VIA PRESS RELEASE | “As any Little Richard chronicle must, I Am Everything unravels the central injustice that looms over his career, which is that what Richard accomplished as a performer was far greater than what he ever got for it.” —The New Yorker

Varèse Sarabande and Craft Recordings announce the release of Little Richard: I Am Everything: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, featuring music from Lisa Cortés’ award-winning documentary. The album offers a 14-track collection of Little Richard’s best-loved hits, such as “Tutti Frutti,” “Good Golly, Miss Molly,” “Rip It Up,” and “Long Tall Sally,” plus two previously-unreleased covers from Valerie June and Cory Henry, and a piece from the film’s original score, composed by Tamar-kali.

The soundtrack is available today to stream or download on all digital platforms, with the CD format arriving in September 2023, and the vinyl coming December 2023. Alongside the black LP which will be available wide, fans can also find a Tutti Frutti-color pressing of the album exclusively at VareseSarabande.com and CraftRecordings.com.

Produced by Bungalow Media + Entertainment for CNN Films and (HBO) Max, in association with Rolling Stone Films, director Lisa Cortés’ Sundance 2023 opening night documentary tells the story of the Black queer origins of rock ’n’ roll, exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator—the originator—Richard Penniman.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Continuing Capitol/UMe’s ongoing roll-out of rare tracks by Nat King Cole comes the highly anticipated From The Capitol Vaults (Vol. 4) out now, just in time for Juneteenth. This fourth digital-only collection features 14 timeless tracks, 12 of which are available for the first time on streaming platforms.

From The Capitol Vaults (Vol. 4) highlights Cole’s velvety smooth voice that is perfectly suited to some of the greatest love songs ever written, capturing him at his most engaging. From the dramatic and lilting “Little Child” (1951) to the charming romantic waltz of “You Will Never Grow Old” (1952), to the whimsical “The First Baseball Game” (1961), the fourth volume of From the Capitol Vaults shows a playful side of Cole’s music. The bossa nova and samba of “More and More of Your Amor” (1964) perfectly captures the steamy tropical vibes as we enter the dog days of summer. His jazzy take on “You Are My Sunshine” puts a big band spin on the 1940 American standard by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell.

His focus on harmony in music and in life allowed him to effortlessly inject a poignant and important Civil Rights message in the track “We Are Americans Too” (1956), featured on this compilation. Echoing the sentiments celebrated by the Juneteenth holiday toward emancipation, he conveys the well-documented struggle for equality in the eyes of his fellow Americans (“By the pick and the plow and the sweat of our brow / We are Americans too / We have given up our blood and bone / Helped to lay the Nation’s cornerstone”).

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So there I was, sitting with Don Henley and Glenn Frey in David Geffen’s hot tub when Glenn says to me, he says, “I promised to buy my latest ‘lady’ her own turquoise store but she’ll be gone by next Tuesday so I guess she’ll have to go backing to waitressing for shitty tips at the Troubadour.” And with that he gave me a big shit-eating grin, then proceeded to snort a 14-inch line of pharmaceutical grade cocaine. And I said, “Glenn, it doesn’t surprise me that there are four women out there looking to stone you.”

Look, I hate the Eagles. I’m a normal person. But I love a lot of their music, which is to say I’m able to separate my disgust for everything they stood for (greed, arrogance, a ruthless willingness to play corporate games, sexism on a massive scale, and a sneering contempt for their glam and punk betters) from their songs, which while representative of the establishment AOR coming out of El Lay at the time were also sometimes great.

In short, despite their morally repulsive and reptilian qualities Henley and Frey managed to produce songs that encapsulated better than most of their contemporaries the spirit of their times, while also sounding fantastic on your car’s FM radio. And you can find all of those songs—or at least the ones that proceeded 1976’s brilliant Hotel California—on the 1976 compilation Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975.

