The Fat Angel Sings

Peter Gabriel returns with “o\i,” the follow-up and companion to his acclaimed 2023 album “i/o.” 
Recorded at Real World Studios, o\i features extraordinary musicians, two distinct mixes (‘bright side’ and ‘dark side’) and artwork from leading artists.
 
Featuring contributions from Brian Eno, Tony Levin, David Rhodes, Josh Shpack and Paolo Fresu, and orchestral arrangement from John Metcalfe and PG

Following a year in which Peter Gabriel has released a new song on every full moon, November 27th sees the release of his new studio album, “o\i,” the follow up to his critically acclaimed album of 2023,” i/o”, a number 1 in the UK album chart.

Peter Gabriel returns with a brand-new collection of songs after a mere three years – his shortest gap between studio albums since the early 1980s. “ o\i ” is a companion piece to its reflected name-sake ” i/o “ expanding on many of the same themes: our relationship with nature, the passing of time, the increasing influence of technology in our lives and our place in the world; “Trying to get a handle on where you fit in life, that’s what I write about a lot,” he says.

The 13 tracks of o\i showcase the breadth of Gabriel’s song-writing palette, lyrically always insightful and imaginative, able to explore big themes with emotional conviction whilst retaining a peerless ability to speak to us, the listener, directly, personally, intimately. Songs that pull the heart strings, and reflect our hopes and fears sit alongside those full of optimism, love and joy, where the groove is king, and keeping still an impossibility.

All songs come in two stereo mixes: the Bright-Side mixed by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent, and the Dark-Side mix by Tchad Blake in all cases apart from Who Are We Talking To? which has been mixed by Mike Elizondo. Both versions are included on the 4CD package, and are also available separately as double vinyl albums. The digital only Dolby Atmos In-Side mix is again shaped by Hans-Martin Buff, who won Best Immersive Mix engineer at the Grammy’s for his work i/o.

“The songs are a mix of thoughts and feelings,” Gabriel says. “I have been thinking about the future and how we might respond to it. We are sliding into a period of transition like no other, most likely triggered in three waves; AI, quantum computing and the brain computer interface. Artists have a role to look into the mists and, when they catch sight of something, to hold up a mirror.
“We are not, and have never been, the exclusively self-determining, independent beings that we imagine we are. We have had a sense of entitlement that everything exists for our benefit – that we’ve been given the run of the world to exploit as we see fit.

We are something else, a part of nature, a part of everything and when we feel that connection, shake our booty and give and receive a little love, it can help us find our proper place – and put a big smile on our faces. “This is how I see the lumpy bits –” i/o:” the inside has a new way out and “o\i:” the outside has a new way in.”

“o\i” was written and produced by Peter Gabriel and recorded primarily at Real World Studios and Peter’s home studio. The album, like most Gabriel records, contains both songs that have been written since the last album and some that have taken years, decades, to complete. “Sometimes things take time,” he adds, “most people do stuff a lot faster – but I have no problem with understanding my own process. Some things will mature and evolve spontaneously and some will just stay hidden-away in a box until their moment in the light appears.”

Long standing band members, guitarist David Rhodes, bassist Tony Levin and drummer Manu Katche feature on many of the songs, supplemented by other members of the i/o touring band Richard Evans, Josh Shpak and Don E and Real World staffers Faye Dolle and Katie May. The New Blood Orchestra, led by John Metcalfe are also heard, as are the Soweto Gospel Choir and Swedish all-male choir Oprhei Drängar. Other notable contributions come in the shape of Mike Elizondo (who co-produced A Hard Lesson), Brian Eno, guitarists Leo Nocentelli and Tony Berg, drummer and percussionist Abe Rounds, pianist Tom Cawley, trumpeter Paolo Fresu, cellist Linnea Olsson and multi-instrumentalist Evan Smith. Once again Peter’s daughter Melanie provides vocal support.

As will have been seen across the monthly full moon releases, Peter has once again invited a range of visual artists to contribute a piece of art to accompany the music that encompass a full range of artistic approaches, from painting, sculpture, installation, embroidery and weaving to co-authoring with spiders. The wonderful artists included are: Janaina Mello Landini, Tomás Saraceno, Judy Chicago, Tatsuo Miyajima, Shirin Neshat, Juan Genoves, Roelof Louw, David Altmejd, Fracis Alÿs, Tadashi Kawamata, Berndnaut Smilde, Tishan Hsu and Michal Rovner.

The cover shot is by renowned photographer Nadav Kander.

Piece by piece, one by one, the monthly full moon releases come together with the release of the album “o\i,” and, with two albums in three years, there’s no doubt that this collective body of work proves Gabriel is having a late career creative high.

Available as a 4CD in hardcover book with booklet and separate double black LP and limited double colour LP editions of the Bright Side and Dark Side mixes.

November 27th release.

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Paul McCartney’s internationally acclaimed album “The Boys of Dungeon Lane” will be re-released as a Special Edition this October, featuring four additional recordings including a new version of “Home To Us,” his celebrated duet with Ringo Starr, alongside three brand new songs.

The Special Edition announcement comes at a landmark moment for “The Boys of Dungeon Lane”. Released in May 2026, Paul’s first new solo album in over five years topped the global charts, with Top 5 debuts in more than a dozen countries – including Paul’s 24th UK #1 album across his extraordinary career as a solo artist, with Wings and as a member of The Beatles.

