Album Sweep: August 4, 2012 - Part Two...

Hey folks, it's time for part two of this week's "Album Sweep", sampling the latest records making their debut on Billboard magazine's Top 200 chart. You can check out part one here.

Coming in at #76 is reggae legend Jimmy Cliff, who's work on the soundtrack The Harder They Come in 1972 remains a keystone of the genre. He also scored himself a top-20 hit with a song from another movie, Cool Running's "I Can See Clearly Now" on 1993. His latest album was produced by Tim Armstrong, of the punk band Rancid, and it's Rebirth...

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Australian singer Missy Higgins is a phenomenon in her home country - so far, all three of her albums have reached #1. In the US, she's also had a top-10 adult-contemporary single with "Where I Stood" in 2007. Her third Aussie charttopper arrives at #83 on the US list, The Ol' Razzle Dazzle...

L.A.-based indie-folk band Milo Greene enter at #115 with their self-titled debut album...

Amazon.com has had a big deep-discount sale on R&B records that resulted in some older titles debuting on the chart for the first time. One of these is Aretha Franklin's 30 Greatest Hits set, which includes her biggest work on Atlantic Records, with all of her top-20 pop hits from 1967's "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)" to 1974's "I'm In Love"...

And what's a week without some more crazy-ass metal, and here's Indianapolis' The Contortionist with their second album, Intrinsic at #125...

Another beneficiary of the Amazon sale (they were offering it at $2.99 for a bit) is legendary R&B singer Sam Cooke, whose Portrait Of A Legend 1951-1964 (which is on Rolling Stone magazine's Top 500 rock and roll albums of all time) has its first Top 200 showing at #135...

Alt-rockers Soul Asylum had their highest charting album back in 1995 with Let Your Dim Light Shine, which had the rock radio charttopper "Misery". Their tenth album, Delayed Reaction, pops in at #160...

Rapper Dr. Kokastien sees his Dr. Kokastien Hosted by DJ King Assassin debut at #166...(NSFW)

Lansing, Michigan-based metalcore band For The Fallen Dreams have their second charting album at #176 with Wasted Youth...

A country trio of studio musicians who have backed the likes of Kenny Chesney and Big & Rich, The FARM, INC. come in at #183 with their debut self-titled full-length CD...

The indie-rock duo of JEFF the Brotherhood consists of siblings Jake and Jamin Orrall, whose father Robert Ellis was a country and pop singer who had a top-40 hit in 1983 with "I Couldn't Say No". The boys' Hypnotic Nights arrives at #198...

That's it for this half - I really think everyone should own the Aretha and Sam Cooke albums and they're still on sale at $4.99, you can't beat that....besides them I recommend the Missy Higgins, Milo Greene, and the JEFF the Brotherhood albums.

Be well, and goodnight!