December 27: Thumbs up/ Thumbs down

THUMBS UP:
Josh Groban. I don't know much about the guy's music, all I know is that his recent Christmas album has come out of nowhere to become the biggest-selling record of 2007. This pleases me because the album it eclipsed was the High School Musical 2 soundtrack. It would have been an enormous embarrassment if that soundtrack had wound up being the year's top seller. Big ups to Mr. Groban, and all the soccer moms who purchased his music.

Robert Plant. The Led Zeppelin singer has agreed to tour with Alison Krauss next year. Their duet album has been one of the most acclaimed records of the year, and it will be a thrill to see the two of them perform together. The downside is this tour makes it less likely that Plant will do a full-scale tour with Zeppelin, as many people have been hoping. But I'm still convinced that both tours will happen.

THUMBS DOWN:
Steve Perry. Journey's ex-lead singer still refuses to perform with his former bandmates. They just named a new vocalist, and it's some dude from the Philippines. Seriously. With all the hype from the Sopranos' use of "Don't Stop Believin'," the timing has never been better for the band to reunite. Perry is one of rock's all-time great vocalists, and I long for the day I can see him sing "Faithfully," "Separate Ways" and "Open Arms" on stage again.

Epic Records. Natasha Bedingfield released a very successful album in Europe last year, N.B., which produced multiple hit singles. Yet, it was never released in the U.S. Now, Epic is finally releasing it here, but they're changing the track listing, and removing "I Wanna Have Your Babies," a bubblegum pop gem that is the best song on the record. What are these people thinking?! If you don't want to make it the lead single, as it was in Europe, that's fine, but don't remove it from the record entirely!