VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Latino announces a special reissue for the 1983 GRAMMY-nominated salsa classic Tremendo Trio, which unites three of Latin music’s greatest talents: legendary bandleader and percussionist Ray Barretto, beloved vocalist Adalberto Santiago, and the “Queen of Salsa,” Celia Cruz.

Returning to vinyl on October 3 for the first time since its original release, and available for pre-order, this star-studded album is packed with salsa dura dancefloor favorites, including “Nadie se salva de la rumba,” “Así empezó él son montuno,” and “Margie.” This edition of Tremendo Trio was cut from the original analog tapes by Dave Polster and Clint Holley at Well Made Music and pressed on 180-gram vinyl. Fans can also enjoy the remastered album in both standard and HD digital audio, available now. Additionally, a limited-edition “Tremendo Rojo” color vinyl variant (only 300 copies) is available as a stand-alone or a bundle option that includes a collectible Fania Retro Logo T-shirt, exclusively online at Fania.com.

This release arrives as part of Craft Latino’s centennial celebrations honoring Celia Cruz and her extraordinary contributions to the musical landscape. Widely regarded as one of the most influential Latin artists of all time, Cruz was an internationally beloved star who sold over 10 million records over the course of her five-decade career. A ten-time GRAMMY nominee, she received numerous accolades, including the National Medal of the Arts, a Smithsonian Lifetime Achievement Award, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and a posthumous GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award.

Cruz was also inducted into both the Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame and the International Latin Music Hall of Fame, among others. In 2024, she made history as the first Afro-Latina to appear on US currency through the American Women’s Quarter Program. Throughout the year, Craft Latino is commemorating Cruz with a series of vinyl and digital reissues, playlists, video content, and more.

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Remembering Eric Carmen, born on this day in 1949. —Ed.

It’s a miracle that anyone survives adolescence. And I’m not talking about drugs or driving 110 mph while on drugs or any of the other healthy activities normal teens engage in—no, I’m talking about potentially lethal sperm build-up. Speaking just for myself, I was a lusus naturae of unsated lust, and often found myself leering at vacuum cleaners. One day I discovered that my skull was producing an oily discharge, and it took a physician to inform me that I was literally secreting sperm through the follicles of my hair.

It was a lonely and demeaning condition, but fortunately I had the Raspberries. They were more than just the greatest power pop band ever—they were the Masters and Johnson of Rock. No other rock band has ever given more eloquent voice to the victims of adolescent hormonal overload. In such ardent and urgent songs as “Go All the Way,” “Tonight,” “I Wanna Be With You,” “Ecstasy,” and “Let’s Pretend,” The Raspberries spoke to the only subject that really mattered to poon-crazed teens like me—namely getting some, and preferably tonight.

The Raspberries formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1970, the year after the Cuyahoga River caught fire: an ill omen in hindsight, for despite their polished Beatles and Mod-influenced sound, irresistible melodies, arresting guitar hooks, and heavenly vocal harmonies, the Raspberries never scored a No. 1 hit on the singles or album charts before breaking up in 1975. The band’s first single, 1972’s brilliant “Go All the Way,” rose all the way to the No. 5 spot. They were never to come as close to the top of the pops again.

While the Raspberries’ first three albums (1972’s Raspberries and Fresh, and 1973’s Side 3) contain all of the odes to teen lust the band is most famous for, I have always preferred their farewell LP, 1974’s Starting Over. Disappointing sales of Side 3 led to the replacement of bassist Dave Smalley and drummer Jim Bonfanti by Scott McCarl and Michael McBride, respectively, and McBride’s Keith Moon-like drumming in particular lent the band a much harder kick. Starting Over also has a slightly—and I do mean slightly—scruffier sound than its predecessors, and the combination of McBride’s drum pummel and less glossy production gives the album a sound that is more power than pop.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees and “British Invasion” pioneers, The Zombies, announce the release of Odessey & Oracle Mono Remastered on September 26.

The album, the first of four definitive physical reissues from their catalog, includes the classic songs “Time Of The Season,” “Care of Cell 44,” and “This Will Be Our Year” and is a regular entry in “Best Albums of All Time” lists in publications like Rolling Stone, NME, and Mojo magazine. The release, which coincides with The Zombies’ documentary, Hung Up On A Dream, marks the first time the band’s original mono mix, remastered from studio tapes, has appeared on LP since the record’s British issue in 1968, presenting the album as they originally intended it to be heard. Pre-order the album on all formats here.

