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New Release Round-Up 12-04-20
Shawn Mendes - Wonder - Island
Grammy nominated Shawn Mendes returns with his fourth studio album Wonder, the follow up to 2018’s platinum Shawn Mendes. Includes the first single, also entitled “Wonder” and 13 other tracks recorded over the course of 2020. “Wrote an album. It’s called “Wonder”. "It really feels like a piece of me has been written down on paper and recorded into song. I tried to be as real and as honest as I’ve ever been. It’s a world and a journey and a dream and an album I’ve been wanting to make for a really long time.”
Frank Black - Christmass - Demon
Demon Records is proud to present a new series of vinyl reissues from American singer-songwriter Black Francis / Frank Black. The first release in this new series is 'Christmass', a collection of acoustic performances from Frank Black's 2006 US solo tour. Recorded both live on stage and in hotel rooms whilst on the road, the album includes tracks from across Black's career. Highlights include stripped back renditions of Pixies' classics 'Where Is My Mind?', 'Cactus' and 'Wave Of Mutilation' along with 'I Burn Today', 'Bullet' and 'Nadine' from Black's solo albums. This new definitive vinyl edition is pressed on two 140g 'cactus' green vinyl.
Green Druid - At The Maw Of Ruin - Earache Records
2020 release from this metal band spawned in the mile-high city of Denver Colorado, the first city to legalize marijuana. Green Druid was nominated for 'Best Metal Band' at the 303 Magazine Awards. Album closer is a cover of UK trip-hop pioneers Portishead's 'Threads'.
Amy Winehouse - 12x7: The Singles Collection - Republic
A 7” singles box set comprising all of Amy Winehouse's singles from the Frank, Back To Black and Lioness: Hidden Treasures albums. Tracks include ‘Stronger Than Me’, ‘Rehab’ and ‘Love Is A Losing Game’, all of which won the Ivor Novello Award for Amy in 2004, 2007 and 2008. The set also includes the Grammy Award winning ‘Body and Soul’, a duet with Tony Bennett. The singles are housed in individual picture sleeves and pressed on black vinyl. The box also features a 20-page lyrics booklet and a set of art cards.
Also Available: The Collection [5CD Box Set]
Yusuf / Cat Stevens - Tea For The Tillerman: 50th Anniversary Edition - A&M
Tea For The Tillerman is arguably Cat Stevens’ best known and most cherished album. Originally released in November 1970, Universal Music will be celebrating it’s 50th anniversary in style on 20th November 2020 with a multi-format release suite, including a very special 5CD/BD/1LP/12” Live E.P. Super Deluxe Edition reissue of one of music’s most classic albums. The Super Deluxe set features a brand new 2020 Remaster of the record, as well as a brand new 2020 Mix (overseen by Yusuf Islam producer / engineer David Hefti), with audio mixed from the original 1970 Island Records multi-track master tape. The 2020 Mix also appears on the 1LP which is 100% exclusive to this box set. CD3 features Yusuf’s brand new interpretations of these wonderful songs, Tea For The Tillerman², which is released on stand-alone formats on 18th September 2020. Yusuf has chosen to include it here in order to present the very most complete edition of the original album, and to show how these songs have evolved over their 50 year lifespan. CD4 features demos, outtakes and alternate versions, including two wholly previously unreleased tracks (“Can This Be Love?” and “It’s So Good”), while CD5 features 25x live performances including 5 previously unreleased tracks recorded Live At The Troubadour, 4 previously unreleased live performances from the 8th December 1970 show at Fillmore East, and 6 previously unreleased live from British, French and German TV performances in 1970/71. The Live At The Troubadour performance is also included in full on the live 12” E.P. (exclusive to this box). The Super Deluxe box set is rounded out with a BluRay featuring HD 24bit/96khz audio of the 2020 Mix, as well as 8x previously unreleased live TV performances, 7 tracks performed live at KCNET studios, Los Angeles, and the official “Father And Son” video.
