Van Halen’s catalogue is attaining further Balance with an expanded edition of the band’s final album recorded with second lead singer Sammy Hagar.
The band’s 10th studio album, released in 1995, reissued August 15 as a 2CD/2LP/Blu-ray set offering the remaster featured in 2023 box set The Collection II, three studio rarities, eight unreleased live tracks and a half-dozen music videos (including another live performance from the vault). Standalone 2CD and 2LP editions will be available as well; all vinyl features the complete album spread across three sides with an etching on the fourth. (Closing track “Feelin'” was omitted from original vinyl pressings.) The expanded set will follow the model of a similar package for 1991’s For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, released last year.
Category: rock
1. Golomb – Staring
2. Mike Polizze – Is There Anybody Out There?
3. The New Eves – Cow Song
4. His Lordship – Marc-Andre Leclerc
5. Rebecca Schiffman – Before the Future
6. Minor Gold – Love Is A Killer
7. Charif Megarbane – The Invisible Cut
8. Alice Cooper – Black Mamba (Radio Edit)
9. Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band – Monte Carlo / No Limits
10. Mark Stewart – Blank Town
11. Gwenno – Y Gath
12. Murry Hammond – Long American Highway
13. Gina Birch – Doom Monger
14. U.S. Girls – No Fruit
15. Theon Cross – Wings (Live at Blue Note)
Rough Trade Exclusive CD comes with two bonus tracks from 2023: “Original Sin” and “Mother.”
Disclosure, self-affirmation and avowal may be the presentation currencies of our time – mystique now seems so very 20th century – but still, it takes courage and conviction for a young band to state their case from the get-go. All the more so if it’s a group of women, who risk accusations of bad faith and superficiality should they choose to develop their artistry or change their image.
If they’ve considered it at all, none of this bothers Brighton four-piece The New Eves, who came together via a regular meet-up of creative women held in the early days after lockdown. Their name is an unambiguous wresting of power from the most enduring of female archetypes,…
Truce is New Yorker Robert Scheffler’s third album; however, it is his first in almost twenty years. During that time, he worked as a freelance research editor and writer for a national American magazine; now, he has returned to music, and Truce is the result. Despite his background as a writer, he found the process of penning these songs not an easy one, until he came across a quote from short story writer George Saunders, whose very straightforward philosophy was “If it’s not fun, don’t do it.” This mantra enabled him to write eleven songs that document his life, feelings, and hopes in a charming manner that is a very engaging listen.
The album starts with a very relaxed acoustic song, ‘Excuse the Mess’, which frameworks…
The booklet coming with Just Like Gold: Live at The Matrix frequently refers to the band as “The Solution.” It will be the same here.
With respect to the name this pioneering San Francisco psychedelic outfit did choose, their drummer John Chance is quoted in the booklet as saying “My mother was really upset about it [the band’s name], and I knew why.”
Lead guitarist Ernie Fosselius adds “We knew vaguely somewhere back in history it was heavy. I’m embarrassed to admit I didn’t realise how much the name could mean to a Jew.” Or, Ernie, anyone else. One person who realised the resonance of the name was leading San Francisco concert promoter Bill Graham, a Jew who as a child had escaped Nazi Germany. Graham booked…
A new wind reaches the sails of one of yacht rock’s defining masterpieces, courtesy of Omnivore Recordings. The label offer an expanded reissue of the self-titled debut album from Christopher Cross, the unforgettable 1979 release that became a commercial juggernaut and propelled the unlikely star to the music business’ upper echelon. The CD release will feature 11 bonus tracks including the rare non-album single “Mary Ann” and a slew of demos, six of which are made available for the first time anywhere – including several songs never before issued by Cross. (The set uses Bernie Grundman’s impeccable original album master, with engineer Michael Graves restoring the bonus material to prime condition.)
The story of Christopher Cross’ breakthrough…
Few bands have gone to the heart of our country like Cold Chisel. Formed over 50 years ago in Adelaide, Cold Chisel found their audience their own way. Ultimately, the band’s early years of struggle gave way to their incredible songs, incendiary performances and legendary defiance – leading to them becoming one of the biggest and most lauded bands in Australian music history. Since then, their evocative lyrics and melodies on songs like Flame Trees, Khe Sanh, Bow River, You Got Nothing I Want, My Baby, Choirgirl, When The War Is Over, Standing on the Outside and more have become embedded in our national psyche.
In late 2024 and early 2025, Cold Chisel undertook their sold-out 50th anniversary tour, The Big Five-0, which was seen by over 250,000 people…
The Warlocks return with their 14th studio album The Manic Excessive Sounds Of. The band are led by the irrepressible Bobby Hecksher, and have become foundational within the 21st century outer-national psych community. Melding together lysergic songwriting with aspects of shoegaze, indie, and beyond, The Warlocks are now 25 years – and counting – since influential debut ‘Rise & Fall’.
‘The Manic Excessive Sounds Of’ finds The Warlocks grappling with fresh ideas. Continually evolving their sound, there’s an increased use of acoustic guitars, added to some nimble single line lead that recalls The Feelies. A counter cultural force, the band’s excesses have led to the palace of wisdom – now working in a more intentional manner, The Warlocks remain hugely impactful.
