News bites: Alanis Morrisette, Candlebox, Liz Phair, Extreme

Again, thanks to Tied to the '90s reader Chris for the tips.

* Alanis Morissette, fresh off a long tour opening for Matchbox 20, has a new single, "Underneath." Her album Flavors of Entanglement comes out on June 10, and if you go here, you can get it with five bonus tracks, six lyric art cards, and a big fat Alanis Morrisette autograph. Anyone else think of Alanis everytime How I Met Your Mother does the Robin Sparkles gag about the ex-Canadian teen pop star?

Alanis will also be on the Today Show Friday (May 23), then plays European festivals all summer.

*Candlebox, who reunited for some shows a couple of years ago, have a new album out July 22 called Into the Sun. The first single, "Stand," is now available on iTunes and is not a cover of the 1989 REM hit (if anything, the guitar riff sounds like "You," their second hit). It's their first album of new material since 1998's Happy Pills (a greatest hits came out in 2006).

Here's their last big rock hit, 1998's "It's Alright." I honestly do not remember this song at all, and I was living in Oklahoma City 10 years ago, where there was only an active rock station, and Candlebox came on tour (I specifically remember this because Feeder opened, and we contemplated going. I now realize that Feeder rule, and I should have gone).


* Liz Phair has left Capitol Records after two adult-pop albums, and signed with Dave Matthews' label, ATO. The first release will be a 15th-anniversary edition of her debut, Exile in Guyville, out June 24. She will reportedly perform the album in its entirety at a show in New York the next night. A new studio album will follow in the fall.

I never really liked Exile to Guyville, but the follow-up, Whip-Smart, was pretty good, and I really liked the single "Supernova."


* And finally, Idolator reports that Extreme are back together, with a new album to be released this year. And yes, Extreme had their biggest hit in 1991. The band's last album was 1995, after which lead singer Gary Cherone famously joined Van Halen for an album and lead guitarist Nuno Bettencourt not-so-famously joined Perry Farrell for an album.

The Offspring are back!

And they have a new album, Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace, out June 17, their first since 2003's Splinter. It was produced by Bob Rock, most famous for his work with Metallica and Motley Crue (though he did produce the more-recent Our Lady Peace material). You can download the first single, "Hammerhead," for free at this link.
The band will be playing lots of festivals this summer, both in Europe and the U.S. Click here for dates.

Leaks: Weezer, Oasis

You've probably heard "Pork and Beans" by now, but Stereogum has four more songs from Weezer's forthcoming Red album, out in late June. The first track is all over the map, but has a Pinkerton flair, the second and third are better than anything off of Maladroit or Make Believe (except maybe "Perfect Situation" and "Keep Fishin'"), and the fourth one is sung by Brian Bell... who knew he had a great voice?

Stereogum has also got three leaked demoes from Oasis, who have been in Los Angeles working on a new album. Internet chatter suggests these may be leftovers from the Don't Believe the Truth sessions; regardless, a new Oasis album is supposedly going to be out in September.
Hey, remember when Oasis was the biggest band in the world? I sure do; had a giant poster on the wall of my dorm room. Then Noel wrote Be Here Now while hopped up on cocaine, and it all fell apart. You can now purchase that album for 12 cents on Amazon.

Top 10 Unheard songs of the '90s: Garrison Starr, "Superhero"

It's time for #2 on our list of the Top 10 Unheard Songs of the 1990s:* Garrison Starr's "Superhero," off of her 1997 debut Eighteen Over Me. The Memphis native was only 22 when this album came out.

I absolutely adore this song; for me, it perfectly captures the feeling of being a kid. I should note I first heard a good chunk of the songs on this list on the great, classic, long-lost 93.7 FM the SPY out of Stillwater, OK, which was half adult-album-alternative, half college-rock, and all awesome. It switched over to adult top 40 in 2001 or 2002, sadly.

Here's a live version from recently. Sadly, it's missing the high harmonies in the chorus on the recorded version that kick the song to that next level:


Garrison Starr has gone on to release five more albums, and has a decent cult following.

*A few people have asked what my criteria for this series is: basically, if the song never charted on the Billboard Modern Rock Top 40, it's eligible. This means, for example, that For Squirrels "Mighty KC" is ineligible, even though I don't think there's a radio station in the country that has played that song since 1996.

What's Ed Roland reading?

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (April 20 issue), the same stuff as my dad: Carl Hiassen, John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Jimmy Carter's Living Faith.

Collective Soul are touring casinos and outdoor festivals this summer; their recent single "Hollywood" can be heard on commercials for the CBS show "Shark."

Collective Soul tour dates:
May 10 - KFOG KaBoom!, San Francisco, CA
May 17 - Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio CA
May 18 - Boulder Theatre, Boulder CO
May 23 - Mohegan Sun, Uncasville CT (Ed Roland solo)
June 4 - Ameristar Casino, St. Charles MO
June 6 - Hard Rock Biloxi, Biloxi MS
June 7 - Ameristar Casino, Vicksburg MS
June 28 - Taos Solar Music Festival, Taos NM
July 4 - Red Rocks, Morrison CO
July 11 - Konocti Field Amphitheatre, Kelseyville CA
July 25 - Washington County Fair, West Bend WI
August 2 - Musikfest, Bethlehem PA
August 3 - Toms River Fest, Toms River NJ

The three July dates are listed as Blues Traveler, Live, and Collective Soul... is there a possible package tour announcement coming soon?

Donita Sparks of L7 goes solo

Donita Sparks, formerly of L7, has a new band called The Stellar Moments and a new solo album, which came out in February. Former L7 drummer Dee Plakas plays on the album as well.

This is Sparks' first solo album; L7 haven't released anything since a little-remembered indie album in 1999 and a greatest-hits compilation in 2000. No word on what the other two members of L7 are doing, but Gail Greenwood, who played for Belly, then joined late-period L7, turned up playing bass for Bif Naked in 2005.

Sparks tour dates:
May 23 - Long Beach, CA - Alex's Bar
May 24 - San Diego, CA - The Casbah
June 6 - Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's
June 7 - New York, NY - Highline Ballroom
June 8 - Cambridge, MA - T.T. The Bear's
June 10 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
June 11 - Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
June 13 - Chicago, IL - Double Door
June 15 - Pittsburgh, PA - 31st Street Pub
June 16 - Baltimore, MD - Ottobar

The June 7 date is with Mudhoney!
L7 played Lollapalooza '94, which I attended, but I remember absolutely nothing about their set. Always liked "Pretend We're Dead," though.

Presented for your viewing pleasure are L7's two modern rock hits, 1992's "Pretend We're Dead":


And 1994's "Andres."


No word yet on whether Sparks is planning on playing L7 songs live, but you would have to assume she'd pull one or two out.

Top 10 Flaming Lips songs

The Lost Ogle, a great Oklahoma City-based blog, counts down the Top 10 Flaming Lips songs of all time.

I love this band, not just because I grew up near where they did (check out the fabulous documentary The Fearless Freaks for more on the Lips' formative years in the OKC). It is to my everlasting regret that I won tickets to a Lips show (Clouds Taste Metallic tour, '95) on the radio, but then couldn't go to the show because there was a large tornado that night between my house and the venue. Sadly, for those of you who have not lived in Oklahoma, this is a fairly common problem in the spring.

I pretty much agree with this list, although I might have included "Bad Days" or "This Here Giraffe." Or anything off Zaireeka, the batshit-crazy 4-cd set that is meant to be played on four separate stereos at the same time.