The final sales week leading up to Christmas and Hanukkah was an overall disaster for the music industry as sales were off by 33% from 2007. It allowed, seemingly, albums featured prominetly in year-end "best-of" lists to find place sin the top 200.
Jamey Johnson's "That Lonesome Song," which the New York Times critics heavily praised sold 24,000 (No. 71); the Amazon-crowned Kings of Leon's "Only the Night" moved 22,000 (No. 75); and the album nearly every poll has high on the list, Fleet Foxes' self-titled release, sold 14,000 (No. 118).
Among the others: MGMT's "Oracular Spectacular" did 11,000 (No. 145); TV on the Radio's "Dear Science" tuned in 9,000 (No. 175); Bob Dylan's "Tell Tale Signs" wandered off with 9,000 bootheels (No. 177); Vampire Weekend flew off with 8,000 (No. 180); Bon Iver's "For Emma, Forever Ago" creaked out 7,000 (No. 196); and Lucinda Williams' "Little Honey" flowed with 7,000 (No. 198).

At the beginning of the year I expressed some concern over the concept of a “best of” list, suggesting that most should be classified as “best records I received and listened to in the last 12 months.” With that in mind, rather than pegging this as the best records of 2008, I prefer to view it as 50 albums released in ’08 that I am glad are in my collection. (One change made at 10:55 am Tuesday: I forgot Blitzen Trapper. This is Ivy League is now on a different list.)

1. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
2. TV on the Radio – Dear Science
3. Sigur Ros – Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum
4. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
5. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
6. Portishead – Third
7. John Mellencamp – Life, Death, Love and Freedom
8. Bob Dylan – Tell Tale Signs
9. William Parker Quartet – Petit Oiseau
10. Missy Higgins – On a  Clear Night
11. James Blackshaw – Litany of Echoes
12. Hays Carll – Trouble in Mind
13. Adele – 19
14. Randy Newman – Harps and Angels
15. Anthony Braxton - The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton
16. She & Him – Vol. 1
17. Santogold - Santogold
18. Anthony Hamilton – The Point of it All
19. DeVotchKa – A Mad and Faithful Telling
20. Conor Oberst – Conor Oberst
21. Duffy - Rockferry
22. Hold Steady – Stay Positive
23. Alice Russell – Pot of Gold
24. Al Green – Lay it Down
25. Why? - Alopecia
26. Brian Eno and David Byrne – Everything That Happens …
27. Laura Marling – Alas, I Cannot Swim
28. Johnny Flynn – A Larum
29. Delta Spirit – Ode to Sunshine
30. Beck – Modern Guilt
31. Break and Repair Method – Milk the Bee
32. John Pizzarelli – With a Song in My Heart
33. Freddie Stevenson – All My Strange Companions
34. Norma Winstone – Distances
35. Shelby Lynne – Just a Little Lovin’
36. Beach House – Devotion
37. Neil Young – Sugar Mountain – Live at Canterbury House 1968
38. Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet - Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet
39. Bodies of Water – A Certain Feeling
40. Various Artists –  Nigeria Special 1970-1976
41. Blltzen Trapper - Furr
42. Roy Harper – Counter Culture
43. Butch Walker – Sycamore Meadows
44. Dennis Wilson – Bambu (the unreleased half of the Pacific Ocean Blue reissue)
45. Priscilla Ahn – A Good Day
46. Peter Moren – The Last Tycoon
47. Mary Chapin Carpenter – Come Darkness, Come Light
48. Van Morrison – Keep it Simple
49. My Brightest Diamond – A Thousand Shark’s Teeth
50. Brad Mehldau Trio – Live

A few years ago, a wine purveyor friend of mine called to alert me that a wine I had been interested in was still in stock in his shop and that within a few days Wine Spectator would be naming it the wine of the year. He offered a few bottles to me at $29; after the magazine came out it would be $40.
I have yet to open the wine and last I checked there was not a strong market for it, though I could certainly get double the amount I spent. Once the Top 100 list came out, though, and I looked over the magazine's selections, I started to wonder if indeed the wine was indeed the year's best, seeing as how the list ultimately represents wines that, at one time or another, are readily available in the U.S.
Albums are a lot like wines that seem to hit the top 10 in various polls and year-end lists. The artists - or winemakers - are often stars who have met expectations or up-and-comers who have provided a new way to look at something established; when put side by side with their peers, they're often a bit showier.
Wines that score high ratings get them for several reasons, one of which is how well will it age. I'm not sure that that consideration is taken into account enough when albums are listed from No. 1 to whatever, but guessing whether a sound will endure is rather foolhardy.

Both lists, do, however, promote spending sprees. The days that follow the release of any best-of-the-year list mean endless phone calls at wine retailers. It's less so at music emporiums, though I have found that certain lists do drive the action at retail, especially in the classical world where Amazon's top-sellers at the end of the December will often include the choices of New York Times critics. (This year, when it came to albums, they went truly indie).
Last week we saw few sales bumps for albums on the lists of Rolling Stone, Spin, NPR and others; this week, perhaps a mention on Pitchfork's list will bolster sales, too. In my limited experience it already has.

The album that caught my fancy on this year's Pitchfork list was Air France, a band I know nothing about but, based on the review, I thought it would make a good purchase. At Amoeba on Friday it was sold out.
Had a similar experience a year ago with Jens Lekman and James Blackshaw, two artists I enjoy whose 2007 releases never came my way. The hunt for those lasted months.
What struck me this year about Pitchfork's lists - and this is where wine lists from publications such as Spectator come in - was the relative established reputations of the crowned winners. Fleet Foxes, TV on the Radio and M83 are bands paying to good-sized clubs, their albums are promoted online and in stores and a fair number of publications have written about them. Most years, Pitchfork's 100 best is stuffed with obscurities and albums from sub-sub-subgenres such as sitcom-inspired rappers' mixtapes. Not so much this year.
Wine Spectator's top 100 does not include those obscurities that make their critics see daylight in a way. It emphasizes wines that have distribution, showed well upon release and are still pleasant now. That's what Pitchfork's list feels like, too,this year at least.
Rolling Stone always has a safe list at year's end. Pitchfork is the one that goes to the edge, but with the marketplace so fractured, their take on indie rock in 2008 reflects how easily the indies are abutting up against the majors. Fleet Foxes, this year's winner, and Deerhunter, the No. 5 album, will continue to see bumps in sales and the next time they come to your town, odds are they will be performing at a venue that is double the size of the last place they played. Prior to March's SXSW, when something else will be declared the Next Big Thing That People Will Talk About, the Pitchfork Top 10 has a window to capitalize on critical goodwill and develop fan bases even further
The sad thing is, the achivement in '08 does not guarantee antcipation for the next record the way it was 10, 20, 30 years ago. Instead, it's like the wine reviews often state: Enjoy now.

