JOHN LEGEND: ON "TARGET"

John Legend has just released a live album exclusively at Target. This will be seen as overly corporate by some. But as Sonic Youth's members pointed out when they signed an exclusive deal with Starbucks, one giant corporation isn't any better or worse than any other.

John Legend is no dummy: I think he actually worked as a business consultant before he signed his record deal. As he said in a recent interview with Fast Company, he looks forward to a day when he can put out his music without the help of a traditional record label. And, of course, the labels aren't doing too well.

Business stuff aside, I saw John on his last tour, and I thought it was great. The live album seems to be a similar set - The Beatles' "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," Sly & The Family Stone's "Dance To The Music" and a cover of "Where Is The Love" with opener Corinne Bailey Rae that I didn't love, plus most of the songs from his two albums.

Good move by John - I look forward to picking this one up.

P.S., John has a new song out: it was a digital release single called "Sun Comes Up" that came out in October. It's acoustic guitar based, I don't think it has any piano. Great song. I hope John has a new studio album due out this year.