The group Chicago has, for a number of years now, been wrongly consigned to the soft-rock ’70s hit parade and viewed as a classic rock boomer summer touring act. While it can be easy to describe the group this way, they created some of the most ambitious albums of the end of the ’60s and first half of the ’70s, and their hits are enduring evergreens that can satisfy both fans of ’70s FM ballads and fans of the cream of classic American ’70s rock.

Anyone who truly thinks they know the group, but who has not heard their first three studio albums, which are all double albums, and their first live four-album set (Chicago at Carnegie Hall), doesn’t really know the full breadth of their music and is missing out on some of the best albums released in the late ’60s and early ’70s. The band would continue to make fine albums and after two more studio albums would make another double album, but those first three studio albums are truly special.

Their self-titled first album, Chicago Transit Authority, released in 1969, their one and only album under that band name, displayed all the characteristics of what made them so special. While groups like Blood, Sweat and Tears were also focusing on being horn-driven rock bands, Chicago was so much more than that. Along with three horn players (Lee Loughnane, James Pankow, Walter Parazaider) and a drummer (Danny Seraphine), the group boasted three bona-fide frontmen who could sing, write, and play.

While guitarist Terry Kath in many ways drove the edgier side of the group, he wrote and sang beautiful ballads. And conversely, keyboardist Robert Lamb and bassist Peter Cetera, along with writing poppy love songs, could also write and sing bracing rockers, with all three being the base for soaring harmonies. To add to all of this, the group’s albums in this period were ambitious, sprawling affairs, that encompassed rock, pop, jazz, and soul, but with carefully crafted arrangements and occasional song suites that had movements like a classical music album structure.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | “A very honest and extremely well-articulated story of coming of age, parallel and within the evolution of the alternative music world.” —Kim Gordon

The Royal We is a a poetic survey of a time and a magical city that once was and is no more by musical trailblazer Roddy Bottum, documenting a charged era of bicycle messengers, punk rock, street witches, wheatgrass, and rebellion. The book follows his travels from Los Angeles, growing up gay with no role models, to San Francisco, where he formed Faith No More and went on to tour the world relentlessly, surviving heroin addiction and the plight of AIDS, to become a queer icon.

A deeply personal work of humor, commentary, and reflection, The Royal We is much more than a musical tell-all. There are personal tales of historical pinnacles like Kurt and Courtney, Guns N’ Roses, and recaps of gold records and arena rock—but it’s the testimonies of tragedy, addiction, and a deeply loving recollection of a remarkable scene that make this book so unique and intriguing. Bottum writes about his dark and harrowing past in a clear-eyed voice that is utterly devoid of self-pity, and his emboldened and confident pronouncements of achievement and unorthodox heroism flow in an unstoppable train that’s both captivating and inspirational.

A remarkable portrayal of a creative individual in emergence, a gay man figuring out how to be a gay man, and a detailed look at the nuance of 1980s pre-tech boom San Francisco, The Royal We will be greatly appreciated by people who loved Kathleen Hanna’s Rebel Girl, Patti Smith’s Just Kids, and Hua Hsu’s Stay True.

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Remembering Hank Williams, born on this day in 1923. —Ed.

Hank Williams is an icon of early country music, but he recorded before the LP era really took hold, so his legacy is dominated by posthumously assembled compilations. These sets come in various sizes and levels of quality. The latest, Pictures from Life’s Other Side: The Man and his Music in Rare Photos and Recordings, offers 144 transcriptions from Williams’ Mother’s Best radio program on six CDs, all tucked into a magnificent hardcover book loaded with photos, many of them in color, that serve to broaden the life of the artist beyond the still too common reduction of strife and an early death. It’s out now, but if it’s vinyl you require, the 3LP distillation Only Mother’s Best is also currently available from BMG.

When it comes to concise surveys of Hank Williams’ exceptional musical abilities (by which I mean single or double sets), the gold standard remains Polydor’s 40 Greatest Hits. Released in 1978, it was distinguished at the time for its lack of production meddling, as those four vinyl sides weren’t rechanneled into stereo and they lacked additional posthumous meddling such as overdubs and duet fakery.

