‘Come Ahead’ is the new album by Primal Scream. Not out ’til November, The 11-track album is produced by David Holmes and the during the songwriting process Bobby Gillespie found himself writing alone, using an acoustic guitar, with lyrics coming before the music, for the first time. You can preview Love Insurrection,
I’m very excited about this album in a way that you would be making your first record. If there was an overall theme to “Come Ahead” it might be one of conflict, whether inner or outer. The title is a Glaswegian term. If someone threatens to fight you, you say, ‘come ahead!’ It’s redolent of the indomitable spirit of the Glaswegian, and the album itself shares that aggressive attitude and confidence. They have a word for this up there, gallus. “Come Ahead” quite a cheeky title too.
Described as featuring “some of the most personal songwriting of the band’s career” the sessions were completed between Belfast, London and Los Angeles with guitarist Andrew Innes and Holmes.
“Come Ahead” will be released on 8th November, via BMG Records.
The 18th July, 1980 saw the release of Joy Division’s second LP ‘Closer’. This is arguably one of if not the most influential albums of the eighties. Recorded earlier in the year over the last two weeks of March and produced by Martin Hannet it displays the Affection, Despair, Depression and Fear being felt by Ian Curtis. It’s a true masterpiece of the time and where the debut album ‘Unknown Pleasures’ is the more guitar based Joy Division, “Closer” gave a more textural keyboard sound somewhat ushering in what the soon to be New Order would become.
The second album from influential Manchester post-punk band Joy Division is arguably superior to their landmark debut, featuring more ambitious arrangements and production (once again by Martin Hannett). “Closer” would also be the foursome’s final album, released just a couple of months after lead singer Ian Curtis‘ suicide. That context, the funereal look of its cover and the despairing outlook of tracks like “Atrocity Exhibition,” “Isolation” and “Heart and Soul” combined to make the set a goth touchstone.
Joy Division’s second and last album, ‘Closer’, was released thirteen months after ‘Unknown Pleasures’. It’s tempting to see it as literally the “closer” to their career, but to me ‘Closer’ sounds more like an interim record. This LP has the hiemal sonic palette of ‘Unknown Pleasures’ while also introducing synthesisers, off-centre rhythms (‘Heart and Soul’), disco (‘Decades’) and a piano (‘The Eternal’). It’s fascinating to think what Joy Division would have done on the third album – perhaps they’d have expanded further into experimental and industrial music, focussing on texture rather than arrangement.
There are some crackers on this record. ‘Isolation’ stands as one of the best things either band has ever done. These lads can really write a pop song when they put their mind to it – see also ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, ‘Blue Monday’ and ‘Plastic’. They just had the knack for an ear-worm chorus and masterful melody.
On ‘Closer’, Martin Hannet’s production is top class as usual. He was most definitely to Joy Division what George Martin was to The Beatles. Heard in their original form, without Hannet’s input, Joy Division songs might have seemed rough-hewn and incomplete. You get the sense that without Hannet’s hand on the tiller (or if he’d listened too intently to Sumner and Hook’s advice) these songs would be pretty nondescript. Hannet’s production coats the songs in ice, carving detailing into them while allowing each instrument space to breathe.
It’s tempting to think of these classic albums as existing in total seclusion. Sometimes music can sound so fresh and original that the influences are left by the wayside, and ‘Closer’ is the same. However, let’s not forget about the effect that NEU! had on Joy Division’s repetitive rhythms, how the mostly chorus-led songs drew from The Velvet Underground, or Jim Morrison’s influence on Curtis’ vocal style.
‘Closer’ is famously a somewhat-posthumous album given that Curtis passed away before its release on the eve of a U.S. tour. It made for a tragic end to the short and storied career of what many see as one of the most influential Western bands of all time.
Available again on vinyl, “Closer” was named Album of the Year by Britain’s NME and, 40 years after its release, has lost none of its haunting power.
After teasing their legendary BBC recordings on two Record Store Day releases, the Faces are set to make fans “Shake, Shudder, Shiver” with a comprehensive boxed set to be released September 6th, 2024, the “Faces At The BBC — Complete BBC Concert & SessionRecordings 1970-1973” will be released. This 8CD/Blu-ray box set captures all of the surviving BBC recordings of The Faces, showcasing their electrifying performances and unique style.
