Things heat up this winter as there is an anticipation of impending releases. Moby’s recent ventures as a DJ will be more apparent on his forthcoming album, Last Night. His previous sets—Play, 18 and Hotel—favored a more soulful, even bluesy sound. Last Night’s upbeat first single, Alice, features the rappers Aynzli and 419 Crew. Reminiscent of his critically acclaimed EP, Move, and his 1995 opus, Everything Is Wrong, Last Night is scheduled to arrive April 1 stateside. A sampler of Moby’s new electronic material is available for a free download at www.moby.com and can be previewed on his MySpace page.
Taylor Dayne shows that she knows satisfaction on her fifth studio album, Satisfied. The great Dayne revels in chirpy upbeat numbers (I’m Over My Head, My Heart Won’t Change), a brighter departure from 1998’s Naked Without You. As promised on her MySpace page, Dayne belts out covers on Satisfied, too: Here, she opts for the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Under the Bridge and Des’ree’s Kissing You. Her ode to Los Angeles is more organic than the All Saints’s take on Bridge, and Dayne adds more instrumentation to Des’ree’s broken-hearted love song. The lead single, Beautiful, boasts remixes by Hex Hector and is accompanied by a new incarnation of Tell It to My Heart with new vocals. Satisfied will be available Feb. 8, courtesy of the Prove Your Love singer’s Intention Music label.
Expect more than “a little piece of history repeating itself” on Dame Shirley Bassey’s latest, Get the Party Started. Here the James Bond theme crooner uses her trademark delivery to revamp Grace Jones’s Slave to the Rhythm, Lionel Ritchie’s Hello and Pink’s mega-hit on the title track. Bassey also provides an updated spin on her signatures, I Who Have Nothing and You Only Live Twice. Previously, Bassey had songs remixed by Propellerheads and Groove Armada, adding to her career’s longevity. Get the Party Started will do just that once it hits shelves March 4 via Decca Records.
On her third solo outing, Some People Have Real Problems, Sia remedies most of her maladies from her breakthrough, Colour the Small One. The soulful Zero 7 vocalist does manage to keep the aching alive with You Have Been Loved and A Day Too Soon. Even her reworking of the Pretenders’s I Go to Sleep bares the wounds of her earlier efforts. But it is the plucky tongue twister Academia and the cleverly crafted The Girl You Lost to Cocaine that show Sia’s artistic progress. The Australian singer-songwriter has a concert lined up on Feb. 29 at Park West, 322 W. Armitage. (Please note, Sia’s MySpace page erroneously lists the venue as The Metro.) At her last performance in the Windy City, Sia was irked that fans already knew her new material, since Some People Have Real Problems was leaked on-line but it is now in stores.
Olivia Newton-John is loved for her classic film roles in Grease and Xanadu as well as her more dramatic turns in It’s My Party and Sordid Lives. On the heels of her holiday collection, Christmas Wish, the Australian superstar is releasing Olivia’s Live Hits. Recorded with the Sydney Symphony, this live album is out in conjunction with the full-length concert DVD Live at the Sydney Opera House. It is back to the 70s and 80s with these projects, as You Never Have Been Mellow, Magic and Physical are highlights. Also, Newton-John will recreate her role from Sordid Lives for the forthcoming TV series on Logo based on the movie.
Broadway veteran Idina Menzel flies without a broom on the spellbinding I Stand. She even collaborates with uber-producer Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette, Michael Jackson, Annie Lennox). Although the title cut and Better to Have Loved are plagued with clichés, the catchy Gorgeous and Where Do I Begin serve as pillars on I Stand. The Tony award winner’s distinctive voice muscles through the entire set, which comes out on January 29 on Warner Brothers. Need more Menzel? She performs the end title song in Beowulf and there are dance mixes to Defying Gravity, her show-stealing number from Wicked.
As one of the sexiest men in rock ‘n roll, Lenny Kravitz returns with his eighth studio album, It Is Time for a Love Revolution, just in time for Valentine’s Day. Due out Feb. 8 on Virgin, the Grammy-winning singer rocks on Bring It On and slows it down some for I’ll Be Waiting. Revolution will also be available as a limited-edition package, which will include a documentary on the Let Love Rule singer. Kravitz’s Get on the Bus with the Love Revolution Tour stops in Chicago at the Riviera, 4746 N. Racine, on Sat., Jan. 26.
The avant-garde electronic duo Goldfrapp intends to surprise fans, as its fourth album Seventh Tree is a major departure from its previous studio album, the upbeat glam-rock-disco CD Supernature. This change in direction may even effect Madonna, who has been pegged as copying Goldfrapp’s sound into a more mainstream product, thus leaving the Hung Up singer to be dubbed Oldfrapp. Due out Feb. 26, Seventh Tree will be the follow-up to the sparkling remix EP We Are Glitter. A U.S. tour is in the works for late spring.