The album has also received widespread international critical acclaim and, in July, was named as one of the 12 prestigious Albums of the Year shortlisted for the 2026 Mercury Prize. The recognition marks Paul McCartney’s first-ever Mercury Prize nomination and sees “The Boys of Dungeon Lane” recognized alongside some of the most exciting and acclaimed artists and albums of the year.

The forthcoming Special Edition will give fans four more recordings from the world of “The Boys of Dungeon Lane”, including a new version of “Home To Us,” bringing Paul and Ringo Starr together once again. The track is already one of the album’s most poignant moments, with the two surviving Beatles trading lyrics that carry the weight of their extraordinary shared history while remaining deeply personal and contemporary. The new “flip mix” sees their original parts in the song swapped with each other.

Alongside the new version of “Home To Us,” the Special Edition will feature three brand new songs, titled “City Fox,” “One Night Stand” and “Chelsea Boots,” offering fans the opportunity to discover more of the music created during the sessions.

“The Boys of Dungeon Lane” (Special Edition) physical release will feature stunning cover artwork adapted from a silkscreened collage by Kate Gibb, utilizing more than 100 images from Paul’s personal collection. Physical formats including a limited edition 2LP orange & blue marble vinyl featuring a zoetrope etching .

“The Boys of Dungeon Lane” turns the lens inward, with Paul revisiting the formative years that shaped not only his life, but the very foundations of modern popular culture. In a career defined by timeless storytelling and unforgettable characters, Paul tells the most personal story of all: his own.

The album is a collection of rare and revealing glimpses into memories never-before shared, alongside newly inspired love songs, from one of the most culturally significant figures of our time.

These extraordinary songs find Paul in a candid, vulnerable and deeply reflective mood, writing with rare openness about his childhood in post-war Liverpool, the resilience of his parents, and early adventures shared with George Harrison and John Lennon long before the world had ever heard of Beatlemania.

The album takes its title from one of its standout tracks, “Days We Left Behind,” a stripped-back and deeply intimate song that captures the emotional core of the project. Dungeon Lane is a place Paul still sees when returning home, serving as a symbolic gateway to a pre-fame world: afternoons by the Mersey, birdwatching book in hand, “smoky bars and cheap guitars”, and dreams not yet lived.

Speaking about “Days We Left Behind,” Paul said:

“This is very much a memory song for me. The album title, “The Boys of Dungeon Lane“, comes from a lyric in this track. I was thinking just that, about the days I left behind and I do often wonder if I’m just writing about the past but then I think how can you write about anything else? It’s just a lot of memories of Liverpool. It involves a bit in the middle about John and Forthlin Road which is the street I used to live in. Dungeon Lane is near there. I used to live in a place called Speke which is quite working class. We didn’t have much at all but it didn’t matter because all the people were great and you didn’t notice you didn’t have much.”

Since its release, “The Boys of Dungeon Lane” has continued to connect with audiences in an especially personal way. Paul has personally hosted a series of exclusive album playback events, giving fans the opportunity to hear the album in full and experience the stories, memories and music at its heart in an intimate setting.

A world without Paul McCartney is impossible to imagine, yet “The Boys of Dungeon Lane” takes listeners to a world that existed before everything changed, offering memories never previously shared and revealing, with extraordinary honesty, the human story behind a global icon.

Now, as the album continues its remarkable journey from chart-topping success to Mercury Prize recognition, the story of “The Boys of Dungeon Lane” is set to continue this October with four more songs.

The Black Keys announce a pair of limited edition upcoming vinyl releases celebrating the 20th anniversary of two of their seminal, universally acclaimed albums.

The highly collectible reissues are out December 4th via Easy Eye Sound / Warner Records and include: 2006’s Magic Potion on “Magic Potion Blue” coloured vinyl and 2010’s mainstream-crashing Brothers available for the first time on “Cola Bottle Clear” 2LP. Originally released in September 2006, it is pressed as a single LP on Magic Potion Blue vinyl.

While “Magic Potion” was The Black Keys’ major label debut, first released on Nonesuch Records, the 11-song set was self-produced by Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney and recorded entirely in Patrick’s Akron, OH, basement. The pair’s fourth album was their first to crack the top 100 of the Billboard 200 albums chart (#95), and included the singles “Your Touch,” “You’re the One,” and “Just Got to Be.”

Released over five years later, their sixth album “Brothers” would peak at #3 on the Billboard 200, achieve RIAA-certified 2X Platinum status, and win The Black Keys their first three GRAMMYS: “Best Alternative Music Album,” “Best Recording Package,” and, for their debut Hot 100 single “Tighten Up,” “Best Rock Performance.” The 15-track project also launched singles “Howlin’ for You” and “Everlasting Light.”

Originally released in May 2010, the multi-platinum album .

“You? Me? Us?” (30th Anniversary Edition) Originally released in April 1996, “You? Me? Us?” is Richard Thompson’s ninth studio album and one of his most ambitious works. Issued by Capitol Records, it marked his fourth collaboration with producer Mitchell Froom and became Thompson’s second album to receive a Grammy Award nomination.

