Over my time off, I thought about how much music we could handle before we taxed ourselves. Here's what I mean. For the most part, many of us bought a selected amount of LPs that represented our infatuation with a band or artist. In most cases, that likely amounted to around 150-200 albums. The rest of a collection was rounded out by a case, or two, of 45RPM singles. Quite frankly, any more than that, then our music appreciation was greatly challenged. How much time would we have to listen to all of that music? Everytime we added an LP to an "active" collection, we spent less time with a previous purchase. For the most part, not only did the cost keep us in check, it also kept us in greater tune to the selected batch that we owned.

But there are those of us who delved deeper into an ocean of music, good and bad. Still more of us experimented so much that we could actually tell you trivial bits of even the bad music and the bands who made them. Guilty here. My LP collection ran into five figures. Today, I wonder how I listened to all of that. Did I have a life? How deeply did I really listen to many of those albums? By virtue of having purchased those albums, I know something of them, I know the songs, etc. But did I really provide a chance to the music with so much others in the pile? And where did I find time to get back to the ones that I felt really mattered if I continued to buy albums going forward?

That was then. What about now? Stepping aside from the Pop market, which really hasn't changed all that much over these decades as a powerful form of music, how can we possibly develop a band if we're jumping from song to song, never slowing down enough to concentrate on anyone of them? With a medium like the internet shoving massive flows of music past our ears, we have turned into a field of cattle grazing on musical notes, some pleasing, some not, but once consumed, becomes waste hat disappears. It's why we no longer have great bands that we adore (not that there aren't great bands out there; we just fail to pay too much attention anymore).

We've crossed these roads before but it still bears a thought to determine why our musical bandwidth is so wide yet produces no sustaining talents beyond the scope of a few pleasing songs. It is these things that we need to change or the history of Rock music is going to be packed with bands and artists that no one remembers.

We've said it before: Too much music; too little time; no bona fide bands that will enjoy 20th Anniversary sets. Diluted interest via too much music is a bad thing. How do we fix it?

We want to hold a minute of honor for rockabilly pioneer, Billy Lee Riley. Riley was a Sun Records staple who delivered "Red Hot" to our rockin' world. While I have loved covers of "Red Hot" by other artists, especially Robert Gordon, no one could replicate the song quite as satisfying as Billy Lee Riley. We're going to miss this guy. He brings some rockabilly coolness to the Great Band!

I want to draw your attention to a band that I'm digging at the moment, the UK-based The Rifles. I have had them in Introduction mode for quite some time. I'm hoping to have some stuff for you on Friday that I think you might find interesting. I hope you enjoy it. (For more info, scroll down to the Introduction box.)

We have another review for you from Mark Squirek. This one is of the new add to the Under the Covers series (Volume 2) from Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs. Later, TAP will deliver more reviews of the Neil Young remasters (also from Mark Squirek).

Back on Friday with a little more!

We have another new set of Great Album Covers, this one large.

John M:

Roc Nation Records has the new Jay-Z album, Blueprint 3, scheduled for September 11.

Atlantic Records has Happy Hour coming from Uncle Kracker, planning the release for September 15.

Reprise will release Get Lucky by Mark Knopfler on September 15.

Reprise Records will also re-release International Superhits! by Green Day as vinyl LP and scheduling the disc for August 18.

Roadrunner Records will reissue the S/T Slipknot album as a 10th Anniversary Edition. Slipknot is scheduled for reissue on September 8.

Full Moon Records will release a Digital version of Love in Time, a Dan Fogelberg title, on August 13, while the CD version is scheduled to arrive on September 22.

Decca Records will release a DD and CD version of a 'best of' for Joshua Bell called, simply, The Best of Joshua Bell. Both issues are planned for September 22.

Universal Motown will issue Wake Up Sleepers by Kill Hannah on September 29 in both DD and CD formats. I'm looking forward to this album.

Varese Sarabande will release Souvenirs from BJ Thomas on September 22 on CD.

Varese Sarabande will release a gospel set from Etta James called The Inspirational Collection. It is slated for September 22 as a CD release.

UMe is going to pound out a batch of Rolling Stones titles on DD (Digital Download) on August 18. Titles involved are A Bigger Bang, Black and Blue, Bridges to Babylon, Dirty Work, Emotional Rescue, Goat's Head Soup, It's Only Rock 'n Roll, Jump Back: The Best of The Rolling Stones (1971-1993), Some Girls, Steel Wheels, Sticky Fingers, Tattoo You, Undercover, and Voodoo Lounge.

To close for the day, Interscope Records will release a single from Wolfmother on August 25 called "New Moon Rising."

Hollywood favours an industrial style of music when soundtracking for their high energy action films.  Good reasoning as that style of music is like audio adrenaline and seems to engage the listener with heart-pounding effect.  And within a film that stars the current energetic action hero, Jason Statham, such music just seems right.

Composed and performed by Mike Patton of Faith No More/Fantomas fame, this experimentally  industrial 32-track set is the wired, standalone music from the Statham vehicle, Crank: High Voltage.  It is a definite fan-set as it is quite musically inconsistent, transitioning from one track to another.  But Patton fans are used to the eclectic manner in which he works and so a set like this should be satisfying to them.  But traditional soundtrack buyers should beware.  What works with visual counterparts within the film, may be bizarre in a non-visual environment.   ** ½

Nettwerk Records will digitally release the 4-track EP, named Great Escape, by UK's The Rifles, whom Paul Weller of The Jam has gushed about, on July 28. Later in the year, Nettwerk will release their full-length album, which we'll be sure to cover. Three tracks found on this release will NOT be found on the band's upcoming album. Check 'em out at Facebook, and/or MySpace, and/or their official site.