Celebrating Eric Bloom on his 81st birthday. —Ed.

Blue Öyster Cult’s 1978 live album Some Enchanted Evening is a devil’s bargain. Unlike the band’s live 1974 two-fer On Your Feet or on Your Knees it includes the absolutely essential “Godzilla” and “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” but unlike the latter album it’s short on classics—it has to be, seeing as how it only has seven songs and two of them are covers. The result is an album that despite its great songs is lacking in ambition, and the miracle is it remains the band’s biggest seller.

The entire Blue Öyster Cult Konzept was an elaborate shuck, right down to the cryptic band name, hilarious umlaut and utterly cool logo. The band’s “Career of Evil” persona was a goof, conceived by the high-spirited inmates of a group house at Long Island’s Stony Brook University. One of them was rock critic Sandy Pearlman, who was quickly named the band’s manager and contributed lyrics, and from the very start they exploited the kinds of dark imagery and subject matter (Nazi fighter jets, Altamont motorcycle gangs, dominance and submission) designed to induce a sense of menace. And this from a group of friendly Jewish guys from the nation’s first suburb whose collective notion of evil probably consisted of sneaking free food from the university’s dining hall.

But the masses bought it—hell, I bought it—and this despite such dead giveaways as songs like “She’s As Beautiful as Foot,” the lyrics of which were penned by noted rock scribe and band associate Richard Meltzer, who would go on to contribute the lyrics for “Burnin’ for You.” Blue Öyster Cult created a mock mythology for itself, which made the band one of rock’s most mysterious bands and greatest put-ons, although they probably wouldn’t have made it out of Long Island had it not been for the fact that guitarists/vocalists Eric Bloom and Donald Roeser (aka Buck Dharma), keyboardist Allen Lanier, bass player/vocalist Joe Bouchard, and drummer Albert Bouchard knew their way around their instruments and had a knack for writing powerful but melodic songs with gnomic subject matter. Take “7 Screaming Diz-Busters.” I’ll be damned if I know what a diz-buster is, and if you do I’d appreciate your letting me know.

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | For over fifty years, Yes has stood at the forefront of rock, defined by their unmatched craftsmanship, creativity, and innovation, creating symphonic masterpieces that continue to inspire.

On January 23, 2026 Mercury Studios is proud to release Yes Symphonic Live an outstanding 14-song live collection filmed in high definition. Vocalist Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, lead guitarist Steve Howe, and drummer Alan White recreated the dramatic intensity of their 2001 album Magnification, the first Yes album without keyboards and the last Yes album with Anderson. Touring to support their symphonic album Magnification, they hit the road in 2001 with a new approach to their live set.

They called in the help of the European Festival Orchestra, conducted by Wilhelm Keitel, to add lush new textures to their live set, essentially bringing the spirit of their new album to life on the stage. Not only did they play tracks from Magnification, but re-imagined interpretations of their timeless hits. Classics such as “Owner Of A Lonely Heart,” “Long Distance Runaround,” and “I’ve Seen All Good People” have never sounded so grand.

Previously released as a 2DVD set and Blu-ray, Symphonic Live highlights the expansive nature of Yes’ music backed with a full symphony orchestra. The special edition reissue of Symphonic Live is packaged in a CD-sized clamshell box including the Blu-ray and 2CDs, each housed in their own slipcase, along with a booklet, fold out poster and 5 art cards.

Read More »

The Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie” is more than just the greatest rock and roll song ever recorded by wingless bipeds with workable thumbs—it’s the Zapruder film of rock and roll.

Recorded in Portland, Oregon some seven-plus months before the Kennedy assassination, “Louis Louis” attracted the same intense scrutiny as the 26.6 seconds of standard 8 mm Kodachrome II safety film recorded by Abraham Zapruder on his Model 414 PD Bell & Howell Zoomatic Director Series Camera as he stood on a concrete pedestal along Elm Street in Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.

And from the same people. The Federal Bureau of Investigation. To say nothing of the Federal Communications Commission and the National Association of Broadcasters. And for all I know, the Central Intelligence Agency. And for the same reason: the powers that be smelled conspiracy, a criminal plot, some foul rot that could bring down the edifice of our entire American Way of Life, and they were looking for hard evidence to prove it.