In their early days as laid-back, mainstream urban cowboys (“…they don’t have cowshit on their boots,” quipped Tom Waits, “just dogshit from Laurel Canyon”) purveying a watered-down but undeniably catchy species of the country rock pioneered by purists like Gram Parsons (who called them “bubblegum”), the Eagles tapped into the Zeitgeist of a New Age—one in which hippie folk and country rockers were abandoning their much-vaunted principles (“I’m about making great music, not living in a gated mansion”) for a chance at fame and filthy lucre, and lots of it. Parsons was out, and David Geffen was in. Neil Young once said, “Give a hippie too much money and anything can happen,” and that anything was the Eagles and Crosby, Stills & Nash. But the Eagles made more commercially lucrative music than anyone, including Crosby and Company.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Book includes vinyl 7” of previously unreleased American Composer Series-era track “That’ll Be the Day (Baby Baby).”

Graphic designer, musician, and underground music archivist Aaron Tanner has once again ransacked the legendary experimental art collective known as The Residents’ The Cryptic Corporation’s archives to create a new limited edition coffee table book covering everything from Title in Limbo through Disfigured Night. The result, The Residents: A Sight for Sore Eyes, Vol. 2, is a fully authorized visual history of that era, with rare and unseen photos, artwork, and other ephemera. The book is set for release via Melodic Virtue on August 11.

The Residents: A Sight for Sore Eyes, Vol. 2 will also feature a black vinyl 7″ record of the unreleased American Composer Series-era track, “That’ll Be the Day (Baby Baby).” The book marks the follow up to last year’s The Residents: A Sight for Sore Eyes, Vol. 1 which sold-out shortly after release. Pre-order The Residents: A Sight for Sore Eyes, Vol. 2 here.

With an unparalleled career spanning decades, The Residents consistently redefine artistic expression, challenge conventions and continue to inspire generations of artists across all genres.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Next week, the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, and Vince Welnick, with Bruce Hornsby are back in movie theaters in select territories worldwide with the annual “Meet-Up At The Movies.” Tickets are on sale now at MeetUpAtTheMovies.com.

This year’s “Meet-Up At The Movies” is the Dead’s first ever concert at Chicago’s Soldier Field on June 22, 1991, from the original six-camera stadium video feed with pristine soundboard audio. The Soldier Field show was filled with fan favorites, including “Shakedown Street,” “Brown-Eyed Women,” “Playing In The Band,” “Terrapin Station,” “Dark Star,” and more.

A year after Brent Mydland’s passing, the Grateful Dead returned to the summer stadium circuit, with two keyboard players filling the seat Brent left vacant. Bruce Hornsby and Vince Welnick’s presence and musical contributions reinvigorated and revitalized the Grateful Dead, and the inspiration of the Dead’s playing was palpable.

On a Saturday night in front of 60,000 fans, the Dead played what is often considered one of the greatest shows of the Bruce-Vince era, up there with the second Giants Stadium show from a few days earlier.

The cinema event, presented by Trafalgar Releasing and Rhino Entertainment, will also feature bonus content including the Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast Presents: Here Comes Sunshine and an introduction from Grateful Dead legacy manager and archivist David Lemieux.

One never knows what might end up in a songwriter’s sketchpad. It could be random musings about the state of the world, hazy memories about family members, or maybe even inspired creations from the works of other masters. A songwriter’s sketchpad is a diary of sorts for an artist, but can also serve to shed light upon the unconscious interests and influences of the artist themself.

Sam Blasucci recently released his first solo album titled, Off My Stars on Innovative Leisure Records. Listeners will discover a laid-back musical affair featuring Sam as he displays the pages of his metaphorical sketchbook. It’s an organic album featuring the opportunity for an intimate dialogue between listener and artist. Sam is good enough to take us through the journey of the newest album and explain what he had in mind.

We explore the influence that his Italian-American upbringing had and the familial roots that create a certain artistic security. We also discuss the work he’s creating in his other group Mapache, and talk about that most elusive musical instrument, the melodica. It’s one thing to turn the pages of an artist’s sketchbook with the hopes of catching a peek at what the creator was thinking, but it’s even better to have a guided tour from the artist himself. Luckily, Sam doesn’t mind narrating his creations.

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.

Over the course of his long shambolic career, J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. has made an ethos of endearing sloppiness and a virtue of emotional confusion while producing an unending slurry of unhinged guitar noise, best summed up by the title of the song “Sludgefest.” With his inimitable stoner slur and drawl and chaotic guitar solos (best heard on 2021’s Live at the Middle East, where he really lets rip), Mascis took the anarchic sound of Neil Young and Crazy Horse to its logical extreme, and the results are a ferocious molten metal divorced from the realm of heavy metal itself by Mascis’ twisted indie-folk impulses.

