If you've never heard of Paul McCartney's side project the Fireman -- or if you have and never connected the dots -- you're not to blame. The first two LPs, 1993's 'Strawberry Oceans Ship Forest' and 1998's 'Rushes,' created in partnership with producer and fellow bass player Youth, formerly of Killing Joke and currently working with the Orb, were more than credible takes on ambient electronic music. However, these works were released almost in secret and bearing nothing musically or nominally to identify them as emanating from the man best known for his "silly love songs."

For the upcoming third album carrying the Fireman brand, 'Electric Arguments,' Sir Paul has emerged from his experimental closet, as he and his collaborator are proudly owning up to the eclectic array of sounds and -- a Fireman first -- vocals found on 'Arguments.' McCartney and Youth talk to Spinner about the collaborative process, along the way vehemently defending the commercial prospects for the album.

The previous Fireman albums were released with very little fanfare. Are you worried that the larger profile for 'Electric Arguments' will confuse or alienate the average Paul McCartney fan?

PM: They always say that! "You think you're gonna alienate your fans?" It's a weird idea, isn't it ... putting out a record to alienate people.
Y: I think this is a fan's ultimate album. I mean, I'm a massive fan, and this is a fan's record, really.
PM: I'm not worried about alienating anyone. I think, you know, our fans are fans. They're pretty cool people.

Just hours after debuting a new song, titled 'Working on a Dream,' during Sunday Night Football, Bruce Springsteen announced the release of his 24th album of the same name, due January 27. Recorded with the E Street Band at Southern Tracks in Atlanta, GA, with additional recording in New York City, Los Angeles and New Jersey, the follow-up to 2007's 'Magic' marks Springsteen's fourth collaboration with producer Brendan O'Brien.

"Towards the end of recording 'Magic,' excited by the return to pop production sounds, I continued writing," Springsteen said. "When my friend producer Brendan O'Brien heard the new songs, he said, 'Let's keep going.' Over the course of the next year, that's just what we did, recording with the E Street Band during the breaks on last year's tour."

"I hope 'Working on a Dream' has caught the energy of the band fresh off the road from some of the most exciting shows we've ever done," he added. "All the songs were written quickly, we usually used one of our first few takes and we all had a blast making this one from beginning to end."

See the full track list after the jump.

January might offer hope for believers of more than just President Elect Barack Obama. Avid Obama supporter Bruce Springsteen will reportedly release a new album around the time of the inauguration. According to the fan site Backstreets, the artist has been working on the album since the fall.

The reports are fueled by the wealth of addiitonal material from Springsteen's 2007 release, 'Magic,' as well as sightings of the rocker in Atlanta, where he recorded 'Magic' and 'The Rising' with producer Brendan O'Brien. In addition, Springsteen debuted a new song, 'Workin' on a Dream,' in Cleveland at an Obama rally two days before the election.

Very little else is known about the album, including whether it will be another E Street Band effort or solo project, a la 2005's 'Devils and Dust.' Springsteen and the E Street Band are set to play the Super Bowl on February 1, which comes as good news for fans who worried about the future of the group after the passing of original E Street Band keyboardist Danny Federici earlier this year. On the last stop of the 'Magic' tour in Milwaukee this past August, Springsteen reassured the crowd, however, saying, "We're just getting started."

It's taken ten years and an unthinkable amount of studio time but perhaps the most highly-anticipated album of all time will finally hit shelves this fall: ladies and gentlemen, Guns N' Roses' long-fabled 'Chinese Democracy' will be released on Sunday, November 23rd. Before you pinch yourself, there is a catch of sorts: It will only be available through Best Buy. Hence the Sunday release date as opposed to the industry-standard Tuesday. Of course, we're just happy for a release date at all, at this point.

We'll see how going exclusively through Best Buy shakes out for Axl Rose and his hired Guns, but this move is certainly not GNR's first unconventional record release. Their previous two studio albums were both released on the same day in 1991 ('Use Your Illusion' Part I and II, respectively).

While you're at Best Buy, don't forget to pick up CD-R's. After all, your friends will want to hear this too. (We're kidding. Seriously.)

Oasis' new album, 'Dig Out Your Soul,' released today, finds the Manchester band recapturing the swagger and craftsmanship that led them to the top of the music scene in the mid-'90s. Frontman Liam Gallagher tells Spinner the band knew they were onto something special straight away.

