VIA PRESS RELEASE | Duran Duran have confirmed details of a brand-new, 75 minute docu-concert film, entitled A Hollywood High, that captures the band performing live on a rooftop in Los Angeles, alongside exclusive interviews and archival footage that tells the story of their long-time love affair with the city. The film will be released in cinemas on November 3, 2022, around the world. The news arrives amidst an incredible year for the band, as the multi-platinum, award-winning global hitmakers celebrate over four rich and storied decades together.

The past 12 months have seen Duran Duran release their widely acclaimed 15th studio album Future Past, confirmed to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, perform live at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace, headline London’s Hyde Park and, in a full circle moment, close the opening ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in their hometown of Birmingham. All this before embarking on a huge headline tour of North America that included sold out shows at iconic venues such as Madison Square Garden and three nights at the Hollywood Bowl.

Duran Duran’s peerless live show will now be immortalised on the big screen in a feature-length docu-concert film, created in an innovative new format that is mixed and mastered with Dolby Atmos® and Dolby Vision®. Giving fans the ultimate movie-going experience, Dolby Vision® takes the look of the film to a whole new level, allowing audiences to enjoy subtle details and the ultra-vivid colors of the performance like never before, while Dolby Atmos® provides the very best in truly immersive sound. The film also brings to life the band’s deep and important relationship with Los Angeles through exclusive new interviews, together with behind-the-scenes video and unseen archival footage, charting their rise to become one of the most successful and influential bands of all time.

Read More »

Fans of The Beatles continue to be treated to projects that look back and refresh, reimagine, and add to their musical legacy with projects that take a deep dive into key passages in their musical and personal evolution, while often offering deep social, political, cultural, and musical context.

The most significant visual project to appear since Ron Howard’s 2016 film Eight Days A Week is Peter Jackson’s Get Back. The three-part series, that looked at the Let It Be period and used a healthy amount of material from the Let It Be film shoot, appeared on the Disney Plus channel in November of 2021. The series is now available on DVD and as a 3-Disc Blu-Ray Collector’s Edition.

The only difference between the two, other than the format, is the Blu-ray edition comes with four color collector photo cards of each Beatle. The box is well designed and sturdy. In every way, it has the feel of a Criterion Collection box. That company would have known how best to integrate extras and create a product that would have received more attention and sold more copies. There are no extras on these packages. The box was originally released on February 8th this year, but it was immediately pulled from release due to technical issues with the audio. This was not fully resolved in the short term and it took months before it was finally released on July 12, despite an announcement stating it wouldn’t come out until December 31 of this year.

The Get Back series is a monumental work and may be the most close-up view of the group since the 1995 Anthology film series. The segmentation into three parts works well. Part one chronicles the beginning of the Get Back project. It shows the band at Twickenham studios in London, in early January of 1969, rehearsing for what was to be some kind of televised concert featuring new music performed in a stripped-down, back-to-basics approach. This part most reflects the group’s fractured relationship, uncertainty about its new direction, and ultimately its near dissolution with George Harrison walking out on the group near the end of this section. There are moments in this part that can be a bit tedious, but for die-hard fans of The Beatles, it’s fascinating.

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | To commemorate the 30th anniversary of The Tragically Hip’s iconic album, Fully Completely, the band has released a deluxe boxset, which was previously released in 2014 only on CD, now reimagined as a vinyl package.

Available today, this is the first time the box set is presented as a three-piece vinyl set and features all the elements from the 2014 CD boxset, including the Fully Completely original album, the Live at the Horseshoe September 13, 1992 recording, with bonus studio session tracks “Radio Show” and “So Hard Done By,” plus a 56-page book and five exclusive lithographs by cover artist Lieve Prins. The set also includes a Blu-ray of brand-new Dolby Atmos and surround sound mixes of the record. Atmos mixes are also available digitally on Apple Music and Amazon Music. And if that’s not enough, the package features a newly remastered from the original film, Heksenketel, the 1993 Another Roadside Attraction tour documentary.

Earlier this week, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the album, fans gathered for a one-time-only Dolby Atmos listening session, and a screening of the remastered Heksenketel documentary was held at select Cineplex locations across the country.

The Fully Completely deluxe vinyl edition is the first in a series of vinyl album re-releases for The Tragically Hip, the band heeding the call from fans to experience the music in this analog quality format. The vinyl series is sure to be the hallmark of any vinyl collection. Fans can watch out for reissues of Yer Favourites which had previously been available only on CD, and a brand-new box set for the 25th anniversary of Phantom Power (CD, vinyl, Atmos) in 2023.

