The sad 2017 demise of Tom Petty has increased the interest in this renowned rocker. Petty had just clocked up forty years of success before the cruel hand of fate robbed the world of his prestigious talent. A seventies Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released a dynamic debut album that had this American band setting a new template. Not quite old school but not quite new wave Petty and his posse wrote some good tunes which were radio friendly with an edge. Other top tunes followed but as regards a long player I did not go any further.
However, on the back of a golden yesteryear era, it is time to take further stock of a rock n roll icon. This 16 track, 72 minute long live set picks up on a 1989 US FM Broadcast. Petty is the main songwriter – but, there are allegiances with Mike Campbell, Jeff Lynne and Dave Stewart in different formats across half a dozen of the songs, a Benmont Tench tune and there is also a Chuck Berry cover. This 101% music maverick offers stage stamina and both quantity and quality. On a selfish note, Breakdown from the fresher release is present and that means an extra credit – and, an alternative approach to the sonic sculptures adds extra spice. This is a great FM recording from North Carolina featuring some of the new songs from both “Let Me Up” and “Full Moon Fever”, and of special note is the middle section with new acoustic renditions of ‘Even the Losers’, ‘Listen to Her Heart’, and the rarely subsequently played ‘Face in the Crowd’ (in an absolutely beautiful version). Other highlights are the rarely performed ‘Something Big’ from “Hard Promises” and a new, more rockin’ arrangement of ‘Don’t Come Around Here No More’.
Tom Petty made a significant contribution to rock n roll across five decades and in no manner was it a petty one! This 2018 “Strange Behaviour” set has a sadly lost legend breaking hearts and setting standards. Great quality sound and some different takes on certain songs, worth it for the version of “A Face in the Crowd” on its own. The original source on this was Westwood One Superstars In Concert. This was part of the Strange BehaviourTour, which ran from July to September, 1989 in the U.S., and this was the only date in North Carolina. The next leg of the tour continued in January-March of 1990,
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Chapel Hill, NC – September 13th, 1989
Neil Young and his Performance Series releases from the Neil Young Archives is “Bluenote Café” released on November 13th via Reprise Records. The album collects various performances captured during Neil’s 1988 tour.
The album is volume eleven in Young’s Archives Performance Series, and features performances from Young’s 1987–88 American tours with his then-backing band, The Bluenotes (renamed here as Bluenote Café ), with whom he recorded his seventeenth studio album, “This Note’s for You”.
Aside from live versions of “This Note’s for You” songs, the album features a number of songs that weren’t released at the time; “Welcome to the Big Room”, “Hello Lonely Woman”, “Bad News Comes to Town”, “Crime of the Heart” and “Doghouse” make their first appearances on any official Neil Young release (“Doghouse” was covered in 2011 by Young’s then-wife Pegi on her album “Bracing for Impact”. Two of the album’s tracks, “This Note’s for You” and “Ain’t It the Truth,” previously appeared on the compilation album “Lucky Thirteen”. The album received positive reviews,”generally favourable reviews”. Chris Gerard of PopMatters gave the album nine stars out of ten, stating: “Bluenote Café” is essential Neil Young, and further evidence that Young’s 80s work has more value than many would expect.
This superb live 2-CD, 4-vinyl LP set documents one of Young’s most funky and heartfelt periods and features seven unreleased songs: and a searing 19+ minute version of the immortal “Tonight’s the Night” from The Pier in New York City.
The Bluenote Café Band:
Neil Young – guitar & vocals
Rick Rosas – bass,
Chad Cromwell – drums
Frank Sampedro – keyboards
Steve Lawrence – lead tenor saxophone
Ben Keith – alto saxophone
Larry Cragg – baritone saxophone
Claude Cailliet – trombone
Tom Bray – trumpet
John Fumo – trumpet
Billy Talbot – bass
Ralph Molina – drums
Delaney & Bonnie were the American musical duo of singer/songwriters Delaney Bramlett and Bonnie Bramlett. In 1969 and 1970, they fronted a rock/soul ensemble, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, whose members at different times included Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, George Harrison, Leon Russell, Bobby Whitlock, Dave Mason, Rita Coolidge, King Curtis, and Eric Clapton.
