Album Sweep: September 29, 2012 - Part One...

Hey gang, thanks for coming by, it's Sunday, so time for the first half of this week's "album sweep" where I sample the different records selling in the US and making their way onto the Billboard Top 200 album chart. I've included links to buy any of the albums on MP3 on Amazon.

The biggest-selling album in America last week is the new set by the Dave Matthews Band, who have topped the chart with their last six albums. The latest, Away From The World, features the top-5 triple-A hit "Mercy"...

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Coming in at #2 is country vocal quartet Little Big Town, with their fifth studio album, Tornado. It's the highest they've ever been on the top 200, and their second #1 country album, and has their #1 country single, "Pontoon"...

Bob Dylan is at #3 with his 35th studio album, Tempest. It's his fifth studio non-seasonal set to make the top-10, which is awesome considering he's been charting for fifty years now...

Indie-rock duo The Avett Brothers score their biggest album with their latest, The Carpenter, which has their top-5 Triple-A hit "Live And Die"...

London indie-pop group the xx debuted on the British album chart at #1 with their sophomore album, Coexist, and the ethereal wonder comes on to the American LP list at #5...

and for the first time since 2003, the top six albums are entries on the chart, and the sixth is by veteran Southern-boogie rock album La Futura. It's the Texas trio's third album to make the top-10, their first being in 1973...

The seventh new album in the top-10, at #10, is the Kickstarter-funded effort by indie-rocker Amanda Palmer, with her latest Theatre Is Evil featuring the "Grand Theft Orchestra". Palmer raised over a million dollars from "investors" who were prepurchasing various packages of the album based on their contribution. Not a bad idea for a fan-favorite that doesn't get love on the radio..(NSFW)

Rapper DMX may not know Google, but he does know the top of the album charts; he's been to #1 with his first five CDs. His latest, Undisputed, starts a bit more modestly at #19 this week...

Well, it only was a matter of time; the author of the Twilight fanfic-come-S&M bestseller 50 Shades of Grey, E.L. James, commissioned an album of classical music to go along with the book. It has works by the likes of Verdi, Bach, and Rachmaninoff, and I guess it hits the buttons it should, though I'm definitely not the audience for this. I'd rather hear the music in its full context, but all the pieces are done beautifully and tastefully aside from the inspiration for the compilation. It debuts at #22, not bad for a full-priced classical set...

David Byrne from the Talking Heads and indie-pop fave St. Vincent come together at #23 for the work Love This Giant. It's art-rock at its most mental, with both sharing the stage but letting each other shine through on their own pieces.

Disney teen star of the moment Ross Lynch is the star of Austin & Ally, and the soundtrack to the show debuts as #27...

Puerto Rican reggaeton artist Daddy Yankee had a top-10 album in 2007 with El Cartel: The Big Boss. His newest Prestige enters at #39..

Longstanding punk veterans NOFX saw their last album made the top-40, their first. Their latest, Self Entitled, almost makes the mark at #42 this time out...but that doesn't matter for this politically relevant and dissident kind of rock..

Blaqk Audio is a electropop side project of Jade Puget and Davey Havok of the alt/rock band AFI, and their first album, CexCells, hit the top-20, and their second, Bright Black Heaven, comes in at a respectable #43...

..and right under them at #44 is that latest from the Pet Shop Boys, with their 11th studio set, Elysium. Their debut, Please, remains their top rank at #7 back in 1986. It's a lot more spatial and uplifting than their previous work, which suits me just fine...

Coming in at #53 is Kix Brooks, the John Oates of Ronnie Dunn's Daryl Hall in the longstanding country duo Brooks & Dunn, and his first album, New To This Town, allows Brooks to have the spotlight for the whole album for a change, and the title track is the highlight of the set...

Well that does it for this half of this week's packed set of new entries. To recommend three, I'd go with the Pet Shop Boys, the xx, and the Little Big Town sets, though there really is a lot of good stuff here.

Come back tomorrow for part two of this week's album sweep, with new clips from Hoobastank, the Raveonettes, and more, but in the meantime, tonight I'll bring you the newest in the UK on Brit Sweep. Cheers!