VIA PRESS RELEASE | A new full-song preview from the forthcoming David Gilmour live film Live at the Circus Maximus, Rome was unveiled today, highlighting the title track from the 2024 UK number one album Luck and Strange.

Live at the Circus Maximus, Rome, which is being released via Sony Music Vision and Trafalgar Releasing, will be shown in cinemas and IMAX worldwide on 17th September for a limited time only. The film sees Gilmour return to Rome’s historic Circus Maximus at the beginning of the Luck and Strange Tour, his first in nearly a decade. Long-time Gilmour collaborator Gavin Elder filmed the sublime spectacle against the backdrop of the ancient ruins of Rome. Tickets and full screening details for both IMAX and standard format cinemas are available at davidgilmour.film.

The Luck and Strange Concerts features 23 tracks across 4LPs or 2CDs recorded at selected shows from the tour and blends solo tracks from David’s most recent album, including a stirring rendition of “Between Two Points” with Romany Gilmour as well as classic Pink Floyd anthems such as “Sorrow,” “High Hopes,” “Breathe (In The Air),” “Time,” “Wish You Were Here,” and “Comfortably Numb.”

For the lucky fans who experienced these once-in-a-lifetime shows, Live at the Circus Maximus, Rome and The Luck and Strange Concerts are the perfect reminders of Gilmour’s soulful, expressive, and meticulously melodic guitar playing and the brilliance of his incredible band. For those who missed the shows, the album and the film offer a once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience this extraordinary musical event.

Celebrating Rob Halford on his 74th birthday. —Ed.

Six Six Six/My Judas Priest tix/I’m out in the parking lot/And I’m looking for kicks!

What am I supposed to say about Judas Priest, Birmingham England’s contribution to heavy metal, that hasn’t already been said by those three great music critics, Bart Simpson and Beavis and Butthead? Judas Priest has received the imprimatur of the greats, for being the guys who put out “Breaking the Law” and “Living After Midnight” on their groundbreaking 1980 LP British Steel, and what’s more introduced plenty of your basic heavy metal tropes (S&M gear, operatic vocals, the twin guitar attack) that we now take for granted. In short, I’m going to have to reach to find anything original to say about Judas Priest, and I’m not sure I have the cojones. Beavis and Butthead’s rendition of “Breaking the Law” captures the essence of the band better than any critic ever will.

But I’m nothing if not intrepid, and Judas Priest has released 17 studio albums starting with 1974’s Rocka Rolla, which leaves me with lots to natter on about. Like the infamous civil action following the suicide of one young man and the attempted suicide of another, which their parents alleged were the result of a backwards masked message on a Judas Priest album saying “Do it.” It’s possible the subliminal message was there, but it’s also possible the message was encouraging the pair to buy Big Macs, or learn Esperanto. Personally I think the whole backwards masking thing is bunk, but just in case it’s real and works, I’ve placed a subliminal message or two in this review encouraging you to click on the Like button.

What else can I say about the great Judas Priest? Well, singer Rob Halford used to appear on stage on a Harley-Davidson, which I would probably think was pretty rad if I hadn’t (no kidding) seen Karen Carpenter do the exact same thing in the mid-seventies. And she never wrecked said Harley while doing so, as Halford did, colliding with a drum riser obscured by the dry ice that metal fans so love.

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In this excerpt from DIO: The Unholy Scriptures, we hear from Ronnie’s New Yorker partner-in-crime Vinny Appice, on the novel construction of Holy Diver track “Invincible.” No surprise, but Vinny turned out to be a key part of the Dio sound on the album, when it’s rare for a drummer to exhibit this degree of personality. And speaking of important drummers, Vinny also tells us about pranking his older brother, storied percussion legend Carmine.

As for Vinny’s memories of making the record, Appice told Jimmy Kay that, “Holy Diver was recorded at Sound City. Everybody knows Sound City now, thanks to the Dave Grohl movie. Holy Diver was a great time in everybody’s life in the band. Vivian was new. He was like a young kid and Jimmy was Jimmy (laughs). We were just having a great time. Every night we would go to Sound City at seven o’clock, get in the rehearsal room and write and smoke a lot of pot. They would drink; I didn’t really drink. But we smoked loads of pot and we’d record stuff. And our soundman, Angelo Arcuri, who recorded Holy Diver, was there every night.”

