Category Archives: The TVD Storefront

VIA PRESS RELEASE | On November 8th, Beggars Arkive will release a 30th Anniversary Expanded Edition of The Charlatans third album Up To Our Hips. The edition features the original album in addition to 10 bonus tracks, all lovingly curated by Tim Burgess.

One of the truly special bonus tracks is “Don’t Let It Stand AKA Can’t Get Out of Bed (demo version)” released digitally. This version was recorded by Tim Burgess and Rob Collins when the rest of the band had the weekend off from the studio. They transformed what began as an instrumental into the classic which is known and loved today. Originally called “Don’t Let It Stand”, this was the version they presented to Jon, Mark and Martin whilst telling them it was the best thing they had ever done. They then recorded the song again with the full band for the album version. “Can’t Get Out Of Bed,” ended up being the first single from Up To Our Hips and remains a Charlatans’ classic to this day.

The Charlatans—easily recognized by their hallmark sound of driving Hammond organs, northern UK soul and house-influenced rhythms, swaggering guitars, and Tim Burgess’ sunny yet yearning vocals—are one of the most consistent Britpop bands of the past three decades. They’ve released an album every few years since 1989, each of which landed in the top half of the UK music charts, three of them hitting #1 and spawning 22 top 40 singles. The band have overcome obstacles from nervous breakdowns to addiction to victims of accountancy fraud to the heartbreaking deaths of two founding members, all the while adapting, transforming and producing new music in spite of it all.

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Remembering Dan McCafferty, born on this date in 1946. —Ed.

The Scottish clods o’ peat in this hard-working, hard-rocking man’s man band never won any originality awards, and weren’t exactly well-versed in the songwriting arts either, and given their high scunge factor, I doubt they’d even be allowed into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as paying customers, much less as inductees.

They’re not going to be inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame anytime soon, either. Hell, they only hit two homers over the course of their long career, and their lifetime batting average is in the .233 range. Forget about Cooperstown; these guys would be lucky to earn a spot on the bench of the 1962 New York Mets.

But I’ll say this for ‘em–way back in 1975 every badass or wannabe badass in my home town was blaring Nazareth’s Hair of the Dog out of their car 8-track speakers, whether that car be a GTO or a rusted-out Ford Pinto. The title track–with its “Now you’re messin’ with a son of a bitch”–was a blast of pure unbridled belligerence and without a doubt the orneriest cut of the summer, hell the whole year probably. Alice Cooper may have put out “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” but that was play acting; Nazareth’s Dan McCafferty came on like the Real McCoy.

As for the album title, me and my buddies prided ourselves on knowing what it meant even though we’d never cracked a beer (much less suffered a hangover) in our lives–it made us feel adult, worldly even, just as that “Now you’re messin’ with a son of a bitch” made us feel tough, when in effect we were probably the wimpiest band of geeks to ever gingerly trod the halls of Littlestown High School, on the lookout for the real sons of bitches.

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Sometimes, the only way to find yourself is by getting a little bit lost. Israel Nebeker—lead singer of the band Blind Pilot—experienced this first hand. The band came strongly upon the music scene in 2008, gaining particular media attention for their “bike tour” which brought them from Bellingham, Washington all the way to San Diego, California with nothing but their instruments and bicycles in tow.

Noteworthy activities like these—and two well-received albums—placed them in front of viewers of Last Call With Carson Daly, before audience members at Lollapalooza, and even all the way to Late Night with David Letterman where Dave mistakenly referred to the group as “Blind Spot.” It was a good time to be in an indie-folk band from Portland. However, after the release of their last album in 2016: radio silence. The band went on hiatus as they reconfigured their relationships, struggled with writing, and, of course, made it through that pesky pandemic where no one did much of anything.

However, after a trip to Scandinavia, Nebeker tapped into a well of creativity and inspiration leading him to write enough material for his first solo album and a brand new Blind Pilot record which has just been recently released, In the Shadow of the Holy Mountain. As they say, when it rains, it pours. So, join Israel and me as we dig into the long spiritual and creative journey he’s been on and how Blind Pilot regained their vision.

