(YBH) – Last night at the U2 concert at Angels Stadium in Anaheim a bit of history was made.  U2′s longtime manager, and the band’s proclaimed “fifth member”, Paul McGuiness joined the band on stage for the first time during a live concert.

During the show u2′s lead singer, Bono, mentioned that Thursday was the manager’s 60th birthday.  He then went on to tell the crowd that he was going to attempt to “pull off” getting Mr. McGuiness to join the band on stage.  Something Bono stated had never before happened during a live show.

When the manager finally joined the band on stage, Bono proceeded to lead the crowd of 50,000 plus in an impromptu version of “Happy Birthday” to him.  The band then launched into a heartfelt version of the song “All I Want is You”, but not before Bono relayed to the audience that Mr. McGuiness stated “I thought it was an emergency.” as he left the stage leaving behind a fresh bottle of expensive champagne by accident.

The concert featured U2 playing such hits as “Stay”, “I Will Follow”, “Pride (In The Name Of Love”, and “Walk On”, among others.  The shows political themes, a normal state of affairs for a U2 concert, touched upon issues and advocacy ranging from support of Amnesty International, political dissent in Burma, the International Space Station, and upheaval in Iran.

Mr. McGuiness has been the band’s manager since the group formed in the late 1970′s.  He also manages singer P.J. Harvey and the group The Rapture.  U2 will play a second show in Anaheim tonight before moving on to the east coast for additional tour dates.

Shutting down freeways and skipping English class: The Imperial Stars

The band hails from Orange County, but their grammatically-challenged purple prose would be right at home in a Nigerian pitch email promising a lottery win “of multiple millions in exchange for the banking numerals of kind sir.”   Read on if you dare.

The Imperial Stars are what they appear to be; ROCK STARS! Living on the Edge they’re known for getting crazy and hanging out with their friends. Living the dream on stage under the heat of the lime light, Orange County California based amplified sound virtuosos cement themselves as one of the preeminent entertainment groups in popular music. Dynamic synthesizers, authoritative drum patterns and mainstay power vocals that remind even the average ear of greatness, The Imperial Stars pierced themselves into the heart of music history.

Of course, there was a RISE BEFORE FAME, the title of their 2010’ debut album, Imperial Stars now Get It On with Electric Situations. Influenced by all classic music genres, luminary Christopher Wright energizes the rock group with the passion only a lifer can possess. Exhibiting aptitude for hit sound production and record engineering in conjunction with networking professionalism, the Imperial One Entertainment (Label) chief executives all trade throughout the industry. By developing relationships with talented artist from his new and old school years in L.A. and Orange County reaching partnerships with Saul Burciaga Clothing, Christopher and Imperial One Entertainment are in cruise control.

Along with Christopher,Rock/ Rap Vocalist Paul Arabella exhales igneous verse that bridge chorus potential into hit records. Smooth in delivery, this peerless lyrical professional controls the measure and moves the beat with direction. Imbedded into the culture of hip hop from the ages of adolescence, big Paul reinvented himself in content and persona that parallels elevated status. Assisting the leaders of the new sound, high style Guitarists Alec Bauer and Keith Yackey service the band with a unique quality of experience, the combination of youth and talent. Alec has shared studio and stage time with the likes of legends Dave Navarro (guitarist), Tracy Guns and Steve Thompson (producer) to name a few, while sharp string Keith can play more instruments than a one man band. Covering four continents with over twenty-four years of experience between them, The Imperial Stars Guitars resonate in luxury. All bands that elevate to greatness covet the same thing, an incredible drummer. The Stars have that money in the name of Kenny Cash. This young man is a true instrumentalist. Skilled musical prowess developed from years of jazz ensemble to extensive time playing with touring rock and metal bands, Kenny enjoys the Saxophone and the Guitar as much as anyone, but he is still fixed upon the drums. And it’s quite clear that the stars are fortunate that he is.

The Imperial Stars are set to launch a new campaign to transform the Orange County Music scene by epic proportions. Commercial qualifications and few limitations foresee mainstream success for the noted party. Major tour contributions and profuse industry savvy make the band of business men the imminent force of quality sound production.

Imagine an English professor trying to get to USC and being held up for four hours by these guys!  He would splutter coffee all over his tweed jacket.

Undisclosed charges are pending against three members of the band.

