Album Sweep: September 14, 2013 - Part One...

Hey gang, I'm ready to roll out part one of this week's "album sweep" sampling the records making their debut on the Top 200 Albums chart in Billboard magazine this week. As always, I've included links to buy anything available if possible...

The top-selling album of the week belongs to heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, who score their second #1 set by selling over 150,000 copies of Hail To The King. Their last album, Nightmare, also topped the list in 2010...

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Rapper Big Sean sees his sophomore release Hall Of Fame come in at the same rank (#3) as his debut set Finally Famous did in 2011...

 Right below Sean at #4 is Juicy J with his third album and first top-10, Stay Trippy....

 The fourth entry in the top-10 this week is a tribute album to the veteran country group Alabama, and the collaboration effort Alabama & Friends is in at #8. It includes reworkings of their hits by Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, and more, as well as two new songs by the band themselves. Alabama saw 11 of their albums reach the top-40 on the big chart, with their highest rank being #10 with The Closer You Get (noticably lower than this one)...

Mexican pop singer Alejandro Fernandez comes in at #19 with his latest, Confidencias. It includes his collab with Christina Aguilera...

Bob Dylan returned with the tenth installment of his "Bootleg" series as Another Self Portrait (1969-1971): The Bootleg Series Vol. 10 enters the chart twice in it's regular (#21) and four-disc deluxe edition (#60). The release contains sessions from his infamous Self Portrait album, which went to #4 despite horrible reviews, while the bigger ticket package has concert tracks, and a nice book about the set written by Grail Marcus (who panned the original release in Rolling Stone back in the Day). Out of the bootleg series, volume eight had done the best charting in at #6 in 2008...

Scottish modern rock outfit Franz Ferdinand comes in at #24 with their fourth studio album Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action. All four have made the top-40 on the albums chart, with their second, You Could Have It So Much Better, going to #8 in 2005...

Gospel singer Mandisa, who got her big break on American Idol finishing ninth on the fifth season (the Taylor Hicks one) in 2006. She's in at #29 with Overcomer, her highest entry to date...

The Atlanta rap group Goodie Mob (Cee-Lo Green's old gig) reunites after a nine year break at 30 with Age Against The Machine. They had one top-10 effort when 1998's Still Standing went to #6...

Melodic death metal act Devildriver enters at #32 with their sixth studio set Winter Kills. It's their second top 40 album and  most successful rank to date...

The Rides are a "supergroup" with folk-rock hero Stephen Stills, blues-rock prodigy Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and blues-rock keyboardist Barry Goldberg. Their collab album Can't Get Enough is in at #42...

Kansas City singer and rapper Krizz Kaliko drops in at #56 with his fifth album Son Of Sam. His last release, Kickin' And Screamin', is the only one that went higher, peaking at #43 last year...

That's it for the first half of the crop...out of this set the three I'd recommend first are the Franz Ferdinand, Avenged Sevenfold, and Goodie Mob sets...

I'll be back tomorrow with part two, including music from a Scottish fave, Brit emo-poppers, and a former "immature" singer...