos for “Cherry Bomb,” “Authority Song” and other recordings serve to chronicle the maturation of Mellencamp as both an artist and songwriter over the years.  As quoted by DeCurtis in the 4500 word introductory essay included in the package, he explains, “We tried to make it like a process of discovery, that perhaps somebody could listen to this set and discover these songs.” Material from early works through his most recently released album, Life Death Love and Freedom which Time Magazine called his "best in a decade" and Rolling Stone ranked #5 in its listing of 50 best albums of the year, gives the listener an opportunity to consider more than 30 years of Mellencamp's output in a musically coherent manner.

The title of the package is reflective of Mellencamp’s continuing role as a troubadour who conveys the hopes, heartbreak and realities of the heartland – that part of the country that politicians are wont to call “the real America,” a divisive jab that is at odds with Mellencamp’s true themes. Per DeCurtis, “..the set takes its title from a scarifying murder ballad on Freedom’s Road,  ‘Rural Route.’" 

Mellencamp explained to DeCurtis  “I started making records in ’76, and the most recent track on the collection was done in ‘09. So Rural Route 7609; it’s like an address. I thought it sounded cool.” 

Adds DeCurtis, “It does. But, more important, for anyone interested in finding the real John Mellencamp, this is where he’s been, and where he lives.” On The Rural Route 7609 is a musical journey that sheds new light on an American musician who, as both a songwriter and social activist, has never rested on his laurels or past accomplishments.

On The Rural Route 7609 tracklisting:

* indicates track selection has never before been released on a John Mellencamp CD

More detailed information here: http://www.mellencamp.com/?module=news&news_item_id=553

Disc 1

1. Longest Days
2. Grandma’s Theme
3. Rural Route
4. Jackie Brown
5. Rain On The Scarecrow
6. * Jim Crow with Cornell West 
7. Jim Crow
8. Big Daddy Of Them All
9. Deep Blue Heart
10. Forgiveness
11. Don’t Need This Body
12. * Jenny At 16 
13. * Jack And Diane (writing demo) 
14. Jack And Diane

Disc 2

1. * The Real Life with Joanne Woodward 
2. Ghost Towns Along The Highway
3. The Full Catastrophe
4. * Authority Song (writing demo) 
5. Troubled Land
6. To Washington
7. * Our Country (alternate version) 
8. Country Gentlemen
9. Freedom’s Road
10. * Mr. Bellows (remix) 
11. Rodeo Clown
12. Love And Happiness
13. Pink Houses

Disc 3

1. If I Die Sudden (live)
2. Someday
3. Between A Laugh And A Tear
4. * Void In My Heart (acoustic version recorded at Chess Studios)
5. Death Letter
6. * Sugar Marie (acoustic) 
7. Theo And Weird Henry
8. When Jesus Left Birmingham
9. * L.U.V. (remix) 
10. Thank You
11. Women Seem
12. * The World Don’t Bother Me None 
13. * Cherry Bomb (writing demo) 
14. * Someday The Rain Will Fall 
15. A Ride Back Home

Disc 4

1. My Aeroplane
2. * Colored Lights 
3. Just Like You
4. Young Without Lovers
5. * To M.G. (Wherever She May Be) (acoustic)
6. Sweet Evening Breeze
7. What If I Came Knocking
8. Country Fair
9. * Peaceful World (writing demo) 
10. Your Life Is Now
11. For The Children
12. * Rural Route (acoustic) 

www.mellencamp.com