September 1971 wasn’t a happy time in Who world, even by their remarkably narky standards. Pete Townshend had lost the battle to turn his abandoned Lifehouse concept album into a movie, and a filmed band meeting to discuss where The Who should go next ended testily. Mercifully, relief suddenly arrived in the form of an invitation to headline a British version of the Concert For Bangladesh, George Harrison’s all-star fundraiser staged at Madison Square Garden the previous month. So the group stopped bickering, moved their new £20,000 PA system into a Wandsworth cinema, and began rehearsing for a September 18 show at the Oval cricket ground, also set to feature the Faces, Atomic Rooster, Mott The Hoople, Lindisfarne and more.
Category: rock
As Delicate Steve, Steve Marion is the kind of person who names a covers album on which he does not utter a single word Delicate Steve Sings. He is the source of the primary sample on “Slave Name,” an unreleased Kanye West track that the rapper-slash-hmmm’s last remaining holdouts still discuss with wistful reverence in YouTube comment sections. He once released a Christmas album titled The Christmas Album that concludes with a blistering 15-minute desert rock rendition of “Frosty the Snowman.” When asked about his inspirations on a Reddit AMA — which he opened with, “Yes it is I, Delicate Steve” — he named celebrity chef Marco Pierre White and no one else. To that end, the only record he names as a direct influence on Luke’s Garage, his…
Despite how unlikely it may have seemed decades ago, when they were best known for their singer jumping on Korn’s Ice Cube cover and their own Top 40 hit about shoving things, Deftones are now among the most respected and influential bands of the 1990s. When they debuted with Adrenaline in 1995, they weren’t even the best rock band with an awkward rapper in the city of Sacramento; they were, like so many young men of their time, joined on stage and in the studio by a DJ.
Now, Hayley Williams is joining the band on stage to sing “Minerva”; we’re a full decade past the days of Deafheaven and Nothing using their tricks on black metal and shoegaze; the nation’s indie venues are lousy with bands playing drop-D punisher riffs while hoodied…
Bioscope is a new collaborative project from guitarist Steve Rothery, founding member of Marillion and from electronic visionary Thorsten Quaeschning, musical director of Tangerine Dream (and soundtrack guru).
Their debut album Gentō is named after the Japanese term for “magic lantern”, a still-image projection system. Each of the five instrumental tracks takes its inspiration from man’s endearing fascination with the moving image, weaving together Rothery’s emotive, melodic guitar work with Quaeschning’s expansive soundscapes.
Bioscope describe their debut album as “a mesmerising journey through a cinematic landscape of sounds and textures and each of the five tracks takes its inspiration from men’s…
I had never seen the mighty King Crimson play live before – not surprising, as I was only ten years old when the band last played my home town in 1974! I’m no longer a frequent concert-goer, but when I heard that they had added an extra date at the Birmingham Symphony Hall, I realised that this was probably my one and only chance to see any incarnation of this band live on stage.
Ambient, relaxing music was playing before the show started – probably some Frippertronics. Just before the show started, there was a recorded announcement from the band, asking fans not to take photos or record the show. Even Tony Levin said that he would not be taking photos on this tour (Levin is well known for documenting his many shows photographically).
The Sun City Girls were unlike any band before them or that has come in their wake. Their catalog, their ethos, their *being* – you name it, with the Girls that “it” was singular and became legend. This singularity started early and extended to their release schedule and the means behind the same. While the band would prove to be wildly prolific throughout their existence, during their nascent days they quickly realized that they could not be contained by any sort of traditional label schedule. Ideas were simply coming to the trio too rapidly to even entertain the notion of being constrained by the possibility of “only” releasing at most two albums a year. To best answer the flood of ideas the name of the game was move fast, record, release and move onto the next concept.
Oscar and two-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop launched his illustrious career with his debut smash album Careless in 1976. Now, he’s closing the chapter on 50 remarkable years in the music industry with his 20th and final album THIMK a lifetime of stories captured in one unforgettable album.
Debut single “Now That I’ve Hit The Big Time,” with guest artists Eric Clapton on guitar and Sting on vocals originally composed in the early 1970s as a heartfelt tribute to his mother, it captures his early musical roots and the lasting influence of a mother’s love. THIMK also features a stunning lineup of Bishop’s closest friends and legendary collaborators, including Art Garfunkel, Jimmy Webb, Graham Nash, Dave Grusin…
Insightful collaboration is at the heart of amazing jazz. Australian group Trichotomy joins with singer-songwriter Danny Widdicombe on Iridescence with conviction and conscientiousness. Jazz infused with roots and folk music makes this release something somewhat rare, featuring a variety of songs, from pure instrumentals to vocal tracks; these two artists achieve an amiable and inspired balance. There is a tender warmth, heartfelt devotion, and retro attitude that propels the ten originals.
From the first track, it might seem like this is a soft-rock album, perhaps by Graham Nash or Neil Young. “Ebb and Flow” enlists steel pedal guitar, reverb, and hazy vocals. It is a late-summer sort of track that might be included in…
The next project in the Deep Purple 50th Anniversary series is seminal Deep Purple live album Made In Japan.