The years concert tally has hit 98 shows and 254 acts and it might well end there, but maybe I'll find a way to sneak in a show or two by year's end.

  Brian Wilson will be the first guest at the Grammy Museum's “An Evening With” program, appearing Jan. 15 for an interview and performance. Museum executive director Robert Santelli will ask the questions.
Session will take place in the hall's 200-seat sound Stage. Wilson will be asked to comment on  songwriting, the landmark Beach Boys albums and his new album, "That Lucky Old Sun."
Tickets are $20 - $18 for  members - and go on sale Monday.

The 1 billion sold mark has been crossed in the digital music arena.
Nielsen Soundscan reported that 1 billion digital tracks have been sold this year and it is believed the year will close at 1.04 billion, a 28% jump from 2007's sales of 844 million.
Of the year's total, 17% of the sales are of top 200 title. Soundscan started tracking digital sales in the middle of 2003.
The year's biggest seller is Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love," which has moved 3.3 million copies to date.

Congratulations to the producers of the '80s rock musical "Rock of Ages" for securing a run on Broadway.
Show will shutter at Off Broadway’s New World Stages Jan. 4, then begin performances at the Brooks Atkinson Theater on March 20 ahead of an April 7 opening.
Tickets  will range from $46.50 to $99, with a top ticket price of $89 on weeknights and $99 for weekend perfs. (Most musicals on the Great White Way top out at around $120; “Billy Elliot” stretches up to $135.)
The show’s Off Broadway cast includes Constantine Maroulis, Will Swenson and Kelli Barrett. The ensemble is expected to remain largely the same, although Swenson is still deciding between “Rock” and “Hair,” another Off Broadway production getting a Broadway run this spring.
Book of “Rock” is penned by Chris D’Arienzo, who also has been tapped by New Line Cinema to write and direct a movie version of the musical. Plot centers on a young couple on the LA music scene who must overcome the obstacles of the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle in order to be together.
Show incorporates familiar tunes from the likes of Journey, Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister and Whitesnake.
Two years ago, when the show's original incarnation played a club in Hollywood, they asked me to write an essay for the program. This is what I came up with: 

The rock acts of the 1980s sought out the fantastic side of rock 'n' roll - the energetic stage show, the lyric that could be chanted instead of contemplated and outlandish visual styles that toyed with the extreme. The hair, the get-ups, the obnoxiousness, the desire for fame - all were played to the hilt on the Sunset Strip.
And performing in the clubs of the Strip wasn't a sign of success by itself the way it had been for '60s rockers - it was a means to an end. Gigs at the Forum. Outdoor  shows loaded with pyrotechnics. This was ground zero on the road to superstardom and all that it delivered:  more girls, bigger cars, more drugs, more booze, a mansion and great parties. The bands were having fun,  the audience was having fun.
History hasn't been all that kind to the screaming anthems and the power ballads, but then again history hasn't honored  the honesty with which those musicians performed night after night. The singers weren't wearing their hearts on their sleeves like the musicians who preceded them nor were they the shy wallflower types  whose mutterings were embraced by the grunge generation afterward. This was the first generation of rockers to understand the impact of theater, from hair and makeup to sets and even a storyline. They saw a way to take what had once been labeled as dangerous, reduce its threatening nature  and make it outrageous or even comical. They understood commercial appeal.
These hard rockers rejected everything that had been scaled down during the punk era. The bands used video as an ally and unlike many R&B and new wave acts, developed a concert style as well.  Never groundbreaking,  the best of hard rock acts took elements that had worked for different artists in different eras and made it their own, whether it be guitar sounds and busting up equipment or crossing biker chic with ballet and Dali.
It was a short period. A bizarre confluence of the knowing and the innocent. We'll probably never see another era so awash in boyish antics and unfettered frolicking, where the dreamers and dreammakers intermingled so closely with no idea of whether the dream was all it was pumped up to be. It was a time to shout at the devil.

Was able to catch only one of the new Prince songs, "Wall of Berlin," and it sounds like an answer to the question "what would Jimi Hendrix sound like if he were still alive?" The drumming, especially the cymbal work, echoed the jazzy tendencies found on "Electric Ladyland"; the layering of bass, guitar, drums and other sounds was thoroughly late period Hendrixian; the point in the song at which the guitar solo takes off owes to you-know-who; and the lyrics of "Wall" were oozing sexual innuendo.
The other songs played were "Crimson and Clover," "Colonized Mind" and "4Ever."
Whether intended or not we'll never know, but Steve Jones closed Jonesy's Jukebox playing Love's "Alone Again Or" with Elijah Blue. I'd like "Multi-Racial Rock Bands led by Black Guitarists" for $800, please Alex.

The Smoking Gun does a fine job gathering the riders of musical acts and, naturally, pokes fun at their dietary habits and peccadilloes. (Little has topped that chicken being baked for Clarence Clemons that comes out of the oven as the E Streeters launch into "The Promised Land.")
While the editors at TSG obsessed over M.I.A.'s obsession with high-quality cheese, they failed to miss a collection of ingredients that suggest she has no interest in taking the cheese with her. (I'm surprised there is no request for Charmin Ultra).
In her collection of requests are the relatively innocuous items:
2 organic lemons
1 bottle Organic Pure Maple Syrup (Grade B)
1 jar Organic Cayenne Pepper

But mix them together and voila, you get Master Cleanse, everybody's favorite detox diet. Pre-pregnancy, she had to look as good as Beyonce, an advocate of the diet.

Age and geography come into play more often than not when the Eagles and SoCal country rock is discussed. For every L.A. or Midwest fan there's a kid from Queens who detests the band. I fall in the middle. Those first three albums were crucial in my junior high/high school listening experience in L.A.; by the time I was in college bouncing between New Jersey and New York, I had no use for "Hotel California" or "The Long Run."
As time passes I find it important to reassess records that that did not speak to me at the time of their release, especially ones that have gained a cultural foothold. (My relationship with the music of Steely Dan is very similar to the Eagles).
Venturing out to see J.D. Souther on Tuesday was more about hearing him sing songs from his fine new album, his first in more than 24 years, than it was a chance to rekindle a relationship with a beloved catalog. Curiously I found myself rethinking the Eagles and wondering if there's a clear spot at which the stylistic torch was passed from Jackson Browne to Souther as the central outside influence on the band.When it came to Souther, Hillman and Furray, I figured JD had neutered the the former members of the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield; the drive to score a hit on soft-rock radio obviously led to artistic compromise.
Souther spoke about gathering old tapes for a compilation though he gave no details about who might release it or when. Two of his albums came out on Asylum so Rhino seems to be the logical place but there is nothing on their slate right now. His show at Largo, reviewed here, certainly brought new light to the value of his catalog.

