Tom Cochrane

Hallelujah Anyway is an important retrospective of underrecognized and versatile cellist Tom Cora. A worthy eulogy, released one year after his death, this double-disc set includes songs written in his memory, songs that he composed for others, and a great cross-section of the myriad projects and musical contexts that Cora embraced. And that means a cross-section of all the creative experimenters and improvisers in avant garde rock, jazz, etc. spanning the late '70s through the late '90s. This collection includes some of Cora's solo recordings, as well as projects with John Zorn, Carlos Zingaro, Richard Teitelbaum, the Ex, Barre Philips, and the bands Curlew, Roof, Third Person (with Samm Bennett), the Chadbournes, and Skeleton Crew (with Fred Frith)…

Arriving hot on the heels of 2010’s highly conceptual Hang Cool Teddy Bear, Hell in a Handbasket feels like an intimate affair but that assessment is relative. Coming from any other artist, Hell in a Handbasket would sound overblown but for Meat Loaf, it’s relatively reflective, containing thunder in its production but lacking melodrama in its composition. Despite the strategic deployment of “hell” in its title, this album has nothing to do with the three previous Bat Out of Hell albums, including 2006’s Jim Steinman-less The Monster Is Loose, but it has Meat Loaf's signature everything-plus-two-kitchen-sinks approach, sometimes stretching past the point of parody as when he brings in his fellow Celebrity Apprentice contestants John Rich, Lil Jon, and Mark McGrath in for the nonsensical cluster-duet “Stand in the Storm.”

Calling all patriotic Canadians… Universal Music Canada will issue Canada 150: A Celebration of Music at the end of this month; a multi-format release issued on the eve of Canada’s sesquicentennial (yes, that’s a word – it means 150th anniversary), which includes a six-CD super deluxe edition that comes complete with a ‘coffee table’ book.