The comprehensive box set compiles the band’s BBC concerts and studio sessions, much of which have never been released before. Remastered with the full cooperation of Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, and Kenney Jones, the collection promises a fresh, high-quality listening experience.
One of the standout features of this release is the Blu-ray, which includes newly restored footage from Faces’ April 1972 appearance on “Sounds for Saturday.” This concert is a testament to the band’s peak form, radiating their joyous rock ’n’ roll spirit that has inspired generations. Fans can get a preview with the release of “Stay With Me (Live on Sounds For Saturday, BBC, April 1, 1972)”.
Accompanying the music is a lavishly illustrated 48-page hardback booklet, featuring new commentary from surviving band members and archival quotes from Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, and John Peel. BBC broadcaster Gary Crowley provides detailed liner notes, including a new interview with Jeff Griffin, the producer of all the Faces’ BBC concerts.
Many of the recordings thought lost have been recovered from the Faces’ archives and private collections. Notably, the collection includes a stereo mix of the May 13, 1971, Paris Cinema concert and a February 1973 show that was never aired due to the BBC’s concerns over the band’s rowdy interaction with the audience.
The Faces’ journey with the BBC was fraught with initial challenges, as the band was initially deemed “not serious” enough for airplay. However, John Peel, the legendary broadcaster, championed the band and secured their first BBC session on March 9th, 1970. In the liner notes, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, and Kenney Jones express their gratitude for Peel’s support, acknowledging that without him, the Faces might not have achieved their breakthrough.
“Faces At The BBC — Complete BBC Concert & Session Recordings 1970-1973” spans the band’s formation and meteoric rise. Exploring a period of intense creativity, which included four Faces studio albums (“First Step”, “Long Player”, “A Nod Is As Good As A Wink…To A Blind Horse”…, and “Ooh La La“) and several solo albums that Stewart recorded with most of the band (“Gasoline Alley”, “Every Picture Tells A Story”, “Never A Dull Moment”, and “Smiler“).
The box set includes live versions of fan favourites such as “Bad ’n’ Ruin,” “Had Me A Real Good Time,” “Miss Judy’s Farm,” “Too Bad,” and the hit single “Stay With Me.” Several of Stewart’s solo songs were performed as well, including, “(I Know) I’m Losing You” and the U.S. and U.K. No. 1 hit, “Maggie May.”
As a special highlight, the collection features John Peel’s Christmas Carol Concert, originally broadcast on Boxing Day 1970. This unique performance includes Stewart singing “Away In A Manger” and a carol medley sung by a choir featuring the Faces, their roadies, John Peel, Marc Bolan of T-Rex, and others.
“Faces At The BBC — Complete BBC Concert & Session Recordings 1970-1973” is available for pre-order now. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to own a piece of rock history, meticulously restored and presented for a new generation of fans.
“Do you still believe it?” John Ross asks that question after journeying through the wreckage. The genesis of “Dulling The Horns” goes back to late 2022, when Ross began workshopping new material during soundcheck on the ILYSM tour. Last summer, Wild Pink decamped to western Massachusetts to reunite with engineer Justin Pizzoferrato. Ross decided to record “Dulling The Horns” live in the room, in an effort to capture Wild Pink’s onstage style — rawer, grainier. Gone are the glimmering atmospherics and studio affectations of recent Wild Pink outings. Instead, Ross’ voice is haggard against the humid distortion coating every song. “I wanted to make economical songs,” Ross explains. “Music that is very much at its core three or four people rocking.”
If before, Wild Pink took notes from Springsteen and Petty, they’ve now entered their Crazy Horse era. On “Dulling The Horns”, you can hear him rediscovering the fire in real time.
Tropes discarded along the roadside, songs pulled from the formative DNA of rock music, all filtered through years of messy fog. “There is no answer to these problems,” Ross says, having eventually yielded. But as far “Dulling The Horns” is concerned, there’s at least one path forward: Burn it all away, and keep moving. The album was mixed by Alex Farrar in Asheville NC, mastered by Greg Obis in Chicago, IL and is out in October on Fire Talk.
