Everybody’s talkin’ at me / I don’t hear a word they’re sayin’ / Only the echoes of my mind / People stoppin’, starin’ / I can’t see their faces / Only the shadows of their eyes / I’m goin’ where the sun keeps shinin’ / Through the pourin’ rain / Goin’ where the weather suits my clothes / Bankin’ off of the northeast winds / Sailin’ on summer breeze / And skippin’ over the ocean like a stone
Greetings from Wilton, CT. Jumped a red eye east to celebrate my cousin’s wedding and mom’s 89th!
In the past I’ve often enjoyed cutting the Idelic Hour from the road. For inspiration, I pulled out an old IH from a NYC stay some years back. I dug it so much I decided to splice a chunk of the songs into this week’s episode.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Today, The Beatles have announced a special 60th anniversary reissue of their third studio album A Hard Day’s Night, in celebration of National Album Day. The limited edition reissue on 180g white vinyl will be released on October 19th.
At a time when popstars either spoke BBC English or tried to emulate the American rockers they so idolised, there was no hiding where The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr—came from: they sang, as they spoke, in a Liverpool accent. Although the demands of the music business meant they soon had to relocate to London, in many ways they never left their city—in song and in story, the group are inextricably, indelibly linked to Merseyside.
Recorded between January and June 1964 and released that July, if ever there was a pointer to what an album could achieve, it’s the 13 songs and 31 minutes of A Hard Day’s Night, the third long-player by The Beatles. It is the sound of a group with the wind in its hair, the confidence that their hard work was paying off. The (partial) soundtrack to their first film, at a time when an LP was a collection of recent singles and cover versions, A Hard Day’s Night was penned solely by Lennon & McCartney. “Can’t Buy Me Love,” the first track from the forthcoming album to be released, topped the US and UK charts in April 1964.
In the 476 days since the release of their debut LP, Please Please Me in March 1963, The Beatles had gone from local to national to international phenomenon. A Hard Day’s Night, both the beloved 1964 film directed by Richard Lester and the album, captured that rocket in a bottle. With songs about working men going home to their loved ones (the title track, “When I Get Home”); the exhilaration of early love (“I Should Have Known Better,” “If I Fell,” “And I Love Her,” “I’m Happy Just To Dance With You”); the ups and downs of relationships (“I’ll Cry Instead,” “Tell Me Why,” “You Can’t Do That”) and, already, a strong sense of time (“Things We Said Today”), on A Hard Day’s Night, Lennon & McCartney put words in the mouths of teenagers around the world.
The 60th anniversary reissue of A Hard Day’s Night will be released on October 19th to celebrate National Album Day.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Acclaimed archival label Light in the Attic (LITA) continues their partnership with legendary singer, actress, activist, and icon Nancy Sinatra with the latest two installments off their Nancy Sinatra Archival Series: definitive reissues of the 1967 albums Sugar and Country, My Way.
Sugar was the fourth album recorded by Sinatra in 1966, an uncanny feat considering The Beatles were recording around two albums a year at the time. The album followed on the heels of her hit debut album Boots, her sophomore follow-up How Does That Grab You?, and the Swinging Sixties offering Nancy In London. In 1967, Sinatra would continue her artistic ascent into the pop stratosphere with the James Bond You Only Live Twice theme song, the groovy technicolor television special Movin’ With Nancy, recording one of the most beloved duets of all time, titled “Some Velvet Morning,” and a cross-country pilgrimage to the center of the country music scene to record Country, My Way.
Due out November 29th in vinyl, CD, and digital formats, with both LP editions being offered on classic black wax and special limited-edition color wax (Sugar is available on “Sugar Town Pink” and “Let’s Fall In Love” pink and white swirl; Country, My Way is available on “Bye-Bye Birmingham” blue and “Hello LA” red and white swirl). Sugar and Country, My Way are available to pre-order now.
All formats feature audio freshly remastered from the original analog tapes by GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin. Pressed at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI), both vinyl editions are presented in expanded gatefold jackets accompanied by 20-page booklets (featuring a new Q&A with Sinatra conducted by the reissue’s GRAMMY®-nominated co-producer Hunter Lea, plus never-before-seen photos from the artist’s personal archive). All music configurations, plus limited-edition autographed vinyl, will also be made available at Nancy’s Bootique.
Celebrating Brian Johnson on his 77th birthday. —Ed.