The album is presented in two contrasting parts: LP One Voltage Enhanced with a full band, electric set showcasing Thompson’s sharp songwriting and signature guitar work. Tracks like “Put It There Pal” and “Bank Vault in Heaven” highlight his dynamic electric playing. LP Two Nude is a stripped- down, acoustic counterpart featuring violin or Danny Thompson’s double bass. Thompson’s intricate acoustic guitar style is at the forefront, offering a more intimate and detailed listening experience. Two songs “Razor Dance” and “Hide It Away”, appear on both LPs, each version offering a different musical perspective.

He first came to prominence in the late 1960s as co-founder, lead guitarist and songwriter of the pioneering folk-rock group Fairport Convention. After leaving the band in 1971, Thompson released his debut solo album “Henry the Human Fly” in 1972. A year later he began recording with his then-wife Linda Thompson, resulting in six acclaimed albums including “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight” (1974) and the landmark “Shoot Out the Lights” (1982). Following the duo’s split, Thompson resumed his solo career with “Hand of Kindness” (1983) and has gone on to release more than twenty studio albums.

The album is celebrated for its metrical complexity, lyrical depth and exceptional musicianship.

Celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Flaming Lips’ 2006 Grammy -winning album “At War With The Mystics” is released with a 6CD or 6LP set.

Originally released in 2006, “At War With The Mystics” found The Flaming Lips at one of the most creatively expansive points in their remarkable career. Following the extraordinary success of “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots”, the album saw the band continuing to push their music in unexpected directions, combining psychedelic experimentation, electronic textures, orchestral color and huge pop melodies with the surreal, emotionally charged songwriting that had become their hallmark.

Songs including “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song”, “Free Radicals”, “It Overtakes Me” and “The W.A.N.D.” captured a band simultaneously embracing the possibilities of the studio and questioning the world around them. “At War With The Mystics” was adventurous, playful, and deliberately strange, but beneath its kaleidoscopic production was an album deeply engaged with love, fear, politics, mortality, and the bewildering experience of being alive. Two decades on, the record remains a distinctive chapter in The Flaming Lips’ ever-evolving story.

The upcoming Deluxe Edition substantially expands “At War With The Mystics”, bringing together a remarkable collection of previously unreleased recordings, rarities and material from the wider world surrounding the album, spread across six discs of music. At its heart is a wealth of previously unheard demos, offering a fascinating glimpse into the writing and recording process behind the album. These are joined by non-album tracks, B-sides and alternate versions, alongside music created by The Flaming Lips for film, television, documentaries and other projects, as well as recordings featured on soundtracks, compilations and special releases. Further highlights include radio sessions and other live performances, a selection of covers and additional rarities, while discs 5 and 6 feature two legendary Flaming Lips concerts: U.F.O.s At The Zoo and Live At The Hollywood Bowl, both recorded in 2006.

Taken together, the bonus material paints a much broader picture of the creative world surrounding At War With The Mystics, revealing just how prolific and restless the band was during this era.

As with the previous “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots” anniversary box, the CD and vinyl editions have been configured differently, allowing the releases to remain as accessible as possible. The complete collection of material featured on the CD edition will subsequently be made available across vinyl releases, following the approach taken with the Yoshimi box set.

For The Flaming Lips, whose career has consistently been defined by reinvention rather than repetition, the anniversary provides an opportunity not simply to look back, but to rediscover a record that was already looking in several directions at once. Twenty years after its original release, “At War With The Mystics” still sounds like a record made by a band unwilling to stand still.

6CD – The 6CD set features the original album remastered for the very first time, 19x previously unreleased Demos, 14x previously unreleased studio recordings, a further 42x non-album tracks, and U.F.O.’s At The Zoo and the previously unreleased “Live At The Hollywood Bowl” concerts, both on CD for the very first time.

6LP – The 6LP set presents the original album remastered for the very first time across three sides of vinyl, 19x previously unreleased Demos, 12x previously unreleased studio recordings, and 33x additional non-album tracks.

Mercury Rev is an American indie rock group that formed in 1989 in Buffalo, New York. A band committed to experimentation and reinvention, their music has run the gambit from neo-psych and noise rock, lush pastoralism, and 4/4 electronica. Over 25 years, the US greats have ploughed a wayward furrow through grunge, funk, doo-wop and electronica.

Mercury Rev, are one of the most important bands of the 1990s, The group did not have a fixed drummer, and instead revolved around John Donahue (guitar, and later vocals), Sean “Grasshopper” Mackiowiak (guitar, clarinet), and Dave Fridmann (bass). David Baker performed primary vocals on the earlier and more prolific recordings, and Jimy Chambers functioned as their early drummer and keyboardist.

Mercury Rev are a rarity in indie rock: a band who have continually evolved their sound, pushing at the boundaries of what rock music actually means over 25 years, the line-up has remained fairly stable over the years, with the core duo of Jonathan Donahue (vocals and guitar) and Sean “Grasshopper” Mackowiak (guitar) present throughout, joined by Dave Fridmann (bass and production) on the first seven studio albums and flautist Suzanne Thorpe on the first five.

“Yerself Is Steam” (Beggars Banquet, 1991 – Columbia, 1992), their debut, is one of the most important records of psychedelic rock and one of the masterpieces of the ’90s. On first listen, the record’s sound is chaotic and swirling, obviously signifying Mercury Rev’s cathartic function, and their aim to achieve an acid-influenced nirvana, just like the first San Franciscan hippies.

