Harry Belafonte undertook an ambitious and enormous recording project in 1961, an attempt to tell the whole story of what he termed “African-matrixed” music in the United States, beginning with its African origins in the 17th Century and reaching through to its urban fruition on the edge of modern soul music. Choosing not to work from field recordings or archival releases, Belafonte instead opted to record faithful re-creations of the music with a cast that included himself as well as the likes of Bessie Jones, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Joe Williams and Gloria Lynne. This massive project took ten years to complete, and then wasn’t released until 30 years later, appearing in 2001 as a boxed set called The Long Road to Freedom: An Anthology of Black Music, and it contained some 80 tracks arranged chronologically across five CDs.

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The Beatles always stood apart from their peers, a self-evident statement that sadly extended to the treatment of their catalog in the digital age. Where all their peers from the Byrds to the Who have had their catalogs remastered and reissued in deluxe editions, sometimes several times, the Beatles remained stuck in the early days of digital, their 14 albums plus Past Masters singles collection remaining untouched since 1987, despite the occasional upgrade and tweak on the 1993 Red & Blue Album reissues or the remix of the Yellow Submarine songtrack in 1999. Those 1987 releases were hardly without controversy, either: many fans were upset that the first four albums were presented in mono, not stereo, while others complained about the quality of the mono mastering; some were upset that Sgt. Pepper and The Beatles weren’t in mono, there were grumblings about George Martin’s new stereo mixes for Help! and Rubber Soul, then there were criticisms about harsh, brittle sound and shoddy packaging, where Magical Mystery Tour was stripped of its lengthy book and cover art was butchered.

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The remaining members of Sublime have enlisted a new singer, the 20 year-old Rome, to help launch the band’s first official reunion. After performing a one-off show in Nevada last February, the revised Sublime will make its proper debut in October at Cypress Hill’s Smoke Out Festival. [Spinner.com]

Adam Goldstein, better known as DJ AM, was found dead in his apartment on August 28th. Prescription pills and drug paraphernalia were discovered at the scene. After surviving a plane crash one year ago, Goldstein developed an addiction to his pain medications, leading the former cocaine addict to relapse several months before his death. [RollingStone.com]

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When Aaliyah’s plane crashed into a Bahamanian swamp eight years ago this Tuesday, the world of music lost one of its biggest hit makers and most promising artists. It also lost, in the words of DMX (no softy) “an angel on earth.” With the songwriting and production skills of first R. Kelly, then the dynamic duo of Timbaland and Missy Elliott backing her, there was no doubt that she would succeed. Still, without her combination of smooth sweetness, unerring sense of style and a solid core of toughness that appealed to the hip hop faithful, she may have been just another R&B singer. Instead, she racked up a long string of hits that helped to re-define modern R&B and still stand up today as nothing short of amazing. Check this list: “Back & Forth”, “At Your Best (You Are Love)”, “If Your Girl Only Knew,” “Are You That Somebody?” “Try Again,” “One in a Million,” “Miss You,” I Care For You,” and tell me who did it better between 1994 and 2001.

While the best way to hear her music is in a packed club (for the jamz) or late at night over headphones (for the honey-sweet ballads), checking out some videos comes in a close second.

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Hüsker Dü’s Grant Hart will release his first album in ten years this October. Hot Wax features cameos by members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Silver Mt Zion, and its sound reportedly fuses “organic rock’n'roll” and “American rockabilly” with “an ice-cream truck atmosphere.” Get ready to flip your wig. [Guardian.co.uk]

Kurt Cobain will appear as a “pixellated grunge throwback” in the upcoming Guitar Hero 5, whose tracklist includes “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and a live recording of “Lithium.” Courtney Love helped design Cobain’s digital representation, while former bandmate Dave Grohl granted his approval. [Guardian.co.uk]

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Summer is winding down here at HDJ HQ and we’re feeling kind of nostalgic. In a couple weeks beach attire will no longer be allowed, nobody will be showing up to work with their surfboard lashed to the roof of their woody, the snack machine will no longer be dispensing piña coladas for a dollar, and worst of all the Hot Damn Jamz will be folding up shop and heading down to Florida for the season. Aw, just foolin’ about that last one. We’ll never pack it in, fold it up or mail it in. Our jamz are endless and in our hearts it’s always summer! Along with the cutie pie indie rockers the Darlings (as pictured over there to the left), we’ve got a whole bunch or real good stuff for you again this week….

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Colbie Caillat’s second album Breakthrough likely sold between 90,000 and 100,000 copies, which will place it on top of the Billboard 200 chart. Caillat’s debut album Coco sold 1.96 million copies. Other high-charting debuts from the past week include Imogen Heap’s Ellipse, the Arctic Monkeys’ Humbug and Skillet’s Awake. [Billboard.com]

Pete Townshend is working on new Who material, according to the band’s offical website. The project is Floss, a musical along the lines of Quadrophenia and Tommy that revolves around the concept of “a rock musician husband who returns to music after a 15 year hiatus, and finds that what he composes evokes the ecologically rooted, apocalyptic mindset of his generation.” The musical will debut in 2011, and songs from it will appear on the next Who album, due in 2010. [Pitchfork.com]

Can U2’s music save you? A Florida church believes it can, incorporating the band’s music and lyrics into a service they call “the U2charist”. “One,” “With or Without You” and “Beautiful Day” are some of the featured songs; about 200 people attend the service each Sunday. [RollingStone.com]

Check out “Forever,” a song that Eminem, Lil’ Wayne, Kanye West and Drake have recorded for More Than a Game, an upcoming documentary about basketball star LeBron James. [Gigwise.com]

The Malaysian government has banned Muslims from attending the Black Eyed Peas’ Kuala Lampur show because the event is put together by the Irish brewer Guiness. The show, which is one of a series celebrating Guiness’ 250th anniversary, was banned because Malaysian Muslims are governed by sharia law, which forbids the consumption of alcohol. [Guardian.co.uk]

Popjustice talks to Jake Shears about the Scissor Sisters’ new set of songs, which he describes as a “nighttime album.” [Popjustice.com]

Ellie Greenwich had a hand in some of the greatest songs ever recorded. In the early to mid-’60s, she and her husband Jeff Barry cranked out an incredible string of songs that, when listed back to back, truly seems to be impossible. Check this short list and see if you can believe it. The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” and “Baby I Love You,” the Crystals’ “Then He Kissed Me” and “Da Do Ron Ron,” the Dixie Cup’s “Chapel of Love,” Manfred Mann’s “Do Wah Diddy,” Ike and Tina Turner’s “River Deep Mountain High,” Leslie Gore’s “Maybe I Know” and the Shangri-Las’ “Leader of the Pack,” “Out in the Streets” and “Train from Kansas City.” Whew! The duo (as well as the producers and singers they wrote for) created music so epically joyous, so ridiculously heartbreaking, and so true that to call it “oldies” seems like a crime. They are timeless songs that capture the feelings of teenage love, real love and real heartaches simply and perfectly..

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