40 Greatest Hits was just pure Hank, and for those who favored his work, disappointment in the listening was an impossibility. That’s not the same as being fully satisfied however, which is where the box sets enter the picture. Mercury’s 1998 10CD The Complete Hank Williams is an award winner, but amongst the numerous two- and three-disc collections, there’s an even bigger assemblage, Time Life’s The Complete Mother’s Best Recordings…Plus!, which emerged in 2010 as a 15CD behemoth.

As one might’ve deduced, there is a relationship between that release and the one under review here, with the difference being that Time Life simply rounded up the acetates of the original 15-minute broadcasts, which were sponsored by Mother’s Best flour. This left in all the instrumental bits, the guest musicians and the chatting and joking around.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Yep Roc Records and Chuck Prophet announce the 10th anniversary edition of Night Surfer, Prophet’s widely acclaimed 2014 album. Available for pre-order now, the reissue edition features a remastered LP in “Twilight Wave” color vinyl.

Originally released September 23, 2014, Night Surfer captures Prophet’s beloved city in motion across a 12-song set—equal parts shimmering and shadowy. Produced by Brad Jones and Chuck Prophet, Night Surfer was recorded at Decibelle Recording in San Francisco and Alex The Great Recording in Nashville, and mixed by Paul Q. Kolderie. The album’s line-up and collaborators nod to Prophet’s deep network and features contributions from R.E.M. stalwarts Peter Buck (guitars) and the late Bill Rieflin, whose rhythmic instincts thread grit through the album’s glam-tinged sparkle.

Of the original album, Chuck Prophet wrote: “There are a lot of little stories on this record. But they seem to add up to one big story. What that overarching story is, I am not really sure, but I’ll know it when it punches me in the face. It’s loosely conceptual but universal all the same, I’d contend. And of course, you’ll find it laced with humor and a persistent anxiety throughout. And while I had originally considered all this leaning toward the dystopian, now I wonder. The future might just save us. But we have to get there first.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Experience Hendrix L.L.C. and Legacy Recordings, are releasing Bold As Love by the Jimi Hendrix Experience on November 7. Produced by Janie Hendrix, original Experience recording engineer Eddie Kramer, and John McDermott, this expansive collection is available as either a five vinyl LP plus Blu-ray, or four CD plus Blu-ray set.

The deluxe box set includes the original stereo and mono mixes of Axis: Bold As Love remastered from the original mixes created by Hendrix, the album’s producer Chas Chandler and original engineer Eddie Kramer. Kramer and engineer Chandler Harrod recently created brand new immersive Dolby ATMOS mixes of the entire 13 song album. The box set presents an additional 40 alternative versions, unreleased studio takes, demos, live tracks and television appearances from the album’s gestation and recording period, 28 of which have never before seen the light of day. One of these tracks, a previously unreleased October 1967 studio demo of “Stone Free/Up From The Skies [Demo],” has been made available.

By May 1967, the Jimi Hendrix Experience had finalized their groundbreaking debut album Are You Experienced at Olympic Studios in London, and immediately began work on their next album. Jimi Hendrix arrived in London in late September 1966 and soon amassed three top 10 singles in their UK homebase, followed quickly by success across Europe but were yet to conquer the US. In June 1967, the group left for the US to make their American debut at the Monterey International Pop Festival.

Their stunning Monterey debut—complete with Hendrix setting his guitar alight at the close of his performance, propelled them across the US throughout the summer of 1967. Before returning to London, producer Chas Chandler recorded the group’s fourth single “Burning Of The Midnight Lamp” b/w “The Stars That Play With Laughing Dice” at sessions in New York and Los Angeles. Bold As Love showcases previously unreleased versions of both of these songs.

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Celebrating Kenney Jones on his 77th birthday. —Ed.

