The Fat Angel Sings

“Fragile” the 1972 album by Yes is being reissued as a six-disc super deluxe edition. A 4CD+blu-ray+LP set features a newly remastered version of the original album, new 2024 stereo mixes, instrumental mixes, rarities, live recordings and more.

“Fragile” marked keyboardist Rick Wakeman’s debut with Yes, who joined the band from the Strawbs mid-way through 1971 to replace original keyboard player Tony Kaye. The album featured four band tracks, including the perennial live favourites “Heart Of The Sunrise” and “Roundabout”, plus a piece from each of the individual members. It was also the first Yes album to feature artwork by Roger Dean. The band included Jon Anderson (lead vocals), Chris Squire (bass, vocals), Bill Bruford (drums), and Steve Howe (guitar). After he joined in the summer of 1971, the band recorded nine songs for the album, four group arrangements (‘Roundabout’), and five individual compositions, including Anderson’s ‘We Have Heaven’ and Howe’s instrumental ‘Mood For A Day’.

Among the rarities are previously unreleased live versions of “Long Distance Runaround/The Fish” (Schindleria Praematurus), “Perpetual Change” and “Yours Is No Disgrace“, recorded at New York’s Academy Of Music in February 1972. 

The lacquers for the included vinyl record have been cut by audio engineer Bernie Grundman. This new reissue of “Fragile” will be packaged the same as The Yes album and comes with a booklet.

It will be released on 28th June 2024, via Rhino.

This September, Matt Johnson’s The The will release “Ensoulment”, their first studio album for almost 25 years. Encompassing characteristic topics ranging from love & sex, war & politics, life & death – to “the meaning of what it is to be human in the 21st century” “Ensoulment” was written, demoed and mixed at Studio Cinéola in London, the base of the band’s frontman and creative force, Matt Johnson.

The songs were later refined in rehearsals ahead of a six-day session at Real World Studios near Bath, where Matt was joined by long-standing band members James Eller (bass), DC Collard (keyboards), Earl Harvin (drums), and Barrie Cadogan (lead guitar). The album has been co-produced by Warne Livesey, who previously worked on “Infected“ (1986) and “Mind Bomb” (1989).

“Ensoulment” features some of Matt Johnson’s late brother Andrew (AKA Andy Dog)’s artwork, both on the front cover and in the booklets for vinyl and CD, maintaining the distinctive visual language of the past.

The The’s last proper album was 2000’s “NakedSelf”. Since then Matt has concentrated on soundtrack work. In 2021 the band toured for the first time in decades, resulting in The Comeback Special album/box set which was filmed/recorded at the Royal Albert Hall.

The first single from the album is ‘Cognitive Dissident’,  “Ensoulment” is a 12-track album and is available as a hardcover media book CD set with 32-page booklet (no bonus tracks). There’s also a jewel case version. On vinyl, this is a 2LP set with black and indie ‘crystal clear’ vinyl options available. All vinyl editions come with a large format 32-page booklet to show off Andy Dog’s art.

“Ensoulment” will be released on 6th September 2024 via EarMusic.

NEW Live Colour vinyl LP Featuring The Smiths Pressed on purple vinyl, this album showcases the Smiths’ stellar concert at the Theater de Meervaart, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on 21st April 1984, during the band’s The Smiths Tour.

This concert, put together to celebrate Dutch music magazine Vinyl’s fifth anniversary, was the Smiths’ first show in a country where the main language wasn’t English. Everything went well but Morrissey sounded rather reserved at first. He was probably intimidated by the language barrier, but by the end of the show he appeared to be more comfortable. He did say a few words in between songs but didn’t really alter lyrics the way he sometimes did in England where the audience was more familiar with the Smiths’ material.

“Miserable Lie”, “I Don’t Owe You Anything” and “These Things Take Time” returned to the setlist. They were rarely performed at this point in time. The latter two titles were almost at the end of their live career.

