Music News: Jay-Z Burns Oasis At Glastonbury, George Michael, Annie, Kurt Cobain, Sam Sparro, Labelle

Robbie Daw presents a weekly pop music update here on Towleroad! Robbie runs his own site called Chart Rigger.

Jay-Z headlined England's famed Glastonbury festival on Saturday, a controversial move given the rock-heavy bill the event usually touts. Perhaps no one was more vocal about their disdain for Hova as headliner than Noel Gallagher of Oasis: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If you start to break it then people aren't going to go. I'm sorry, but Jay-Z? No chance."

In turn, the rapper and music mogul clearly wowed the crowd with his opening song choice: a cover of "Wonderwall."

On a bit more tame note -- well, lately, at least -- George Michael brought his 25 Live tour to The Forum in Los Angeles on Wednesday. It was the first time he's played L.A. since 1988.

Just before the final encore, in which he performed "Freedom '90," Michael was surprised by Bo Derek, who walked on stage to give him a birthday cake as his band played "Happy Birthday." The London-born singer is 45.

Enough about Jay-Z...what were the reviews like for Sam Sparro's appearance at Glastonbury?

Word on the street has it that Norwegian pop blondie Annie, of "Chewing Gum" fame, has got a new EP out. Towleroad vehemently looks down upon illegal filesharing, but something tells me that if you typed in "Annie" and "EP" into a search engine, you might be taking the first step to finding out more information on this bit of noise.

This Delicate Film We've Made, a live concert DVD containing the last night of Darren Hayes' 2007 tour, will be released from his own Powdered Sugar Productions on July 22.

Creole Lady Marmalade! All three original members of seminal '70s funk-glam trio LaBelle are set to reunite for their first album together since 1976. The group will also perform this Saturday during the Essence Festival -- where else -- down in ol' New Orleans.

London's Madame Tussauds Wax Museum will unveil a statue of Amy Winehouse later this year: "We are really pleased to be creating Amy; she is a real icon in mondern British music, a continual award winner and an internationally recognized star widely requested by our guests.

So imagine if a bunch of Alanis Morissette fans got together online and did karaoke to try to win free concert tickets...

Did you know you can now purchase Converse sneakers from Nordstrom with writing from Kurt Cobain's journals on them? This seems like something to get up in arms over, but if Courtney Love says it's ok, then... Oh, well. Whatever. Nevermind.

Aerosmith's Steven Tyler finally admits he checked into rehab to recover from more than just foot surgery: "I don't know about (guitarist) Joe (Perry) but I was off and running and I didn't like the me that was me. This was a month ago, so I just put the brakes on and checked into detox and just pulled the plug on all of it."

TODAY'S NEW RELEASES:

Where The Light Is, a live CD/DVD from John Mayer recorded at Los Angeles' Nokia Theater.

High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens' second solo effort, Identified.

R.E.M.'s iTunes-only set, Live: From London.

Love To Make Music To, from L.A.-based electronica producer Daedelus.

New singles from The Faint ("The Geeks Were Right"), LL Cool J ("Baby") and Lee Ann Womack ("Last Call").

Guilt, a new EP from Sheffield indie band The Long Blondes.

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Music News: Alanis Morissette, Jennifer Hudson, Mint Royale, Lily Allen, U2

Robbie Daw presents a weekly pop music update here on Towleroad! Robbie runs his own site called Chart Rigger.

Alanis Morissette's first studio album in four years, Flavors Of Entanglement -- on which she worked with British producer Guy Sigsworth -- hits retail and online stores today. Most reviews are echoing each other in saying, quite simply, it's the best thing she's done since Jagged Little Pill. Perhaps it's because Alanis (seen above performing at the "Rock in Rio" music festival in Lisbon last month) creates her best when she's been scorned?

The new album, for the most part, covers Morissette's breakup with actor Ryan Reynolds (pictured right), whom she was with for two years and eventually engaged to, and the aftermath. Reynolds is now engaged to Scarlett Johansson.

The 34-year-old singer talked to the Los Angeles Times about the emotions that fueled the making of the album: "I think it's the straw that breaks the camel's back. It's having had too many of them. And I was a full-blown love addict, so it was like, 'I can't keep doing this, my body can't take it.' Breakups are a horrible thing for almost everybody I know. For someone who is a love addict, it's debilitating.

"I've been on a constant journey toward finally surrendering and hitting the rock bottom that I've been avoiding my whole life. . . . So this was a huge, critical juncture for me. Everything broke, and it was an amazing and horrifying time."

I can see how you'd be pretty bummed if Ryan Reynolds was the one that got away.

It's worth noting that Alanis also seems to have gotten a bit more electronic on this album, though the results are a bit more Björk than Kylie.

Ne-Yo "radio-izes" Jennifer Hudson.

Lily Allen says Big Brother is watching her in the U.S.: "She was terrified to be photographed anywhere that people may have been taking drugs in case she got linked to them. She even started staying in instead of going out clubbing in case certain people got the wrong idea." Gosh, these really are tough times for everyone.

