VIA PRESS RELEASE | Slash the iconic, GRAMMY® Award-winning guitarist and songwriter has released Slash Music Of Universal Studios Hollywood – Halloween Horror Nights, via Snakepit Records LLC/Deko Entertainment, just in time for Halloween.

This limited edition 11-song vinyl-only album comprised of Slash’s original compositions over the last six years for the Halloween Horror Nights “Universal Monsters” haunted house, is sold exclusively onsite at Universal Studios Hollywood from September 5 through November 3. 300 alternate color vinyl that are hand signed by Slash will be placed in stores at Universal Studios Hollywood until they are sold out, and only 100 are available online via Deko Entertainment HERE.

“As a longtime fan of horror movies and of ‘Halloween Horror Nights,’ I jumped at the chance to once again collaborate with Universal Studios Hollywood to produce a soundtrack for the Universal Monsters haunted house,” says Slash. “Similar to the way music affects a film, I composed this score for the legions of infamous characters in these haunted houses to elicit a sense of emotional terror.”

For the past six years, Slash has composed the original music for Halloween Horror Nights “Universal Monsters” haunted house which fans experience live at Universal Studios Hollywood every Halloween season. This year, Slash’s original score for the all-new haunted house “Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines,” is headlined by an all-female gathering of classic Universal Monsters – The Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula’s Daughter, She-Wolf of London and the undead, mummified Egyptian princess Anck-Su-Namun.

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Billy Gibbons is an open-minded guy. While I was busy hating the English synthpop likes of Depeche Mode and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, the leader of Texas legends ZZ Top was listening to them, and enough light bulbs were going off in his head to illuminate all 1,954 miles of the US-Mexico border.

Anybody who thought Gibbons of the La Grange laugh and Methusaleh beard was some front-porch blues and boogie purist was sadly mistaken—Billy dug the synthesizers, and Billy dug the drum machines, and most of all Billy dug the acceleration—the more beats per minute the better. And they all set him to thinking—if Black Oak Arkansas could bring electricity to Arkansas, why couldn’t ZZ Top bring New Wave to the Lone Star State? And become MTV Gods and make a bazillion dollars in the process?

It didn’t happen all at once, but it all came together on 1983’s Eliminator, easily one of the slickest, glossiest, supercharged, and yes weirdest albums ever to blow across the finish line between your ears, sending tumblin’ tumbleweeds a’ tumblin’ in all directions. An unholy fusion of down home blooz-boogie and the latest in studio technology, it put plenty a purist off his BBQ, but by gum it exploded out of the speakers just like that 1933 Ford Coupe in the band’s star-making videos.

And they kept what counted most; Billy still sounded like the biggest lecher this side of the Rio Grande, and his 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard still had enough Texas hot sauce on it to burn ears from Houston to Honolulu. And each and every rip-snortin’ power chord reminds me of a boast from a previous album; “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide.”

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Remembering Kelly Groucutt, born on this date in 1945. —Ed.

How great are ELO? Randy Newman wrote a song (“The Story of a Rock and Roll Band”) making fun of ‘em! Talk about your honors. That’s better than a Grammy! Six Grammys! A dozen Grammys even!

And how dumb was poor Roy Wood, who split Electric Light Orchestra before they sold like a gazillion records to form Wizzard, who sold like six! No wonder hairy Roy looks like a crazy recluse who’s spent the past 40 years in the wilderness, subsisting on a diet of spotted squirrel and sterno–he has!

The words “symphonic rock” frighten the bejesus outta me. But (at least on the best of their songs) ELO pulled it off, partly on the strength of their top-secret recipe (write Beatlesque melodies, then just add strings) but also because–and this is critical–unlike the pompous schmucks in Emerson, Lake & Palmer, ELO approached their classical-rock fusion in a spirit of fun. I don’t much care for many of their songs for the simple reason that I have a low tolerance for cellos and the like, but there’s something self-consciously preposterous in their shtick that makes me love them anyway. Call it ironic distance if you like, but the distance counts for a whole lot in my book.

There are plenty of ELO best-of compilations out there, but I’ve yet to run across one that makes me completely happy. They either dispense with the filler but fail to include some of my favorite songs, or include my favorite songs but toss in a bunch of songs I really don’t want to hear. With its 38 cuts 2001’s The Ultimate Collection falls into the second category; I have no use for “Shine a Little Love,” “The Diary of Horace Wimp, “Ticket to the Moon,” or “Last Train to London,” but the comp includes such personal must-haves as “Do Ya,” “Ma-Ma-Belle,” and “10538 Overture.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Marillion and earMUSIC are delighted to announce the first of a series of deluxe album reissues, starting with the classic 1997 album This Strange Engine. The re-release of Marillion’s ninth studio album almost three decades later, creates a heightened level of intimacy between music and listener.