But unlike the Zapruder film, the Feebees weren’t interested in what was right there, apparent to the senses. No, FBI technicians wearing headphones in windowless rooms in field offices across our Great Land spent some thirty-one months trying to parse the seemingly indecipherable words coming out of Kingsmen vocalist Jack Ely’s mouth, because in the minds of the kids who loved the song and the purple-with-apoplexy prudes (some of whom were upright decent teens themselves) who saw it as a vile portent of the end of Western Civilization, those words were so patently obscene they would bring a blush to the face of the most foul-mouthed tar ever to traverse the Seven Seas.

Read More »

We’ve closed TVD’s HQ for the Thanksgiving holiday. While we’re away, why not fire up our Record Store Locator app and visit one of your local indie record stores?

Perhaps there’s an interview, review, or feature you might have missed? Catch up and we’ll see you back here Monday, 12/1.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | On Friday, February 13th, 2026, Sub Pop will release Velocity Girl’s ¡Simpatico! (Remastered and Expanded), a new reissue of the long out-of-print 1994 sophomore album by the beloved indie-rock band, a few months ahead of its 32nd Anniversary.

On ¡Simpatico! (Remastered and Expanded), the album gets an overdue sonic refresh with mastering by Golden, updated artwork by Ed Fotheringham, and a treasure trove of bonus tracks from the ¡Simpatico! era. Today, you can hear the band’s cover of New Order’s “Your Silent Face (2025 Remaster)” from the bonus material associated with the release.

Velocity Girl’s ¡Simpatico! (Remastered and Expanded) will be available on CD/2xLP/DSPs from Sub Pop. LP preorders in North America at the Sub Pop Mega Mart, in the UK and Europe at Mega Mart 2, and at your local record store will receive the limited Loser edition on opaque jade blue and opaque violet vinyl (North America), or petrol and magenta vinyl (UK/EU). (All vinyl colors whilst stock lasts!)

Velocity Girl formed in 1989 or so at the University of Maryland outside Washington, DC with guitarist Archie Moore (Black Tambourine), guitarist Brian Nelson (Black Tambourine), drummer Jim Spellman (Starry Eyes, Foxhall Stacks, High Back Chairs, Julie Ocean, Piper Club), bassist Kelly Riles (Starry Eyes), and singer Sarah Shannon (Starry Eyes, The Not Its). The band combined English-inspired noisy shoegaze fuzz with scrappy US indie rock and classic ‘60s-style pop songwriting. A killer single on Slumberland and non-stop touring grabbed the attention of the indie-rock cognoscenti, and soon after Velocity Girl signed a contract with Sub Pop on a car hood in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | SING, a music technology company and label, announced today that Christmas On The Air, a new album of more rare and historically significant music from Frank Sinatra is available now here.

Released just in time for the holiday season, this Christmas album contains tracks recorded on radio and follows on the heels of SING’s ambitious Frank Sinatra reissue of rare and previously unreleased seasonal music for fans of the greatest pop singer of all-time. Previously, SING has released both a limited edition of 2,000, 5LP vinyl box set of previously unreleased and rare live radio performances entitled Long Ago, Far Away as well as Live At The Hollywood Bowl 1943–1948 which are both available for purchase here.

SING spared no expense on extensive audio restoration campaign for these projects from original broadcast sources to give fans the best fidelity possible. Paired with a deluxe booklet featuring expert liner notes, rare photos, and vintage memorabilia.

“Frank Sinatra thoroughly enjoyed Christmas, and seized every opportunity to celebrate it in song on radio and television—especially in the 1940s and early 1950s,” said world-renowned Sinatra expert and author Charles L. Granata. “On these programs in Christmas On The Air, he often sang holiday favorites that he hadn’t officially recorded, making this all-broadcast Christmas album a rare and special treat for all music lovers.”

Read More »

As indicated in the recent review published here on Neil Young’s latest studio album, for some time, Young has issued unreleased music from his bottomless archives, reissues of previous works, often in expanded and creatively packaged editions, and albums of all-new songs and recordings. There have been many releases from Young this year, and the one just coming out is a 2LP reissue of his 1975 album Tonight’s the Night, part of his Analog Originals, Neil Young Archives Official Release Series.