Bonnie Bramlett, started as a backing singer for blues artists that included Little Milton, Albert King and Fontella Bass and gained attention as a history maker as being the first white Ikette for Ike & Tina Turner. Wanting to spread her wings she moved to Los Angeles, met up with Delaney Bramlett who was with The Shindogs and married him just days after their first meeting in 1967. Their daughter Bekka who was born the following year is herself an extremely successful singer. She and her husband became the duo Delaney & Bonnie who became one of the first successful white R&B acts and soon they would tour with Eric Clapton and perform with artists such as Dave Mason, Rita Coolidge , Leon Russell, Duane Allman, John Lennon and George Harrison where they would be known as Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. Seeing success in the charts the songs they are most known for now are possible “Only You Know and I Know” and “Never-Ending Song of Love”.
Also following her own solo career, she and Leon Russell co-wrote the song “Give Peace a Chance” and “Groupie” which would change it’s name to “Superstar” and be a huge 1971 hit for The Carpenters.
Delaney Bramlett passed away in December 2008, He learned the guitar in his youth. He moved to Los Angeles in 1959 where he became a session musician. His most notable early work was as a member of the Shindogs, the house band for the ABC-TV series Shindig! (1964–66), which also included guitarist and keyboardist Leon Russell. He was the first artist signed to Independence Records.
She and Delaney divorced in 1973.
Delaney Bramlett and Leon Russell had many connections in the music business through their work in the Shindogs and formed a band of solid, if transient, musicians around Delaney & Bonnie. The band became known as “Delaney & Bonnie and Friends”, because of its regular changes of personnel. They secured a recording contract with Stax Records and completed work on their first album, Home, in 1968.
Home:
As earthy as it was honest, in retrospect, it’s little wonder the music of Delaney and Bonnie held as much attraction for Eric Clapton in the waning days of Cream as did the Band’sMusic From Big Pink. Precursor to reissues on the same Atco label as that groundbreaking power trio, this debut on Stax Records was even closely aligned with D&B’s roots: the secular devotion as expressed in the couple’s co-writing efforts such as “Pour Your Love On Me” sounds as deeply felt as their rendition of Isaac Hayes and David Porter’s “My Baby Specializes” or that signature of Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart.”
None of which is a surprise given the literally down-home cover photo or especially the co-production of tight, economical arrangements by Duck Dunn, bassist of Booker T & The MG’s, whose bandmates all appear here alongside other linchpins of the influential studios,
D&B Together
The title of this album’s more than a little ironic because the principals’ had separated before the end of a series of events during which the record’s original configuration, titled Country Life, was refused release and the couple’s contract was transferred to Columbia Records.Ultimately released with a modified track sequence, the dozen cuts include what’s arguably their most famous number, “Comin’ Home” (its guitar refrain courtesy Clapton), a bonafide hit of their own in the form of Dave Mason’s “Only You Know And I Know,” plus the original version of a song subsequently made famous (in a decidedly sterilized interpretation) by The Carpenters, “Groupie(Superstar).”Reaffirmed with the addition of half a dozen bonus tracks, the gospel and r&b elements of Delaney and Bonnie’s musical approach are in full-flower here, as well as a stylistic departure in the form of the original title cut that, as a baroque waltz adorned with strings, might well have allowed for further expansion of the pair’s already eclectic style.