Made In Japan stands among the most iconic Rock live albums of all time. It was recorded rather spontaneously during three nights in Osaka and Tokyo, respectively, in August 1972. Deep Purples so-called Mark II line-up delivered incredible highly energetic performances of landmark songs such as “Smoke On The Water”, “Highway Star”, “Child In Time” and “Space Truckin’”. Seven tracks were originally selected for the double album.
To celebrate the (belated) 50th anniversary of Made In Japan, Steven Wilson sat down to come up with a brand new remix of the original album in Stereo as well as in Dolby Atmos.
Live at the Warfield celebrates the Jerry Garcia Band’s magical three-night run at their beloved Bay Area home on February 28th, March 1st, & March 2nd, 1991. This 6-CD collection, newly mastered from soundboard recordings, features every note from all six complete sets-along with a few the audience likely never heard.
The band always seemed to be having fun on stage, and that energy is felt from the runs opening notes, with a particularly bubbly rendition of “The Way You Do the Things You Do” kicking things off. Highlights from February 28 include a primo “You Never Can Tell,” a dynamite duo of “My Sisters and Brothers” and “Deal” to close the first set, and soulful takes on “Waiting for a Miracle,” “Stop That Train,” and “Midnight Moonlight.”
The Heavy Heavy create the kind of unfettered rock-and-roll that warps time and place, immediately pulling the audience into a euphoric fugue state with its own sun-soaked atmosphere. Led by lifelong musicians Will Turner and Georgie Fuller, the Brighton, UK-based band breathe an incandescent new energy into sounds from decades ago, transcending eras with a hypnotic ease.
Made up of fan favorites from the road and live in-studio sessions, The Heavy Heavy Live is a 10-track testimonial to their unique sound & style. Side A features live performances from tour and the first ever recording of set opener “Parakeets.” Side B brings their live chops to the studio with iconic takes on Father John Misty’s “Real Love Baby” and Khruangbin & Leon Bridges’ “Texas sun.”
The band’s eighth album No Place to Run, originally released in 1980, reissued as a 2CD or 3LP set. It pairs a new remaster of the original album created at London’s AIR Studios alongside selections from a concurrent live set at the Marquee Club in London. Some of the live material was reissued as bonus tracks on various sets between 2009 and 2013, but has been newly remixed for the set by engineer Brian Kehew. The package include new liner notes by Michael Hann that feature new interviews and commentary with original band members Phil Mogg and Andy Parker.
For more than a decade, UFO had offered audiences a new type of rock on the U.K. airwaves, anticipating the so-called “New Wave of British heavy metal” that would hit its stride later…
Rise Against are not the first punk band to embrace the trappings of arena rock, but few of their forerunners can say they moved between those opposing states with the confidence and style displayed here. Having spent two decades retrofitting the breakneck melodic hardcore of their early work with rafter-shaking hooks and gleaming production, the Chicago veterans’ 10th album is a hulking thing, its bombast and righteous anger fed by vocalist Tim McIlrath, who finds the middle ground between Strike Anywhere and Creedence Clearwater Revival more often than you might think possible.
Working in tandem with producer Catherine Marks, fresh from Grammy wins for her work on Boygenius’s The Record, and…
Listening to Prefaces’s Acqua Marina is like attending an eclectic international film festival wearing a blindfold.
The second album by the Beirut-based trio doesn’t just feature evocative instrumentals, it’s overtly influenced by library music — the stock soundtrack recordings that were licensed to film and TV productions back in the day.
And while some of the styles that make their way into Prefaces’s mix are indigenous, Acqua Marina sources ideas from all over the globe. Stirred together, those ingredients become a summery cocktail perfect for a breezy beach hang. That seaside feel is underlined both by the album’s title and by the band’s quirky decision to name all the tracks after regional varieties of fish.
…features the 2018 remasters by Chris Thomas for tracks from the first three albums and brand-new remasters for the singles from ‘Get Close’. The 16-track compilation includes all the band’s hit singles up until ‘87, such as “Brass in Pocket,” “Back on the Chain Gang,” and “Don’t Get Me Wrong.”
The Pretenders burst on the scene in the early ’80s with one of the most compelling presentations of rock & roll ever seen. This collection, which highlights their A and B sides up until the mid-’80s, shows that Chrissie Hynde and co-conspirators were true masters of the rock single.
Tracks such as “Brass in Pocket,” “Middle of the Road,” and the highly underrated “Message of Love” are spectacularly performed, written, and produced. The early band, especially with…
The Cranberries are celebrating the 30th anniversary of their second album, No Need To Argue, by giving fans a whole new way to experience it. A new, 3LP vinyl edition of the album featuring new remixes of beloved classics and one rare demo.
First released in 1994, No Need To Argue confirmed The Cranberries as global stars, most notably via the international hit “Zombie.” The 30th anniversary edition of No Need To Argue includes a previously unreleased demo of Dolores O’Riordan singing what would eventually be an iconic track. The collection also includes two remixes-”Zombie” and “Ode To My Family”- from Iain Cook of CHVRCHES and a handful of live tracks performed at Woodstock ‘94. The third LP in the collection…