But every song hides terrible neurosis, which amplifies the most electric moments of Neil Young, and gives rise to a sick and decadent atmosphere, different than that of the optimistic and carefree ’60s. The schizophrenic compositions of Mercury Rev are delicate ballads that hide the soul of a serial killer.

“Funky” rarely appears among the adjectives used to describe Mercury Rev. And yet “If You Want Me to Stay“, a Sly and the Family Stone cover originally released as part of the Rough Trade Singles Club, demonstrates that Mercury Rev can funk it up with the best of them. Their version, later collected on “Yerself Is Steam” bonus album “Lego My Ego”, not only captures the original’s understated funk, but also brilliantly reflects the dark desperation of early-70s Sly Stone as he retreated into drugs and paranoia. That is largely thanks to Baker’s yearning, slightly deranged vocal, which bounces around over woodwind riffs and guitars that vacillate between funk and fuzz.

The complex music appears to be a new age version of Red Krayola; uncoordinated and unbalanced, like Red Krayola, but at the same time containing a contemplative and meditative sound, like new age music. The band’s method of hypnosis is well exemplified by the song “Frittering”, in which one of the guitars “sings” the spongy melody while the other is immersed in a sea of distortion. Everything goes on for eight minutes over a hypnotic cadence. “Chasing a Bee” runs for seven minutes and is the quintessence of ‘”dreampop” music: folk guitar chords are underpinned by an underworld of eccentric sounds, all accompanied by a fairytale-like lullaby singer. “Chasing a Bee” On side one, track one on the band’s debut album – might be Baker’s tour de force, his vocals endlessly shifting from calm to angst, from humour to passion in a remarkable, unnerving performance, set off by a soaring chorus and a backdrop of exploding guitars. Thorpe’s four-note descending flute riff anchors the madness.

Slowly, the guitar riffs become more distorted and loud, while the pace becomes more and more martial. Meanwhile, the noise generated by Thorpe’s pastoral flute playing hovers calmly over the piece. The song is gradually submerged in a maelstrom of hellish noise. “Blue and Black” is a piece of Dadaist theater in the most solemn tradition of David Thomas: a soft-toned shamanic blather, it is as insane as it is poetic, floating on a gentle rhythmic carpet on which stands massive chords for both piano and orchestra. Percussion is often the protagonist; the harmonies are always accompanied by eccentric rhythms.

“Syringe Mouth” is influenced by the demented saraband of Red Krayola, with a carousel of guitars and distorted vocals set to a crazy martial rhythm. In “Sweet Odyssee of a Cancer Cell”, exhaled over a charging beat are almost Indian psalms, and before long the song is screwed into a dizzying Sufis dance. The disc culminates with “Very Sleepy Rivers“, twelve minutes of slow clouds of chords and ethereal singing, which is broken by an inhumane fear.

The theatrical aspect of the album can be attributed to David Thomas’s influence on the band, but the spatial sense is derivative of Pink Floyd.

The following album-less single, “If You Want Me to Stay” (Rough Trade, 1992), seems to mitigate the madness of the ensemble portrayed on the previous record.

The next record, “Boces” (Columbia, 1993), however, ran with the brilliant anarchy of the previous album, but this time with excessive self-indulgence. “Meth of a Rockette’s Kick” unwinds for ten minutes on a carpet of pretty, anxious, and harmonic adventures. It is a succession of surreal solfeggio, dissonances, arpeggios and rings, with an ethereal flute solo from Thorpe and sudden bursts of distorted guitar.

On the surface the track is a fairy’s floating lullaby; a carousel for children that takes the form of a pastoral, Mediterranean arrangement a ’la Kevin Ayers, and rears a melody that owes something to the Flaming Lips. The meat of the song is gradually shown, though, and in the end it is revealed to be a long jam of jazz horns, children’s choirs, and exotic percussion.

“Deserter’s Songs”, Mercury Rev’s fourth album, may be their acknowledged classic. But “Boces”, their second, and the last to feature Baker, is the hardcore fans’ favourite, a 3D DayGlo dream of a record on which all musical life abounds, from Dixieland jazz to punk. Remarkably, it came out on a major label Columbia in the US, the label essentially let them get on with it. “We were trying to allow each other’s freaks and difference to come out because we had a responsibility,” he said. “They [Columbia] were saying, ‘You can do what you want.’” On the album’s mighty, 10-and-a-half minute opening track “Meth of a Rockette’s Kick”, “what you want” turned out to be combining a tightly wound, multi-layered collage of barbershop-quartet backing vocals with harps, trombones, brushed drums, flute and controlled guitar detonations. Its astonishing attention to detail was a tribute to the production nous of Fridmann.

Developed in their own pseudo-orchestral fashion, Mercury Rev created two more entertaining songs: “Trickle Down” and “Hi-Speed ​​Boats”. Both are set at a strong pace and placed in a sonic cloud of distortion, and both are held back by litanies reminiscent of Dinosaur Jr.. As proven on this and the previous record (and through a look at the turbulent personal history of the band), the group is enhanced when deformed; when guitars, percussion, and wind instruments are free to ramble and create cacophony, the band is at its prime.

The long raga “Snorry Mouth”, however, has a thread to more serene music, which holds together the centrifugal forces of chaos, and ends up limping behind the melody. Unlike classic psychedelia, which was anchored to the form of the song, Mercury Rev creates music with a free flow of sound and without a predefined order, such as the changing and unpredictable course of a stream.