David Sprague reports from New York that the show at Nokia Theater Times Square, timed to Tuesday's release of  "Folie a Deux," was mostly dedicated to back catalog. The celeb-bashing "America's Suitehearts," a sweetly harmony-laden 'I Don't Care" and a forgettable take on the overly cute "Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown" were the only new tunes to make it into the set, although the band seems to be growing by leaps and bounds as the members age. Sprague's review is here.

EMI is under the belief that music fans using the Internet are aware of the labels for which artists record. How could that possibly be?
For all of the ways Apple’s iTunes allows a user to organize their music collection, label names is not an option. Since EMI is not a label in the U.S. – Capitol, Virgin, Blue Note and Angel are among the distributor’s imprints – it’s yet another step removed from the consumer. Label names mean nothing to the consumer with the exception of specialty record companies.
Despite other music companies failing in their attempts to drive business through their own online retail and information services, EMI is relaunching its website emi.com today. At the operation’s core is an attempt to communicate directly with fans, take their input on musical tastes and direct them. Like editorial sites, it expects that it will offer exclusive content, though here it will be part of direct PR and marketing campaigns.
The labels have never been good about maintaining consistency in their websites. One artist will be updated constantly, another will not have a new piece of information added for years. And when the self-interest of the labels takes over – which will ultimately occur – the focus will rest on the current releases and shy from the catalog, even the steady performers.
In EMI’s words, the site is art of the company’s “experiment with new digital platforms … to develop a deeper understanding of how consumers interact with and experience music online.”
They’re referring to it as “a learning lab” to gain knowledge about consumers’ preferences and choices. EMI.com will house music (playable in 30 second segments), videos, photos, biographies and discographies.  Fans in the U.K. and U.S. can watch videos and create playlists.  The discover feature helps fans search for tailored music recommendations, by entering artists’ names, including those of non-EMI artists. 
The ability to purchase music is down the road.
For the record, artists on EMI labels include Lily Allen, Coldplay, Corinne Bailey Rae, Gorillaz, Hot Chip, Norah Jones, the Kooks, Korn, Kylie Minogue, Katy Perry, Sir Simon Rattle, Joss Stone, KT Tunstall, Keith Urban and Robbie Williams. They also have a band called the Beatles.

One of our favorite "American Idol" contestants, the oh-so-humble Melinda Doolittle, has her album ready for release on Feb.3. Having not had a chance to listen to the new disc, I am wondering how much of a throwback is it, especially when one considers the inspiration for the cover art.  Or at least, what might have been the inspiration.
It's doubtful there's anything as brilliant as "Blowin' in the Wind" or "A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall" but if there's one singer who could sustain the show on talent alone, Doolittle is the one.
More tidbits: “It’s Your Love” is the first single. Hi Fi Recordings is the label; Mike Mangini is the producer; it was recorded in Nashville and New York City. The label executives call it a "throwback to the classic soul albums of the 70’s with a modern twist."

Nothing’s more fun that pontificating on how one year-end poll or the other got so many things wrong – Idolator has had a field day with it in one of their fine regular postings chronicling the year.
It was a problem that college football faced at the end of the 1990s and they decided to employ a cockamamie system (the BCS) to decide exactly who should play for the national title. They get their final 25 from a host of factors, among them, the polls of sportswriters, football coaches, computer rankings and, one would suspect, personal biases and geographically based whims.
What if the Bowl Championship Series system were employed to decide critical mass among the masses of critics rather than the polls of the Village Voice and Idolator? (Full disclosure: I have proudly voted in both).
To create an MCS – Music Critics’ Series – I took into account the best-of lists of 11 publications: Blender, Fact, Mojo, NME, New York, Paste, Q, Rolling Stone, Spin, Time and Uncut. From there, a collection of factors were used: Position on lists, number of mentions, average position on lists and the yearlong reputation of the album and/or artist.
TV on the Radio’s “Dear Science” and Vampire Weekend’s debut were the only albums on all 11 lists, some of which were as short as 10. (Others were as long as 50). Just as there are schools that go undefeated against unranked teams and have to be considered among the heavyweights, so, too, must albums that score strongly on just a handful of ballots.
That helps Elbow’s”The Seldom Seen Kid,” Lucinda Williams, “Little Honey” and Glasvegas, which has a huge collection of British fans. Every album in the top 25 received at least four mentions on the counted lists, which were compiled before Pitchfork’s potential announcement of Deerhunter’s “Microcastle” at No. 1. (That’s an NME rumor right now that's false).
Receiving first place votes were “Dear Science” (2), Portishead’s “Third,” Bon Iver’s “For Emma, Forever Ago,” Fleet Foxes, Lil Wayne, “Tha Carter III” (3), MGMT’s “Oracular Spectacular,” Kings of Leon’s “Only by the Night.”

THE MCS FOR 2008
1. TV on the Radio, “Dear Science”
2. Vampire Weekend, “Vampire Weekend”
3. Portishead, “Third”
4. Bon Iver, “For Emma, Forever Ago”
5. Fleet Foxes, “Fleet Foxes”
6. Lil Wayne, “Tha Carter III”
7. MGMT, “Oracular Spectacular”
8. Kings of Leon, “Only by the Night” 
9. Elbow, "The Seldom Seen Kid"
10. Santogold, “Santogold”
11. Beck, “Modern Guilt”
12. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!” 
13. My Morning Jacket, “Evil Urges”
14. Hot Chip, “Made in the Dark”
15. Metallica, “Death Magnetic” 
16. Glasvegas, "Glasvegas"
17. Erykah Badu, “New Amerykah, Part 1 (4th World War)”
18. Lucinda Williams, “Little Honey”
19. The Hold Steady, “Stay Positive”
20. Coldplay, “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends”
21. No Age, “Nouns”
22. Randy Newman, “Harps and Angels”
23. Girl Talk, “Feed the Animals” 
24. Duffy, “Rockferry” 
25. Sigur Rós, "Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust"
Also receiving votes: AC/DC “Black Ice,” Conor Oberst “Conor Oberst,” Of Montreal “Skeletal Lamping,” Hercules & Love Affair, Paul Weller “22 Dreams,” R.E.M. “Accelerate.”

