The Music Jockey

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On her second Nonesuch disc, Emmylou Harris assembles an extraordinary cast of veteran musicians and fellow singers, all of them longtime friends, for a set that indeed showcases this Nashville icon, and 2008 CMA Hall of Fame inductee, as all she has intended to be - a singularly expressive vocalist, a brilliant interpreter of other people's songs, a graceful and confident songwriter. In particular, the album displays Harris's ability to bring new life to songs that may have been overlooked, forgotten or lost along the way. Some of the most affecting material here may be the least well-known - though not for long: John Wesley Routh's celtic/country "Shores Of White Sands" and trucker-poet Mark Germino's heartrending story-song, "Broken Man's Lament." Harris has chosen these songs with conceptual care. Like much of the gently uplifting All I Intended To Be, the stories may be bittersweet, the characters may be downtrodden, but somehow a sense of redemption always vanquishes regret. The shared history of all the artists involved deepens the feeling of hard-won wisdom that informs All I Intended To Be. Producer Brian Ahern was behind the boards for such early Harris classics as Elite Hotel, Pieces of the Sky and Blue Kentucky Girl. The players and guest stars are not only a veritable who's-who from the worlds of country, bluegrass and folk, but they have each intersected with Harris throughout her four-decade career as a recording artist. They include Dolly Parton, singers Pam Rose and Maryann Kennedy, dobro player (and longtime Seldom Scene member) Mike Auldredge, keyboardists Glenn D. Hardin (of Harris's Hot Band and Elvis Presley's legendary TCB combo) and Bill Payne (of Little Feat). Two songs - the June Carter tribute, "How She Could Sing The Wildwood Flower" and the breathtakingly beautiful "Sailing Round the Room" - were co-written by and performed with Kate and Anna McGarrigle. Singer-songwriter Karen Brooks, whose own eighties-era version of "Shores of White Sands" was the inspiration and thematic jumping-off point for this entire album, contributes backing vocals throughout; Randy Sharp, Brooks' singing partner, did the vocal arranging. (Harris won a 2005 Best Country Vocal Performance Grammy for her rendition of Sharp's "The Connection.") Harris's own songs, like the heartache ballad "Gold" and the elegiac "Not Enough," blend seamlessly with work by Patty Griffin ("Moon Song"), Merle Haggard ("Kern River") and Billy Joe Shaver ("Old Five and Dimers," from which the album title is taken). Harris revives what is arguably Tracy Chapman's most eloquent song, "Fast Car" notwithstanding - "All That You Have Is Your Soul," a cautionary tale with a simple but profound prayer of a chorus. Displaying the maturity, elegance and ease that distinguished All The Road Running, her best-selling 2006 collaboration with Mark Knopfler. Harris has created a riveting emotional and spiritual journey. All That I Intended To Be is everything a listener and fan could hope for.

Highly limited 7 inch of Amy Winehouse doing covers of the Specials - Monkey Man and Hey Little Rich Girl and Youre Wondering Now, and Sam Cooke - Cupid. If theres one thing you cant deny about Ms Winehouse is that shes immensely talented, even when shes covering other peoples music.

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Junjo boasts an unusual format: A young American woman playing bass and singing wordless vocals with the accompaniment of a Cuban pianist and drummer. But 22-year-old Esperanza Spalding, an Oregon native who teaches at Boston's Berklee College of Music, is so confident in her multiple roles (she also produced the album, released on a Spanish label) and the music goes down so easily, all awareness of her band's makeup quickly fades. With their lighter-than-air quality, the tunes sometimes recall early Return to Forever (an association underlined by the inclusion of a Chick Corea composition) and her playing boasts the warm, richly amplified quality favored by many young bassists. But with pianist Aruan Ortiz stretching and shaping the melodies, Junjo is winningly personal. In addition to several originals by Spalding, alone or in collaboration with Ortiz or her drummer, Francisco Mela, it includes a smart and playful reworking of Jimmy Rowles' classic, "The Peacocks." --Lloyd Sachs

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Contemporary jazz icon Keiko Matsui's new album, (Swahili for "heart and soul"), recorded with local musicians in South Africa, Japan and the United States, introduces new sounds and rhythms to her elegant piano melodies and gentle jazz grooves. For this project, Keiko invited other artists into the creative process, including legendary trumpeter Hugh Masakela, sax player Gerald Albright, soprano sax player Paul Taylor, bassist/vocalist Richard Bona, drummer Akira Jimbo and vocalist Waldemar Bastos.

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Marie Antoinette may be a period film, but don't expect minuets: Sofia Coppola's candy-colored portrait of the doomed queen moves to a punk beat. Whatever you think of how that approach works in the movie itself, it makes for a bracing two-CD soundtrack that's like a mix tape put together by a DJ particularly attuned to the tastes of 2006, not 1786. A dominant chunk of the selection is made up of vintage postpunk tracks, from Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Hong Kong Garden" to Gang of Four's "Natural's Not in It," from New Order's "Ceremony" to the Cure's "All Cats Are Grey." The giddily fun Bow Wow Wow offers a counterpoint to all that seriousness with three songs (two of them, including the iconic "I Want Candy," remixed by My Bloody Valentine's maestro Kevin Shields). Newer contributions come from acts as diverse as retromongers the Strokes and avant-electronicists Aphex Twin and Squarepusher, while Dustin O'Halloran (half of the L.A. duo Devics) contributes three nice, Debussy-style piano solos. The most conventional choices of the lot are a pair of harpsichord pieces by Couperin and Scarlatti, as well as Vivaldi's "Concerto in G," a chestnut that's got to be in every single film set in the 18th century. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

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A TWO DISC SOUNDTRACK WITH MUSIC FOR THE PARTY . . . AND FOR THE MORNING AFTER.

Featuring APHEX TWIN BOW WOW WOW THE CURE GANG OF FOUR NEW ORDER THE STROKES and more!

Oscar-winning Sofia Coppola brings to the screen an imaginative interpretation of the life of France's legendary teenage queen Marie Antoinette. When betrothed to King Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman), the naïve Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst) enters the opulent French court which is steeped in conspiracy and scandal. Without guidance, adrift in a dangerous world, the young girl rebels against the isolated atmosphere at Versailles and becomes France's most misunderstood monarch. Based on the book Marie Antoinette: The Journey by Antonia Fraser.