Only a few more days until the release of George Pelecanos' new novel, The Night Gardener. Will this be the one to put him over the top? Who knows; early reviews are favorable as usual, and his fans are primed for another great tale. Still, while often mentioned in the same breath as Michael Connelly and Dennis Lehane, he can't seem to scale similar commercial heights. This is analyzed in a New York Times write-up about Pelecanos, in which it is revealed that his books average about 13,000 in hardback sales compared to sales near 100,000 for Lehane's later books and more than 300,000 for Connelly's most popular books. Perhaps the pending film of Right as Rain will do for him what Mystic River did for his buddy Lehane. Here's hoping.

Meanwhile, as he does before each book tour, Pelecanos offers his latest "tour music" feature on his web site. If having good taste means agreeing with the person conferring that praise, then Pelecanos has good taste. His new iPod is filled with the likes of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sam Cooke, John Coltrane, Paul K and the Weathermen (whither thou, Paul?), the Silver Jews and the Replacements. Not a bad list. He further offers a look at his iPod on shuffle, revealing a deeper look with a list of tracks that include those by the Pernice Brothers, Tom Verlaine, Magnolia Electric Co., Mark Lanegan and Josh Rouse. He also lists Steve Wynn, with whom he'll do at least one reading in the increasingly popular hip-indie-artist-plays-guitar-while edgy-author-reads format. The two collaborated on a song on Wynn's latest disc, the fiery ...tick ...tick ...tick. While I certainly wish Pelecanos all the commercial success in the world, I do hope he is able to continue these other music-related endeavors.

Good news for R.E.M. fans today -- the band will release an IRS-years best-of that includes a bonus disc of rare material, and a DVD that brings back into print the videos and weirdness of the VHS-only Succumbs. The best-of disc is fairlly predictible, comprising nearly everything from 1988's Eponymous and more. It's the bonus disc that will send fans to the store, however, with its mix of live tracks, demos and unreleased songs, it is a further excavation of the vaults. The oft-bootlegged "Theme From Two Steps Onward" and demos of the early "All the Right Friends" and "Mystery to Me" are particular gems. As I've mentioned here several times, I think the band ought to either free up recordings of those early, pre-IRS songs, or re-record them for a fanclub-only release. This, when added to the band's re-recording of "All the Right Friends" for the Vanilla Sky soundtrack and the iTunes release of a recent rehearsal recording of that era's "Permanent Vacaction" means that is slowly becoming a reality.

The disc, And I Feel Fine… The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987, comes out Sept. 12. The DVD, When the Light Is Mine -- The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 Video Collection, is out the same day. It includes several music videos, live tracks, interviews and extras, as well as the 20-minute oddball film "Left of Reckoning" by James Herbert. That curiosity is likely to be viewed by most folks once and then skipped over, but it's nice to see the band making sure its old days are preserved and, um, documented.

Ah, summer, when things slow down and nothing much happens. Unless you fail to post for a couple of weeks and let things pile up. For example...

Joe Pernice has loosed a new song on the world. "Somerville," a new track from the Pernice Brothers' forthcoming disc, Live a Little, is available for download at the band's site. The verdict? It's a Pernice Brothers song, with all that implies. It has a strong hook and a sweet arrangement that's all chiming guitars and swirling organs. There's a video as well, though it's, um, storyline and production values make Pernice's "Indie Rock Cribs" experiments from last year seem positively Hollywood in comparison.

Crime novelist Mickey Spillane died Monday; Sarah at Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind has the best roundup of relevant links I've seen today.

Proving that death is still the best career move, Johnny Cash posted his first no. 1 album since 1969 with the just released American V: A Hundred Highways. Showing how down the industry is, he hit the mark by moving only 88,000 copies. Still, it's nice to see that quality music can still move a few units in this pre-fab, disposable days.

The New York Times looks at the decline in mom 'n pop record stores. The hook this time is that the clientele's average age is creeping ever upward as young people avoid recordings like the plague.

The Guardian this weekend published a list of the 50 albums that changed music over the 50 years the pop music charts have been in existence there. In a nice move, they explain what makes these so groundbreaking. The Velvet Underground and Nico is a predictable no. 1, but with Kraftwerk's Trans-Europe Express and N.W.A.'s Straight Out of Compton also in the top 5, it's clear some thought went into this.

My Morning Jacket has announced that its next release will be a two-CD, one-DVD live set called Okonokos. The press release from the folks at Girlie Action is a bit hyperbolic. This isn't just a live album, it's something that will become "their quintessential body of work, gathering"their most dynamic, otherworldly compositions to date."