Morrissey makes the scene

April 4, 2007

Continuing to support his most recent album, Ringleader of the Tormentors, legendary Brit modern rocker and former Smiths frontman Morrissey will be touring this side of this pond this year, beginning in California in late April. The rest of Morrissey’s dates will take him through the remainder of the West Coast and on through the Midwest (including stops in Seattle (5/6), Ann Arbor, MI (5/14), Chicago (5/15), and Dallas (5/25)) with East Coast dates set to be announced shortly...
 
Chris Cornell’s latest solo effort has been delayed a little for release, but don’t fear, Cornell fans - the album is still set to
hit stores by early summer. Produced by the legendary Steve Lillywhite (U2, Rolling Stones, and the aforementioned Morrissey), the disc, titled Carry On, offers up 14 new tracks that are quite a departure from what Cornell’s done to date. There’s a bit of the familiar hard-rock sound in “No Such Thing” and “Poison Eye,” but you’ll also hear a bit of psychedelia, soul, country, and even Cornell’s cover of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” Look for the disc to hit stores the first week in June...
 
Fresh off of their performances at this year’s SXSW Music Conference in Texas, The Polyphonic Spree have newly signed with TVT Records, who will now be helming the release of the Spree’s third album, The Fragile Army, which is also due out this June.  Recorded in Minnesota and, coincidentally, in Texas, the album carries a heavy anti-war theme, and is still chock-full of the symphonic pop group’s trademark choir arrangements and uplifting messages...
 
And the long-awaited (over a year, to be exact) biopic on The Clash’s Joe Strummer is now finally ready for release - as directed by Julien Temple, the film premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and will begin regular theater runs starting in Europe on May 18.  Titled The Future is Unwritten, the film includes plenty of never-before-seen footage of Strummer, including studio footage, live concert clips, and more; some vintage photos of the punker as a child and various home video clips are also included. Through the use of old recordings, Strummer’s own voice narrates much of the film, which also features interviews with the likes of Martin Scorsese, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bono, and Strummer’s Clash bandmate Mick Jones...
MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:  Dinosaur Jr. are headed back to the tour bus for a big ol’ summer tour in order to help promote their new album, Beyond, their first set of new tunes since 1989;  find out more about both the new disc and about aaaaaall those tour dates at
www.dinosaurjr.com...
MINI BUZZ: Columbia Records will be releasing a best-of CD/DVD compilation to mark the 10th anniversary of Jeff Buckley’s passing; titled So Real: Songs from Jeff Buckley, the set will combine tracks from Buckley’s Grace album as well as his posthumous Sketches for my Sweetheart the Drunk and the live EP Live at Sin-E...Actress/singer Minnie Driver is making a second bid at popdom with her sophomore solo disc, titled Sea Stories - on this one, Driver’s brought in the likes of Ryan Adams, Liz Phair, Wallflowers keyboardist Rami Jaffee, and Alanis Morissette co-writer Zac Rae to help out;  Driver also plans to tour behind the disc...Maroon 5 are on their way back five years after their multiplatinum album, Songs About Jane - they’re returning with a new, “less-bluesy” effort called It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, which is due out on May 22...
New York indie rockers The National have also chosen May 22 as the release date for their
sophomore album, Boxer, which will serve as
the follow-up to their 2005 disc, Alligator...A variety of musicians will contribute their interpretations of Ella Fitzgerald songs to the upcoming compilation set We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song which will be out on June 5; contributors include Queen Latifah, Michael Buble, Linda Ronstadt, and Natalie Cole...
MTVU’s 2007 Campus Invasion Music Festival is about to embark; this year they’re teaming up with the Save Darful Coalition to raise awareness, and will be featuring sets from the likes of The Shins and Dashboard Confessional...
And featuring some great new music, here are this week’s new releases... ON CD:  The Idle Race’s Birthday... Fountains of Wayne’s Traffic and Weather...  Bananarama’s Wow!... Good Charlotte’s Good Morning Revival... The Ponys’ Turn the Lights Out... and Grant Lee Phillips’ Strangelet...  
ON DVD:  Petula Clark’s Petula... Ben Folds Live at MySpace... Stanley Clarke’s Night School... and Motown: The Early Years... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves,
suggestions on this column or your fave musicians? Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com