D&B Together 1972 album was their last album of new material, as Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett would divorce soon after its release. Although released by Columbia/CBS (catalog no. KC 31377), D&B Together was actually recorded for the Atco/Atlantic label, under the working title Country Life. According to his autobiography Rhythm and the Blues, Atlantic executive Jerry Wexler was dissatisfied with the album’s quality upon its delivery to the label, and, upon investigating the situation and discovering Delaney and Bonnie were splitting up, sold their contract – including this album’s master tapes – to CBS. CBS reordered the running sequence of the album. On reflecting on the matter in 2003, Delaney Bramlett was quoted as saying “I thought [D&B Together] was a fine piece of work, so did Bonnie. Unfortunately, Jerry Wexler didn’t agree.”
Delaney and Bonnie’s “Friends” of the band’s 1969-70 heyday also had considerable impact. After the early 1970 breakup of this version of the band, Leon Russell recruited many of its ex-members, excepting Delaney, Bonnie and singer/keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, to join Joe Cocker’s band, participating on Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen recording sessions and North American tour (March–May 1970; Rita Coolidge’s version of “Groupie(Superstar)” was recorded with this band while on tour). Whitlock meanwhile joined Clapton at his home in Surrey, UK, where they wrote songs and decided to form a band, which two former “Friends”/Cocker band members, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon, would later join. As Derek And The Dominos, they recorded the landmark album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970) with assistance on many tracks from another former “Friend,” lead/slide guitarist Duane Allman. Derek and the Dominos also constituted the core backing band on George Harrison’s vocal debut album All Things Must Pass (1970) with assistance from still more former “Friends”: Dave Mason, Bobby Keys and Jim Price.
Wolf Parade’s ‘Under Glass” is a standout track from “Thin Mind”, their acclaimed album of 2020.
It’s now the subject of a gory yet humorous, Cronenberg-esque official video, and will see its premiere tonight, Saturday, April 18th via the Episode One Podcast charity stream with ChapoFYM on Twitch. The charity stream event will raise funds for the Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation!
The “Under Glass” video is directed by Caleb Bardgett and Johnny Dunn, stars Keegan Kruse, with special effects makeup from Cig Neutron (Face-Off All-Stars winner), filmed by Thaddeus Bridwell, and video effects by Bardgett.
Dan Boecker says of the video, “‘Under Glass’ is inspired by Canada’s greatest cultural export: David Cronenberg. The protagonist sits in isolation, their only joy in life is plugging in a bioport and interfacing with a psychedelic PS1 hellscape where they are loved and adored. Their body decays. They’re smiling.” And co-directors Jonny Dunn and Caleb Bardgett offered this, “We worked with Dan last year on some really cool videos for one of his other projects, and so naturally we jumped at the chance to jam with the Wolf Parade boys on this video for ‘Under Glass.’
“We looked at Brian Yuzna’s SOCIETY and Cronenberg as spiritual references for the visuals, and theme-wise, the band wanted to tap into some end-of-times / isolation / addicted-to-screens stuff… This was mid-2019, preceding our eventual quarantine so it’s all more eerily-relevant now, seeing as how we’re all pretty alone and isolated, becoming very pale and more jacked-in.
“We really wanted to nail the body horror, which meant we needed a practical special FX master…but didn’t know anyone ourselves. We hit up a buddy of ours, Eric Skodis, who knows all about that world, and he referred us to a genius named Cig Neutron, who turned out to be the absolute perfect brain for making the best and grossest oozy stuff we could imagine. We shot the video all in one day at Cig’s studio, with Thaddeus Bridwell as DP.
“Keegan Kruse starred as our logged-on lonely video freak and was such a sport. He had to wear the make up all day, and it took him another half day just to peel all of the latex and make-up off of his face.
“We couldn’t be happier to see the video finally come out in a world where all of us are now trapped inside, living ‘Under Glass.’“ Thin Mind is available worldwide through Sub Pop,“Under Glass” from the Wolf Parade album Thin Mind (Release Date: January 24th, 2020)
With their fifth album, ‘V’, The Horrors were ready to take on all comers, vigorously enforcing the widely-held belief that their time was at hand.
Renowned for boldly going where most bands fear to tread, The Horrors are masters of reinvention who once again upped the ante with their compelling, enigmatically-titled fifth album, V.
