Weekly faves.

DJ Dangermouse mixes Jay-Z's vocals from The Black Album with beats culled from the Beatles' White Album and creates The Grey Album. It's such a vast improvement over The Black Album you wonder why Jay-Z didn't hire Dangermouse in the first place. And I'll never hear the Beatles in the same way. Brilliant. I started listening to Sinatra because I was working on a book on the subject. Come Fly With Me marks his first outing with arranger Billy May, and together they take a swinging trip around the world. I've always loved Sam Cooke. The Rhythm and the Blues collects a number of early 60's sides and remasters them. Cooke has never sounded better. The sound is crisp, the vocals clear. A-mei is a Taiwanese singer. I saw her in concert on Christmas Day, and picked up her album to prepare myself. Some great Chinese pop music, though she still hasn't quite ascended the heights of her hit single a few years back.             Singles this week I've been returning to include Tori Amos's "Taxi Ride," Pizzicato Five's "Baby Love Child," and Frank Sinatra's "Come Fly With Me."