Often referred to as the leaders of the neo-progressive movement of the early ’80s, Marillion have expanded way beyond any such genre-restrictions. They are purveyors of soulful, powerful, and deeply moving music, with a longstanding reputation of impressive live shows which have elicited their faithful and loyal global fan base. Steve Hogarth’s incredible voice and fine lyricism sets up Steve Rothery’s inspired guitar solos and adventurous melodic journeys. The backbone of the ensemble, Ian Mosley on drums, Mark Kelly on keys, and Pete Trewavas on bass interact instinctively to complete the band’s unique chemistry.

This Strange Engine is a remarkable album, characterized by acoustic calm and intimacy whilst offering an atmospheric soundscape of delicate lyrics and haunting melodies. The album showcases Marillion’s versatility and openness to different influences. Their ability to blend quiet and intense passages results in a dynamic listening tour-de-force. All in all, a genuine and engaging album, revealing new facets with each listen.

November 22 sees the release of a deluxe 4CD+Blu-ray media book and 5LP box-set edition. Both sets include a version of the original studio album newly mixed and mastered, a previously unreleased complete recording of the band’s 1997 performance in Grand Rapids, and also accompanied by illustrated booklets containing rare photos, new artwork, memorabilia, and an essay that’s digging deep into the album’s story.

The bonus Blu-ray, which is included in the media book, contains the album in hi res, jam sessions, and early versions of the album tracks, a This Strange Engine documentary, Live In Utrecht bootleg concert video, and promo videos from the time of the album release. A must have collectible item for all progressive rock fans and an eye-opener for music lovers in general.

Remembering Jimmy Reed, born on this day in 1925. —Ed.

One of the first great electric blues LPs is titled I’m Jimmy Reed, and it’s loaded with twelve songs from one of the 1950s only true blues crossovers. Over half a century later it still holds up spectacularly well and additionally provides a solid contrast to the electrified delta sounds that poured out of the studio Chess during the same period.

Jimmy Reed’s blues is amongst the most accessible ever recorded in either the acoustic or electric permutations of the form. Master of a relaxed, natural style lacking in the rough edges that his contemporaries Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and John Lee Hooker utilized with prideful relish, Reed’s stellar run of sides for the Vee-Jay label displayed how in the bustling post-WWII urban environment the blues could represent more than the power of the plantation transmogrified after traveling up the Mississippi River (Muddy, Wolf, etc.) or the horn-laden high strains of citified sophistication (Louis Jordan, Charles Brown, Tiny Bradshaw, Willie Mabon).

In contrast to Muddy, who instigated a booming ensemble sound that while impressively groundbreaking completely on its own terms would also prove an essential component in rock music’s ‘60s growth spurt, Reed was somewhat closer to the norm of a “folk-blues” player, offering up simple and often insanely catchy guitar figures and an unfussy, plainly sung (some might say sleepy) vocal approach with accents of trilling rack harmonica.

This shouldn’t infer that Reed engaged in any forced gestures of aw-shucks down-home authenticity, at least not in what’s considered his prime. Hell, one glimpse at the picture on I’m Jimmy Reed’s back cover presents a man of top-flight refinement and truly choice threads, and his image intersected with the sound of his records extremely well.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Back in the golden era of the single of the 1970s and ’80s, Motörhead would regularly assault the ears of Top 40 chart listeners on a Sunday afternoon with a string of smash hits.

The single as a format may have been less prominent from the ’90s onwards due to the dawn of the CD, but that didn’t diminish the calibre of the singles and promos that Motörhead continued to release. These mostly CD singles are now rare and highly collectable, so it only feels fitting for this era of the band’s bullet belt full of hits to be reappraised and released on the format that singles were born for, 7” vinyl.

We Take No Prisoners is a collection of Motörhead singles spanning 1995 to 2006, and available as a nine 7” single box set and expanded double CD and digital editions. From crowd pleasers like the pummeling “Sacrifice,” through their unique cover of Sex Pistols, “God Save The Queen” to the semi-acoustic roots vibes of “Whorehouse Blues,” no one could deny their song writing prowess and sheer rock power was still second to none.