The chameleonic Southend-on-Sea popsters initially sprang onto the scene touting a chaotic fusion of 80s gothabilly and 60s garage-rock on their 2007 debut, Strange House. Yet after they changed course dramatically with 2009’s epic, motorik-influenced single ‘Sea Within A Sea’, they’ve continued to wow fans and critics. Their sophomore release, the psychedelia-streaked Primary Colours (produced by Portishead mainstay Geoff Barrow) drew considerable praise, while 2011’s synth-heavy Skying and 2014’s Luminous have ensured that The Horrors’ career remains on an upward trajectory.
The band followed their muse (almost literally) to the end of the earth to work up the songs for V. Frontman Faris Badwan and bassist Rhys Webb decamped to Iceland with a Korg drum machine and some acoustic guitars to write songs in a remote cabin, while guitarist Joshua Third, keyboard wizard Tom Furse and drummer Joseph Spurgeon also composed new tracks individually. Bringing it all back home, the quintet later hooked up with producer Paul Epworth (Paul McCartney, Coldplay, U2) and magic began to happen.
Recalling the V album sessions with fondness, The Horrors were fulsome with praise for their new producer’s enthusiasm, not to mention his spontaneity. “We’d start off with some little motif, usually an electronic loop that seemed appealing, and build stuff up,” said Joshua Third. “It was like two songs a day, we hadn’t worked like that in years. He [Epworth] would keep the whole thing rolling, whereas we’d got to a stage where we’d bunker down and chat about something for ages. But he’s so obsessed with action, it’s refreshing.”
Equal parts light and shade, V, which was released on 22nd September 2017, is arguably the darkest, yet conversely the most accessible record The Horrors have unleashed to date. The album introduces itself in dramatic fashion, with glacial, Gary Numan-esque synths framing the churning, industrial pop of ‘Hologram’, while the glitchy electronica ushering in ‘Machine’ morphs into prowling, Stooges-style aggression as the song shifts into high gear. Destined to join ‘Still Life’ and ‘Sea Within A Sea’ as one of The Horrors’ signature songs, meanwhile, V’s centrepiece is surely ‘Weighed Down’: an elegiac, dub-infused anthem which slow-burns its way across an unmissable six and a half minutes.
Elsewhere, however, V parades some of the most unashamedly confident, radio-friendly pop of The Horrors’ career to date. Buoyed up by bubbling sequencers, the recently released ‘Something To Remember Me By’ has already burnt up the airwaves, while the snappy ‘World Below’ and poised, infectious ‘Press Enter To Exit’ exude all the hallmarks of killer hits-in-waiting. Then there’s the album’s dark horse, ‘Gathering’: an eerie, ‘Karma Police’-esque commentary on CCTV-related surveillance culture couched in the most elegant and enticing of melodies.
Released in the wake of an arena tour supporting Depeche Mode, wherein the band proved beyond doubt they’re capable of conquering stadiums on their own, V vigorously enforced the widely-held belief that The Horrors were ready to take on all comers. As the chorus to ‘Hologram’ suggests – they just need to “ride this wave as far as we can”.
Buzzcocks require no introduction. Pivotal to the punk and post-punk DIY movements, the group, led by frontman Pete Shelley and co-conspirator Steve Diggle, brought a unique pop sensibility and sartorial style to the late 1970s and early 1980s. Having disbanded in 1981, the band re-grouped in 1989 and continue to write, record and perform to this day, despite the saddening and untimely loss of Pete Shelley in 2018. This release captures the eight albums and numerous singles the band produced with Shelley during a twenty three year period, alongside previously unheard rarities, demos and outtakes.
Released in association with the band, ‘The 1991 Demo Album’ is alive with the combination of punk energy and melodic and memorable song-writing the band’s reputation is founded on, and is both a long-awaited treat for fans and an important document of the group’s rebirth
Neil Young issued an apology for the delay in releasing the 1975 album “Homegrown”, calling it “the one that got away.” He’s finally putting out the LP this year. Neil Young has updated the timeline at Neil Young Archives to include dates for five upcoming archive titles scheduled for release during 2020.
