Some random thoughts on Journey’s 1981 blockbuster LP Escape:

1. Remember that final, 2007 episode of The Sopranos with the open ending that everybody hated, the one where Tony and family are sitting in the diner and you don’t know whether Tony gets whacked or not? Well, what pissed me off was not knowing whether Tony lived or died. What bugged me was that the booth jukebox was playing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” and Tony’s kid, a teen from the year 2007 who had never shown any symptoms of being a congenital idiot, never said “What is this shit?” Any normal rebellious teen male from the year 2007 would have said “What is this shit?” but Tony’s kid didn’t SAY shit. Ruined the entire episode for me.

2. I don’t think Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” is shit. I USED to think it was shit, thought it was shit for decades, but then something horrible happened, I had a brain aneurysm or something, and now I love it. I love it! This has happened to me with other bands and other songs and maybe it’s a function of growing old and senile but believe me, it’s disturbing. I’ve always considered myself a person of taste, although I’ve also always liked Black Oak Arkansas and Foghat while despising the likes of Patti Smith and The Clash, so that’s debatable. But Journey? Journey is no grey area. When a person tells me they like Journey I give that person the stink eye and write that person out of the Book of Life. Journey is the enemy.

3. On a completely random note, Escape’s cover falls into the great Boston/Electric Light Orchestra tradition of album covers with spaceships on them escaping Earth because who doesn’t want to escape Earth, especially if you’re a teen and your parents are hard-ons and school may as well be Leavenworth and what’s the point of growing up anyway? To get a job? To go bald and get married and STOP smoking pot? Life HAS to be better in another galaxy!

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Today, The Beatles have announced a special 60th anniversary reissue of their third studio album A Hard Day’s Night, in celebration of National Album Day. The limited edition reissue on 180g white vinyl will be released on October 19th.

At a time when popstars either spoke BBC English or tried to emulate the American rockers they so idolised, there was no hiding where The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr—came from: they sang, as they spoke, in a Liverpool accent. Although the demands of the music business meant they soon had to relocate to London, in many ways they never left their city—in song and in story, the group are inextricably, indelibly linked to Merseyside.

Recorded between January and June 1964 and released that July, if ever there was a pointer to what an album could achieve, it’s the 13 songs and 31 minutes of A Hard Day’s Night, the third long-player by The Beatles. It is the sound of a group with the wind in its hair, the confidence that their hard work was paying off. The (partial) soundtrack to their first film, at a time when an LP was a collection of recent singles and cover versions, A Hard Day’s Night was penned solely by Lennon & McCartney. “Can’t Buy Me Love,” the first track from the forthcoming album to be released, topped the US and UK charts in April 1964.

In the 476 days since the release of their debut LP, Please Please Me in March 1963, The Beatles had gone from local to national to international phenomenon. A Hard Day’s Night, both the beloved 1964 film directed by Richard Lester and the album, captured that rocket in a bottle. With songs about working men going home to their loved ones (the title track, “When I Get Home”); the exhilaration of early love (“I Should Have Known Better,” “If I Fell,” “And I Love Her,” “I’m Happy Just To Dance With You”); the ups and downs of relationships (“I’ll Cry Instead,” “Tell Me Why,” “You Can’t Do That”) and, already, a strong sense of time (“Things We Said Today”), on A Hard Day’s Night, Lennon & McCartney put words in the mouths of teenagers around the world.

The 60th anniversary reissue of A Hard Day’s Night will be released on October 19th to celebrate National Album Day.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Acclaimed archival label Light in the Attic (LITA) continues their partnership with legendary singer, actress, activist, and icon Nancy Sinatra with the latest two installments off their Nancy Sinatra Archival Series: definitive reissues of the 1967 albums Sugar and Country, My Way.

Sugar was the fourth album recorded by Sinatra in 1966, an uncanny feat considering The Beatles were recording around two albums a year at the time. The album followed on the heels of her hit debut album Boots, her sophomore follow-up How Does That Grab You?, and the Swinging Sixties offering Nancy In London. In 1967, Sinatra would continue her artistic ascent into the pop stratosphere with the James Bond You Only Live Twice theme song, the groovy technicolor television special Movin’ With Nancy, recording one of the most beloved duets of all time, titled “Some Velvet Morning,” and a cross-country pilgrimage to the center of the country music scene to record Country, My Way.

Due out November 29th in vinyl, CD, and digital formats, with both LP editions being offered on classic black wax and special limited-edition color wax (Sugar is available on “Sugar Town Pink” and “Let’s Fall In Love” pink and white swirl; Country, My Way is available on “Bye-Bye Birmingham” blue and “Hello LA” red and white swirl). Sugar and Country, My Way are available to pre-order now.

