Monthly Archives: January 2023

VIA PRESS RELEASE | “Pete Townshend & Roger Daltrey deploy full orchestra to electrifying effect.” —The Guardian

On July 6, 2019, The Who headlined Wembley Stadium in London for the first time in forty years. The show was the only U.K. date on their “Moving On” Tour and featured the band accompanied by an over 50-piece orchestra performing classic tracks from Quadrophenia, Tommy, Who’s Next, Who Are You and more as well tracks from their WHO album, their first studio release in thirteen years.

The Who With Orchestra Live At Wembley will be released on March 31st as a limited edition yellow, orange, and red 3LP set, triple black vinyl, and a 2CD / Blu-Ray set which features the audio remixed in Dolby Atmos. In addition, all formats feature a booklet with unseen photos from the show.

Performing with The Who and an orchestra had been a long-held ambition for singer Roger Daltrey “Just because it is The Who with an orchestra, in no way does it compromise the way Pete and I deliver our music. It is full throttle Who with horns and bells on.” Pete Townshend: “Roger christened this tour Moving On! I love it. It is what both of us want to do. Move on, with new music, classic Who music, all performed in new and exciting ways. Taking risks, nothing to lose.”

VIA PRESS RELEASE | On April 7, rock icons KISS will release the next installment of their Off The Soundboard official live bootleg series with KISS – Off The Soundboard: Poughkeepsie, New York, 1984. Recorded live at the Mid-Hudson Arena on November 28th, 1984, during the Animalize World Tour, this is the fifth in a series of live releases by the band and will be available to stream and download, with a 2-LP standard black vinyl set, CD, and a limited edition 2-LP set pressed on 180g custard yellow vinyl which are available to pre-order now exclusively through the Official KISS online store, HERE.

The multi-platinum band’s fifth authorized Soundboard live release comes from the November 28th, 1984 Animalize Tour show at the Mid-Hudson Arena in Poughkeepsie, NY, featuring the only known soundboard recording with guitarist Mark St. John. While the tracks “Young And Wasted” and “Rock And Roll All Nite” from this historic show are incomplete due to a tape change and tape space—these recordings were originally for archival use—this live recording is of historical importance due to St. John’s appearance.

Off The Soundboard: Poughkeepsie, New York finds the legendary band in the midst of the U.S. leg of their successful Animalize World Tour with the short-lived lineup of Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Eric Carr, and guitarist Mark St. John. The career-spanning 18-song set includes current-era KISS tracks such as “Creatures Of The Night,” “I Love It Loud,” “Lick It Up,” and 1984’s “Heaven’s On Fire,” which hit No. 49 U.S. Billboard chart. Poughkeepsie, New York also features perennial KISS anthems “Detroit Rock City,” “Love Gun,” and “Rock And Roll All Nite” from their classic back catalog.

Read More »

Celebrating John Lydon, born on this day in 1956. —Ed.

Well here it is–the first and best punk album ever vomited upon an unsuspecting public. And I don’t want to hear any naysaying or quibbling. With 1977’s Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols Johnny Rotten and Company fired a shot heard round the world, and the aftershocks of this LP will be felt as long as kids continue to form punk bands, which is forever.

Never Mind the Bollocks sounds every bit as snotty and uncompromising as the day it was released, but hindsight affords us the opportunity to look at where it fits into the history of rock ’n’ roll. The first thing I would note is how much it has in common with smart English hard rock. Given a large quantity of speed and set loose in the studio, Mott the Hoople might have sounded like this. Which brings us to another point. Like Mott’s Ian Hunter, Johnny Rotten is one smart bloke. He may not have attended Oxford, but our lad Johnny had a knack for saying what was on his mind. And he summed up what was on his mind when he said, “Sometimes the most positive thing you can be in a boring society is absolutely negative.”

