Dig These Discs :: Bette Midler, Coldplay, Cam, Cage The Elephant, Cass McCombs

British rocker Coldplay's Chris Martin is done with his lovelorn wails over losing goopy Gwyneth Paltrow, and has picked himself up with this new 11-track album, "A Head Full of Dreams." Just in time for the holidays, Bathhouse Bette serves up a packed platter of 18 hits wrapped up as "A Gift of Love." Grammy-nominated Kentucky rock band�Cage the Elephant releases their fourth studio album, "Tell Me I'm Pretty." Singer Cass McCombs, known for blending rock, punk, folk and country, releases his eighth studio album, a collection of his B-sides and outtakes from his former albums. It's like a Whitman Sampler from a talented artist. Country singer Cam releases her debut album "Untamed" this month, following on the heels of her first Top 10 single on country radio, "Burning House." There's some for giving, and some for keeping on this Dig These Discs!

"A Gift of Love" (Bette Midler)

Just in time for the holidays, Bathhouse Bette serves up a packed platter of 18 hits wrapped up as "A Gift of Love." The album presents remastered versions of all of Midler's most cherished hits. She kicks things off with Marshall Crenshaw's 1979 tune, "My Favorite Waste of Time." She moves on to Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin's "In This Life." You can hear the country twang that sent it to the top of the Billboard Hot Country chart when sung by Collin Raye in '92. The title track was the final cut on her 1990 album "Some People's Lives," her seventh studio album. Following, also from that double-platinum album is her hit, "From a Distance," and later, her second single from that album, "Night and Day." She bookends it with her Number One Grammy winner "Wind Beneath My Wings" from the weepy friendship flick, "Beaches." She takes tracks from her 1991 movie album "For the Boys," including "Come Rain or Come Shine," written by Harold Arlen, and "Every Road Leads Back to You" as well as the title track from her hit "The Rose." There's even five tracks from her platinum release of the 1995 hit "Bette of Roses," including "Bed of Roses," "To Deserve You," "As Dreams Go By" and "It's Too Late." Midler includes her early 1976 cut "Let Me Just Follow Behind" as well as her latest covers from her recent girl-band album "It's the Girls!" including "(Talk to Me Of) Mendocino" and "The Hunter Gets Captured By the Game." With its careful remastering and fine curating, the album can serve as an introduction to those who aren't familiar with the fabulous Ms. Midler, or a favorites compilation for those who are already fans. Best off, just in the St. Nick of time, this album answers the question: "What the hell am I going to get my mother for Christmas?" Thanks a Midler, Bette!
(Rhino Atlantic)

"A Head Full Of Dreams" (Coldplay)

British rocker Coldplay's Chris Martin is done with his lovelorn wails over losing goopy Gwyneth Paltrow, and has picked himself up with this new 11-track album, "A Head Full of Dreams," their seventh studio album. It's the widescreen follow-up to 2014's fragile "Ghost Stories," Coldplay's sixth consecutive worldwide chart topper, award winner and multi-million seller. It starts peppy, with the title track, and moves on to "Birds," which has the jumpy beat favored in The Cure's old hit, "Head on the Door." The album, recorded in Malibu, Los Angeles and London, was produced by Norwegian duo�Stargate�together with the band's long-time collaborator�Rik Simpson. It features more guests than any previous Coldplay album, with�Beyonc�,�Noel Gallagher,�Tove Lo�and�Merry Clayton on the ebullient first single "Adventure Of A Lifetime" and the rocket-powered "Hymn For The Weekend." This interesting track opens with birdsongs, melding in female harmony, and strong instrumentals with clap tracks and solid vocals. "Everglow" is a harmonious piano cut, and Tove Lo adds the same extra suave to "Fun" as she brings to the excellent dance track, "Adventure of a Lifetime." The trippy "Kaleidoscope" feels like a bus full of gospel choir members crashed in to an olde-timey music box, and the bass for "Army of One" adds an urgency to the message of feeling alive and reaching for that gold ring, despite all obstacles. That message is reiterated in the final cut, "Up & Up." Nice to see Martin moving on with his life. The band plans to take this album on tour; look for them in your city.
(Parlophone/Atlantic Records)

"Tell Me I'm Pretty" (Cage the Elephant)

