LEDYARD, CT | Just one day after the release of her new album Along The Way, Colbie Caillat made a very special visit to the Cedar Showroom of Foxwoods, performing before a packed theater of some of her most devoted fans. “Colbie was so humble and sweet,” said Kristen Palazzo Salvato, of Coventry RI. “She just has such a cool laid-back vibe about her. We could not have asked for a better show. Truly amazing.”

Caillat kicked off the night with fan favorites right off the bat—”Fallin’ for You;” “Realize;” “I Never Told You;” “Lucky” — many off of her early albums. “You know what’s so interesting about songwriting is that I wrote these songs—a lot of them like 15, 16 years ago or even longer—and I can find new meaning with them today in what I’m experiencing in life and who I’m hanging out with. And it’s really cool to get to sing these lyrics and just have new feeling and new meaning with them.”

Caillat added that a rewarding aspect of her career is the connection fans continue to have with her music. “They feel like they’re not alone in what they’re going through, whether they’re falling in love or going through a loss or just living life. And I know music does that for me. And then when I get to write. It’s very therapeutic. And then when I hear that my songs are helping other people with what they’re going through in life, I’m like, ‘you too!’”

Throughout the night, Caillat reminisced and engaged the audience with a glimpse into the history behind her music. As much as she is a gifted artist, she is equally a gifted and genuine storyteller. She recalled her experience working with Jason Mraz on her their duet “Lucky.”

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Glam never dies. It predated David Bowie, Marc Bolan, and the New York Dolls, and its tradition has been carried on by the likes of Destroyer and, most importantly, Lady Gaga. But during the eighties Glam became associated with metal bands whose only claim to genre lay in the fact they wore make-up. The likes of Poison, Ratt, and Skid Row all have their attraction, but Glam they most definitely they ain’t.

England’s The Darkness are the real thing. They have musical similarities to eighties Glam metal, but they understand that Glam is an attitude, a pose, a way of looking at life. Fey, androgynous, witty, artificial, decidedly un-macho and essentially frivolous, glitter rockers adhere to that most famous of dandies Oscar Wilde’s famous credo, “Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.” And on their 2003 debut Permission to Land—which has been reissued for its 20th anniversary in various configurations—The Darkness stand up for that greatest of human endeavors—going pink flamingo flamboyant and having an ostrich feather lark while doing it. The Darkness’s name may well be an inside joke, because there’s absolutely nothing dark about them.

The Darkness stand apart from the pack on the quality of their music alone, but what really makes them one of Glam’s shinier gifts to the glamkind is lead vocalist and guitarist Justin Hawkins’ voice, which is so campy and outrageous he makes Freddy Mercury sound like Hoyt Axton. I invite you to listen to the way he goes for the high notes, stutters and positively warbles his way through the band’s big one, “I Believe in a Thing Called Love.” Hawkins goes for baroque every time he opens his mouth.

There isn’t a single weak track on Permission to Land, and some of the band’s influences may surprise you. Opening track “Black Shuck” is AC/DC in five-inch stacked heels. On “Get Your Hands Off My Woman” The Darkness plays a primal riff while Hawkins does a bit of yodeling.”Growing on Me” is a mid-tempo number with an eighties glam metal feel and a chorus that could be by Warrant.

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Decades before bands like the Boredoms and Melt Banana put the Land of the Rising Sun on the noise rock map, another Japanese band was making discordant sounds—Les Rallizes Dénudés.

The racket-inclined psych-rock/folk band’s story—which began in 1967 at Kyoto’s Doshisha University—reads like a good novel. You get clamorous feedback of epic proportions. Radical politics and a connection to a prominent terrorist group. A spotty recording history—they never released a proper album despite the fact they were around for years, but left behind only a series of shoddily recorded live and abortive studio recordings. A reclusive and possibly paranoid lead singer. Oh, and to top it all off, an airplane hijacking by a former member turned revolutionary. Plane crashes are a staple of rock mythology, but a plane hijacking? Why not throw in demonic possession and a few zombies into the mix?

Les Rallizes Dénudés has been on the public radar recently due to the 2023 release of CITTA’ ’93, a polished-up and carefully remastered recording of the band’s final show—after a very long hiatus—at Tokyo’s Club Citta in 1993. Some of their other official releases—there are bootlegs galore circulating out there—have been remastered as well. One is 2022’s The OZ Tapes, which was remastered from the original tapes, discovered after the 2019 death of frontman Takashi Mizutani. You get howling guitar, more howling guitar, a song or two reminiscent of the Velvet Underground at their most melodic mellow and, surprisingly, some laid-back psych-folk that would do the Grateful Dead proud.