EXPIRED: 04/19/10 – Keith Elam, 47, grew up in Roxbury, Massachusetts. For many in Roxbury, at the time, you had two career choices. You could join a gang – or you could dream about becoming a star and getting out of the hood.

Keith Elam

For Elam it was different. His dad was a Boston judge. His mom was a major force in the Boston public school system. Elam went to college in Atlanta and graduated with a business degree and later took courses in fashion at NYC’s Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan.

But Elam still had Roxbury in his blood – that conflict of gang member and stardom. He dropped out to pursue a rap career.

He started at the mic as MC Keithy E, then formed a band called Gang Starr in 1987. He changed his name to Guru at the time, stating it stood for “Gifted Universal Rhymes Unlimited.” Other times he explained that Guru was an acronym for “God is Universal; Ruler Universal” a reference to the teachings of the Nation of Gods and Earths.

GangStarr’s original 3 CDs failed, so Guru added some new members to the line-up, including DJ Premier, and they started a fruitful and successful period.  1998’s Moment of Truth and the following year’s Full Clip: A Decade of Gang Starr went gold.

Over the last two decades, Elam also released 4 records of collaborations with other artists under the titles Jazzmatazz Volumes 1-4. Contributors included: Donald Byrd, N’Dea Davenport, Roy Ayers, Chaka Khan, Ramsey Lewis, Branford Marsalis and Jamiroquai.

He also released solo records in 2005 and 2009. The first, Version 7.0: The Street Scriptures was produced by Solar and only reached #54 on the Billboard R&B albums charts, receiving mixed reviews.

Elam’s more recent Guru 8.0: Lost And Found, released last year, also in collaboration with Solar, fared better.

There’s some controversy around Elam’s death.

On February 28, 2010, Elam went into cardiac arrest and, following surgery, fell into a coma. Solar was with him during his final days, as was Elam’s family and DJ Premier. Solar allegedly claims that Elam had briefly wakened from his coma. DJ Premier and members of Elam’s family stated that he never regained consciousness. Meanwhile, the family claim that Solar prevented them from contact with Elam during the his final days.

And then there’s a death-bed letter that Solar says he has in his possession that he’s not showing anyone – or so the rumor goes.

Regardless. What is known is that a planned Gang Starr reunion for a 7th album is off. Permanently.

LOS ANGELES (YBH) – Former Poison frontman, and current “The Celebrity Apprentice” star Bret Michaels, was rushed to the hospital with a “massive headache” on Thursday. Once there, doctors discovered that Mr. Michaels had extensive bleeding at the base of his brain stem. He is currently listed in critical, but stable, condition, according to his publicist.

TV star suffers massive brain hemorrhage.

The 47-year-old rock star-turned-reality-TV-star had an emergency appendectomy two weeks ago before a show at Sea World in San Antonio, Texas. Doctors expected Mr. Michaels to recover fully from that surgery.

It is not known if the brain hemorrhage Mr. Michaels suffered this week was in any way related to the prior surgery, or his well-known diabetic condition.

Donald Trump, the host of “The Celebrity Apprentice,” said that he was “deeply saddened” by the news and that Mr. Michaels was “a great competitor and champion.”

Details on which hospital Mr. Michaels is being treated at have not been released.

EXPIRED: 03/17/10 – Alex Chilton, 59, was making preparations to play the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas when he had a heart attack and died in his home of New Orleans.

Maybe you don’t know his name. You might not even know his recent music. He sort of became a cult status performer over the last few decades. But you’ll certainly know his voice from the hits he had in the 60’s with pop-soul act the Box Tops, and you’re definitely aware of the hundreds of acts who cite Chilton as a major influence.

The Memphis-born Chilton rose to prominence at age 16 when his gruff vocals powered the massive Box Tops hit “The Letter” to #1 on the charts in 1967. They followed that a #2 the following year with “Cry Like A Baby.” In 1970 they split and Chilton tried a solo gig in NYC.

He returned to Memphis a year later and was renewed by the energy there. With the band he fronted in the 70’s, Big Star, named after a Memphis grocery chain, Chilton helped define the sensitive power-pop sound of the ’70s. Big Star’s 1972 debut album, #1 Record, met with critical acclaim but poor sales. Songs like “Feel” and “In the Street” and “I’m in Love with a Girl” wowed critics but failed to find a commercial audience. Instead they found fans who would themselves become international icons: R.E.M., Paul Westerberg and Wilco — all owe Chilton a debt of gratitude.