Small Faces stand as one of the very finest groups of the 1960s, though many know them mainly for Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake, their most ambitious and final album before Steve Marriott’s departure effectively ended their diminutive phase. The scoop is that all of the Small Faces’ ‘60s records are worthy of ownership, even the mercantile odds-and-ends collection From the Beginning. That disc and its self-titled predecessor are currently available as 180gm replica LPs. Are they cut to lacquer from the original quarter-inch production masters with front-laminated sleeves? Why yes indeed.

One gauge of the true greats is that the music manages to get better, or at least maintains a high standard of quality, as the discs take their place in the racks. So it is with the Small Faces. With this said the Decca period offers distinct and enduring appeal; more so than The Who, the Small Faces circa-’65-’66 are the true ambassadors of Mod. Utterly Brit in orientation, it wasn’t until the fourth LP that the group entered the US market.

The Small Faces consisted of Steve Marriott on vocals, guitar and harmonica, Ronnie Lane on bass, Kenney Jones on drums and percussion, and initially Jimmy Winston on keyboards. Upon signing to Decca through the efforts of manager Don Arden, they released two singles in ’65. The first “What’cha Gonna Do about It” charted, hitting #14, while the second “I’ve Got Mine” didn’t. Shortly thereafter, Winston was replaced by Ian McLagan, the new keyboardist assisting 3rd 45 “Sha-La-La-La-Lee” in reaching the #3 spot. A full-length followed a few months later.

Sporting the brass to open with “Shake” in Sam Cooke’s tempo, ’66’s Small Faces starts out strong and never really falters, which is impressive for a debut comprised roughly equally, as was the norm of the time, of originals and borrowed/cover material. Neither tentative nor betraying instrumental greenness, the Small Faces were also unburdened by conflict over what they wanted to be.

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Celebrating Colin Newman on his 70th birthday. —Ed.

While the punk genre has its share of great albums, and the same can surely be said for the refinements, expansions, and disruptions in post-punk’s playground, the list of those having excelled at both is short indeed. If any outfit makes the cut, it’s Wire. Having delivered the UK class of ’77 a cornerstone LP, their next two full-lengths helped to define the sound of post-punk; they remain amongst the finest records the styles ever produced. Out now through the band’s label Pinkflag are special edition CD books of all three, 80 pages each and sized like 45s, featuring text by Jon Savage and Graham Duff plus additional tracks. Here’s our look at 1978’s Chairs Missing.

The enduring stream of adulation awarded to Wire’s debut Pink Flag can mask the fact that the esteem wasn’t instantaneous. As the printed observations in these CD books helps to clarify, the band was strikingly distinctive as part of the whole ’77 punk shebang, as they garnered a pocket of fervent advocates, including then Sounds writers Jon Savage and Jane Suck, but overall, Wire existed as just one outfit amongst many, and this lack of a microscope of expectation surely allowed for creativity to flourish without the hinderance of unnecessary pressures.

If somewhat ambivalent to the punk tag at the time and in retrospect, it’s pretty apparent now that Wire benefited from their emergence in connection to the sheer tumult of the time. Just as importantly, they weren’t anointed the saviors of its essence, the crucial destabilizers of convention, or the inevitable deliverers of what comes next.

Simply put, making rock music is hard. Making rock music that will produce an immediate audience reaction (and critical response) is harder. And making rock music under outsized expectations has been the end, literal and figurative, of many a band, resulting either in breakups or a nosedive in quality. At the very least, the avalanche of attention will irrevocably change the music.

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IMAGES AND WORDS: GREG VITALICH | If you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to step into a time machine and land smack in the middle of the 1980s rock ‘n’ roll scene, David Lee Roth’s show in San Diego was your answer.

On a crisp night in San Diego, David Lee Roth, backed by an incredible band and five powerhouse backup singers, delivered a high-energy, nostalgia-packed performance that celebrated the glory days of the mighty Van Halen. With a setlist of 18 iconic VH classics, Roth proved that even at 70 years old, he’s still the ultimate showman, bringing swagger, humor, and a whole lot of fun to the stage by the bay. This was Diamond Dave at his finest, and this was one hell of a show!

