On May 17, the Craft Recordings Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds series continues with an 180 gram pressing of For Real! by pianist-composer-bandleader-survivor Hampton Hawes. A superb mix of original material and standards, the LP’s six songs undeniably extend from bebop and yet are wholly in tune with their year of origin 1958, as an unperturbed West Coast ambience deepens the vibes. Cut from the original master tapes by Bernie Grundman and released in a tip-on sleeve, the set has never looked or sounded better.

Saxophonists are notorious thunder stealers, so it’s unsurprising that most of the records Hampton Hawes cut as a leader are trio sessions. His first three, all released by Contemporary in 1955–‘56, are trios with bassist Red Mitchell and drummer Chuck Thompson. These are The Hampton Hawes Trio, This Is Hampton Hawes, and Everybody Likes Hampton Hawes.

But the man did branch out a bit, following up the above albums with three more for Contemporary from a quartet that featured Mitchell, drummer Buzz Freeman and guitarist Jim Hall, all titled All Night Session!. The contents of those LPs, essentially studio jam sessions, were recorded in 1956 but not released until ’58 as three separate volumes that shared the same photograph of a suave and smiling Hawes.

Adding Hall broadened the sound with little risk of the pianist being overshadowed. Another quartet record, Four!, was recorded and released in 1958, this one replacing Hall with guitarist Barney Kessel and Freeman with drummer Shelly Manne. If lacking the loose spontaneity of the recordings with Hall, Four! benefits from a killer band as Hawes was entering his prime.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Exactly 20 years after its initial release on May 10th, Keane announce full details of their forthcoming special remastered version of Hopes and Fears, undoubtedly one of the best debut albums ever. Pre-order HERE.

The band also take to the road this year to embark on a full world tour. US dates include LA’s prestigious Greek Theatre on September 5th, Nashville’s fabled The Ryman Auditorium on September 15th, and NYC’s legendary Radio City Music Hall on September 24th. UK and Irish dates include two huge and extremely special shows at London’s O2 Arena on May 10th and 11th.

Making up this 20th anniversary celebratory release, comes a special version of the original album remastered and cut by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road Studios, as well as the unveiling of B-Sides, previously unreleased demos and rarities. 5.1 Dolby Atmos mixes come from David Kosten.

On the same day as the box set release, the band play the first of two London 02 Arena shows as part of a world tour that kicks off April 1st in Mexico City before reaching Europe and the UK. Their U.S. tour starts off in September at UC Berkeley’s Greek Theatre on September 4th and concludes at Washington, DC’s The Anthem. More dates are to be announced.

Keane recently took their live show to India and South Africa, playing these countries for the very first time and proving the ever-growing demand for the band worldwide. They were joined onstage in Mumbai with Anoushka Shankar to play a special version of “Everybody’s Changing.”

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Celebrating Stevie Wonder, born on this day in 1950. —Ed.

The racks are loaded with reissues from key Motown singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Stevie Wonder, the contents covering three phases in his long career. Live at the Regal Theater, Chicago, June 1962 offers his breakout third album under a new title; it’s out now on vinyl through the Jambalaya label. Fulfillingness’ First Finale, which landed amid his improbably fertile ’70s run, and Hotter Than July, a transitional 1980 album cut before Wonder maxed out his creative console’s commercial dial, are available on LP via Motown.

Stevie Wonder’s biography makes a good case for the rewards of patience in artist development, though that’s also a complicated situation; signed to Motown’s Tamla imprint at age 11, Barry Gordy’s company had to take basic human development into consideration. That Wonder wasn’t cast aside as an also-ran after the commercially tepid performance of his first two LPs is credit to the value Motown placed on the people as well as profits.

Wonder has been blind since shortly after birth, a fact making the label’s deliberate attempts to connect him to the sightless soul powerhouse Ray Charles seem more than a little brazen in retrospect; his first recording, the startlingly average Tribute to Uncle Ray, and the much better all-instrumental follow-up The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie were both released in 1962 but in reverse order; both inform his commercial breakthrough, ’63’s Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius, renamed by Jambalaya as Live at the Regal Theater with the “Little” removed from Wonder’s moniker.

The LP begins with the Motortown Revue’s MC hyperbolically stating that Wonder is “considered as being the genius of our time.” The boldness of the claim’s not really a surprise in the context of the era; what’s more unusual is the energy and flair on display in “Fingertips,” this concert performance of The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie’s opener delivering a smash hit (simultaneous pop and R&B #1s) when split into two parts on 45.

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We all make boo boos. Usually, however, when the boo boos happen, we more or less move on, apologize if necessary, and try to watch out for similar situations in the future. Sometimes, however, as we’re bobbling that thing that we’re about to break, we manage to tap-dance our way into some sort of a solution; even if it doesn’t look pretty.

