Monthly Archives: October 2022

VIA PRESS RELEASE | In 1972, following the aftermath of being pushed off stage at the Rainbow Theatre in London by a crazed attendee, Frank Zappa found himself recuperating for months in his home in the hills of Los Angeles. Although he was confined to a wheelchair and in immense pain, his work ethic could not be tamed, and he would end up having one of the most prolific years of his hugely prolific career.

During this time, he managed, among other things, to assemble an ensemble that quenched his thirst and desire to work with a large “Electric Orchestra.” Ultimately, he contracted a 20-piece group for recording sessions and an eight-city tour. Shortly thereafter, a scaled down 10-piece configuration, now popularly known as the “Petite Wazoo” toured for almost two months. After all was said and done, Zappa finished the experiment with two albums in the can—Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo—plus two tours and an archive of show masters in his Vault. It was a monumental feat for a guy with a cast on his leg and a conductor’s baton in his hand.

In celebration of half a century of this pioneering phase of Zappa’s peerless career, Zappa Records/UMe will be releasing Waka/Wazoo, a five-disc multi-format box set that features a complete historical rundown of the entire project, on December 16th, just ahead of what would have been the Maestro’s 82nd birthday.

Produced by Ahmet Zappa and Zappa Vaultmeister Joe Travers, the comprehensive 4CD + Blu-Ray Audio set boasts unreleased alternate takes of almost every composition recorded during the album sessions, Vault mix session outtakes and oddities, and also includes the full final show of the 10-piece tour, recorded at the famous Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on December 15, 1972. Additionally, the collection includes a set of demos for George Duke’s solo material that Zappa produced and played guitar on during the album recording sessions at Paramount Studios. Although Duke would go on to re-record the compositions for his own albums, the versions with Zappa have never been officially issued until now.

Read More »

One of the most anticipated reissues of the last few years is the 2018 stereo remix of Animals from Pink Floyd. The project has been delayed for a variety of reasons, most recently over differences of opinion on the thrust of the liner notes.

That difference of opinion was between David Gilmour and Roger Waters. While the two will no longer work together in the studio or live, there is a cooperative if uneasy working relationship when it comes to the various reissues of the group’s music and trying to coordinate solo touring schedules so as to not conflict with each other. This distant cold war escalated to very sharp disagreements over liner notes that may or may not have given one or the other more credit than they deserved for the creation of the album. Regardless of who one agrees with or which side is right, we now finally have the various editions of the reissues of the group’s 1977 follow-up to Wish You Were Here.

Differences of opinion over whether one likes or dislikes this reissue compared to previous versions of the album—particularly the original—will be as varied as the opinions of Waters and Gilmour about the liner notes. Nonetheless, it’s doubtful there are any fans of Pink Floyd who aren’t thrilled this reissue has emerged from the darkness and finally seen the light of the day.

Animals is an album in the latter Pink Floyd canon that has often sparked not so much criticism, but misunderstanding. Any album coming after Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here is bound to be viewed through the prism of elevated expectations. Animals is also an album that appeared just as punk and new wave were brashly superseding the progressive rock of monoliths like Pink Floyd and it was the first album recorded at the group’s own recording studio Britannia Row.

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Trafalgar Releasing, Warner Music Entertainment, and MTV Entertainment Studios are delighted to announce that the feature length documentary Liam Gallagher – Knebworth 22 will be in cinemas worldwide from Thursday, November 17, 2022 for a limited time with tickets going on sale at www.LGKnebworth22.com at 4am ET on Friday, October 21st. The theatrical event screenings will also feature two additional songs from the Knebworth performance to be played after the main feature, this content is exclusive to cinemas and will not appear on any further release of the film. The documentary will be coming to Paramount+ globally later this year.