Recorded primarily at London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios in 1967, Odessey & Oracle was self-produced in Mono on a shoestring budget by primary songwriters Rod Argent (keyboards/vocals) and Chris White (bass/vocals). Under last-minute pressure from their record label, the album was hastily remixed in the newly emerging Stereo format, which sacrificed key elements from the Mono recording, most notably the beloved horn parts in “This Will Be Our Year.”

The band today also shares the first track off the album, the mono remastered version of “This Will Be Our Year,” with the horn parts restored. Although never released as a single, this deep cut has found a new life thanks to prominent uses in TV and film, including memorable scenes in Mad Men, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Schitt’s Creek, and covers by artists like Foo Fighters, OK Go, and Susanna Hoffs. Its positive and uplifting message has been embraced by couples as a popular wedding song and has become a staple of New Year’s playlists.

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And then we come to the strange case of The Stranglers’ 1977 debut album Rattus Norvegicus, which I detest with a hard gem-like flame and yet find myself drawn to at the same time, the way you might to watching a guy’s dick split open like an overcooked hot dog, which if I’m being honest is a fate I keep hoping befalls the whole band and especially lead vocalist Hugh Cornwell and occasional lead singer bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel, whose shared sexism, overinflated sense of self, and constant steroidal bellowing annoy me almost as much as the organs and synthesizers and saxophone that make me wonder how anyone could have ever called The Stranglers a punk band.

They’re pure showbiz, baby.

Rattus Norvegicus became one of the biggest sellers of the punk era, which I find inexplicable. And I’m hardly alone, although the album has plenty of champions. On my side, you’ll find Robert Christgau (who commented on their sexism before dismissing them forever as “too dumb”) and Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons, who eviscerate The Stranglers in their wonderfully scabrous little 1978 book The Boy Looked at Johnny: The Obituary of Rock and Roll. The duo serially describe The Stranglers as “plodders,” “thick as shit,” and an “old-fashioned almost medieval band of manky minstrels” before concluding, “The only thing The Stranglers are anti—is women.”

They also write, “Erected on the tried-and-true foundations of the Manly Virtues, i.e., misogyny, latent homosexuality and heavy physical exercise, preferably in the communal shower, “Rattus Norvegicus” caught them in the raw.” If I could have said it that well, I’d have said it.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | London Records proudly celebrates the 30th anniversary of Goldie’s era-defining debut album, Timeless, with a remastered and repressed vinyl edition of the seminal record.

Timeless is widely considered one of the most important in electronic music history. It was Goldie’s groundbreaking debut, which brought the genres of jungle and drum and bass—as well as Goldie himself—to a level of worldwide cultural impact and mainstream significance like never before.

To commemorate this landmark anniversary, a series of very special limited edition physical versions of Timeless will be released: 2LP White Vinyl, 2LP Gold-on-Clear Vinyl, and Transparent Blue Cassette. These are available for pre-order and will be released on November 7.

In addition, a unique collaboration with The Vinyl Factory sees Goldie return to the source, joining friend and fellow drum and bass pioneer Grooverider at the record pressing plant, to hand-press a run of 500 limited edition Timeless records. These exclusive editions feature hand-stamped sleeves and custom colorways selected by Goldie himself. These are available for purchase starting today, and 10% of proceeds will be donated to War Child, supporting children affected by conflict around the world—a cause close to Goldie’s heart.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Recordings proudly celebrates pioneering singer, songwriter, and queer icon, Sylvester, with two special reissues of his 1978 disco sensation, Step II. Featuring exuberant dancefloor bangers like “Dance (Disco Heat)” and the enduring anthem “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” the long-out-of-print album returns to its original format—in style—on Disco Ball Clear Glitter vinyl.

A bonus-filled Deluxe Edition (CD/digital) adds seven classic and new remixes of the above-mentioned tracks, including Tonic Funk’s never-before-heard “Space Funk” Club Mix of “Dance (Disco Heat)” plus Bright Light Bright Light’s fresh take on “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”—the latter of which is available to stream today . The CD version also offers new liner notes from Joshua Gamson, author of The Fabulous Sylvester: The Legend, the Music, the Seventies in San Francisco (Picador, 2005). All formats are available on October 10th, available to pre-order or pre-save today.

Far ahead of his time, Sylvester (1947–1988) was a trailblazing artist, known for his soulful falsetto vocals, androgynous appearance, and dazzling live performances. Born Sylvester James Jr. in 1947, the mononymous singer-songwriter was raised in Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood, where he trained his voice in the Pentecostal church. But he was eager to live his truth. As a teenager, Sylvester left home, living openly as a gay man and challenging gender norms at a time when queer lifestyles were still criminalized in parts of the country.

