VIA PRESS RELEASE | “Drink The New Wine,” the last song ever recorded by Peter Murphy, Daniel Ash, Kevin Haskins, and David J—aka goth legends Bauhaus—will be issued on white, silver, and red vinyl, just in time for Halloween.
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Formed at the tail end of the 1970s, before there even was such a thing as Goth, Bauhaus effectively birthed an entire way of life with their debut single, the immortal “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” Four albums in four years cemented the band’s reputation; a handful of much-applauded reunion tours (and a fifth album in 2008) ensured it remained in place. Indeed, even now, Cleopatra are planning a slew of releases based upon those later, thrilling, adventures.

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“Drink The New Wine,” however, is something else entirely. Musically, it is classic Bauhaus, as Ash explains. “I always loved it when Bauhaus would go into art fart mode. Truly liberating and FUN!” But the record itself, too, is unique.
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Releasing on 12-inch single on October 30, every color variant comes with an etched b-side, gloriously reproducing the Bauhaus logo. And with only 150 copies of each color available worldwide, clearly one of the final chapters in Bauhaus history is about to become one of the band’s rarest physical releases. Every copy will be individually hand numbered, making each color its own edition of only 150. There will be no repressing.

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Remembering John Lennon, born on this day in 1940. —Ed.

The Plastic Ono Band album, released in 1970 by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, is monumental in the annals of rock history. It was the fourth album John and Yoko released, but it is often credited as Lennon’s solo debut.

There were so many facets to what made the album so iconic, right from its initial release. First and foremost, it signaled Lennon’s complete break with The Beatles and the 1960s, spiritually and philosophically. It was a sharp severing of all the bonds that tied him to that earth-shattering decade as well as to his place in the band that defined the era. It was also his divorce from Paul McCartney, his songwriting partner and co-equal in The Beatles.

Emotionally and psychologically, the music was the result of Lennon’s time in primal scream therapy with American psychologist and psychotherapist Dr. Arthur Janov, who developed the therapy in the early 1950s. It is this therapy that informs Lennon’s use of raw, sparse backing as a foundation for his direct, unflinching, and often wrenching lyrics.

Lennon, unlike most rock stars (except maybe Pete Townshend), sought to shatter the mythology and invincibility of his group, especially after the breakup of The Beatles. George Harrison didn’t exactly seek to do that, but he felt the burden of being an ex-Beatle the heaviest.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Dark Horse Records is proud to announce Joe Strummer 003: The 101’ers Years, the definitive collection of studio and live recordings from Joe Strummer’s pre-Clash band, The 101’ers. Featuring the first known recordings of Joe Strummer, the collection captures a pivotal chapter in his development as an artist and documents a band caught between London’s pub-rock scene and the punk revolution that was about to unfold.

Produced by David Zonshine and remastered by Paul Hicks (The Beatles, David Bowie, Rolling Stones) and available on 20th November, the 3CD deluxe edition features 48 tracks and is housed in a 48-page hardback book with slipcase. The book includes a foreword by Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock, a history of The 101’ers written by band member Richard Nother Dudanski along with illustrations and writings by Joe Strummer.

Disc 1 collects the band’s studio recordings, including select newly mixed tracks. Disc 2 features basement tapes and demos, including one of Joe’s most intimate recordings, “Full Moon,” recorded alone at the band’s West London squat. Disc 3 is dedicated to live recordings including first performances of “Junco Partner,” which he later went on to famously cover with The Clash and an early version of “Jail Guitar Doors” originally titled “Lonely Mother’s Son.”

The demos and live recordings have been carefully restored by Paul Hicks from the original cassette tapes, including performances recorded directly from the soundboard, bringing recordings unheard for decades back to life.

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This band of Japanese noise punkers began life as the Psychedelic Speed Freaks, which summed them up so well their label recommended they change their name because it was “too direct.” So they opted for High Rise in tribute to the J.G. Ballard novel of the same name.

Other than that, nothing much changed—the band may have taken a new name, but they continued to produce some of the fastest, noisiest, most super-charged guitar-driven assaults ever recorded. In the red, they were, and the only question is, is there a color BEYOND red? Guitarist Munehiro Narita played like his goal was to find out.

And he was ably assisted by vocalist/bassist Asahito Nanjo, whose idea of a good time was recording, mixing, and mastering albums using extreme distortion, dynamic range compression, and clipping (overdriving an amp to the point of tweeter damage) to make the instruments unrecognizable. As for drummer Yuro Ujiie, his job was to hit the drums so hard they filed criminal charges for assault and battery.

1986’s II was High Rise’s debut, and I’m assuming they’re counting 1984’s live Psychedelic Speed Freaks (recorded under their original name) as their first. Unlike the live disc, which featured a slothful metal tune with a Black Sabbath vibe in “Bedlam,” II is a nonstop storm of furious fuzz, feedback, and fantastically fast tempos, and I’m pretty certain that listening to it frequently will make it impossible for you to have children.

