The Fat Angel Sings

In typical Neil Young fashion, virtually nothing was revealed about his 2024 U.S. tour before it kicked off Wednesday night at San Diego’s Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre, other than the fact he’d be backed by Crazy Horse, and that Micah Nelson would be taking over guitar duties from Nils Lofgren. Would he pull a “Greendale” and debut an entire rock opera nobody had ever heard? Would he focus the set around the three new studio albums he cut with Crazy Horse between 2019 and 2022? Might he repeat the concept of his 2023 solo tour by spotlighting obscure Eighties and Nineties album tracks and skipping most of his hits?

Anything felt possible when the curtain dropped after a high-energy opening set by Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir, revealing the iconic, oversized speaker cabinets and road cases from the 1978 Rust Never Sleeps tour. Young walked onto the stage alongside Nelson, drummer Ralph Molina, and bassist Billy Talbot, plugged in Old Black, and launched into an hypnotic “Cortez the Killer.”

They jammed for six minutes before Young sang the opening lines, igniting the crowd into a frenzy, but the big moment came near the end, when he began singing completely unfamiliar words. As he teased earlier this month, it was the legendary lost segment of the song that failed to record during the 1975 “Zuma” sessions because the console briefly lost power. Young recently found the lyric manuscript, and worked out where they originally fit in the song.

“I floated on the water,” Young sang. “I ate that ocean wave/Two weeks after the slaughter/I was living in a cave/They came too late to get me/But there’s no one here to set me free/From this rocky grave/To that snowed-out ocean wave.”

It was a remarkable moment to witness. After 49 years and over 540 live performances, the world finally got to hear the song as Young originally wrote it.

He followed it up with a powerful “Cinnamon Girl,” and a brief address to the audience. “We made a lot of records with a guy named David Briggs, a producer I knew from the first record on,” Young said. “He was truly great. When we play, we remember what it was like when we did it. This song here is one we did right after he went to the higher places.”

Young was talking about “Scattered (Let’s Think About Livin’),” from 1996’s “Broken Arrow”, which was the newest song they played all evening. The rest of the set was music recorded when Briggs was alive, largely between 1969 and 1979, beginning with “Don’t Cry No Tears.” He followed it up with a triple shot of “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”: “Down by the River,” “The Losing End,” and the title track. And it was a particularly mesmerizing “Down by the River” that stretched out for 16 blissful minutes.

This is a good moment to pause and reflect on Micah Nelson, Willie Nelson’s youngest son. He’s been playing with Young as an honorary member of Promise of the Real for the greater part of a decade, and he got the chance to perform with the Nils Lofgren version of Crazy Horse at three under-the-radar club shows late last year. But this was his first time playing as the sole additional guitarist beside Young on the stage, and it’s a fairly difficult task, since he had to replicate parts originated by Danny Whitten and Frank “Poncho” Sampedro. “I’m going to pay tribute and honour Danny and Poncho, and be true to the sound of Crazy Horse,” Nelson said in March. “I want to bring Poncho and Danny’s spirit into the space with us, through me, as much as I can.”

That’s exactly what he did all night long. He was given the opportunity because Lofgren has commitments to the E Street Band this year, but Young could not have found a better person for the job. Nelson even harmonized with Molina and Talbot on background vocals like this is something they’ve been doing for years. (Molina is 80 years old and basically looks and sounds like he did when he was 40. Teams of scientists need to study him and figure out how this is possible.)

After the “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” mini-set, the quartet (Crazy Horse 4.0?) kicked into one of the greatest renditions of “Powderfinger” I’ve ever heard, thanks to improvisational guitar work prior to each verse by Young and Nelson. What came next was a 16-minute “Love and Only Love,” the band walking offstage, and then Young strapping on an harmonica rack for solo acoustic renditions of “Comes a Time,” “Heart of Gold,” and “Human Highway” that had the entire amphitheater singing along.

The band returned to wrap up the night with “Don’t Be Denied,” an autobiographical tale that carries a lot more emotional weight when Young sings it at age 78 as opposed to 28, and a thrashed-out “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black).”

Nobody walked into that amphitheater expecting a nostalgic night of Crazy Horse classics that completely neglected the 18 albums Young has released since the turn of the millennium. And nobody could possibly have expected him to perform at this level of intensity and passion at this point in his life. (We’ve already mentioned the miracle of his octogenarian rhythm section.)

He might duplicate this exact set when the tour continues the following night at the same venue. He might not repeat a single song. He may even perform a complete classic album, which is something he started doing late last year. The joy of seeing Neil Young is that you never have any idea what’s going to happen once the lights dim.