A very brief history lesson. First Attila was the greatest hard rock band in the world. Then Sir Lord Baltimore took over as the greatest hard rock band in the world. Then along came AC/DC to produce an electrical surge that brought down the hard rock power grid, settling the debate forever. Their ascendancy caused many a band to give up the ghost. Some sold their gear and returned to England to resume their careers as bricklayers. Others picked up dulcimers and went full folkie. I saw Deep Purple at a Greenwich Village folk club and their lute and bodhrán take on “Smoke on the Water”inspired some discerning fan with a flare gun to burn the place to the ground.
AC/DC played a primal, zero frills, straight ahead hard rock that led morons (like the younger me) to conclude their music was for dummies. Frank Zappa (my then idol) played cerebral brain music. AC/DC just punched you in the solar plexus. Theirs was gut music, like Iggy and the Stooges or a souped-up, oversexed early Black Sabbath.
And on 1980’s Back in Black—the band’s seventh studio LP—AC/DC forged its metal into a tool of sledgehammer simplicity. It was former Geordie vocalist Brian Johnson’s first LP with the band, Bon Scott having died from alcohol poisoning the previous February. The band recorded the LP in the Bahamas, where a diehard fan in the form of a crab scuttled across the studio floor. With his cheerleading the band recorded ten tracks that stripped hard rock to its essentials. Three chords, no poofter organ solos, just barf in your face music for the lads at the local.
You get a little dark stuff in the form of “Hell’s Bells,” are invited to have a drink with the lads, and get a lecture on how rock and roll isn’t poisoning the aural environment. But what you mostly get is not so subtle sexual innuendo that reveals Ted Nugent to be a loincloth feminist. This is 12-year-old stuff, but to be fair to the band, there’s nothing on Back in Black as pubescent as Zappa’s “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow.”
You don’t need to be using your vocal cords to sing. There are other ways to do it, you don’t even need to be a human being! Birds sing, the wind sings while you’re standing on the beach watching the surf, and maybe you could even say that an air conditioner sings in the background as it cools your room on a hot summer day. Just because something is singing doesn’t mean it has to come from vox humana. In the case of Delicate Steve, it’s his guitar that does the singing, and it’s a distinctive voice that his instrument has.
On his recently released new album Delicate Steve Sings (Anti), Steve Marion takes the voice of his guitar and applies it to mostly an original cadre of songs, however, he throws in a few covers for good measure, some you’ll definitely know, and a few that may be new to you. But no matter what song he’s playing, he’s working hard on this album to make sure that those songs have the unique singing voice that his guitar has exhibited over the last eight albums that he’s released.
On this episode, we of course talk about his new record, and about how some critics may have misunderstood what he was trying to do on this album, but how it only goes to prove to himself that he’s on the right track. Do you know what your voice sounds like? You don’t have to use your vocal cords, or a guitar. What is it that you use when you really sing?
Evan Toth is a songwriter, professional musician, educator, radio host, avid record collector, and hi-fi aficionado. Toth hosts and produces The Evan Toth Show and TVD Radar on WFDU, 89.1 FM. Follow him at the usual social media places and visit his website.
Television began life as a punk band—Richard Hell made sure of that. But Tom Verlaine soon tired of Hell’s determined amateurism and wildman antics (didn’t like him, you know, MOVING on stage) and so out went Hell, and as time passed Television became something very different. Twin guitars, lots of soloing, no “fuck rock ’n’ roll” nihilism—Television went from Dionysian to Apollonian, from raw and visceral to tight and (somehow) both wound up and ethereal. They weren’t America’s answer to the Sex Pistols—they were America’s answer to Wishbone Ash.
Television had a short but brilliant run—epochal debut (1977’s Marquee Moon), a second album that disappointed most but was at its best utterly sublime (1978’s Adventure), plus a live album that was released post-breakup (1982’s The Blow-Up) and an album they recorded after reforming briefly in the nineties (who cares). They weren’t a better to burn out than to fade away proposition—they succumbed to sheer fatigue and disappointing record sales, and went their separate ways with the usual “Why aren’t we stars, fuck this.”
Richard Hell had an interesting thing to say about the Tom Verlaine (then still Paul Miller) he’d first met at school in Delaware. He said Verlaine “…had this fundamental belief in his absolute inherent superiority to everyone else on this earth.” Such people tend to be control freaks, have delusions of grandeur and to be intolerant of the shortcomings of others, so it was perhaps inevitable that he’d end up a solo artist. Fellow Television guitarist Richard Lloyd’s drug problems, and the group’s failure to achieve commercial success mentioned above, didn’t help.