The liquid jamming of the songs “Boys Peel Out” and the enthralling improvisation “Something for Joey”. Depending on who you ask, the recording of “Boces” was either “magical” (Baker), “trying” (Grasshopper) or “impossible” (Donahue). And yet what emerged was an album shot through with colour, light and harmony. “We were trying to capture the magic of what was happening,” Baker told me. “There was humour and energy. We loved being in the studio.” “Something for Joey“, the album’s improbable lead single, exemplifies that feeling of humour and energy, with rolling guitar verses erupting into a three-note brass chorus that is pure musical release and childish joy.

The incoherent, messy opera that is “Boces” closes with the blues ballad “Girlfren“, which lies somewhere between the “acidfolk” of the Holy Modal Rounders Mercury Rev’s true specialties, though, were their cacophonous delusions that prove them as masters of musical transformation.

Following “Boces“, Baker left the band (to form the Shady) and Donahue became the unique lead singer. Adam Snyder was added on electric keyboards (mellotron, synthesizer, electric piano), which added a third layer of ivory to the two played by Chambers (clavinet, harpsichord) and Fridmann (piano and mellotron).

“See You On the Other Side” (Columbia, 1995), their next record, tries to sound a bit more ‘pop.’ A mostly serene and joyful, yet compact and focused, air limits the disc to swirling and spatial rides. “Empire State“, a fairy tale nursery rhyme to the beat of a march, degenerates into percussive chaos scarred by a free-jazz saxophone. A mutant hard-rock riff can be found in “Young Man’s Stride”. Although the record starts off strong, after the second song it is all downhill. The record becomes a prisoner of more and more brazenly ‘pop’ songs, even if it is redeemed continuously with touches of genius: the romantic solo clarinet in the maudlin country dirge “Sudden Ray Of Hope; Racing the Tide” features counterpoint pastoral flute and French Horn, which has a slightly pathetic affect; “Close Encounters Of The 3rd Grade” is suddenly launched into a frantic disco “groove,” while a soprano sings with the choir, which is an off-key chorus of synthesizers. “Everlasting Arm” parodies the ornate orchestra of Tin Pan Alley

“A Kiss from an Old Flame” utilizes a deadly tango, and “Peaceful Night” is a Salvation Army blues piece, filled with gospel organs and a sad bombardment of horns. At this point in the bands career, the general sonic background of their music has become more tenuous, although more and more refined, more and more calculated, and especially more and more orchestral. Donahue’s vocal register is perhaps too tempting, and the melodies are too sweetened, giving the impression that this is their Dark Side of the Moon; when the ingenious psychedelic music leads to the loss of the psychedelic touch, what remains is only a baroque pop mediocrity.

“See You on the Other Side”, was the band’s third studio album, released in 1995, represented something of a commercial nadir for Mercury Rev. Baker had departed, longtime drummer Jimy Chambers was soon to do so too, and the album sold so badly that the band apparently asked their label to drop them. That 1995 was the peak of Britpop – a style that, at its worst, was the antithesis of Mercury Rev’s experimental bent

“Paralyzed Mind of the Archangel Void” (Big Cat, 1995) was recorded under the pseudonym “Harmony Rockets” and only contains a suite, forty minutes in length. The EP “I’ve Got a Golden Ticket” (No 6, 1998) contains bizarre covers of Vangelis songs and of film themes.

“Deserter’s Songs” (V2, 1998), which in the process of its creation added violin, contrabass, horn, and trombone, is rather schizophrenic: on the one hand, the record’s atmosphere is just as hallucinatory as the previous records, but on the other, the production is usually reserved to a light music orchestra. The music, then, is the equivalent to a treatise on post-modernism: the sound is not that of a score, but instead a repetition of continuous musical quotes of others, in particular those of suburban Broadway and vaudeville.

When Mercury Rev eventually ascend to the great gig in the sky, “Deserter’s Songs” will be written on their tombstone. The album, released in September 1998, is near flawless, one of those records on which not a second is wasted and every track could be a single. “See You on the Other Side” had flopped three years earlier Donahue said in 2011, “The world wasn’t exactly waiting for another Mercury Rev record.” Even the fans were taken aback by “Deserter’s Songs”. The band had experimented with musical genres over the years, but they had never changed their sound so totally. Out went frantic electric guitars and brute sonic force, in came pastoral Americana and yearning for a forgotten age. It even featured a musical saw. But it was the incredible quality of the tracks that made “Deserter’s Songs” stand out. “Tonite It Shows” has an immaculate vocal performance from Donahue, which injects the straightforward nostalgia of lines such as “The way we were, the way we met / The way I lit your cigarette” with spine-tingling power, his voice catching at the edges like a man overcome with the force of memory. The orchestral arrangement, reminiscent of early Disney films, is note-perfect, too.

Sadly, where the previous album seemed to be a vain affectation of their original sound, the orchestration, at this point, was seemingly becoming the norm. “Holes” is the first song on the album, and the sounds that begin it are those of a classical string section and a pastoral flute. The song is decadent, scanning, and martial, like the Flaming Lips, but marries that aesthetic with a clear envy of the languid symphonic orchestrations.

