Billy Joe Shaver’s songs were stories of his life; they were real, and they were raw. Many artists have covered Billy Joe songs over the years: from Willie to Waylon, to Elvis and Cash. Billy Joe’s influence on some of the greatest of artists is what inspired this project. Now, with “Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver” a whole new batch of artists and songwriters are taking their cut at one of the greatest songwriting catalogue’s of all time.
Celebrating a songwriter’s songwriter who still looms large in roots music, “Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver” recruits vets like Rodney Crowell and George Strait, as well as relative youngsters such as Amanda Shires and Margo Price, for a dozen sparkling interpretations.
This album is a testament to Billy Joe’s words and the deep impact they had on so many wonderful songwriters and performers. He’s a hero to so many, and New West is honored to pay homage to the legacy of Billy Joe Shaver. Just like the songs he left behind him, he’s gonna live forever now.
In the spring of 2010, Neil Young dropped the backing band and set across the US on a tour with himself and a guitar. In tow was a soft-spoken Scot a few older than the legendary songwriter. Tagging along as the opener, crowds of Young fans would be exposed to the greatest guitar player they’d likely never heard of before their idol walked out on stage, alone at the microphone.
With the turn of the millennium, so launched a quiet renaissance of Bert Jansch’s career. Though he had never taken any time off, the guitar player was now reaping the benefits of the internet age and gaining significantly more appreciation from a new generation of listeners. Not yet a household name in the States, at home in the UK Jansch was attaining the status of a living legend. Over a career spanning five decades, Bert has been cited as an influence on guitar players as varied as Jimmy Page, Johnny Marr, and Ryley Walker. Long has Neil Young acknowledged his debt to Bert Jansch, frequently citing him as the greatest guitar player of the 20th century, next to none other than Jimi Hendrix. His own “Ambulance Blues,” is a modulated version of Bert’s “Needle of Death.” Bringing the guru of celtic steel string along on his Twisted Road tour completed the circle, offering even further exposure to the player that shaped so many more-well-known names.
With “Bert at the BBC“, the Jansch-centric Earth Recordings has brought to light the guitar player’s long, if partially overlooked, relationship with the public broadcaster. In doing so they have unveiled the pure vitality of his playing in a live setting. Of the dozens of recordings bearing Bert’s name, less than a handful present the legend outside of recording sessions. Coming in at near 150 cuts (on the essential 8CD version), the Jansch loyal are presented with performances – solo and with a number of the killer ensembles he assembled over his years – from every decade of Bert’s career. With stature comes greater exposure and nearly half of the collection is from the period of Bert’s public rebirth in the dawn of the 21st century—the 60th Birthday Concert for BBC4; full performance at the Edinburgh Festival for BBC Radio Scotland in 2004; varied shorter features from nearly a dozen programs in the 2000s. The musician presented over the expanse of the later cuts is one far more apt to talk about his music, method, and life than the shy and slightly mysterious virtuoso of the 1960s. The Bert Jansch of the 21st century was more than happy to bask in the limelight he earned after putting in half-a-century’s work. With so much focus on his output in the sixties and seventies tied into the legend of Bert, hearing the ever-humble, though confidently adept master at work in his later years presents an inspiring addendum to the myth.
This isn’t to say that more recent performances overshadow the early years. Notable is Bert’s first radio performances. The broadcast crackle and slight tape hiss of BBCs 1966 Light Programme Guitar Club makes it known immediately—Jansch’s influence has been around for a long time. And it should be noted, at this point Bert had already been making waves in the UK’s impressionable folk scene for nearly four years. After a brief intro (in the days when folks still pronounced his name wrong—ever polite, Bert never corrected them) we get a mellow “Whiskey Man” followed by possibly the most gorgeous rendering of “Running from Home” ever recorded. After some words from the artist, Jansch launches into one of acoustic guitars most intense tests of dexterity, “The Wheel.” With three tunes, Bert managed to showcase the primary aspects of what he would go down in music history for: an aggressively authentic interpretation of American blues, gut-wrenching tales of love’s observations, and a completely idiosyncratic fusion of jazz, blues, and traditional folk guitar stylings distilled down to the most ferocious flurry of finger picking ever executed.
