The Fat Angel Sings

The Last Dinner Party have today announced a new album of covers and acoustic versions. The collection, which includes a soaring rendition of Sparks‘ “This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us” will arrive on October 11th.

The band’s cover of Sparks’ 1974 single arrives alongside a tour montage video that’s been put together with footage shot over the band’s recent trips to Japan, The US & their recent performance at Reading Festival.

The band have been performing the covers during their recent festival appearances & tour dates…

Bruce Springsteen’s cover of Jesse Malin’s “She Don’t Love Me Now” taken from the upcoming multi-artist benefit album “Silver Patron Saints: The Songs of Jesse Malin” has been released as a single, Springsteen recorded the song with Malin’s band, plus Jake Clemons on saxophone. Other contributors to the album, which will be released on September 20th, include Lucinda Williams, Elvis Costello, Counting Crows, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, Tom Morello, Willie Nile, Ian Hunter, Susanna Hoffs, Low Cut Connie, Graham Parker and Gogol Bordello.

Proceeds will go to Malin’s Sweet Relief fund, supporting him as he continues to recover from the spinal stroke he suffered last year.

Malin originally released “She Don’t Love Me Now” on his 2015 album, “New York Before the War”. In a press release, he said that “Bruce gave it that Stax-soul-thing that we were dreaming of when we recorded the original. It’s so surreal to me.”

He also said, “Bruce’s generosity, honesty and support are equally as powerful as his song writing and performing” and that “Bruce is one of the guys. He walks it like he talks it. You spend some time with him, and it feels like you’ve known him for years. He’s like my friends in Queens, sitting around talking about Sinatra, the Clash, and the Pogues. He has that passion and excitement for life.”

Malin said that hearing the songs from “Silver Patron Saints“, and “especially” this one, “took me out of a dark time. I felt excited about life again, in a way that only music can do.”

Malin also said, on a taped message that was played on WFUV before the station premiered the song, last night, that Springsteen’s contribution to the album “blows my mind. It’s so flattering. He did such a soulful take. And, being one of my favorite singers and writers, and a hero, just to hear him do my song is just unreal. It’s a real huge emotional boost.”

Two benefit concerts for Malin will take place at The Beacon Theatre in New York, December 1st-2nd, with Lucinda Williams, Jakob Dylan, The Hold Steady, Rickie Lee Jones, Adam Duritz, Willie Nile, Adam Weiner and others. Malin and his band will also play a full set.

This past Saturday, Jeff Lynne’s ELO kicked off “The Over and Out Tour” with a sold-out performance at Acrisure Arena in Thousand Palms, CA. The 31-date trek, produced by Live Nation and set to travel to major cities across North America through the end of October,

Jeff Lynne began his “Over and Out” tour on Saturday (August 24, 2024), his first concert since last November. Jeff Lynne’s ELO, in what is billed as his final tour. The maestro behind the Electric Light Orchestra sat out not only the pandemic but also the years that followed. It’s thus his first tour in five years.

Lynne made his first stage performance in four years when he played a 10-song set at Joe Walsh’s VetsAid benefit concert on November 12th, 2023.

On this evening, Lynne and company performed a 21-song set with some fairly significant additions. While the ELO hits were there “Evil Woman,” “Livin’ Thing,” and “Turn to Stone” among them, the group also played such favourites as “Calling America,” (from 1982’s Balance of Power) “Strange Magic” and “Twilight.” .Lynne traditionally performs while wearing his trademark sunglasses and rarely speaks to the audience during his concerts. He now leaves the high notes to other members of his band. (He turned 76 last December.)

This performance was the first time Lynne had performed “Strange Magic” since 2016. The brief “Fire on High,” (from 1975’s Face the Music). which led into “Livin’ Thing,” was a good opportunity for the 12-piece band to step out a bit.

The original Electric Light Orchestra, acclaimed for its fusions of prog-rock, pop, and classical music, disbanded in 1986. From there, Lynne went on to become one of the most sought-after producers in rock music. The singer/guitarist/producer is the only remaining original member of Electric Light Orchestra in the line up and has led the band through two albums of new material—2015’s “Alone in the Universe” and 2019’s “From Out of Nowhere“

Orlando Weeks’ new album “Loja” (Portuguese for ‘store’) was written in both London and Lisbon. Recording began in earnest in January 2023 at the beautiful Chale Abbey Studios with long time live collaborator Sergio Maschetzko as producer, supported by co-producer and engineer David Granshaw. In its latter stages, Nathan Jerkins (Bullion) contributed additional production and mixing.

Lead single “Dig”, featuring Rhian Teasdale (Wet Leg), is 3 minutes of half argument, long worn-out promises being remade and road weary offences being retaken. The record features a number of other key collaborators including Katy J Pearson, Tony Njoku, Oliver Hamilton (Caroline) and Alejandro Aranda (Scary Pool Party). The core musical contributions come from long standing live collaborators Sami El-Enany, Luca Caruso, William Doyle and Alexander Painter.

A love letter to his new home, lyrically “Loja” toys with both the fantastical and stark realism. There are sleeping giants in “Best Night” and the final song on the album, “Beautiful Place”, tells the story of a beach death. The novelty of a new city afforded Weeks the opportunity to romanticise his present and re-evaluate his past.

the new album, ‘Loja’: Out 6th June on all digital platforms.

New book series of Yes Album Listening Guides announced beginning with “Tales from Topographic Oceans” as the first in the series. Following the success of his multi-award nominated, Amazon Bestselling first book about the progressive rock band, Yes – The Tormato Story, Kevin Mulryne returns
with the first in a spectacular new series of Yes Album Listening Guides.