Tonight’s the Night may be one of the most groundbreaking, pivotal, and influential albums of Young’s canon. While fuzzy and organic first-take band-oriented cuts had populated Young’s previous albums, Tonight’s the Night was a stark, revealing album of raw simplicity. The music occasionally has a queasy frankness, particularly about the price of drug addiction, that was almost entirely absent in song lyrics during the drug culture music of the day.

This wasn’t just some “just-say-no” sloganeering. This was a man bearing his soul over the sudden loss of one of his bandmates and one of his roadies. The stark, unvarnished way Young sang of losing his bandmate Danny Whitten, fired by Young during rehearsals for the Time Fades Away tour because his drug problems affected his playing, and roadie Bruce Berry, was both brave and unsettling.

Notably, Berry was the brother of both Jan Berry of Jan and Dean and Ken Berry of S.I.R. Rehearsals, where nine of the album’s studio tracks were recorded (two were recorded at Young’s Broken Arrow ranch studio). Young had written about Whitten’s addiction and heroin’s effect on musicians in general on “The Needle and the Damage Done” on Harvest in 1972. How Young was able to hold it together on the title cut when plainly singing about losing those men is astonishing.

Read More »

I recently spoke with Martin Glover, AKA Youth—founding member and bassist of the legendary post-punk band Killing Joke, a pioneering producer, and one of the most influential sonic architects of the last four decades.

Beyond his work with the band, he’s shaped the sound of artists across genres—from The Orb, The Verve, and Paul McCartney to Kate Bush, Crowded House, Gina Birch, and Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour—blending experimental, dub, and atmospheric elements into a signature production style. His career bridges punk, mysticism, and radical creativity, making him one of the most singular figures in modern music.

We spoke about dimension-crossing experiences with Killing Joke, writing and production techniques, current work, and worldviews. Tune in.

Radar features discussions with artists and industry leaders who are creators and devotees of music and is produced by Dylan Hundley and The Vinyl District. Dylan Hundley is an artist and performer, and the co-creator and lead singer of Lulu Lewis and all things at Darling Black. She co-curates and hosts Salon Lulu which is a New York based multidisciplinary performance series. She is also a cast member of the iconic New York film Metropolitan.

Remembering Mani. —Ed.

As a famous man (I think it was Geoffrey Chaucer) once said, time waits for no man. And in the case of Manchester’s The Stone Roses, the five long years that passed between this, their massively popular 1989 debut, and 1994’s Second Coming were fatal. Come Second Coming baggy pants and bucket hats were passe, and Britpop ruled England’s green and pleasant land.

Those five years may have been piddling compared to the 14 years that elapsed between Guns N’ Roses’ The Spaghetti Incident and Chinese Democracy, but those five years they were an eternity–during the same time span The Beatles went from Meet the Beatles to Abbey Road.

The Stone Roses’ half-decade of silence stemmed form a variety of issues, the most important of which was a protracted effort to sever ties with their record label, but it doesn’t much matter. In his poem “The Second Coming” (sound familiar?) William Butler Yeats foresaw a rough beast slouching towards Bethlehem, waiting to be born. The Stone Roses’ follow-up didn’t so much slouch towards the record stores as crawl, and by the time it arrived Engand’s notoriously fickle trend watchers had long since written them off.

None of which detracts from the fact that The Stone Roses is one killer LP. The album’s rave-friendly dance rhythms and hypnotic grooves would seem to put The Stone Roses in the same category as fellow Mancunians the Happy Mondays, but they took it the extra yard by fusing said dance rhythms with the Happy Daze psychedelic guitar sounds of the mid to late ‘60s. Like the Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses produced dance music, but they could rock the arenas as well.

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Six decades later, the music still wows, baffles, and inspires.

What happened over two nights in a tiny, unassuming Chicago club under a bakery was a fascinating and unplanned documentation of a pivotal moment in the evolution of Miles Davis’s leadership and sound. Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, today announce the reissue of these legendary recordings: The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965. Arriving January 30, 2026, as a cornerstone moment in the year-long celebration of Miles Davis’ Centennial to come next year, this comprehensive collection will be available as a 10LP or 8CD box set. Pre-orders are available now.