Chilton had been complaining about his health earlier Wednesday. He was taken by paramedics from his home to the emergency room but could not be revived.

Big Star’s second album Radio City, and the next, Third/Sister Lovers, were both minor masterpieces that simply didn’t sell. Two decades later, Rolling Stone magazine named all three Big Star albums to its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Meanwhile, Chilton mixed releasing solo recordings – like the odd Like Flies on Sherbet — with working odd jobs to make ends meet. He moved New Orleans in the mid-80’s and was often seen busking on street corners. Eventually he stopped performing altogether until a Big Star cult following swelled enough to coax him to reunite the band.

Just last year he released a collective of Big Star music entitled Keep an Eye on the Sky.

For a Big Star named Alex.

Yearly Austin Music Fest Underway

If you are looking for a broad overview of bands and sounds from South-By-Southwest, many participating labels have begun posting MP3 samplers or streams from their attending artists. For those less concerned with acquiring free and legal MP3s, grey-market compilations are also sprouting up like weeds. Best stick with the official stuff. If you are looking for collectibles, rarities, and vinyl exclusives, the list of items to be made available at this year’s Record Store Day seems to be growing every day, and includes its fair share of awesome: exclusives and/or first looks from Elvis Costello, Ani DiFranco, Peter Gabriel, Bright Eyes, Modest Mouse, Pavement, REM, Velvet Underground, John Lennon, Flaming Lips, and even Negativeland’s favorite band Neu!

Among the other big indie releases, there is a crop of new stuff from many acts who have long been just one massive song from leaving the indie world behind for mainstream success. It should only be a matter of a few weeks to see if any of these upcoming releases have that one big tune in them or not:

One of the “Most Likely To Succeed” candidates with the biggest momentum behind them is Brooklyn transplants The National, who used the Fallon show to preview a track from their upcoming LP High Violet. If they are right on the cusp of breaking big, and this could well be the disc that does it.

Band Of Horses has tasted a bit of mainstream success, yet also retained much of their indie cred. For my money, they have so far been able to deliver at least 2 or 3 major winners, and almost no duds, on each of their first two albums. Now they are ready to drop their third LP, Infinite Arms, which is their first for major label Columbia, and represents the end of their relationship with super-indie label Sub Pop. While they make music one might be tempted to call modern classic rock, there is just enough punk edge and Americana undercurrent to their work that they could easily veer well-off their beaten path in either a noisy or twangy direction while still making a Band Of Horses record. It will be interesting to see where they take things if not simply forward.

The first promo MP3 from MGMT’s sophomore release Congratulations has begun making the rounds, and I gotta say, it portends good things. MGMT is one of those bands who either is going end up able to deliver the goods a la Beck (which is to say consistently, and for a long time), or they are destined to clog used CD bins with an over-hyped, half-baked, and otherwise jinxed 2nd disc that functions as a weak goodbye to a cruel world. If I had to guess, I think they are more likely to actually keep the quality high and the work steady than to collapse under their own bloat

The next album from Mathew Houck’s project Phosphorescent is called Here’s To Taking It Easy. It appears to be an album of original material, and if the first songs floating around are any indication, it is a return to a bit more light-hearted, country-tinged fare, but still immediately identifiable as Phosphorescent material. I myself enjoyed the more ethereal moments on their last few albums of original music, but for the most part, I think Mathew Houck is maturing and getting better at song craft and is finding his true voice as time goes by. Hopefully this album is a sum of all his recent progress.

In the classic rock realm, this week sees the blue-ray release of The Who’s mockumentary The Kids Are Alright. Fan reviews have been good, and even though loving The Who requires one to buy reissue after reissue and repackage after repackage, the extras on this disc – including commentary from Daltrey – appear to make it worth picking up. It may just be good enough to redeem their Super Bowl performance.

Finally, word is out that their is at last to be a Rolling Stones reissue laden with extras from the vaults surrounding an era in which they were (again) peaking. Rolling Stone magazine reports that the reissue of Exile On Main Street not only includes many of the known out-takes of the period, but that Mick Jagger himself went back into the studio to finish and touch-up a few of the fragments left behind, creating some quasi-new, yet classic, Rolling Stones material. I may be biased in favor of the indie and alternative stuff of recent vintage, but I started out with the basics, and consider anything from the Stones in that era well worth a listen. I simply hope that this round of Rolling Stones reissues are given the same treatment. The last round added nothing but 3 or 4 bucks to the price of the albums. One can always dream!

