Alkaline Trio, Agony & Irony (Epic)
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These Chicago-bred emo pioneers have been gradually sanding down the rough edges of their sound for years — and with their Epic debut, a glossy sheen is officially all that remains. Longtime fans are already grousing about Agony & Irony, but the album’s FM-ready sound is already yielding dividends for the band: Alkaline Trio was featured on an episode of The Hills in May. That won’t be of much comfort to those pissed-off purists, but it should give a pretty big boost to the band members’ bank statements. By their next album, their transformation into the emo version of the Goo Goo Dolls should be complete; in the meantime, they should get a semi-credible hit or two out of Lit-esque tracks like “Love Love Kiss Kiss.” (MySpace)

James Brown, Gravity (Volcano)
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Not James’ finest hour, to be certain — but it does contain his last major Top 40 hit, the Rocky IV soundtrack anthem “Living in America,” and it probably represents his last more or less consistent album. It’s hard to decide which is more surprising: That Gravity was out of print, or that Volcano — the imprint that once was Scotti Brothers — is still in business. Those Survivor and “Weird Al” Yankovic royalties must be more lucrative than anyone could have imagined…

John Coltrane, Dakar (Prestige)
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One of Coltrane’s earliest albums gets the Prestige reissue treatment here — no bonus tracks, but it’s remastered, and considering that these sessions were recorded in 1957, the difference is probably noticeable, to say the least. Coltrane’s foils for Dakar are Cecil Payne, Pepper Adams, Mal Waldron, Doug Watkins, and Art Taylor — and though Adams and Waldron contribute some solid songs, this isn’t one of Coltrane’s essential releases (check out the way his solo trips and falls down a flight of stairs on “Witches’ Pit”). For completists and jazz fanatics only. (more…)

No band wants their video legacy to trump their musical legacy, but in the case of Go West, chances are that when one of their songs comes on the radio (figuratively speaking of course, since radio stopped playing them years ago), the first thought the listener entertains will be one of bouncing numbers and wooden figurines. The Godley and Creme-directed clip was an eye-popper — though one wonders what possessed them to feature singer Peter Cox in a wife beater while carrying a giant wrench — and helped propel the song to within spitting distance of the Top 40, peaking at #41.

For 1985, the video holds up remarkably well, using some nifty split-screen panning. (The Russell Mulcahy-directed clip for the follow-up single, “Call Me,” is not so fortunate.) Likewise, this mix of the song (download), the B-side of “Call Me’s” U.S. 12″ single, has also held up well, perhaps because it seems aimed more at the home listener than the clubber. Is that a drum-free keyboard intro? And heavens, what is that thing in the middle? Is that … a guitar solo? Yesirree, and a mighty fine one at that. And to think, we thought that Richard Drummie carried that thing around with him in the videos just to give him something to do.

The band would go on to greater success years later thanks to a certain song from the Pretty Woman soundtrack (and, of all things, a rerecording of a song from their first album that wasn’t deemed worthy of a Stateside release the first time around), but for my money “We Close Our Eyes” is still the only Go West song that matters, and this is the only mix of that song that matters. What does it mean, though, to say that imagination never lets us take the blame? That sounds like one of those David Byrne, fill-the-space-with-words lyrics. God, did I just compare Go West to the Talking Heads? I think that’s my queue to walk away before I say anything really stupid. See you next week, kids.