VIA PRESS RELEASE | While the present-day incarnation of Cactus continues to defy the passing of time (the band’s new video, “300 Pounds of Joy,” is among the heaviest things you’ll encounter this year), the band’s former self is crushing the opposition as well.
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Formed by Carmine Appice and Tim Bogert after the former Vanilla Fudge-rs initial intention of teaming up with Jeff Beck was derailed by the guitarist’s car accident, Cactus swiftly established themselves among the loudest, and most influential hard rock bands of the early 1970s.

Three killer albums set the stage for a legacy that swept even Van Halen into their court—Carmine still possesses a cassette tape Eddie Van Halen gave him, of the then-unknown band blasting Cactus covers to a clubful of fans.

And the last few years have seen Cleopatra Records delve into the band’s archive for a clutch of live albums that capture the original band in even more fiery form—The Birth of Cactus, Ultra Sonic Boogie ’71 and, stressing on December 18, Auxiliary Studios ’71, a truly monstrous performance from fall 1971, and an historic one as well.

This was the night when the band announced that guitarist Jim McCarty was on his way out of the band, and they were searching for a new axeman—a shock split that hit the fan-base like an earthquake. Cactus were already known across the US as “the American Led Zeppelin.” And now the American Jimmy Page was on his way out.

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Remembering Ellie Greenwich, born on this date in 1940. —Ed.

The late Ellie Greenwich’s well-deserved fame derives primarily from her activities as a songwriter, specifically as one half of the behemoth Brill Building duo Greenwich-Barry, a pair that penned some of the most brilliant and enduring tunes in the rich history of the ‘60s Girl-Group sound. But she was also a gifted vocalist, and while her talents behind the microphone will never eclipse her abilities as a composer, a little enthusiasm for her performances can only serve to deepen an already impressive legacy. Exhibit number one should be her fabulous single from 1967, “I Want You to Be My Baby” b/w “Goodnight, Goodnight (What’s So Good About It?).”

Once upon a time, the highly rewarding phenomenon of the ‘60s girl groups was firmly in the grip of the formidable tentacles of nostalgia. Such was the intense power of the “golden oldies” experience. While the same can be said of the numerous other rock-based genres that also remained in cultural memory through widespread popularity, those forms were separated far more easily from their sticky status as representatives of a supposedly simpler and somehow preferable past.

As such, younger folks often come to grips with the greatness of Stax before they integrate the more sophisticated pop direction of Motown into their listening diets. And to this day, whole hypothetical countries can be populated with Beatles fans that care nothing about the concept of the ‘60s as a great time to be alive, mainly because they weren’t around to form any memories of that nature.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Circulation: How Culture Moves in the Age of Algorithm, the new book from author and Co-Founder/President of Thirty Tigers, David Macias, is out January 14 via Whitefox Publishing.

Circulation looks at the utility of the algorithms deciding how songs and stories reach an audience and their impact, not only on music discovery, but on how culture develops as a whole. Focusing on the mechanics of the algorithms used today by streaming services, e-commerce platforms, and more, the book explores the ramifications for the emerging and marginal cultures that lack the data trails and institutional backing that these platforms are built to reward.

Circulation both diagnoses the problem and goes on to propose solutions, suggesting counterweights built into the system itself rather than tearing down recommendation systems or resurrecting old-school gatekeeping. Macias treats what the algorithm already knows as a starting point rather than a verdict and searches for ways to break the entertainment industry’s addiction to algorithmic affirmation. Circulation aims to open a door for the cultures that currently find themselves walled off from the processes for cultural discovery.

In addition to its January release, Circulation is being serialized via Macias’ Substack; read the first entry—a web-exclusive introduction from Macias—HERE, with Chapter 1 set to post this Friday (10/23).

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There are live albums that make you wish you’d been there. And then there are live albums that make you fall to your knees and cry, “Thank you, Jesus, for sparing me!”

My gratitude for not having been in the audience for Eric Clapton’s gruesome 1992 live album for the MTV Unplugged TV series is akin to what I’d feel after missing a flight that nose-plowed into an alligator-infested swamp. Had the righteous of the earth seen fit to ban the album, all would be well. Unfortunately, it’s out there right now, eating souls.