Dinosaur Jr. blew minds and speakers with the triumvirate of 1987’s You’re Living All Over Me, 1988’s Bug, and 1991’s Green Mind, all of which are bong-fracturing, pot haze classics guaranteed to stone your ears into blazed and confused beatitude. They should be sold at dispensaries, not record stores, and the same goes for 1991 curio as compilation Fossils.

What you’re basically getting are the first three 7″ SST singles the band released after adding the Jr. to their name, highlights of which include a cover of the Cure’s “Just Like Heaven,” band high-water mark “Freak Scene,” and a very happy-making cover of Peter Frampton’s “Show Me the Way.” In short Fossils is as indispensable as bliss unless you’re some kind of Peter Frampton hater, in which case I can only assume you’re a joyless snob whose fondest wish in life is to become besties with Nick Cave. How utterly horrid.

“Little Fury Things” comes out of the gate in an explosion of guitar noise accompanied by some screaming (gratis, I think, Sonic Youth’s Lee Renaldo, not that I care) before telling itself to calm down and proceeding to play nice. Mascis sings about being smashed by a rabbit, goes emo for a moment because someone’s lying about him and people are believing it and it makes him mad, then in comes a civil by J. standards guitar solo accompanied by one very groovy tambourine. But the solo that follows shortly thereafter is anything but polite, all nasty fuzz and feedback–let it out J., let it out, you’ll feel better.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | 50th Anniversary Soundtrack Out Aug 11th via Rhino, Featuring Remastered Audio & New Mixes by Tony Visconti

Next month, exactly 50 years since David Bowie retired Ziggy Stardust in front of 5,000 stunned fans at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, the famous alter-ego will return: throughout July, at upwards of 500 cinemas across the US, a fully restored version of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars: The Motion Picture will screen for the first time in honor of the momentous performance’s 50th Anniversary. Originally captured on July 3, 1973, by renowned filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker (Monterey Pop, Bob Dylan – Don’t Look Back, Depeche Mode – 101), the digital restoration has been overseen by his son, Frazer Pennebaker, with a remastered soundtrack that will also be released August 11th via Rhino.

While the event happened 50 years ago, Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars: The Motion Picture was not widely seen for over a decade, and will now allow fans to finally see the complete set that was played on that fateful night for the first time. Both the forthcoming film and soundtrack have been expanded to include a medley of “The Jean Genie/Love Me Do” and a rendition of “Round And Round” featuring the late, legendary Jeff Beck, whose scenes were famously cut from the original version of the film. Audio for each of those performances has been newly mixed by longtime Bowie collaborator Tony Visconti.

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Remembering Harry Nilsson, born on this day in 1941. —Ed.

Harry Nilsson is one of the rock’n’roll’s stranger paradoxes; a songwriter of real genius, and one of rock’s great interpreters of other people’s songs, his gradual descent into round-the-clock consumption of Brandy Alexanders transformed him into the bawdy lush responsible for such dubious tunes as “You’re Breakin’ My Heart” (“You’re breakin’ my heart/You’re tearing it apart/So fuck you”) and “I’d Rather Be Dead” (“I’d rather be dead/I’d rather be dead/I’d rather be dead/Than wet my bed.”)

Nilsson established his critical reputation with such early classics of pop baroque as 1967’s Pandemonium Shadow Show and 1968’s Aerial Ballet, and his groundbreaking interpretative showcase, 1970’s Nilsson Sings Newman. He achieved his popular breakthrough with 1971’s Nilsson Schmilsson, an amazing collection of originals and covers, and won critical praise for that same year’s soundtrack to the ABC animated film, The Point, which spawned the hit “Me and My Arrow.”

However, by 1972’s Son of Schmilsson and 1973’s A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night (a selection of pop standards), Nilsson’s magic touch was fading in direct proportion to his consumption of alcohol. His definitive fall from pop grace came during his notorious connection with John Lennon during the latter’s 1975 LA Lost Weekend, with its tragicomic episode at the Troubadour, Lennon’s destruction of Lou Adler’s bedroom, and Nilsson’s hurling a bottle through a hotel window.