The highlight of this exhaustively curated box are the performances which allow us to listen in to a full concert or series of tunes. It is here that we experience Bert’s crowning glory—the temporal transcendence of music consciousness. From one song to the next Jansch could transport his audience to 1930’s Mississippi, the court of King James, or a 1974 folk club in Soho. And the most impressive aspect of this accomplishment was that there wasn’t a single tune that sounded amiss. The formula managed to work throughout the entirety of his career. From the 2004 Edinburgh concert: transitioning from the 19th century Irish traditional “She Moved Though the Fair” to Bert’s 2000 original “Crimson Moon” doesn’t throw off anything, despite a 200-year age gap.
The Cambridge Folk Festival set with Danny Thompson and Martin Jenkins highlights an ability to breathe new life into folk music through an immersion in jazz and rock—as Bert had done a decade prior in Pentangle. The set continues into the eighties where we find Bert continuing to hone to his chops in the jazz-meets-renaissance-faire prog of the Bert Jansch Conundrum. This era offers the rare contemporary cover. A 1982 Bert pays homage to Tim Hardin with “If I Were A Carpenter.” This saccharine version, in particular, was preceded by an acid-washed rustic romp through “Fresh as a Sweet Sunday Morning” to reference the breadth of ambition going into these performances.
Of course, as previously mentioned, the real meat and potatoes of the collection are the sets of a Jansch brimming with his newfound prospect of the turning millennium. Bert, nearing his sixth decade of performing, lacks some of the showmanship and vigor of a starving artist in his twenties. This is more than compensated, however, by the sheer detail and finesse that his arsenal his built upon. To be clear—the young guns still had no chance at keeping up with the old-timer. Just listen to the “Blackwater Side” from the 60th Birthday Concert. The swirling instrumental passages that break up the verses show that Bert could still pull and pop his strings in a fashion that would slice the average mortal’s fingers to ribbons. Notes are bent to match his vocal intonation. Any and every lull in singing becomes an open opportunity for a stream-of-consciousness fury of right-hand polyrhythmic detonations. Until the end, Bert Jansch was a master of his craft. “Bert at the BBC” makes that abundantly clear.
After breaking eight years of silence on October 13th by announcing the January 27th release of their new LP, “ElectrophonicChronic”, The Arcs have followed up today by sharing a new single and the corresponding music video for “Heaven Is A Place.” The number was written as a homage to the group’s former member and multi-instrumentalist Richard Swift, who passed away on July 3rd, 2018, after a prolonged battle with alcoholism.
“Heaven Is A Place” was mostly penned after Swift’s untimely passing. The space-infused anthem features Leon Michels’ banging on B3 organ and Rhodes piano. At the same time, the bandleader, Dan Auerbach, lends steady chords complimenting the repetitive lyrical arrangement to create a sense of balance.
“This new record is all about honoring Swift,” offered Auerbach, in the initial press release about the album. “It’s a way for us to say goodbye to him by revisiting him playing and laughing, singing. It was heavy at times, but I think it’s really helpful to do it.”
The group’s forthcoming release was co-produced by Auerbach and fellow bandmate Michels. “Electrophonic Chronic” features contributions from the late-Richard Swift, who died during the recording process of the 12-track album, which is due out on January 27th via Easy Eye Sound.
Yes was firing on all cylinders in the fall of 1972. The prog-rock pioneers’ fifth studio album “Close To The Edge” was a smash success as audiences around the world packed arenas to see the legendary group perform. The band captured the magic of that tour on its first live album, “Yessongs”. Released in 1973, the triple-LP sold over a million copies and blew minds with Roger Dean’s iconic artwork.
