In the past five years, My Chemical Romance has exploded out of the New Jersey emo scene onto the worldwide stage, and its new album, "The Black Parade," is its grandest gesture yet. Due this week via Reprise, the set is a concept piece in which the title doubles as the band's alter-ego. It is loaded with Queen-style theatrics and even a guest appearance by Liza Minnelli.
"The concept of 'The Black Parade' is about secrecy, about being let into a secret society," frontman Gerard Way says. "The project called for something new, and we wanted [the album] to be broken as if it were a new band. I've heard people refer to it and say, 'That was the best viral marketing ever.
' I don't even know what that means."
The quick success of the single "Welcome to the Black Parade" is an early indicator that fans are embracing My Chemical Romance's rock-opera tendencies. The new album is heavy on piano, with Way leading the band into punky, cabaret-like detours and '80s-style power ballads, all the while singing like he's aiming for the lead in "Rent.
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The increasing cost of Way's grandiose visions isn't lost on him, but for now, at least, Reprise is willing to indulge. "It's about songs, first and foremost, but it's also about spectacle, and spectacle is expensive," he says. "I think [Reprise] is excited that this band is not just a rock band.
I've met so many people at the label who said they feel like they're working a 'Ziggy Stardust.'" R B singer/songwriter John Legend will follow-up his Grammy-winning 2004 Sony Urban debut "Get Lifted" this week with a new album, "Once Again." Among the producers involved with the project are Kanye West, Raphael Saadiq and will.
i.am., with whom Legend wrote seven songs in their first five days of collaboration, including the single "Save Room.
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"I didn't go into the new album thinking about the Grammys I had won," Legend says. "It's one of the greatest challenges of writing music -- for it to not sound like what you think it's supposed to sound like or sound like the last album."
Legend spent about six months working on "Once Again," during which time he amassed 30 songs.
"It was one of the most productive periods of my life," he says. "I was focused only on music. For the first time I didn't have to worry about school or a job.
" Though many of his new songs are about the emotional angles of love -- from bliss to the pain of a cheating partner, "Once Again" also houses a few social gems reminiscent of Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, particularly the song "Show Me."
"It's a spiritual love song," Legend says. "You could be talking to God or your loved one in bed at night.
It asks real questions about what's happening in the world today -- about wars and people dying and why God takes some and not others." Kiss vocalist/guitarist Paul Stanley this week brings forth his first solo album since his self-titled 1978 debut. "Live To Win" will be issued via the Universal imprint New Door; Stanley is supporting it with a North American tour.
"It's not 1978 anymore," Stanley says. "It's certainly the same mentality, and certainly I'm a better singer today. My perspective and where I'm at in my life at this point, and what I've experienced and seen, brings something else to the table that wasn't there then.
But I still look back on that album as a really great snapshot of who I was and what I was doing then."
Joining Stanley on "Live To Win" are session drummer Victor Indrizzo, guitarist Corky James, former Marilyn Manson guitarist John 5, former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick (who plays bass on a few songs), keyboardist Harry Sommerdahl and noted string arranger David Campbell.
Among the songwriting collaborators are Desmond Child, Holly Knight, Andreas Carlsson and Marti Frederiksen.
Stanley wrote the track "Loving You Without You Now" on his own. A collaborative album from country legends George Jones and Merle Haggard, "Kickin' Out the Footlights ..
. Again" (Bandit).
Retrospectives from electronica maven Moby ("Go: The Very Best of Moby," V2) and Bright Eyes ("Noise Floor: Rarities 1998-2005," Saddle Creek).
An expanded edition of Def Leppard's 1988 album "Hysteria" (UME) and the Flaming Lips' recent "At War With the Mystics" (Warner Bros.).
The third studio album from rock act Sparta, "Threes" (Hollywood).
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