But first, a quick glance at the band’s tumultuous early days. They started the band as students, and took some tenuous steps towards recording in a proper studio before deciding to focus exclusively on playing live. While they played at protests—including a show at a student-occupied (as in they took the fucker over) auditorium—only one of the group, founding member and bassist Moriaki Wakabayashi, took the leap into violent revolutionary activity, joining the Yodogō Group of the radical New Left Japan Communist League’s “Red Army Faction.”

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Long Island, NY | PRONG Celebrates ‘State Of Emergency’ Album Release With Performance At Long Island Record Store: PRONG celebrated the release of its thirteenth studio album, “State Of Emergency”, last Friday (October 6) by playing a special set Record Stop in Patchogue, New York. Earlier today (Tuesday, October 10), PRONG shared photos of the performance on Instagram and included the following message: “THANK YOU! “Big shoutout to every that showed up at Record Stop last Friday and to every single one of you that has grabbed a copy of ‘State of Emergency’ or have listened via the different streaming platforms! “‘State of Emergency’ reached #5 in Amazon Metal Best Sellers in the US and in Germany over the weekend! “‘State of Emergency’ out now – Listen everywhere!”

Santa Monica, CA | A small coffee is the gateway to a lifetime of music at Endless Noise: It would take a lifetime to listen to all 10,000 vinyl albums available at Santa Monica’s Endless Noise but fortunately for audiophiles, the production studio also houses a hidden coffee shop to keep the mind spinning as fast as the records. For almost 30 years, Endless Noise studios has worked with varying artists, composers, companies, films, and more. Their work is wide-reaching and nuanced, while maintaining a very personal, community feel. During those decades, owner Jeff Elmassian amassed his massive record collection and always imagined a time where he would turn his hobby into a business but it wasn’t until he opened the collection to the clients of the production company and paired the experience with a strong Turkish coffee that co-Creative Director Dave Chapman said the time was right to expand Endless Noise into a fully functional vinyl record store and coffee shop. The combination recording studio/record store/cafe now provides an auditory oasis on the city’s southeast edge.

Peoria, IL | Indie record store gets a new lease on life in a Forgottonia farm shed: Most people wouldn’t expect to find a record store on a rural farm off of a gravel road in Fulton County. That’s why you may be surprised when there’s a sign for a local business called Shandi’s Music and More. Bob Long has owned and operated Shandi’s since its founding in 1999. The store used to be located in the nearby town of Canton, but had to close in 2016. After a hiatus, Long reopened Shandi’s this past August, with the store now located in a shed on his farm. “It was a building that was on the farm, and we needed a place to open, and so we just decided to just go ahead and do it here,” Long said. Long chose to reopen Shandi’s in the new location due to online demand from regular customers. “People asked all the time, ‘hey is the store gonna reopen? We want some music,’” Long said, illustrating how his customers were willing to drive from anywhere to shop at the store.

Dundee, UK | Boxes of vinyl from legendary Dundee record shop Groucho’s fetch £17k+ at auction: Some of the displays were bought by those hoping to convert the Nethergate site into a music-themed bar. Boxes of vinyl records from legendary Dundee record shop Groucho’s have fetched more than £17,000 at auction. A total of 460 lots made up of remaining stock from the shop went under the hammer with Curr and Dewar on Tuesday. Lots included hundreds of boxes full of records, shop displays, memorabilia, electrical items, phonographs and stereos. Lasting more than three hours, the auction attracted more than 650 dealers, collectors and bargain hunters alike online and in person. Auctioneer Steven Dewar said: “Auctions like this one are always exciting because no two lots are the same. “There were lots of unique items in the Groucho’s sale. “It’s a real feather in the cap for us to be asked and it was a privilege to be the auctioneer.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | On December 1, A&M/UMe will release Sheryl Crow’s career-making major-label debut album, August 1993’s Tuesday Night Music Club, on vinyl as part of the ongoing celebration of the album’s 30th Anniversary. Propelled by the playfully descriptive Grammy-winning No. 2 hit single “All I Wanna Do,” Tuesday Night Music Club has also been certified as 7x platinum in the United States, and it is Sheryl Crow’s best-selling album to date.

