The Fat Angel Sings

One of the most ambitious albums in rock history, Yes’ “Tales from Topographic Oceans” arrives February 6th from Rhino Records YES’ epic 1973 double album, “Tales From Topographic Oceans“, is receiving a massive Super Deluxe Edition. 

The massive collection spans 12 CDs, 2 LPs, and a Blu-ray and features a newly remastered version of the original double album on both CD and vinyl; rarities; previously unreleased studio and live recordings; and several new mixes by Steven Wilson, including a Dolby Atmos version. 

Rhino.com will have an exclusive bundle of “Tales From Topographic Oceans (Super Deluxe Edition)” with a 12×12 Tales litho numbered and signed by Roger Dean, limited to 500.

“Tales” was the group’s sixth studio album. With creative juices flowing, the progressive rock band had made a significant breakthrough with their three previous albums in a little more than 18 months: 1971’s “The Yes Album” and “Fragile“, and 1972’s “Close To the Edge”, which saw them significantly expand the concept of traditional song lengths. Though they still had just a sole Top 40 single, “Roundabout,” YES were achieving significant airplay on the free-form FM stations with their longer tracks. As their fan base continued to grow, Atlantic released a 3-LP live set, “Yessongs”, in May 1973. “Tales” arrived just seven months later. To preview the set, the single edit for “The Revealing Science Of God (Dance Of The Dawn)” is out now

The origins behind “Tales from Topographic Oceans” trace back to a footnote in Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi, which inspired Jon Anderson to imagine a four-part musical journey through ancient Hindu scriptures. That concept took shape across four side-long compositions: “The Revealing Science Of God (Dance of the Dawn),” “The Remembering (High the Memory),” “The Ancient (Giants Under the Sun),” and “Ritual (Nous Sommes Du Soleil).”

To capture the album’s structural and spiritual ambition, Anderson (vocals), Steve Howe (guitar), Chris Squire (bass), Rick Wakeman (keyboards), and Alan White (drums) worked with longtime producer Eddy Offord at London’s Morgan Studios, using Britain’s first 24-track console. originally Released December 7th, 1973, “Tales from Topographic Oceans“ topped the U.K. album chart and reached #6 in the U.S., where it earned a Gold certification.

The new Super Deluxe Edition reveals deeper dimensions of the project with previously unreleased in-progress versions of all four album tracks, providing rare insight into the creation of Yes’ most audacious work. 

The set’s live material was recorded early in the tour for “Tales” and includes previously unreleased performances of all four album tracks, along with earlier favourites “And You And I” and “Close To The Edge.” The shows include Zürich (April 21, 1974), Manchester (November 28, 1973), and Cardiff (December 1, 1973). 

When the album came out, it took time for some fans and critics to catch up with the band, as writer Syd Schwartz of Jazz & Coffee recalls in the set’s liner notes. “Consensus was never the point,” he says. “Tales from Topographic Oceans” will continue to be debated, dismissed, defended, and rediscovered. Its resistance to easy categorization is not a failure—it’s the reason it endures. It’s a vast, unknowable ocean of sound and spirit. And it still hasn’t finished revealing itself.” Schwartz also notes the album would be a turning point for the future Rock and Roll Hall of Fame® inductees and GRAMMY® winners: “Without “Tales”, there’s no “Relayer”. No pivot to leaner, sharper structures in the later ’70s. No map gets drawn without first pushing the edges of the known world — and “Tales” is where Yes did exactly that.”