“We even got to the point of… we’d get really stoned and put down riffs and stuff, and the next night we would come in and we’d ask Angelo to play the riff on the cassette we made. It’s a four-track cassette so you could put everything upside down and it goes backwards. And that’s what he did by mistake. And we were laughing at him, ‘Ah, you jerk, you put it in upside-down.’ We’re laughing, and then we go, ‘Wait a minute; that sounds pretty good.’ So we’re listening to some backwards stuff now. And we said that sounds good—let’s learn the riff backwards. So we learned the riff backward, and we used it in the song ‘Invisible.’ The song ‘Invisible’ is the riff forward and the riff backwards, too, in the song.”

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Some bands are so dumb they’re smart. The Cult was not such a band. Hardly the sharpest knife in the metal knife drawer, they so flummoxed me I recently wrote on Facebook, “Are the Cult for real? I mean, they’re joking, right?” To which my pal and former bandmate John McConnell replied, “They are real. ’80s hair band crossed with ’80s goth band with a dash of Danzigesque shit.”

I responded to him by saying he’d pretty much written my Cult review for me, and frankly I didn’t know why I was bothering. But The Cult’s 1987 LP Electric IS worth writing about, because on Electric the band spent (in vocalist Ian Astbury’s words) “a quarter of a million pounds making an album that sounded like soup.” Only to scrap the whole thing and look to gonzo super-producer Rick Rubin, who (again according to Astbury) bluntly asked the boys, “Do you guys wanna make English pussy music, or do you want to rock?”

They should have said English pussy music. Because what Rubin proceeded to do was dumb an already dumb band down even further, and as I’ve already said, The Cult were not so dumb that they were smart. They were dumb as a sweat sock full of turnips. The Cult was a band without a brain, and Ian Astbury was a big voice with no apparent cognitive functioning, and the lack of cerebral activity trickled down from there.

Rubin’s genius idea was to strip the band down to metal basics. According to studio engineer Tony Platt, what Rubin did was appropriate “the guitar sounds from Back in Black, the drum sound from Highway to Hell, and the voice sound from Led Zeppelin.” Problem is AC/DC is the prototypical band that is so dumb it’s smart, and while you might be able to swipe their sound, you can’t swipe smarts. And it goes without saying that Ian Astbury is no Robert Plant. To quote my friend Charlie King, “Ian Astbury is the most Hostess Twinkie motherfucker ever.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Mercury Studios today announces the upcoming October 10, 2025 Blu-ray release of Peter Gabriel’s Taking The Pulse—a breathtaking concert film spotlighting one of music’s most visionary and influential artists, performing songs from his album New Blood.

Peter Gabriel takes the stage with 50 musicians from The New Blood Orchestra, conducted by Ben Foster. They, along with vocalists Melanie Gabriel and Ane Brun, deliver bold new arrangements, by John Metcalfe, of classic Gabriel songs, with the striking rule: no guitars, no drums—just orchestra. Filmed under the stars at the Arena di Verona in Italy on September 26, 2010, Taking The Pulse is directed by Anna Gabriel.

The result is a dramatic, visually striking experience. Peter Gabriel and The New Blood Orchestra perform against a backdrop of massive screens projecting vibrant animations and visuals, dramatically contrasting with the night sky.

From the thunderous intensity of the opener “Rhythm of the Heat,” to the haunting mood of “Intruder,” and the euphoric energy of “Solsbury Hill,” the orchestra navigates every shift in emotion and tempo with precision and passion.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Atlantic Records proudly unveils the Just In Time (Original Broadway Cast Recording), the official companion to Broadway’s sold-out smash hit musical starring Tony Award winner Jonathan Groff as legendary singer Bobby Darin. The album is available now on all digital platforms with physical editions including exclusive blue vinyl arriving Friday, November 21, and available for pre-order HERE.

Produced by Tom Kirdahy, two-time GRAMMY® winner Bill Sherman, Andrew Resnick, and Alex Timbers; co-produced, recorded, and mixed by five-time GRAMMY® winner Derik Lee, with Robert Ahrens serving as executive producer, the album features fan-favorite showstoppers “Splish Splash” and “This Could Be the Start of Something Big / Just In Time.” Live studio performance videos are also streaming now on YouTube. Groff’s powerhouse vocals, paired with bold contemporary arrangements, breathe new life into Darin’s timeless hits.

Developed and directed by Tony Award-winner Alex Timbers (Moulin Rouge), Just In Time sees Jonathan Groff returning to Broadway as Bobby Darin, the legendary singer whose short but remarkable life took him from teen idol to global sensation, inspiring generations of performers who followed.

The great American entertainer’s meteoric journey—from soaring highs to crushing lows—is brought to life by Groff, transporting audiences into an intimate, swinging nightclub complete with a stellar ensemble cast of 11 on-stage actors, a live on-stage band performing such iconic hits as “Beyond the Sea,” “Dream Lover,” and “Mack the Knife,” all of which were originally released by Darin on Atlantic Records’ ATCO Records imprint.