The songs on Never Mind the Bollocks are slower than I remember, and their sound is fuller; they don’t have that razor-thin edge one associates with, say, the Ramones or the Clash. And they don’t have the pop overtones of those bands either. Listen to the Ramones now and they sound like a bubblegum band; the Sex Pistols don’t blow bubbles and their songs might as well be Brighton rock. The Sex Pistols roar thank to Steve Jones’ blunderbuss guitar, and Johnny Rotten is purest ferocity. The Sex Pistols produce a ferocious din, and I can’t think of a punk band that has ever come close to equaling them in sheer savagery.

I prefer the cartoon nihilism of the Sex Pistols to the pretend revolutionary tendencies of the Clash; if nothing else, cartoon nihilism is far funnier. By “cartoon nihilism” I mean to imply that the anarchy advocated by this band probably goes no further than ripping the occasional car radio antenna off. I do not mean to suggest Johnny Rotten’s disgust, hatred, and bile are not real. It only takes a few seconds of LP opener “Anarchy in the U.K.” to demonstrate the man isn’t just taking the piss.

Read More »

Sana Nagano excels at high-flying avant-jazz violin in a variety of settings, including as the leader of her own groups. For her latest full-length, she contracts the lineup to a trio of Karl Berger on piano and vibraphone and Billy Martin on drums and percussion. Recorded on August 18, 2020, the album documents a needed respite from pandemic isolation, with the release of emotions palpable across seven tracks. Anime Mundi is out now on 180 gram vinyl, digipak compact disc, and digital through 577 Records.

Sana Nagano’s first full-length as leader, the digital-only Inside the Rainbow, self-released in 2014, was also the handiwork of a trio, with Karl Berger additionally featured, this time specifically on vibraphone, along with John Ehlis on guitar and Nagano, of course. It is an impressive showing for Nagano, who extends the possibilities of avant-jazz violin without standing in the shadows of the established greats on the instrument in the style (a short list: Leroy Jenkins, Billy Bang, Malcolm Goldstein, and Mark Feldman).

Some might be wondering how relative newcomer Nagano landed avant-jazz heavyweight Karl Berger on her debut recording. Well, maybe let’s scale back the experience-based hierarchy a smidge, but do know that Nagano joined Berger’s Improvisors Orchestra after meeting the drummer-vibraphonist in 2011, and also dig that both Berger and Billy Martin are described in the text accompanying Anime Mundi as Nagano’s mentors (her contact with the drummer came through Berger’s Creative Music Studio, where Martin is currently Executive Director).

Nagano also plays on In a Moment, Berger’s 2018 release for John Zorn’s Tzadik label. Additionally, she took part in Brooklyn Raga Massive’s Ragmala – A Garland of Ragas 3LP/2CD form 2019, is a member of Sarah Bernstein’s VEER Quartet (with a self-titled album released last year), and plays in experimental pop duo Peach and Tomato with violist-composer Leonor Falcon.

Read More »

Remembering Tom Verlaine. —Ed.

Sometimes I flabbergast myself. I think I know what I like and what I don’t like, only to find out I don’t know a damn thing about anything, least of all my likes and dislikes. Take KC and the Sunshine Band. I hated them with a passion for like 30 years and now I think they’re great. Or Elton John’s Caribou, which I liked for like 80 years only to realize just yesterday it only has two good songs on it, although to Captain Fantastic’s credit they’re two really great songs.

But occasionally I get it right the first time, as with Queen’s “We Are the Champions,” which I hated when it came out and still hate to this day. And the same goes for Television’s sophomore LP, 1978’s Adventure. People—as in every sentient human breathing air the year it came out—wrote Adventure off as a lackluster follow-up to the band’s 1977 debut, Marquee Moon. Everybody but me, that is. Because I had never heard of Marquee Moon. I didn’t even know it existed. Hell, I can’t even remember how or why I came to buy Adventure, because I had no clue as to who Television was and absolutely no inkling that they were an integral part of a musical revolution in progress at a ratty club in New York City called CBGBs.

But buy it I did, just as I bought Kill City without having ever heard the Stooges, which just goes to show you how isolating rural living was back in the days before the internet gave you access to all kinds of information, including who was who on the rock circuit. About all you got exposed to back in those days were hoof and mouth disease and square dancing, which is why I spent my teen years doing my level best to do as many drugs as I could get my greedy paws on, while trying to wrap my vehicle around a utility pole, which I finally accomplished on March 1, 1980. You’ve got to have goals, even in the boondocks, or life isn’t worth a damn.