Verlaine didn’t let much time pass before he released his first solo album, 1979’s Tom Verlaine. It didn’t hurt that more than half of its songs—including the two best—dated back to Verlaine’s time in Television. Like Lou Reed, Verlaine didn’t walk away from his old band without taking a few mementos with him. Getting a fresh start is easier when you don’t have to make a fresh start.
Toledo, OH | ‘Our 20th year in Toledo has been our toughest’: Culture Clash asking for support: Culture Clash Records moved from west Toledo to downtown in August 2020. Culture Clash Records is seeking support from the public after what it said has been its toughest year since opening 20 years ago. In a Facebook post Tuesday, Culture Clash listed a number of ways the public can support its operations. In a linked GoFundMe, store owner Tim Friedman said the store faces mounting costs incurred from expenses related to a building zoning issue after the business moved downtown in 2020. …”The future of Culture Clash has ignited a fire in me for years, and I still believe we are and will be a hub in Toledo’s community for live music, unique events, and the arts,” he said in the video. In the social media post, Culture Clash listed for supporters the ways they can help the business…
UK | I’m travelling to every record shop in the UK—here are my 10 favourites: From Orkney to Brighton, independent stores are treasure troves for vinyl hunters and a great way to while away a holiday afternoon. I still remember the excitement of buying my first vinyl aged 11, Duane Eddy’s great 1962 single (Dance With the) Guitar Man, and that bug has been with me ever since. There’s nothing quite like the thrill of digging through the racks and finding that elusive wishlist record. …lately my focus has been on visiting every record shop across the UK—and to buy something at every stop. Established shops close and new ones open on a regular basis and, according to the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), the number of independent record stores in the UK has reached a 10-year high. Last year there were 461, compared with 339 in 2014.
Boise, ID | Historic Idaho music shop keeps rollin’ (and rockin’) with the times: As Idaho’s largest independent music store, The Record Exchange has been tickling the ear drums of music enthusiasts of all kinds since 1977. The company’s founder, Michael Bunnell, worked as a logger in McCall in the mid-1970s and when an accident on the job left him severely injured, he used a small settlement from the logging company to open a record store which was inspired by the store of his youth: The original Tower Records in Sacramento, California. The Record Exchange was born. There are rows of vinyl records and CDs, funky T-shirts and socks, turntables and audio equipment, posters and much more. And what’s coming from the sound system varies from day to day—ranging from R & B, jazz, rock and everything in between.
Charlotte, NC | Charlotte: Some Cool Record Stores: In today’s day and age, we don’t have to go to the store to buy music, records, or anything like that. You can pretty much listen to any song ever online. I grew up in an age where vinyl records were the thing you bought or maybe a cassette tape of an album. I’m a little too young to have purchased 8-tracks, but I will tell you I still buy vinyl records. I sometimes buy new versions of vinyl records that I already have. I love the remastered versions with new liner notes. And I’ll admit it: I like it when they reissue vinyl in a different color. There’s something special about vinyl records. I don’t know if it’s the beginning of the record or when you hear those little pops and ticks before your song starts to play. It’s something I have always loved and continue to love as I listen to those vinyl records. …I did a little digging and found some of those wonderful brick-and-mortar record stores right here in Charlotte.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Resonance Records proudly presents Lights on a Satellite: Live at the Left Bank, a blazing set of previously unissued 1978 concert recordings by Sun Ra and his Myth Science Cosmo Swing Arkestra, as a limited two-LP set for RSD Black Friday, November 29. Co-produced by Zev Feldman and Sun Ra archivist Michael D. Anderson (who also played drums on the ’78 concert), the newly unearthed live session is an exciting successor to Sun Ra at the Showcase: Live in Chicago, another archival find that Feldman issued on his Jazz Detective imprint for Record Store Day this April. The new collection will also be released as a two-CD set on December 6.
Prophetic avant gardist Sun Ra’s big band is heard in blistering form—playing repertoire ranging from space-age jazz to interpretations of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and jazz standards by Fletcher Henderson, Miles Davis, and Tadd Dameron—on a dynamic 12-track set recorded at a show mounted by the Left Bank Jazz Society at the Famous Ballroom in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 23, 1978. Those recordings are augmented by two tracks captured at the concert and featured in the classic 1980 film Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise by the acclaimed music filmmaker Robert Mugge, who also provided images for the new package.