With a selection of rare live and radio edits thrown in for good measure and a long-lost promo interview with Lemmy and Mikkey Dee from 2004, this is a definitive collection of this era of the band and the songs that drove the success of the albums they were lifted from.

By the way, which one’s Crosby? It’s a logical question: like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young this Spanish foursome deserted other bands to form a supergroup, and like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young they seem to have owned the kinds of egos that demanded that they see their individual names in lights. They could have called themselves Los Cacahuetes, after all. And the timeline is right; they put out their first and most famous album, Señora Azul, in 1974.

Unlike CSN&Y, however, their album tanked, and it took decades for fans and critics to come around to the opinion that it was a classic. The fans hated it, the critics loathed it, and I couldn’t tell you what Spain’s then dictator-for-life Generalissimo Francisco Franco—he would kick the fascist bucket the following year—thought of it, but I doubt he was a folk rock guy and if he had been he’d have promptly had them shot.

The band’s members were Juan Robles Cánovas, Rodrigo García, Adolfo Rodríguez, and José María Guzmán. García and Guzmán hailed from the band Solera; Rodrigo from Los Pekenikes and, before that, a Colombian group called The Speakers. Cánovas, surprisingly, had a progressive rock background as drummer for Módulos. They’re pretty horrible. Check out their cover of “Hello, Goodbye” if you get the chance; you won’t be able to say goodbye fast enough. Adolfo was previously the vocalist and guitarist of the psychedelia-tinged pop group Los Íberos. Listen to them long enough and you will grow to like them and hate yourself for it.

The winner-to-loser ratio of Señora Azul (that’s Blue Lady in Inglais) is well above 50 percent, and several of its songs are quite good indeed. The folk rock numbers can be quite powerful, and aside from an overly delicate love song or two and a failed attempt at whimsical pop, there are none I’d turn over to Franco’s secret police. And they throw in a country rocker or two that have real push. And like CSN&Y, they throw in some nice vocal harmonies, especially on the title track.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | GRAMMY® Award-winning multi platinum alt rock icons Weezer will celebrate three decades of their seminal full-length debut LP, Weezer a.k.a. the Blue Album, with the release of the Blue Album 30th Anniversary Edition on November 1, via Geffen/UMe. This must-have for any Weezer fan will be available in multiple configurations, including a massive Super Deluxe Edition 4LP + 10-inch + 7-inch box set as well as a Deluxe 3CD set, and digitally. Pre-order any of these amazing options HERE.

The Super Deluxe Edition box set presents the most comprehensive vision of the Blue Album ever created. It includes the classic album newly remastered from the original analog tapes. Across four 12-inch 180-gram LPs, a 10-inch EP, and 7-inch, it consists of 50 songs in total—with thirty-six previously unreleased tracks (encompassing 8 “Kitchen Tape Demos”), twenty-two early practices and live recordings, six BBC radio recordings—two of which have never been heard before—and four tracks from their LMU sessions. Longtime friend, collaborator, and de facto band historian Karl Koch penned new liner notes in issue #18 of the Weezine and assembled the artwork layout with a bevy of previously unreleased photos.

Plus, the box set boasts “sweater” embossed graphics complete with a pullable and retractable thread (as a nod to “Undone – The Sweater Song”), four lithographs, a poster perfect for the garage, song-themed sticker sheet, a twelve-sided die, and an enamel Bokkus pin. Meanwhile, the Deluxe 3CD Set also houses four lithographs, the poster, song-themed sticker sheet, twelve-sided die, enamel Bokkus pin, and 28-page issue #18 of the Weezine.

There is also an Ultra Limited Edition box set, with all of the features of the Super Deluxe Edition, but that comes wrapped in an actual knit sweater and a certificate signed by each of the band members. Only 100 of these exist and will be available for purchase on Weezer’s webstore.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | This October Jamiroquai celebrates the 30th anniversary of The Return Of The Space Cowboy. Their second album, it will be reissued as a double-LP set in “moon grey” vinyl and includes Michael Gray’s Good Vibe Zone edit of “Space Cowboy”—which has never been released on a physical product. The packaging has also been re-designed for this anniversary release including foil enhancement of the original cover design. To be released on 18 October, it is available to pre-order now.

​The Return Of The Space Cowboy is the follow up album to the band’s huge 1993 debut, Emergency On Planet Earth. Selling over 3 million copies globally, Emergency On Planet Earth put the band on the map with their distinctive sound standing them apart from other popular acts of the time.