Out of all the former Beatles, Paul McCartney has had the most successful and diverse solo career, maintaining a constant presence in the British and American charts during the 1970s and ’80s and becoming a musical and cultural icon in the decades since.
McCartney’s hot streak began in 1970, when he became the first Beatle to leave the group and quickly began accumulating hit singles and best-selling albums as a solo artist. Then, he formed Wings in late 1971 with his wife Linda and Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine, and the group remained active for the next ten years, racking up a string of hit albums, singles, and tours in the meantime. Wings disbanded in 1980, but McCartney stayed near the top…
Doc Pomus was a songwriter’s songwriter, crafting lyrics that have stood the test of time. You Can’t Hip A Square: The Doc Pomus Songwriting Demos is a masterclass in songwriting through the lens of Doc Pomus’ career and via previously unheard demos largely sung by his writing partner, Mort Shuman. You Can’t Hip A Square traces Doc and his songwriting partners’ careers across the beloved rock, pop and R&B hits that became 20th century standards. Songs like, “A Teenager In Love,” “Viva Las Vegas,” “Lonely Avenue,” “Save The Last Dance For Me,” “This Magic Moment,” recorded by artists like Elvis Presley, Lou Reed, The Drifters, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Beach Boys, Ray Charles, The Coasters, Dionne Warwick, Dion, The Everly Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, and more!
Following last year’s deluxe expansion of 1974’s Apostrophe (‘) and the recent restoration of the same year’s concert film Cheaper Than Cheep, Frank Zappa’s archival team is turning the page to 1975 and expansively revisiting One Size Fits All in time for its 50th anniversary. The guitarist-songwriter-bandleader-producer’s twentieth album (and fourteenth with The Mothers of Invention), it featured the by-then-familiar lineup of keyboardist George Duke, drummer Chester Thompson, percussionist Ruth Underwood, bassist Tom Fowler, and saxophonist Napoleon Murphy Brock. One Size Fits All continued their jazz-rooted satirical explorations, and reached No. 26 on the Billboard 200. Zappa and the band decamped to Colorado’s Caribou Ranch – birthing ground for…
Music To Use Crayons By: This volume collects instrumental tracks, instrumental demos, and TV Mixes that reach through Kevin Gilbert’s career, where he frequently reworked projects of the past, and where the music just as often hinted at things to come. A TV Mix is a version of a song presented without lead vocals, still retaining elements such as instrumentation and background vocals.
Much of this collection has gone unheard, and many tracks stand out, perhaps none more than the unfinished and never before released “If Your Love Has To.”
There is a story arc to this collection. The early versions and the TV Mixes together forge a portrait of a hard-working musician in a hard-to-work town.
Lodestar is a reissue of the rare 1974 album by the American band Lodestar, released by Numero Group, renowned for its archival projects. The music blends elements of folk-rock, psychedelia, and country, creating an atmospheric sound emblematic of the 1970s underground scene.
Tracks like Who Are You stand out with melancholic acoustic melodies, delicate guitar arrangements, and introspective lyrics. The song “Who Are You” performed by Lodestar appears as Track 4 on the compilation album Cosmic American Music: Motel California, released in October 2024 by Numero Group. The album transports listeners to an era of independent musicians, reflecting a spirit of freedom and experimentation, making it a valuable discovery for fans of Cosmic American Music.
In 1995 In The Red released the Cheater Slicks fourth full length album, Don’t Like You. The band, based in Boston at the time, travelled to New York to record at Jerry Teel’s Funhouse studio with Jon Spencer acting as producer. The result was a completely over the top noisefest that remains one of my favorite ITR releases to this day. Admittedly, Jon’s production was heavy-handed and extreme but, I thought it suited the band and this material well.
“Prior to the recording the band demoed their material at a couple of different eight track studios in Boston. The demos showed that the band had enough material for an album that would be (in my opinion) their strongest to date. When the album was released it was very well received…
Features Leeds based cult mod band The Outer Limits’ complete recordings. Including their rare, sought after pop soul singles ‘When The Work Is Through’ and ‘Just One More Chance’ plus freakbeat flip ‘Help Me Please’ and the psychedelic pop gem ‘Great Train Robbery’. Featuring 14 previously unreleased demos from the vaults of The Outer Limits’ singer songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist Jeff Christie who has compiled this set. Alongside the recordings from their three singles; ‘When The Work Is Through’ originally issued on an impossibly rare 1965 Leeds Students Charity Rag flexidisc, Just One More Chance released in 1967 on Deram and ‘Great Train Robbery’ recorded for Rolling Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham’s Immediate label in 1968…
It was a simple idea; to create a festival out of all the brilliant music and art made all over the world, stuff made outside of the mainstream – music that wasn’t getting on the radio and was even harder to find in record stores…
… the very first WOMAD Festival took place at the 240-acre Bath and West Showground, Somerset over the weekend of 16–18 July, 1982. With the dream ‘not to sprinkle world music around a rock festival, but to prove that these great artists could be headliners in their own right’, the three days and five stages played host to 60 bands from over 20 countries; a line-up that included The Drummers of Burundi, Pigbag, Salsa de Hoy, Simple Minds, Musicians of the Nile, Echo and the Bunnymen, Prince Nico Mbarga, Rip, Rig and Panic…