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PASO ROBLES, CA | On a beautiful late September evening in a beautiful setting, some of the most, you guessed it, beautiful music was heard. Robert Plant and Saving Grace came to Vina Robles Amphitheatre in Paso Robles, California, an open-air venue set in the heart of Central Coast wine country, where vineyards and oak-studded hills make for a backdrop few concert halls can match.

As the sun went down over those hills, a crowd that spanned generations, from longtime fans in faded Led Zeppelin shirts to younger listeners drawn in by Plant’s more recent roots work, settled in for something that was neither a nostalgia act nor a greatest-hits revue. In that earthy setting, Plant and company delivered a night of otherworldly music, drawing on British folk, American gospel and blues, and, yes, the Zeppelin songbook, all of it filtered through a singer who has spent more than five decades refusing to stand still.

As part of a West Coast swing supporting their 2025 album, Saving Grace, Plant, along with Saving Grace, the band, a group he has been touring with since 2019, played to a packed house, or rather a packed backyard, since the venue is outdoors. Front and center with Plant for most of the show was Suzi Dian on vocals, accordion, and a bit of bass guitar. The rest of the band features drummer Oli Jefferson, guitarist Tony Kelsey, banjo and string player Matt Worley, and cellist Barney Morse-Brown.

A legend like Robert Plant could have pulled musicians from anywhere in the world, but Plant’s current musical journey brought him as close as his local pub to start this new venture. While Plant has explored folk and roots music before, most notably with Alison Krauss, this group is entirely English and Welsh, and Dian is his first English singing partner. That alone gives a unique take on the covers that Plant chose to explore and reinterpret.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Five decades after its original release, Elton John’s raucous and freewheeling album Rock of the Westies will receive a 50th Anniversary Edition reissue, out November 20 via UMe.

The special reissue will be available on multiple formats, including 2LP, 2CD and 1LP, with the expanded editions featuring previously unreleased Piano & Vocal Versions from the original album sessions. The 2017 remasters of the original album will now also be available for the first time on CD and digital. All available to pre-order now here.

Released in October 1975, Rock of the Westies is the tenth studio album by Elton John. Recorded at Caribou Ranch in Colorado and produced by longtime collaborator Gus Dudgeon, the album captures Elton and his band having fun at the height of their mid-’70s success. It was, as Elton says today, “the most genuine rock and roll record that I’ve ever made.”

The album arrived during an extraordinary year for Elton, following Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy just five months earlier. In 1975 alone, Elton headlined Wembley Stadium, released two studio albums, enjoyed a succession of hit singles and played his era-defining concerts at Dodger Stadium.

Against this backdrop, Rock of the Westies marked the pinnacle of an extraordinary period of commercial success, becoming his sixth consecutive album to reach No. 1 in the U.S.. It made history by entering the U.S. Billboard 200 at No. 1 and remaining there for three consecutive weeks, while also reaching the top five of the UK Albums Chart.

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Celebrating Robert “Kool” Bell on his 76th birthday. —Ed.

Funky stuff—and even more funky stuff—that’s what Kool and the Gang have on offer on 1973’s party manifesto Wild and Peaceful. Just how funky is this LP? Well, my copy has its very own musk, and I had an enormously difficult time with this review because I couldn’t stop toprocking long enough to write it. From the whistle that sounds at the beginning of the opening track “Funky Stuff,” you know things are going to get wild, and they do. They do.

I’m familiar with Kool and the Gang thanks to Top 40 radio, which played both “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging” with wonderful regularity when I was but a young sprout.

And how I loved them! A naysayer might interject that neither tune rises to the pure badassness of P-Funk, but said naysayer would be missing the point. Both of them were like nothing else on the radio at the time—their chanted vocals, fierce horn charts, rubbery grooves, and sheer funky strangeness (love roadie turned lead singer Don Boyce’s maniacal lip blubber on “Jungle Boogie”!) were sui generis, baby. They could almost have been novelty tunes, and perhaps in fact they were, but if so, the novelty never wore off and never will.

Robert “Kool” Bell and the Gang’s “Jungle Boogie” was without a doubt the funkiest song to ever hit this adolescent honky cat’s ears; toss in some cool guitar scratch, a relentless groove, and some truly deranged vocals, and what you have is a song for the ages. “Hollywood Swinging” is a subtler beast; in its unique way, it presages Kool and the Gang’s subsequent shift towards disco, but it possesses a sophistication—so many layered voices and sounds, such a cool guitar, and check out those horns!—that most disco tunes lacked.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | New Orleans Joys: The Earliest Recordings, 1923–1926 chronicles the definitive early work of pianist, composer and raconteur Jelly Roll Morton, who created masterpieces born from the cultural melting pot of 1900s New Orleans; the primitive blues of prostitutes, hymns to God from its churches, joyous anthems of the city’s brass bands, the lessons from ragtime “professors” and the elegance of the opera. He was the first composer of the music that would be called jazz, and elements of his music are still influential today.

All 53 tracks were meticulously transferred and restored from the super rare original 78rpm records, resulting in the best sound available to date for these recordings—by far—with more depth, clarity, and presence than ever before achieved. Morton’s life and music are illuminated through exhaustively researched essays by Grammy-winner Ricky Riccardi, Andrew Oliver, and co-producers Joe Lauro and Russell Shor.