Yusuf / Cat Stevens - Mona Bone Jakon: 50th Anniversary Edition - A&M
Back in 1970 and following a period of illness and recuperation, singer-songwriting troubadour Cat Stevens re-emerged with a new record deal with Island Records and a spiritual and artistic rebirth. ‘Mona Bone Jakon’, his first album for Island, showcased a markedly different change in direction for Cat, unveiling with it a remarkable set of new compositions that included classics like ‘Trouble’, ‘Maybe You’re Right’ and the UK hit single ‘Lady D’Arbanville’. To commemorate the album’s 50th anniversary comes this definitive super deluxe box set of ‘Mona Bone Jakon’. Sounding as fresh as the day it was recorded, the original album is represented here by a brand new 2020 remaster of ‘Mona Bone Jakon’ by Geoff Pesche at Abbey Road, overseen by original producer Paul Samwell-Smith 2020 on CD, as well as a new 2020 Mix by David Hefti on both CD and LP. The set also includes an exclusive third CD of previously unreleased demos, and a fourth featuring 18 live performances from 1970/71. This box is rounded out with a live 12” etched vinyl E.P. of a rare audience recording of ‘Live At Plumpton Jazz & Blues Festival’ from August 1970, and with a BluRay disc featuring the original promo video of ‘Lady D’Arbanville’, plus eight live TV performances, and the HD audio of the new Mona Bone Jakon 2020 Mix. Also included is a 98-page beautifully illustrated hardcover book with extensive new sleevenotes. Finally there’s also a selection of memorabilia including Island Records press kit, two Island press photos, a replica 1970 Plumpton Jaxx and Blues flyer, a Cat Stevens tour sticker and ‘dustbin’ greetings card and pop art print in a card envelope.
Grandson - Death Of An Optimist - Fueled By Ramen
Grandson's debut EP trilogy of Modern Tragedy 1, 2, and 3, which turned Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and musician Jordan Edward Benjamin into a vocal spokesperson on some of today's most pressing political and social issues, Death Of An Optimist continues grandson's dynamic search for meaningful change with some of his most clear-eyed and assertive songwriting yet.
ALSO OUT THIS WEEK
Arctic Monkeys - Live At The Royal Albert Hall
Margo Price - Perfectly Imperfect At The Ryman
Beyonce - Homecoming: The Live Album
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - K.G.
The White Stripes - The White Stripes Greatest Hits
Deafheaven - 10 Years Gone
Coldplay - Christmas Lights [Limited Edition Blue 7in Vinyl]
Stevie Nicks - Live In Concert: The 24 Karat Gold Tour
Britney Spears - Glory: Deluxe [Opaque White 2LP]
Steven Wilson - 12 Things I Forgot
Bob Marley & The Wailers - The Complete Island Recordings [11LP Box Set]
Khruangbin - Late Night Tales: Khruangbin
Calexico - Seasonal Shift
YUNGBLUD - weird!
Steve Perry - Traces: Alternate Versions & Sketches
Rich The Kid & YoungBoy Never Broke Again - Nobody Safe
Sigur Ros - Odin's Raven Magic
Rory Gallagher - The Best Of
Various Artists - The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (Original Soundtrack) [Red, Green & Clear Smoke 3LP]
Twice - Eyes Wide Open (Story Version)
SuperM - SuperM The 1st Album 'Super One' [Limited Edition Orange Cassette]
& More .....
New Release Round-Up 11-27-20
RSD Black Friday is here, so start off your shopping season the right way by hitting your favourite record store and picking out some awesome gifts for your loved ones (and yourself). As well as the fantastic variety of record store goodies we stock all year round there will of course be some special releases exclusive to record stores streeting that day. You can check out the list of those titles right here! And you can also head over to recordstoreday.com for more details.
Happy Shopping
Eleine - Dancing In Hell - Black Lodge Records
After a huge success with their EP "All Shall Burn" late 2019, Eleine now releases their third full-length album "Dancing In Hell". With a natural step into the darker and heavier sound Eleine delivers an album that sets a new standard within the symphonic metal genre with hard hitting, melodic and seductive metal that has become the renowned Eleine sound. With "Dancing In Hell", Eleine share stories of inner demons, strength and loss. You've surely been pushed down and even alone from time to time in the fight you're in, whatever that might be, right? Imagine yourself standing in the center of your own personal hell, but you have a smile on your face because you know that united we have the strength to push through. In "Dancing In Hell", you will find a legion to lean against and be a part of. Get ready to feel empowered like never before.
ALSO OUT THIS WEEK
Miley Cyrus - Plastic Hearts
Billie Joe Armstrong - No Fun Mondays
Smashing Pumpkins - CYR
Little Simz - Drop 6 EP
Orville Peck - Show Pony EP
William Prince - Gospel First Nation
J. Lloyd - Kosmos
Flogging Molly - Swagger: 20th Anniversary [Box Set]
The Hold Steady - Heaven is Whenever: 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
Widespread Panic - Coconut Image / Monkey Image Reissue [Limited Edition Vinyl Single]
Clutch - The Weathermaker Vault Series Vol. 1
Jesse Colin Young - Highway Troubadour
Shakin' Stevens - Singled Out
Various Artists - An Americana Christmas [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Green/Red LP]
Hatebreed - Weight Of The False Self
Cadaver - Edder & Bile
Dream Theater - Distant Memories - Live In London [Box Set]
& More .....