Featured here are a number of The Smiths’ most celebrated songs such as ‘Hand in Glove’, ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’, ‘This Charming Man’, ‘This Night Has Opened My Eyes’, ‘Still Ill’, ‘Handsome Devil’ and more.

During their recent tour of the UK “Hand In Glove” had been the standard set opener and its intro extended by a few bars. For some reason, even if the song was still opener in Amsterdam, the normal intro was brought back. After the latter number Morrissey introduced the next planned one by saying: “Thank you, this song is called ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’.” The song had just been recorded and it was planned to be released as a single one month later, so this live performance was much closer to the studio version we are familiar with.

“Girl Afraid”, which was next on the setlist and planned to be released as the latter single’s b-side, had also just been recorded in the 4-week break between the end of the recent UK tour and this concert. So not only was “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” closer to its definitive version, but so was “Girl Afraid”. In the instrumental bridge in the middle of the song, Morrissey hummed “Mmmmm that mistake again”, as he does on the studio version. He had never done this before. “This Charming Man” was introduced as being “…a song about a bicycle.” Before going into “Barbarism Begins At Home” Morrissey told the audience “Coincidentally, it’s a great privilege to be here… so…”

Before introducing “Miserable Lie” Morrissey enquired “Can anybody here speak English?… So?” The following planned number was “Still Ill” and it was simply introduced with a shout of its title. Then the next one was introduced with the line “This song is called ‘I Don’t Owe You Anything’…” When the band returned to the stage for the first encore Morrissey shouted “Handsome Devil”! before the band launched into the song. When the band returned to the stage for the second encore, Morrissey’s final words to the audience were “Thank you, we didn’t expect this, thank you…”

The Smiths live at the Meervaart Theatre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 21st of April 1984. Full Show. 0:01 – Hand In Glove 2:50 – Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now 6:14 – Girl Afraid 9:08 – This Charming Man 12:08 – Barbarism Begins At Home 17:52 – This Night Has Opened My Eyes 21:20 – Miserable Lie 26:12 – Still Ill 29:54 – I Don’t Owe You Anything 34:21 – What Difference Does It Make? Encore #1: 38:53 – Handsome Devil 41:41 – You’ve Got Everything Now Encore #2: 46:12 – These Things Take Time

Interesting details about this show: – This was the first and only time The Smiths would play in The Netherlands.

Former Advert’s singer TV Smith may be decades after his first band broke through, but he has never sounded more urgent with this great set of songs that spark with emotive melody and brilliant lyrics.

The Adverts were one of the finest of the 1977 punk bands. Their flurry of fame may have been brief, but those two albums they left were full of great songs and lyrics, and it felt like within their raw thrills, one of the finest songwriters of that generation had announced himself. TV Smith was the charismatic impatient scarecrow who wore his heart on his junk festooned sleeve, and with Gaye Advert was part of the photogenic core of the band whose influence has touched everyone from The Stone Roses to Henry Rollins.

Smith may have then spent decades on the fringes but his talent has never been dimmed, and “Handwriting” could arguably be the greatest post Advert’s work that he has delivered, which is a high accolade in the context of his releases. His years of performing, often armed with an acoustic guitar only, have given the songs an acoustic edge, yet they are delivered with the high IQ ferocity of the Adverts, and you are constantly reminded of the poetic urgency of his breakthrough band as well as his brilliant rush of phrases and emotional song writing.

“The perfect album” Henry Rollins, “If you only buy one album this year…let it be ‘Handwriting'” Goldmine

“Handwriting” is the title track from the forthcoming album by TV Smith, produced by Gerry Diver, release date 12th April 2024. Video directed by Kevin Winiker.

After two EPs that made them a regional success in Ireland, the alt-rock quartet moved to London to record their debut LP, “Madra” the Irish alt / rock collective NewDad release their debut album, “Madra” on Fair Youth / Atlantic. Awash with spiralling guitars and a hypnotic bassline, singer/guitarist Julie Dawson finds inspiration in TV show Euphoria, as she ruminates on the destructive relationship of characters, Rue and Jules: a storyline that she herself gravitated towards.

