VIA PRESS RELEASE | This year marks the 60th anniversary of the legendary Fania Records: one of the most significant Latin labels in the world, musically and culturally, with an influence that continues to reverberate today. To honor the New York label’s enduring contributions—as well as its powerhouse roster of legendary artists—Craft Latino proudly presents a new compilation, Fania Records: The Latin Sound of New York (1964–1978).

Available January 24 on 2-LP and out now digitally, the compilation highlights 16 of the greatest salsa and Latin soul songs released on Fania and its subsidiaries by some of the label’s most beloved artists, including Willie Colón, Héctor Lavoe, Rubén Blades, Johnny Pacheco, Ray Barretto, Celia Cruz, Fania All Stars, Joe Bataan, Eddie Palmieri, Cheo Feliciano, Pete Rodriguez, Joe Cuba, Ismael Rivera, Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz. The vinyl edition also includes archival images and all-new in-depth liner notes in English and Spanish by the New York–based music historian, author, artist, and activist Aurora Flores Hostos. This compilation is not only a fantastic tribute but an essential introduction to Fania for new collectors and fans of classic salsa and Latin music.

This special release rounds out an extensive, year-long celebration of Fania Records, which has included more than a dozen remastered 180-gram vinyl reissues, merch, and over two dozen remastered digital albums, many of which debuted in hi-res audio.

The legacy of Fania Records is just as meaningful to Latin music as Stax and Motown are to soul or Prestige and Blue Note are to jazz. From establishing itself as the definitive home for Latin big band, Afro-Cuban jazz, boogaloo and Latin soul, among other styles, to pioneering salsa music and popularizing it around the globe, Fania—and the immeasurable talent on its roster—illuminates a powerful American immigrant story that is as timely today as when the label launched.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | In Genesis’ incredible body of work, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is a landmark record. Originally released on 22 November 1974 (50 years ago this week), at the pinnacle of their early success, it came at a pivotal point in Genesis’ history. It is rated as one of the greatest albums of its era and one of the most influential progressive rock albums of all time.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition is the album’s definitive compendium, following the arc of the album’s creation and tour. With input from all of the band members involved in the record—Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, and Mike Rutherford—it comes in 5LP+Blu Ray Audio, 4CD+Blu Ray Audio and Digital (including Dolby ATMOS) formats, all providing a deep dive into the music and visual elements around this album and includes:

The original album mix, remastered at Abbey Road Studios by Miles Showell from the 1974 analogue tapes

A Blu-ray audio disc includes the remastered 96kHz/24-bit high resolution audio and Dolby ATMOS mixes of the studio album done by Bob Mackenzie at Real World Studios under the supervision of Peter Gabriel and Tony Banks

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway Live At The Shrine Auditorium from January 24, 1975. It is remastered and includes two encore tracks “Watcher of the Skies” and “The Musical Box.” This is the first time the full live show, including the encore tracks, has been released in its entirety

Three never-before-released demos from the legendary Headley Grange Session, included as part of a digital download card with the full audio from the set

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Remembering Rod Price in advance of his birthdate tomorrow. —Ed.

Here’s an interesting historical tidbit: I was the geezer wot gave Foghat their name. It happened like this: we were all (the band and I) totally pissed in Rod “The Bottle” Price’s bedsit in manky Manchester, when “Lonesome Dave” Peverett rolled a J the size of John Holmes’ John Thomas and set it ablaze. It took some real hyperventilation-level huffing and puffing to get that monster going, and by this time Dave’s head was wreathed in a glorious crown of cannabis smoke, and I cried out, “Lonesome Dave’s sporting a Foghat!” And Bob’s your uncle, that’s exactly how it didn’t happen.

Anyway, I don’t know what you think about Foghat, and I don’t particularly care, because I love them. They may have been your bog-standard, no-frills British blooz and boogie rock band, all meat and potatoes but skimping a bit on the meat, but they had a great name and were likeable blokes and the punters loved them because they played an arse-walloping live set. What’s more they displayed a sense of humor, as proved by the cover of their finest LP, 1975’s Fool for the City, which depicts drummer Roger Earl fishing in a manhole in the middle of East 11th Street in New York City, looking as casual as if he were casting bait along Manchester’s own River Irk, which none other than Friedrich Engels described as “a narrow, coal-black, foul-smelling stream, full of debris and refuse.” All of which leads one to suspect that Earl had a better chance of catching a real, live fish in said sewer than he did back in grim and grimy old Manchester town.