On the heels of doing an online chat over the weekend, Axl Rose issued an open letter to address his retention of the name and giving his side of the story with regards to other lineups and how they interacted.
Most interesting aspects concern his using the name Guns N' Roses. He writes:

"When Guns renegotiated our contract with Geffen I had the bit about the name added in as protection for myself as I had come up with the name and then originally started the band with it. It had more to do with management than the band as our then manager was always tryin’ to convince someone they should fire me. As I had stopped speaking with him he sensed his days were numbered and was bending any ear he could along with attempting to sell our renegotiation out for a personal payday from Geffen. It was added to the contract and everyone signed off on it. It wasn’t hidden in fine print.
"Now at that time I didn’t know or think about brand names or corporate value etc. All I knew is that I came in with the name and from day one everyone had agreed to it being mine should we break up and now it was in writing.
"I didn’t make a solo record. A solo record would be completely different than this and probably much more instrumental. I made a Guns record with the right people who were the only people who really wanted to help me try, were qualified and capable while enduring the public abuse for years . The songs were chosen by everyone involved. I didn’t want to do This I love in anyway shape or form and Robin and Caram insisted gaining Tommy’s and the others support.
"The name is something I take great pride in as I feel anyone who’s been a part of it should, the same as other bands or teams etc. The burden when it is such is a nightmare but not as much or as hopeless as I’d imagine without it could have been.
"Keeping the band name alive was very important. Not out of ego and I don’t know exactly why in the sense of putting into words but I think it has something to do with the global effect it has and how Guns surviving in some way is sometimes inspiring to others around the world and in that there’s a sense of obligation."
The entire letter is after the jump.

In a biographical portion of “Going Back/Going Home” that appears on Butch Walker’s latest album “Sycamore Meadows,” he sings about giving up beer and diving head-first into wine. Like so much of the album, written mostly after he lost his Malibu home and belongings in a fire, it’s absolutely true.
A recent vacation involved a trip to Napa Valley where he took in three vineyards, Swanson, Signorello and Vine Cliff.
“Wine’s a lot cooler than drinking vodka in a bar,” he says. “There’s culture – tantric alcoholism.”
Wine, working with Avril Lavigne, his ambition to score an animated film and why you should not get tattoos of  your heroes were among the topics discussed when we visited after he performed for the staff of L.A.’s new radio station 100.3, aka The Sound.  Butch is also the subject of my column this week.

Q: There is such an astounding difference between the albums you make on your own and the ones you are famous for producing (Avril, Pink, Fall Out Boy, the Bronx). Are there very specific lines you don’t cross when you produce and does it work both ways
A: Keep the left brain and the right brain separate. Don’t let them communicate. I had to get into that mindset. When I get a call, they’re calling for one thing: they want something they can sell. They want it catchy, hooky and on the radio. My motto has been there’s a big difference between a good song and a hit song. I have to look at things from a different viewpoint. I listened to a lot of radio and plenty of pop music and appreciated those elements. I’m not scared by it - it’s exciting to go in that direction. Have as much fun as possible and then, if I need to, go back and cry on my fret board. But I learned early on, never cross-collateralize.

Grammy nominations and year-end lists have a similar function for me: They get me out to the record store - that would be Amoeba - to pick up things I missed. One such case is "Ernest V. Stoneman The Unsung Father of Country Music, 1925-1934" from 5 String Productions. Hank Sapoznik is nominated for an album notes Grammy.
Stoneman was from Virginia and became the first rural singer/songwriter of the 20th century to record. The subject matter in the songs is typical for the era: Sentimental love songs, early gospel hymns, fiddle breakdowns, and disaster songs. Once the Depression hit, Stoneman settled in the Washington, D.C. with his wife and nine children. In the 1960s, they were re-discovered and became a popular bluegrass band.
One of his daughters, Roni Stoneman, became a star "Hee-Haw" and will make a rare performance Monday in L.A. at the Echoplex.

The lone living member of the Miles Davis band that recorded "Kind of Blue" nearly 50 years ago was on hand to help celebrate the Sony Legacy celebrate the 50th anniversary edition of the jazz classic. Jimmy Cobb, the drummer on the session that included Paul Chambers, John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley, continues to be an active part of the jazz world a month shy of turning 80.
Cobb's recent releases include sessions with Hank Jones and Cedar Walton, plus a pair of tributes to Miles Davis. ("Essence of Green" and "Miles From India"). A session he did with trumpeter Roy Hargrove has yet to be released.
He says the book, the special editions and extensive articles on the "Kind of Blue" sessions have yielded "more than we ever knew at the time." And when I tried to get him to talk about that material changed when it was performed with other musicians, he pretty much just laughed. "It's never gonna be the same when the first guy playing it is John Coltrane." So true.
Party at the Ford Brady Showroom in downtown Los Angeles was attended by drummer Lenny White and bassist Stanley Clarke, who is working on a trio album with pianist Hiromi, will tour Europe with his three bass band and will work in the fall with Chick Corea on an acoustic trio project. Verdine White of Earth, Wind and Fire and Henry Rollins were also mingling about along with a host of Davis' relatives.
What would be cool would be some written advice from Miles, like the list Thelonious Monk wrote that Arther posted and the Daily Swarm picked up on.
Monk and Miles shared a philosophy: What you don't play can be more important than what you do play.

Getting what we expect out of legends is a tough one to calculate. From my perspective, if they stay too familiar I get bored and too adventurous I wonder if they know why fans showed up in the first place.
Two extremely different crowds attended the L.A. shows of AC/DC and Wayne Shorter this week and both audiences were treated to two extremely different types of shows. AC/DC did what was expected of them. Shorter, whose concert was billed as a 75th birthday celebration, did a show that was like nothing else he had done before this year.
The New York Times weighed on both of these acts when they performed in New York, opining that any critical re-examination of the Aussie rockers is a futile exercise and that Shorter reinforces the notion that he as the greatest living composer and improviser in jazz.
The one bonding factor here, if you follow my logic, is the trademark sound: Angus Young's guitar and Shorter's tenor and soprano saxes. That's what the fans want to hear
I contend that if the musicians can express themselves in a way that's familiar and challenging, they succeed; if they do one or the other, only half the picture is painted and it's up to critics to fill in the thermometer chart on how well they presented themselves.
Next question: should both of these musicians be held to the same standard? I say yes. This where the division of music into good and bad comes in. Ardent supporters of these two styles lament the lack of a new wave of acts capable of displaying the power and mettle of these performers. It extends across the board: the musicianship, the songwriting, the stage presence and interplay among the band, which makes me believe there is common bar they should clear.
More than ever it feels as if the best of our living legends have ascended to a unique place due to the lack of performers doing what their predecessors did. It's why Prince, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan remain so vital: Energy and integrity are key components of every show and their audiences return time and time again for the performer to deliver a moment of truth that doesn't repeat what was said at an earlier show.
It's perfectly acceptable that AC/DC does the same show every night and Shorter repeated for L.A. an evening first staged at Carnegie Hall. They work as snapshots. They linger in the memory until the the next time they come around, at which point I hope changes are in store. That's what keeps music thriving. Acts that don't change and try to return to the same markets with the same show find themselves looking at empty seats. Wanting to deliver "hits" and nothing else results in audience fatigue.
Why was the Journey-Heart-Cheap Trick triple bill so successful this year? They were reaching for a brass ring while simultaneously delivering "Don't Stop Believin'" and  "Magic Man," performing as if there is more to come down the road. Just like Wayne Shorter, just like Angus and Malcolm Young.
Next up is Fleetwood Mac, which has reconvened sans Christine McVie as they did in 2003. (No word yet on whether they will again hire six musicians to fill out the sound).  That tour, though, was on the heels of the "Say You Will" album and nightly the Mac would perform between five and eight new tunes.
This tour, which only has East Coast dates announced, is already being pitched as a greatest hits revue. Christine's absence was viscerally felt on the last go-round; when the program is all hits, it seems like that void would only be magnified. An FM hit parade without "Little Lies," "Over My Head" and "Say You Love Me," in my book, can't be done. And at the same time, it needs to be different from the "say You Will" tour  - a different snapshot of a band in a different time. That way, those of us who attend the concert can hold onto our belief that Fleetwood Mac is one of the greatest rock bands ever, the same way AC/DC's fans must feel after this tour that integrates five new songs from "Black Ice" into the show.    

