AIMS Marketing Program/ Featured Titles Promoted This Week:
Herb Alpert – 50 CD (Herb Alpert Presents)
Teeming with the good vibes that characterize the trumpeter’s decades-long catalog, 50 is a continuation of the path Alpert has been blazing in the past decade. There is a mix of reimagined classics covered in Alpert’s instantly recognizable style, highlighted by The Chords’ doo-wop classic “Sh- Boom”, Elvis’ “Are You Lonesome Tonight”, “Baubles Bangles And Beads” (famously recorded by Frank Sinatra, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Wes Montgomery, among others), and more. Plus, there are touching, new original compositions like “Dancing Down 50th Street”. On 50, Herb strikes the delicate balance of honoring the past while keeping his eye set on the future. It’s no wonder he’s still going strong after all this time.
Bright Eyes – Five Dice, All Threes CD/LP (Dead Oceans)
Five Dice, All Threes is a record of uncommon intensity and tenderness, communal exorcism and personal excavation. These are, of course, qualities that fans have come to expect from Bright Eyes, nearly three decades into their career. The tight-knit band of Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nate Walcott tends to operate in distinct sweeping movements: each unique in its sound and story but unified by a sense of ambition and ever-growing emotional stakes. Even with this rich history behind them, these new songs exude a visceral thrill like nothing they have attempted before. Oberst has always sung in a voice that conveys a sense of life-or-death gravity. At times throughout Five Dice, All Threes, you may feel worried for him; other times, he may seem like the only one with the clarity to get us out of this mess. On the self-produced album, Bright Eyes embrace the elusive quality that has made them so enduring and influential across generations and genres, bringing their homespun sound from an Omaha bedroom to devoted audiences around the world. [A red/orange color vinyl pressing is available.]