Celebrating Mick Jagger in advance of his 82nd birthday tomorrow. —Ed.

I’ve been down in the dumps of late; the suicide of a friend, the death of another friend I dearly loved, and a bad case of the blues have all pretty much brought me to my knees. I feel beat down, fucked over, and broken up, and life sure does have a way of tarnishing your eyelids, doesn’t it?

Where to turn in times like these? When you’ve got a foot in the grave and your head in the oven? Exile on Main Street, naturally. It’s as beat down an LP as ever you’ll hear; Mick, Keith and Company are torn and frayed and have shit on their shoes and the whole album sounds like it was recorded in a sub-basement of Hell.

And yet. The Rolling Stones’ 1972 bruised and battered masterpiece (and high-water mark) somehow manages to rise above the bad vibes and general miasma of death and dissolution that surrounded the band at the time. Nothing–not drug busts, the death of Brian Jones, Altamont, tax exile, or Keith Richards’ slide toward junkiedom–could stop the Stones from turning Exile on Main Street into a celebration of hope and soul survival.

And this despite the fact that the album is the aural equivalent of the La Brea tar pits. Mick Jagger has never stopped carping about Exile’s notoriously sludgy mix, but the murk doesn’t just work–it’s part and parcel of the double album’s greatness. You have to trudge through shit to get to the Promised Land, and if you scrape the shit off these songs, well, you find diamonds. “Turd on the Run” anyone?

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I recently sat down with my old friend John Adams. John is an artist, songwriter, and filmmaker. I first knew him from his punk party band Banana Fish Zero, which was based here in NY. You all may know him more from his incredible work as a filmmaker with his family, Adams Family Films. They have made eight features since 2012 including 2021’s Hellbender which is also the name of the family’s super cool music project (spelled H6LLB6ND6R).

John was first inspired by bands like Black Flag that took him on a journey through punk with many bands and establishing himself and a benevolent master of chaos ceremonies. In 2008, he was cast in a Fuse Channel show called Rock and Roll Acid Test in a stuntman/maniac with a hammer role. This is what first brought the family out to California, where they started making their very distinctive films entirely on their own. Now they have become punk masters of horror.

I encourage you to go track down all his music, all Adams Family Films, and keep your eyes peeled for the next one currently making festival rounds, Mother of Flies, which is being distributed by Shudder Films in 2026.

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, a New York-based multidisciplinary performance series. She is also a cast member of the iconic New York film Metropolitan.

It’s impossible to tell the story of Andrew Gold’s 1976 album What’s Wrong with This Picture? without first telling the story of how:

Death Came to the Princes of LA on a Horse Named Wildfire

Last night I dreamt I was soaking in a hot tub at Glenn Frey’s place in Laurel Canyon with Don Henley, J.D. Souther, Andrew Gold, and Jackson Browne. We were drinking tequila sunrises and talking past triumphs, our seventies chest hair glistening in the otherworldly light of the deadly wildfire that was roaring towards us.

We’d talked about jumping into our Porsches and making our escape, but in the end had decided to stick it out in the hot tub, outlaws with the voices of angels to the very end. The time seemed right. Down in Hollywood glam had been followed by punk, and both groups mocked our mellow vision with their sounds of sneering derision. The world, it seemed, had wearied of our brand of peaceful, easy LA fornication rock. It made fun of the way our turquoise chains perfectly set off our golden chest hair, made fun of our $9,000 Italian-made cowboy boots and our wonderful, beautiful, perfectly blow-dried man beards, made fun, believe it or not, of our entire way of life.

No, we’d decided this was it—California Narcissist Rock’s Last Stand.

So as the flames closed in, we reminisced and talked about what we’d miss. “The girls,” said Don Henley. “The cocaine on the girls,” said Glenn Frey. “My own unacknowledged supertalent,” said J.D. Souther. “My cloying sensitivity,” said Jackson Browne. “My beard, which is the Platonic ideal of Seventies’ LA facial hair,” said Andrew Gold. We all took a moment to admire Andrew’s Platonic Beard. Andrew was right. Andrew’s beard belonged in a beard museum, behind glass.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Beggars Arkive is happy to announce our reissue of The Fall’s 1989 half-studio/half-live album, Seminal Live, set for release on September 5th. Available on yellow vinyl and digitally, the album has been newly remastered by Kevin Vanbergen. This edition features reimagined artwork, new sleeve notes and a QR code linking to exclusive bonus assets.