I’d been hoping to interview Graham Parker for many years and when the opportunity came up in the past, it just didn’t work out. So, when the chance came up in connection with his latest release, Last Chance to Learn the Twist, I jumped and wanted to make everything run as smoothly as possible. Graham and I had a great, fun chat. Except, as Murphy and his law might have predicted, I messed it up and was unable to use any of the footage that we created together.

Instead of running away with my tail in between my legs, I bravely stood up, raised my hand, and said out loud, “I goofed!” to which Graham and his team kindly responded in the positive: “Don’t worry, mate. We’ll do it again.”

So, enjoy take-two of a double-take of my interview with Graham Parker. He’s as fun of a chat as you might imagine and his wealth of experiences and strong and solid body of work make him a character who anyone would enjoy speaking with. He’s smart, he’s funny, and he’s not above giving a bloke a break when that bloke has made a boo boo. Thanks, Graham.

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.

Musician/producer Steve Albini—who passed away recently at the age of 61—was a heckuva nice guy. He made pleasant, melodic music with a positive message, had nothing but good things to say about his fellow musicians, and I think read the wrong obituary. Because the Steve Albini who died about a week back was an abrasive person who made abrasive music and had a tongue dipped in battery acid.

Albini was best known for his work with the less-band-than-industrial-drill Big Black and as the no nonsense, zero-frills producer of bands both big (Nirvana)and small (Poster Children), many of whom he had hilariously scathing things to say. This was partly the reason he didn’t want his name on their records. “When I am hired to record a band,” he once wrote, “I do not wish to be associated with their charming little records.” What he was more than happy to do was kiss and tell.

Everybody has their favorite Steve Albini diss; mine include his description of the Pixies’ Surfer Rosa (which he produced) as “A patchwork pinch loaf from a band who at their top-dollar best are blandly entertaining college rock.” I also like his bottom line on Bitch Magnet’s “Star Booty” EP: “Listening to this wittle wecord is about the dumbest thing you could do with it, especially if you’re short on dinnerware.” And lovable guy that he was, he described The Breeders’ drummer as looking “quite like an emu, except that her hair is thinner.” This is not a nice thing to say about a woman. Or a man. Or an emu, for that matter.

Albini was no fan of political correctness and his songs with Big Black—a noise rock outfit with an industrial feel thanks to “Roland” the drum machine—were taboo busters, rife with cynically “funny” takes on racism, homophobia, sexism, child sexual abuse, and god knows what else. If a Big Black song didn’t offend your sense of common decency, it was probably not a Big Black song. Outrage was Albini’s métier—it was always a simple matter of saying the next wrong thing. His was envelope-pushing comedy, but while the songs were remorselessly brutal exercises in drill-bit ear surgery, the jokes wore very thin very fast, and I tended to just ignore them.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | When Fleetwood Mac finished touring for Tusk in 1980, guitarist Lindsey Buckingham wasted no time jumping back into the studio, recording nearly all the instruments for his 1981 solo debut, Law and Order.

Before the turn of the century, Buckingham added two more albums to his discography—Go Insane and Out of the Cradle—along with a string of memorable songs for films, including “Holiday Road” from National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983). This summer, Rhino is releasing a new vinyl boxed set featuring Buckingham’s first three solo albums alongside a selection of bonus tracks. 20th Century Lindsey will be available on June 14 from Rhino as a 4-LP set and digitally as well as a 4-LP set exclusively sold on Rhino.com & LindseyBuckingham.com. Pre-order here. A 4-CD set will be released later this year in August.

The set includes the studio albums Law and Order (1981), Go Insane (1984), and Out of the Cradle (1992), all featuring audio remastered in 2017 from the original master tapes. Those records are joined by 20th Century Rarities, an eight-song compilation of non-album tracks containing hard-to-find mixes and soundtrack contributions, like “Time Bomb Town” (Back to the Future, 1985) and “Twisted”—his duet with Stevie Nicks (Twister, 1996). “Slow Dancing” (Extended Version) from the 20th Century Rarities set is available today digitally. Previously only released in Europe as a 12” Single in 1984, “Slow Dancing” (Extended Version) makes its streaming debut nearly 40 years to the date of its original release.

20th Century Lindsey explores Buckingham’s distinctive songwriting, intricate guitar work, and innovative production across dozens of tracks, including stellar songs like Wrong,” “Countdown,” and the Top 10 smash “Trouble”—with Fleetwood Mac bandmate and drummer Mick Fleetwood.

Celebrating Donovan on his 78th birthday. —Ed.

Scottish born Donovan Leitch went from folkie fop to Flower Power avatar as fast as you can say Mickie Most, and by so doing became “the voice” of “Swinging London” in our Year of the Lord 1966. He brought America’s West Coast psychedelic sound to England’s green and pleasant land, one-upping his pals in the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in the process. A pretty cheeky move, one has to admit, for the feckless lad Bob Dylan more or less savaged in Don’t Look Back.

