NEW BILAL AND D'ANGELO

Ok, not really. I lied. Not much word on new albums by either of these supremely talented but long-MIA artists.

Bilal's striking debut 1st Born Second came out in 2001, and sadly his follow-up Love for Sale was shelved after it leaked on the Internet earlier this year. I've heard a couple of songs from it, and they sounded pretty damn nice. But who knows if the album will ever see the light of day. (In the meantime, if you haven't heard his version of "High and Dry" off of the Radiohead tribute CD, Exit Music, check it out -- it's amazing!)

D'Angelo's last album, the classic Voodoo, came out even longer ago (2000!), and since then there have been arrests, drug problems, car crashes. Very sad. But in the last couple years, rumor has it that he's working on new material for his third album, tentatively titled James River. I heard something about him teaming up with Jermaine Dupri, which scares me but you never know. And he's appeared as a guest on a handful of underwhelming tracks recently like "Bullshit" by the RH Factor (Roy Hargrove's band) and J Dilla's "So Far to Go" with Common.

But, today, my friends, there is a bit more reason to be hopeful. Bilal and D'Angelo appear on two new and fairly high-profile songs...

1.) "Nightmares" by Clipse feat. Bilal. Love this joint. What a weird, creepy vibe. MCs Malice and Pusha-T don't even come in til about half way through the song. So it really is like a Bilal song, more than a Clipse song. Speaking of MIA artists, the Clipse's ridiculously long-delayed sophomore album, Hell Hath No Fury, is finally about to come out. I've heard most of it, and it's hot. People seem to be liking it much more than Kingdome Come. My guess is that Clipse and Lupe Fiasco will be considered the rap albums of the year, not Jay or Nas.

2.) "Imagine" by Snoop Dogg feat Dr. Dre and D'Angelo. Ehh, this is aiight, a little corny, and D'Angelo is underutilized. But we'll take what we can get . . .

WHAT THE EFF?!

That's right, your eyes aren't deceiving you. That's Kelly Clarkson of "American Idol" fame with Mike Watt from the Minutemen and fIREHOSE. According to Pitchfork, Watt is playing bass on six songs on Clarkson's new album.

For those that aren't familiar with Watt or the Minutemen, check out their classic Double Nickels on the Dime (1984), which changed my life in high school.

Seems like there have been a number of similarly bizarre musical news items this year. Jay-Z working with Coldplay's Chris Martin. Actress Scarlett Johanson doing an album of Tom Waits covers . . .

THE ROOTS COVERING DYLAN

I didn't go to this benefit last week -- of course I love Dylan, but the show was very pricey and I've been burned before with these tribute events. I read about it afterwards, though, in the Times and elsewhere, and by all accounts the highlight of the night was my faves the Roots covering "Masters of War." I say the Roots, but it was actually just ?uestlove on drums, guitarist Kirk Douglas (also on vocals), and Damon Bryson from the Jeff Bradshaw band on tuba. No Black Thought.

They began with Kirk singing the Dylan lyrics to the tune of "The Star-Spangled Banner," then reverted to the original melody and segued into snippets of "Taps," Jimi's "Machine Gun,"and the Gap Band's "You Dropped a Bomb on Me."

NYT's music critic Jon Pareles noted that the song, an indictment of war profiteers, was especially trenchant just two nights after the election.

According to Billboard, the Roots "blew the house down with an ecstatic, incendiary version" of the classic early-Dylan protest song. "The searing, politically charged performance brought the hall's entire sold-out crowd to its feet for a lengthy standing ovation."

?uest himself wrote on Okayplayer the next day about how he felt like it was a "tipping point" for the group, gaining them many new unlikely, older fans. He even compared the performance to "Motown 25," the early-80s TV special where Michael Jackson wowed the crowd with "Billie Jean" (and the debut of his Moonwalk).

More glowing reports here...
Rolling Stone: "Far and away the greatest performance of the night"; "Sure to go down as one of the most brilliantly unique Dylan covers of all time."
Village Voice: "The Roots just killed it."

GO STETSA!

On Halloween I went to this free show hosted by Prince Paul and featuring CL Smooth, Dres from Black Sheep, AG (formerly of Showbiz & AG), Juggaknots, Freddie Foxx, and some others. Now, those are all artists I've admired at some point in my life, but I probably wouldn't have paid $ to see any of them in 2006. And there was something kind of sad about their performances. Many were promoting new albums, but really, who's going to be checking for a new AG record? Of course, the audience got hype when CL did "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)" and Dres did "The Choice Is Yours," but the energy level was pretty low the rest of the night.

For the most part, I could have stayed home. But I have to say, it was nice to see the Stetsasonic reunion. No live band, just Prince Paul on the decks. But MCs Daddy O and Delite seemed so damn happy to be on stage again -- no matter that there were hardly 50 people left in the audience at that point -- and their joy was infectious. It was a very short set, but they did all their classics like "Sally" and "Talking All That Jazz."

There was a definite contrast between the festive vibe of the Stetsasonic performance and the somewhat desperate vibe of the other acts. Which makes sense, I guess. The bill was made up predominantly of artists from the 1990s who are grasping to stay in the game. Whereas Stetsa are really an 80s group and purely nostalgic -- they were just there to relive the good ol' days and have some fun. The audience had fun too....the most fun of the whole night.

LABELLE AND BLACK FEMALE ROCKERS

Check out this list of some great songs by black female rock singers.

Coincidentally, I've been on a big Labelle kick lately. (No, I'm not gay, this shit is just good music!) Patti's voice is crazy, of course. But for those of you who only know her from "On My Own," "New Attitude," etc., think again. In the early 70s, she and Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash were Labelle, a space-age funk outfit best known for their monster hit "Lady Marmalade." Start with their classic LP Nightbirds or their best-of collection Something Silver, which includes some hot early cover versions of songs ranging from the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" to Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Won't Be Televised" to Cat Stevens' "Moonshadow." (Note: I've heard great things about this band for a while, but I only recently delved into their catalogue, thanks to my friend Eric. Good looking out, EP!)

Going back to the list, I've long been hip to Betty Davis who, apart from Tina Turner, is the archetypal figure in this fierce-and-funky-black-female-rock-singer sound. And I agree with the writer that Bettye LaVette's recent "Joy" (originally by Lucinda Williams) is an absolutely killer track. I admit I know nothing about Joyce Kennedy and her group Mother's Finest. Worth checking out?

Ps: Also, is it just me or does Labelle's "Nightbird" share a melodic element with Neil Young's "Old Man"?