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.

It says something about the Generation Gap or lack thereof in Our Year of the Lord 1960 that when the larval version of The Sonics, who would go down in history as the founders of punk rock, came up short at practice, guitarist Larry Parypa’s mom would fill in on bass. We’ll never know if she helped influence their primal, pounding sound. I like to think she did.

Some five years and mucho line-up changes later The Sonics, a Tacoma, Washington quintet who look like nice wholesome boys on their album covers and most likely were just that, were in a recording studio in Seattle tearing the soundproofing off the walls and complaining to the sound engineers when the needle WASN’T in the red. Years later, The Stooges would go red too.

But here’s the thing. I can easily imagine—although I could be dead wrong—these guys retreating to the nearest pharmacy lunch counter after sessions to drink malted milks. With straws. The Sonics may be credited by many as punk’s originators, but they weren’t punks. They were just kids making an unholy din in a musical backwater, playing mostly well-known covers in place’s like Olympia’s Skateland and St. Mary’s Parish Hall, and their story is no different from the stories of so many other bands doing the same thing in rock ’n’ roll nowheres across the United States.

The Sonics had one regional hit and dreams of making the big time, but when they finally drove South in (I’m fantasizing here) a battered Beach Boys woodie station wagon with Bob Bennett’s drum kit roped to the roof to Hollywood the town ruined them, or rather they ruined themselves, because they had nothing to sell that anybody wanted (cover of “Money,” anybody?) and no choice really but to slicken up their sound and record the more restrained material that appeared on 1967’s Introducing the Sonics, which they hoped would get them radio play but didn’t. Later they’d dismiss it as “the worst garbage.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Björk has announced Cornucopia: The Book, a 480-page, high-quality picture book that chronicles her celebrated Cornucopia Tour—an ambitious live experience featuring imagery and projections by director Tobias Gremmler, performed with The Hamrahlíð Choir, alongside other musical and visual artists.

The book is 22x30x4cm approx. and features 313 colour images. Softcover with flaps, sewn sections, printed in HUV-offset and fluorescent colours on hi-gloss paper with gloss varnish. It includes a 16-page booklet. Björk says; “I’m proud to announce the release of Cornucopia: The Book. This book documents my five-year tour, Cornucopia, designed by M/M Paris, with images shot by photographer Santiago Felipe.

Before this tour, I spent a decade working with 360-degree sound and visual software in virtual reality and animation, creating Biophilia, the first app album, and later Vulnicura as a VR album. I was deeply inspired by the idea of a fully-immersive experience, spending a spring in an Icelandic lighthouse, spreading Utopia into fully surround speakers. My intention was to bring what we had created for 21st-century VR into a 19th-century theatre—taking it from the headset to the stage.

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Celebrating Daryl Hall on his 78th birthday. —Ed.

While by no means an unknown work, it also seems fair to say that Daryl Hall’s first solo LP Sacred Songs gets nowhere near enough retrospective attention. This is mainly due to the inclusion of what many might consider to be an odd associate (at best) or an irreconcilable collaborator (at worst) in art-rock maestro Robert Fripp. Blue-eyed soul meets Frippertronics? Yes, indeed.

If the team-up of Daryl Hall and Robert Fripp remains an unlikely pairing from seemingly disparate areas of the ‘70s rock landscape, after some consideration their creative union shouldn’t really be designated as a case of strange bedfellows. The key to understanding how these two ended up in the same studio lies in getting beyond the surface perception of Fripp as a prog-rock outlier and Hall & Oates as simply a hit machine.

But folks who know Fripp’s contributions to Blondie’s Parallel Lines and especially Bowie’s “Heroes” have surely already comprehended that there’s more to the guy’s output than just King Crimson and (No Pussyfooting). And any fan of Hall & Oates that’s travelled back in their discography to their Atlantic Records period has been greeted with the unusual doozy that is Abandoned Luncheonette.