Earlier this year Liam Gallagher defied all expectations and returned to Knebworth, some 26 years following Oasis’ historic 1996 shows. Performing to 170,000 fans across two sold out nights in one of the first major stage shows following the pandemic, this year’s event coincided with a third solo album, C’mon You Know, attaining Liam’s third number one spot for a studio release in the album charts. Liam Gallagher – Knebworth 22 is a new feature-length documentary that traces Liam back to the site of his former band’s defining performances, including all-new interviews, behind the scenes and concert footage captured from 20 camera positions.

The film also goes a little bit further, seeking out stories and perspectives from collaborators and fans of different generations from around the world, transposing the emotional and social context of the 90s’ shows versus the tumult of our current era. The film is directed by Toby L (Foals – Rip Up The Road / Olivia Rodrigo – Sour Prom / Tonight With Arlo Parks / Bastille – ReOrchestrated / Rihanna – 777).

Liam Gallagher says, “I’m still in shock that I got to play Knebworth 2 nights, 26 years after I played it with Oasis. I’m still trying to get my head around it. To have played to multiple generations at the same venue so many years apart was beyond Biblical. I’m so glad that we documented it. Knebworth for me was and always will be a celebration of the fans as well as the music. Enjoy the film and let’s do it again in another 26 years. LG x”

Read More »

It’s been 13 years since Brooklyn’s A Place to Bury Strangers released their second full-length Exploding Head, and the record has held up strong. Often described as an endeavor in shoegazing, the band make a helluva sweet racket that has assisted them in standing out from the pack; while most of their stylistic contemporaries strive to be hazy and psychedelic, APTBS bring the pound and the scorch along with a tangible Euro post-punk inclination that made their association with Mute quite appropriate. On October 21, the set gets a deluxe remastering on 2LP (clear wax), 2CD (reverse board 6-panel DigiFile), and digital. Folks who disdain bonus material can get the original 10-track LP (transparent red wax).

Although he’s not a founding member of A Place to Bury Strangers, guitarist-vocalist-songwriter Oliver Ackermann did join the band early, and he’s now the only contributor that still around from the making of Exploding Head. Indeed, he’s long been the creative focal point of APTBS, so it’s fitting that Ackermann was in charge of the remastering process for this reissue.

Ackermann has further stated that records by Depeche Mode, Fad Gadget, Wire, and Nick Cave were his main listening diet while Exploding Head was taking shape (music given to him by Mute’s Daniel Miler), and it’s not difficult to ascertain the influence as the record plays. It’s a connection that applies to APTBS’s discography overall, as I’ve remarked elsewhere on this website that the band’s sound has an unshakable Anglo vibe; one might guess they are from the UK rather than NYC.

If Ackermann takes inspiration from assorted Mute acts, Exploding Head doesn’t sound like a throwback to the label’s early days, even as it’s released by Mute proper (the band’s only full-length for Miller’s imprint). Bluntly, APTBS is far too noisy for that, and I’ll add that the tag of noise rock is legitimately applied to the band’s stuff, as this album sounds at times like it could’ve been issued by the Blast First label sometime between 1988-’91.

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | You wanna hear a band about to explode? In June 1977, Cheap Trick was in Los Angeles to record their second album, In Color. To get the band in shape for the record, they booked 5 gigs at the Whisky a Go Go the weekend of June 3. The result: a series of fire-breathing shows that you can still hear reverberating on the Sunset Strip to this day.

KROQ DJ Rodney Bingenheimer introduced the band at the shows, and his memories are clear: “The Whisky was packed for every show. A lot of girls showed up. It was like the ‘new’ Beatles had arrived.” Indeed, this concert stand takes its place alongside The Doors in 1966, Led Zeppelin in 1969, and Van Halen in 1977 as among the most notorious shows hosted by the venerable venue. As drummer Bun E. Carlos puts it, “The Whisky shows capture a hungry band. It’s right before we went on tour with KISS and became much more famous than we were at this point. It was two nights where we did all our cool stuff from our first couple of records and it’s chock-full of goodies.”