I also have an abiding affection for Foghat because the band’s music features in the final scene of one of my all-time favorite films, Richard Linklater’s 1993 cult classic Dazed and Confused. To wit, when Mitch Kramer, who has just returned home at dawn after having undergone all the requisite initiation rites and rituals (drinking beer, smoking pot, throwing a bowling ball from a moving car) of seventies teenagehood, puts on his oversized headphones, it’s the great opening of “Slow Ride” that brings a beatific smile to his face. Linklater could have chosen any song from the mid-seventies to produce that smile, but he chose Foghat, which raises my estimation of both him and them.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Clap Your Hands Say Yeah will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their landmark self-titled debut album with an epic world tour and exclusive new reissue. The first leg of the global headline run gets underway with North American dates beginning March 31, 2025 in Washington, DC and then performing 20 more shows including a very special homecoming performance set for May 10 at Philadelphia, PA’s Union Transfer.

September will see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah crossing the Atlantic for a series of European dates in Belgium, Ireland, France, and the United Kingdom including a two-night stand at London’s EartH (September 19-20). The tour then heads Down Under for dates in Australia and New Zealand beginning November 5 at Sydney’s Metro Theatre. Tickets for all dates go on sale Friday, November 22. Additional dates—including further European shows and visits to Japan, Central and South America—will be announced soon. For complete details and ticket information, please visit cyhsy.com/live.

The 20th anniversary of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah will further be commemorated with a special new reissue, arriving on limited-edition vinyl LP early next year on the band’s own label via Secretly Distribution, the defiantly independent home of Alec Ounsworth’s music for over two decades. The celebration officially gets underway with today’s premiere of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s original 2004 version of the fan favorite, “Heavy Metal,” available everywhere now.

Recorded live at Pawtucket, RI’s Machines with Magnets Studios, the newly remixed and mastered track was recently discovered among the original project files and captures what Clap Your Hands Say Yeah founder and frontman Alec Ounsworth calls “a special moment in time—a young group of guys all piling into one hotel room to wake up and go to a real studio (!) to try to come up with something special just for the fun of it.”

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Moroccan vocalist and guimbri player Maalem Houssam Guinia is poised to make a huge splash with his third release Dead of Night; it’s available now on vinyl and digital from Hive Mind Records. Guinia specializes in Gnawa music, a dynamic style with a long history that can be traced back to the Royal Black Guard of Morocco. Guinia’s father Maalem Mahmoud Guinia was one of the most renowned masters of Gnawa music; with the release of Dead of Night, it’s clear as day the style is in good hands.

Maalem Houssam Guinia first rose to international prominence through a collaboration with the British electronic musician James Holden, the 12-inch EP “Three Live Takes” released in 2018 on Holden’s Border Community label. Previously, Holden and Floating Points had collaborated with Houssam’s father Maalem Mahmoud Guinia on another 12-inch EP, “Marhaba,” which came out in 2015, also on Border Community.

Maalem Mahmoud Guinia passed in 2015, leaving behind a wealth of recordings, the majority of them released in Morocco on cassette. His son’s discography is much smaller, at least apparently so; following “Three Live Takes,” there is Mosawi Swiri, released in 2019 on cassette and digital by Hive Mind, and now Dead of Night.

While Gnawa isn’t the most high profile of African styles, the healing ceremonial music is far from unknown outside of Morocco, in no small part due to Mahmoud Guinia’s body of work. His most famous release remains The Trance of Seven Colors, a live recording from 1994 captured in Essaouira, Morocco by Bill Laswell and issued on his Axiom label. It paired Mahmoud on guimbri with free jazz tenor sax titan Pharoah Sanders. The success of that recording surely inspired The Wels Concert with multi-horn man Peter Brötzmann and drummer Hamid Drake, which was released in 1997 on Okka Disk.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | The Tom Petty Estate and Third Man Records are collaborating to share a unique bootleg performance of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers recorded by house sound mixer Gennaro Rippo.

Taped at the band’s show in Edinburgh, Scotland, the rare recording showcases a raw era-defining moment in the band’s career as they toured their groundbreaking record, Long After Dark. Set for release on November 29, the bootleg will be available in a limited vinyl press of 7,000 copies—watch the trailer for Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers Live In Edinburgh 1982: The Gennaro Tapes below. Pre-order here.

The offering is inspired by Third Man Record’s Jack White and Ben Blackwell, longtime fans of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and their enthusiasm for hearing something raw and unpolished from the band in this golden era.