“Tonite It Shows” takes a theme and arrangements from nostalgic ‘50s soundtracks (oboe, violin, harp, xylophone) . Their method on this album is a deconstruction and reconstruction of clichés and masterpieces. To the yearning in the string section (and this time in the women’s choir as well), “Endlessly” adds the yelps of an atmospheric Theremin. The short song “Hudson Line” is a hodgepodge of unrelated ideas, from the poignant saxophone solo (played by Garth Hudson of the Band) to the searing electric guitar, to the warbling of an alto chorus, to the minimalism of the string section, to the passing phrases for organ, trombone, xylophone, etc., this relatively short work is obviously jumbled.

This album proves that the commercial orchestration was becoming a method of creating music for Mercury Rev. There are glimmers of hope for genius, though, like the jazz-rock exuberance of “Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp“; however, the song is more “marketable” than any of their prior brilliant moments. The postmodernist practice leads them to more and more literal interpretations of past music. The violins of “Opus 40″ and the vocal harmonies as well as the gospel organ solo come from the Band and perhaps the organ solo is in homage the drummer and guest of honor, Levon Helm). It is curious that, in the end, the disk triumphs. Among the lows, there are high moments, like the ballad “Goddess on a Hiway”, It was as if under the immediate Baroque trappings of the record there was the rediscovery of the American tradition. The arrangements within the record are a riot of electronic keyboards, which are entrusted with the melody, rhythm, and polyphony. The timbres are colourful, and the dynamic is swirling. This record, in conclusion, is a little Pet Sounds (Beach Boys) by Donahue, who put order into chaos and tried to save what little rationality there was left in the early records.

The good news about “All Is Dream” (V2, 2001) is that it is the most self-referential work of their career: instead of turning the tradition upside down, Mercury Rev turn their own past music upside down. Unfortunately, the good news comes with some seriously bad news. Gone is the anarchic, chaotic, savage sound of the beginnings. What we witness today is three mildly detached musicians disfiguring their own legacy by using kitsch and easy-listening arrangements.

“All Is Dream” has some fantastic songs and moments of preposterous pomp, not least “The Dark Is Rising”, which continues the band’s tradition of brilliant album openers. The song races out of the traps with booming timpani and soaring strings, before settling into one of Donahue’s most sweetly affecting melodies. If Mercury Rev were ever to make a Bond theme, this would be it.

For the first time a Mercury Rev album features a couple of embarrassing songs, as if the band couldn’t come up with two more to finish the album and thus dusted off whatever they could find in the drawer.
Take away the layers of instruments and half of the album is made up of soft country-ish Neil Young-ian litanies. Notable examples include “Tides Of The Moon“, despite the soul-jazz embellishment and the psychedelic guitar solo, “Dark Is Rising“, despite the orchestral swells, “Little Rhymes“, despite the noir atmosphere, and the closing “Hercules“, despite the synth drone and the folkish strumming.
The more lively songs sound like “Nite And Fog”, the languid piano ballad “Spiders And Flies”, and especially the lunatic “A Drop In Time”, halfway between orchestral muzak and vaudeville.
One song, “Lincoln’s Eyes”, relies on an uneasy balance between old and new styles. The whining falsetto is hardly endearing, and the folkish melody is hardly original, and the instrumental tumult is too linear to be truly dramatic, but the coda is quite ghostly.

The album showcases the band’s talent and skills at manipulating sonic icons. This is not all too different from what happened to the Grateful Dead in their later years: living-room psychedelic music for aging hippies based on great playing and some cool ideas.
The problem is that the band is now doing for real, in earnest, what they originally merely pretended to do: heavily-arranged pop music.
However, even the worst Mercury Rev album is still one of the best albums of the year.

“The Secret Migration” (V2, 2005) is sheer calligraphy. The band continues to “normalize” the music, smoothing out the corners, erasing the discontinuities, reorganizing the chaos, the result is classy easy-listening music for the generation that missed the real action (“Black Forest”, “Diamonds”, “Climbing Rose“).

The double-CD “The Essential Stillness Breathes” (2006) is a selection of their most popular songs and a CD of rarities.

“Hello Blackbird” (2006) contains the music for a film soundtrack.

With bassist Dave Fridmann having become one of the most creative producers of the 2000s, Mercury Rev sounded more artificial than ever on “Snowflake Midnight” (Yep Roc, 2008). The album had nothing that even remotely matched the glorious mess of their early albums. The mainstream press that had missed them in the 1990s hailed it as a masterpiece, a fact that signified more about the influence that their sound had on the music world than the real merits of this late, lame and lackluster work. Only a virtually total ignorance of the contemporary music scene could explain why anyone would find anything relevant in these modest, old-fashioned songs.

“Our bass player Carlos was a DJ in this little nightclub,” Jonathan Donahue told the Quietus. “But he would play stuff that would get the girls dancing, you know, [sings] “groove is in the heaaart”, and we’d sneak in there and bring in tiny synthesisers, and say ‘OK, at the end of Groove Is in the Heart, switch into this, and see how long we could play before people noticed. Not mimicking the sound, but the feel.” The result was a bunch of 30-minute-long song ideas, largely electronic, which would become “Snowflake Midnight“, the band’s seventh studio album, released in September 2008. Their embrace of electronics was brilliantly out of place with what was happening in the rest of the musical world, coming more than a decade after British indie bands fused their own dance/rock crossover

“Strange Attractor” (2008) was an instrumental album distributed for free to anyone who bought “Snowflake Midnight“.