A trove of rare photos and ephemera is assembled in a lavish 80 page booklet. Mastered by Grammy nominated engineer, Jessica Thompson. Designed by Grammy nominated art director, Barbara Bersche. Transfers and restoration by Mike Kieffer, Dustin Wittmann, Mark Berresford, and Richard Nevins.

From Josh Rosenthal (Tompkins Square): The spark for this project started with Tompkins Square’s book/CD, Treasures Untold : A Modern 78 RPM Reader, released in April 2025. (sold out—still available as a kindle ebook.) I was listening to a lot of Jelly Roll on 78. It became apparent that JRM’s pre-Victor output had never been properly anthologized, and what was available didn’t sound especially good. Also, there hadn’t been any JRM on vinyl LP in the US in decades.

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Second Song is Neil Young’s second studio album with the Chrome Hearts and is a follow-up to last year’s Talkin’ to the Trees. Like that album, this one was co-produced by Young, his brother-in-law, the iconic record producer Lou Adler, and Niko Bolas. It was recorded at the fabled Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, California. Young’s band includes Spooner Oldham, Micah Nelson, Willie Nelson’s son, Corey McCormick on bass, and Anthony LoGerfo on drums.

The album is a sparse, stripped-down, organic, raw affair that finds Young in a reflective, gentle, at times almost child-like frame of mind. It really isn’t in the vein of his previous, more acoustic-based albums, but is actually something quite new. Young references the song “Long May You Run,” the title track from his one and only Stills-Young Band album from 1976, on “Casting Me Away From You,” when he sings, “We found things to do in stormy weather.” Also, the song “Long May You Run” includes a reference to a chrome heart, which appears to have inspired the name of his new band.

“Soon I Might Be Going,” a deeply personal song of acceptance, also directly addresses the sad state of the US presidency, but not in any angry way. Instead, it expresses a resigned reporting-the-news feeling, with the lines “President was on TV, says everything is golden/He’s tearing down the old White House, those days were never olden.” Of the seven songs, “Casting Me Away,” from 1965, in demo form, was previously released on Neil Young Archives Vol. I in 2009. “I’ll Love You,” from 1965, was a song Young recorded with his band the Squires.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Billy Idol’s electrifying second studio album, Rebel Yell, is the newest title to receive the premium audiophile treatment from Interscope-Capitol Records’ Definitive Sound Series (DSS). Available for pre-order, the all-analog 180g One Step Edition is set for a November 20 release, with an independent retail release to follow on December 18.

Mastered from the original analog master tapes by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering, the DSS edition of Rebel Yell was pressed on Neotech VR900-D2 180g high-definition vinyl at Record Technology, Inc. Utilizing the state-of-the-art One Step process by Dorin Sauerbier, which eliminates multiple plating stages, the edition brings exceptional clarity and depth of Keith Forsey’s dynamic production while bringing listeners closer to the power and detail of the recording.

Limited to 3,000 individually numbered copies, the DSS edition is presented in a premium heavyweight tip-on gatefold jacket and housed in a custom-designed slipcase. Each copy includes a certificate of authenticity detailing the mastering, plating, and pressing chain.

Originally released November 10, 1983, Rebel Yell transformed Billy Idol from a charismatic former Generation X frontman into an international rock star. Produced by Keith Forsey and fueled by Idol’s unmistakable vocals and Steve Stevens’ inventive guitar work, the album fused punk attitude, hard rock, new wave, and electronic textures into a sound that became one of the defining signatures of the MTV era.

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Celebrating John Mellencamp on his 75th birthday. —Ed.

I’ve always liked John Mellencamp. Sure, I’ve been known to call him the poor man’s Bruce Springsteen, but I mean it as a compliment. I’m all for the poor man. Anyway, what I’ve always liked the most about the fellow who started out calling himself John Cougar is that he’s a curmudgeon. Mellencamp casts a gimlet eye at such things as Hope and the American Dream and smirks because he knows they fall short. He understands that our forefathers talked about the Pursuit of Happiness, but were wise enough to remain mum about the possibility of ever catching the slippery fucker. Mellencamp is no dreamer. He sees what he sees, and he’s not happy about it.

Take “Jack and Diane.” You can call it hokum, a clichéd look at growing up horny in the heartland of America and all that, but its core message (“Oh yeah, life goes on/Long after the thrill of living is gone”) is as dark as anything dished out by the likes of Lou Reed or Bob Dylan. Mr. Mellencamp is most certainly not out to sell fairy tales.

On 1982’s Uh-Huh, Mellencamp cynically lets us know that we’ve all been sold a bill of goods that has landed us in cookie-cutter pink houses in the spiritually dead suburbs, that you can fight the law but will never win, that in the end you’ll trade in your dreams for a warmer place to sleep, and there ain’t no golden gates gonna swing open, not in this life. The last refers to “Golden Gates,” a truly beautiful and anthemic ode that almost contains a strain of hope, when Mellencamp sings, “Only promises I know to be true/Are promises made from the heart.”

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