Read More »

Just short of five years ago, the Contort Yourself label issued a truly splendid collection of global 1980s DIY sounds that were initially released on cassette tape, but for the reissue were grooved into four sides of vinyl. Now, with 80s Underground Cassette Culture Volume 2, the label is delivering an equally grand follow-up, with the set’s 21 selections delving into the subgenres of minimal wave, post-punk, industrial, and experimental electronics. As listenable as it is eye-opening, it’s out now digitally and on 2LP with gatefold sleeve, printed inner sleeves, and insert.

Given the description above, listeners with insight into the subterranean 1980s might gather they have a handle on what 80s Underground Cassette Culture Volume 2 has in store, but a mere spin of the sides reveals the contents to be more expansive than one might expect, as opener “Under the Church” by the German post-punk outfit (possibly a solo project) Die Achse dishes a few surprisingly inviting (as opposed to foreboding or antagonistic) guitar flourishes. However, please don’t get the idea that Die Achse was flirting with the mersh.

“Peace of Mind” by the Italian outfit Nostalgie Eternelle, delivers an immediate contrast, ushering in vocals and beaucoup alienation. It’s a solid transition into the slow ooze ominousness of “As Your Told” by the UK duo Years on Earth, a track that would’ve worked perfectly on the soundtrack to a z-grade horror flick filmed on videocassette in some joker’s backyard in the mid-late ’80s (as the cut dates from ’82).

While this collection’s Volume 1 included Merzbow, a legitimately huge name in u-ground circles, this set is loaded with obscurities, as I’d rate the USA’s If, Bwana (the prolific project of Al Margolis) as amongst the better known entries on Volume 2, with “Tiny Bladders” a killer dose of gnawing industrial menace and non-dance rhythm. It leads into another legit surprise, as “Attempt to Rap” by Germany’s Stefan Schrader takes clear inspiration from early rap-electro trailblazers like Afrika Bambaataa. Newcleus and the Egyptian Lover (thankfully, nobody attempts to rap, as the cut is all instrumental).

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | “A grown-up film about working players living, dying, laughing, playing…” —Robert Fripp

British rock band King Crimson is the subject of an anticipated new feature documentary titled In the Court of the Crimson King, King Crimson at 50, which is releasing in select U.S. theaters on October 19th and getting a worldwide one-night-only digital event release on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2022, to follow its world premiere at SXSW in March.

Directed by Toby Amies (The Man Whose Mind Exploded), In the Court of the Crimson King, King Crimson at 50 began as a straightforward documentary about the cult rock band King Crimson as it turned 50, and became an inspiring and humorous exploration of time, death, family, and the transcendent power of music to change lives.

King Crimson have always pioneered their own uncompromisingly independent route, and this documentary, 4 years in the making, has followed the same path with a one-night-only worldwide theatrical release (theater list can be found HERE) and a live worldwide digital event, which will be introduced by Robert Fripp and followed by a Q&A with Fripp and band members. Fans can tune in via the nugs.net platform HERE or view On Demand for a 24 hour period thereafter.

In the Court of the Crimson King is not only a film about a group that has been creatively active for 50 years. It’s a film about music, why it matters, and the painful sacrifices artists have to make in order to create work that changes people’s lives, but with jokes.

Featuring Johnny Iguana on piano and keyboards, Zach Verdoorn on bass and guitar, Michael Caskey on drums, and Berit Ulseth on vocals, Chicago’s The Claudettes release their fifth album, The Claudettes Go Out!, October 14 on compact disc and digital through Forty Below Records. Starting out as the duo of Iguana and Caskey, The Claudettes were once described as something of a blues-punk proposition, but with an expansion of lineup comes refinement, as their latest is full-bodied smart pop enhanced with a subtle roots edge and early Alternative rock punch. And yet, much of the record has a contemporary feel.

Those who know Johnny Iguana primarily as a blues pianist having backed Junior Wells, Otis Rush, Carey Bell, Koko Taylor, etc., plus releasing his own killer album Johnny Iguana’s Chicago Spectacular! in 2020, might be a little surprised by the unabashed pop inflection of Go Out!, particularly as all ten of the album’s songs were written by Iguana (real name Brian Berkowitz).

The band is tight on Go Out!, with Iguana’s work on the keys bringing a distinctive flavor, but the record’s most immediate quality is the voice of Bert Ulseth, whose jazz vocal background (she attended the New School in NYC) and experience fronting country bands establishes her range and a rich singing style that reminds me at times of Shilpa Ray crossed with Maria McKee.