“Strange Attractor” is the 8th full-length studio album. The album was released as an MP3 companion album to Mercury Rev´s 7th full-length studio album “Snowflake Midnight”. Both albums were released on the 29th of September 2008. It´s possible to download “Strange Attractor” from the band´s official homepage.

“Strange Attractor” has also been released as a bonus LP on the vinyl release of “Snowflake Midnight”.

Other than the archival double-album “The Peel Sessions” (2009), and compilations, the band was silent until a new lineup with Jonathan Donahue, Sean “Grasshopper” Mackowiak, new bassist Carlos Anthony Molina and new drummer Jason Miranda recorded The Light in You (2015), an album of nostalgic orchestral pop arranged with synthetic strings and horns.

“The Light In You” does lean more towards “Deserter’s Songs” than the lukewarm electronics of “Snowflake Midnight“, its sound dominated by acoustic guitars and sweet orchestral flushes and featuring some of their strongest songs in years. Remarkably, though, Mercury Rev still manage to explore new musical paths on the album, with “Sunflower” dashing through film-soundtrack funk, while “Rainy Day Record” features – I kid you not – the band’s first excursion into rap (or rhythmic spoken word, if there’s any difference). The best track, though, is the one that sounds most like the Mercury Rev of very, very old: “Are You Ready”? hints at the massed guitars and surging choruses of “Boces” or “Yerself Is Steam” – a sound that, it appears, is as evergreen as Mercury Rev

They then decided to cover the entire album “The Delta Sweete” by country music’s singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry using an impressive cast of female vocalists: Norah Jones, Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star, Rachel Goswell of Slowdive, Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab, Marissa Nadler, Vashti Bunyan, Phoebe Bridgers, Beth Orton, Lucinda Williams, etc. However, “Bobbie Gentry’s The Delta Sweete Revisited” (2019) is a very minor tribute album.

This “Delta Sweete” is her long-delayed justice—Mercury Rev’s committed and an affectionate resurrection of an album that anticipated by three decades their own pivotal expedition through transcendental America, 1998’s “Deserter’s Songs“. From their recording lair in New York’s Catskill Mountains, the founding core of Jonathan Donahue and Grasshopper with Jesse Chandler (previously in the Texas group Midlake) honor Gentry’s foresight and creative triumph with spacious invention and hallucinatory air. And they are not alone. Gentry’s stories and original resolve are brought to new vocal life and empowerment by a vocal cast of women from across modern rock and its alternative paths: among them, Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval; Laetitia Sadier, formerly of Stereolab; Marissa Nadler; Margo Price, the fiery new country star with a punk-rock heart; and Norway’s Susanne Sundfør, who cuts through “Tobacco Road” with arctic-Nico poise. Phoebe Bridgers, whose first record was a softly stunning 2015 single for Ryan Adams’ PAX AM label, hovers through the acid- western suspense of Gentry’s “Jessye’ Lisabeth” with floating calm, like a comforting angel.

“Born Horses” On their first album of original material in nine years, the veteran New York rockers reinvent themselves once again. That’s where the problems begin. Mercury Rev’s first studio album of original material in nine years is that rare thing: a work that doubles, even quadruples down on a weird idea, defying marketability or even legibility. The band wrote and recorded “Born Horses”, mixed and mastered it, then released it, all of which constitutes brash commitment to the bit. There’s something admirable in the fact that it exists, for these are the materials from which cults are built—not the white-robes-and-passing-comets variety but the kind that rescues lost objects and redefines them as precious.

This is the second time they’ve taken such a risk. After the commercial failure of their third album, 1995’s “See You on the Other Side”, Mercury Rev effectively broke up and reunited as a very different band under the same name. Jettisoning the punk-derived riffs and blasts of distortion that had defined their music, they adopted a weird pastoralia, indulging whims both folksy and cinematic, earthy and magical; “Deserter’s Songs”, their unexpected comeback, sounded like a transmission from a haunted forest. It was a huge, potentially alienating gamble, but it paid off beautifully and revitalized the band for the new millennium. Perhaps that’s what Jonathan Donahue and Sean “Grasshopper” Mackowiak hoped to achieve when they made “Born Horses”, which attempts a much less dramatic transformation and fails spectacularly.

For the anniversary of Syd Barrett there will be the release of a very special album, “Clowns and Jugglers, The Songs of Syd Barrett”, on 9th October 2026. Released exclusively on physical double coloured vinyl and double CD, with the CD containing additional bonus material not available on the vinyl, the album celebrates Barrett’s extraordinary creative legacy and enduring influence as a founder of Pink Floyd and through his body of solo work.

The album features a carefully curated selection of brand-new studio recordings, previously unreleased material and standout live performances spanning several years, offering fresh interpretations of some of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd’s most iconic songs.

Among its highlights is David Gilmour’s performance of ‘Arnold Layne’ featuring David Bowie on vocals, alongside recordings from Pink Floyd, Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, Kula Shaker, Martha Wainwright, Soft Machine, Mystery Jets, Robyn Hitchcock, Rosalie Cunningham, Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats, Love with Johnny Echols, Henge and more.

Tracks include ‘See Emily Play’, ‘Arnold Layne’, ‘Astronomy Domine’, ‘Octopus’, ‘Terrapin’, ‘Bike’, ‘Lucifer Sam’, ‘Baby Lemonade’ and ‘Golden Hair’.