EXPIRED: 02/27/10 – Tom “T-Bone” Wolk, 60, didn’t choose to be a musician. It chose him. Wolk was the guy with “the hat” playing bass guitar with Hall & Oates in all those videos on MTV in the early 80’s. Admit it. You remember.

RIP T-Bone

Like many guys Wolk’s age, he got the urge to play rock and roll watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show in his parent’s home in Yonkers, NY. He picked up an electric guitar and never looked back.

After being asked to fill in for Will Lee on Late Night with David Letterman, he played bass on the first gold rap record, “These Are The Breaks”, by Kurtis Blow in early 1981.

This caught the ears of Hall and Oates. He auditioned. Got the gig and over two decades later never looked back.

He also was co-director of the Saturday Night Live house band along with G.E. Smith from 86 – 92, and produced and played with some big names of that era including Carly Simon, Elvis Costello Shawn Colvin, Roseanne Cash, Cyndi Lauper, Harry Nilsson, Amanda Marshall, Paul Carrack, Jewel, Jellyfish, and Avril Lavigne.

Turn on the radio or pull out some CDs this week. Chances are you’ll hear some of T-Bone’s work without even knowing it.

He will be missed.

PIL's Metal Box

Naturally, alongside all the plundering of the past are the revivals of many long-defunct bands who just now are putting their reunion projects together, or are establishing new eras in their band’s history. This week we will cover a good number of reunions from classic New Wave/No Wave 80′s/90′s alt rock outfits, plus some of the other big releases either now in stores or on the way.

Public Image Limited – Of all the defunct New Wave/120 Minutes-era bands to influence modern music, few could be said to have had a bigger impact than John Lydon and his post Sex Pistols project, PiL. While the Pistols reunion shows sporadically surface, the first PiL shows in nearly 20 years finally took place in the UK this past December. No wider release from the reunion is in retail stores per se, but official, multi-disc concert recordings from most of the shows were put online almost immediately. While I personally would have loved to see an early lineup reunion, the current PiL leans toward the Happy?/9 lineup. From the look of the setlists and sound of the arrangements from the shows, this revival’s aesthetic will skew that way as well. While we wait to see what fruit will be born of the reunion, there is very noteworthy re-issue of PiL’s classic Metal Box album on CD. This album has been reissued in several formats as both Metal Box and Second Edition through the years, but this issue is the first attempt to faithfully recreate on CD the original packaging and format of the original albums-in-a-can vinyl.

This Metal Box reissue splits the album over 3 CDs, much like the original vinyl was split over 3 discs (the first Metal Box reissue and all Second Edition reissues fit on one CD.) It is a bit gimmicky since there was an audio fidelity rationale for splitting the vinyl over 3 discs at 45rpm instead of 2 discs at 33rpm (the rationale was BASS – the only rationale ever needed, really), and no such fidelity gain is to be had from using 3 CDs. The Indie Rock Object Fetish rolls on! Let’s just hope the youngins picking up this disc spend as much time focusing on the supreme awesomeness of this seminal release (in my top 3 albums of all-time, and on occasion, the #1.)

Killing Joke – While Killing Joke has said their Last Goodbye several times before, the “Death And Resurrection Show” carries on as they now have their original lineup reunited and prepping an album for early 2010 release after playing a few reunion shows over the last year or so. The major news in that is the return of original drummer Paul Ferguson and bassist Martin ‘Youth’ Glover , who after leaving Killing Joke, went on to become one of the top-tier producers of the 90′s and Oughts (he produced The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony and U2′s under-rated cover of Night And Day, among others.)

Youth takes over after the untimely death of KJ’s second bassist, Paul Raven, who also played on the original reunion albums (both excellent, including the inspired stick work of Dave Grohl who sat behind the skins on the self-titled disc from 2003.) As sometimes happens, if you don’t know Killing Joke’s catalog, and approach it now, it may not leap out like it did at the time since their work has been so thoroughly co-opted since their initial prime (Nirvana’s Come As You Are is simply a slowed-down run on KJ’s Eighties, as far as I’m concerned). That shouldn’t dissuade you from going back and working your way through the catalog as a warm-up for their next material. Their melding of reggae and punk with the big tribal beat and angular guitar riff is really something no one has been able to touch, and not for a lack of trying.