"Everything we was putting down was just coming out sounding f---ing great," he says. "The magic was there. You go into a studio to make great records all the time. Some days you come out with a record with a bit of magic on it, and this one's got it."

Oasis have been enjoying a resurgent rise in popularity, with a 'Q' magazine and HMV poll last year finding 'Definitely Maybe' and '(What's the Story) Morning Glory?' named the best two British albums of the past 50 years, respectively. As a result of that surge, Gallagher is seeing some younger fans in the audience. "Now they come to concerts with their older brothers and it's getting a bit like that vibe with the Stones, which is cool," he says. "I'm good with that."

Green Day have tapped famed Nirvana producer Butch Vig to oversee the long-awaited follow-up to 2004's 'American Idiot,' as Vig's Garbage-mate Shirley Manson told talk show host Carson Daly on Friday night.

The move marks the first time Green Day has worked without producer Rob Cavallo since 1994's 'Dookie,' save for their self-produced 2000 effort 'Warning.' Vig, who in addition to working on Nirvana's '91 classic 'Nevermind', has worked with the likes of Sonic Youth and the Smashing Pumpkins.

Little else is known about the upcoming Green Day disc, which is expected in 2009. Earlier this year, the group toured briefly behind 'Stop Drop and Roll!!!,' the debut album from side project the Foxboro Hot Tubs.

The sound of Waylon Jennings is forever rooted in country music, and on what is being called his final recordings, 'Waylon Forever,' due October 21, it remains that way. But fans of the legend, who passed away in 2002, might have gotten a rather different portrait of the man if the original version of the album, which he began in the mid-nineties with his teenage son Shooter, had been released.

"They're really tripped out," Shooter tells Spinner. "[There are] like screaming guitars and drum machines and [it's] very like industrial-ish, 'cause I was really into all that s--- then."

Shooter, now 29, and a father himself (to daughter Alabama), said the original recordings were influenced thanks to his youthful interest in Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy and Ministry.

Lucinda Williams will follow her upcoming studio album 'Little Honey' with a digital-only EP comprised entirely of protest songs. The project, dubbed 'Lu in 08,' will feature four live tracks, including covers of Buffalo Springfield's 'For What It's Worth,' Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War' and 'Marching the Hate Machines Into the Sun,' which teamed Thievery Corporation and Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne. Williams' own new tune, 'Bone of Contention,' which was originally intended for 'Little Honey,' rounds out the collection.

"It's a pretty powerful protest song," Williams told Billboard.com. "The track didn't come out the way I wanted it to [in the studio]. We went out to do some shows, and I played the song live by myself at Summerfest. It just came out killer."

Be it serious or ironic, everyone loves a good cover song (emphasis on good). NYC's indie darlings the French Kicks are no exception. To that end, the band released an EP this week comprised entirely of covers, titled, well, 'Covers,' which finds the Kicks taking on the Ramones, Zombies, Lindsey Buckingham and the Shirelles. Seriously.

The band recorded about 15 covers before settling on four. Frontman Nick Stumpf tells Spinner that the chosen ones were a mix of songs the band played when they first began, or tunes they played for fun at sound checks. "Some we just decided on the spot," he adds, "like [Buckingham's] 'Trouble', which was [guitarist] Josh's selection."

The French Kicks recently wrapped a jaunt at NYC's Bowery Ballroom. Stumpf says they'll head to the West Coast this winter (smart fellas), and fans will surely get to hear one of the new tunes. "[We] usually do at least one oc the covers live," he says.

Metal men Mastodon aren't wanting for famous fans. The Foo Fighters and Metallica, among others, have professed their love for the band, but it's one rocker's seal of approval that have Mastodon glowing: Bruce Springsteen.

You see, E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg's son, Jay, is a big fan of the band. "He's been coming out to see us play for the last like three or four years and we've maintained a relationship with him and his father over that period of time," Mastodon drummer Brann Dailor tells Spinner.

That friendship is what ultimately led Mastodon to work with producer Brendan O'Brien, who produced Springsteen's 'The Rising' and 'Magic.' "We went to [the E Street Band] show here in Atlanta, basically met [Springsteen] and sent him our demos," Dailer says. "I guess he dug it and we got the word from Bruce that [Brendan] was awesome."