The deluxe Resonance packages include an essay by noted jazz critic J.D. Considine (who attended the ’78 show); reminiscences from Anderson, Mugge, Left Bank member John Fowler, critic Dan Morgenstern, and Arkestra veteran and latter-day bandleader Marshall Allen; and thoughts on Sun Ra’s artistry from musicians Gary Bartz and Craig Taborn.
Feldman says of this newest discovery, “It was very exciting to learn from Sun Ra archivist Michael D. Anderson that these recordings from the Left Bank in 1978 even existed. Filmmaker Robert Mugge was also very kind to us by allowing us to borrow the music he had recorded for his film, which is presented here as bonus tracks. Also thanks to Mr. Mugge, we’ve included various high-resolution screen captures from his film that help capture the energy of what it was like to be there at the Famous Ballroom that night.”
VIA PRESS RELEASE | The Animals announce a 2CD reissue of their classic debut album The Animals which features the full album in both mono and stereo with bonus track “House of the Rising Sun,” to be released on 18th October. Pre-order here. Alongside this, The Animals will be available on exclusive yellow vinyl as part of this year’s National Album Day on 19th October.
Originally released in 1964, this groundbreaking record introduced the world to the raw energy of British rock fused with deep American blues. It features a mixture of blues, R&B, traditional folk covers and covers of songs written by John Lee Hooker, Chuck Berry, and Fats Domino. Produced by Mickie Most, The Animals featured Eric Burdon on lead vocals, Hilton Valentine on guitar, Alan Price on keyboards, Chas Chandler on bass guitar, and John Steel on drums.
The 2CD reissue includes “House of the Rising Sun.” Initially a traditional folk song, The Animals’ cover went to number one in the UK, US, and Canada and has since been dubbed as the “first folk rock hit.”
Celebrating Jody Stephens in advance of his 72nd birthday tomorrow. —Ed.
The Memphis group Big Star has long been a favorite of folks who love smartly conceived guitar-based pop-rock, and while few bought their records when they were hot off the presses, their status as an enduring cult staple is undeniable. After a long relationship with discerning turntables everywhere, Big Star received the Big Screen treatment with a documentary titled Nothing Can Hurt Me, and the soundtrack collects unique mixes of material long-considered classic. That the songs included here could easily slay a busload of Big Star newbies is testament to not only the band’s everlasting importance but also to the admirable ambitions that made this 2LP set and its accompanying film possible.
Over the last few decades the music documentary has really become one of the steadiest (some might say unrelenting) currents in the whole vast field of non-fiction filmmaking. And this shouldn’t be any kind of surprise. For everybody loves music, or so it’s often been said. But this doesn’t change the fact that some musicians/bands are far more deserving of having their story represented on film than others.
Simply stating that a very few groups are more worthy than Big Star of having their existence outlined through the medium of the film doc can initially smack of extreme devotion and perhaps even flat-out hyperbole. For just like the old saw that everybody loves music, it’s just as often been said that everybody has a story, and even, nay especially, in the non-fiction field the plain facts of the narrative ultimately aren’t as important as the way the events get told.
But if we dig a little deeper, the documentary’s inherent connection with the “real world,” or specifically the manner in which things don’t always work out the way we’d like them to, is especially resonant to the tale of Andy Hummel, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens, and Alex Chilton. For unlike the life of Ray Charles or the early years of The Beatles, Big Star is far from a good fit for the Hollywood treatment, or at least for the situation as it currently stands in the movie-making industry.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Deep Digs, in cooperation with the B. B. King Estate, Universal Music Enterprises and INA France, will issue a sensational, previously unreleased B.B. King album, In France: Live at the 1977 Nancy Jazz Pulsations Festival, as a limited two-LP set for RSD Black Friday on Nov. 29.
The powerful set, featuring a dynamic, stops-out performance by the masterful blues singer-guitarist and his potent seven-piece band, which will be heard on record for the first time, will see release as a two-CD set on Dec. 6.
The collection, released in cooperation with the B.B. King Estate, was recorded at the titular festival by the Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (ORTF), France’s national radio agency. It succeeds Deep Digs’ widely acclaimed debut release, gospel singer-guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s Live in France, which was drawn from ORTF’s archives at INA for the imprint’s Record Store Day bow this April.