Janet Jackson claims Island Def Jam have jumped ship on her latest album after single "Rock With U" failed to chart, and that she's now unable to visit Europe on her upcoming tour. The label's response: "Unfortunately we haven't experienced the results we would have liked with this new album. But we respect and support Janet."

Here's 14-year-old Mancunian street dancer George Sampson and his winning performance on Britain's Got Talent, which sent Mint Royale's remix of "Singin' In The Rain" to the top of the U.K. chart this week:

Download the new CSS single, "Rat Is Dead (Rage)" for free.

U2's manager Paul McGuinness says Radiohead's decision to offer the band's In Rainbows album on a pay-what-you-want basis online backfired, and that Bono and Co. will not be following suit with their new set, due out this fall. "Sixty to 70% of the people who downloaded the record stole it anyway, even though it was available for free," McGuinness tells the BBC. "We will obviously work with whatever technology is available to make the release of the new record as interesting as possible. [But] for U2, physical sales are still an enormous part of our business and we still sell a lot of actual CDs."

His name is Prince. And he is 50.

THIS WEEK'S NEW RELEASES:

New singles from The Cure ("All Kinds Of Stuff"), Jennifer Hudson ("Spotlight"), Peter Gabriel ("Down To Earth") and Robin Thicke ("Magic").

Martha Wainwright's second album, I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too, which features a cover of the Eurythmics' "Love Is A Stranger."

Wallflowers' frontman Jakob Dylan's solo album, Seeing Things, produced by Rick Rubin.

Keeping with the "seeing" theme, N.E.R.D.'s third set, Seeing Sounds, is also out.

Evil Urges, the fifth album from My Morning Jacket.

The U.S. release of Supergrass' Diamond Hoo Ha, which has been out in Europe for several months.

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Music News: Kelis Moves On From Jive, Plus Adam Levine, Alanis Morissette, Róisín Murphy, Simian Mobile Disco

Please welcome Robbie Daw, who will be penning occasional music posts for us here on Towleroad! Robbie runs his own pop music site called Chart Rigger.

Kelis has been dropped from her contract with Jive Records, and is working on an album of dance tunes with Cee-Lo Green, current singer of Gnarls Barkley. The two have apparently already finished a pop album with British writer/producer Guy Chambers, who wrote many of Robbie Williams' original hits ("Angels," "Rock DJ," "Feel"). Williams himself is currently making a new album with Chambers after the two parted ways five years ago over creative differences following the singer's Escapology record.

If you haven't heard Kelis' 2006 album Kelis Was Here (and many likely haven't, as Billboard notes it's only sold 157,000 copies to date), you probably missed "Lil Star," her soulful, retro-sounding duet with Cee-Lo, which peaked at #3 earlier this year on the official U.K. singles chart.

Given the wide array of musical styles and producers used on Kelis Was Here and in her other work, she might have appeared to be a hard act to market for Jive. Last year's Top 20 single "Bossy" was the only song remotely close to her breakthrough hit "Milkshake."

Currently, Kelis, who is the wife of rapper Nas, can be heard on the Annie Lennox album Songs Of Mass Destruction, on the track "Sing" (although, good luck trying to pick her out, as she's one of 22 other female vocalists featured).

Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine (pictured left) goes the shirtless route in the band's video for "Wake Up Call." Perhaps it's an attempt to jump start the single -- currently at #19 on Billboard's Hot 100 after 11 weeks on the chart -- which is having a slower go than "Makes Me Wonder," which hit #1 in the spring.

Following her stint as a lesbian, Alanis Morissette is now taking a job as a secretary.

Singer Róisín Murphy returns home after damaging her eye socket on stage in Moscow with a chair on Saturday: "Despite serious concussion and losing a lot of blood, her vision is unimpaired."

Simian Mobile Disco's video for their dance track "Hustler" offers an interesting take on beauty and gluttony. Definitely don't miss the last minute of the clip.

Kurt Cobain loses his standing as top earning dead celebrity.

Despite having "nothing left to write about," Oasis trudge on making their seventh album.

Author Lucy O'Brien's book Madonna: Like An Icon makes some interesting claims. Meanwhile, Kanye West is taking his own stab at literature.

TODAY'S NEW RELEASES:

Party like it's 1999! Bumped up two weeks from its original release date, Britney Spears' fifth studio album (and her first in four years) Blackout arrives. Also out is Unbreakable, by Britney's Jive labelmates, Backstreet Boys.

If you'd rather party like it's 1989, pick up head-bangers Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled new set.

Atlanta hip hop group Arrested Development return with Since The Last Time.

Long Road Out Of Eden, the new studio album from The Eagles, will only be available for purchase through Wal-Mart stores.

The soundtrack to Joy Division biopic Control contains tracks by New Order, David Bowie, Roxy Music, The Killers, Kraftwerk, Iggy Pop and Joy Division themselves.

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