That 1973 album, their second after the pleasant but far from earth shattering debut Whole Oats, can be aptly described as a particularly ripe example of the commercial ambition of its decade. Not only does it include what’s maybe their best single, the sleeper 1976 hit “She’s Gone,” but the record’s second side heads into all kinds of unexpected areas, including the well-integrated use of electric violin on “Lady Rain” and even some fiddle and banjo on the seven minute album closer “Everytime I Look At You.”

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Imagine hearing a style of music that has become very popular; a genre you might hear on a TV commercial, or maybe on your favorite streaming program, or perhaps coming from a car window as it passes you by the street. Now, try to pretend that the style of music you’re hearing was popularized by your dad.

Seun Kuti goes through this process often and—along with his siblings—have become the next wave of afrobeat music makers who have followed in the footsteps of their famous father, Fela Kuti. Fela was the architect of the afrobeat sound. Its infectious rhythms lifted African sounds to another level, but also redirected those influences as heard in American music back to the homeland. Seun, with Egypt 80, have released a brand new album titled, Heavier Yet. The project finds Lenny Kravitz acting as executive producer and also features Fela’s original engineer Sodi Marciszewer; he is behind the board on this album in the role of artistic producer.

But, wait, there’s more: the son of an Afrobeat pioneer joins together with the son of a reggae pioneer. Damian Marley and Seun collaborate on one of the album’s penultimate tracks, “Dey.”

Seun and I were both a little excited to be having our international chat between New Jersey and Lagos, Nigeria. We both hope you’ll find the technology as enthralling as we did. We discussed his new album, of course, but as you’ll find, Seun is up for talking about anything. Settle in to hear about some history, a few surprises, and some really exciting music.

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.

Some souls just weren’t made for this world. You can hear it in their voice, see it in their eyes—their shoulders simply aren’t strong enough to bear the weight of gravity, and their hearts are simply too tender, and they come and go from this our mortal coil leaving behind the sense, no matter how much they accomplished, that they were never here at all.

Such is the feeling I get from listening to guitarist/vocalist Rowland S. Howard, who obviously found life on this planet one long and painful trial. His 2009 masterpiece Pop Crimes makes reference to “this planet of perpetual sorrows,” on not one but two songs, which he must have felt was necessary to get his point—that living is a nightmare from which we cannot escape—across. But if Howard, who passed away very shortly after the release of Pop Crimes at age 50, harbored a bleak and Baudelairian view of existence, he didn’t let it stand in the way of making lots of great music with lots of different people.

His list of accomplishments is remarkably long, especially for someone who battled drug addiction for as long as he did. He began his career with Nick Cave in Boys Next Door and The Birthday Party, went on to become a member of Crime & The City Solution, and finally founded Thee Immortal Souls before launching a solo career. Over the course of his too-short life he also worked with artists as diverse as Lydia Lunch, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Henry Rollins, not to mention numerous others.

His voice is fraught with pain and his unique reverb-drenched guitar sound was responsible, as his friend Kid Congo Powers told me, “for launching a gazillion bands.” The combination has a hypnotic effect, as demonstrated on his cover of Talk Talk’s propulsive “Life’s What You Make It,” which is basically one mesmeric groove, free of choruses and bridges and all that nonsense.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Erasure, the award-winning songwriting duo of Andy Bell & Vince Clarke, will release limited vinyl editions of Tomorrow’s World (2011), Snow Globe (2013), and the long out-of-print The Violet Flame (2014), via Mute on December 13, 2024.

Tomorrow’s World (available on limited edition clear vinyl) is a collection of classic Erasure tracks that finds the duo in their fourth decade together sounding simultaneously contemporary and classic. Consequence wrote of the release, “if you want an example of the first wave of synthpop and excellently crafted, catchy dance music, there aren’t many better than Erasure, and this is another album that affirms their reputation.”