Swans – While head Swan Michael Gira took to the web to trumpet the fact that THIS IS NOT A REUNION, it is tough not to think of new Swans material as just a continuation. While some of the late-period, less noisy and confrontational Swans stuff is, and has been, out of print for a long time, much of their material has remained in print and has aged quite well (check what used copies of Love Of Life and White Light go for on Amazon, y’all!) The most interesting aspect of the next-mach Swans is the absence of icy chanteuse Jarboe, who was key to the sound of the last albums of Swans’ original run. Fans of Gira’s Angels Of Light will likely find some continuity with the next stuff since the new Swans lineup shares a few members with the final Angels lineup. Hearing the nightmare contra-bass of Michael Gira propelling Swans material again is something a wider audience might be ready for. Certainly if Gira’s promotion of Devandra Banhart and Akron/Family is any indication, tastes of a wider audience may have finally caught up to his.

Xiu Xiu – Speaking of Michael Gira and wider audiences, one of the (rare) lighter moments to be found on the last Xiu Xiu album was his duet on the cover of Queen’s Under Pressure. With Gira playing Bowie to Jamie Stewart’s Freddy Mercury, their surprisingly faithful run at the old rock nugget might prove a foreshadowing of the upcoming Xiu Xiu release, Dear God I Hate Myself, which – despite the overwrought title – is said to be as close to accessible as Xiu Xiu has yet come. I myself cannot imagine them ever really breaking through as they have been historically, but from the sound of the first MP3′s from the new disc, it is possible they may be seen as more approachable by those with a sense of adventure. Xiu Xiu’s catalog can be a bit of work to break through with, but if you can hang with it, there are usually significant rewards. I still think Boy Soprano to be one of the best songs of the Oughts.

Out this week: Two big releases this week worth a listen…first is Teen Dream from Baltimore’s Beach House. Said to be a branching out from their first two (excellent) albums, this release’s first single Norway shows them still in top form and well-suited to the addition of organic drums and bass. Perhaps not the most upbeat band in the world, but their music has that rare ability to be rewarding as background material and close-up in headphones and given full attention. Seek out their free and legal MP3s for a taste and see if you can move ahead with them. Also out is a new album, Realism, from indie pop alpha’s Magnetic Fields.

Their last album Distortion was a most-faithful homage to the Jesus And Mary Chain’s stone cold alt.classic Psychocandy, whereas this plays as a counter-point to Distortion, relying entirely on organic instrumentation. For you conservative-types, you might have a tough time balancing your feelings here since their excellent leader and head songwriter Stephen Merritt is gay, yet also, he has been the object of a PC smear campaign in which – for nebulous and ultimately unconvincing reasons – he has been labeled a racist by East Coast Media Elites. Tough call. If you care to just focus on the music, homeboy writes excellent pop songs that will earworm you before you know what happened.  By most accounts, the new album is up to form.

Rock Band: Soon Featuring Undiscovered Music like The Sugarmen

Harmonix, owned by MTV, was able to use long-standing label relationships to make classic rock songs of every era available to players.    Now the game-makers are adding a whole new type of music for download: yours.

That’s right. Indy songwriters, garage bands and the about-to-be-famous can now upload a song to the Rock Band Network and make it available to those 4 million game players.   Hardcore game users can easily generate 20,000 downloads of a newly-available song in a week.   The game, along with itunes, is seen as a bright spot in the ever-diminishing music business revenue stream.

However, the process isn’t as simple as uploading an mp3.  Tracks need to be uploaded individually and users will need to spend some time tinkering to get a track in rocking order.  David Hadshinow, an avid gamer and computer programmer said, “the tools Harmonix makes available are great and ‘rockbandizing’ a track is a lot of fun.  But, be prepared to spend some time perfecting your creation.”  Mr. Hadshinow chose the track “TV Song” by the Los Angeles based band The Sugarmen for his first effort.  Mr. Hadshinow once tagged along for a week as an unofficial roadie for the band when they toured the United Kingdom in late 2008.

Asked about potentially being included in Rock Band, The Sugarmen bass player, George Nakonechny said, “I’m glad Rock Band has opened up the process to independent artists, any new revenue stream available is great for bands like us.”

Those who wish to start the process of getting their music in Rock Band should visit http://creators.rockband.com, and, if the track passes a peer review (technically not musically!) by other Rock Band users, it will be available for sale and download at Rock Band’s web store.