Award-winning archival producer Zev Feldman, whose Deep Digs titles are released in partnership with Jordi Soley and Carlos Agustin Calembert of Spain’s Elemental Music, says, “I’ve been a lifelong fan of B.B. King, and it brings me so much joy to make this truly remarkable document captured at a wonderful period of B.B. King’s career available for the world to hear.”
The LP edition of the collection will be issued on 180-gram vinyl and mastered and cut by Matthew Lutthans at the Mastering Lab. LP and CD editions will both include liner notes by French writer Jean Buzelin, author of books about Tharpe, Skip James, Memphis Minnie, and Blind Lemon Jefferson, and photos from the Nancy, France, performance by Jean-Marc Birraux, plus other vintage shots by Jean-Pierre Leloir and Ozier Muhammad.
Checking in with cornetist-trumpeter-composer-bandleader-visual artist Rob Mazurek is always worthwhile. That’s because, to make it plain, the guy’s records just never miss. And when it’s a release by the Exploding Star Orchestra, that’s even better, as the band, which has been Mazurek’s primary musical focus over the last half decade or so (the group has been extant for nearly 25 years), is a certifiable murderer’s row of talent, of which more is said below. The latest album from Exploding Star Orchestra is Live at the Adler Planetarium, a sleek doozy of a performance captured in Mazurek’s old stomping grounds of Chicago. It’s out on vinyl and CD October 4 through International Anthem.
Rob Mazurek began leading ensembles of various sizes in the mid-’90s, but of particular note is the Chicago Underground Collective (17 releases ranging from duo to orchestra beginning with 12 Degrees of Freedom in 1998), São Paulo Underground (six releases beginning with Sauna: Um, Dois, Tres in 2006), and Exploding Star Orchestra (nine releases beginning with We Are All From Somewhere Else in 2007).
Live at the Adler Planetarium features Mazurek on trumpets, bells and voice (along with providing compositions and directing the band), Nicole Mitchell on flute, voice and electronics, Damon Locks on voice, samplers and electronics, Tomeka Reid on cello and electronics, Craig Taborn on Wurlitzer electric piano, Moog and electronics, Angelica Sanchez on Wurlitzer electric piano and Moog, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten on bass, and Chad Taylor and Gerald Cleaver on drums.
The music heard on Live at the Adler Planetarium was one part of an event that saw a stream of abstractions derived from Mazurek’s paintings and animations digitally projected above the heads of the audience and band in the planetarium’s Grainger Sky Theater. The record’s cover captures a glimpse of what the assembled experienced that night, March 24, 2023.
Record Store Day announces special Black Friday drops from Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and more: Record Store Day has announced its exclusive releases for sister event Black Friday 2024, including very special vinyl offerings from superstars such as Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish and Noah Kahan. Record Store Day Black Friday returns on 29 November from 8am, with a line-up of vinyl releases exclusive to indie record shops up and down the UK. To find your local indie record store participating in Record Store Day Black Friday, click here. …Record Store Day’s Black Friday releases are intended to put a fresh spin on the bargain-bin chaos you often see on the day, and instead create special, collectible editions of stunning releases for music lovers to enjoy.
Inverness, UK | Union Vinyl: How an obsession for collecting records cued up a business opportunity in Inverness: The Inverness shop also led to a vinyl and vintage clothing outlet in Nairn. As a youngster, Nigel Graham’s pocket money inevitably found its way to a record shop on Market Brae Steps in Inverness. The obsession for collecting vinyl later turned into a business located just a few yards from his early album hunting ground. Union Vinyl is the city’s only independent dedicated vinyl record store and a treasure trove for the serious collector or casual browser. A collector by the age of 10. Nigel set up the business buying and selling vinyl records in 2014, initially in Union Street (hence the name) before moving to the current spot seven years ago. His musical taste was influenced by his older brother whose 70s punk records fascinated the then six-year-old. By the age of 10 he was a collector, David Bowie’s 1980 album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) being the first purchase.
Raleigh, NC | In Record Time: Vinyl records are all the rage in Raleigh. Here’s where to find them. Step down, Spotify. Try as they may, digital music formats are never going to fully extinguish the analog experience. In fact, vinyl is vibing higher than ever—with a whopping $1.4 billion spent on records in 2023—thanks to immersive sound quality and that cool aesthetic (it’s giving Alexa Chung). Clearly, the modish medium easily tops Shazaming a song any day—never mind you can make a whole day out of picking out new albums. So, channel your inner Tom Cruise a la Risky Business, take those old records off the shelf and spin up some freshly pressed wax tunes to your collection via these local selects.