‘Dulling The Horns’ Wild Pink’s debut for Fire Talk — is out October 4th
Pink Floyd’s first concert in Japan, at the Hakone Aphrodite festival, released as a special 2-disc package in a 7-inch sleeve, containing the “Atom Heart Mother” album on CD and a Blu-ray disc featuring newly discovered video of the performance from over 50 years ago. Originally only released in Japan in 2021, the set contains some unique memorabilia – a special photo book containing many rare, never-seen-before photos, reproductions of the pamphlet, the poster, the concert ticket, and the flier distributed at the event. The only Pink Floyd footage at Hakone Aphrodite that exists is that of the 16-minute-long suite “Atom Heart Mother.” The details including whereabouts of the master film and how it was shot had been a mystery for a long time. However, after fifty years, the original 16mm film of this video was discovered in a fan’s garage.
The meticulous processes of digitizing, restoring and remastering was undertaken and finally this enhanced video will be released outside of Japan. Over 50 years ago, Japan’s first international outdoor rock festival “Hakone Aphrodite” was held at a specially built venue beside Hakone Ashinoko Lake on August 6th and 7th, 1971. Pink Floyd’s first ever concert in Japan was as headliner for the festival. Aspiring to be the Japanese Woodstock, The “Hakone Aphrodite” invited many international artists and became the first rock festival experience for many Japanese fans.
The set contains not only the original live footage (with audio taken from the gig at Hakone Aphrodite), but also behind-the-scenes footage of the band, travelling between the airport, the hotel, the press conference, the bullet train, the show set-up, and, of course, beautiful Japanese scenery.
Vanilla Fudge are being celebrated with a box set comprising their complete output for Atlantic’s Atco label made between 1967 and 1969. “Where Is My Mind? The Atco Recordings 1967-1969” arrives September 27th, 2024, via Cherry Red Records’ Esoteric label. The collection, on 9-CDs, includes the albums “Vanilla Fudge” (mono and stereo versions), “The Beat Goes On” (mono and stereo versions), “Renaissance”, “Near the Beginning”, and “Rock & Roll”, along with a 2-CD live recording at the Fillmore West in 1969, as well as session outtakes and rare singles, all newly remastered from the original master tapes.
Featuring Mark Stein (vocals, organ), Vincent Martell (guitar, vocals), Tim Bogert (bass, vocals) and Carmine Appice (drums, vocals), the band were originally known as The Pigeons and gained attention thanks to their radical, slowed down and heavy interpretations of current hits.
They signed to Atco Records, a division of Atlantic in April 1967 and changed their name to Vanilla Fudge at the insistence of Atlantic founder Ahmet Ertegun. Their radical cover version of The Supremes’ hit “You Keep Me Hanging On” was issued as a single in June 1967. Dominated by the hard hitting approach of their rhythm section and the powerful Hammond organ playing of Stein,
The band’s self-titled debut album was released in August 1967 and was a psychedelic rock tour-de-force, featuring a seven-minute version of “You Keep Me Hanging On,” along with imaginative cover versions of compositions by The Beatles, The Zombies (“She’s Not There”) and Curtis Mayfield, among others. Over the next two years, Vanilla Fudge would record a series of albums that would evolve from psychedelic rock to heavy rock and influence many emerging bands, among them Deep Purple, before disbanding in 1970.
9CD BOXED SET FEATURING OF THE COMPLETE ATCO RECORDINGS BY VANILLA FUDGE MADE BETWEEN 1967 AND 1969. NEWLY REMASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL MASTER TAPES.
INCLUDES THE ALBUMS ‘VANILLA FUDGE’ (mono & stereo versions), ‘THE BEAT GOES ON’ (mono & stereo versions), ‘RENAISSANCE’, ‘NEAR THE BEGINNING’ AND ‘ROCK & ROLL’, ALONG WITH A 2CD LIVE RECORDING AT THE FILLMORE WEST IN 1969, SESSION OUT-TAKES AND RARE SINGLES.
Breeders singer and guitarist Kim Deal first solo single for 4AD Records under her own name, Kim Deal has shared a new solo song. “Coast” was recorded by the late Steve Albini at his famed Chicago studio, Electrical Audio. It’s Deal’s first single for 4AD under her own name.