“TV Song” by The Sugarmen is now under peer review and should be available for sale shortly.  David Hadshinow can be contacted at hadshinow.com.

Vampire Weekend set for a big 2010. Photo courtesy SHANE MCCAULEY

In the same way that MA’s newest Senator prompted Glen Beck to wonder if a dead intern might not be in future for the Senate’s newest alpha, one has to wonder if Vampire Weekend intentionally bared the uncomfortable reality of their collective id in their choice of cover photo. I believe it was Sting who said “Many miles away, there’s a shadow on the door of a cottage on the shore of a dark Scottish lake.”

So, 2010 has already sent an indie hero up the pop chart, causing one to wonder if the heydays of under-the-radar indie rock/rap greatness are over, and if the Heartland Values-types are finally gonna get in on the action. The year’s crop of new releases has some big names front-loading the calendar, so anything is possible. Are these releases big enough to prompt WalMart to make room on their precious shelves? Only time will tell. Either way, here are a few highlights from the recent release calendar to keep on your radar:

Gorillaz – Plastic Beach: Back from the dead is Damon Albarn’s project Gorillaz with a full album of original material. While he had said he was done with the Gorillaz project, and had moved on to both a short Blur reunion, and a nice alt.supergroup outing with The Good, The Bad and The Queen, the new Gorillaz sees new collaborations with old partners (De La Soul and Paul Simonon both appear on this new one), as well as new collaborations with the likes of Lou Reed and Bobby Womack. The first single is out this month, the whole album comes in March.

Spoon – Transference: Another indie band expected to break large, Austin TX’s Spoon launches their first of the new decade after seeing much from their past catalog on many high profile “Best Of” lists from the previous decade. This self-produced album should keep Merge’s years-long hot streak hot for awhile longer yet as the early reviews are positive, if perhaps showing some indications that this is the end of a phase for the band.

EELS – End Times: A return to the racks for Mark ‘E’ Everett’s EELS project, the second such release since 2009′s return.  This new one was recorded on 4-track and is generally thought of as true-to-form in that it covers such weighty material as Everett’s recent divorce. Yours truly has long hoped another album for his ‘E’ project might find its way to the surface one day, but given that EELS enjoyed significant success and the poppier E stuff came and went with barely a whimper almost 20 years ago, I am prepared to take the light out of the window and give this new one a try.

First Aid Kit – The Big Black And Blue: While much love went to Fleet Foxes’ debut a few years back, I thought the quickie little cover of their Tiger Mountain Peasant Song by First Aid Kit was where attention might better have been aimed. It could be just me, but family harmony vocal arrangements just seem sweeter than even the best the professional musicians and singers put out. This upcoming album is the Swedish sisters’ first full-length album, and follows up a fun little EP from a year or two back which showed huge potential. They are still quite young, so it may not pay to get too worked up over this debut, but in time, I gotta think these two are capable of jaw-dropping work. Only time will tell.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMrqBldlqzA

Owen Pallett – Heartland: Pitchfork gave much love to this first release by Owen Pallett under his own name. Lest ye “Heartland ‘Mericans = REAL Mericans”-types read too much into this album’s title, you might want to check out some of his work under the name Final Fantasy as a guide to what sorts of materials Mister Pallett works with. I am not sure his aesthetic needs will meet your definition of REAL music or GOOD music appropriate for dancing. It isn’t that it is impossible to dance to this stuff, especially if your hips don’t lie about orchestral arrangements, but I am not sure one can both dance and properly take in the lyrics at the same time; and if one is to err, they must err on the side of being good and scrupulous content consumers. You don’t need to buy any new music just to have something to dance to, y’all!

Johnny Cash – American VI, Ain’t No Grave: The final installment of Johnny Cash’s towering final work with Rick Rubin is to see the light of day in early 2010. It is easy to wonder if he would have ever deviated from this stripped-down style had he lived, but I don’t think anyone could make the case he had yet found any limit to its ability to completely re-frame him, and the power of his core approach to music and to the world. The track list for this album is up on Amazon, and looks like it is as good a mix as the other American Recordings albums, and also is said to include his final original work. If you haven’t given these albums a try yet, I am not sure what you are waiting on. You still have time to start with the first one and work your way up to this, the resolution work of a long, wonderful series.