February 20, 2008

While venerable coffee giant Starbucks has been struggling to compete in the beverage department of late, they seem to be hitting the mark with their in-store music selection (that doubles as a check-out impulse buy). For their latest release they’ve gotten the former Robert Zimmerman to handpick selections for an Artist Choice compilation. Read on for the track list of sixteen songs you’ve probably never heard of either, and another bit of Bob Dylan news…

If you live in NYC, you probably take the site of the Empire State Building for granted. If you live in San Diego, you probably take a sunny 72-degree day for granted. And if you are a rock fan, you probably take David Bowie for granted.

Bowie, who put out his first album, David Bowie, in 1967 has been a fixture on the rock landscape ever since and has crossed genre lines so many times, charting it would look like an airline route map in the back of those terrible in-flight magazines.

Whatever your pleasure, Bowie has something for you. You want straight up rock and roll? There’s 1974’s Diamond Dogs and 1980’s Scary Monsters. If it’s a red wine night at home, there is 1971’s Hunky Dory, with more piano-driven tracks, including the powerful “Quicksand” and “Life on Mars,” a song that has surfaced everywhere from Phish shows to Wes Anderson movies.

Read on for more Thin White Duke lovin’, and a few clips from his illustrious career…

I can’t help that I have Wilco on the brain – Jeff Tweedy and company wrap up their five-night career spanning run tonight and I’m off to see them in Philly on Saturday (mmm cheesesteaks and Wilco the perfect combination). So with that in mind I figured I’d dip into their catalog and offer up a mix of some of the rarities they have busted out at the Riviera in Chicago so far this week. Enjoy!:

Read on after the jump for a breakdown…

If you’re one of those people who just needs to have a bigger music collection then all your friends, we’ve got quite the opportunity for you. The world’s undisputed largest collection of recorded music is now on sale via EBay. A three million dollar opening bid gives you the chance to buy three million records and 300,000 CDs. Have fun importing all of those bad boys into iTunes.

Here are some links to help you fight the mid-week blues:

• Don’t try to bring more than 72 beers to Rothbury
• Thieves make off with $25k worth of Matt Costa’s gear
• Photo Gallery: A Day In The Life of The Beatles
• Did you know Tiger Woods digs Van Halen?
• Stereogum’s Oldstand looks at an old issue of Rolling Stone
• Spinner counts down the 25 Best Band logos
• Popdose offers The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Toto
• Jeff Miller reviews night four of the Wilco Residency

Finally, Mike Gordon sat-in with Melvin Sparks at Nectar’s this weekend. Read on for two incredibly funky clips…