All formats feature audio freshly remastered from the original analog tapes by GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin. Pressed at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI), both vinyl editions are presented in expanded gatefold jackets accompanied by 20-page booklets (featuring a new Q&A with Sinatra conducted by the reissue’s GRAMMY®-nominated co-producer Hunter Lea, plus never-before-seen photos from the artist’s personal archive). All music configurations, plus limited-edition autographed vinyl, will also be made available at Nancy’s Bootique.

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Celebrating Brian Johnson on his 77th birthday. —Ed.

A very brief history lesson. First Attila was the greatest hard rock band in the world. Then Sir Lord Baltimore took over as the greatest hard rock band in the world. Then along came AC/DC to produce an electrical surge that brought down the hard rock power grid, settling the debate forever. Their ascendancy caused many a band to give up the ghost. Some sold their gear and returned to England to resume their careers as bricklayers. Others picked up dulcimers and went full folkie. I saw Deep Purple at a Greenwich Village folk club and their lute and bodhrán take on “Smoke on the Water”inspired some discerning fan with a flare gun to burn the place to the ground.

AC/DC played a primal, zero frills, straight ahead hard rock that led morons (like the younger me) to conclude their music was for dummies. Frank Zappa (my then idol) played cerebral brain music. AC/DC just punched you in the solar plexus. Theirs was gut music, like Iggy and the Stooges or a souped-up, oversexed early Black Sabbath.

And on 1980’s Back in Black—the band’s seventh studio LP—AC/DC forged its metal into a tool of sledgehammer simplicity. It was former Geordie vocalist Brian Johnson’s first LP with the band, Bon Scott having died from alcohol poisoning the previous February. The band recorded the LP in the Bahamas, where a diehard fan in the form of a crab scuttled across the studio floor. With his cheerleading the band recorded ten tracks that stripped hard rock to its essentials. Three chords, no poofter organ solos, just barf in your face music for the lads at the local.

You get a little dark stuff in the form of “Hell’s Bells,” are invited to have a drink with the lads, and get a lecture on how rock and roll isn’t poisoning the aural environment. But what you mostly get is not so subtle sexual innuendo that reveals Ted Nugent to be a loincloth feminist. This is 12-year-old stuff, but to be fair to the band, there’s nothing on Back in Black as pubescent as Zappa’s “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow.”

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Television began life as a punk band—Richard Hell made sure of that. But Tom Verlaine soon tired of Hell’s determined amateurism and wildman antics (didn’t like him, you know, MOVING on stage) and so out went Hell, and as time passed Television became something very different. Twin guitars, lots of soloing, no “fuck rock ’n’ roll” nihilism—Television went from Dionysian to Apollonian, from raw and visceral to tight and (somehow) both wound up and ethereal. They weren’t America’s answer to the Sex Pistols—they were America’s answer to Wishbone Ash.

Television had a short but brilliant run—epochal debut (1977’s Marquee Moon), a second album that disappointed most but was at its best utterly sublime (1978’s Adventure), plus a live album that was released post-breakup (1982’s The Blow-Up) and an album they recorded after reforming briefly in the nineties (who cares). They weren’t a better to burn out than to fade away proposition—they succumbed to sheer fatigue and disappointing record sales, and went their separate ways with the usual “Why aren’t we stars, fuck this.”

Richard Hell had an interesting thing to say about the Tom Verlaine (then still Paul Miller) he’d first met at school in Delaware. He said Verlaine “…had this fundamental belief in his absolute inherent superiority to everyone else on this earth.” Such people tend to be control freaks, have delusions of grandeur and to be intolerant of the shortcomings of others, so it was perhaps inevitable that he’d end up a solo artist. Fellow Television guitarist Richard Lloyd’s drug problems, and the group’s failure to achieve commercial success mentioned above, didn’t help.

Verlaine didn’t let much time pass before he released his first solo album, 1979’s Tom Verlaine. It didn’t hurt that more than half of its songs—including the two best—dated back to Verlaine’s time in Television. Like Lou Reed, Verlaine didn’t walk away from his old band without taking a few mementos with him. Getting a fresh start is easier when you don’t have to make a fresh start.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Resonance Records proudly presents Lights on a Satellite: Live at the Left Bank, a blazing set of previously unissued 1978 concert recordings by Sun Ra and his Myth Science Cosmo Swing Arkestra, as a limited two-LP set for RSD Black Friday, November 29. Co-produced by Zev Feldman and Sun Ra archivist Michael D. Anderson (who also played drums on the ’78 concert), the newly unearthed live session is an exciting successor to Sun Ra at the Showcase: Live in Chicago, another archival find that Feldman issued on his Jazz Detective imprint for Record Store Day this April. The new collection will also be released as a two-CD set on December 6.