The album’s sleeve features one of Syd Barrett’s most iconic images and has been created by Mark Wilkinson.

On 19th August 1977, Skids played their first ever gig at the Belleville Hotel in Dunfermline.

49 years later, we’re announcing SKIDS 1977. Recorded in October 1977, “SKIDS 1977” features the original line-up’s first studio demo recordings, officially released for the first time. Richard Jobson (vocals), Stuart Adamson (guitar), Bill Simpson (bass) and Tom Kellichan (drums).

These are the earliest recordings of songs written by the late Stuart Adamson of Skids, Big Country and The Raphaels, later dubbed “Britain’s answer to Jimi Hendrix” by BBC Radio 1 legend John Peel. Raw, direct and full of early spark, they capture Scotland’s emerging punk scene in motion.

Eight songs from the very beginning of Skids, offering a rare insight into the early songwriting of the late Stuart Adamson and capturing the raw energy of Scotland’s emerging punk scene.

Compiled and released with the full support of Skids and Stuart Adamson’s family.

SKIDS 1977

“Hear My Song: The Collection 1966-1995” is a comprehensive remastered 19 CD limited edition deluxe box set collected the output of the prodigiously talented Laura Nyro. 

Nyro was 18 years old when she signed her first recording contract and wrote the songs for which she is likely to be best remembered. By the time she was 22, she had become one of the most successful composers in American popular music. But at the age of just 24, she drew back from her creativity and fame, battered and drained by the sheer energy and nerve required to sustain her career. Fortunately for those of us who loved her music, that was not the end of the story. She returned briefly to the fray for three turbulent years in the mid-to-late 1970s, and then enjoyed a final decade of artistic achievement and public acclaim, before illness took her from us at the tragically early age of 49 in 1997. 

The deepest dive yet into the phenomenal creativity of an idiosyncratic, unmistakable musical force.

“She wrote songs that had no kind of fixed compass point. They remain as unique and absolutely spellbinding to this day as when I first heard them in the 1960s.” – Sir Elton John, 2024

Nyro found her early fame challenging yet despite living under an unrelenting spotlight, she was able to create this series of utterly beautiful and stunningly unique albums. 

Contains 10 original studio albums, 6 live albums (including 2 previously unreleased live concerts), Laura’s original demo tape from 1966 and a bonus disc of rarities including mono versions, alternative versions and live tracks. 

Includes a Coffee-table book with in-depth liner notes by Vivien Goldman, foreword from Sir Elton John and testimonials from Charlie Calello, Will Lee, John Sebastian, Jackson Browne, Clive Davis, Lou Adler, Randy Brecker, Bernard Purdie, Scott Billington, John Sebastian and Gary Burden

Rare, previously unseen photographs including intimate family shots illuminate the book

Included within this set are all of Laura’s ten studio albums: More Than A New Discovery (1967), Eli And The Thirteenth Confession (1968), New York Tendaberry (1969), Christmas And The Beads Of Sweat (1970), Gonna Take A Miracle (1971), Smile (1976), Nested (1978), Mother’s Spiritual (1984), Walk The Dog & Light The Light (1993) and her posthumously released masterwork Angel In The Dark (2001). Six live albums: Spread Your Wings And Fly: Live At The Fillmore East (1971), Season Of Lights… Laura Nyro In Concert (1977), Live / The Loom’s Desire (1993 & 1994), and two previously unreleased concert recordings from San Francisco (1994). Rounding off this complete collection is Laura’s first ever demo tape Go Find The Moon (1966) and a collection of Rarities. All remastered and housed in individual sleeves with original artwork.

During the singer/songwriter movement in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Laura Nyro was one of the most celebrated artists of her day. She penned soulful, literate songs that took the folky introspection of her peers and infused it with elements of soul, R&B, jazz, and gospel, giving them an emotional heat that set her apart. Nyro was a hugely respected recording artist, whose confident piano work and rich, expressive vocals made other sonic trailblazers such as Miles Davis and Alice Coltrane navigate towards her. She has influenced the greatest of songwriters – Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Elton John, Neil Young, Carole King, Kate Bush and Elvis Costello among them.

That influence continues today being heard in the works of Alicia Keys, Tori Amos, Suzanne Vega, Jenny Lewis and more. Nyro’s wonderfully expressive and poetic songs – of which many became major hits by other artists, most notably The 5th Dimension, Three Dog Night and Barbra Streisand – remain hallmarks of outstanding quality. ‘Eli’s Comin’, ‘Gibsom Street’, ‘Wedding Bell Blues’, ‘And When I Die’, ‘Stoned Soul Picnic’, ‘Map To The Treasure’, ‘Sweet Blindness’ and ‘Stoney End’ are magnificent examples. 

“Eli And The Thirteenth Confession” was Featured in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and Uncut’s 100 Greatest Albums of All Time as well as being deemed by New York Times as, “one of the 1960’s most influential pop recordings”.

“An optimist might suggest that 1968’s “Eli And The Thirteenth Confession” lives on in martyrdom, its influence apparent on everyone from Kate Bush and Tori Amos to St. Vincent and Joanna Newsom. But Laura Nyro’s effervescent second album deserves more explicit canonization…..Forty-six years after “Thirteenth Confession“, and thanks in large measure to it, we’ve come to accept and nurture strident, talented, slightly idiosyncratic female artists.” – Rolling Stone