In 1970, Sylvester settled in San Francisco, where he performed as a part of the avant-garde drag troupe, The Cockettes, and released two albums with his funk-rock group, Sylvester and The Hot Band. Though he failed to find commercial success in a band setting, he shifted his energy to a solo career, teaming up with backing vocalists Martha Wash and Izora Rhodes (better known as “Two Tons O’ Fun,” who later became The Weather Girls).

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Celebrating Viv Prince in advance of his birthdate tomorrow. —Ed.

Mention England’s The Pretty Things, and most people will immediately direct your attention to 1968’s S.F. Sorrow, one of Western Civilization’s first rock operas (it preceded The Who’s Tommy by six months). Me, I prefer the band’s earlier, hard-driving R&B songs like “Rosalyn,” “Midnight to Six Man,” and “L.S.D.”

The pre-S.F. Sorrow Pretty Things specialized in a frenetic raunch-n-roll that split the difference between the Rolling Stones and Them. Powered by Phil May’s feral vocals and May’s stab to the heart guitar, the band’s sound was gritty as a mouthful of gravel, and you can hear them (as well as the band’s later psychedelic material) on 2017’s double LP Greatest Hits. Its 25 songs track the band from its R&B and blues-based early years through 1970’s Parachute, and make clear that Pretty Things were key players in the history of English rock ’n’ roll.

The 1964-66 Pretty Things were every bit the bad boys the Stones and The Who were, and quickly won a reputation for sowing chaos wherever they went. May claimed to have the longest hair in the UK; drummer Viv Prince’s mad behavior anticipated those of Keith Moon (and finally got hims sacked from the band). The band’s penchant for mayhem culminated in a 1965 stint in New Zealand, where they provoked as much outrage (and bad publicity) as The Who would later.

The early Pretty Things are best remembered for the 1964 song “Rosalyn,” which David Bowie covered on his 1973 LP Pinups. Bowie’s version reproduces the song’s primitive Bo Diddley beat, but Bowie’s vocals are positively enervated next to May’s Dionysian alley cat yowl. Ditto Pretty Thing’s 1964 hit “Don’t Bring Me Down.” Their version is furious, harmonica-fueled thing, and May goes at it in a full-throttle snarl. Bowie reproduces the song’s anarchic energy, but his singing’s prim, thin, mannered. It’s a case of savage vs. fop, and the savage wins hands down.

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Natasja Alers is the co-director of Grauzone Festival, a multidisciplinary event in the Netherlands that brings together post-punk, experimental music, visual art, and film.

She’s also a sculptor, DJ, and painter with a background in ceramics, installation, and collage. Grauzone alumni include Echo & the Bunnymen, Lebanon Hanover, Anja Huwe (Xmal Deutschland), A Place to Bury Strangers, DAF, and many more, which speaks to the range of Natasja’s vision as a curator and artist.

Born in The Hague, she studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and later in Berlin. Her work has previously been on display at Design Museum Den Bosch, Collectible Art Fair, Art Zuid, PAN Amsterdam, Big Art, Rademakers Gallery, and foreign exhibitions in cities such as Berlin, Brussels, Antwerp, and Copenhagen. Natasja’s work is included in private and museum collections worldwide.

We spoke about all these things, plus her upcoming public installations, which encompass her environmentalist efforts, her deep dedication to Grauzone, and all it stands for.

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.

Weird sounds inside the gold mine. Those are the words that come to mind when I listen to the fractured, “rhythm first” art rock of 1980’s Peter Gabriel, the third in Gabriel’s quartet of self-titled albums. It’s world music-influenced sound and heavy reliance on studio innovation might lead you (naturally enough) to think the ubiquitous Brian Eno was at the helm, but it was actually Steve Lillywhite in the producer’s booth, and Lillywhite who had a major influence on the album’s unique sonic textures.

“Rhythm first” was Gabriel’s credo, and when it came to the drums that drive the LP, he had rules. “Artists given complete freedom die a horrible death” was the law he laid down to drummers Phil Collins and Jerry Marotta. No cymbals were rule Number One. To give the drums a unique sound, Lillywhite employed a “gated reverb” sound he first employed while producing Siouxsie and the Banshees. I’m not technically qualified to describe this innovation. You’ll have to Google it.

The results give Peter Gabriel as unique a sound as the Talking Heads’ Remain in Light, which was released some five months later. Strange rhythms were obviously in the air. If Peter Gabriel isn’t as iconic as Remain in Light, it’s still a remarkable LP, and for the same reasons—sonic experimentation doesn’t mean diddly-squat if you don’t have great songs. Remain in Light just happens to have more of them. It also doesn’t help that Gabriel’s third LP is, let’s face it, a big fat bummer.

