ISN'T IT ABOUT TIME JOHN FRUSCIANTE RELEASED A NEW SOLO ALBUM?

John Frusciante released six solo albums in less than a year during his time off between The Red Hot Chili Peppers' By The Way and Stadium Arcadium albums. But nothing since, which sort of made me worry about the guy. From all accounts, he really doesn't do anything other than make music, and when he's not doing that, it means trouble. But he's just announced that he has a new record on the way, The Empryean, due out on January 20. According to Billboard, Flea will be guesting on it, as will Johnny Marr of The Smiths and Modest Mouse. I don't love all of John's solo work - some of it is barely listenable (but he's admitted as much about some of his early solo records) but I'm glad that he's still working, and I'll definitely check it out.

THE FACES TO REUNITE?

Yes, I'm a reunion-watching junkie. I've been hoping for The Kinks to get back together. I was holding out hope that Bill Berry would rejoin R.E.M. (although they did fine without him).

Right now, it looks like there's a good chance that The Faces might get together, and that's pretty exciting. I think it's been close before - either Rod Stewart wants to do it and Ronnie Wood can't make it because of The Rolling Stones' schedule, or Rod doesn't feel like it. But now it might happen: supposedly, Rod, Ron, keyboardist Ian McLagan and drummer Kenny Jones had a rehearsal this week. That's a show I'd love to see.

BEN HARPER'S NEW BAND

Rolling Stone's "Smoking Section" has an exclusive story about Ben Harper's new band. They're called Relentless7, and he debuted them at his recent Rock The Vote gigs with The Beastie Boys. He says they're more of a "rock" band than his other group, The Innocent Criminals. He also says that he'll always work with The Criminals, it seems like this is just a break. Their last album, Lifeline, is one of the best things they've done together, but they've done so many great albums together. I'm looking forward to hearing Ben's new band, and also to hearing him reunite with The Criminals in the future.

MITCH MITCHELL 1946 - 2008

Mitch Mitchell died today - he was the drummer for The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Of course, Jimi Hendrix was the obvious focal point for the band: his guitar playing, singing, his persona, everything about him, musically, was perfect. But the name on the record is "The Jimi Hendrix Experience" instead of "Jimi Hendrix" for a reason. You just need to listen to it to understand. Listen to "Fire," Mitch is as exciting as Ginger Baker or John Bonham or Keith Moon. Even after Jimi split with bassist Noel Redding, he still played with Mitch in a group that also featured bassist Billy Cox from Jimi's other group, The Band Of Gypsys. In fact, Mitch and Billy just finished a Jimi Hendrix tribute tour. Rest in peace, Mitch Mitchell.

THIS WEEK ON OUTQ: Q-TIP, RAPHAEL SAADIQ, JOHN LEGEND, KANYE

So this week's theme is going to be
hip-hop and R&B. First off is Q-Tip's new album, The Renaissance. I'm glad it came out at all - his last two albums were shelved by his record labels. He is a really ambitious artist, and doesn't pander, and that may be why he has never sold tons of records, but it's also why people still care about him after all these years. His last album came out in 1999! That's a long time in any genre, especially hip-hop. He has some cool guests on the album, including Norah Jones, D'Angelo (also on sabbatical) and Raphael Saadiq. It's a really ambitious album, and I really dig it.

Speaking of Raphael, I really dig his album, The Way I See It. It's more than a tribute to Motown, it's more like a thank you letter. I believe in saying "thank you," and I love old Motown, so I'm cool with this album. I'm sure some people will complain that it sounds too old-school Motownish. This is my favorite of the albums I'll be talking about this week.

I was really looking forward to John Legend's new album, Evolver. I like it, but don't love it. it sounds very contemporary R&B, and is a bit more Brian McKnight than Al Green or Marvin Gaye. That's just my take. I like "Everybody Knows," and also his Estelle collaboration, "No Other Love," which features the great reggae sax player Dean Fraser. I also like his Barack Obama tribute song, "If You're Out There." The great thing about John Legend: you don't have to enjoy every album equally, he's gonna be around for a long time.

I'm also talking about tracks from upcoming albums by Common and Kanye West. Common's has a very Afrika Bambaataa electro sound (the songs were actually produced by Pharell) and I like them. I'm not super into Kanye's new autotune heavy singing.

NEIL YOUNG'S ARCHIVES HAS A RELEASE DATE!

I first started reading about the Neil Young Archives series of box sets when

I was in college. About two decades ago. It's been delayed ever since. That's longer than Chinese Democracy! But right now, Amazon lists it's release date as January 27. Of 2009! I'll believe it when I see it.

The DVD box set is $309.99 and the Blu-Ray is $388.99. But what does a Blue-Ray player cost? I think I'm going to have to go with the DVD, even though Neil says it should be experienced in Blu-Ray. It's supposed to be 10 DVDs, covering 1963 - 1972.

MORE MUDCRUTCH

Mudcrutch is about to release a live EP, four tracks recorded from their recent shows. I don't know if Tom Petty will ever work with them again, I hope he does. Their album is one of my favorites of the year.