Prophetic avant gardist Sun Ra’s big band is heard in blistering form—playing repertoire ranging from space-age jazz to interpretations of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and jazz standards by Fletcher Henderson, Miles Davis, and Tadd Dameron—on a dynamic 12-track set recorded at a show mounted by the Left Bank Jazz Society at the Famous Ballroom in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 23, 1978. Those recordings are augmented by two tracks captured at the concert and featured in the classic 1980 film Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise by the acclaimed music filmmaker Robert Mugge, who also provided images for the new package.

The deluxe Resonance packages include an essay by noted jazz critic J.D. Considine (who attended the ’78 show); reminiscences from Anderson, Mugge, Left Bank member John Fowler, critic Dan Morgenstern, and Arkestra veteran and latter-day bandleader Marshall Allen; and thoughts on Sun Ra’s artistry from musicians Gary Bartz and Craig Taborn.

Feldman says of this newest discovery, “It was very exciting to learn from Sun Ra archivist Michael D. Anderson that these recordings from the Left Bank in 1978 even existed. Filmmaker Robert Mugge was also very kind to us by allowing us to borrow the music he had recorded for his film, which is presented here as bonus tracks. Also thanks to Mr. Mugge, we’ve included various high-resolution screen captures from his film that help capture the energy of what it was like to be there at the Famous Ballroom that night.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | The Animals announce a 2CD reissue of their classic debut album The Animals which features the full album in both mono and stereo with bonus track “House of the Rising Sun,” to be released on 18th October. Pre-order here. Alongside this, The Animals will be available on exclusive yellow vinyl as part of this year’s National Album Day on 19th October.

Originally released in 1964, this groundbreaking record introduced the world to the raw energy of British rock fused with deep American blues. It features a mixture of blues, R&B, traditional folk covers and covers of songs written by John Lee Hooker, Chuck Berry, and Fats Domino. Produced by Mickie Most, The Animals featured Eric Burdon on lead vocals, Hilton Valentine on guitar, Alan Price on keyboards, Chas Chandler on bass guitar, and John Steel on drums.

The 2CD reissue includes “House of the Rising Sun.” Initially a traditional folk song, The Animals’ cover went to number one in the UK, US, and Canada and has since been dubbed as the “first folk rock hit.”

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Deep Digs, in cooperation with the B. B. King Estate, Universal Music Enterprises and INA France, will issue a sensational, previously unreleased B.B. King album, In France: Live at the 1977 Nancy Jazz Pulsations Festival, as a limited two-LP set for RSD Black Friday on Nov. 29.

The powerful set, featuring a dynamic, stops-out performance by the masterful blues singer-guitarist and his potent seven-piece band, which will be heard on record for the first time, will see release as a two-CD set on Dec. 6.

The collection, released in cooperation with the B.B. King Estate, was recorded at the titular festival by the Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (ORTF), France’s national radio agency. It succeeds Deep Digs’ widely acclaimed debut release, gospel singer-guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s Live in France, which was drawn from ORTF’s archives at INA for the imprint’s Record Store Day bow this April.

Award-winning archival producer Zev Feldman, whose Deep Digs titles are released in partnership with Jordi Soley and Carlos Agustin Calembert of Spain’s Elemental Music, says, “I’ve been a lifelong fan of B.B. King, and it brings me so much joy to make this truly remarkable document captured at a wonderful period of B.B. King’s career available for the world to hear.”

The LP edition of the collection will be issued on 180-gram vinyl and mastered and cut by Matthew Lutthans at the Mastering Lab. LP and CD editions will both include liner notes by French writer Jean Buzelin, author of books about Tharpe, Skip James, Memphis Minnie, and Blind Lemon Jefferson, and photos from the Nancy, France, performance by Jean-Marc Birraux, plus other vintage shots by Jean-Pierre Leloir and Ozier Muhammad.

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Checking in with cornetist-trumpeter-composer-bandleader-visual artist Rob Mazurek is always worthwhile. That’s because, to make it plain, the guy’s records just never miss. And when it’s a release by the Exploding Star Orchestra, that’s even better, as the band, which has been Mazurek’s primary musical focus over the last half decade or so (the group has been extant for nearly 25 years), is a certifiable murderer’s row of talent, of which more is said below. The latest album from Exploding Star Orchestra is Live at the Adler Planetarium, a sleek doozy of a performance captured in Mazurek’s old stomping grounds of Chicago. It’s out on vinyl and CD October 4 through International Anthem.