Donovan’s first stab at freaking out was 1966’s Sunshine Superman, and it would be nice to report that it’s a stone-cold psychedelic classic from beginning to end. Alas, the same man who was pioneering the sitar sound and dayglo imagery was still nurturing Medieval fantasies, and the latter constitute jarring interruptions in what is otherwise one groovy slab of vinyl.

But not even “Guinevere” and “Legend of a Girl Child Linda” (written for Brian Jones’ girlfriend Linda Lawrence) can spoil the lysergic fun, and on “Season of the Witch” Donovan might as well be a soothsayer; its ominous vibe literally catapults us three long years into the future, when Altamont and Charles Manson would forever harsh the universal peace and love buzz. “It’s strange,” sings our Donovan looking over his shoulder, before going on to say cryptic things about how you have to pick up every stitch. Very spooky number what with that eerie organ and portentous bass line, and just what are those rabbits in the ditch running from any way? That great chicken-scratch guitar, maybe?

The title track is a slinky homage to getting really, really bent, and its sinuous contours, funky percussion, and rubber band bass are the perfect complements to Donovan’s cock-sure vocals. Studio ace Jimmy Page nails down a near-perfect guitar solo, Donovan brags that “Superman and Green Lantern/Ain’t got nothin’ on me,” and there’s a reason this baby soared, cape and all, to the top of the U.S. pop charts. It’s a perfect piece of sunny psychedelia and it’s brimming over with the kind of self-assurance that can only come out of a capsule.

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If you’re like most people, at 20 years old, you’re still figuring out who you are and what you want to do with your life. And there’s nothing wrong with that, especially in today’s day and age, young people now have the luxury of waiting just a little bit longer before they make up their mind to point their lives in a specific direction. However, like compounding interest in an investment, the longer you spend—and the earlier you get started in a particular thing—the sooner you become an expert and reap the compounding interest and dividends of your patience and time.

Joey Alexander may only be 20 years old this year, but he’s already got a dozen years of experience and success in the jazz world to lean upon. Seen as a wunderkind, Joey was born with an innate understanding—technically and emotionally—of jazz. After finding success in Europe, he gained further popularity and was showcased for a wider audience by Wynton Marsalis. Since then, he’s played for Presidents, been featured on 60 Minutes, and is also the first Indonesian artist to have an album make the Billboard 200 chart.

While his young age may have been part of the package in selling his talents, at 20 years old, Alexander proves that, as he grows older, he’s got much more to say to his audience through the language of jazz. His latest album is titled, Continuance (Mack Avenue) and aside from showcasing his piano chops, it also highlights a fabulous composer in the making.

Much of the time, when I approach a guest on Radar, I’m confident that I can find some unique topics to discuss. However, with Joey, I was sure he’d been asked everything I had in mind. We discussed his long/short career, his new album, what’s coming next, and I might even dig up a topic or two that he hasn’t been interviewed about yet. Joey Alexander has accomplished so much at a very young age; the most impressive takeaway of my time with him was excitement over what the next decade might bring.

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.

I’ve always been loathe to write about Bikini Kill and the Riot Grrrl movement in general because every time I read about either I run face first into discussions of third-wave feminism and find myself confronted with words like “post-structuralism,” and just ten minutes ago I ran across a doctoral dissertation (I’m assuming) entitled “From Girl to Woman to Grrrl: (Sub)Cultural Intervention and Political Activism in the Time of Post Feminism.” And while I consider myself an ardent feminist (the world would be a better place if women ran it) the horrible truth is I’m a frivolous person and simply not that smart. And Marx ruined me for manifestos. Foghat didn’t write manifestos.

So let’s just say that bands like Bikini Kill were angry and had damn good cause to be angry, and called for a revolution girl style now because one was desperately needed, what with rape, physical and sexual abuse, condescension, and all of the ugly thoughts and words and deeds of a patriarchal society that considered it their god-given right to tell women what they could and could not do with their bodies and minds, all of which Bikini kill saw not as abstractions but as day-to-day reality.

To rebel against a male-dominated society (hell, a world) where violence real and psychic are your daily fare, and to want to change that, and to tell young women they too could change that, put Bikini Kill and their like on the side of the angels. Recently it came out via an informal social media poll that woman would sooner run into a bear in the woods than a man. And not because bears are better looking.

While I’ve never been a big fan of angry music, especially when it comes from white male indie types (Fugazi, anyone?), I’m a huge fan of Bikini Kill because they produced some of the most ferocious, confrontational and succinctly brilliant music of the post-punk era, and seemed to be having fun while doing it. And their songs were complicated, nuanced, and went well beyond the simple rah-rah didacticism of “I am woman, hear me roar.” Not that they didn’t do their fare share of sloganeering. It’s simply that the messages in their songs—which were aimed at both young girls and their oppressors—went far beyond easily grasped agitpop. They could be a subtle bunch.

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