In 2015, seven complete concerts from the weeks leading up to the shows heard on Yessongs were assembled in the 14-CD boxed set “Progeny: Seven Shows From Seventy-Two”. On December 2nd, the boxed set will make its vinyl debut in a monumental 21-LP version.
“Progeny: Seven Shows From Seventy-Two”holds every note from all seven shows, recorded in the fall of 1972 as the band’s tour jumped from Canada to North Carolina, and then Georgia and Tennessee, before their last stop in New York at Nassau Coliseum on November 20th. This comprehensive set comes in a cigarette-style flip top box with artwork by Dean and featuring each of the shows pressed on a different colored vinyl (ruby, orange crush, cobalt, soda bottle clear, tan, forest green, and electric blue). The collection is limited to 1,972 individually numbered copies and is available exclusively at Rhino.com.
“Progeny: Seven Shows From Seventy-Two”memorializes Yes’ first tour with drummer Alan White, who sadly passed away earlier this year after 50 years in the band. He replaced Bill Bruford, who recorded the sessions for “Close To The Edge” before leaving to join King Crimson. White only had three days to learn the band’s live show before his first night on stage with JonAnderson (vocals), Steve Howe (guitar), Chris Squire (bass) and Rick Wakeman (keyboards).
Recorded three months into the tour, these powerful performances attest to how quickly the new line-up came together musically as they navigate hits like “Roundabout,” and complex pieces like “And You and I.” Even though the setlist didn’t vary much from night to night, the individual performances are strikingly different.
John Doe’s 3Sirens Session is an unique opportunity for you to hear some of John’s most popular love songs performed after midnight in a white clapboard church.
John Doe once told Rolling Stone: “cool shit happens in cars.” Well minus the cars, plus the tequila, that sense of community and fun is exactly what he brought to his 3 Sirens Session, recorded at Church House Studios in Austin, TX on an easy going evening with friends during a chaotic SXSW.
Bright Eyes released the second batch of their Companion EPs reissue series. Today’s installment is made up of complementary EPs for 2002’s “Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground” and 2005’s acoustic “I’m Wide Awake, It’sMorning” and electronic “Digital Ash in a Digital Urn”. The Companion releases see the band going electronic for “I’m Wide Awake” and acoustic for the “Digital Ash” bonus tracks. Bright Eyes recruited a number of guests for the Companion EPs, including Becky Stark (of Lavender Diamond), Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings and Maria Taylor. Among the new tracks are covers of Azure Ray’s “November,” Townes Van Zandt’s “Fare Thee Well, Miss Carousel” and The Faint’s “Agenda Suicide.”
“It’s a meaningful way to connect with the past that doesn’t feel totally nostalgic and self-indulgent,” Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst stated. “We are taking these songs and making them interesting to us all over again. I like that. I like a challenge. I like to be forced to do something that’s slightly hard, just to see if we can.”
“The first three are innocent in a way, because we didn’t have an audience when we were making them,” Oberst says. “But from “Lifted” on, I was definitely aware of an audience. “Lifted” was well-received right away, and then everything happened with “Wide Awake” and “Digital Ash.” Those two albums came out simultaneously. And their lead singles – “Take It Easy (Love Nothing),” from the austere, remote “Digital Ash”, and “Lua,” from the warm, folky “Wide Awake” – debuted in the top two slots on the Billboard Hot 100. “First Day of My Life,” also from “Wide Awake”, would later be voted the Number One love song of all time by NPR Music’s reader’s poll.
Bright Eyes had officially broken through. It was a heady, exciting time, but also fraughtand tense, both because of the band’s careening new fame, and because of the state of the world. When Bright Eyes made their Tonight Show debut in 2006, they chose to perform none of their shiny new hits, instead delivering a searing, harrowing rendition of their caustic anti-Bush anthem, “When The President Talks To God.”