Released by Beggars Banquet in June 1989, Seminal Live was the first of many live/semi-live/pseudo-live albums across The Fall’s catalog. Its release marks the end of the band’s prolific Beggars Banquet era (1984–1989). The albums that preceded Seminal Live via Beggars Banquet—The Wonderful and Frightening World Of, This Nation’s Saving Grace, Bend Sinister, The Frenz Experiment, and I Am Kurious Oranj are all considered pillars of the band’s extensive catalog.

The studio recordings on Seminal Live were all new songs and make up the first side of the album. The live recordings on side two, meanwhile, are all versions of previously-released tracks. Songs on Seminal Live are now considered Fall classics. Side one contains “Dead Beat Descendant,” and their cover of Lonnie Irving’s “Pinball Machine” is in the well-worn tradition of The Fall’s country covers.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Recordings honors six decades of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s cinematic treasure The Sound of Music with the beloved soundtrack’s first-ever picture disc edition. Available to pre-order, prior to a September 5 release, the collectible 12-inch disc pairs the iconic 1965 cover art on side A with a whimsical “Lonely Goatherd” image on side B. The wide retail release will be joined by a Target-exclusive version that comes with a frame-worthy replica lyric sheet, faithfully reproduced from the Rodgers & Hammerstein archives for an added piece of musical history.

Since its March 1965 debut, The Sound of Music has become one of the most successful soundtracks ever—selling more than 20 million copies worldwide, spending a record 109 consecutive weeks in Billboard’s Top 10 (238 weeks overall) and ruling the UK Albums Chart for 70 weeks. The album carried unforgettable classics like “My Favorite Things,” “Edelweiss,” and “Do-Re-Mi” to global audiences and still inspires sing-alongs across generations.

On screen, the Robert Wise–directed film, starring Julie Andrews (Maria) and Christopher Plummer (Captain von Trapp), broke box-office records to become the highest-grossing movie of 1965 (ultimately earning over $280 million worldwide) and swept the 38th Academy Awards® with five Oscars—including Best Picture and Best Scoring of Music—plus multiple Golden Globe Awards®.

The movie’s initial US release lasted four-and-a-half years, and from 1966 to 1972, The Sound of Music was cited by Variety as the “All-Time Box Office Champion.” In 2001, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

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Remembering Manny Charlton in advance of his birthdate tomorrow. —Ed.

The Scottish clods o’ peat in this hard-working, hard-rocking man’s man band never won any originality awards, and weren’t exactly well-versed in the songwriting arts either, and given their high scunge factor, I doubt they’d even be allowed into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as paying customers, much less as inductees.

They’re not going to be inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame anytime soon, either. Hell, they only hit two homers over the course of their long career, and their lifetime batting average is in the .233 range. Forget about Cooperstown; these guys would be lucky to earn a spot on the bench of the 1962 New York Mets.

But I’ll say this for ‘em–way back in 1975 every badass or wannabe badass in my home town was blaring Nazareth’s Hair of the Dog out of their car 8-track speakers, whether that car be a GTO or a rusted-out Ford Pinto. The title track–with its “Now you’re messin’ with a son of a bitch”–was a blast of pure unbridled belligerence and without a doubt the orneriest cut of the summer, hell the whole year probably. Alice Cooper may have put out “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” but that was play acting; Nazareth’s Dan McCafferty came on like the Real McCoy.

As for the album title, me and my buddies prided ourselves on knowing what it meant even though we’d never cracked a beer (much less suffered a hangover) in our lives–it made us feel adult, worldly even, just as that “Now you’re messin’ with a son of a bitch” made us feel tough, when in effect we were probably the wimpiest band of geeks to ever gingerly trod the halls of Littlestown High School, on the lookout for the real sons of bitches.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | The songwriting of Southern rock ‘n’ roll provocateur Tav Falco will be celebrated on his 14th studio album, Desire on Ice. With basic tracks recorded at Sam Phillips Recording Services in Memphis, Tennessee, Desire on Ice was created over an 18-month period by Falco and his longtime producer and musical partner, Mario Monterosso.

Undoubtedly the most ambitious project in the artist’s 40-plus-year career, Desire on Ice features an astonishing lineup of all-star talent who are sympatico with his singular flair and vision. The album will be released on LP, CD, and digital formats by Org Music on September 12. Pre-order now at Org Music. The first digital single, “Doomsday Baby,” features guest vocals by Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream. The song appeared in its original form on Falco’s 2015 album, Command Performance, but its themes of political tumult and emerging authoritarianism now sound even more urgent and prophetic.