From the opening notes of “Panama,” the energy at Humphrey’s was 240v plug and play electric. Roth and his band tore through a setlist that was a dream come true for any Van Halen fan including “Runnin’ With the Devil,” “Dance the Night Away,” and one of my all-time favorites off 1984, “Hot for Teacher.” The crowd erupted as deeper cuts like “Drop Dead Legs” and “Romeo Delight” showcased the band’s versatility and Roth’s ability to keep the audience engaged and electrified.

Roth’s latest band was nothing short of spectacular. Al Estrada on guitar delivered a masterclass in channeling the late, great Eddie Van Halen, nailing every riff and solo with precision and passion. His performance on “Mean Street” and “Unchained” was jaw-dropping, earning him thunderous applause from the crowd. The rhythm section, featuring Ryan Wheeler on bass and Francis Valentino on drums, kept the grooves tight and the energy high all night long. All three are studs and well worth the price of admission alone.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | GRAMMY and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-nominated rock band, The Black Crowes, led by founding brothers Chris and Rich Robinson, are celebrating the 30th anniversary of their seminal 1994 album Amorica with a deluxe reissue box set. The deluxe box set, available as a 5LP or 3CD set, chronicles the band’s evolution through the songs that became Amorica. Amorica is set for release on November 14, 2025, via UMe—pre-order/pre-save HERE.

To mark the reissue, The Black Crowes unveiled “Bitter, Bitter You,” an unreleased track from the Amorica era that captures the raw emotion and sonic edge of the original sessions. The deluxe box set features Tallest, a studio album of 9 newly mixed songs from the Tall sessions. Tall, the legendary unreleased album recorded before Amorica, was initially scrapped by Chris and Rich to bring a new creative energy to the recording of Amorica. George Drakoulias and Martin Pradler have done new mixes from the original multitrack recordings. The set includes 3 unreleased recordings: “Bitter, Bitter You,” “Title Song,” and “Paris Song,” an instrumental that evolves into the Amorica track “Cursed Diamond.”

Also included in the deluxe edition is The Marie Laveau Sessions, featuring 7 previously unreleased studio recordings from October 1992. Recorded at Kingsway Studios in New Orleans, LA, on an off day from the High High The Moon Tour, where Chris and Rich captured the 7 songs that they had worked up during soundcheck. Additionally, the band also includes 4 live songs recorded for a worldwide live radio broadcast to premiere Amorica from AIR Studios in London, UK, on October 25, 1994.

The Amorica album was remastered from the original 1/4″ production master tape by Chris Athens. The album now includes 3 b-sides, the Taj Mahal cover of “Chevrolet” and new mixes of “Song Of The Flesh” and the instrumental “Sunday Night Buttermilk Waltz.” The LP box set includes a fanzine with an interview with Chris and Rich chronicling the evolution of Amorica, a classic 20″ x 30″ poster, a bumper sticker, and a slip mat.

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Remembering Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, born on this date in 1928. —Ed.

Blue Note Records celebrated 75 years of existence by giving numerous key titles from their incomparable catalog high-quality vinyl reissues, and it’s fitting that we began our tribute to the label’s longevity with a look at one of their very finest releases, the great alto saxophonist Julian Cannonball Adderley’s 1958 masterwork Somethin’ Else.

The LPs of Blue Note’s classic-era are aptly described as an embarrassment of riches. Along with loads of amazing music, there is of course the surrounding context, and engaging with the fruits of the imprint’s labors offers a truly enlightening historical narrative. Naturally, it’s only part of jazz’s larger story, but it’s also a highly valuable component since Blue Note is an example where respect for the music trumped pure capitalistic desire.