San Diego, CA | Top 5 Vinyl Record Shops in San Diego: San Diego’s music scene is buzzing, and its record stores offer a goldmine of music for collectors. From rare finds to classic rock, there is something for everyone. Let us dive into the top five vinyl record shops in the city! Here is list of BEST Vinyl Record Stores in San Diego, CA. Lets explore each Vinyl Stores of san diego in more details. Vinyl Junkies Record Shack: Vinyl Junkies Record Shack is a must-visit for music lovers in South Park. With a stellar selection of vinyl, CDs, and cassettes, including rare finds, it is the perfect spot to discover new music. Plus, their snug, mid-century-inspired interior and knowledgeable staff makes it a welcoming place to hang out. Do not miss their live performances on the back patio! FeeLIT: FeeLIT is a cozy downtown music shop with a wide range of new and used vinyl, imports, cassettes, and merchandise. They are active in the local scene, hosting events and special-ordering hard-to-find records…
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Hot on the heels of their critically acclaimed, sold-out summer headline tour, Bush is set to commemorate the 30th anniversary of their groundbreaking debut album Sixteen Stone with a special vinyl reissue. This milestone release marks the beginning of an exciting new partnership with Craft Recordings, a label renowned for its dedication to preserving and amplifying iconic music. The multi-Platinum LP, a cornerstone of the ’90s post-grunge era, is set to arrive on November 22nd and is available for pre-order.
Alongside a wide release, fans can get their hands on six limited-edition colored pressings: “Opaque Red” (available wide), “Silver” (exclusive to Independent Record Stores), “Translucent Lemonade” (via Best Buy), “Sepia” (via Barnes & Noble), and “Highlighter Smoke” (available at Revolver), plus a “Fog” pressing exclusive to the band’s Spotify followers.
Released on December 6th, 1994, Sixteen Stone propelled Bush into the international spotlight, selling millions of copies in the US—the album recently certified 7X Platinum by the RIAA—and producing a string of hit singles. With its blend of heavy guitar riffs and introspective lyrics, the album helped define the alternative-rock sound of the ’90s, cementing Bush as one of the era’s most successful bands.
Upon release, Sixteen Stone debuted at No.4 on the Billboard 200, staying on the chart for more than 70 weeks. The album’s runaway success was driven by its singles, including the chart-topping hits “Glycerine” and “Comedown,” both of which exploded at radio peaking at No.1 in Billboard’s Alternative Airplay charts and No.1 in the Modern Rock Tracks chart. Other fan-favorites on the album include “Machinehead,” “Everything Zen,” and “Little Things.” The enduring popularity of these tracks has kept the album resonance for new generations of listeners, while its influence on modern rock remains undeniable.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | “Perhaps more than any other record of the decade, [Sung Tongs] foresaw where indie hearts, ears, and minds would go in the next five years… the magic of this record was that it was both innovative and utterly, peerlessly beautiful.” —Pitchfork
Animal Collective will release a Canary Yellow and Ruby Red colored 2xLP vinyl repress of their beloved fifth studio LP, 2004’s Sung Tongs, in honor of the album’s 20 year anniversary. The new edition marks the first time the album has been available on color vinyl. Also available digitally and on color vinyl will be the new live album Sung Tongs Live at the Theatre at Ace Hotel, a recording of the 2018 concert in Los Angeles where Avey Tare and Panda Bear performed the album in full. All formats will be out October 4 via Domino.
Sung Tongs marked the beginning of a prolific five-year period in which Animal Collective went on to release their game-changing albums Feels (2005), Strawberry Jam (2007), and Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009). At the time of Sung Tongs’ release, Rolling Stone called it “one of the more creative and accomplished records you’ll hear this year,” adding, “Their songs cackle with soulful eccentricity while dazzling you with deceptive chops and improvised manipulations.”
Pitchfork later named it one of the best albums of the 2000s, raving, “Sung Tongs is an emotionally thrilling record, impossibly giddy and fully-charged with big, raucous enthusiasm: Acoustic strums and wild, flailing voices (including some mind-blowing harmonies by vocalists Avey Tare and Panda Bear) coalesce into something sublimely weird and undeniably beautiful.”