“Madra” meaning “dog” in Irish is an 11-song, guitar-stacked visceral outing, as singer/guitarist Julie Dawson embarks on a journey of self-exploration, self-sabotage, and reflection. Soaked in dysfunction, “Madra” searches for solace in pain, tackling themes of bullying (‘Where I Go’), self-medication/depression (‘Madra’, ‘Let Go’), destruction (‘Change My Mind’, ‘White Ribbons’), co-dependency (‘Nosebleed’) and resistance (‘Nightmares’). The album artwork, photographed by Irish creative, Joshua Gordon, shows a broken doll that serves as a metaphor for the album’s themes of fragility and vulnerability.

The album finds NewDad reconnect with their musical roots, digging deep into the shoegaze/rock sonics that sound tracked their formative years (the band cite Pixies, The Cure and Slowdive as some of their biggest early influences), together with glimmers of indie/pop that harks back to their earlier material: ‘Waves EP’ (2021) and ‘Banshee EP’ (2022). Written in their home city of Galway, Ireland, before the band moved to London this year, and recorded at the legendry Rockfield Studios (Black Sabbath, Queen), the album has been produced by NewDad’s long-time collaborator Chris Ryan (Just Mustard) and mixed by Alan Moulder (The Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Wet Leg).

Bound together by Julie’s ghostly vocal – a vessel for her weighty, introspective song writing –“Madra” firmly marks NewDad as one of Ireland’s most promising debut guitar bands.

Their breakthrough 2022 EP, “Banshee”  Now the band have signed to Atlantic Records, NewDad are primed to become a Stateside sensation with their first full-length

By the time NewDad released their hotly tipped debut LP “Madra”, the group led by Julie Dawson had begun engaging with the material in a different way. The album, which arrived at the end of January via Atlantic Records, was completed in February of 2023.

Its diaristic nature and heart-on-sleeve lyricism made it an intense personal reflection of Dawson and her bandmates’ world at a particular moment in time. But by the time “Madra” was released, the group wasn’t necessarily in the same mental headspace as they were when they wrote these songs. It taught Dawson to detach from her work, to view creation as something fleeting, temporary, and ultimately, for her listeners.

Imbued with the ethereal vocal harmonies of Cocteau Twins and the gothic jangle of The Cure, “Madra”, the debut long-player by Galway-based indie band NewDad, channels Julie Dawson’s ghostly voice into a nocturnal spirit walk that guides listeners through the melancholic realm of dream-pop and more than earns its spot among the best albums of 2024.

With plays on BBC Radio 1, 6Music and KEXP under their belt, and their anticipated third album released in January, Manchester’s Chemtrails are gearing up for a big year in 2024.

The post-garage-punk and psychedelic power pop anomaly Chemtrails return with their third album – their boldest yet with a more danceable and rhythm-driven style, armed with their trademark fuzzy guitars and playfully sinister melodies. Working with producer Margo Broom (Fat White Family, Goat Girl) this time around, the group has traded in their DIY approach for a more hi-fi studio sound, remaining just as raw and wild as ever, but with a whole new level of focus and intensity.

The post-garage-punk and psychedelic power pop anomaly that is Chemtrails started out as the DIY bedroom recording project of romantic partners Mia Lust and Laura Orlova, evolving into a full band in 2016. Their uncanny talent for blasting out weird but irresistibly catchy pop songs was quickly noticed by Swedish label PNKSLM Recordings, who signed them just after their first gig — at Trans Pride Brighton. After relocating from London to Manchester in 2019, Lust and Orlova joined forces with a ferocious new rhythm section, putting the final piece of the puzzle into place. With Ian Kane on bass and Liam Steers on drums, the Chemtrails machine is now souped up with a turbocharged rhythmic engine, propelling the hook-filled songs to new levels of raw power, as the band sashays between sleazy punk, frantic krautrock and sardonically sassy grooves.

