EAT THE PRESS: “I Am Not Gonna Change, See?”

One more gripe (What flunkie decided Dave Mathews should play ACOUSTIC guitar on “I Saw Her Standing There”??? And Vince Gill’s solo got buried!) before MOVING ON to my own


FANTASY GRAMMY CATEGORIES:



DVDs

The latest in pushing pre-recorded CDs is to stick a limited edition performance DVD in the package. Did this new marketing schtick have any effect on downloads? Doubtful. There were simply too few decent concert vids. Here come the nominees:


Sheryl Crowe C’MON AMERICA 2003 (A&M)

(Like Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, Sheryl Crowe is one of those less intriguing talents who lacks the charisma gene. For a looker who enjoys playing bass, picks good material, and has a classic (not to say conservative) sense of rock history, her new live DVD doesn’t have the spark it promises, and her Led Zep encore (“Rock’n’Roll”) doesn’t live up to its ambition.)

Allison Moorer SHOW (Universal, which dumped her)
(Nice Neil Young cover, “Don’t Cry No Tears”)

Neil Young GREENDALE (Reprise)

Bangles DOLL REVOLUTION (Koch)

WINNNER: Bruce Springsteen LIVE IN BARCELONA (Sony), which includes the “Doo Wah Diddy” opener from Fenway Park, 9/03, which I heard from my sick bed at Cambridge City Hospital.


REMASTERS (plain vanilla stereo)

Neil Young AMERICAN STARS ‘N’ BARS, ON THE BEACH (Reprise)

Beatles LET IT BE NAKED (Apple)


REMASTERS (hybrid CD/SACD, DVD-Audio, 5:1 mixes)

Beach Boys, PET SOUNDS (Capitol 5:1, superb)

Rolling Stones CATALOG (ABKCO SACD)

Bob Dylan CATALOG (Columbia SACD)
(Can anybody explain where Columbia ends and Sony begins, not to mention Legacy?)


VAULT (never before heard)

Rock City (Lucky Seven/Rounder)
(Early Big Star sessions; impress your friends.)


BOX SETS
There’s NO CATEGORY FOR THIS, but it’s been paying the bills for a decade. Usually gets tossed into “packaging” or some such. Not that anybody’s listening.

Miles Davis JACK JOHNSON (Sony Legacy)


In lieu of Justin’s apology, and the complete lack of pierced nipples, we flipped around to catch:


BEST PROGRAM-TO-AD SEGUE, PRIMETIME:

“Arrested Development” (2/8/04) which sported an opening ad for…The United States Army.


BEST EDITORIAL ASSIGNMENT:

Ben Ratliff, jazzer, reviews the new Norah Jones CD in the NYTimes (“Pop’s Best Behaved…“), calls her sensibility “blank.” Fair game since she records for Blue Note.