Music News & Notes

Boyle's LP At The Top

As predicted my many, I Dreamed a Dream by Susan Boyle sold an amazing 701,000 copies its first week, the biggest sales week of 2009, in another chapter to the Scottish singer's fairy-tale rise to stardom.

In fact, the release had the best-selling first week since AC/DC's Black Ice entered Billboard with 784,000 in October 2008. It's also the biggest debut by a woman since SoundScan began tabulating sales in 1991. Pop singer Ashanti had held the record, her 2002 debut, had sold 503,000 copies.Amazingly, only one other debut has outsold Boyle's - Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle, which moved 803,000 in 1993.

Boyle also got a generous boost from the Thanksgiving week sales, even though she faced stiff competition. Andrea Bocelli's My Christmas (218,000) came in second place with 218,000 units sold and American Idol star Adam Lambert's album, For Your Entertainment sold 198,000 to enter at #3. Rihanna's Rated R was fourth with 181,000, and Lady Gaga's eight-song The Fame Monster came in fifth with 174,000, trailed by her debut and its reissue, The Fame, with 151,000.

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Clash’s London Calling: 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition Coming Dec 14th

A classic in every punk-rock sense of the word, The Clash’s London Calling is turning 30 this month. What better time to re-release one of the greatest, most influential albums of all-time!

London Calling: 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition will hit shelves Dec 14th; the package features a remastered version of the 1979 album, a DVD that includes Don Letts’ documentary The Last Testament: The Making of London Calling, three music videos and home movies of the band recording the album in London’s Wessex Studios.

Also, beginning January 7, 2010, U.K. Royal Mail will be issuing a new series of stamps featuring classic album covers from various British artists. The cover of The Clash’s London Calling made the cut, so if you’re a U.K. resident or in correspondence with somebody who is, get ready to start mailing some very cool looking letters and cards.

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No More Supertramp

Roger Hodgson has revealed that he doesn't see a Supertramp reunion ever happening but there is always a chance something will come together sometime in the future. He told Australia's Undercover that

"We’ve looked at it and talked it over. I have looked at it many times. It is hard to reinvent us. I would never say never but Rick has pretty much retired right now and I’m in the prime of my life. The reaction I am getting from fans is “please don’t reunite."

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Kings Of Leon In 'Detox Mode' Ahead Of New Album

Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill has revealed the band are still in “detox mode” in between albums. Followill said the the group were winding down following an 18-month tour in support of their 2008 album 'Only By The Night'. But the drummer admitted he and his bandmates had one eye on recording the follow-up to their fourth LP.

"We're taking it easy now," Followill told Billboard, adding: “We might be in the studio tomorrow. We get bored pretty easy."

Followill, who married fiancée singer Jessie Baylin last month, has previously revealed that the band were writing new songs.

He said they had “eight or ten ideas kicking around” for the album, which is expected in 2010.

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Was (Not Was) To Release 3-Decade Retrospective Set "Pick Of The Litter (1980-2010)"

Was (Not Was), dubbed "the funkier art-funk band" by The New York Times, have spanned three decades with their mutant mix of jazz, rock, R&B and funk. On February 23, 2010, Micro Werks will release "Pick of the Litter (1980-2010)," a 19-song disc that opens with the ZE/Antilles 12" single "Wheel Me Out" and closes with a trio of tracks from later years which featured Mel Tormé, Leonard Cohen, Kim Basinger and Ozzy Osbourne. The compilation contains the band's hits and cult hits, among them "Knocked Down, Made Small," "Tell Me That I'm Dreaming," "Walk the Dinosaur," "Spy in the House of Love" and "I Feel Better Than James Brown."

Spearheaded by producer/bassist Don Was (Fagenson) and lyricist/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist David Was (Weiss), the collective was rooted in the Motor City of Motown, the MC5, the Stooges and George Clinton. According to Brian J. Bowe, the Michigan writer who annotated the "Pick of the Litter (1980-2010)" collection, "the Motor City was burning, baby, and these two had creativity to burn."

"Don and I started recording in the Pleistocene Era, with Fred Flintstone producing, which in those days meant the guy who pushed the vulture's beak down on the hardened wooly mammoth pucky," says David Was. "Fidelity was crap, but at least we were able to record our earliest rantings for posterity."

Track List:

1."Wheel Me Out" (1980)
2."Out Come the Freaks" (7" Version) (1981)
3."Tell Me What I'm Dreaming" (1981)
4."The Sky's Ablaze" (1981)
5."Should I Wait") - Sweet Pea Atkinson (1982)
6."Knocked Down, Made Small (Treated Like a Rubber Ball)" (1983)
7."Walk the Dinosaur" (1988)
8."Spy in the House of Love" (7" version) (1988)
9."Dad I'm in Jail" (1988)
10."Somewhere in America There's a Street Named After My Dad" (1988)
11."Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" (Promo Edit Single) (1990)
12."I Feel Better Than James Brown" (1990)
13."I Blew Up the United States" (1990)
14."Semi-Interesting Week" (2008)
15."From the Head to the Heart" (2008)
16."Hello Operator . . . I Mean Dad . . .I Can't Even Remember Who I Am" (Rehearsal Version) (1989)
17."Shake Your Head" (Steve "Silk" Hurley Remix) featuring Kim Basinger and Ozzy Osbourne (1992)
18."Elvis' Rolls Royce" featuring Leonard Cohen (1990)
19."Zaz Turned Blue" featuring Mel Tormé (1983)