Filmed before an adoring audience willing to forgive Clapton for his racist, anti-immigrant track record, Unplugged is, I confess, a fascinating album—you’ll rarely hear an artist so gleefully make a mockery of his own reputation and legacy. Not that he hadn’t already done some of the heavy lifting—he was well on his way when he gifted us the maudlin “Tears in Heaven,” a version of which appears on Unplugged. If it isn’t a sure-fire legacy killer, I don’t know what is.

Unplugged is one laid-back album. Clapton had gone the laid-back Tulsa Sound route before, but the laid-back of Unplugged is aggressively, oppressively laid-back—in an ideal world his transformation of “Layla” into an industrial-strength soporific would constitute a crime against humanity. And Clapton’s lazy acoustic guitar is the ruination of several songs, the defanged “Nobody Knows When You’re Down and Out” being the worst offender. Unplugged has zero bite—you get the sense Old Slowbore was afraid his dentures would fall out.

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TORONTO, ON | Durham, North Carolina-based expansive duo Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn, better known as Sylvan Esso, brought their stellar vibes to History Toronto on Monday night, leaving attendees thrilled they left their homes on arguably the least popular night of the week.

Nova Scotian indie rocker Rachel Bobbitt put on a beautiful opening set to kick off the evening, and then it was all Sylvan Esso. Typically that consists of Meath and Sanborn, who not only make music together, but also established their own music label, Psychic Hotline, and are fresh off curating their first music fest, Good Moon Festival.

But this tour, along with their excellent 2026 album, Ow ∞, features other musicians as well. The result is the curation of a new way to realize every note and nuance of Sylvan Esso’s highly intentional songs. Live, the band plays and Sanborn runs the sound through his gear, modifying it so that he feels like he’s “finger painting for the whole set,” as explained to The Washington Post earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Meath’s signature voice soars and her dancing accentuates and punctuates every moment. The combined efforts make for some truly kickass songs—like folk hymns hidden inside of dance anthems—and memorable concert moments—like the cover of Donna Lewis’ “I Love You Always Forever.” There’s a reason I’ve never skipped an album or missed a tour.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Texas, one of the UK’s defining bands of the 21st century, celebrate three decades of the record that made them superstars when White On Blonde turns 30 on February 5, 2027. Alongside the anniversary news comes brand new single “Another Way To Cry,” out now via Play It Again Sam.

Released in February 1997 into a musical landscape running on Britpop swagger and laddy energy, Texas’ landmark fourth LP, which is certified 6x platinum in the UK, was the absolute opposite: a record that embraced the band’s love of soul, trip-hop and more, and turned it into a catalogue of emotionally-resonant, radio-ready hit singles.

Following its immediate, huge success (a Number One album chart placing upon its release, plus five Top 10 singles), the band followed it up with curveball moves including a Wu-Tang Clan collaboration on “Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day)” that earned them a further Top 10. Nothing about any of it was expected, but that was precisely what turned it into magic.

“It didn’t feel risky because no-one at our label gave a shit,” Sharleen Spiteri recalls of the attitude towards the band in the UK ahead of White On Blonde. “We were in Glasgow, we made the album in my house and I did all the vocals in the coat cupboard. We had nothing to lose, and anyway, I didn’t want to fit in. If everybody’s doing something, I’m always running in the opposite direction and that’s always been the attitude—whether it’s walking on stage at Glastonbury, or with White On Blonde. It’s always been us saying: We will play our own tune. If you want to jump on, great. If you hate us, fine. But this is what we want to do.”

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Remembering Bobby Fuller, born on this date in 1942. —Ed.

Inspecting chart history proves otherwise, but due to the ubiquitous nature of that one song everybody remembers, Bobby Fuller is considered by many as a One Hit Wonder. Others view him as the true-blood ‘60s extension in art as well as life of fellow Texan Buddy Holly, which overlaps with the assessment by some that Fuller was maybe the last gasp of rock ‘n’ roll innocence before the ‘60s became The Sixties. But he was also just a passionate young guy with a boatload of talent for whom music was paramount, and nothing communicates that better than a listen to The Bobby Fuller Four’s 1966 LP, I Fought the Law.

