Enterprising Starship

I'm sure I wasn't alone in originally thinking Cobra Starship was something of a joke band. There was the name, certainly. And the fact that this "supergroup" consisted of members of Midtown, Fall Out Boy, The Academy Is..., Gym Class Heroes, and The Sounds. But what really made it all so tongue-in-cheek for me was that Cobra Starship had ultimately united to create a theme song for Snakes On A Plane. Not exactly a serious bid for artistic credibility.

After that somewhat inauspicious start (a one-off, really), lead singer (and ex-Midtowner) Gabe Saporta decided to continue piloting Cobra Starship without his cohorts. Keeping the name, he rounded up some new bandmates and signed with Pete Wentz's label, Decaydance. Debut album, While The City Sleeps, We Rule The Streets, was released in October 2006.

I didn't take note of post-Snakes Cobra Starship until I heard "The City Is At War," the second single from the group's second album, 2007's ¡Viva La Cobra!. I loved the message and the attitude, but especially the sound coming through the speakers: controlled manic synthpop. Contradictory, yes, but Cobra Starship wasn't joking around.

Now the band is set to release its third album, Hot Mess, on August 11. First single "Good Girls Go Bad" has been out for a few weeks, and it's a major keeper. The song was co-written by Cobra Starship and Kara DioGuardi, a collaboration Saporta elaborated on in an MTV interview:

"We got offered to work with Kara right as she was becoming an American Idol judge," Saporta explained. "We didn't know who she was. She didn't know who we were. We got hooked up with her. I'm like, 'Who is this person?' She's like, 'Who's this annoying band?' But we got in the room, and it was like magic, and we wrote the song in 15 minutes. It's, like, the best song on our album."

Doing her part to elevate "Good Girls Go Bad" to must-hear status is guest vocalist Leighton Meester, better known as Gossip Girl's Blair Waldorf. The video wisely makes good use of Meester; the plot has her and the members of Cobra Starship involved in a deli-fronted underground casino racket. My eyes, however, are transfixed on the fantastic white frames Saporta sports throughout the clip:



Cobra Starship continues to climb up the Billboard Hot 100 with "Good Girls Go Bad." The single is currently in its fifth week on the chart, jumping eight spots to #58. Get ready to hear more soon from Leighton Meester, who's readying her solo musical debut.

Purchase Cobra Starship feat. Leighton Meester - "Good Girls Go Bad" via iTunes, Amazon MP3.

Blu-Ray of Light

Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour, her eighth such jaunt in her 26-year career, is coming to DVD on, well, at some point in the future, as there's no date scheduled yet. Perhaps Madge is too busy to be bothered with such tiny details, as she's currently in Europe for the second leg of that tour.

We do have this quite nice trailer to enjoy, however, which premiered a day or so ago:



If moving pictures aren't your thing, however Hi-Def they may be, consider the Sticky & Sweet photo book, packed over 500 full-color onstage shots and backstage snaps taken by Madonna's manager, Guy Oseary.

No hard date for that one either, but the book is available for pre-order via Amazon.

Root awakening

Sure, the Fourth of July weekend is now in the rearview mirror, but there's still plenty of summer left. If you're hitting the highway for a road trip (or rush-hour commute), I've got the perfect track to help you count the mile markers.

"Warped Sister" is a standout track from Booker T.'s first solo excursion in 20 years, the curiously titled Potato Hole. His longstanding band, The MGs, are not along for this ride, but joining Booker T. are Athens, Georgia's Drive-By Truckers and Neil Young on lead guitar. (Booker T. & The MG's backed Young on 2002's Are You Passionate?)

Take a listen to "Warped Sister," and see if you can't imagine those white dashes disappearing alongside your ride:



How wonderful is it to hear Booker T. Jones riffing at the Hammond B-3 organ once again? I can't believe it's been 47 years since he and The MGs helped put Stax Records on the map with their 1962 hit, "Green Onions." That now-classic instrumental track, from one of the first racially-integrated bands in rock history, went to #3 on the Pop charts and #1 on the R&B charts. Jones was just 17 at the time.

Purchase Booker T. - "Warped Sister" via iTunes, Amazon MP3.

Sunday Cover Story: Dave Matthews Band

As I've previously said, live albums are usually universally ignored by me. So I didn't bother taking a look earlier this year when Stevie Nicks released The Soundstage Sessions, a companion album to the simultaneously issued Live In Chicago DVD, chronicling a 2007 performance for PBS' Soundstage series.

Fast forward to last night, headed back into the city after a July 4th barbecue. With Sirius providing the soundtrack to my drive, I was alerted by a favorite-artist preset as I approached downtown. Actually only the song title, "Crash Into Me," was displayed, which didn't ring a bell, so I switched over, curious to see who this song belonged to.

Well, lo and behold, there on The Coffee House channel (Sirius' ode to singer-songwriters and acoustic music) was Stevie Nicks, taking on the Dave Matthews Band's 1997 hit. Matthews has described the song as being about "the worship of women," written from the perspective of a Peeping Tom. An odd choice for a cover?

Nicks explains she fell in love with "Crash Into Me" back then and long wished to record a version herself, but was told it was a "guy's song." A decade later, she finally seized the opportunity, and I think Nicks' bold reading of the lyrics makes this take so much more than a run-of-the-mill cover:



For The Soundstage Sessions CD, Nicks took the songs from her original performance into a Nashville studio and spent some time perfecting them. New strings and vocals were added to round out the sound, and the audience subtracted, resulting in a less traditional "live" album from one of my longtime faves that's miles more appealing to me.

Purchase Steve Nicks - "Crash Into Me" via iTunes, Amazon MP3.

Freedom dance

On July 4, 1776, the United States officially declared its independence from British rule. Two hundred and twenty years later, British house music duo Full Intention released "America (I Love America)," a musical declaration of affection toward the former colonies.

U.S. clubbers returned the love from across the pond, propelling Mike Gray and Jon Pearn to #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music chart on June 1, 1996. "America (I Love America)" kept the penthouse decorated in red, white, and blue for two weeks straight:



Historical note: Full Intention based their track on a sample of Swiss singer-songwriter Patrick Juvet's 1978 disco hit, "I Love America." Juvet's original topped out at #5.

Purchase Full Intention - "America (I Love America)" via iTunes, Amazon.