First on the slate is shelved 1975 acoustic album Homegrown, which was given a release date of April 18th the original date for Record Store Day – despite the album disappearing from the official RSD list over the weekend. Just before its original scheduled release date, he decided to issue Tonight’s the Night instead. He later described Homegrown as “a very down album” and “the unheard bridge between “Harvest” and “Comes a Time.” It was recorded during a period when he was having marital problems as well as personal issues with his Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young bandmates.
“I apologize,” Young wrote on his archives website. “This album Homegrown should have been there for you a couple of years after Harvest. It’s the sad side of a love affair. The damage done. The heartache. I just couldn’t listen to it. I wanted to move on. So I kept it to myself, hidden away in the vault, on the shelf, in the back of my mind … but I should have shared it. It’s actually beautiful. That’s why I made it in the first place. Sometimes life hurts. You know what I mean.” an unreleased acoustic album by Neil Young from 1974-1975. Young originally recorded Homegrown at a time his career when new songs were coming to him at an incredible pace, many of them inspired by his painful split with girlfriend Carrie Snodgress.
According to the timeline, it will be followed on June 19th by Return To Greendale the concert film of Young’s 2003/4 Greendale tour; and most excitingly on July 24th by Archives Volume 2, reportedly covering the years 1972-82. It’s thought that it may contain unreleased albums Chrome Dreams and Oceanside/Countryside. The other planned 2020 releases are Rust Bucket (October 16th), a live album and film of a mammoth November 1990 show that Young has called “one of my all-time favourite Crazy Horse performances!”; and Young Shakespeare (November 27th), another live release dating from January 1971, billed as the earliest known film of any Neil Young performance.
He noted that Levon Helm and Emmylou Harris were among the artists who recorded with him and that the album carries “a narration, several acoustic solo songs never even published or heard until this release, and some songs played with a great band of my friends.”
Young said Homegrown would be his first release of 2020, though he didn’t provide a date for its arrival. “This is the one that got away,” he added. “This album, in vinyl, displays the beauty, feeling and depth of music record in the analog domain, before digital. It’s the perfect example of why I can’t forget how good music used to sound.
Neil Young puts it best: “This album is the unheard bridge between Harvest and Comes a Time”.
Recorded between June 1974 and January 1975, Homegrown was intended to come out in 1975 before Neil cancelled the release. The album has remained unreleased until now, achieving a legendary status among Neil Young fans in the process.
The album is made up of twelve Neil Young songs, of which seven are previously unreleased – “Separate Ways,” “Try,” “Mexico,” “Kansas,” We Don’t Smoke It No More,” “Vacancy” and “Florida” (a spoken word narration). Also included are the first recordings of “Love Is A Rose,” “Homegrown,” “White Line.”
“Little Wing,” and “Star Of Bethlehem” – different versions of which would all later appear on other Neil Young albums.
Neil plays solo on some tracks (guitar, piano and harmonica), and is joined by a band of friends on other tracks, including Levon Helm, Ben Keith, Karl T Himmel, Tim Drummond, Emmylou Harris and Robbie Robertson. Recorded in analog, and mastered from the original master tapes, this long-lost album is a wonderful addition to Neil’s incomparable catalogue.