The album, featuring the singles “When I Start To (Break It All Down),” “Be With You,” “A Whole Lotta Love Run Riot,” and “Fill Us With Fire” was recorded in Maine, London, and Los Angeles. It was produced by Frankmusic (Lady Gaga, Pet Shop Boys, Ellie Goulding) following a four year break between albums (during that time Andy Bell released his solo album Don’t Stop and Vince Clarke reunited with Alison Moyet for a Yazoo tour).

Snow Globe (available on limited edition pink vinyl) is the duo’s first festive album release and sees Erasure eschew the hackneyed bells, whistles, glitter, and tinsel often associated with Christmas, instead presenting a leftfield take on the genre.

Purposefully stripped-down and often eerie tracks emphasize some of the less glitzy and more melancholic aspects of the season, while singles like “Make It Wonderful” point to the universal hope that this time can bring. Described by The Quietus as “…a fantastic bloody record full stop,” it was produced by Erasure, Gareth Jones, and Richard X, and features their modern take on the traditional Latin carol, “Gaudete,” as well renditions of “White Christmas” and “Silent Night.”

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Celebrating David Lee Roth, born on this day in 1954. —Ed.

So I was listening to the masterful and spiritually uplifting guitar artistry of John McLaughlin and thought, “You know what? I’d rather listen to Van Halen.” That’s the kind of spiritually evolved being I am. There is the cosmos, with its songs of devotion and birds of fire, and then there is the shirtless David Lee Roth. The fact that I prefer the latter is proof that I exist upon a lower class astral plane, in a double-wide trailer whose front yard is littered with empty beer cans.

Let me say this just to start: When it comes to Van Halen, I’m a 1984 guy. Hardcore fans call 1984 a sell-out. I deny they sold out. I would argue they sold up. But the fact is I’ve already written about 1984, so I’m writing about Van Halen’s kick-ass 1978 self-titled debut. It’s not 1/10th as funny as 1984–the biggest laugh riot of a metal LP this side of Kix’s first–but it rocks much harder and is a lot meaner to boot. Van Halen was the opening salvo of a band that was clearly hungry and just as clearly had something to prove.

It’s evident in every note Eddie Van Halen plays; you can hear it in David Lee Roth’s straight-from-the-crotch vocal swagger. Not all of its songs are winners–I might even go far as to say its B side sags–but the winners win big. Why, “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love” is so wonderful The Minutemen saw fit to cover it on Double Nickels on the Dime. When you’re the kind of band punk rockers love to hate but punk rockers still love your songs, you must be doing something right.

Van Halen was not universally beloved upon its release. The critics in particular were mean. Rolling Stone’s Charles M. Young opined, “In three years, Van Halen is going to be fat and self-indulgent and disgusting … follow[ing] Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin right into the toilet. In the meantime, they are likely to be a big deal.” Meanwhile, the Village Voice’s Robert Christgau, commenting about Van Halen’s status as a bar band, wrote, “The term becomes honorific when the music belongs in a bar. This music belongs on an aircraft carrier.” And you know what? He’s right. This music does belong on an aircraft carrier, provided everybody on said aircraft carrier is drunk, said aircraft carrier is driving erratically and well over the posted speed limit, and there’s a wet t-shirt contest being held on the flag bridge.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Recordings and Bluesville Records proudly announce two essential blues titles from a pair of the genre’s most influential artists: Jimmy Reed’s genre-defining 1958 debut LP, I’m Jimmy Reed, and Reverend Gary Davis’ 1960 masterpiece, Harlem Street Singer.

Arriving November 15th, both albums will be issued on vinyl in partnership with audiophile leader Acoustic Sounds and feature all-analog mastering by GRAMMY®-nominated engineer Matthew Lutthans (the Mastering Lab). Both LPs are pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings (QRP) with faithfully reproduced tip-on jackets. Rounding out the package are OBIs that offer insightful reflections by GRAMMY®-winning producer, writer, musician and record executive Scott Billington. Additionally, both albums will be reissued on CD, while the stunningly remastered hi-res audio is available today.