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Celebrated archival label Light in the Attic (LITA) is proud to announce the first official reissue of Nancy & Lee Again, the esteemed 1972 sophomore album by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood.

Set for release on March 24th and available to pre-order in a variety of formats (including vinyl, CD, 8-track, and digital), this definitive edition of Nancy & Lee Again boasts newly-remastered audio by GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin and exclusive content, including a new interview with Nancy, never-before-seen photos, and two supremely groovy bonus tracks: the Danny Kortchmar-penned “Machine Gun Kelly” (which remained unissued for decades after its 1972 recording) and the previously unreleased “Think I’m Coming Down,” captured during the album’s 1971 sessions and available now to stream/download.

Pressed at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI), the vinyl edition of Nancy & Lee Again is presented in an expanded gatefold jacket and accompanied by a 20-page booklet (featuring an array of photos from the legendary singer, actress, and activist’s personal collection, as well as in-depth Q&A with Nancy, conducted by the reissue’s GRAMMY®-nominated co-producer Hunter Lea). The booklet is also offered with the CD edition and all formats have been beautifully designed by Darryl Norsen of D. Norsen Design. In addition to the classic black vinyl pressing, a selection of colorful variants can be found exclusively at NancySinatra.com, LightInTheAttic.net, independent record stores, and select online retailers.

Additionally, a limited-edition merchandise capsule (including a custom chain stitched denim jacket, embroidered pillow, canvas tote, and apparel collaboration with Los Angeles-based Midnight Rider) accompany the release at Nancy’s Bootique on NancySinatra.com.

Read More »

Remembering Steve Marriott, born on this day in 1947. —Ed.

I have an unwholesome relationship with Humble Pie. It may not be as unsavory as my obsession with the impossibly déclassé Grand Funk Railroad, but still. The fact is I return again and again to Steve Marriott and Humble Pie’s refried boogie like a dog chained to its vomit, seeking in vain to be sanctified. And occasionally—as on such songs as “Beckton Dumps” and “Shut Up and Don’t Interrupt Me” off 1973’ live Eat It LP—I am. But all too often—and believe me when I say I keep trying—I’m left wondering how the electrifying former frontman of the Small Faces went so wrong when the regular-sized Faces went so right.

The answer lies, I think, in the fact that while the Faces played ‘em fast and loose with an irrepressible spirit of camaraderie and fun, Marriott—who certainly had the pipes to pull it off—wanted desperately to be a testifyin’ boogie man. While Rod the Mod and Company were getting soused on stage and having fun, serious Steve was rewriting Ike and Tina Turner’s “Black Coffee” to make clear that his skin was white but his soul was black. And unlike the Faces, who had a deceptively light touch, Marriott opted to go—for the most part at least—the hard blues route.

Finally, Marriott liked to stretch ‘em out live—it gave him more time to testify, brothers and sisters—as is evident on 1971’s Performance: Rockin’ the Fillmore. None of these things have helped Marriott’s posterity—everybody loves the Faces, but Humble Pie is more of a footnote and acquired taste for the kinds of tossers drawn to the Brit Blues likes of Savoy Brown, Blodwyn Pig, and the Groundhogs.

Yet I continue to turn to Humble Pie, attracted by Marriott’s astounding vocals, mean guitar work, and occasional ability to come up with a song that boogies as hard as the soulful “30 Days in the Hole” off 1972’s Smokin’, which demonstrates that Marriott had at least one borderline excellent boogie record in him. It was the song that would help make Smokin’ Humble Pie’s highest charting LP ever, and it’s a riff’n’roll triumph with lots of great vocals, some great bass by Greg Ridley, and the imaginative drumming of young Jerry Shirley.

Read More »

PHOTO: JONNO RATTMAN | There is an intrinsic grandeur to the Great American Songbook that we can all appreciate. When the first few bars of those classics begin they can boost our spirit, provide us with a moment of quiet contemplation, or even make us a little bit misty.