“The concept for Desire on Ice was developed by Mario after having lived with my music for a long time,” says Falco, “that of rendering these original songs—written solely by me, others in musical collaboration—with newly-evolved treatments. Although sui generis in their original forms, these songs now manifest in unlikely ways.”

The oldest song on the album, the live favorite “Cuban Rebel Girl,” dates to 1986. Desire on Ice also features one new original, “Crying for More,” as well as a “Prologue” and “Epilogue” conceptualized and developed by Monterosso.

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Keyboardist, composer, improvisor, and bandleader Lafayette Gilchrist has amassed numerous credits since first hitting the scene in the 1990s, including soundtracking the television work of David Simon and playing in the band of jazz titan David Murray. Amongst Gilchrist’s earliest achievements is the formation of his own band the New Volcanoes. After a seven-year break, the New Volcanoes are back on record with the live set Move With Love, which is out on vinyl, compact disc, and digital July 25 through Morphius Records. It’s a bright and energetic dive into positivity at the crossroads of jazz and funk.

One of Lafayette Gilchrist’s main objectives with the New Volcanoes was to interweave jazz, funk, hip-hop, and DC go-go. He’s been successful in this goal, and the latest iteration of the band continues the winning streak, featuring Gilchrist on keyboard, Carl Filipiak on guitar, Leo Maxey on trumpet, Christian Hizon on trombone, Anthony “Blue” Jenkins on bass guitar, Shaquim Muldrow on tenor sax, Kevin Pinder on drums, Bashi Rose on percussion and guests Ebban Dorsey on alto sax and Efraim Dorsey on tenor sax for four of the six tracks on the album.

Recorded live on September 6, 2024, at the Baltimore venue, the ClubCar, “Cut Through the Chase” kicks off the set with a sturdy groove, loose and lively but focused, with the guitar establishing ties to 1970s funk that are strengthened by the grand sweep of the horns. “Move With Love” keeps the party cooking, Gilchrist out front early before the horns seize the spotlight. Midway through, Filipiak gets a solo spot, and then Pindar and Rose work it out.

“Bamboozled” has Filipiak setting the tone as the Dorseys enter the scheme, the ensemble blowing vibrant and unified as Gilchrist swings into a lengthy excursion in the driver’s seat, mingling composed elements with improvisational spark. It’s in “Basta” that the go-go influence bursts through vividly, though the band augments the thick groove with jazzy flair and even some rock action in the guitar department. Maxey’s late trumpet solo is a treat.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Buckingham Nicks, the only studio album by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks as a duo, will be reissued for the first time on September 19. Originally released in 1973 and unavailable for decades, the album has been sourced from the original analog master tapes for its long-awaited return to vinyl, as well as hi-res digital files for its CD and digital release.

Released on September 5, 1973, Buckingham Nicks quickly faded from commercial view but never disappeared from the cultural conversation. Recorded at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles and produced by Keith Olsen, the album introduced Nicks and Buckingham’s tightly wound harmonies and sharply contrasting songwriting voices across 10 tracks—ranging from the folk-rock shimmer of “Crystal” to the sunbaked strut of “Don’t Let Me Down Again.”

Its legend only grew with time. In late 1974, Mick Fleetwood visited Sound City while scouting studios to record Fleetwood Mac’s next album. To showcase both his production work and the studio’s sound, Olsen blasted “Frozen Love” for Fleetwood in Studio A. The song reflected the full scope of the album’s ambition and chemistry—and immediately caught the drummer’s attention.

Soon after, when Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Welch left the band, Fleetwood reached out to offer Buckingham the spot. Instead of agreeing, Buckingham insisted that he and Nicks were a package deal. Fleetwood agreed, and on New Year’s Eve 1974, the two officially joined Fleetwood Mac—launching one of the most celebrated chapters in the band’s history.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | When the Grateful Dead took a self-imposed hiatus in 1974 after their farewell run at Winterland, they left the road with no clear sense of when—or if—they’d return. A year later, the band surprised everyone when they reemerged with Blues for Allah, one of the most forward-thinking, sonically adventurous albums of their career.

Blues for Allah (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) will be available as a 3CD set and digitally on September 12—just days after the album’s original 1975 release. It features a newly remastered version of the original album by GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer David Glasser, sourced from the original analog tapes with speed correction and tape restoration by Plangent Processes.

The set also features almost two hours of unreleased recordings. Among the highlights are rehearsals from the band’s August 12, 1975, soundcheck at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall, including the album tracks “Sage & Spirit,” “Help On The Way,” “Slipknot!,” and “Franklin’s Tower.”

