Music Notes

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 15, 2005 1:39PM

* Chicago’s Victory Records announced this week that it will release a live CD and DVD from legendary Chicago rock band The Smoking Popes on February 26th. Thanks to a successful (and sold-out) reunion show last November, a headlining tour is planned from February 22nd to March 12th. The tour will kick off in St. Louis with the band playing an all-ages show at Creepy Crawl. More cities will be announced soon.

* In a rare display of humility, Kanye West says his Late Registration album may not be the best album of the year. The Tribune quotes West admitting he has not yet heard Paul McCartney’s record Chaos and Creation in the Backyard so he is unable to make a definitive statement on whether he or Macca has the better flow. Both albums have been nominated for a Grammy in the Album of the Year category. (Chicagoist still thinks Kanye’s real competition is from Mariah’s album - thanks to the “comeback” story her publicists are pushing and not because it’s actually a better work).

* The Sun-Times is reporting that Cyril Neville, member of the legendary New Orleans soul and funk group The Neville Brothers, has vowed not to return to New Orleans. Though he was recently featured on Arlo Guthrie’s “City of New Orleans” benefit tour, which stopped in Chicago earlier this month, Neville has now settled in Austin, Texas and claims to “have worked more in two months in Austin than I worked in two years in New Orleans.”

* Finally, can someone explain why the host for the Miracle on State Street benefit concert (featuring Ben Folds, Alanis, and the Fray) is...Tommy Lee?