These days, Oberst is still amusing himself by messing with the extremes Bright Eyes baked into this era’s releases, extremes that reflected the polar, with-us-or-against-us, fractious feel of the times. The reworked “Digital Ash” tracks, originally so clean and elegant, are, on the companion EP, full of “harmonica and mandolins – folky vibes,” Oberst says. While the analogue sweetness of the “Wide Awake” songs have been put through a detached nihilism filter.
“LIFTED or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground” (2002)
Exactly 11 years ago today, on November 11th, 2011, MGMT performed at New York City’s famed Guggenheim Museum. The performance was the second of two consecutive evenings of performances at the visually appealing museum. Recorded during those concerts on November 10th and 11th, 2011, “11.11.11” is a newly released live album documenting the exhibition. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum approached MGMT’sAndrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser in Spring 2011 to craft a set of music for the Maurizio Cattelan retrospective titled All.
The band wrote the all-original music as a reaction to the 130 pieces in the exhibit and performed it at both private and public events at the Guggenheim in November 2011. According to press materials, “MGMT’s live production featured a variety of LED lighting strips (a technology that was cutting edge at the time) lining the entire legendary spiral to the top of the museum.” The performances were also notable for being the “first time the Guggenheim had ever allowed art to be suspended from the ceiling” and “an event like this to take place amid the inner ring of the spiral.”
“We’re creating a musical experience that works for the building and for the construction and presentation of the Cattelan exhibit,” MGMT said back in 2011. “It’s an art exhibit done in a completely original way, so it deserves music which is completely original.”
Watch the band tear through three songs from their ‘Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava’ album.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard celebrated the release of their “Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava” album on October 7th by stopping at the Seattle studios of public radio station KEXP for a live session. The Australian rockers weaved through three cuts from the LP and spoke with host Cheryl Waters.
“Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava” marked the first of three new albums King Gizz issued last month. “Can anyone in the band actually name all the records?” Waters joked with the prolific band before they unreleased a raucous extended take on “Ice V.” Guitarist/vocalist Stu Mackenzie then led the group through “Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava” single “Iron Lung.” Wailing guitars and funky keyboard riffs were infused throughout the “Iron Lung” jam.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard went on to perform “Magma” for their third and final song of the set. Once again, Mackenzie, Joey Walker, Ambrose Kenny-Smith and Cookie Craig let it rip while bassist Lucas Harwood and drummer Michael “Cavs” Cavanagh steadied the beat. Members of the group discussed their busy 2022, marathon concerts and more with Cheryl Waters to end the session.
King Gizzard & The Wizard Lizard performing live in the KEXP studio.
Songs: Ice V Iron Lung Magma
The Band:Stu Mackenzie – Guitar / Vocals Joey Walker – Guitar / Vocals Ambrose Kenny-Smith – Saxophone / Keyboards / Vocals Nicholas “Cookie” Craig – Guitar / Keyboards Lucas Harwood – Bass Michael “Cavs” Cavanagh – Drums
New Order are delighted to announce the release of the definitive edition of their 1985 studio album “Low-Life“. The collection includes an LP (180g), x2CDs, x2DVDs, a book and features unreleased rare material across the different formats and new sleeve designs. As with previous box sets, NewOrder will release the singles on vinyl 12-inch. These are ‘The Perfect Kiss’, ‘Sub-Culture’ and ‘Shellshock’. ‘The Perfect Kiss’ will come in mirror board sleeve “an idea at the time that was not realised”, according to designer Peter Saville.
For some New Order fans, 1985’s ‘Low-Life’ was the point at which they perfected their art, laying out a gorgeous synthesis of sophisticated post-punk and grimy, synth nocturnes.
CD 2 contains previously unreleased mixes and alternative versions, including Love Vigilantes and Sub-Culture instrumentals, Sooner Than You Think Full Length Unedited. The two DVDs include an unreleased performance from The Manhattan Club, Belgium and rarely seen footage from Rotterdam Arena (Netherlands), International Centre (Toronto, Canada) and a BBC filmed Special Whistle Test at The Hacienda, 1985.