For those reasons, the compositions are timeless. However, they do indeed emanate from a specific time and place, one that is far away from the one in which we now live. The classic standards will always remain eternal and most people can enjoy them; after all, that is the whole idea behind being a “standard” in the first place. However, listeners also yearn to hear music from their own eras. While grandma and grandpa—or, great-grandma and great-grandpa—might remember when those songs were new, we often digest that music through their lens, not ours.

Rachael and Vilray have crafted for us a new catalog of music that belongs to the 21st century, but it’s also music that our ancestors—those who remember the release of the original standards—would also appreciate. Rachael Price, vocalist from Lake Street Dive, and Vilray met one another while attending the New England Conservatory and reconnected years later when Rachael caught one of Vilray’s sets where he was performing his own compositions that hearkened back to those great old standards but were completely new. When Rachael heard his treasure trove of tunes, she knew she wanted to be a part of sharing them with a wider audience.

Read More »

Dan Hill is the most sensitive person on the planet. He sobs when ponies sneeze, weeps uncontrollably when anvils fall on Wile E. Coyote’s head. And the proof lies in “Sometimes When We Touch” from 1977’s Longer Fuse, the most wince-worthy song ever recorded. For complete effect you have to watch the video. If cringing could kill, YouTube would have a host of corpses on its conscience.

On Longer Fuse the namby-pamby Canadian folk rocker’s emotional palette ranges from vomit-bag earnestness to shudder-inducing naked honesty—honesty that will make you wish it would put some clothes on. Seemingly without effort Dan makes Janis Ian look like Sid Vicious, James Taylor like Attila the Hun. Hill didn’t invent the man bun—he is one. If emotional fragility was radioactive we’d best be advised to erect a containment dome around the guy—we don’t want an emotional Chernobyl on our hands.

Maudlin is the byword of Longer Fuse, and nowhere does he do it better than on the feelings tenderizer that is “Sometimes When We Touch.” Wracked by a deep and painful hurt he sings (and it’s worth quoting in full):

“And sometimes when we touch
The honesty’s too much
And I have to close my eyes and hide
I wanna hold you ’til I die
‘Til we both break down and cry
I wanna hold you ’til the fear in me subsides.”

“Sometimes When We Touch” topped the pop charts in Hill’s native Canada, which I find inexplicable—could it be that the moose hunters, ice fishermen, and burly lumberjacks of the Great White North are tender shoots requiring plenty of empathetic sunlight? Hell, the moose themselves probably break down in tears when they hear it.

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Making Vinyl ’23 keynoter Nabil Ayers is President of Beggars Group US and author of the 2022 memoir My Life in the Sunshine. In Minneapolis, Nabil will discuss his years as a musician, record store owner, and label group president, as well as vinyl’s importance in Beggars’ release strategy for its roster, including many GRAMMY Award-winning artists.

The vinyl record industry will congregate in Minneapolis at the Lowes Minneapolis Hotel on June 7-8, 2023, with enhanced evening events to include live music and exceptional networking. Marking our sixth year, Making Vinyl Minneapolis will focus on the business aspects of sustaining profitable growth amid rising prices, considerable supply chain issues, and raw materials shortages. Registration is available here.

2023 also marks the 75th anniversary of CBS Labs on June 21, 1948, officially unveiling the Long-Playing (LP) record. The conference also coincides with the July 7 birthday of Minneapolis native Prince, who died in 2016. Prince would have been 65 years old. His records—catalog and vault revelations—continue to be big sellers on vinyl.

All aspects of the vinyl comeback will be explored to keep the retail and e-commerce supply chain teeming with new releases and reissues of previously released material. Vinyl’s current popularity—15 years of double-digit growth—defies all technological and economic logic in the digital age.

Yet, given the immense expense of mounting such an operation continues to attract new financial investment, as the undeniable appeal of such a deluxe product shows no signs of slowing down. Find out on June 7-8, 2023, in Minneapolis from the experts who will share their secret formula to success.