Rock Watch: Upcoming New Releases

We're moving into the prime season for new releases, and I have my eye on several that look interesting. In no particular order ...

Neil Young - Chrome Dreams II
Okay, wait a minute now. If you record a sequel to an album that you never released, shouldn't you also not release the sequel?

Whatever. In 1977 Neil Young recorded Chrome Dreams, one of the most famous albums that was never released. Several of the tracks eventually appeared on later albums, but the original recording still only exists as a somewhat rare bootleg.

Chrome Dreams II, scheduled for release October 16, has just ten tracks, but runs over an hour, primarily because just two of the tracks account for more than 30 minutes. All of the songs are new, although three of them were written some years ago.

Plant and Krauss - Raising Sand
Remember back when we tipped you to the reports that the seemingly unlikely duo of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were in a Nashville studio recording an album?

The results of those sessions (plus some in Los Angeles) are due for release October 23. Raising Sand finds our beauty-and-the-beast duo covering songs by an electic group of singer-songwriters ranging from Tom Waits to Mel Tillis. There's also a Plant-Jimmy Page song from one of their post-Led Zeppelin albums.

The pairing isn't entirely unprecedented. The Rounder Records label-mates performed together at a tribute concert for Leadbelly at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Producer extraordinaire T Bone Burnett produced the album.

Springsteen and the E Street Band - Magic
The big news here is that this is the first album The Boss has made with the E Street Band in five years.

October 2 is the scheduled release date for what Springsteen's manager calls a "high energy rock" release. A world tour is expected to accompany the release, but no details have been announced yet.

Ann Wilson - Hope & Glory
Half of the sister duo, Heart, is releasing an album of covers of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, John Fogerty and Neil Young, among others. Among the artists performing with Wilson are Elton John and Wynonna.

There will be plenty more where these came from. Stay tuned.

^{Neil Young photo by Donald Weber / Getty Images. Bruce Springsteen photo by Sean Gardner / Getty Images.}