AC/DC and Shorter were concerts 95 and 96; cathing the Imani Winds takes me to 251 acts seen this year. Four shows to go to hit the goal.

The Dan Band tries their hand at a "We Are the World" type holiday tune with “Please Don’t Bomb  Nobody This Holiday.”Celebrity  friends chiming in include include Christina  Applegate, Macy Gray, Sheryl Crow, Neil Patrick Harris, Nicole Scherzinger,  Kathy Najimy, Meg Ryan, Matthew Perry, Janeane Garofalo, Michael  Johns, Nia Vardalos, Ian Gomez, Ricki Lake, Kyle Gas and Christopher Guest. (Sorry about the advertisement. I don't know how to get around it).

From Crackle: "P lease Don't Bomb Nobody This Holiday"

How far did last week's mighty fall on the album sales chart?
Last week's No. 1, Kanye West's "808s & Heartbreak," sold 142,000 copies and dropped to No. 4, a 69% dip, according to Nielsen Soundscan data. Ludacris’ “Theater of the Mind” and the Killers’ “Day and Age” experienced 69% sales dips as well as both dropped 10 slots. Ludacris sold 65,000 copies (No. 15); the Killers did 61,000 (No. 16).
Guns N’ Roses’ “Chinese Democracy” took the biggest pounding, selling 57,000 copies — a 78% drop — and slid 15 slots to No. 18.
Taylor Swift, who co-hosted the Grammy concert on CBS, saw her "Fearless" hold onto No. 2 despite a sales slide of 74,000 units to 193,000 sold in the week.
Besides Andre Bocelli’s “Incanto” (35,000 sold, No. 33), Christmas records were the only albums in the top 50 to experience sales bumps.
"Elvis Presley Christmas Duets" was up 15,0000 units to 57,000 (No. 17); Harry Connick Jr.'s "What a Night!" was up 12,000 to 48,000 (No. 20); and Yo-Yo Ma's "Songs of Joy & Peace" rose 4,000 to 38,000 (No. 29). Leading holiday sellers remain Faith Hill's "Joy to the World" (No. 13 with a cume of 269,000) and Enya's "And Winter Came” (No. 14, 308,000 sold to date). Holiday albums by Amy Grant, Julianne Hough, Mannheim Steamroller, Kristin Chenoweth, Celtic Woman, Aretha Franklin and Mary Chapin Carpenter rose more than 20 slots last week.

iTunes will distribute concert recordings by Ryuichi Sakamoto within 24 hours of his performances in Japan early next year.
Sakamoto will perform 21 shows in 18 cities between March 18 and April 28. The concert performances will be available in Japan and eventually worldwide on Apple's iTunes.
Tour is in support of "Out Of Noise," his first release in five years. No word yet on whether the influence of the Brazilian musicians he has been working with the last several years (Marissa Monte, Morelenbaum2) will creep into the new work. 
This is the first deal iTunes has made to rapidly offer new music anywhere in the world. 
Details, in Japanese, are Sakamoto's new website. He also has an English language site that has not been updated with the details.

Three years ago, when Janet Billig and her team were developing "Rock of Ages," their sights were set on Las Vegas. Now that it has run Off Broadway, the '80s rock musical is bound for Hollywood.
New Line has won an auction for screen rights to “Rock of Ages,” the stage musical loaded  with ‘80s rock anthems. Chris D’Arienzo, who wrote the book for the Off Broadway tuner, will write the screenplay and direct the film, Michael Fleming reports.
The show is mostly set at a Sunset Strip rock club called Rock of Ages, where a man and woman fall in love but get torn apart by the rock lifestyle. Featured tunes are by Journey, Twisted Sister, Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, Foreigner, Bon Jovi and REO Speedwagon.
New Line is also developing a sequel to “Hairspray.”
I found the musical to be a bit more fun than Variety's reviewer - maybe because I wrote a piece for the program, maybe because he was a little harsh. Our off-Broadway review - "somewhere between the Styx dance break and the Twisted Sister reprise, this jukebox tuner transcends its hoary parts to become a legitimate artistic achievement" - was more in line with my thoughts about the piece.

John Mellencamp. Biography. Thursday. 9PM ET/8PM CT/10 PM PT.
“Homeward Bound: John Mellencamp” visits Mellencamp’s Seymour, Ind., hometown, meeting the people who inspired his music and covering his early career. It features archival footage and interviews with childhood friends, band members and other key people in his life. It also includes concert performances.

Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard are back in contention for an Oscar nom.
The Music Branch Executive Committee of the Academy reversed its Nov. 10 decision declaring their score for “the Dark Knight” ineligible for the 2008 Academy Awards.
The score was disqualified due to five names being listed as composers on the music cue sheet.
After reviewing information submitted by the affected parties, the committee concluded that two Zimmer and Howard were responsible for the score’s authorship. 
Neither nomination ballots nor lists of eligible scores had been distributed so there is no impact  on the actual voting process.

Amadou and Mariam's "Welcome to Mali" will be released in the U.S. on March 24 by Because Music/Nonesuch Records and followed by a spring tour. (They were fantastic at Coachella a few years back).
The album has already been issued overseas and the Guardian named it No. 2 on their year-end list, right behind Bon Iver's "For Emma, ForeverAgo." The U.K. newspaper called it "the most exciting pop album of 2008."
Singer Mariam Doumbia and her husband, guitarist/vocalist Amadou Bagayoko, have been making music together since they met at the Institute for Young Blind People in Bamako, Mali¹s capital, three decades ago.
Now if Seu Jorge's "America Brasil" (No. 41 on the list) could find an American distributor, the world would be a better place.