​The Return Of The Space Cowboy was released just one year later and was met with great critical and public acclaim. Certified Platinum in the UK, Japan, and France, it achieved chart success in multiple countries and spawned the single “Space Cowboy” which remains one of their biggest tracks to date. Critically the album was lauded with Rolling Stone saying “Jamiroquai parlay jazzy soul pop so tight it crackles…Nowadays, when most funk comes out of cans, Jamiroquai’s live spark glows.”

The Guardian said “…this second album sounds like vintage Stevie Wonder and Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson, but Kay’s vocals are as snappy and engaging as his extrovert persona” and Q magazine said it “combines intricate arrangements with several long, free-form workouts crammed with virtuoso performances”.

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Remembering Freddie Mercury, born on this day in 1946. —Ed.

It’s a shame, when you think about it. All the great albums I never heard growing up because (1) I could rarely afford the cost of an LP, and (2) there was no great or even half-decent FM radio station within listening range of the one half-horse town (the other half of the horse was owned by nearby Harney, and they got the front end) I called home.

Take Queen’s Sheer Heart Attack. Never heard it. Never heard of Queen period until “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which I should have liked but didn’t because I thought it was too camp. Too camp! This from a guy who spent the better part of his adolescence idolizing Elton John. But that’s the way I roll. I didn’t like the pitch of Freddie Mercury’s voice, or the band’s lush and ubiquitous vocal harmonies, and as for the songs, they were too structurally baroque for my primitivist tastes. In hindsight, I was a little punk in the making. My attitude was keep it simple, which was why I never liked progressive rock, period, until I started to get high and listened to my fair share of Peter Gabriel-era Genesis.

And if I didn’t like Queen much to begin with, I really disliked them after they put out those bookend hits, “We Are the Champions” and “We Will Rock You.” To me they sounded like pseudo-fascistic declarations of supremacy, and I thought then and still think now their Übermensch shtick would have gone over like gangbusters at the Nuremburg Rallies. The line “no time for losers” offends me as much as any line in rock history, which is why I never listened to 1974’s Sheer Heart Attack even after I knew it existed. I thought of Queen as a bunch of snotty high-pitched twats whose songs were too complicated for their own good, and wrote them off as bad rubbish.

But there is a time and a place for everything, and now is the time to give Queen their chance at rocking my world. And guess what, they have. Sheer Heart Attack isn’t the perfect LP, but it includes a slew of cool songs I like, even if some of their affectations continue to irk me. Bottom line: Any band with a guitarist as good as Brian May, and that can come up with a line as good as “Give me a good guitar/And you can say my hair’s a disgrace” is okay with me.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | The 50th anniversary of ABBA’s victory in the Eurovision Song Contest on April 6th 1974 has been thoroughly celebrated all over the world—not just the triumph with “Waterloo,” but the group’s amazing accomplishments and their position as one of the world’s major pop bands. And the celebrations aren’t over yet!

In October 2024, Polar Music International will issue a magnificent box set of ABBA’s single A-sides: The Singles – The First Fifty Years. The compilation brings together, for the first time, not only every ABBA single issued by Polar up until 1982 but also the singles released in conjunction with 2021’s Voyage album.

Building on ABBA’s classic double album The Singles – The First Ten Years, originally issued in 1982, this new box set expands the concept by bringing the story bang up to date, featuring every ABBA single released 1972–2022. Available as a four-vinyl disc set and a double-CD, The Singles – The First Fifty Years is a journey through some of the best pop music ever recorded.

From the group’s 1972 debut single ‘People Need Love’ to the Voyage album’s ‘No Doubt About It’ in 2022, the 38-track box set features masterpieces such as ‘SOS’, ‘Mamma Mia’, ‘Fernando’, ‘Dancing Queen’, ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’, ‘Take A Chance On Me’, ‘Chiquitita’, ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)’, ‘The Winner Takes It All’, ‘Super Trouper’, ‘One Of Us’, ‘Don’t Shut Me Down,’ and all of ABBA’s other big hits.

To make the story more complete, The Singles – The First Fifty Years features four additional tracks not issued as Polar Music A-sides, but which were singles in some countries back in the day: ‘Hasta Mañana’, ‘Angeleyes’ (a double A-side with ‘Voulez-Vous’ in some countries), ‘Lay All Your Love On Me,’ and ‘When All Is Said And Done.’ The package also comes with an illustrated booklet with liner notes by Carl Magnus Palm.