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Celebrating Debbi Peterson, born on this day in 1961. —Ed.

Those who came of age in the 1980s surely remember The Bangles; with songs on the radio and videos on MTV, they provided the era’s musical environs with a crisp ’60s influenced guitar-pop breeze, but too few have gotten hip to the band’s early work. Ladies and Gentlemen…The Bangles! collects their initial recordings, a sum embodying the melodic end of the garage spectrum with gestures in accord with Cali’s neo-psych movement. 

A lot of bands who originate in the garage gradually shed layers of appeal as they make their way toward prominence, but even after they attained full-fledged stardom that wasn’t necessarily the case with The Bangles. Hitting pop consciousness in the latter half of the decade, Susanna Hoffs (guitar, vocals), Vicki Peterson (guitar, bass, vocals), and her sister Debbi Peterson (drums, bass, vocals) began in Los Angeles in 1981 as The Bangs, and it didn’t take long for the trio to wax a 45.

However, many early fans residing outside of L.A. were likely introduced through “Bitchen Summer / Speedway” on the 1982 Posh Boy compilation Rodney on the Roq Vol. III, making the tune a sensible place for this compilation to start, doubly so as it illuminates a connection to the region’s post-punk ’60s infatuation that came to be tagged as The Paisley Underground.

Featuring warm fuzz, bright surf vibes, and late in the track, a taste of their soon to be well-known vocal harmonies, it’s a nifty slice of the sort of classic-minded stuff that sprang up in the void left by ’70s punk’s waning fortunes, and the relationship to the Paisley upswing is solidified through a co-writer’s credit alongside Hoffs for Dave Roback, then of the Dream Syndicate and later half of Mazzy Star.

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On this episode of Radar, I spoke with Jon King, co-founder and lead singer of Gang of Four, about his new memoir, To Hell with Poverty! A Class Act: Inside the Gang of Four. The book offers an account of his journey from a working-class upbringing in South London to international success with the band.

We discuss Jon’s early days in the slums of London, his passion for reading, art, and the political and social themes that influenced their music. King discusses what brought him to make music and the broader cultural landscape that shaped their work.

This conversation coincides with Gang of Four’s “The Long Goodbye” tour, marking the band’s final performances. The current lineup includes King, original drummer Hugo Burnham, bassist Gail Greenwood, and guitarist Ted Leo.

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.

Forty-six or so years after releasing their 1979 debut Three Imaginary Boys, and sixteen years after releasing their last album, 2008’s 4:13 Dream, The Cure did something my Robert Smith-phobic friends dreaded they’d do–came back. Those sixteen years had led many to hope Smith’s Reign of Mope was over. They were wrong and I’m glad, because 2024’s Songs of a Lost World isn’t just a great comeback album–it’s a great album period.

A masterpiece even. And who releases a masterpiece almost half a century into their career? It’s a miracle, really.

Songs of a Lost World is powered by big, ambitious, and somber yet soaring songs, and it’s tremendous despite the fact that there isn’t a single giddy-making pop confection like “Just Like Heaven” or “Friday I’m in Love” or “In Between Days” on it. Instead, Songs of a Lost World is a somber, emotionally and musically powerful meditation on growing old—that lost world in the title is the one we’re living in and losing, day by passing day, as we close in on death.

Songs of a Lost World is near perfect—symphonic, dramatic (natch), and replete with long and lovely instrumental introductions. But it’s not without its rock pleasures—Reeves Gabrels (of Tin Machine fame) makes sure of that with some astounding guitar work, especially on electric powerhouses “Warsong” and “Drone:Nodrone.” And Jason Cooper’s drumming is John Bonham heavy.

As for Smith, he’s in amazing voice—think about someone like Bob Dylan and then think about how Smith doesn’t sound like he’s aged a year. The man is growing old (66) and has intimations of mortality on his mind, and he’s not just contemplating his own demise—one of the more powerful songs on the LP (“I Can Never Say Goodbye”) is about the death of his brother.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | “I was absolutely enchanted and inspired by Mental Notes as a 17-year-old. It made me believe anything was possible. Fifty years later, it sounds as unique and timeless as it did then.” —Neil Finn 2025

