PORTLAND, Maine — Chris Brown from Bull Moose joined us in the 207 studio to share some upcoming new releases.
"American Fiction" (Blu-ray)
"American Fiction" was nominated for five Academy Awards and won Best Adapted Screenplay. It is a satire about an African-American author who writes excellent books that don’t sell. He writes a book playing to Black stereotypes white people hold. He intended it as a joke, but it becomes his biggest-selling book. It’s funny, but it also makes one think about stereotypes. It points out that the publishing industry is maybe not as progressive as it thinks it is.
Seal – "Seal II Deluxe Edition" (2CD + Blu-ray)
Seal’s big album, the one with "Kiss From a Rose," was released in an expensive box set last fall. For this new edition, they replaced the vinyl from the box set with a Blu-ray with hi-res stereo and Atmos mixes. If you think about how lushly layered this album already is, you can appreciate how amazing the Atmos mix could sound.
The Decemberists – "As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again" (CD, LP)
The literary indie-rockers (and former 207 guests) from the other Portland are back. As always with them, this album is much more varied than a lot of indie rock albums. The final track is a 19-minute song about writing a poem or song about Joan of Arc. Fans won’t be surprised that they tried this, but they might be pleasantly surprised by how they developed the idea.
Paul McCartney – "One Hand Clapping"
One of the great things about being Paul McCartney must be that he can abandon something he worked hard on if it doesn’t fit the current moment. In 1974, he filmed live-in-the-studio performances of a bunch of Wings songs and other things for a TV special that was never aired. We get some nice rocked-up versions of songs that were in Wings’ setlist at the time. We also get to hear him mess around with some Beatles songs and demonstrate songs that would be recorded and released later (or never).