Wonder what your favorite Grammy nominee is up to? Well look no further than my email inbox where I have been inundated with tallies according to labels, distributors, PR companies and artists. Some nominees are still working and not just waiting around for the Feb. 8 ceremony. Among the highlights:
Jennifer Hudson ( four noms) is releasing her next single, “If This Isn’t Love,” with a video premiere slated for January. Her quote: “It’s been a childhood dream of mine to release an album, so to receive 4 Grammy nominations is truly a blessing.  I’m extremely honored and humbled by the nominations.”
John Mayer (five noms) will celebrate the holiday season with his second annual Holiday Acoustic Revue concert on Saturday at LA's Nokia Theater. His solo acoustic performance will be preceded by a performance from Adele. Concert will benefit Toys for Tots and the Los Angeles Food Bank. Next year, he has the second voyage aboard the Mayercraft Carrier, which will sail from Los Angeles to Cabo San Lucas, March 27-31. Mayer, O.A.R., Guster and more than a dozen other bands perform.
Adele (four nominations) will perform on "Ellen" and then "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on Wednesday.
She has a U.S.  tour that begins Jan. 14 in Sommerville, Mass., that concludes Jan. 31 in San Diego. FYI: “Chasing Pavements” was the most played video on VH1 for 2008.   
Trisha Yearwood (three nominations) has a free download of "My Favorite Things" at www.sears.com and cookbook, "Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen." Her quote:
"When  my producer, Garth Fundis, called me to tell me I had three Grammy  nominations, I said, "Are you kidding me?"  What a sweet surprise!   I am always honored to be recognized by NARAS, and am proud and  excited for everyone who has been involved with the HHPOL album.”
Kenny Chesney received his first-ever Grammy nomination. His quote: “I'm not gonna say that I gave up or didn't care about it because this is an award given by your peers in all genres of music… the people who make it. You get to a point where you realize you can't force it or get them to listen if they're not there, because that's not how this works… and you just have to accept that. But that said, I'm really honored to finally be nominated.”
Cherryholmes (two nominations) start a tour in January performing with orchestras around the country. Work from all three of their albums, newly composed material and songs with similar lyrical motifs have been combined into suites.

"At Seventeen," the song Celine Dion sang gently Wednesday night, keeping her powerful pipes in check, was penned by Janis Ian, a singer who has maintained  a loyal following in the three decades since the song was a significant hit. Earlier this year, Ian's autobiography "Society's Child" was published by Tarcher/Penguin, but Wednesday was a remindeer of the gracious and artful nature of "At Seventeen."
Ian has led quite distinct life. In the book she discusses her family being watched by the FBI, he first hit at the age of 15, "Society's Child,"  snorting coke with Jimi Hendrix, watching Nina Simone  pull a gun on a sales clerk in a shoe store,  surviving an abusive marriage, being outed as a lesbian by the Village Voice in the early '70's and playing the first "Saturday Night Live."
A companion double CD, "Best Of Janis Ian: The Autobiography  Collection" was released on her  own Rude Girl Records. Ian also gives away music on her website and has been an assertive user of the Internet for a decade.
Ian is off the road until March.  Once she resumes playing clubs and theaters, she will also offer her Living Room Concerts in which a few times each year she performs for a gathering in a home. (The concerts cost $14,999 and many are used as fundraisers for her Pearl Foundation).
One such show took place in the south of England on April 16, 2006 - Easter Sunday. She played:

Every Love / Danger Danger / Tattoo / The Crocodile Song / Silly Habits / Watercolors / Folk is the New Black / Jackie Skates / At Seventeen / Page Nine / Stars / Through the Years / Joy

The Recording Academy found a way to get the Jonas Brothers into the nominated action while Miley Cyrus sits on the sidelines. Maybe that'll get the kids to watch! 
Anyhow, not pretending to know a lick about gospel, Spanish-language or choral music, here are some thoughts on the 51st annual Grammy Awards categories.

Particularly strong categories: Female pop vocal; pop collaboration with vocals; rock song; alternative music album;rap performance by a duo or a group; jazz instrumental album; both world music album categories; spoken word; score soundtrack album; historical album; small ensemble performance; and long-form music video.
The Curiously Weak Ones: R&B album; country song; and producer, non-classical.   
Nice to see their names: Steve Cropper and Felix Cavaliere in pop instrumental; Charlie Haden in country instrumental; Norma Winstone in jazz vocal album; Pete Seeger in trad folk; Ry Cooder on contemporary folk; Debashish Bhattacharya in traditional world music album; Judith Sherman in producer, classical; and Esa-Pekka Salonen and James Conlon in classical album.
Why You Release Christmas Records in September: Bela Fleck & the Flecktones and Spyro Gyra are up for the pop instrumental album nod.
Brilliant underrated song: "No Hidden Path" by Neil Young, up for solo rock vocal performance  even thought the bulk of 14 minute, 33 second tune is a guitar solo.
Brilliant underrated performer/album: Norma Winstone's "Distances" is a revelation, particularly her rendition of Peter Gabriel's "Here Comes the Flood" at glacier speed.
Traditional Pop Vocal: Three tribute albums and two Christmas records? Is the category needed?
Randomly: When there are 110 categories, the Eagles and Leona Lewis should not be competing with one another in pop vocal album.
In the two blues categories, only two of the performers are under the age of 60.
What, precisely, is "urban/alternative"?

So Celine Dion did not tack her new single onto the end of "At Seventeen" and rumors of Prince joining the Time at the Grammy afterparty at Club Nokia did not come true. All in all, Grammy nominations night was a pleasant exercise - a decent show, a good party and a fabulous museum to explore. Story about the nominations is here.
I had seen the museum before the artifacts were in place - vast majority of the displays were up and running - and it is a considerably different experience than what I first saw. A chilling moment occurred while I was reading a letter from Woody Guthrie regarding what he wanted to appear on the front page of his songbook. Behind me I heard a familiar soft-rock tune and I turned and saw a film of a thin bearded man and the inscription said 'Power." I immediately recognized it as John Hall's ode to solar energy and as the camera pulled back it revealed Jackson Browne and Bonne Raitt as his background singers and I immediately knew it was in Battery Park in New York City at the No Nukes concert. Through a series of flukes and my own anti-nuclear power activism I happened to be on the side of the stage that day. And somehow, in that moment, I became a conduit between Hall, Browne and Guthrie, the link that somehow was central, the audience member who respected and admired those performers. It was a striking 45 seconds late Wednesday night while I sat there and felt that connection, an event that would have never occurred had it not been for that museum exhibit.
I like to think that that visceral effect can be felt by many people who came of age prior to MTV's heyday as music connnected us with history. This was just the occasional reminder. Youths don't quite grasp how importnat musicians and their wrds were to us when we were in our teens and 20s and the access that seemed to randomly come around made those artists made tem that much more human. I rememebr that No Nukes concert fondly. I met Pete Seeger, Jackson Browne and Ralph Nader, played bodyguard for Jane Fonda and Bonnie Raitt and actually stood on the stage while Gil Scott-Heron performed. It was a hell of a day and the Grammy Museum reminded me of it. Thew new venue is already working well - and it does not open until Saturday.