Best of Holiday Gifts
Recorded in Helsinki, Paris and New York, Hey Clockface is the latest Elvis Costello & Sebastian Krys Production, following their collaboration on Elvis Costello and The Imposters’ GRAMMY-winning album Look Now. Hey Clockface also features contributions from Bill Frisell, Nels Cline and Steve Nieve. “I wanted the record to be vivid, whether the songs demanded playing that was loud and jagged or intimate and beautiful,” Costello said.
What started out in LA and was finished back in North Carolina at Esso’s home studio, Free Love asks major questions about self-image, self-righteousness, friendship, romance, and environmental calamity with enough warmth, playfulness, and magnetism to make you consider an alternate reality. These are Sylvan Esso’s most nuanced and undeniable songs—bold enough to say how they feel, big enough to make you join in that feeling.
In 2018, Margo Price claimed her rock star status at the Mother Church of Country Music. She was headlining the Ryman Auditorium for the first time ever, in a sold-out run of three nights that she had admittedly spent more time planning than her wedding. Now, Margo revisits the career-changing residency with the release of a new live album, Perfectly Imperfect at The Ryman. With special guest appearances from Jack White, Emmylou Harris and Sturgill Simpson!
And It’s Still Alright is an intensely personal 10-song album of vibrant country-blues, badland ballads, ornate Americana and jazz-inflected R&B. Rateliff's warm baritone, ranging from gently hushed to a guttural howl, imbues these superbly drawn character studies with raw, naked emotion. It's a commanding next step in Nathaniel's evolution into one of America's most vital and essential songwriters.
The Third Gleam marks a return to the Avett Brothers’ roots, both sonically and with Seth & Scott playing as a trio with longtime bassist Bob Crawford. The eight tracks capture their personal experiences and perspectives on undeniably timely, universal themes: isolation, gun violence, incarceration, historical prejudice, mortality, resilience, love, hope, redemption.
Metz not only continues to push their music into new territories of dynamics, crooked melodies, and sweat-drenched rhythms, they explore the theme of growing up and maturing within a format typically suspended in youth. Covering seemingly disparate themes such as paternity, crushing social anxiety, addiction, isolation, media-induced paranoia, and the restless urge to leave everything behind, each of Atlas Vending’s ten songs offer a snapshot of today's modern condition.
Clipping reimagine horrorcore the way Jordan Peele does horror cinema: by twisting beloved tropes to make explicit their own radical politics of monstrosity, fear, and the uncanny. Visions of Bodies Being Burned contains sixteen scary stories disguised as rap songs, incorporating as much influence from Ernest Dickerson, Clive Barker, and Shirley Jackson as it does from Three 6 Mafia, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and Brotha Lynch Hung.
Sugaregg roars from the speakers and jumpstarts both heart and mind. Like My Bloody Valentine after three double espressos, opener “Add It On” zooms heavenward within seconds, epitomizing the band’s newfound clarity of purpose, while the bass-driven melodies and propulsive beats of “Where to Start” and “Let You” are the musical equivalents of the sun piercing through a perpetually cloudy sky.
Brighter, more robust sounds made their way into the songs of Purple Noon and mark a new chapter for Ernest Greene as a producer and songwriter. The vocals are front and center, tempos are slower, beats bolder, and there’s a more comprehensive depth of dynamics. One can hear the luxuriousness of Sade, the sonic bombast of Phil Collins, and the lush atmosphere of the great Balearic beat classics.
Stevens’ eight studio LP is the long awaited follow-up to Carrie and Lowell. In the time between, Stevens also released Oscar-nominated music for the Luca Guadagnino film Call Me By Your Name; a collaborative album entitled Planetarium with Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner (The National) and James Mcalister; and scored several works for ballet: Reflections (Houston Ballet) and Principia (NYCB).
Amidst the current overwhelming uncertainty and upheaval of global and personal worlds, this reunion acts as both an escape from, and a confrontation of, trying times. Getting the band back together felt right, and necessary, and the friendship at the core of the band has been a longtime pillar of Bright Eyes’ output. For Bright Eyes, this long-awaited re-emergence feels like coming home.
Three-time Grammy Award winner Lucinda Williams unabashedly takes on some of the human, social and political issues of our day with her boldest and most direct album to date. During the course of her celebrated four-decade, pioneering career Williams has never rested on her laurels as she continues to push herself as a songwriter. On Good Souls Better Angels, she has much she needs to get out.
A total reinvention of an iconic instrument, all of the sounds heard on this album were made with a 1967 Emmons Push / Pull pedal steel guitar. This is the sound of Valhalla, of heaven, planetary alignment, of total eclipse. This is the sound of an angelic army roaring into battle. This is the heavy metal thunder of the future we were promised.