A new release date has been announced for The Psychedelic Furs’ long-awaited comeback album, “Made Of Rain”. It is now scheduled to come out on July 31st via Cooking Vinyl. The Psychedelic Furs have been in the cultural lexicon for almost longer than some of us actual adults have been alive—their songs have held cinematic stock in classics like “Pretty in Pink” and The Wedding Singer (as well as a more recent classic, Call Me By Your Name), and been featured in cherished TV shows like Gilmore Girls and Stranger Things. Now the post-punk band will add to their storied legacy by releasing their first new album in almost three decades,
In the meantime you here another track from it, “No-One”, below: Along with previous singles “Don’t Believe” and “You’ll Be Mine”, “No-One” can be streamed and downloaded immediately when you preorder the album. No-One is taken from the new album ‘Made of Rain’ . The Psychedelic Furs return with their first new studio album in almost 30 years. The band’s self-titled debut was released in 1980, while follow-up Talk Talk Talk from ’81 featured the classic ‘Pretty in Pink’, which became a top 20 UK hit in 1986 when it was reissued as a single after appearing on the soundtrack to the John Hughes film of the same name.
Five more studio albums followed, but despite reforming and touring constantly since the turn of the millennium, the Stephen Street-produced World Outside from 1991 was their last studio outing. But all that is about to change with the news that Made of Rain will be released in early May. The 12-track album was produced by Richard Fortus, and mixed by Tim Palmer and includes the songs Don’t Believe, No One ,“You’ll Be Mine.
Led by singer Richard Butler and his bassist brother Tim Butler, the Furs have been touring fairly frequently since reuniting two decades ago. Until now, however, they’d never followed up their pre-breakup record, 1991’s World Outside. The single “Alive (For Once in My Lifetime)” was included on 2001’s Beautiful Chaos: Greatest Hits Live, but that was the last piece of new music we’d heard from the band.
The album will be available on CD and double vinyl with a special 2LP coloured/splatter vinyl edition available via the band’s official store with a SIGNED print (a black 2LP vinyl version is also available if you don’t go in for the coloured option). Produced by Richard Fortus (formerly of the Butlers’ mid-’90s band Love Spit Love, currently playing in Guns N’ Roses) and mixed by Tim Palmer (Pearl Jam, Robert Plant), Made of Rain was made with Psychedelic Furs’ current touring line-up. In addition to the Butler brothers, that includes saxophonist Mars Williams, drummer Paul Garisto, keyboardist Amanda Kramer, and guitarist Rich Good.
The band will also play a special show at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 14th May and the store offers special pre-sale access two days before the general sale. Made of Rain will be released on 1st May 2020.
If “Don’t Believe” is at all representative ofMade of Rain, expect a slightly more bitter Furs than you might be used to. Or perhaps they always have had that bite, and it’s just taking firmer hold with this tight, modern production. Classic sax notes follow the guitar’s breathing melody, trudging with lowered shoulder against the psychedelic swirl of the track. It all bursts free on the hook, as Richard Butler and a chorus of voices call out, “I don’t believe/ I don’t believe you/ Don’t believe me.”
The Psychedelic Furs are: Richard Butler (vocals), Tim Butler (bass), Mars Williams (saxophone), Paul Garisto (drums), Amanda Kramer (keyboards) and Rich Good (guitar).
‘Arguably their strongest since Forever Now’ – Mojo ‘Well worth the wait’ – Vive Le Rock!
Looking across Radiohead members’ solo ventures, Thom Yorke has three albums of his own, the latest being 2019’s ‘ANIMA’; Jonny Greenwood has scored several films, including Paul Thomas Andersen’s ‘There Will Be Blood’; drummer Phil Selway has two records to his name; bassist Colin Greenwood has had the odd deviation from Radiohead duties, but has largely stayed on script. And now Ed O’Brien looks set to break his duck with a debut album in 2020.
Because he is one-fifth of one of the world’s most consistently brilliant and successful bands, it’s a bit jarring to hear that Ed O’Brien still needs to combat the idea that his songs are “shit.” That inner monologue will be familiar to many musicians or creative people working in any medium, an inner critic that tells you whatever it is you’re doing isn’t good enough. But, well, most of our inner critics have a bit more solid evidence to stand on.