That respect extended to the amount of studio time given to the musicians, but it also concerned other vital aspects of record production, beginning with the use of engineer Rudy Van Gelder and ending with the company’s justly celebrated graphic design. Blue Note didn’t have the market cornered on either the Van Gelder touch or the manufacturing of handsome album jackets, for it really was a fantastic era in terms of both fidelity and sharply conceived presentation, but throughout the salad days of Modern Jazz (and for a good while afterward) the label was at the forefront.

Somethin’ Else is one of many excellent Van Gelder jobs, but some may evaluate its sleeve as solid but not spectacular. Please allow me to disagree. While I don’t think it’s one of the very greatest of Blue Note covers, it is nicely pared down to only essential information and is a fine model of strong but subtle construction; obviously the large black space, but also the contrast with the white lettering, and then the font, bold type that possesses just a hint of distinctiveness. Add the further contrasting element of color, with green for the leader and blue for his band.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Half a century to the day since its original 1975 release, Pink Floyd have announced the 50th anniversary edition of their era-defining album Wish You Were Here. Out December 12th via Sony Music, Wish You Were Here 50 gives fans an exciting new perspective into one of Pink Floyd’s most iconic and best-loved records. The 50th anniversary edition features multiple discs of rarities—at the core of this special collection are six previously unreleased alternate versions and demos presenting Pink Floyd’s eighth studio album in a brand new way that demands repeat listening.

Wish You Were Here 50 will be released in multiple formats including 3LP, 2CD, Blu-ray, digital and a Deluxe Box Set. The digital release includes the original 1975 album, featuring a new Dolby Atmos mix by James Guthrie, whose work with Pink Floyd dates back to 1979’s The Wall. It also includes 25 bonus tracks made up of nine studio rarities, and 16 live recordings captured by the renowned bootlegger Mike Millard at Pink Floyd’s Los Angeles Sports Arena concert on April 26th 1975, now receiving its first official release.

The live audio has been meticulously restored and remastered by Steven Wilson. The Blu-ray edition also gives fans the chance to see three concert screen films from the band’s 1975 tour, plus a Storm Thorgerson short film. The 3LP and 2CD formats include the original album and the nine studio bonus tracks.

The Deluxe Box Set includes all 2CD, 3LP (on exclusive clear vinyl) and Blu-Ray material, plus a fourth clear vinyl LP, Live At Wembley 1974, a replica Japanese 7” single of “Have A Cigar” b/w “Welcome To The Machine,” a hardcover book including unseen photographs, a comic book tour programme and Knebworth concert poster. Exclusive 50th Anniversary Merchandise along with Limited Edition product releases will also be available at PinkFloyd.com.

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Rare Earth are one of those one-time big-time late sixties/early seventies bands whose albums you’re more likely, in the year 2025, to find in an archeological dig than on a record player. Which is to say that, like Blood, Sweat & Tears, Three Dog Night, and many other bands, their music hasn’t aged well. And for the same reason—it’s terminally unhip.

But unlike those other bands, Rare Earth—the most notable band of Caucasians to find themselves in the Motown fold—tried very, very hard to be hip, socially relevant, and counterculture-friendly, in a crass “put your hands together, brothers and sisters” way. As my friend William Honeycutt noted, “They had a very “Right On!” image.” Unfortunately it came across as a shuck, a marketing gambit, a ruse to sucker in your serious long-hairs.

Gil Scott-Heron certainly smelled bullshit, and went so far as to name-drop them as enemies of the people in “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” The revolution’s theme song, declares Gil, “Will not be written by Jim Webb or Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, Engelbert Humperdinck, or The Rare Earth.” Personally, I wish he’d dropped the other names (I like ‘em!) and stuck with Rare Earth.

Rare Earth played an organ-heavy combination of rock, blues, and soul, and scored a trio of Top Ten singles in 1970 and 1971. Trouble is by 1972 they were chart radioactive, and would never again record another Gold album. Theirs was a short run—seems the people didn’t want to put their hands together, although their best-known song, 1971’s “I Just Want to Celebrate,” made it to the Number 7 spot on the Billboard Charts.

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