New this week... Dave Matthews Band

Not a whole lot in stores this week, as things start slowing down before Christmas.

* Crash Test Dummies, Collections - greatest-hits compilation with a different tracklisting than last year's Best of.

* Dave Matthews Band, Live Trax Vol. 13- two-disc set recorded in June in St. Louis.
* Dave Matthews Band, Live at the Mile High Music Festival- three-disc set recorded in July in Denver. This is the first album not to feature saxophonist LeRoi Moore, who died earlier this year. Includes a cover of Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer."

* Shawn Mullins, Live At the Variety Playhouse- the "Lullaby" guy releases a live album, recorded in Atlanta. Also available as a DVD.

* Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chroniclessoundtrack - primarily orchestral score, though new castmember Shirley Manson (of Garbage) does some vocals on a couple of songs.

* Yes Man soundtrack - soundtrack to the new Jim Carrey movie. Features 9 tracks by Eels. One, "Man Up," is new.

1996

If you get a chance, check out Michaelangelo Matos' essay on Idolator about 1996's music and what it meant to him.
Seriously, though, who remembered that Primitive Radio Gods had the #2 modern rock hit of 1996, or that Tracy Bonham and the Eels were #9 and #10?

I remember being home from college in the winter of 1996 and attending one of those "X-Mas bash" concerts that were big at the time, where four or five disparate acts shared a stage. In my case, it was the 95X-mas Ball at the Travel-and-Transportation building at the Oklahoma State Fair complex, and we got to see the Eels (they did a great cover of "Damn! I wish I was your lover"), Goldfinger ("Here in Your Bedroom" had to be in the top 20, right?), the Chainsaw Kittens, and... two others? I can't remember. Sorry... I've been downhearted, baby.