As a preview of the larger collection, a standalone 2LP set, Live At The Plugged Nickel: December 23, 1965 – Second Set, will be released for RSD Black Friday on November 28.

The recordings capture Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet—featuring Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams—at an inflection point. Wayne Shorter was just over a year into his tenure, and the group, fresh off of recording E.S.P., was solidifying into what would become the most transformative small group in jazz. What unfolded on the stage of the Chicago club was not just a performance, but a provocation.

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | If you could actually hear an abstract expressionist painting, it would probably sound a lot like the work of Morton Feldman.

And that’s no accident: Feldman hung out in ‘50s and ‘60s New York with Jackson Pollock, Philip Guston (whose work graced the cover of Feldman’s first album), and Robert Rauschenberg. Like the paintings of his visual artist peers, Feldman’s work emphasized tonal color over structure, rhythm, or melody, the traditional building blocks of music. It also employed the musical equivalent of painterly “negative space” with its use of silence and stasis; that Feldman and John Cale were enormous influences on each other will come as no surprise.

So, it makes sense that Feldman would dedicate probably his two most celebrated compositions to two giants of the New York scene: abstract expressionist Mark Rothko, whose famous Chapel adorns this LP’s front cover, and writer and critic Frank O’Hara, whose own work drew inspiration from the same sources as Feldman’s.

Rothko Chapel and For Frank O’Hara first were released in 1976 on a seminal album from the Odyssey imprint on Columbia Records; for its 50th anniversary and first LP reissue, Real Gone Music had it pressed on 180-gram black vinyl at Gotta Groove Records for the quietest listen achievable, using new transfers from the original master tapes. Profound, career-defining work that opened the door for latter-day ambient composers like Brian Eno to walk through.

Remembering Dr. John, born on this date in 1941. —Ed.

I am happy to report there is one town in this God-obsessed land that remains under the sway of the Devil. I am talking, of course, about N’Orleans, that spirit-haunted hotbed of hedonism and home to the legendary likes of Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau, the prostitute Lulu White, and the never-captured Axeman of New Orleans. God has sent flood upon flood to destroy America’s most depraved and flat-out weird city—where else are you going to find public ordinances banning gargling in public and tying an alligator to a fire hydrant?—but in vain. Either God’s floods ain’t what they used to be, or sin has rendered the birthplace of Jazz, where Lucifer owns a winter home, indestructible.

The Big Easy is renowned for two things: music and voodoo. And no human being has ever combined the two with such funky finesse as Mac Rebennack, aka Dr. John Creaux the Night Tripper. Like most people, the only tune I knew by the good doctor was 1973’s funky “Right Place Wrong Time.” Then Kid Congo Powers—who honed his own voodoo chops with the late Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s Gun Club—suggested I check out the Night Tripper’s 1968 debut LP Gris Gris, and I promptly fell under its spooky Creole spell.

Its trance-inducing, doom-heavy grooves instantaneously transported me to a shadowy Louisiana swamp swarming with snakes and alligators, voodoo drums sounding in the distance, the Axeman of New Orleans hard on my heels. Then to an incense-choked, unpainted wooden shack on stilts situated deep in the bayou’s perpetual gloom, where I found myself shuffling and shaking to the sound of congas and the Night Tripper’s Muzippi-muddy growl. Suffice it to say Gris Gris is one the most haunting slices of hoodoo you’ll ever hear, and one of the most addictive.

A child model (his face appeared on Ivory Soap boxes) turned strip club musician and illegal teen sessions player for such legendary figures as Professor Longhair, Joe Tex, and Frankie Ford, Rebennack turned from the guitar to the piano following an altercation with a pistol-packing club owner that resulted in the near severing of his left index finger. Forced to relocate to LA in the mid-sixties due to the legal consequences of an ongoing heroin addiction, it was there Rebennack adopted his colorful voodoo-headdress-wearing Dr. John Creaux persona and stepped into the limelight with Gris Gris, that incantatory and utterly unique melange of Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Cuban, and Mardi Gras Indian-flavored R&B and psychedelia.

Read More »