The release marks the first and only Petty live recording that hasn’t been touched since the day it was captured, pressed directly from cassette to vinyl, provided by beloved sound mixer Gennaro Rippo. The band enjoyed listening to the cassette tapes after shows in what they would call affectionately “Gennaro’s Hawaiian Disco,” often giving him the Presidential Suite in the hotel for the band to hang out and listen each night.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | In an exhilarating announcement for music aficionados and rock historians, the iconic British band Badfinger is proud to unveil the forthcoming release of their long-lost album Head First scheduled for 2024—exactly 50 years after its original recording.

This historic release features Peter Ham’s final studio recordings and marks a significant milestone in the band’s legacy, bringing forth an album that has been shrouded in mystery for decades. Head First will be released on vinyl on December 13, 2024 on Y&T Music (CD TBA). With hits such as “Come and Get It,” “No Matter What,” “Day After Day,” and “Baby Blue,” Badfinger has long been recognized as a formidable force in the power pop and classic rock genres of the 1970s.

A historic recording… Originally laid down in 1974 at The Beatles’ renowned Apple Recording Studio on Savile Row, London, Head First encapsulates a transformative era in Badfinger’s storied career. The sessions for Head First took place during a tumultuous period for the band, marked by personal struggles and external challenges, which ultimately led to the album being shelved. For years, only a rough mix survived, with the master tapes thought to be lost.

However, the recent rediscovery of the original multi-tracks has allowed for a meticulous mixing and mastering process, breathing new life into this long-hidden masterpiece. The release promises to provide fans with an authentic glimpse into the creative spirit of Badfinger during one of their most artistically rich periods.

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Country music went through a seismic change beginning in the mid-to late-1960s, that culminated in the explosion of what was called the “outlaw” movement in the mid-1970s. The movement was primarily spearheaded by folks like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and others, even though many of them, Nelson and Jennings included, had been around for a long time.

This change in country music was also affected by the emergence of folk and rock artists who used country as part of their sound or in some cases whose music was directly impacted by the counterculture. Kris Kristofferson could also had been categorized as a key component of this group, but two artists who were also part of the scene, while taking divergent seminal paths, came together for a brief time in the earlier part of the ’70s to make a music all their own. They were Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. Parsons died not long after his second solo album in 1973, and that album was helped greatly by Harris, who is still going strong today.

The story really begins with Parsons who must be considered the father of country rock for his work leading the International Submarine Band, who released their one and only album, Safe at Home, in 1968. He was also a key player in the first mainstream country rock album Sweetheart of the Rodeo with The Byrds, which was also released in 1968. That would be his one and only album with The Byrds, before he and fellow-Byrd Chris Hillman departed to form the Flying Burrito Brothers with Sneaky Pete Kleinow and Chris Ethridge in 1969 with their debut album The Gilded Palace of Sin.

Parsons would only record one more album with the group, Burrito Deluxe, in 1970, which also included new members Bernie Leadon and Michael Clark, the former drummer with The Byrds. Chris Etheridge had left the group and did not appear on that album.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | 2019 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees, The Zombies, have entered into an agreement with Q Prime to provide label services and distribution for the band’s iconic 1960s studio recordings. Plans are underway for a series of four definitive physical reissues in 2025, remastered from the original tapes, compiling all the band’s studio output.

The first will be a remastered Odessey & Oracle due out early next year, which included the classic songs “Time Of The Season,” “Care of Cell 44,” and “This Will Be Our Year” and is a regular entry in “Best Albums of All Time” lists in publications like Rolling Stone and Mojo magazine. The album will be released in its original Mono mix, to coincide with the release of The Zombies’ documentary, Hung Up On A Dream, directed by musician and filmmaker Robert Schwartzman, and co-produced by Schwartzman’s Utopia Films, The Ranch Productions, and Tom Hanks’ Playtone.

Q Prime will manage all aspects of marketing, manufacturing, distribution, and licensing for The Zombies’ new label imprint Beechwood Park Records, with a catalog that includes the timeless hit singles “She’s Not There,” “Tell Her No,” and “I Want You Back Again.” Q Prime co-founder Cliff Burnstein says, “There’s a very narrow window in a Venn diagram where love, admiration, and business overlap. That’s what the deal is all about.”

The Zombies’ four surviving founding members, lead singer Colin Blunstone, keyboardist Rod Argent, bassist Chris White, and drummer Hugh Grundy, along with Helen Atkinson, the widow, and Estate Trustee of late guitarist Paul Atkinson, acquired the rights to their catalog last year from Marquis Enterprises Ltd., the independent UK production company they originally signed with as teens in 1964.

