Album Sweep: June 22, 2013 - Part Two...

Hey gang, I'm back with round two of this week's "album sweep" sampling the records spending their first week on Billboard magazine's Top 200 Albums chart. You can check out part one by clicking here, and as before I've included links to buy anything online when possible.

Arriving at #89 is jazz-soul legend George Benson, whose chart history spans from his 1968 set Shape Of Things To Come which made the R&B Albums chart. George went to #1 in 1976 with his landmark lite-jazz record Breezin'. He returns with a tribute album to the late great Nat King Cole, titled Inspiration. Guests on the album include Wynton Marsalis (on the track below), Idina Menzel, and Judith Hill from The Voice this season....

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The classic roots-rock group The Band enters at #91 with Opus Collection, a Starbucks exclusive CD, featuring 16 of their best songs. It includes five of their Hot 100 charting singles, though it does exclude one of their two top-40 hits, "Don't Do It". Their highest-ranking set of their career was Stage Fright, which went to #5 in 1970, though with Bob Dylan they topped the albums chart with Planet Waves in 1974...

The Tony Awards were presented last Sunday, the last day of the sales numbers, and oddly, the cast album of the show that won best musical, Kinky Boots, drops from #51 to #116 this week (though it may rise back up again next chart with a full post-Tony week behind them). Three other Broadway contenders did end up debuting this week as well. The first is the revival of the show Pippin, featuring award winners Patina Miller (best Actress) and Andrea Martin (best featured Actress), which comes in at #92. The original cast album with Ben Vereen and Jill Clayburgh went to #129 in 1973...

A presenter on the Tony Awards, Glee's resident teacher Matthew Morrison, who enters at #95 with Where It All Began, his sophomore solo album. His self-titled debut set went to #24 in 2011...

Timing itself for the Tony crowd as well is the multi-artist album of a show going on the road this year after premiering in Atlanta. Ghost Brothers Of Darkland County was written by Stephen King with music by John Mellencamp. T-Bone Burnett, who was responsible for the wildly popular Americana soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou, produced the set, which includes performances by Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Neko Case, Kris Kristofferson, Rosanne Cash, Mellencamp himself, and more, and it debuts at #96...

Scottish indie-pop band Camera Obscura score their second charting album at #106 with Desire Lines. It follows 2009's My Maudlin Career, which went to #87. Neko Case also cameos on this record...

The next Broadway show entering the chart is the revue Motown: The Musical, at #108. It features actors recreating the songs of the history of the iconic label. While it didn't win any Tonys, Valisia LeKae won the Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance...

Danish electronica duo Quadron comes in at #115 with their second album Avalanche. Singer Coco O is also heard on the soundtrack to Baz Luhrmann's film adaptation of The Great Gatsby...

The last stage show to enter the chart this week is the revision of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella at #135. As opposed to most revivals, the original was written not for Broadway by for the small screen, as a broadcast version with Julie Andrews went to #15 on the album chart in 1957. The new cast were nominated for leading actor and actress and featured actress, and Laura Osnes won the Drama Desk awards for best actress in the musical...

Country-pop hitmakers Lonestar return with their first album since reuniting with original lead singer Richie McDonald on Life As We Know It at #148. Their 2003 compilation From There To Here: The Greatest Hits has been their highest charting album at #7...

The Ben Folds Five (a trio, natch) are back at #154 with their first Live album.

As America falls in love with the Game Of Thrones, the soundtrack to season 3 featuring music from Ramin Djawadi and tracks from the Hold Steady and Kerry Ingram comes in at #175...

The last entry of the week belongs to Stephen Bruner, who is the bassist for the band Suicidal Tendencies and now records jazz-jusion music under the name Thundercat, is in at #194 with his second album Apocalypse.

That's it for part two - lots of great stuff in this bakers dozen, but the three I'd go with first are the George Benson, Ghost Brothers Of Darkland County, and Quadron sets....