This week sees a couple long-awaited studio releases for me: one that just hit the streets, and another that I just never got around to getting:

• She and Him’s Volume One. I love M. Ward, so you had to figure that I’d get his collaboration with Zooey Deschanel.
  
• My Brightest Diamond’s Tear It Down. I love Shara Worden’s voice, and I loved Bring Me the Workhorse. So, why not get an album of remixes of that album? Fun times.
  
• 6 May 1997 [Santa Monica, CA, USA] concert bootleg of Elliott Smith. 1997-05-06: Morning Becomes Eclectic, KCRW-FM, Santa Monica, CA, USA
• 1 Dec 2001 [Lynchburg, VA, USA] concert bootleg of Andrew Peterson. 2001-12-01: West Lynchburg Baptist Church, Lynchburg, VA, USA and 2001-12-01: West Lynchburg Baptist Church, Lynchburg, VA, USA.
• 3 Jun 2006 [Atlanta, GA, USA] concert bootleg of Over the Rhine. 2006-06-03: The Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA, USA (disc 1) and 2006-06-03: The Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA, USA (disc 2).
  
• 17 Jan 2008 [Chicago, IL, USA] concert bootleg of Son Volt. 2008-01-17: House of Blues, Chicago, IL, USA.
  
• 20 Feb 2008 [Chicago, IL, USA] concert bootleg of Wilco. Last night of the residency at the Riv. 2008-02-20: Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL, USA (disc 1) and 2008-02-20: Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL, USA (disc 2).
  

Last week:

• Alli Rogers’s You and the Evening Sky. Is it legal to say that you don’t like Don Chaffer’s production? [I kiddingly ask, but only because I have friends who are both fans and fellow musicians with the male half of Waterdeep, and well ... they all might string me up.] But I hear the production on “Carry a Light” and am … sorta turned off. But I guess I’m wrapped up in this visage of Alli as this guitar-bearing songstress … which she is, but that doesn’t stand up to being very interesting for 13 tracks on a CD, even for the best singer/songwriters. But it gets better from there; I really like what he does with the rest of the record. “At Sea” and “The Things We Can and Cannot Keep” are, for me, the highlights. Four stars.
  
• 30 Mar 1996 [New York, NY, USA] concert bootleg of Elliott Smith. Admittedly, I’m blessed with the awesomeness that is the present era of concert bootlegging, but even for the era and technology, this is a pretty meh show. Two stars.
• 18 Sep 2004 [North Olmsted, OH, USA] concert bootleg of The Weepies. Highly, highly recommended! Sounds fantastic, even for being a soundboard. [I typically find SBDs to be flat and lifeless.] Four-and-a-half stars.
  
• 4 May 2007 [Portland, OR, USA] concert bootleg of Andrew Bird. Oh my, this recording’s terrible. This is only recommended for completionists. Two stars, barely.
  
• 8 Jun 2007 [Nashville, TN, USA] concert bootleg of Over the Rhine. Noisy, indistinct, and overly bassy. One of these years, I’m gonna record them in that room and it’ll sound fantastic. Maybe I won’t have a terrible cough, either. Two-and-a-half stars.
  
• 5 Oct 2007 [London, England] concert bootleg of Son Volt. What the heck? A Son Volt bootleg that doesn’t suck? No matter what you think of the Uncle Tupelo breakup, Jeff clearly got the support of the killer tapers. But this recording sparkles, and it’s done with binaurals, which impresses me even more. Four stars.
• 19 Feb 2008 [Chicago, IL, USA] concert bootleg of Wilco. Nels Cline’s solo during “Impossible Germany” never fails to make me smile. Another solid recording from the Riv residency. Four stars.