Rob Mazurek began leading ensembles of various sizes in the mid-’90s, but of particular note is the Chicago Underground Collective (17 releases ranging from duo to orchestra beginning with 12 Degrees of Freedom in 1998), São Paulo Underground (six releases beginning with Sauna: Um, Dois, Tres in 2006), and Exploding Star Orchestra (nine releases beginning with We Are All From Somewhere Else in 2007).

Live at the Adler Planetarium features Mazurek on trumpets, bells and voice (along with providing compositions and directing the band), Nicole Mitchell on flute, voice and electronics, Damon Locks on voice, samplers and electronics, Tomeka Reid on cello and electronics, Craig Taborn on Wurlitzer electric piano, Moog and electronics, Angelica Sanchez on Wurlitzer electric piano and Moog, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten on bass, and Chad Taylor and Gerald Cleaver on drums.

The music heard on Live at the Adler Planetarium was one part of an event that saw a stream of abstractions derived from Mazurek’s paintings and animations digitally projected above the heads of the audience and band in the planetarium’s Grainger Sky Theater. The record’s cover captures a glimpse of what the assembled experienced that night, March 24, 2023.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Hot on the heels of their critically acclaimed, sold-out summer headline tour, Bush is set to commemorate the 30th anniversary of their groundbreaking debut album Sixteen Stone with a special vinyl reissue. This milestone release marks the beginning of an exciting new partnership with Craft Recordings, a label renowned for its dedication to preserving and amplifying iconic music. The multi-Platinum LP, a cornerstone of the ’90s post-grunge era, is set to arrive on November 22nd and is available for pre-order.

Alongside a wide release, fans can get their hands on six limited-edition colored pressings: “Opaque Red” (available wide), “Silver” (exclusive to Independent Record Stores), “Translucent Lemonade” (via Best Buy), “Sepia” (via Barnes & Noble), and “Highlighter Smoke” (available at Revolver), plus a “Fog” pressing exclusive to the band’s Spotify followers.

Released on December 6th, 1994, Sixteen Stone propelled Bush into the international spotlight, selling millions of copies in the US—the album recently certified 7X Platinum by the RIAA—and producing a string of hit singles. With its blend of heavy guitar riffs and introspective lyrics, the album helped define the alternative-rock sound of the ’90s, cementing Bush as one of the era’s most successful bands.

Upon release, Sixteen Stone debuted at No.4 on the Billboard 200, staying on the chart for more than 70 weeks. The album’s runaway success was driven by its singles, including the chart-topping hits “Glycerine” and “Comedown,” both of which exploded at radio peaking at No.1 in Billboard’s Alternative Airplay charts and No.1 in the Modern Rock Tracks chart. Other fan-favorites on the album include “Machinehead,” “Everything Zen,” and “Little Things.” The enduring popularity of these tracks has kept the album resonance for new generations of listeners, while its influence on modern rock remains undeniable.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | “Perhaps more than any other record of the decade, [Sung Tongs] foresaw where indie hearts, ears, and minds would go in the next five years… the magic of this record was that it was both innovative and utterly, peerlessly beautiful.” —Pitchfork

Animal Collective will release a Canary Yellow and Ruby Red colored 2xLP vinyl repress of their beloved fifth studio LP, 2004’s Sung Tongs, in honor of the album’s 20 year anniversary. The new edition marks the first time the album has been available on color vinyl. Also available digitally and on color vinyl will be the new live album Sung Tongs Live at the Theatre at Ace Hotel, a recording of the 2018 concert in Los Angeles where Avey Tare and Panda Bear performed the album in full. All formats will be out October 4 via Domino.

Sung Tongs marked the beginning of a prolific five-year period in which Animal Collective went on to release their game-changing albums Feels (2005), Strawberry Jam (2007), and Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009). At the time of Sung Tongs’ release, Rolling Stone called it “one of the more creative and accomplished records you’ll hear this year,” adding, “Their songs cackle with soulful eccentricity while dazzling you with deceptive chops and improvised manipulations.”

Pitchfork later named it one of the best albums of the 2000s, raving, “Sung Tongs is an emotionally thrilling record, impossibly giddy and fully-charged with big, raucous enthusiasm: Acoustic strums and wild, flailing voices (including some mind-blowing harmonies by vocalists Avey Tare and Panda Bear) coalesce into something sublimely weird and undeniably beautiful.”

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