The collection continues with performances from the June 21, 1976, show at the Tower Theatre in Pennsylvania, spotlighting five Blues for Allah songs alongside favorites like “Eyes Of The World.”

Rounding out the set are selections from Bill Graham’s SNACK (Students Need Athletics, Culture, and Kicks) Benefit at Kezar Stadium on March 23, 1975. Previously only available on the 2004 Beyond Description box set’s Bonus Disc, the recordings include one of only three known performances of “King Solomon’s Marbles.” Pre-order HERE.

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Remembering Ozzy. —Ed.

Ozzy Osbourne almost bit my earlobe off during an interview once. One minute we were talking about Master of Reality and the next he was lunging across the table to take my left ear—an easy target seeing as how I suffer from Meniere’s Disease, which causes radical enlargement of the earlobes—and shaking it, while growling like an angry Rottweiler. It was like a scene straight out of Dostoevsky, to be precise the moment in The Devils when Nikolai Stavrogin bites the governor’s ear. Anyway, I cried “Mercy!” as he literally lifted me out of my chair and led me around the room, my earlobe clenched in his slavering mouth. He finally let go and apologized afterwards, but offered no explanations. Then again, what can you expect from the guy who once said, “Off all the things I lost I miss my mind the most.” I consider it an honor.

Okay, so the above never happened. (I feel obligated to say this because in another article I swore my adolescent skull secreted sperm, that’s how horny I was, and a few folks actually wrote to tell me this was impossible. Duh.) But the Ozzy earlobe biting could have occurred. He once ate the heads off two live doves, and famously bit the head off a dead bat on stage, an act that led him to quip, “I got rabies shots for biting the head off a bat but that’s OK—the bat had to get Ozzy shots.” And then there’s the time he thought it would be a good idea to snort fire ants. In short, in Ozzy World, biting off a journalist’s earlobe would be child’s play.

I love Ozzy’s work with Black Sabbath, but have always avoided his solo stuff, although I love “Crazy Train.” Why? Because after being fired by Black Sabbath in 1979, one would have expected Ozzy to continue in the grand Sabbath tradition of releasing records filled with songs so monolithically slow and heavy they sounded like mammoth King Tiger tanks grinding up unlucky Poles. But Ozzy took a radically different path. His solo albums were lighter, in fact almost dainty; compared to the relentless eardrum-pummeling crunge of Black Sabbath they sounded spritely, bouncy even. In short, he gave up mastodon metal for regular old metal, which in that time and place was as much about hair spray as it was gargantuan guitar wank. If Sabbath’s albums are pig iron, Osbourne’s solo LPs are aluminum, and I for one wasn’t crazy about Ozzy’s transformation from Iron Man to Tin Man.

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Yes is arguably the most successful, popular, and longest-running progressive rock group in history. While groups like the Moody Blues and Jethro Tull have had equal success, they have explored other musical sounds. King Crimson has also been around for a long time and released an enormous amount of music, including a large number of fulsome reissues and archival material, but has never achieved much in the way of popular success. Emerson, Lake, and Palmer are a group that rivals Yes in many ways, but their heyday was short-lived. Although they have released a healthy number of reissues and archival material, there haven’t been nearly as many mammoth releases with vinyl as Yes or the amount that has come from Tull and King Crimson.

Over the past couple of years, bespoke reissues of what many considered the group’s zenith—The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close to the Edge—came out. This roundup will focus on those three releases and the group’s most recent live Record Store Day release, Live at the Rainbow, London, England 12/16/1972.

All of the reissues of the classic studio albums are multi-disc sets. The Yes Album (2023) and Fragile (2024) sets are 1 vinyl album/4 CD/1 Blu-ray sets. The Close to the Edge (2025) set is a 1 vinyl album/5CD/1 Blu-ray set. All three sets come in a sturdy gatefold package, with the vinyl albums housed in poly-lined sleeves. The Yes Album comes with an album-sized 12-page booklet.

The Fragile set comes with a 16-page album-sized booklet and debuts the iconic album art of Roger Dean. Dean has gone on to have a long, fruitful career as an album art designer, but is most associated with Yes. The Close to the Edge set also comes with a 12-page album-sized booklet. They all also come with a Blu-ray that includes at least a new Dolby Atmos mix by Steven Wilson, along with a 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound mix and a Hi-Res stereo mix. All of the sets come with a plethora of bonus material which will be detailed below.

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