After leaving Pixies, as their original bassist, in 2013, Deal has poured most of her time this past decade into the Breeders. Once she and her sister reunited the band’s “classic” line-up, with bassist Josephine Wiggs and drummer Jim Macpherson, they issued the new album “All Nerve”, in 2018, rolled out two anniversary reissues of “Last Splash”, and dropped the archival song “Divine Mascis,” featuring Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis. Deal also covered Michael Nesmith’s “Joanne” in 2018.
Joining Kim Deal on “Coast” is her twin sister and guitarist, Kelley Deal, marching band Mucca Pazza, and rhythm section Lindsay Glover and Mando Lopez. Deal wrote the song in 2020 after witnessing the “revelatory levels of low self-esteem” from the house band at her friend’s wedding, the Grape Whizzers, while they covered Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville.” That, combined with an off-season vacation on Nantucket back in 2000, served as her biggest inspirations.
“Coast” is not Deal’s first foray solo release into the world of solo music. She started a 7″ singles series that extended from 2013 into 2014, tallying up a total of 10 songs—the most recent of which were “Biker Gone” and “Beautiful Moon Clear.”
Alan Sparhawk has shared his riveting new solo song ‘Can U Hear’. The American musician was a key component of Low for over three decades, working alongside his creative – and life – partner Mimi Parker.
The Low singer and guitarist Alan Sparhawk has announced the details of a solo album that he discussed in a recent New Yorker profile. The musician’s follow-up to 2006’s “Solo Guitar” is titled “White Roses, My God” and will arrive on September 27th via Sub Pop Records. He’s also shared the electronic lead single “Can U Hear” and a Rick Alverson–directed music video.
“White Roses, My God” was born just as much from the grieving process following the death of Mimi Parker—Low’s inimitable drummer and vocalist, and Sparhawk’s wife—in late 2022, as it was the insatiable desire to continue experimenting musically in new ways.
Recorded at 20 Below in Duluth, Minnesota, the album was co-produced and engineered by Sparhawk and Nat Harvie, and mastered by Heba Kadry.
“Can U Hear” leads the experimental full-length “White Roses, My God“
Sparhawk will also head our on tour in support of his new solo music. After playing a few November dates in the United Kingdom,
Charly Bliss have returned with a second single “Waiting for You,” its another taste of their forthcoming album “Forever”, out on August 16th via Lucky Number. The power-pop track sends listeners straight back to the early ’90s, with sugary sweet guitar solos and melodies as sticky as taffy. The song is a delightful ode to the camaraderie of bands, a tribute to life on the road and the bliss of crafting the perfect moment. It is a follow on from our first single “Calling You Out” is the best song of all time, and it just so happens to be accompanied by the hottest music video ever made
Singer Eva Hendricks explained it as: “A love song for my bandmates. While I was separated from Sam, Spencer, and Dan during the pandemic, I remember watching videos of us playing shows and thinking, ‘How could I have taken this for granted?’ I couldn’t see how beautiful everything really was and how lucky we were. It was agonizing to be apart for that long but helpful, because I don’t think I’ll ever let myself forget that again.”
The Brooklyn group’s third album will arrive on August 16th.
I don’t know what “Horse Jumper of Love” means, but I will tell ya what: I know this band rips, and that’s really all that matters. Their new single “Today’s Iconoclast,” which pays tribute to filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini (ever heard of Criterion, bro?), only furthers this well-researched hypothesis. The single will be featured on the band’s new album “Disaster Trick”, set to arrive on August 16th via Run for Cover Records. On the track, crunching guitar chords and a shuffling drum groove provide room for singer Dimitri Giannopoulos to ruminate on the fleeting nature of, you guessed it, today’s iconoclasts.
Regarding the track, Giannopoulos said: “I was watching a Pasolini film and read someone describe him as an iconoclast. I became obsessed with that word and idea. In order to make something good, you have to destroy a belief in some way. You can’t stay static, you have to accept change and be able to adjust. I was thinking everyone should try to be as iconoclastic as they can because a lot of people end up being unhappy or unsatisfied. I think we all could be happier if we made an effort to destroy what we believe to be true about our own desires.”
The trio’s fourth album ‘Disaster Trick’ is set to arrive on August 16th via Run for Cover Records,
The Fat Angel Sings 