The Time was 94th concert I have attended this year and, thanks to five acts at the Grammy show, the 248th act I have seen. The goal remains 100 shows/300 acts.

Spoiler alert!

What to expect on tonight's Grammy nominations concert broadcast.
Five categories will be announced on air: Album of the year; song of the year; record of the year; pop collaboration with vocals; and rap performance by a duo or a group.
The songs selected for the telecast are all in the Grammy Hall of Fame, which ties in with the Grammy Museum that opens to the public on Saturday. Of course, this is live  TV and anything might change.

Songs and the performers:
Mariah Carey gets the Darlene Love hit "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)."
Celine Dion will sing Janis Ian's "At Seventeen" and throw in her own "My Love."
Foo Fighters get Carly Simon's "You're so Vain," most likely sans Mick Jagger in the background.
Xtina sings Gershwin: "I Loves You Porgy"
Taylor Swift gets Brenda Lee's classic "I'm Sorry," which she will segue into her own "White Horse."
And B.B. King will perform Louis Jordan's "Let the Good Times Roll," a song he has used to open countless concerts.

Expect more blog entries during the telecast.

Potentially interesting facts and theories from Thanksgiving week sales.


The American Music Awards, which has had its TV airdate moved around considerably over the last 10 years, may have had its greatest effect ever in boosting album sales. The artists booked on the AMAs are there to pitch product - in the cases of Kanye West, Taylor Swift and Beyonce it was brand new music - and nearly every performer has an album that is still receiving promotion at retail and online.
Taylor Swift's "Fearless" was up 50,000 units to 267,000 (No. 2); Pink's "Funhouse" was up 20,000 to 61,000 (No. 20); Miley Cyrus' "Breakout" was up 18,000 to 46,000 (No. 23); and the Jonas Brothers' "A Little Bit Longer" up 16,000 to 43,000 (No. 24).
Coldplay also had a new EP coming out to help, but "Viva La Vida" more than doubled its sales from the week previous and rose 29 slots (43,000; No. 25). Albums by Rihanna and Ne-Yo also enjoyed sales spikes.

TV's impact on album sales is stronger than it has ever been. Tonight's televised Grammy nominations concert should yield spikes for John Mayer, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Foo Fighters, B.B. King and Taylor Swift. Christina Aguilera will perform, too. But unlike the others, her new release, a hits package, is available only at Target stores, leaving the average iTunes junkie with only one option - buy the new single for 99 cents rather than acquiring the CD.

Hype, "exclusive" sales tactics and a bounty of prominently displayed reviews cannot hide the fact that Axl Rose has worn out his welcome. By Guns N' Roses standards, selling 261,000 copies of "Chinese Democracy" makes it a a first-week flop. Somewhere along the way, Rose forgot that GNR was a band and that people responded to them as a unit. Now, without the great mysterious record to hang over GNR fans, is it possible Rose will just fade away?

100K club (aka, albums selling more than 100,000 copies during Thanksgiving week): 10 in 2008; 5 in 2007; 19 in 2006; 16 in 2005.

Christmas Cheer: Faith Hill's "Joy to the World" sold 73,000 (No. 17) to get its cume to 206,000, while Enya's "Winter Came" frosted 66,000 (No. 18), bringing its total to 242,000. The others in the top 50, with chart position and cume in parentheses): "Elvis Presley Christmas Duets" (No. 28, 113,000); Tony Bennett's "Swinging Christmas" (No. 31, 78,000); Harry Connick Jr.'s "What a Night!" (No. 33, 83,000); Yo-Yo Ma's "Songs of Joy & Peace" (No. 36, 136,000); "Now That's What I Call Christmas" (No. 40, 83,000). There are 17 Christmas albums between Nos. 51 and 200.

Debuts in the lower portions of the chart:
67. Paul McCartney (the Fireman) "Electric Arguments" 17,000
96. Scott Weiland "Happy in Galoshes" 11,000
105. Tom Jones "24 Hours" 9,000
174. Rivers Cuomo "Alone 2" 6,000

With "Greatest Songs of the Eighties" in stores, Barry Manilow has only one more album before Clive has to conceive a new formula for the crooner. Maybe he could cover Rod Stewart's covers.

by Stuart Oldham

Following an appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America," pop star Britney Spears unveiled U.S. tour plans in support of her new album, "Circus." The tour, which begins in March in New Orleans, is the singer's first full-length trek in five years. Her previous ensemble, 2004's Onyx Hotel Tour, grossed $34.1 million and was seen by over 600,000 fans across the U.S.

Spears has made a number of 'warm-up' appearances this past year including a 2007 VMA's stint, an onstage sing-along with Madonna on her 'Sweet&Sticky' tour, and a recent Bamboo Awards performance in Offenberg, Germany.

The 27 year-old pop star has been on the mend after a much-publicized meltdown, which included a bitter custody battle with ex-husband, Kevin Federline, and an ongoing writhe with the papparrazzi.

Larry Rudolph, the starlet's former manager, has joined forces with the Spears camp to help refurbish the singer's maligned reputation.

"Circus," Spears' fourth studio album, arrives in stores today.