Opener “A Lovely View” is a hearty dose of melancholy yearning, the track expertly blending pop sophistication and earthy soulfulness, with the sweet structural mid-section redirect and a powerful crescendo in the back end deepening the whole. It gets Go Out! off to a strong, welcoming start, as “Park Bench” follows, picking up the pace and adding an honest to goodness string section to superb effect.

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Following the 50th anniversaries of Yusuf / Cat Stevens’ iconic albums Mona Bone Jakon, Tea for the Tillerman, and Teaser and the Firecat, 2022 will see the legendary singer-songwriter celebrate 1972’s Catch Bull At Four with a newly remastered 50th anniversary edition.

The platinum-selling title, which marked Cat Stevens’ most successful chart album in the US, will be available on vinyl for the first time since its original release on both 180-gram black vinyl and limited edition 180-gram orange vinyl, which will be available exclusively on CatStevens.com, UDiscover Music and Sound Of Vinyl. Catch Bull At Four will also return to CD for the first time since its reissue in 2000 and the new remaster will also be available for streaming in both standard and stunning hi-resolution audio. All formats will be released December 2nd via Universal Music Recordings in the UK.

Released in the autumn of 1972, Catch Bull At Four marked Cat Stevens’ sixth studio album and fourth release on Island Records following Mona Bone Jakon, Tea for the Tillerman (both 1970), and 1971’s Teaser and the Firecat. In the two years leading up to the highly anticipated title, the British singer-songwriter had soared to incredible heights, becoming a global star with such hits as “Father and Son,” “Wild World,” “Where Do The Children Play?,” “Morning Has Broken,” and “Peace Train.”

The album found Cat Stevens reuniting with producer (and former Yardbird) Paul Samwell-Smith and guitarist Alun Davies, who collaborated with the artist on his previous three records. Joining them in the studio was drummer Gerry Conway, who appeared on Teaser and the Firecat, plus bassist Alan James, and keyboardist Jean Roussel. The album’s title, meanwhile, was inspired by Kuòān Shīyuǎn’s “Ten Bulls of Zen,” a series of short poems, in which a protagonist sets out in search of a bull, catches and tames him, and, through the experience, finds enlightenment.

Read More »

Remembering John Prine, born on this day in 1946. —Ed.

True story: I recently made a date with a woman, and on the day of the date she casually informed me we’d be going to an S&M party, then also casually let drop she’d be bringing a fellow named Lunchbox who just happened to be her boyfriend, and at the S&M party there were naked fat guys walking around in Viking helmets eating blue frosted cupcakes like at an elementary school affair, who watched while I watched Lunchbox whip my date and his girlfriend, after which she produced a trio of very lethal-looking stainless steel knives and proceeded to carve interesting patterns on my torso.

It was easily the weirdest date I’ve ever gone on, and quite possibly the weirdest date anyone’s ever gone on, and I can hear you asking: What in God’s name does any of this have to do with country-folk songwriting genius John Prine? Well I’ll tell you. I’ve given it some thought, and I’ve come to the conclusion that Prine, who has a voice like a stoned rodeo and a big old homely heart that pumps pure compassion, is the only person in the whole wide world who could somehow manage to capture both the absurdity and yes, the humanity and even the dignity of those naked guys in Viking helmets as they stood around eating blue frosted cupcakes watching other naked people get whipped.

The late Lou Reed, whom you’d think would be the man for the job, would have only made the whole scene seem decadent, which it most certainly wasn’t. Whereas someone with an eye for the absurd, say the late Vivian Stanshall of the Bonzo Dog Doodah Band, would have turned the whole thing into a Monty Python skit, which it most certainly wasn’t either. No, Prine is the only songwriter I can think of who could write a song poking fun at those naked Vikings while empathizing with them as well.

Over the course of his 42-year recording career—during which he’s released 22 albums, including “best of” and live LPs—Prine has written some of the saddest, funniest, and most empathetic songs you’ll ever hear, including such timeless standards as “Angel From Montgomery,” “In Spite of Ourselves,” “Paradise,” “Far From Me,” and “Hello in There.” All of ‘em great, so great in fact that Kris Kristofferson, who “discovered” Prine in the country capitol of the world, Chicago, Illinois, said in jest, “We’ll have to break his thumbs.” Or at least I think Kris was speaking in jest. Prine’s songwriting was certainly brilliant enough to cause a lesser songwriter to take desperate measures.

Read More »