Dark, darker, darkest—Peter Gabriel mustn’t have been in a sunny mood when he put together the songs for Peter Gabriel. Atlantic Records head honcho Ahmet Ertegun is said (by Gabriel) to have asked, “Has Peter been in a mental hospital?” And Atlantic Records A&R John Kalodner ultimately deemed the album “not commercial enough” for release, forcing Gabriel to look to Mercury Records to get the LP into US record stores, where (the joke was on them) it sold well. And to think people were always calling David Byrne crazy.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | 60 years ago, A Charlie Brown Christmas aired on TV screens across America, marking the birth of an instant hit and an enduring holiday tradition.

Based on Charles M. Schulz’s immensely popular Peanuts comic strip, the award-winning animated special was accompanied by a lively score from Bay Area jazz pianist, Vince Guaraldi, who paired original cues (“Linus and Lucy,” “Christmas Time Is Here”) with traditional holiday fare (“O Tannenbaum,” “What Child Is This,” “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing”). Now, more than half a century later, the soundtrack remains a perennial favorite and, with a 5x platinum certification, one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time.

To mark the 60th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas and the 75th anniversary of Peanuts, Craft Recordings is celebrating with a range of collectible vinyl reissues, beginning with an eye-catching zoetrope pressing, available September 12.

Centered by an image of Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang caroling in the snow, Side A features five snowy zoetrope scenes—each offering an animated moment from the holiday special as the record spins. Side B pays homage to the musical side of Peanuts, with an image of Schroeder, Lucy, and Snoopy at the piano, plus five zoetrope scenes that bring the Peanuts gang’s band to life—complete with dancing!

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Remastered from the original analog tapes by Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios, pressed at Quality Record Pressings, and housed in a deluxe tip-on gatefold jacket.

Acoustic Sounds’ Analogue Productions label—renowned for setting new standards in fidelity and craftsmanship—has released Argus, the landmark 1972 album from British rock trailblazers Wishbone Ash. This deluxe and definitive 180-gram 45 RPM double LP edition has been meticulously mastered from the original analog master tape by Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios, pressed on dead-quiet vinyl at Quality Record Pressings (QRP), and packaged in a tip-on, old-style gatefold double-pocket jacket from Stoughton Printing.

Acoustic Sounds founder Chad Kassem spoke on the significance of this release for him, saying, “I feel incredibly fortunate to reissue Argus—one of my favorite albums from youth—in such high quality. I still remember seeing Wishbone Ash live in Baton Rouge at Independence Hall on April 21, 1973. To now have the honor of bringing this record back into the world with the care and fidelity it deserves is truly a dream come true.”

A fan favorite and critical high point in the Wishbone Ash discography, Argus includes the iconic “Blowin’ Free” as well as beloved cuts like “Time Was,” “The King Will Come,” “Warrior,” and “Throw Down the Sword.” The album’s unique blend of bluesy roots, progressive ambition, and dual-lead guitar interplay shaped the sound of future rock greats including Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Opeth, and Lynyrd Skynyrd—all of whom have cited the band as an influence.

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Remembering Rahsaan Roland Kirk, born on this date in 1935. —Ed.

If one endeavored to compile the names of the last half century’s most enduringly popular jazz figures, multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk would land on that list with ease. In converting new listeners to his chosen musical field the bandleader’s right up there with Miles, Coltrane, Mingus and Monk. As Mosaic Records’ 4LP box set The Limelight/Verve Albums illustrates, Kirk’s achievement was sustained through a rare combination of pure skill, purposeful showmanship, uncommon range, sincere eccentricity and ceaseless ambition. And don’t forget the blues.

It was during the tail end of the 1980s that I made my initial attempts at diving headfirst into the immense landscape of jazz history. And I stress attempts, for while the music’s long narrative was easy enough to absorb through the numerous books on the subject, securing the all important listening material often proved quite tricky.

Certain crucial recordings, and indeed the prime works of many key players, were languishing out of print, and all but the most righteously stubborn of shops were choosing to whittle down shelf-space for non-pop/rock-related product to a relative sliver. Of course, an economic upsurge and ensuing compact disc boom was just around the corner, but in 1989 those trying to explore jazzdom (outside of major urban areas, anyway) often felt like they were navigating an enormous block of Swiss cheese.

A big exception was Roland Kirk. In my town, his platters could be found in both the Mom & Pop shop and the chain store at the mall, occasionally in the local used bins and on reliable loan from the area libraries, and the reason for this ease of availability related directly to his magnetic blend of the idiosyncratic and the accessible. However, he was also deft at communicating the glories of tradition in visionary terms, and with enough soul grease, blues grit and/or gutbucket funk to potentially send jazz novice’s reeling with personal epiphanies.

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