Never one to shy away from controversial topics, Kevin has chosen to begin the in-depth
new series with perhaps the most divisive album of all time amongst Yes fans, progressive
rock fans and classic rock fans. 1973’s epic double album, ‘Tales from Topographic Oceans’,
saw Yes climb to uncharted heights of musical and thematic invention.

Depending on your point of view, this culminated in a creative work destined to define the excess and
pointlessness of the whole prog rock movement or to be crowned as its most intense and
glorious pinnacle. Kevin delves deeply into many aspects of the album – the context and
details of writing and rehearsals, the recording process at Morgan Studios, the instruments
and techniques used to create its unique sound, the critical and fan reactions to its release,
the concerts, venues, live sound, merchandise and scenery of the following tour and much
more!

Kevin has spoken to many people who worked with the band in the period ‘Tales’ was
created as well as co-author Steve Howe. He has also consulted the most highly-regarded
Yes instrument experts and collectors to paint an amazingly full picture of this seminal
progressive work. All this painstaking, original research has fed into the creation of the
centrepiece of the book – the detailed guide to each of the four movements of the album.
Never before has the music of ‘Tales’ come under such intense scrutiny. Kevin has
discovered many fascinating and mind-blowing facets to one of the most important records
of the 1970s and travelled down unending rabbit holes to uncover previously hidden detail.
Also available separately, at time of publishing, will be a 40-page A5 magazine-style full
colour supplement, including newly-annotated black and white and colour photographs,
mainly from the listening guide, a map of important Tales locations and more!.

Dreamy indie heads building a strong cult following after some great songs over the past few months. The Scottish three-piece indie rock band. Formed in Edinburgh in late 2018, the band initially comprised Alice Johnson and Lewis Bunting, before Bunting’s schoolmate Matt Mitchell and their friend Nairn Milne joined the band. Mitchell and Milne later left the band, with Billy McMahon joining in June 2020.

We’ve been asked so many times by you guys when we’ll be releasing a physical record and it’s something we’ve always dreamed of doing so it’s beyond exciting to announce that pre-order for our first ever vinyl record is now, Bringing together our EP’s “Duality” & “Seeing it Now”, this is a limited edition of just 300 and comes in a beautiful deep red velvet record.

Swim School might just be the ideal mid-afternoon guitar band every festival needs – armed with a mighty crowd-pleaser from the EA Sports FC 24 soundtrack (‘Bored’) for good measure. But the Edinburgh trio won’t be hanging around there for long, with their steadily growing cult fanbase and catalogue of bangers undoubtedly set to see the band to follow their indie heroes and steadily make their way through to the top of line-up in years to come.

This double album showcases Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ electrifying gig at the Paradiso, in Amsterdam, on 3rd June 1992, during the “Henry’s Dream” Tour.

Featured here are stellar renditions of classics such as “The Mercy Seat”, “From Her to Eternity”, “Tupelo”, “The Ship Song” and many more.

Nick Cave’s remarkable baritone voice, emotional intensity and lyrical obsessions with death, religion, love and violence grabs audiences by the throat. This captures the dark poet and his band after the release of their album ‘Henry’s Dream’, touring the world and stopping by the legendary Amsterdam pop temple Paradiso for an unforgettable performance featuring: ‘The Mercy Seat’, ‘Tupelo’, ‘Jack The Ripper’ and the heart wrenching classic ‘In The Ghetto’.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ seventh studio album, “Henry’s Dream“, was released on April 1992. The band promoted the album with an initial tour across Europe, North America, Japan and Australia in 1992. The tour consisted of five legs and fifty-five concerts, and began in Norwich, England in April 1992 and concluded in Brisbane, Australia in December. In 1993, the band continued touring, adding a further two legs and twenty-three concerts in Australia, Europe and Israel.

Trace Mountains, is the project of Dave Benton, shared the second single from his highly anticipated new album “Into The Burning Blue”, due out September 27th via Lame-O Records. In contrast to the widescreen production and frantic pace of opener “In A Dream,” the next single “Friend” highlights a core intention of the album – that each song had the integrity to stand alone in a stripped-back setting. Over fingerpicked guitars and spry drumming, Benton reflects on confronting loneliness and finding solace in community.

Written as Benton grappled with the end of an 8-year romantic relationship, songs were pouring out of him in quick succession, often urgently before he had logically processed the emotions himself. The pressure of this period crystallized Benton’s adventurous spirit and self-renewal as he embraced new high-fidelity sounds and conviction. Writing routinely over a Roland CR-68 drum machine and enamored with the dramatic precision of 80s music, Benton enlisted Craig Hendrix (Japanese Breakfast) to bring his indie rock to immersive new heights.

Benton recalls the Tom Petty-inspired “Friend” as his proudest and most honest moment. “I like to joke that I’m a ‘loner in recovery,’” said Benton, “When I wrote “Friend,” I was facing a pretty big transition in my life. I needed to address my own loneliness, and writing the song was like my first step on that path. It was my way of saying, “Yep, I feel lonely sometimes,” and dealing with that good old millennial malaise. I’m just really grateful for the people in my life and trying to tackle the meaning of a word like “Friend” feels impossible, but it’s fun to try.”

Watch the surreal video below, directed by brothers Alyx & Sam Soard. On the video Sam shares “When Dave and I were brainstorming ideas for “Friend,” we found ourselves reflecting on the bizarre nature of the loneliness epidemic. During one of our phone calls, I suggested portraying him as a werewolf. We both laughed at the idea initially but soon realized it was a playful way to capture the surreal social experience we’re all enduring. Dave and his reputation as a well-known cat mom brought a unique perspective to this concept. Exaggerating his personality in this creature-feature felt like a fun way to explore the song’s themes. Our goal was to use humor to emphasize the importance of genuine companionship in a world that often feels chaotic and disconnected.”