Formed in 1972 in Auckland, New Zealand, Split Enz, known initially as Split Ends, were, and remain, utterly unique. As the first band from New Zealand to achieve major success beyond the Southern Hemisphere, they blazed a trail with a sound and style entirely their own. Evolving from folk-inspired beginnings into a fusion of art-rock, new wave, and theatrical performance, Split Enz didn’t just follow trends; they genuinely created them. While no one sounded like Split Enz at the time, countless acts have drawn inspiration from their legacy over the past five decades.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of their groundbreaking debut, Mental Notes, the first installment of a landmark archival project Enzyclopedia Volumes One & Two, presents a comprehensive tribute to New Zealand’s most visionary and influential band. Housed in a deluxe 5-CD box set (also available as a 3-LP + Blu-Ray edition), this release has been curated in close collaboration with the band. It offers an in-depth look at their formative years, showcasing the evolution of a group whose creative spirit reshaped the boundaries of popular music from New Zealand.

CD1 features a 2025 remaster by Phil Kinrade at AIR Studios, from the original master tapes of the band’s 1975 debut, Mental Notes. Disc two has a brand new remix of Second Thoughts by the band’s Eddie Rayner, which was recorded at Basing Street Studios in London with Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera, while Bob Marley and The Wailers were making Exodus in the downstairs studio.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | On 28th November 2025, Fire Records will release Long March Through the Jazz Age, the last recorded work by Chris Bailey and The Saints, coinciding closely with what would have been Bailey’s 69th birthday. It’s a moving farewell—a testament to a restless, uncompromising artist who always moved forward, one of rock’s great lyricists and iconoclasts.

Recorded in late 2018 at Church Street Studios in Sydney, Bailey and longtime Saints drummer Pete Wilkinson flew in from Europe to reunite with guitarist/ engineer Sean Carey, who had previously toured and recorded with the band. They were joined by Davey Lane (You Am I) on guitar, plus a handpicked ensemble of Sydney’s most exciting young horn, string, and keyboard players.

From Bailey’s rough demos, Long March Through the Jazz Age grew into a deeply human snapshot of modern times. Out today, lead single “Empires (Sometimes We Fall)” is the album’s anthemic opener, cast on a bedrock of western guitars punctuated by Bailey’s aching lyrics: “Sometimes we rise, sometimes we fall.” It’s the perfect setup for an album that swaggers with Bailey’s inherent punk spirit while flowing freely in a spacious production.

There are moments of Dylan-esque majesty as chiming guitars and strings widen the panoramic scale, while the title track carries a haunting, poetic intensity, its mournful trumpet break as spine-tingling as anything you’ll hear. And throughout this Long March Through the Jazz Age, Chris Bailey’s distinctive vocal carries the storyline.

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Remembering Kenny Rogers, born on this day in 1938.—Ed.

Kenny Rogers & The First Edition would be groovy with me if they’d never cut another song besides acid burnout anthem “Just Dropped in (To See What Condition My Condition Is In).” I love it, you love it, Jimi Hendrix loved it–hell, even Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski loves it, and if that ain’t the Definitive Imprimatur of Indisputable Cool, I’m a walking 7-10 split.

But—and let’s just stick with the bowling metaphors for a moment—during their surprisingly long tenure (from 1967 to who knew?–1975) on both the pop and country charts The First Edition rolled a couple of strikes and a few more spares in the form of a bunch of songs that must have sounded just dandy in the confines of your average Dixie bowling alley. Probably even started a few brawls, a couple of ‘em; The First Edition may hardly be your idea of a socially conscious protest group, but they ruffled feathers with the likes of “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” (a crippled vet? What are these fellas, COMMIES?), “Something’s Burning” (is this Kenny Rogers some kind of slobbering sex fiend?), and “Reuben James” (you talk race, we get nervous).

The First Edition were an eclectic bunch; a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll, Kenny and the boys brought the former to suburban Northerners and the latter to rural Southerners, effectively bringing the whole wide world that much closer together. In short they provided an important public service in their desperate bid for radio airplay; hell, even your Muskogee marijuana haters and their long-hair enemies found common ground in writing ‘em off as a shameless commercial shuck.

The First Edition’s Contribution to Western Civilization can be best heard on the 2004 best-of compilation Anthology. Its twenty cuts give us The First Edition in all their splendid diversity; country tear-jerkers rub shoulders with MOR ditties and the kinds of treacle that would later make Rogers a country-pop institution of higher earning. Talk about range; a continental divide separates “Just Dropped In” from the maudlin “For the Good Times” (or “Sunshine” or “Poem for My Little Lady” or “She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye” for that matter), and if you’re like me you’ll find yourself bypassing the tripe in favor of The First Edition’s more upbeat material, regardless of what label (rock, country, country rock) you want to put on it.

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