The show was the official debut of the new version of Crazy Horse with Micah Nelson on guitar, and a chance to revisit classics like “Down by the River,” “Powderfinger,” and “Cinnamon Girl”

Setlist: “Cortez the Killer”“Cinnamon Girl”“Scattered (Let’s Think About Livin’)”“Don’t Cry No Tears”“Down by the River”“The Losing End”“Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”“Powderfinger”“Love and Only Love”“Comes a Time”“Heart of Gold”“Human Highway”“Don’t Be Denied”“Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)”

John Grant began thinking about “The Art of The Lie” in the Autumn of 2022. Earlier that year, John had been introduced to Ivor Guest, producer and composer at Grace Jones’ Southbank show, the finale of her Meltdown Festival. They began talking about two records Guest had worked on, ‘Hurricane’ for Jones, ‘Prohibition’ for Brigitte Fontaine. “Grace and Brigitte are two very big artists for me,” says Grant. “I love the albums he did for them. ‘Hurricane’ is an indispensable piece of Grace’s catalogue.” An idea was sparked. “I said, I really think you should do this next record with me. He said, I think you’re right.”

A year and a half later, the result is John Grant’s most opulent, cinematic, luxurious album yet: “The Art of The Lie“. As the title suggests, the lyrical ingenuity counterweighted under all this considered musical largesse is as dark as its production is epic and bold. Ivor Guest and his cast-list of storied musicians have brought the drama, flecks of intrigue as beguiling as Laurie Anderson or The Art of Noise. John Grant has earthed it in deeply felt humanity and pitch-black realism. “The clothing that it’s dressed up in makes it more palatable,” he says. “It helps the bitter pill go down. Music and humour are how I’ve always dealt with the dark side of life. Come to think of it, it’s how I deal with the good side too.”

John Grant’s album “The Art Of The Lie” will be released 14th June 2024 via Bella Union

In 1968, an ad from Frank Zappa in the L.A. Free Press read: “The Mothers of Invention cordially invite you to join them on Tuesday, July 23rd, 1968 when they will be taking over the Whisky a Go Go for 5 full hours of unprecedented merriment, which will be secretly recorded for an upcoming record album. Dress optional. Starting sometime in the evening. R.S.V.D.T.” That album ultimately ended up remaining mostly unheard, until now. The live collection “Whisky a Go Go, 1968” is set to finally be released June 21st, 2024, via Zappa Records/UMe.

Ahead of the album’s release, fans can now listen to a previously unreleased version of “The Duke,” which at the time of the Whisky ’68 recording was a brand new composition. Zappa played the track twice that night, and both takes are included on the record.

Produced by Ahmet Zappa and Joe Travers, this extensive collection, 55-plus years in the making, compiles everything The Mothers of Invention played across their three sets that night. The album is complete and newly remixed in 2023 from hi-res 24-bit/96kHz digital transfers of the original 1” 8-track analog tapes by Craig Parker Adams at Winslow CT Studios.

A Super Deluxe Edition box set will be released on both 5LP 180-gram black vinyl or 3CD, and feature a booklet with many unseen photos from the night’s events, along with copious liner notes by Vaultmeister Joe Travers, an essay by Pamela Des Barres of the Zappa-signed group The GTO’s who played that evening, and an interview by Ahmet Zappa with the legendary Alice Cooper, whose own band made a momentous splash at the Whisky that night as one of the featured acts.

The concert will be released on June 21st via Zappa Records/UMe.

Paul McCartney loves a ‘project’ and in August 1974, while “Band on the Run” was enjoying a seven-week run at the top of the UK album charts, he and Wings headed to Abbey Road Studios for some filming and live-in-the-studio sessions, with a vague idea of turning it into something. A documentary film perhaps? Possibly a live studio album? Like some of Paul’s ideas it came to nothing, but these sessions did acquire a name: “One Hand Clapping”. So some 50 years after the event, they are being released for (almost) the first time, via three different audio formats.

David Litchfield had filmed and recorded (over four days) a new Wings line-up, which featured Paul, Linda, Denny Laine, guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and (short-lived) drummer Geoff Britton. Orchestral arranger Del Newman and saxophonist Howie Casey, were also present to contribute.

The sessions were a mixture of recent hits, such as ‘Live and Let Die’, ‘Band on the Run’, ‘Jet’, ‘Junior’s Farm’, ‘My Love’ and a bit of dipping back into the past for some Beatles classics ‘Let It Be’, ‘The Long and Winding Road’ and ‘Lady Madonna’. Denny Laine sings the Moody Blues’ ‘Go Now’ and Paul also revisits ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ from 1970’s “McCartney”. There’s also some messing around as Paul tackles the Harry Akst/Benny Davis Tin Pan Alley classic ‘Baby Face’ and dabbles with ‘I’ll Give You A Ring’, a McCartney original that would not see the light of day until a re-recording appeared as the B-side to 1982 single ‘Take It Away’.