Served on a bed of twangy and fuzzy guitars, primitive synths and polychromatic pop, Mia Lust’s tongue-in-cheek lyrics tackle alienation, the absurd, the human condition, the impending apocalypse and, occasionally, her place in the world as a transgender woman. The band cites their biggest influences as Pixies, Blondie, Oh Sees, Fat White Family and sixties psych and garage punk, but what has always held the whole project together is the endless supply of catchy melodies, delivered with the band’s relentless excitement and energy.

The sixth album from Still Corners is “Dream Talk”. Beautifully arranged, elegant and wistful, “Dream Talk” is a set of ten carefully crafted classic songs.  From the autumnal opener “Today is the Day” to the hot summer night finale of “Turquoise Moon”, Still Corners have created a sound that is focused, stylish and seductive. Tessa Murray says, “The genesis for a lot of these songs came from dreams.  Every night I would write down the dreams I could remember. 

While recording I would pull out my book of dreams and sing over various looped phrases Greg had been working on, the repetitive nature of the looping and singing almost felt like going into a trance.  A lot of the songs came from that process, it was fun and what I thought were sort of ramblings ended up surprising us with their various meanings and imagery.”

Still Corners new album “Dream Talk”, out April 5th 2024 on Wrecking Light Records.

The debut album by Soft Loft, titled “The Party and the Mess,” comprises 12 tracks released in March 2024, in a standard 12″ black vinyl edition, as well as in a limited special edition featuring a coloured eco- mix vinyl accompanied by a poster and digital formats. Soft Loft is a safe haven, an attitude, a way of life. It’s where the broken and the imperfect are embraced and celebrated. Soft Loft is non-hierarchical. Soft Loft is where reality is transmuted into dreams and dreams back into reality. Judgement is suspended here. Because vulnerability is the gateway to connection. Anything goes, as long as it’s heartfelt and it flows. Soft Loft is a collective of musicians dedicated to creating safe spaces using sound.

“The Party and the Mess” sounds like an intimate conversation between dear friends, and you, as the listener, are allowed to listen in on it. There’s also something about the ease with which everybody is playing, and how the individual instruments weave together to support the voice and the emotions that it channels – it feels so damn good. If there is a single word to describe this feeling, or what it evokes, this word is probably trust! And not just any ol’ trust, but a deep and unconditional one.

The material was produced by grammy-nominated Gianluca Buccellati (Arlo Parks, Biig Piig, easy life, Lana Del Rey) and cut in a snowed-in studio in Engelberg. It was written in all sorts of “safe spaces” created by the band, one of which happens to be a cozy little house in Ticino, the Italian- speaking part of Switzerland. Cut off from the outside world, often for days at a time, they would get lost in music and the bottomless well of late night conversations, and the magic would just happen.

This past weekend, Neil Young took to his Neil Young Archives website to announce the upcoming record, which was recorded in 1969 with Crazy Horse. The album is due to arrive on June 28th via Reprise Records, ‘Early Daze’, showcases the band’s unique style at the end of the 1960s, capturing the essence of their live performances and their contribution to the evolution of rock & roll.”

This new collection of Neil Young & Crazy Horse’ earliest recordings include several original versions that have not been released before, and along with the 7-inch Mono mix that was released in 1970 that includes a guitar outro not on LP version not on original LP version.

‘Early Daze’ comprises 10 songs, including a total of six unreleased tunes from Crazy Horse’s early line-up of guitarist Danny Whitten, drummer Ralph Molina, bassist Billy Talbot, keyboardist Jack Nitzsche and Young. Songs like ‘Everbody’s Alone’, ‘Cinnamon Girl’ and ‘Birds’ will receive releases with different mixes. Also among them are some of the first incarnations of songs such as ‘Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown’, ‘Winterlong’, ‘Wonderin”, ‘Look At All The Things’, ‘Helpless’ and ‘Down By The River’, which had remained previously unheard until now.

Fans of Young have been anticipating the release of “Early Daze” since he first alluded to the project in his 2012 autobiography, Waging Heavy Peace.