Tour Dates:

· March 3 - New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Arena
· March 5 - Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena
· March 7 - Miami, FL @ American Airlines Arena
· March 8 - Tampa, FL @ St. Pete Times Forum
· March 11 - Uniondale, NY @ Nassau Coliseum
· March 13 - Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center
· March 16 - Boston, MA @ TD Banknorth Garden
· March 18 -- Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
· March 24 - Washington, DC @ Verizon Center
· March 26 - Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
· March 27 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mellon Arena
· March 31 - Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
· April 2 - Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
· April 3 - Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
· April 6 - Edmonton, Alberta @ Rexall Place
· April 8 - Vancouver, BC @ General Motors Place
· April 9 - Tacoma, WA @ Tacoma Dome
· April 11 - Sacramento, CA @ ARCO Arena
· April 12 - San Jose, CA @ HP Pavilion At San Jose
· April 14 - Salt Lake City, UT @ EnergySolutions Arena
· April 16 - Los Angeles, CA @ STAPLES Center
· April 19 - Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center
· April 24 - Glendale, AZ @ Jobing.com Arena
· April 25 - Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand Hotel
· April 28 - Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena

As legends of FM's freeform radio have passed away, the eulogies have lamented the lack of personalities and the end of their format-free visions on the radio dials. The same amount of respect needs to be paid to the men who birthed the world they fought, the AM radio programmers who were rebels in their own right.
Bill Drake, who died Saturday at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center in the San Fernando Valley, was one of those men. His formula - which broke first in L.A. at 93 KHJ - was called the Drake format: less talk, fewer commercials, more music. Radio would be smart to heed it today
He took top 40 and made it music oriented rather than DJ-focused, even while he allowed the jocks to establish their own personalities.
The Boss Radio format debuted in 1965, and within five months, the station had 15% of the city's listeners. Robert W. Morgan, the Real Don Steele, Humble Harv and Charlie the Tuna were legends to us kids who relied on KHJ and, later on, KRLA, to alert us to the hippest and the latest. Weekly trips to the local music store to get KHJ's printed sheets of the top hits and new music were mandatory, whether you were 9 or 14 in the late '60s. My friend Robin Bivona used to stay up as late as possible and count the number of Beatles songs they would play while his mother wondered why her 11-year-old son wouldn't pay more attention to this new band called Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Drake's death inspired me to pull out a tattered KHJ compilation album, "30 Boss Goldens." Side one alone is phenomenal: The Association "Cherish"; James Brown "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag"; Bobby Fuller Four "I Fought the Law"; Keith "98.6"; Tommy James and the Shondells "Hanky Panky"; Love "7 and 7 Is"; the Five Americans "Western Union"; and Bobby Herb "Sunny." Among the other tunes: "I'm Your Puppet" by James & Bobby Purify, "96 Tears" by ? & the Mysterians, "The Rains Came" by the Sir Douglas Quintet and "Pushin' Too Hard" by the Seeds. A great playlist.
On the inside of the gatefold album station DJs are photographed at concerts and backstage with Diana Ross, the Fifth Dimension. Sky Saxon of the Seeds and Brenton Wood. It makes the listener feel like they're part of a community, the DJs being their bridge to the stars.
Commercial radio does not build those sorts of allegiances any more. And once KHJ streamlined the sort of music it played in the early 1970s, it was obvious the evolution of "Boss Radio" was not one that would favor the variety it displayed in the '60s.
Break down that list of songs from "30 Boss Goldens" by format and by 21st century standards they would not stand a chance of being played on the same station. Look at a playlist on an iPod and it's highly likely multiple genres will be present, and in the listener's mind there's a logic to putting funk, punk and pop next to one another.
KHJ was a reflection of youth. It shaped an "anything goes" world and gave it a soundtrack that worked because the music stood the test of repetition. Could it be done today? Only if the music we discover through the Internet were curated better and the determining factor of popularity was not limited to sales.

Apple's iTunes has released its top 10 sales lists for 2008 for singles and albums, and it does not quite correlate with the year's sales tallies from Nielsen SoundScan.
Coldplay looks like the digital leader of the year, with the top-selling album and the No. 2 single. The year's biggest selling album, Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III," comes in fourth and its top single, "Lollipop," is No. 6.
The only other artists who appears on both lists is Sara Bareilles. If one conclusion can be drawn it's that the modern album purchaser goes to iTunes immediately after watching a DVD or film loaded with music -- three soundtracks made the top 10 and all three were in theaters last year. The singles market is no different than it was in the early '70s: Driven by pop and R&B with a hint of rock.   

ITUNES BEST-SELLING ALBUMS OF 2008

1. Coldplay, "Viva la Vida"
2. Jack Johnson, "Sleep Through the Static"
3. Various Artists, "Juno (Music from the Motion Picture)"
4. Lil Wayne, "Tha Carter III"
5. Sara Bareilles, "Little Voice"
6. Various Artists, "Once (Music from the Motion Picture)"
7. Jason Mraz, "We Sing.  We Dance.  We Steal Things."
8. OneRepublic, "Dreaming Out Loud"
9. Various Artists, "Across the Universe (Music from the Motion Picture)"
10.  Leona Lewis, "Spirit"

ITUNES BEST-SELLING SONGS OF 2008

1. "Bleeding Love," Leona Lewis
2. "Viva la Vida," Coldplay
3. "Low (feat. T-Pain)," Flo Rida
4. "I Kissed a Girl," Katy Perry
5. "Disturbia," Rihanna
6.  "Lollipop," Lil Wayne & Static Major
7. "No Air," Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown
8. "Pocketful of Sunshine," Natasha Bedingfield
9. "Love Song," Sara Bareilles
10. "Don't Stop the Music," Rihanna

Elvis Costello has a friendly chat with Elton John in the premiere episode of his talk show for the Sundance Channel. (Wednesday at 9 p.m.)
The questions, and the conversation, focus on the music of their youth, with no anecdotes about personal fame or even the work they did once they were well established. It's a dream conversation for insiders and fans who have already heard Elton answer the oft-asked questions - and Elvis proves to be a pretty sharp interviewer. 
Here's what we learn about Elton:
On his first album, "Empty Sky," he was attempting to sound like Leonard Cohen.
Leon Russell is his biggest hero among piano-players.
He idolized Laura Nyro.
"Amoreena" was intended to sound like a Van Morrison song.
He learned stagecraft from performing with Major Lance and Patti Labelle.
Billy Stewart ("Sitting in the Park") is the most underrated R&B singer ever.
He and lyricist Bernie Taupin have never written a song in the same room together.
Hearing someone else perfom one of his songs remains a thrill, though little tops Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra singing his tunes.
Performances include Costello and his band with Allen Toussaint do "Border Song"; John dissects "Burn Down the Mission"; John and Costello duet on David Ackles' "Down River" (below). Review is here.

March 24 will be the 10th anniversary of the death of Doug Sahm whose musical legacy will receive the tribute treatment from Vanguard Records. Could there be a better centerpiece than a Sahm celebration at Austin's SXSW held the before?
The Sahm tribute disc, titled "Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm," features performances by Levon Helm, Delbert McClinton, Los Lobos, Dave Alvin, Shawn Sahm with Augie Meyers, Jimmie Vaughan, Alejandro Escovedo and others. Songs com from throughout Sahm’s entire history, including his time with the Sir Douglas Quintet and Texas Tornados.
Helm gets "She's About a Mover," the Gourds take on "Nuevo Laredo" and Sahm's son Shawn perfoms "Mendocino" with Augie Meyers.