Best Overlooked Albums of '08

He performed for National Press Club in 1971

(NEWSER) - One of the final live performances by Louis Armstrong will be released to the public for the first time. The recording is of a concert on January 28, 1971, at the National Press Club in Washington. The legendary trumpeter was a featured act at the concert, held less than six months before his death, reports AP . The new album will be titled Red Beans and Rice-ly Yours: Satchmo at the National Press Club. You can hear a snippet of him performing "Hello Dolly" via this Washington Post link. Details on the CD or digital download are here . More»

Sony blamed for UK price hike, now reversed

(NEWSER) - On Saturday, a Whitney Houston greatest-hits album cost about $8 in the UK iTunes store; but shortly after the singer was found dead, it had jumped to a little more than $12.50. The changed sparked a customer uproar. "It is just a case of iTunes cashing in on the singer's death, which in my opinion is totally parasitic," said one, according to DigitalSpy . But the Guardian reports that it was Sony, not iTunes, that was responsible for the change—which has now been reversed. More»

Band takes classic album on 40th anniversary 15-city tour

(NEWSER) - Jethro Tull’s 1971 album Aqualung may be a certified classic, but the band’s frontman calls it flawed. “It wasn’t a great sounding album,” Ian Anderson tells Bloomberg . The church-turned-studio where it was recorded was “big, echoey, daunting and rather dark,” he notes. “It had all the ghosts of its past, and plenty of technical problems. At the end of the sessions, I wasn’t sure what we’d got.” More»

Female rockers don't get much action on tour, they say

(NEWSER) - Male rock stars are notorious for their groupie magnetism—but the same just isn’t true for female rockers, Salon finds. “Ladies in bands don’t get ANY action,” Neko Case tweeted last weekend, prompting a flurry of agreement from fellow women in rock. (Case made clear later she was not complaining, just stating a fact of the business.) “I have gotten laid exactly one time on tour, and it was an ex,” added a member of Crooked Fingers. So why the disparity? More»

Eminem enjoys a comeback, too

(NEWSER) - Kanye West's comeback must be complete: Rolling Stone awarded him the top slot in its list of 2010's 30 best albums. The top 10:

1. Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: "Music as sprawlingly messy as his life," these songs are "hip-hop epics ... full of the kind of grandiose gestures that only the foolish attempt and only the wildly talented pull off."
2. The Black Keys, Brothers: "Their best record yet: vivid tunes stripped bare and rubbed raw ... it's rock minimalism pushed to the max."
3. Elton John and Leon Russell, The Union: "Two rock giants ... rekindle a friendship and make music that ranks with their best."
4. Arcade Fire, The Suburbs: "An album of vast, orchestral rock that locates the battle for the human soul amid big houses and manicured lawns."