The Bobby Fuller Four’s second and best long-player opens with what is probably my pick for the band’s greatest moment and certainly one of their leader’s finest compositions. It’s not the title track, for “I Fought the Law” was penned by Sonny Curtis of The Crickets, a group most famous for backing Buddy Holly (Curtis joined after Holly’s plane crash; the original appears on 1960s In Style with the Crickets).

The tune is “Let Her Dance,” a delicious slice of guitar and vocal harmony-driven pop-rock and easily one of ’65’s best singles. Perfectly calibrated for airplay, its 2:32 flows with expertly layered simplicity. Once established, none of the song’s elements drift far in their roles; not Fuller’s lead singing of his wounded-heart love lyrics or the gorgeous chiming and jangling of his and Jim Reese’s guitars, not the beautiful but non-grandiose backing vocals, not Randy Fuller’s bass, and definitely not DeWayne Quirico’s drumming, which, with subtle alterations, follows the same pattern throughout.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | On the Records: 80 Musicians on Beloved and Overlooked Albums is the new book by music industry veteran Brian Beck with music writer, editor, and educator Piotr Orlov that gathers musical hidden gems, overlooked classics, and personal favorites, selected by 80 celebrated artists.

Featuring essays and stories by luminaries across genres and spanning generations, the book offers readers a rare opportunity to explore extraordinary music through the eyes and ears of the musicians who cherish it. On the Records will be available in hardcover on November 17, 2026 via Clarkson Potter, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House (retail: $30).

Discover the music that shaped Dolly Parton’s earliest memories through her mother’s voice, the rare recording that Black Thought of The Roots continues to draw from, the album that changed the way Chris Stapleton heard and approached music, the recordings Sonny Rollins believed deserved a new audience, and the album that clarified for Laufey what she wanted to do as a musician.

The book brings together a remarkable range of musicians, including GRAMMY, Pulitzer Prize, and Academy Award winners and some of the most influential and respected voices in music. Their selections range from overlooked work of widely recognized artists to recordings that were self-released, long out of print, difficult to find, or simply never received the audience they deserved.

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In 1970 and 1971, Cat Stevens released two albums (Tea for the Tillerman, Teaser and the Firecat) that established him as one of the most important and successful singer-songwriters in music. The genre ruled in that period, with albums from fellow UK artist Elton John and Americans Carole King, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, and Carly Simon.

Catch Bull at Four in 1972 didn’t yield any hits, but it continued a winning formula for Stevens. Foreigner in 1973 was a stylistic departure, and although it was not well received or popular at the time, in retrospect it was an adventurous and experimental album that included a full side of the Foreigner suite, illustrating how Stevens was broadening his sound and growing as an artist.

Buddha and the Chocolate Box from 1974 was a return to more familiar musical territory and included the hit “Oh Very Young.” The album would be one of the last quintessential albums from Stevens and came four short years before he left the music business. It would be almost 20 years before Stevens recorded again. The album has recently been reissued and sounds as fresh and new as when it was originally released. The hit “Oh Very Young” is as poignant as ever, and for those who heard it when it was first released, hearing it now is a whole new experience.

What made the album and those other successful albums of the period so good was the way Stevens mixed folk, rock, and pop with rich musical textures and exotic sounds, highlighted by his guitar work, keyboards, and distinctive vocal style. While his music was often moody and introspective, with baroque classical touches, Stevens was a deft songwriter who could craft catchy choruses and memorable melodies.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Sony Music Entertainment and Hollywood Records are proud to announce that A Day at the Races, the fifth studio album by Queen, is to be celebrated almost 50 years to the day with the release of two special new vinyl editions.

Initially released on December 10th, 1976, the classic album, which features the transatlantic smash “Somebody To Love” and perennial live favorite, “Tie Your Mother Down,” will be issued on blue marbled vinyl and a Queen Store exclusive picture disc almost 50 years to the day on December 11th, 2026.

Queen recorded their fifth studio album between Summer and Autumn 1976, and it was their first self-produced album, engineered by Mike Stone. Like the previous album, A Night At The Opera, it took its title from a film by the Marx Brothers.

Brian May and Roger Taylor have often cited A Day At The Races as a continuation of the previous LP. It remains one of their most acclaimed records, reaching #5 in America (#1 in the UK), where it was issued a week after the UK release and became Queen’s first American album to reach Gold status before moving on to Platinum.

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