A little upgrade every now & then

Jan. 31, 2007

Paul McCartney has been working on a song - “Now and Then” - that he was collaborating on with John Lennon before Lennon’s death. The unfinished tune -which Lennon reportedly thought wasn’t up to Beatles standard - is being upgraded, so to speak, by McCartney, who is adding counterpoint harmonies to Lennon’s vocal to expand on what he’s reportedly said is the song’s great potential. No word yet on when, where, or if the track will surface to radio or for purchase...

Bjork is going to be busy throughout the spring and summer, as she’s rumored to be appearing at a major U.S. music festival sometime in the first half of the year, and is also hard at work on her next album. The disc, which will serve as the follow-up to Bjork’s 2004 effort, Medulla, is set to be loaded with collaborators, among them Toumani Diabate, Antony Hegarty, and Timbaland, who so far has produced two of the tracks. The album is due late in the spring, and we’ll keep you updated on any live dates for the Icelandic songstress...

Wilco have wrapped their new album, Sky Blue Sky, and fans can expect to see it hit stores on May 15 on Nonesuch records. Wilco have already been previewing several of the songs from the new set, including “Lullaby for Rafters and Dreams,” “Walken,” “We Can Make It Better,” and “Is That the Thanks I Get,” and they’re still making the final track selections for the album, so be sure you whoop it up if you hear a song that you like at one of their live shows. The band only has three live dates scheduled as of press time - all three during the last part of April in Australia - but you can catch Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy on the road in the U.S. through the end of this month...
And Beck’s offering up more Information - he’ll drop a deluxe edition of his The Information album on February 27, com-plete with three internationally-released-only tunes, a half-dozen remixes, and all of the studio videos that were on the original release. Beckheads will also appreciate the two bonus studio videos and the inclusion of the artsy music vids “Cellphone’s Dead” (by Michel Gondry) and “Nausea” (by Patrick Daughters) – and, of course, the drawable cover/lyric book and sticker sheets...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK: The Shins have posted their entire new album, Wincing the Night Away, in streaming format on their MySpace site (www.myspace.com/theshins) - listen now, and then snag the disc when it hits stores next week...

MINI BUZZ:
V2 Records has effectively folded, leaving no label home for the likes of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and Moby...
Musicians-slash-actors Jennifer Hudson and Eddie (okay, the musician part is questionable) Murphy won awards at the Golden Globes last week, for Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor, respectively...
In other awards show news, the 49th Annual Grammy Awards have announced the first round of their performers for the February 11 show; among them so far are Gnarls Barkley, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dixie Chicks, and the aforementioned Beyonce...
Evanescence is due to hit the road for a month-long spring tour, kicking off March 16 in California and wrapping April 15 (woo-hoo, tax day) in Glens Falls, New York...
The premiere of the new American Idol season, which took place last week, ranked number two in viewership for the show since its beginnings in 2002...
Actor Ewan McGregor is said to be the frontrunner for the Kurt Cobain role in a planned upcoming movie about Cobain’s life, based on
the Cobain bio-book Heavier Than Heaven...

And here are this week’s new releases... ON CD: Paul Weller’s Hit Parade... Bird & The Bee’s Bird & The Bee... The Byrds’ There is a Season...
Stars of Track
and Field’s Centuries Before Love and War... Leonard Cohen’s Songs of Love and Hate... and Elvis Presley’s Spinout/Double Trouble sound-track...
ON DVD: Beat Kings: The History of Hip Hop... Madonna: Girl Power - The Ultimate DVD Biography... Adam and the Ants’ Stand and Deliver: The Very Best of Adam and the Ants... and the film adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly, featuring music by Graham Reynolds, the Golden Arm Trio, Jack Dangers, and DJ Spooky... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

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