There wasn’t years of material. This was all from about summer of 2013 to summer of 2014. I also had to let go of the computer. I don’t respond well to operating as I go along—whether it was Ableton Live or Pro Tools, and they’re great software—but I needed to literally be lost in the moment and not have my engineering head on or whatever. I had a great studio in Oxfordshire which are owned by Radiohead’s management called Courtyard, and there’s a great engineer-producer called Ian Davenport, who’s worked a lot with Gaz Coombes.
His first work as EOB, including lead single ‘Brasil’, is produced by Flood, and is set to feature contributions from Laura Marling, Nathan East and The Invisible’s Dave Okumu, among others. “This feels like the start of something new and truly significant for me,” he told fans on social media in December. He promises to tour the record next year too. Really, I’m excited for the next one. I think every record that you make, you have to be learning, and you’re only learning when you’re out of your comfort zone, and I was out of my comfort zone the whole time.”
Flood and Catherine Marks produced [the record]; Flood produced all of it, Catherine was involved for some of it—and I talked to him a lot about wanting to capture the spirit of a place, and the spirit of this place in Wales, Lands, and to have a fully immersive experience. That we’d eat, sleep, and drink it. I’ve been very fortunate in Radiohead—you know, the first time we did that was with OK Computer—and we’ve done this, this has been a tried and tested route. And what happens is, you kind of get the soul of the record, and you get it in the early stages.
All the same, to hear O’Brien talk about how he was able to silence his own long enough to make “Earth”, his debut solo album released under the EOB moniker, might just help others along their own creative journeys. Conceived while living in Brazil in 2012, begun in earnest in 2013, and recorded in Wales and London with a cast of great musicians, Earth is a testament to an expert collaborator learning how to take control. But it’s no singer-songwriter affair; it’s a rhythmic album, with a pulse that beats even throughout its quietest acoustic moments and rises to festive, electronic heights.
Listen to ‘Earth,’ the new album by EOB (Ed O’Brien of Radiohead).
Seminal Minneapolis bandThe Jayhawkshave announced their new album”XOXO”will release onJuly 10th via Sham/Thirty Tigers. Featuring their most diverse and wide-ranging group of songs to date,XOXOmarks a new era in collaboration, with songwriting and lead vocal contributions from all four longtime band members – Gary Louris,Marc Perlman, Karen Grotberg and Tim O’Reagan.Along with the announcement, The Jayhawks have released a new video with Louris performing a stripped-down version of “Living In A Bubble”, a timely song that laments the problematic nature of our ratings-driven news cycle.
“‘Living In A Bubble’ lyrically is a reaction to the 24-hour news cycle and how the media can fan the flames of fear if one let’s it,” says Louris. “It is also a commentary about data collection, Big Brother, and our obsession with devices, while never being truly present in the here and now.Musically it is an homage to the great Harry Nilsson, and is driven by the amazing piano playing of Karen Grotberg.”
XOXOis a testament to The Jayhawks’ unrelenting ability to evolve while remaining true to the authentic sound that has made them one of the most influential and respected bands today.Recorded over two weeks holed up together at the secluded Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, MN, as well as at Flowers Studio, founded by their friend and Minneapolis music stalwart the late Ed Ackerson,XOXOis an album fueled by chemistry and trust.
The group’s camaraderie is at the heart and soul of these 12 songs, bringing an injection of confidence and energy to The Jayhawks’ signature harmonies, infectious melodies and masterful musicianship.From Louris’ pointedly transportive “Homecoming” to Grotberg’s timelessly poetic “Ruby” to the the Pearlmen-led, folk-driven “Down To The Farm” and the trippy O’Reagan/Perlman co-write “Illuminate”,XOXOis the product of a group that is more inspired and more itself than ever before.
“It was time to open things up,” explains Louris. “The Jayhawks are a true band, one where every-one’s an equal, and we wanted to make a record that really reflected that.”Elaborating on the process, Perlman says, “Some songs we molded together from scratch, but others had been fully written by one or the other of us.We didn’t worry too much about who penned what, because after all these years of playing together, everything we do just naturally comes out sounding like a Jayhawks song.”
