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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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Frank Capra’s film It’s a Wonderful Life isn’t just the most beloved holiday film of all time. It’s also arguably the most quintessentially American movie ever made. Its populist message, everyman hero, patriotism, and sentimentality have proven a potent blend for multiple generations. So many scenes from this film are embroidered in our country’s collective consciousness; and much of the stitching holding those scenes together was supplied by Dimitri Tiomkin’s indelible score.

But what you hear in the film is only a portion of what Tiomkin wrote. Director Capra cut several cues (e.g “Death Telegram”), letting those scenes play without music and rearranged where certain cues appeared; he removed sections of cues, and even tracked in music written for other films. But, working with Tiomkin’s original acetates, soundtrack collectors were able to piece together Tiomkin’s score as originally written for release on CD about a decade ago.

Seldom has a movie swung so wildly from romance to reflection, brooding darkness to playful whimsy…that’s why we love it so much. Now, lovers of It’s a Wonderful Life could finally hear how Tiomkin’s original score artfully emphasized and commented on the movie’s high emotional peaks and deep valleys. Indeed, there really remains only one last step to cement Tiomkin’s legacy and, for that matter, Capra’s too. For the score to It’s a Wonderful Life has never been released on LP in any form, not in its full form or even in Capra’s truncated version.

Real Gone Music is very, very proud to present It’s a Wonderful Life on vinyl for very first time, in its complete, restored form with a two-page insert including photos, credits, and the promo poster image of Jimmy Stewart exuberantly hoisting Donna Reed. Pressed in burgundy “Zuzu’s Petals” vinyl limited to 1,500 copies.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | With the announcement of an expansive and revelatory new box set, Andrew Bird celebrates 20 years of the album that cemented his enigmatic style into the indie music canon, shaping the sounds of an era and inspiring decades of imitation: The Mysterious Production of Eggs.

Arriving physically and digitally on February 27th, on his own Wegawam Music Co. (via Secretly Distribution), the forthcoming collection features the original release of the record alongside two LPs of previously unheard material, including a one-to-one playthrough of demos, live takes, and alternate versions of each of the album’s songs, and a third LP of both unearthed rarities and a selection of highlights that have been rearranged and performed live alongside the orchestra of Nu Deco Ensemble.

With all-new artwork created by original cover artist and longtime collaborator, Jay Ryan, the limited edition 3LP vinyl set also includes a 54-page book of unseen photographs and special surprises, as well as a reflective essay written by Andrew Bird, and an exclusive piece from Anders Lindall, examining the unexpected and fascinating five years that it took Bird and his collaborators to finally get this album right.

As Andrew Bird explains in the box set’s accompanying story, the lessons learned from creating The Mysterious Production of Eggs were, “(1) Failure can be part of the process. (2) Don’t automatically do whatever worked the last time or follow through with the plan just because it’s ‘the plan’. Travel light and be adaptable.”

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Celebrating Gerry Beckley, born on this date in 1952. —Ed.

America gets a bum rap. I’m not talking, mind you, about the United States of America, which gets all the bad press it deserves. No, I’m talking about seventies soft-rock superstars America, the folkie trio who gave us “A Horse with No Name,” which Randy Newman famously dismissed as being “about a kid who thinks he’s taken acid.”

Personally, what has always pissed me off about the song is the band’s claim that the horse has no name. That’s balderdash. Of course the horse has a name. It may not be Trigger or Mr. Ed or Black Beauty, but it’s something. Vocalist Dewey Bunnell was probably just too lazy to ask the horse its name. “I’m Conway,” the horse would have replied. Or, “I’m Luther, good to meet ya.” Of course the horse could have offered Dewey his name. But a horse has its dignity.

But I have not come to pile on. If it’s easy to mock the gentle folk rock strains of Bunnell, Gerry Buckley, and Dan Peek, it’s just as easy to like them. You just have to let go. You know, take a walk on the mild side. The truth is I liked—and still like—America more than any of their soft rock contemporaries, even the ones with “artistic credibility.” Which is my way of saying I’ll take them over Crosby, Stills & Nash any day.

And I’m here today to urge you to run to the nearest record store to pick up a copy of the band’s 1975 compilation, History: America’s Greatest Hits. The LP has 12 songs, only 2 of which (“Muskrat Love,” “Woman Tonight) suck. And that’s a bargain at any price.

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Bob Bert is a musician, photographer, and zine publisher known for his drumming in influential bands such as Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore, Bewitched, Chrome Cranks, Knoxville Girls, Jon Spencer and the Hitmakers, and Lydia Lunch Retrovirus.

Bob, also an artist and spent many years working for Andy Warhol, producing silk screens until his death. He has been a passionate member of New York’s art and music scene since the early ’70s.

Bob has seen everyone, been everywhere, and played with a huge percentage of influential East Coast bands and will be releasing his first solo album shortly. His first live performance in this latest iteration premiered at Salon Lulu back in 2024. Keeping it all alive in NYC!

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.