The reason this is almost the first release of this material is because tracks from it have surfaced, here and there, over the years. The “One Hand Clapping” performance of ‘Live and Let Die’ was issued over 20 years ago on the soundtrack to Andrew Fleming’s 2003 film The In-Laws. Also, when Paul started his Archive Collection series in 2010, with “Band on the Run”, “One Hand Clapping” was mined as a source of bonus material to help fill out the deluxe editions. For example, six performances were on the “Band on the Run” bonus CD (2010), one on the “McCartney” bonus CD (2011) and both DVDs with those packages included “One Hand Clapping” footage.

“One Hand Clapping” will be issued as a 2CD set and a 2LP vinyl set, . A special 2LP+7″ version is only orderable via McCartney/Universal Music channels where the seven-inch single includes exclusive solo performances recorded on the final day of the sessions in the backyard of Abbey Road studios: These include the unreleased track ‘Blackpool’ (a version of which was lined up to be B-side to the cancelled 1983 single ‘The Man’), ‘Blackbird’ and cover versions of Eddie Cochran’s Twenty Flight Rock and Buddy Holly’s ‘Peggy Sue’ and ‘I’m Gonna Love You Too’.

The latter point begs the question, why do the formats for this reissue include no video at all? Very strange, considering a TV sales brochure for the unreleased film was created at the time!

“One Hand Clapping” will be released on 14th June 2024 via Capitol/UMe.

Record Store Day 2024 is providing music lovers with some of the event’s most covetable releases to date, and certainly the title topping our list of the best Record Store Day 2024 vinyl releases is one that fans of The Doors have long lusted after. This terrific Stockholm show, from the band’s high-profile European tour with Jefferson Airplane in the autumn of 1968, has repeatedly been bootlegged down the years, but it’s been begging for official release ever since it was recorded.

Taped professionally for a Scandinavian radio broadcast, the overall sound is thrillingly matched by the quality of The Doors’ performance. Clearly in a good place and enjoying their European sojourn following the release of their chart-topping third album, “Waiting For The Sun”, the group turn in a rich, fiery performance that takes in hits “Light My Fire”, “The Unknown Soldier”, “Love Me Two Times” and deeper cuts “Love Street”, “You’re Lost Little Girl”, “Wild Child”, performing each and every one with a zest and passion that ensures “Live At Konserthuset, Stockholm” will need to be filed next to other essential Doors live albums such as “Absolutely Live” and “Live At The Matrix 1967: The Original Masters”.

Newly Mixed By Bruce Botnick From The Original Multitracks. This Iconic Show Will Be Available As A 3-LP Set, Pressed On Limited-Edition Translucent Light Blue Vinyl And Will Also Be Available As A Limited-Edition 2-CD Set.  “The Doors’ two sets of music that night are considered among the tour’s best. The band is tight, and Jim Morrison’s vocals are smooth as silk.”
-David Dutkowski, The Doors Archivist

“Live On Tour” was recorded at the Agora in Cleveland on December 18, 1978 and published as promo LP for radio broadcast. It was never officially released for the public. Only three songs “The Girls Want To Be With The Girls”, “Electricity” and “Found A Job” were reprinted in the double live CD “The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads”; one song “Psycho Killer” was issued as a 7″ promo single in UK. All the others are still officially unavailable elsewhere.

Talking Heads significantly boosted the image of the live album with their ground breaking “Stop Making Sense”, in 1984. However, even before they issued that celebrated title, they had released a terrific live collection, “The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads”: a highly durable double set assembled from several shows the NYC four-piece played between 1977 and 1981.

The first side of that album was culled from an exhilarating gig staged at Boston’s Northern Studios in November 1977, for US radio station WCOZ. However, only those five songs (plus a couple more included on the 2001 reissue of “The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads” have officially been available up to now. More than earning its place among the best Record Store Day 2024 vinyl releases, “Live At WCOZ 77” includes Talking Heads’ complete 14-song set from Northern Studios, including energetic and previously unreleased takes of songs such as “Thank You For Sending Me An Angel”, “The Good Thing” and “The Big Country“, which the group would shortly nail for their second album, “More Songs About Buildings And Food”.

Effectively the album that “The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars” could have been had David Bowie not decided to drop four tracks in favour of the songs “Starman”, “Rock’n’Roll Suicide”, “Suffragette City” and a cover of Ron Davies’ “It Ain’t Easy”, “Waiting In The Sky (Before The Starman Came To Earth)” significantly redraws the blueprint for the breakout Bowie album fans already know and love.