What's New 11-20-20
First released in 1995, Jewel's breakthrough debut Pieces of You dominated the charts with "Who Will Save Your Soul," "You Were Meant For Me" and "Foolish Games," making it one of the best-selling debut albums of all time. Across four compact discs, this special 25th anniversary reissue comprises the newly remastered album, B-sides, rarities, demos and outtakes, as well as live material.
New Release Round-Up 11-20-20
Nick Cave - Idiot Prayer: Nick Cave Alone At Alexandra Palace - Bad Seed Ltd
Idiot Prayer: Nick Cave Alone At Alexandra Palace is a concert film and live album by musician Nick Cave. It was filmed by cinematographer Robbie Ryan and features Cave performing solo on piano at Alexandra Palace in London. Idiot Prayer serves as the final film in a trilogy-along with 20,000 Days on Earth (2014) and One More Time with Feeling (2016)-and was described by Cave as "it's luminous and heartfelt climax."
Tank and The Bangas - Friend Goals EP - Verve
Grammy-nominated Tank and The Bangas are back with Friend Goals, the follow-up to their critically acclaimed major label debut album Green Balloon. This 6-track EP features collaborations from CHIKA, PJ Morton, and Duckwrth.
Various Artists - Southeast Of Saturn - Third Man Vinyl
It makes sense that Detroit had a buzzy, thriving space-rock scene in the ‘90s. What American city’s denizens had a more urgent need to disengage and think outside the grim, post-industrial rustbelt realities? With space-rock (and its close sonic cousin shoegaze) being at once expansive and introspective, it naturally appealed to the young, intelligent artists who gravitated toward its vertiginous orbit. The music of Southeast Of Saturn did not arise organically from metro Detroit’s fertile soil. Locally, garage-rock, goth-rock, neo-hippie groups, and the usual preponderance of adequate bar bands dominated the landscape. Thirsty Forest Animals guitarist Andrew Peters summarizes the prevalent attitude among the Motor City’s space-rock contingent: “I don’t think we really noticed the local Detroit scene earlier on. We were more into the bands you would see in the NME / Melody Maker, zines, and records - mostly from the UK - on the walls at Play It Again”. If anything was a major factor locally, it was Play It Again, the independent record store in the suburbs of Detroit that nurtured the scene with its amazing curation of imports and killer used records picked up on owner Alan Kovan’s British record buying trips. Penned “Detroit Space-Rock”, the scene centered around Burnt Hair Records, Burnt Hair CEO Larry Hoffman’s Life According To Larry radio show, Zoot’s Coffeehouse and bands, such as Windy & Carl, Asha Vida, Füxa, Auburn Lull, and Majesty Crush. It was a modern movement of a more traditional “space-rock” sound, influenced less by The Stooges and MC5 and more by Spacemen 3, Loop, My Bloody Valentine and krautrock bands like Can and Neu!. Even the best-known artists on Southeast Of Saturn - Windy & Carl, Majesty Crush, Füxa - never achieved mainstream success, but within the rock underground, they inspired a cultish devotion that burns to this day. If you missed their evanescent output the first time around, this compilation will get you up to speed over its 19 mind-altering tracks.
Mary J. Blige - My Life: Deluxe Edition - Republic
Digitally remastered and expanded edition. The 3x platinum My Life was nominated for a Grammy for Best R&B Album in 1995. In ensuing years, Rolling Stone included the album on their 50 Essential Female Albums (#17), 100 Greatest Albums of the '90s (#63) and 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (#279) lists. My Life is the second studio album by American R&B recording artist Mary J. Blige, originally released on November 29, 1994.
ALSO OUT THIS WEEK
mxmtoon - dawn/dusk
The War On Drugs - Live Drugs
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Live In Maui
Elvis Presley - From Elvis In Nashville
Sylvan Esso - WITH [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition 2 LP]
BTS - BE (Deluxe Edition)
The Dirty Knobs - Wreckless Abandon
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Live In San Francisco '16
Neil Diamond - Classic Diamonds With The London Symphony Orchestra
Eric Clapton - Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019
Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop (Original Series Soundtrack)
Local Natives - Sour Lemon EP
Rilo Kiley - Rilo Kiley
Iron Maiden - Nights Of The Dead, Legacy Of The Beast: Live In Mexico City
Jamie Cullum - The Pianoman At Christmas
Autechre - Plus
Dame Shirley Bassey - I Owe It All To You
Five Finger Death Punch - A Decade Of Destruction, Vol. 2
Annie Lennox - A Christmas Cornucopia: 10th Anniversary Edition
John Fogerty - Fogerty's Factory
Mary J. Blige - My Life: Deluxe Edition
Pink Floyd - Delicate Sound Of Thunder: Remastered
Dirty Projectors - 5EPs
Various Artists - '80s TV Classics - Music From G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
& More .....