Grammy-nominated Kentucky rock band�Cage the Elephant (singer Matt Shultz, guitarist Brad Shultz, bassist Daniel Tichenor and drummer Jared Champion) releases their fourth studio album, "Tell Me I'm Pretty." Dan Auberbach of The Black Keys served as producer for these 10 tracks. Influenced by classic rock, funk and blues, the band is known for their eclectic sound and energetic live performances. "We've all got something important to say, but talking's a waste of time," they sing in the opening track, "Cry Baby," vowing, "without love, nothing else will ever be enough." Their first single, the rockabilly-meets-surf-rock single "Mess Around," reached Top 10 on Billboard and Mediabase Charts at Alternative and AAA Formats. "Has melancholy taken you for good? You know I'd save you if I could," Shultz sings in "Sweetie Little Jean." They beg the doctor for help in "Cold Cold Cold" and use the refrain from "Phantom of the Opera" in their acoustic cut, "Trouble," one of the best on the album. The song premiered on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 show. "How Are You True," has a brilliant, almost a capella break at the end that drives the message home with the lyrics, "Told me all your secrets, oh I never saw it coming/ I thought that you were joking; you were actually quite serious." It slides into the drumroll for the '50s surf rock song "That's Right." She's a stone cold lover, but he only wants to abuse her in, "Punchin Bag." Watch out, the girl likes to fight, and she carries a knife, sings Shultz! The band finishes another stellar album with "Portuguese Knife Fight," an excellent pop tune that opens with a flourish of Spanish guitar, before merging into a hard rock line. The band played at KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas in Los Angeles on December 12 will perform at Hangout Music Festival in May 2016. They will also open for Metallica in San Francisco at AT&T Park on February 6 on the eve of Super Bowl 50.
(RCA Records)

"A Folk Set Apart" (Cass McCombs)

Singer Cass McCombs, known for blending rock, punk, folk and country, releases his eighth studio album, a collection of his B-sides and outtakes from his former albums. It's like a Whitman Sampler from a talented artist. His punk-inspired "I Cannot Lie" chugs along, and in "AYD" he sings, "I cannot get away, I'm here at your disposal." He's an interesting writer, pairing deceptively simple-sounding instrumentals with complex lyrics. His cut "Oatmeal" is a grinding cut that celebrates misspent youth, and "Twins" is a slow, shoegazer pop cut that has McCombs singing, "You lied to me, and I lied to you, I guess we deserve each other." There's a funky '60s quality to the cut "Minimum Wage," with its insistent bass drum and ghostly vibe. Ditto for the bouncy "Traffic of Souls." They're making mountains out of mole hills in "Poet's Day" and keeps the two guitars discordant in the stuttered track, "An Other." He gets a folk vibe from "Bradley Manning," a troubadour's ballad about how the military eats you up, singing, "Now he's due to be court-martialed this December/ To prove bullying is better than a wild temper." He swings with the pop cut "Evangeline," and then churns out some bluesy/folksy cuts in "Empty Promises," "If You Loved Me Before?" and "Three Men Sitting on a Hollow Log." He rides up and down the struts on the acoustic guitar tune "Lost River/Old River," and serves up a most excellent country-fried sound-fuck on "Texas," with a spoken word interlude. His soulful "Night of the World" has him telling 'no ordinary girl' that, "your mind is up to its old tricks/just can't wait to get its fix." His surf-rock ditty "Catacombs Cow Cow Boogie" is likeable, and he finishes up with the cowpoke cut, "The State Will Take Care of Me." The album may be just a collection of B-side cuts, but McCombs presents them with a swagger that will have you buying the whole lot.
(Domino)

"Untamed" (Cam)

Country singer Cam releases her debut album "Untamed" this month, following on the heels of her first Top 10 single on country radio, "Burning House." The song is one of 11 tracks on her new album for Cam, who was just named "one of 13 country artists to watch" by Billboard. Crickets, trains and a harmonica set the tone for her first track, "Untamed," with catchy clap tracks keeping it moving. This talented young artist has a fresh new look and voice perfect for the country music scene, singing, "once we break that moonshine out, we do things we won't live down... making memory lane out of old back roads." She's got a way with words. Tinkling ice shows the direction in which these sorrows are going to be drowned, in "Hungover on Heartache," and they're holding tight to a sinking ship in "Mayday." Her voice plays sadness well, as she singing of dreaming that he's trapped in a "Burning House." This heartache drifts over to "Cold in California," remembering a man whose dice habit led him to the West Coast to try his luck. Just another sweet-talking dream that ends in lonely nights, he'll be gone before the morning light, but he's "My Mistake" to make, sings Cam. There's no slowing down for Cam when she realizes her man has betrayed her again in "Runaway Train," and says, "I'm blonde but I'm not stupid," and tells her man good luck and so long, in "Half Broke Heart." Do you sense a theme here? She's like the country version of Adele. In "Want It All," she's looking for her happy ending, come what may, with "no rocking-chair regrets." She razzes a cowgirl whose boots have never stepped in horse shit in "Country Ain't Never Been Pretty" and finishes the album up with "Village," singing about helping raise her younger brother. It's heartbreaking. Yup. This girl is one to watch.
(Arista Nashville/RCA Records)