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Formed in Cincinnati before migrating westward to San Fransisco, cLOUDDEAD emerged at the turn of the century to profoundly impact the sound of experimental hip hop. Comprised of lyricists Yoni Wolf (Why?) and Doseone (Adam Drucker) and producer Odd Nosdam (David P. Madson), cLOUDDEAD debuted with a series of six 10-inch EPs that were in turn compiled to form the group’s debut album in 2001, an eponymous 3LP set that still carries an avant-garde thrust nearly a quarter century later. Superior Viaduct’s reissue is due on November 29.

Experimental (or underground) hip hop was burgeoning from the late 1990s and into the new century, with Anticon, a label formed by seven individuals including the three members of cLOUDDEAD, one part of a wave that encompassed imprints ranging from Rawkus (Company Flow, Mos Def, Talib Kweli), Definitive Jux (Aesop Rock, Cannibal Ox, Mr. Lif, RJD2), Stones Throw (JDilla, Madlib, MF Doom), and 75 Ark (Antipop Consortium, The Coup, Dan the Automator).

Anticon was formed in 1998 and gathered a deep roster that crossed over into electronica and indie rock. cLOUDDEAD is amongst the label’s most lauded projects while also being somewhat mysterious, even as all three members were active prior to the group’s formation. Wolf and Drucker met in the mid-’90s and were part of the group Apogee before forming Greenthink as a duo and releasing two albums. With the addition of Madson, they became cLOUDDEAD.

Occasionally the experimental tag has been applied to hip hop that was better assessed as just quirky or raw or perhaps just dense with ideas. But in the case of cLOUDDEAD, the descriptor of experimental really fits, and to the point where some would argue that what they were up to wasn’t hip hop at all. But of course, upon encountering new developments in the music, many have decried “that’s not hip hop” for decades.

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PHOENIX, AZ | Dayglow made their Phoenix stop at the Arizona Financial Theatre on Friday night and the group brought everything they had to the desert. Dayglow the band is on Dayglow the tour in support of Dayglow the album—I’ve personally never seen such a trifecta—but the self-titled project and tour is a true testament to the genuine nature of the band.

The 23-song setlist includes three encores and a mix of the band’s entire discography. Despite the album title tour, Dayglow delivers all the fan favorites and includes a little bit of the entire five year resume. The venue hosts shows throughout the week, but Dayglow locked in a coveted Friday night slot. With the year wrapping up and tours coming to a close, fans deserve as much music as they can get before 2024 ends—and this one was a high.

The show was opened by Teenage Dads, a young crew from Australia. Arizona Financial Theatre is a big venue and it can be a difficult feat for a young band to engage a crowd, however Teenage Dads not only has the talent, but the personality to make the building theirs. The band began releasing music in 2017 and is presently making their name known in the States. They are traveling with Dayglow for the majority of the tour and seeing what our music scene has to offer. In return they offer American crowds pure entertainment and a ton of energy as a warm-up for Dayglow.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | As the Eagles’ continue their highly anticipated Sphere residency in Las Vegas, Nevada, UMe is releasing a 40th Anniversary vinyl edition of Don Henley’s triple-platinum Building The Perfect Beast album.

Building The Perfect Beast is available now as a 2-LP set for the first time, remastered from the original analog tapes and pressed on 180-gram vinyl. The album features the hit singles “The Boys of Summer,” “All She Wants to Do Is Dance,” “Sunset Grill,” and “Not Enough Love in the World.” The new 2-LP release will also feature the vinyl debut of the album’s complete track list, as “A Month Of Sundays” was only available previously on the CD, cassette, and digital versions. Order Building The Perfect Beast HERE now. A newly remastered digital version of the album is also available now for streaming and download.

In addition to featuring four hit singles, Building The Perfect Beast garnered five GRAMMY nominations and won the award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male for “The Boys Of Summer.” Don Henley was the biggest winner of the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards, taking home four Moonmen, including Video of the Year for “The Boys of Summer,” which was also the year’s most nominated video.

Best known as co-founder of the legendary rock band, the Eagles, as well as an influential solo artist, Don Henley has maintained an extraordinary commitment to music and various philanthropic efforts throughout his career, including a dedication to environmental issues and artists’ rights. Raised in a small East Texas town, Henley was drawn to the sounds of exotic music broadcast from distant radio stations in New Orleans, Nashville, and Ciudad Acuna, Mexico. These stations introduced him to the blues, bluegrass, gospel, jazz, and rock and roll, paving the way for his future as an artist.

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