Tuesday Night Music Club was not actually released on vinyl upon the album’s initial 1993 release. But now, this highly influential, best-selling, 11-song album properly appears as it should as a 140-gram black and also a beautiful 140-gram limited-edition sea blue vinyl with white marbling. The new 1LP set also comes in a gatefold sleeve. Bernie Grundman, who originally mastered Tuesday Night Music Club, recently used the original ½″ flat master tape to create a new master for this special 1LP edition. He then cut the lacquers for it himself at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Los Angeles. (Prior to this release, a brand-new, stunning Dolby Atmos version of Tuesday Night Music Club mixed by Mills Logan was made available digitally back on July 28.)

Crow’s breakthrough album, Tuesday Night Music Club, ultimately garnered her three Grammy Awards—Best New Artist, Record of the Year (“All I Wanna Do”), and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (“All I Wanna Do”)—and it helped set in motion the trajectory of an influential and original artist who only keeps on growing with each subsequent release. Listen to Tuesday Night Music Club—30th Anniversary Edition HERE.

Produced by Bill Bottrell (Madonna, Shelby Lynne), Tuesday Night Music Club raised the curtain on Crow’s developing prowess as a shrewd, observational lyricist, a highly skilled lead vocalist, guitarist, and pianist, and a hitmaking song composer all rolled into one. In addition to the perpetually catchy “All I Wanna Do,” Tuesday Night Music Club brought the good people of the world songs like the empowering ballad “Strong Enough,” the hopeful wish for rebirth in “Leaving Las Vegas,” the slow-burn declaration of “Run, Baby, Run,” the slinky shrug of “Can’t Cry Anymore,” and the funky promises of “What I Can Do For You.”

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Celebrating Robert Lamm in advance of his birthday tomorrow.
—Ed.

Every night I dream the same horrid dream. I am being chased, butt naked, through the night forest by a howling mob bearing torches and pitchforks. My crime? My pursuers have somehow unearthed my deepest, darkest secret—that I kinda like the 1975 greatest hits LP of Chicago, the horn-based “rock band” that gave us “Colour My World,” the slow dance anthem of my benighted adolescence.

I cannot tell you how my affection for Chicago IX shames me. But the recent release of Chicago MCXXXIV impels me to attempt to vindicate myself. First: don’t get me wrong; I’m not insane. I have never listened to another Chicago LP, nor have I ever felt the slightest desire to do so. What’s more, I despise horn-based rock as a rule—the mere thought of Blood, Sweat & Tears’ “Spinning Wheel” makes me dizzy to the point of nausea—so Chicago IX’s appeal remains a dark mystery.

I’m fatally drawn in by the good melodies, I suppose, and tight horn arrangements, to say nothing of the guitar of Terry Kath, who would later die from an accidental self-inflicted gun shot wound. Plus Chicago had three dudes who could handle lead vocal chores, which added some variety to their sound. And they boasted some top-notch percussion in the personages of Laudir De Oliveira and David Seraphine. But I’m not making excuses. I know I’m guilty, and if that mob finds me, I’ll just be getting my just desserts.

I try to console myself by thinking that I don’t like all 11 tunes on the band’s greatest hits. “Colour My World,” for example, is an offense to all right-thinking people everywhere, and should be behind glass in a defendant’s booth like the one they put Adolf Eichmann in during his trial in Israel. I don’t like “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” either, because despite its chipper horn arrangement fronted by trumpet player Lee Loughnane and catchy melody, the song’s hippy dippy lyrics strike me as total bullshit. Vocalist Robert Lamm may claim he doesn’t care what time it is, but I’ll lay even money that despite his affected contempt for the clock he always manages to show up to collect his royalties check precisely on the dot. As for “Call on Me,” which is sung by the band’s most prominent vocalist Peter Cetera, it’s just plain boring.

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Guitar virtuoso Adrian Vandenberg has been a prominent figure in the world of rock music for decades, thanks to his signature sound and technical prowess on the six string.

Best known for his stint as one of the guitarists in Whitesnake during the late 1980s, Vandenberg has also made significant contributions to many other bands, including Manic Eden, Teaser, and his eponymous band Vandenberg. We recently spoke to Vandenberg to delve into the mind of this legendary musician to learn more about his inspirations, artistic vision, and upcoming projects.

