What an exciting week to release a new album! Consider these events:

1) The long-awaited Coldplay epic is finally hitting the streets!

2) Bonnaroo came and went!

3) And perhaps most importantly, I just opened up the new CD by lovable rapper Plies and noticed that the back cover proudly boasts in large print: NEW ALBUM "DA REALIST" DECEMBER 16, 2008 THIRD TIME'S A CHARM! Like, the dude just released his second album and is already promising the precise date of release of his third album exactly six months from today! Conveniently less than 10 days before Christmas!

If I didn't know for a fact that he was planning to spend the next few months backpacking in New Hampshire--birdwatching and studying up on Italian Renaissance painters as preparation for the making of his upcoming masterwork--I'd be inclined to think he was merely just in it for the money!

And of course that hasn't happened in years!

But it would be kind of a kick, wouldn't it?

Coldplay: Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends (Capitol) Rest assured there's no truth to recent rumors that Coldplay singer Chris Martin stormed out of a BBC radio interview after the DJ casually mentioned that this new album sounded like Morrissey fronting Iron Butterfly! They're hip over there, but not that hip! All I know is that Coldplay are so famous these days, people have opinions about their new album without even hearing it! I think their new single's catchy as heck, they haven't lost their touch, and working with Brian Eno is always a good idea! Smart money says they could be the next Radiohead!

Katy Perry: One Of The Boys (Capitol) One doesn't like to make too much of a big deal about this sort of thing, but given the orientation of this rather attractive young woman's two popular singles--"I Kissed A Girl" and "Ur So Gay"--can we all just sit back and ask ourselves how we'd feel if the singer was in fact male and had called his new album One Of The Girls? Give up? With our hands!

Mick Hucknall: Tribute To Bobby (Rhino) If you're like me, you've probably spent a lot of time wondering when Hucknall, the colorful lead singer with Britain's marvelous Simply Red, would finally make that long-awaited tribute to the legendary Bobby "Blue" Bland. Well, wonder no more--he did, and this is it! It's quite good, as tributes to legendary American singers by colorful English guys go, and if buying this album introduces a new audience to Bland's fabulous back catalog, all the better! That said, if you're like me, you've probably also spent a lot of time wondering what Jello is really made of!

Prima J: Inside Out (Geffen) I'll happily get behind the upbeat sounds to be had on this debut set by Janelle and Jessica Martinez--two cutie-pie Mexican-American cousins from Rosemead, California who should make a million dollars just because--well, I don't know--it's time they did! With nifty tracks like "Corazon (You're Not Alone)," "Leftovers," their cover of Alicia Keys' "No One" (retitled "Nadie") and my personal favorite "Boom," Inside Out is "chillosa," according to those in the know, and "not bad at all" according to some guy who just walked by my desk! Dork!

The Offspring: Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace (Columbia) Imagine David Bowie, Zack de la Rocha and Jeff Buckley all in the same band! Now imagine them all being kicked out so these guys can make music instead! It's a cruel world, but with the help of famed producer Bob Rock, Southern California punk band the Offspring are bet and backer than ever! Charismatic lead singer Dexter Holland tells it like it is on new tracks such as "Let's Hear It For Rock Bottom" and characteristically subtle weeper "Stuff Is Messed Up"--talk about a Sting cover made to order!--and all told it's the best recording ever issued in a gatefold vinyl edition and bundled with a free digital download of the album by the Offspring yet!

Dennis Wilson: Pacific Ocean Blue: Legacy Edition (Epic/Caribou/Legacy) It's been out in CD format before, but this double-deluxe reissue of late Beach Boy drummer Dennis Wilson's classic 1977 solo album has never been more appealing than it is now: Included as the second "bonus" disc is his unreleased follow-up album, Bambu, which though previously bootlegged has never sounded better. Underappreciated in its day--most pesky music reviewers considered it boring and bland--this stuff has slowly but surely attained near-legendary status and I for one consider those accolades deserved: Only The Beach Boys Love You topped it, Wilson-wise, during that same decade. Buy 'em both and withdraw from society today!

Silver Jews: Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea (Drag City) You have to admire a band that from its very inception--in the same manner as the Butthole Surfers--gives itself a name that you know must make their moms mad! Centered around songwriter David Berman and going strong for nearly 20 years now, the Jews--good lord--are solid, deep, and a whole bunch of other things that if used as a descriptive term for the word "Jews" and taken out of context will eventually get you in trouble if you ever decide to run for president so it's best not to mention 'em at all! Sheesh!

Teddy Thompson: A Piece Of What You Need (Verve Forecast) A sturdy return by Mr. Thompson, the son of one-time musical couple Richard and Linda Thompson, this album is his fourth overall and a sharply focused affair throughout. With the addition of producer Marius de Vries--who's worked with Bjork, Madonna and similar son-of-musical-parents Rufus Wainwright--Thompson's music sounds respectable, groovy, all-grown up, and the sort of thing you might ask "Hey, who is this?" about if anybody ever was playing it. Sadly, Timbaland is nowhere to be found!

Tilly And The Wall: O (Team Love) Known for their way with a catchy tune, high indie appeal, being from Omaha, Nebraska, and featuring neither Tilly nor a Wall in live performance--instead opting for that old standby, a tap-dancer--these affable humans please everyone who ever sees them perform live as a matter of course! Sadistically, their new album's title now forces all music journalists to ask them about "The story of O," which could be problematic in some communities! Darned rebels!

Rehab: Sittin' At A Bar (Epic) I didn't realize this was a band! Everyone I know is in it!