This year, we've wrapped our roundup of holiday albums a bit differently. Instead of delivering it to you in one big lump (like coal), we're parceling out the reviews online, with a blog each weekday through December 24 devoted to recordings in a different category. Part four features "Variety Packs" -- six new compilations that draw from styles like metal, pop, alternative (sort of), Latin music and, well, sexiness. Slip that in your stocking.
As previously reported, Green Day will play its first gig in these parts in over three years when the band hits the Pepsi Center on Saturday, August 15. Tickets for that show go on sale Saturday, May 9. Some other big ticket shows, meanwhile, were announced this week, including a trio of shows at Red Rocks with Journey and Heart (Tuesday July, 21), Heaven & Hell (Saturday, August 15) and Crosby, Stills & Nash (Tuesday, September 1). Also, country stars Toby Keith and Trace Adkins will be
​In the world of heavy metal, lead singers are as indispensible as riffs
and distortion--that is, except for when they get used up and thrown
away like yesterday's drumsticks. While frontmen are the face and voice
of many bands, they seem particularly prone to quitting, dying or
getting fired, leaving groups in the strange position of having to find
an entirely new public image. Some bands, like AC/DC, have managed to
make the most of replacement lead singers. Others, like Van Halen,
haven't.