Tell us about the new Vandenberg album Sin. What was the inspiration behind it, and what can fans who haven’t given it a spin expect from it?

Well, every time I make an album, I try to raise the bar just a little bit. This becomes harder over time and especially now because I was really happy with the 2020 album. So sometimes I get slightly intimidated. I go, “Oh man, I got to live up to this.” And then I just dive into the deep so to speak, get more confident and I go, okay—this is going somewhere.

Everything creates a kind of echo in my head, and it makes it really interesting for me to trace back where, what excited me, and what still excites me. And I always come back to the fact that it’s all about inspiration, but especially about expressiveness—rock or blues or any music that’s supposed to be played from the heart and from the soul.

When it doesn’t have that electric spark, especially in rock, then it becomes pop music. And that’s not the idea, because you don’t get that urge to play it in the car, open the window, and crank it all the way up. Whether it’s a great blues artist like Stevie Ray Vaughan, or whether it’s a great Zeppelin album, or a great Van Halen album. That’s what I’m looking for.

How does the current Vandenberg lineup differ from past versions of the band?

Well, in early Vandenberg, it was the same lineup for three albums. When I restarted Vandenberg under that particular name, it was because of the name recognition over so many years. Because of that, people know what to expect from a Vandenberg album and what it’s going to be about. With the current lineup, I was very fortunate to find these guys. The bass player, Randy van der Elsen, and the drummer, Koen Herfst, are from Holland and our singer, Mats Levén, is Scandinavian. They are all top level internationally and could play with any top American band.

How has your playing style evolved since the early days of Vandenberg to now?

I think as an artist, you should evolve. It always surprises me when sometimes people say, “Well, it doesn’t sound like a Vandenberg song from the early ’80s.” You go, “Man, that’s 40 years ago.” It would be very weird if you keep doing the same thing, ran on auto pilot, and keep recreating the sounds of yesterday. You should evolve.

And I’m very critical about my songwriting and about my guitar playing. And you mentioned the playing. Yes, this time I try to dig even deeper to squeeze every little drop of passion out of each and every note. I’m more into how I play things than what I play, even though, of course what I play has to do something with a song.

And in my case, I’m fortunate that I write the music because I know what I want to get across with a solo. It needs to be a little story inside the story. But it still needs to have everything to do with the story that you’re telling in the rest of the song.

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It’s many days until the Presidential Election, and Rudy Ray Moore is not on the ballot; today the man is largely remembered as a key precursor to rap and as the star of the grindhouse classic Dolemite, but way back in 1972 this departed spieler of comedic smut put a topical spin on his rhyming routine by defiantly growling out Dolemite for President. 

Before hitting upon the persona for which he’s best remembered, Rudy Ray Moore worked as a singer, dancer, and comedian. Cutting a succession of solid if not spectacular R&B singles for numerous labels, he also worked up enough material for three comedy albums; ’59’s Below the Belt is accurately pegged as risqué, but follow-up The Beatnik Scene differs markedly from the X-rated style that eventually brought him success.

It’s now well-established that the 1970s ushered in a loosening of mores concerning sexual explicitness, violence, and language; regarding the latter, George Carlin, Redd Foxx, and Richard Pryor rode atop that wave like champs. Moore achieved considerable success as well, but due to the sheer explicitness and yes, blackness of his material, he ultimately didn’t cross over. Instead, his productivity served a tighter-knit community, and he eventually became a cult figure.

According to lore, it was while employed in a Hollywood record shop that Moore nabbed the Dolemite character from stories told by a wino named Rico. Expanding upon the long tradition of the Dozens, Moore adapted Rico’s toasts and gave them jazzy-bluesy musical backing on a string of LPs beginning with 1970’s Eat Out More Often; the raps were dirty, the covers were salacious, and by the start of the ’90s the vinyl was quite hard to find.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Recordings is thrilled to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Violent Femmes’ 1983 self-titled debut with a special reissue of the seminal cult classic. Due out December 1st and available for pre-order now, the deluxe 2-CD and digital formats will feature newly remastered audio and over a dozen demos, B-sides, and live performances from the pioneering folk-punk trio—including alternate versions of iconic songs like “Blister in the Sun,” “Please Do Not Go,” “Gone Daddy Gone,” and “Add It Up.”

