Metallica, Young Jeezy, Robin Thicke Lead September Releases
September 2008 News
September is certainly a transitional month. After a couple months of rest and relaxation (for those of us lucky enough to have summers off or even good weather during it) it's back to school and work. Cold weather is on the horizon (again, for most of us), and winter doom and gloom lays ahead.
Not for the music industry though! While release schedules generally slow to a crawl as the summer ends, they pick up with a vengeance as we head into the holiday buying season. After a month in which exactly ONE big-name act released an album (hello, Jonas Brothers!), September is bursting at the seams with A-list releases. Whether you're a fan of pop, R&B, hip-hop, metal or standards, there's going to be at least one thing on your wish list over the course of the month. Here's your handy-dandy guide to some of the bigger releases hitting stores in September 2008 (keep in mind that all release dates are subject to change and a good chunk of them probably will)
Jeezy and Metallica Follow Brian Wilson's Sun In Early September
September 2: Aiming for his third consecutive platinum album, Atlanta rapper Young Jeezy presents The Recession. Already having spawned a Top Ten hit in Put On (which features Kanye West), all signs point towards the continuation of Jeezy's somewhat befuddling run of success. Legendary Beach Boy Brian Wilson reteams with Van Dyke Parks for That Lucky Old Sun, continuing his late-career creative renaissance, while blue-eyed soulsters (and reality show fans) will rejoice in the P. Diddy-helmed debut effort by Making the Band 4's Donnie Klang. Yet another Donnie spearheads the last of 9/2's major releases, as Donnie Wahlberg and the New Kids on the Block return for the first time in fourteen years with The Block. Already boasting a pair of hit singles and a sold out tour, this looks to be one of the fall's sleeper successes. Never underestimate the purchasing power of women in their thirties, I guess.
September 8: With a rare off-cycle release, Metallica returns on Friday the 12th with Death Magnetic. It's their first album since 2003's misfire St. Anger and production savior Rick Rubin will attempt to give them a bit of the old Ride the Lightning flavor with this new album. Rap/rock hybrid Gym Class Heroes try to avoid the sophomore jinx with The Quilt, an album that boasts an impressive array of guest stars ranging from high-energy rapper Busta Rhymes to king of vanilla soul Daryl Hall. Jessica Simpson crosses over to country with her fifth studio album, Do You Know?, while Natalie Cole returns to the well that brought her a shit-ton of money with Still Unforgettable. "Unforgettable" is not a word one should use when discussing LL Cool J's last several albums, so we'll have to see if Exit 13 breaks that string, while former Prince sidewomen Wendy & Lisa and former Halle Berry paramour Eric Benet return after extended absences with new material.
Kings of Leon, Pussycat Dolls, Common Return At End of Month
September 16: Late-stage hair metal band Buckcherry pulled off one of the more improbable comebacks in recent memory last year with a platinum album and the hit singles Crazy Bitch and Sorry. Josh Todd and company will be looking to extend their good fortune with their new effort, Black Butterfly. Darius Rucker's second solo effort, Learn to Live, finds the Hootie & the Blowfish frontman reinventing himself as a country singer after a dalliance with R&B on his first solo effort. Soulmen Raphael Saadiq and Ne-Yo are both scheduled to drop their third studio albums on this date, while Nelly's long-delayed probable flop Brass Knuckles is also cued up for release…unless his label decides to burn another single and delay the album even more. Etheral singer-songwriter Jem and son of James & Carly Benjamin Taylor are also dropping albums on this date.
September 23: Kings of Leon's Because of the Times was easily one of 2007's best rock albums, and Only by the Night is likely to continue the hot streak that has led KOL to be mentioned as a band right on the verge of exploding. Future one-hit wonders Plain White T's also return on this date, as do indie-rock favorites TV on the Radio (with the follow-up to Return to Cookie Mountain, one of 2006's best reviewed albums). Common offers a quickie follow up to 2007's Grammy-winning Finding Forever with the more upbeat Invincible Summer (inexplicably being released during the first week of autumn), while the babe-licious Pussycat Dolls and rock/rapper Everlast also return with new albums.
September 30: September closes with the long-awaited singing debut of Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, while fellow former American Idol contestant Kellie Pickler releases her sophomore effort on this date. The soon-to-be-incarcerated T.I. follows up his pair of #1 albums with Paper Trail, while soul smoothie Robin Thicke gears up for the release of Something Else, the follow up to 2006's breakthrough The Evolution of Robin Thicke. Also out on this date: the sophomore solo effort from Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave's Tom Morello (as the Nightwatchman), a new effort from piano-playing smart-ass Ben Folds, the 987,812,83th greatest hits compilation from Tina Turner (commemorating yet another farewell tour) and a covers effort from the always-soothing James Taylor.
