IMO - First quarter done and I can name 10 very good to excellent releases

1. Carnival of Sound - Jan & Dean (best of year so far)
2. Chuck Berry's Chess Years vol 3
3. 10 Songs for the New Depression - Loudon Wainwright III
4. American VI - Johnny Cash
5. Timeless - Bobby Charles
6. Y Not - Ringo Starr
7. Valley of Neptune - Jimi Hendrix
8. Complete Columbia Singles - Paul Revere & the Raiders
9. Greatest Hits Live - The Who (the Whole Who on Disc 1)
10. Live at Hollywood High - Elvis Costello

3 great music DVD's
1. 200 Motels - F Zappa
2. TAMI Show - various artists
3. Live @ Bassel - Jethro Tull

Let's hope the balance of the year is just as good.

Carnival of Sound is a dream come true.

I'm listening to the new Goldfrapp right now and it's very good--back to 80s-influenced electropop.

All her albums have been well received by the critics. She is definitely on my to-be-checked-out list.

20 top favorite new releases this year, so far.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy & the Cairo Gang... "The Wonder Show of the World"
Caitlin Rose... "Dead Flowers"
Daniel, Fred & Julie... "Daniel, Fred & Julie"
Danny And The Champions of The World... "Streets Of Our Time"
Devon Sproule... "Don't Hurry for Heaven"
Dr. Rubberfunk... "Hot Stone"
First Aid Kit... "The Big Black & the Blue"
Four Tet... "There Is Love In You"
Galactic... "Ya-ka-may"
Gil Scott-Heron... "I'm New Here"
Gonjasufi... "A Sufi & A Killer"
Hacienda... "Big Red & Barbacoa"
Jaga Jazzist... "One-Armed Bandit"
Mas Rapido... "Dumb Is King"
Midlake... "The Courage of Others"
She & Him... "Volume Two"
Soft Pack... "The Soft Pack"
Spoon... "Transference"
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists... "The Brutalist Bricks"
Whitefield Brothers... "Earthology"

Haven't heard the new Sharon Jones or Drive-By Truckers yet, among several others.

My only purchases are the new Scorpions which rocks mightily and The Who Greatest Hits Live. The new Ultravox live CD/DVD comes out this week and I'll eventually get that and the new Sabbath remasters are this week which I ordered from AmazonUK.

My order for the 2 remastered Duran Duran re-issues should be mine tonight but the USPS wanted a signature and I wasn't home....so maybe next week.

Don't buy many CDs anymore but I did get The Who Greatest Hits Live comp and did get the DVDA of Porcupine Tree's The Incident last week.

Also recieved the new QUAD mix from Rhino of Chicago Transit Authority.

Based on the Pause & Play emails (which I save) & my weak memory It appears the 2010 releases I've picked up are
Bowie Reality Tour,
The Scorpions
a UK Avid reissue of 4 50's Johnny Hodges albums on 2 cd's,
Hendrix Valleys.

I like all except the Hendrix which to me is kinda mediocre.

I have the Spirit Euro Tour '91 Import on order & the Costello Hollywood High is on my radar as is the latest Juliana Hatfield.

I am clueless which of my dvd's were released this year.

New releases from John Hiatt (his best in quite awhile, imho), Patty Griffin, Peter Gabriel and Peter Wolf!