The 180g vinyl LP will be wrapped in its original ‘heavyweight tracing paper’, designed by Peter Saville. In addition the CD will also be wrapped in the same way for the first time ever. Also included in the set is a beautifully presented hardback book featuring rare photos and a new interview with all band members.
Marketing to promote the release include:
National press and radio promo campaign – reviews, features, and interviews TBC.
Organic and promoted content from the New Order official socials and Warner Music owned socials.
Promotion of singles pre-release with BBC 6 Music support.
Far-reaching online advertising campaign.
LP 180g Vinyl Track Listing:
Side one: Love Vigilantes, The Perfect Kiss, This Time of Night, Sunrise,
Side two: Elegia, Sooner Than You Think, Sub-Culture, Face Up,
CD1: Love Vigilantes, The Perfect Kiss, This Time Of Night, Sunrise, Elegia, Sooner Than You Think, Sub-Culture, Face Up
CD2: Extras Love Vigilantes – TV Pitch Instrumental Edit (mono), The Perfect Kiss – Writing Session Recording, Untitled no. 1 – Writing Session Recording, Sunrise – Instrumental Rough Mix **, Elegia – Full Length Version *, Sooner Than You Think – Album Session Unedited Version, Sub-Culture – Album Session Early Instrumental Version, Face Up – Writing Session Recording, Let’s Go – Album Session Instrumental, Untitled no. 2 – Writing Session Recording, Sunrise – Writing Session Recording, Love Vigilantes – Writing Session Recording, Sooner Than You Think – Writing Session Recording Skullcrusher – Demo
All tracks previously unreleased except * and ** (previously unreleased on CD and Digital)
DVD1: Live in Tokyo The Koseinenkin Hall, Tokyo, Japan 1985
1. Confusion, 2. Love Vigilantes, 3. We All Stand, 4. As It Is When It Was, 5. Sub-Culture, 6. Face Up, 7. Sunrise, 8. This Time Of Night, 9. Blue Monday,
Live in RotterdamThe Rotterdam Arena, Netherlands 1985
10. As It Is When It Was. 11. Everything’s Gone Green*, 12. Sub-Culture*, 13. Ceremony*, 14. Let’s Go*, 15. This Time Of Night*, 16. The Village, 17. The Perfect Kiss*, 18. Age Of Consent*, 19. Sunrise, 20. Temptation*, 21. Face Up*
Live in ManchesterWhistle Test, The Hacienda 1985
22. As It Is When It Was, 23. Sunrise, 24. Face Up – Restored version using available footage from The Hacienda Dec ‘85 and July ‘85.
DVD2: Live in Leuven The Manhattan Club, Leuven, Belgium 1985
1. Let’s Go*, 2. The Perfect Kiss*, 3. Age Of Consent*, 4. State Of The Nation*, 5. As It Is When It Was*, 6. The Village*, 7. Sub-Culture*, 8. Atmosphere*, 9. Blue Monday*
Bonus Tracks
10. Thieves Like Us*, 11. Temptation*, 12. Confusion – Restored version from damaged tape with mixing desk audio.*, Live in Toronto Filmed by Paul Boyd The International Centre, Toronto, Canada 1985
13. Elegia*, 14. Sub-Culture*, 15. The Village*, 16. Sunrise*, 17. We All Stand, 18. As It Is When It Was*, 19. Love Vigilantes*, 20. 586*, 21. Age Of Consent, 22. Temptation, 23. Ceremony*, 24. The Perfect Kiss*, The Perfect Film
Rehearsal Room, Cheetham Hill, Manchester 1985
25. The Perfect Kiss, *unreleased
The “Low-Life” box set will be released on 27th January 2023, via Rhino.
The Fat Angel Sings 