All of this would be mere legend, witnessed by only a couple of hundred Cheap Trick fans each night, but for the fact that the tapes were rolling courtesy of the Record Plant’s Mobile Unit One for four out of the five shows (and the fidelity and immediacy of these recordings are AMAZING). But when At Budokan hit 18 months later and propelled the band to superstar status, the tapes were shelved. Now, 45 years later, the whole world can discover what those lucky souls witnessed those nights at the Whisky: that this quartet from Rockford, Illinois was on its way to making rock history.

Our 4-CD set contains all four shows in their entirety (well over half completely unreleased), complete with often hilarious on-stage patter largely from guitarist Rick Nielsen, and includes notes from Ken Sharp featuring quotes from Nielsen, Carlos, and Robin Zander. Packaging is Live at Leeds style, and these shows rock every bit as hard as that legendary live gig. Limited to 2000 copies…if you are a Cheap Trick fan, speak now or forever hold your peace!

Remembering Chuck Berry, born on this day in 1926. —Ed.

The passing of Chuck Berry—whose contributions to rock’n’roll surpass those of Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, hell Jerry Lee Lewis even—is a sad event for anybody who has ever fallen in love with the sound of a Gibson ES-350T. Berry did more than just produce many of the most iconic songs of rock’n’roll, he was instrumental in the invention of rock ’n’ roll itself, which makes him more important than Nicola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and the Wright Brothers put together. And you can toss Johannes Gutenberg onto the pile if you want.

Berry had it all. Mad songwriting skills that focused on teen culture, a great voice, a unique approach to playing the guitar, and a mastery of stagecraft that is best exemplified by his famous duck walk. How influential was Berry? Well, John Lennon once said, “If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry.’” And none other than Bob Dylan pronounced Berry “the Shakespeare of rock ‘n’ roll.”

All of that said, you would think it’d be easy to find a great compilation of Berry’s best songs. Not so. Some of the massive compilations—such as 1988’s The Chess Box, 2000’s The Anthology, 2007’s Johnny B. Goode/His Complete ‘50s Chess Recordings, and the compilations of his post-peak Chess Records years are freighted with either numerous alternative takes and filler or both—which is fine if you’re the type of person who loves outtakes and filler, which I’m not—while others inexplicably omit songs I simply can’t live without.

Take the 1982 Chess Records compilation The Great Twenty-Eight, for example. It includes most of the songs Berry is best remembered for, and omits to include the embarrassingly infantile “My Ding-a-Ling,” but I simply find it impossible to forgive the omission of “You Never Can Tell,” which is perhaps my favorite Berry song.

Read More »

Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band hail from the Republic of Burkina Faso and specialize in a vibrant strain of elevated groove science that should excite anyone stirred up by the pulse of prime Afro-beat. Their third album eschews trend-hopping, and yet the relentless energy reinforces the contemporary reality of the set’s seven tracks. Sonbonbela is dedicated to the memory of their bass player Massimbo Taragna, who sadly passed in early 2022 (RIP), with the vinyl out October 21 through Sublime Frequencies of Seattle, Washington.

While extending the Afro-beat impulse, Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band further integrate that durable sound with the traditional West African style known as Mandingue. It’s a connection reinforced in the band’s name and made explicit through the use of trad instruments, e.g. the balafon, a gourd-resonated xylophone, and the Doso Ngoni, a traditional West African guitar.

The group consists of ace guitarist Issouf Diabate, bassist Wendeyida Ouedraogo, drummer Abbas Kabore, percussionist and balafon player Nickie Dembele, and on the Doso Hgoni, Mamadou Sanou, the Baba Commandant himself, whose exquisite vocals bring the icing to this delectable cake. Even with a new bassist in the fold, the delivery is seamless as the band focus on infectious forward motion. Or put another way, this is dance music.

Indeed, Sonbonbela is smart, multifaceted dance music, as the band deftly interweaves complexity and heat. On the subject of the complex, the rhythms and the melodic patterns here remind me of something the late writer Donald Barthelme once said about another late writer John Hawkes: that his sentences were “splendidly not simple.”

Read More »