On Side One, in place of “Starman” (one of the last three tracks recorded for the album, in February 1972), is “Round and Round”, a cover of the Chuck Berry classic, which Bowie eventually put on the B-side of “Drive-In Saturday”, in 1973. Instead of “It Ain’t Easy”, “Waiting For The Sky’s” first side concludes with Bowie’s dramatic version of Jacques Brel’s “Amsterdam“, which would later appear as the B-side of “Sorrow”, the sole single lifted from Bowie’s covers album, “Pin Ups”.

Side Two of this original, 15th December 1971 track-list of “Ziggy Stardust” also featured two long-time non-LP fan favourites, “Holy Holy” and “Velvet Goldmine”. The version of “Holy Holy” that features here is The Spiders From Mars’ re-recording of Bowie’s 1971 standalone single – a take that didn’t officially surface until it became the B-side of the “Diamond Dogs” single, in June 1974, by which time Bowie had long since jettisoned his Ziggy Stardust alter ego.

The cover of “Waiting In The Sky (Before The Starman Came To Earth)” features a photo of David taken at an early Ziggy Stardust period session by Brian Ward, and the two sides of the inner bags are the fronts of the two Trident Studios tape boxes. The album’s title comes from the lyrics of ‘Starman’, which, along with ‘Rock ’N’ Roll Suicide’ and ‘Suffragette City’, had not yet been recorded when this variation of the album was compiled.

DAVID BOWIE – ” Waiting in the Sky (Before the Starman Came to Earth) “ Record Store Day 2024

First time on vinyl; breakout of live material from Tim (Let It Bleed Edition) featuring the original lineup performing in January 1986 the week of their infamous performance on Saturday Night Live (hence the title).

“Not Ready For Prime Time” was recently released in its entirety as part of the exhaustive deluxe box set edition of The Replacements’ classic album “Tim”. However, with copies of that multi-disc collection retailing for around the £100 mark, this new standalone vinyl edition of this fantastic live show from January 1986 is a positive boon for all serious ’Mats fans.

Featuring 28 tracks in all, it captures a suitably passionate performance from the band’s classic, Bob Stinson-era line-up, with the track-list offering tunes from all the group’s albums, from their debut, “Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash£, up to and including “Tim”, in addition to inspired covers of songs such as The Beatles’ “Nowhere Man”, The Cramps’ “The Crusher” and KISS’ “Black Diamond“. Edgy, tanked-up and just the right side of sloppy, 

“Not Ready For Prime Time” captures The Replacements’ live experience in excelsis.

Nine tracks in length, “Fu##in’ Up” captures a secret, surprise set at Toronto’s Rivoli that Young and Crazy Horse performed last November, reportedly hosted by Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss.

Sure enough, Reiss appears in album credits hosted on the artist’s Neil Young Archives website, which also point to additional guitar, piano and vocals from Micah Nelson — the youngest son of Willie Nelson, who performs and records as Particle Kid.

At the Rivoli that November evening, Young and the Horse were said to have performed their 1990 album “Ragged Glory” in its entirety. “Fu##in’ Up’s” track-list, found below, largely stays true to that LP’s track sequence, though closer “Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)” is absent. Save for the band’s cover of “Farmer John,” the new release’s songs have been retitled using fragments of their lyrics.

“In the spirit it’s offered…made this for the Horse lovers,” Young shared of the album in a statement. “I can’t stop it. The horse is runnin’. What a ride we have. I don’t want to mess with the vibe. I am so happy to have this to share.”

Young has shared that “Fu##in’ Up” will first see release as a limited edition, clear vinyl 2LP set as part of Record Store Day 2024, complete with a lithograph print of the album art. This edition will also be available on April 20th via Young’s own Greedy Hand Store, ahead of black vinyl, CD and digital editions arriving widely on April 26th.

Fu##in’ Up:

1. City Life (Country Home)
2. Feels Like a Railroad (River of Pride) [White Line]
3. Heart of Steel (Fuckin’ Up)
4. Broken Circle (Over and Over)
5. Valley of Hearts (Love to Burn)
6. Farmer John
7. Walkin’ in My Place (Road of Tears) [Mansion on the Hill]
8. To Follow One’s Own Dream [Day That Used to Be]
9. A Chance on Love (Love and Only Love)

2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Ramones. This collection includes their earliest known studio recordings for Sire Records, 

Housed in a sleeve featuring a fantastic photo of “Da Bruddas” riding the New York City subway, the self-explanatory “1975 Sire Demos” includes Ramones’ earliest-known studio recordings, helmed either by Tommy Ramone or Red Star Records’ mogul, Marty Thau. Most of the songs “53rd & 3rd”, “Loudmouth”, “I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You”, “Chainsaw” would shortly feature in official form on The Ramones’ game-changing self-titled debut album, but even these early takes of the songs fizz with a barely controlled excitement, suggesting something new and extremely seismic would soon be blowing up on a much wider scale.