Their non-stop boozing and carousing culminated in the wasted, Lennon-produced fiasco that was 1974’s Pussy Cats, which included such mediocrities as the Lennon-flavored take on Jimmy Cliff’s “Many Rivers to Cross,” a truly insipid cover of Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” and a sub-par “Save the Last Dance for Me” (Nilsson ruptured a vocal chord during the sessions, and hid the fact from Lennon; as a result, his normally lovely vocals were very rough). Indeed, the only song I find listenable is the truly raucous cover of “Rock Around the Clock,” which features (remarkably enough) Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, and Jim Keltner on drums, as well as Jesse Ed Davis on guitar and Bobby Keys on sax.

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Tribute albums can be a mixed affair. Often, a disparate collection of artists, usually recording on their own, independent and separate from each other, tackle a song or two from an esteemed songwriter or musical figure worthy of a tribute. Sometimes, artists who seem to have little musical connection but an affection for the person being honored will interpret a song from the artist covered, with uneven at best results. Hank Williams is more than deserving of a tribute release and there have been many over the years. His songwriting ability and influence as a ground-breaking and highly influential country artist and who transcends that genre, mostly overshadow the troubled mythological biographical narrative.

With Hank Williams Uncovered, we have a two-CD collection of tracks from artists who were born to interpret these remarkable songs. This is not a busman’s holiday or a chance for a pop or rock artist to try their hand at the impeccable Williams canon. These are artists steeped in the music, many who have spent decades honing their country roots chops. The fact that these artists mostly hail from the same region and that most of the tracks were produced by New York-based Paradiddle producer and head honcho Bill Herman, makes for a cohesive and shrewdly programmed 22-song recording.

The first disc starts off with rising star Pete Mancini and an aching, yet confident cover of “Lovesick Blues,” not Williams most popular song, but perhaps his most iconic. The Paradiddle king of country Gene Casey and his Lone Sharks offer up a perfect and understated “You Win Again,” another knowing choice for a follow-up to the opener. The king is followed shortly on disc one by the queen, with Mary Lamont nailing “You’re Gonna Change,” one of her most commanding vocal performances on record to date. Another standout on disc one is the sweet, one-of-a-kind vocal style of Caroline Doctorow on “Cold Cold Heart,” bringing an empathy to a track often sung through bitter tears.

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With jazz and free improvisation at its core, 577 Records of Brooklyn, NY wields a joyous tenacity in documenting a variety of creative dialogues, with much of it released on vinyl. Such is the case with two UK-based trios; there’s Robert Mitchell, Neil Charles, and Mark Sanders, aka The Flame, with Towards The Flame​,​ ​Vol. 1, out now on LP, digipak CD, and digital, and there’s Pat Thomas, Chris Sharkey, and Luke Reddin-Williams with Know: Delirium Atom Paths, out June 30, also on LP, digipak CD, and digital. Through similarities of approach the records offer wildly distinct and equally inspiring collective visions.

Along with the number of contributors in each group, a major element these records have in common is their reality as live performances. Know: Delirium Atom Paths is the oldest of the two recordings so it gets covered first. The date was March 10, 2020 at Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds, UK, aka the Fusebox Leeds, with the date right at the cusp of COVID bringing everything to a screeching halt.

Know: Delirium Atom Paths is one 44-minute piece (broken into two parts on vinyl, obviously) featuring Pat Thomas on keyboards, Chris Sharkey on guitar, and Luke Reddin-Williams on drums. Notably, Thomas’ keyboard (there might be more than one) is electric. Delivering washes and bursts of sound in the opening moments of “Delirium Atom Paths,” one could even describe Thomas’ instrument as electronic, particularly as it intermingles with Sharkey’s positively effects-laden guitar.

As the performance unwinds the aura of fusion is perceptible, but the sound is spikey, raw and dangerous, in keeping with the style’s pre-smoothed out early days, but there are also stretches that vacate the fusion zone for the realms of fibrous, edgy electronica, and with an non-labored air of the futuristic in the scheme.

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