Launched in February, Bluesville Recordings celebrates America’s bedrock music genre, as well as the trailblazing musicians that contributed to its rich traditions, through handpicked titles—all culled from the catalogs of such legendary labels as Stax, Prestige, Vee-Jay, Vanguard, Rounder, and Riverside.

Since its inception, the imprint has garnered high marks from the press, including such esteemed outlets as Record Collector, Glide magazine, and No Depression—the latter of which praised that the releases “sound fabulous. . . . The blues revival is real and we are extremely fortunate to have these cornerstones available again.” Speaking to a recent reissue of Skip James’ Today!, Tracking Angle raved, “This record lives and breathes almost sixty years after it was put to tape . . . I have multiple copies . . . and this Bluesville reissue is by far the best sounding. It puts you in the room with the artist.”

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Dog Jaw Woman by The Guy Hamper Trio is amongst the latest worthwhile offerings from the indefatigable Damaged Goods Records of the United Kingdom. Featuring organist James Taylor as a returning guest, the trio’s deep ties to a particularly steadfast branch of the British R&R tradition are sturdy but not overemphasized, as the sounds tap into classic modes while avoiding the merely retro in a manner befitting said tradition (more on the specifics below). The 10-track set is out October 18 on vinyl and digital.

The Guy Hamper Trio consists of Julie Hamper on bass, Wolf Howard on drums, and Guy Hamper, aka Billy Childish, on guitar. The involvement of Childish might lead those who know him primarily through the copious combined output of Thee Headcoats and Thee Mighty Caesars (plus numerous other bands) to certain assumptions as to the sound that Dog Jaw Woman holds in store.

In short, the expectation would be raw and tough ’60s UK Beat Rock-Maximum R&B with nods to Link Wray and a ’77 punk edge. Doing it sans vocals, the Trio does lay down a punky Freakbeat-ish foundation, although distinct from the general Headcoats-Caesars thrust, and expands upon this curve with the contributions of Hammond organ ace James Taylor, formerly of ’80s outfit The Prisoners and the long-running James Taylor Quartet (where Wolf Howard was a contributor).

The first Guy Hamper Trio record, All the Poisons in the Mud (2022, Damaged Goods), was a mostly instrumental affair, the set offering one track with vocals by Childish. When he wasn’t singing, the band’s groove, raw but lithe, often suggested a bunch of mods turning their amps way up while under the influence of organ trio soul jazz and the brilliance of Booker T. Jones.

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BRIDGEPORT, CT | Come Sunday morning the whirlwind of day one at Soundside Music Festival felt like a dream. Memories had been made from a full day packed with impressive live performances, but there wasn’t much time to reminisce as gates opened today before noon. Knowing more of what to expect from day one, concertgoers were prepared to handle today’s test of eleven hours of outdoor music and giving their energy right back to the artists.

Day one may have had higher highs, but day two was consistently exceptional and each artist was one you did not want to miss. With Soundside’s unique rotating stage, fans were able to be present for every moment and not have to choose between performances across multiple stages. The atmosphere in the audience was considerably more relaxed with warmer and dry weather, and a reconfiguration of the general admission pit to allow fans the chance to get even closer to the artists. Fans were representing merch of the artists they were most excited to see, service dogs were getting all the love, and the party was ready to begin.

Southern soul, rock, and gospel husband and wife duo The War and Treaty immediately lifted the spirits of attendees and took them to the church of music on this Sunday morning. Backed by a thunderous bass and drum filled live band, Michael and Tanya Trotter displayed heartfelt and talented vocal deliveries both as individuals and as a harmonizing couple. A setlist blended with original songs and soulful renditions of hits like “Proud Mary,” “I Will Always Love You,” and “Tennessee Whiskey” kept the audience locked in and wanting more.

Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors took to the stage next delivering a warm blend of Americana and folk rock. Starting their set with the welcoming track “Family,” the crowd embraced the appeal to kids and adults as this act came at the perfect time in the day where most children were running around with noise canceling headphones and excited dancing feet. Veterans to the stage, Holcomb was the perfect act that may be the first live musical performance on a stage of this magnitude for many—assuring to make lasting memories. This set was highlighted with a spirited rendition of Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | 501(c)3 non-profit organization Noise for Now in partnership with the Artist Rights Alliance announce Songs for Sex, out October 18th via their recently launched label which is distributed worldwide through ADA. Benefitting The National Women’s Health Network, the compilation features 16 exclusive tracks from Andrew Bird, Ella Vos, Erin McKeown, CAKE, Katie Malco, Kev Decor, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, My Brightest Diamond, Rett Madison, Robert Ellis, sym fera, Tanner Porter, Thao, The Album Leaf, Tift Merritt, and Trousdale. It will be available on all platforms to stream and purchase.

Songs for Sex is the brainchild of GRAMMY® nominated artist Tift Merritt—a response to the dangerous policies outlined in The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. Executive Producers, Merritt and manager Victoria Roe enlisted the support of musicians to meet the moment, gathering songs that counter Project 2025’s shame and stigma around sex with songs of tenderness, anger, and defiant joy. “We all have stories about how these regressive steps backwards play out in our lives, and in the lives of people we love,” notes Tift. “I hope these songs open your heart to how important it is to stand up for bodily autonomy, reproductive freedoms, privacy and more love in the world no matter what it looks like.”

Trousdale notes, “‘How To Be 18’ tells the story of a young woman who has made the incredibly difficult decision to seek an abortion in a state where it is illegal to do so. While the political conversation around abortion in this country often centers on life-threatening circumstances, we wanted to focus on the more common reason women seek it: simply not being ready to bring a child into the world.” They add, “In addition to reproductive rights, Project 2025 targets the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals and undermines protections for marginalized communities. We’re proud to be part of the fight for the basic human dignity that every person deserves.”

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John Lennon would have been 84 years old on October 9th. It’s hard to believe that the Mind Games album from John Lennon was only his fourth proper solo album at the time of its release in 1973 and he would only release two more studio albums of original music in his lifetime. Rock ‘n’ Roll was a cover album of oldies released in 1975 and Milk and Honey was a posthumous follow-up to Double Fantasy released in 1984. His last solo album, Double Fantasy, released in 1980, and Milk and Honey were actually collaboration albums with his wife Yoko Ono. Taking the point even further, the double-album Some Time in New York City, released in 1972, contains one album of original songs and one album of live material recorded with, among others, Ono, George Harrison, and Frank Zappa.

Mind Games was written and recorded very much in reaction to the poor reception the heavily political Some Time in New York City album received. That album was a ragged political broadside that read and looked like a newspaper. This was Lennon, and also Ono, at their most political. While Plastic Ono Band was more about the personal, Some Time in New York City was more outward looking, although it did have its personal moments.

The Mind Games album is more in the vein of Imagine, but without Phil Spector producing, and with Lennon primarily producing himself, it doesn’t quite have the weight or majesty of Imagine. It does, however, still have its political moments, is an album where Lennon was clearly enjoying himself, and contains songs of Lennon’s love for Ono that were filled with a sweet, often understated charm. While the key songs are the title track “Nutopian International Anthem” and even “Meat City,” which on the outtakes disc is presented as a long take, the love songs on the album offer another side of Lennon in this post-political period.

Previous boxes of the Plastic Ono Band and Imagine albums have already been released. The Lennon estate has chosen to skip over what was the next album in Lennon’s catalog—Some Time in New York City—and instead release at this time the more accessible Mind Games. While it is understandable from various perspectives to release Mind Games now, let’s hope Some Time In New York City at some point does receive a full deluxe-edition release.

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