A special 4-disc vinyl box set will follow February 9th, 2024, limited to 5,000 copies worldwide. Housed in a lift-top box with die-cut window detail, this collectible edition offers three 180-gram LPs—the original album, alongside the demos, and live material—plus, a replica 7-inch single (“Ugly”/“Gimme the Car”). The original album and single discs are cut from the original analog tapes, while lacquers for the complete set were cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. Both the CD and LP editions will feature an expansive book with new liner notes by journalist and Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke, complete with interviews with Violent Femmes members Gordon Gano, Brian Ritchie, and Victor DeLorenzo.

Reflecting on the album’s 40th anniversary, bassist Brian Ritchie shares: “I am frequently stopped on the street by people who tell me, ‘Your album changed my life,’ or some variant. I don’t have to ask, ‘Which album?’ because it is implied that they’re talking about the first one. The uncanny thing is that these people range from early teens to septuagenarians, and they all have the same testimony.” Ritchie adds, “Sometimes music is more than just a pleasing sound that entertains. It takes on greater meaning. Multiple generations have found the songs to be relevant in their life situations. Some people say they had sex for the first time listening to it (which I find appalling but whatever) and someone even said, ‘I was conceived to your music.’ Wow.”

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Texas-born Ornette Coleman was one of the most uncompromising and influential artists in post-war jazz history. He also had a career that carried on long after his supposed heyday with some superb albums on Verve Records in the 1990s. These two Contemporary reissues represent the beginning of his recording career as a solo artist and leader in Los Angeles.

Something Else!!!! The Music of Ornette Coleman, released in 1958, features Coleman on alto sax, Don Cherry on trumpet, Waler Norris on piano, Don Payne on double bass, and Billy Higgins on drums. All the songs were written by Coleman. This is a swinging affair spotlighting Coleman in an uncharacteristically relaxed place with a joyously often blues-based sound.

His interplay with Cherry is incomparable. Norris, with his tasteful, melodic piano is the most responsible for helping Coleman play more accessible music. Higgins, as always, provides a kick and swing to any session he played on. The longest track, “Jayne,” written for his wife, is beautifully rendered. She was his first wife. The relationship lasted ten years and she went on to major literary success. This is quite an album for a debut release, hinting at the kind of groundbreaking free jazz music he would make in only a few short years.

Tomorrow is the Question! The New Music of Ornette Coleman, released the next year, would reflect the more experimental, dissonant, improvisational and avant-garde side of Coleman’s music and set the stage for his next album in 1959, his Atlantic debut, the groundbreaking The Shape of Jazz to Come. Don Cherry returns and on this album, Shelly Manne handles the drums, with Percy Heath on bass on side one and Red Mitchell on bass on side two. Eliminating piano would be part of Coleman’s new approach. Like on the previous album, all the songs were written by Coleman.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | On December 1, IGA/UMe will release Nelly Furtado’s masterful dance-pop third album, June 2006’s Loose, on vinyl. Catapulted by a trio of No. 1 hits—the suggestive serve-and-volley relationship conversation “Promiscuous (Feat. Timbaland),” the percussive drive of the pleading “Say It Right,” and the sultry declarations of “Maneater”—Loose became an international sensation, having sold 12M copies globally to date.

Loose will be released in two vinyl options. The standard 2LP version comes in a gatefold sleeve and is available on standard black vinyl, while the Limited-Edition version comes in an exclusive red and white color vinyl. Engineer Dennis “Roc” Jones recently used the original master files to create a truly special 2LP edition of Loose. Preorder HERE.

Furtado’s phenomenal, genre-defying album Loose expanded the Canadian artist’s reach both creatively and commercially by testing the boundaries of pop by incorporating a litany of dance-music elements, reggaeton and R&B influences, and hip-hop beats into the tenets of her forward-thinking songwriting and arranging.

Produced primarily by Timbaland and Danja, along with Nisan Stewart, Lester Mendez, Rick Nowels, and Furtado herself, the aptly named Loose bursts forth with an even-dozen winning tracks like the falsetto encouragement of “Do It,” the heavenly ballad “In God’s Hands,” and the touching “Te Busque,” featuring a guest vocal from Juanes. All 12 of the core songs on Loose prove why Nelly Furtado became such an international superstar. (A bonus track, the Spanish version of “Te Busque” (Feat. Juanes), is included at the end of Side 4.)

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