12CD/2LP/BLU-RAY BOXED SET INCLUDES NEWLY REMASTERED 1973 ALBUM PLUS UNRELEASED STUDIO AND LIVE RECORDINGS. STEVEN WILSON PROVIDES NEW MIXES, INCLUDING DOLBY ATMOS

Primavera Sound has dropped its 2026 line-up, arriving earlier than ever in the festival’s history. Headliners span generations and genres: The Cure return after releasing “Songs of a Lost World” in 2024, Doja Cat and The xx join the bill, and Damon Albarn brings Gorillaz back with a new album, “The Mountain”. Massive Attack will make their long-awaited festival debut, while My Bloody Valentine, Addison Rae, Mac DeMarco, PinkPantheress, Peggy Gou, Skrillex, Little Simz, Big Thief, Slowdive, Wet Leg, Father John Misty, Blood Orange, Alex G, Dijon, and Ethel Cain are among the many other names revealed. In total, 150 acts have been confirmed.

Primavera’s reputation for eclectic curation holds true this year: expect everything from Einstürzende Neubauten and Knocked Loose to Lambrini Girls, Men I Trust, Overmono, Joan La Barbara, and Brìghde Chaimbeul. Rising artists including Lola Young, Kneecap, rusowsky, and PinkPantheress sit alongside cult favourites like Rilo Kiley and Texas Is the Reason, making for a line-up that stretches across eras and styles.

Australian quartet The Belair Lip Bombs call their music “yearn-core,” mixing indie rock with elements of country and power pop. If you like Waxahatchee, Wednesday, or — for readers of this column — Billy Nomates, I feel confident you’ll like the band’s sophomore album.

Their label (Jack White’s Third Man Records) the Australian band mix country melodies and vocals with post-punk and power-pop touches on their fantastic first album for Jack White’s Third Man Records. Your new favourite band perhaps?

“Again” opens with “Again and Again,” a jubilant ripper that’s got its hooks in you before singer/guitarist Maisie Everett even starts to sing. When she does, though, your ears prick up — she’s got a soaring, expressive voice that lifts everything a few feet higher. The rest of the record keeps that energy going, with memorable song after memorable song, all loaded with melody, personality, and serious musicianship.

They’re not afraid to get ragged and loose, but they can tighten up on a dime, full of melodic shredding and riffs as catchy as the choruses. Everett ties everything together as Belair Lip Bombs glide from punky earworms that would’ve fit between Pixies and Meat Puppets on late-’80s college radio (“Another World,” “Hey You”), to twangier creations (“Don’t Let Them Tell You [It’s Fair],” “Back of My Hand”), ’70s-style pop (“Cinema”), and the bright, jangly modern sound of fellow Aussies The Beths and Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever (whose Joe White co-produced the album).

Best of all is “If You’ve Got the Time,” a gossamer, tightly crafted pop song delivered like a bar-band showstopper. “Again” is a joy — a great pop record, a great guitar record — and one that’ll make you want to see The Belair Lip Bombs live as soon as possible.

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Often described as the first Southern rock album, the Allman Brothers Band‘s self-titled debut album was first released on November 4th, 1969. The album features a number of the band’s most well-known songs, like “Dreams”, “It’s Not My Cross To Bear”, and “Whipping Post”. It still looms large as the defining moment that the Allman Brothers were born.

From 1965 through 1969, brothers Duane Allman and Gregg Allman went through a number of band lineups—both separate and together. It took four years for the siblings to travel the country and get back to the basics in Jacksonville, FL, putting together a jam session featuring all of the band’s original players: Berry Oakley, Jaimoe, Butch Trucks, and Dickey Betts. This would be the lineup for two and a half years until Duane’s untimely death in October 1971.

In August 1969, the Allman Brothers Band was just cutting its teeth in the band’s new home of Macon, GA, when record executives enticed them to make the album. With a few reworked blues numbers and some originals penned by Gregg Allman, the band made its way to Atlantic Records in New York City to record. The Allman Brothers Band was recorded in just two weeks and quickly turned around for a release a few months later.

The album initially flopped on a national level, as the band’s Southern-influenced rock sound failed to take hold, but it helped turn Macon from a sleepy town into a vibrant musical community. That’s when the Allmans knew they were onto something. “They wanted us to act ‘like a rock band’ and we just told them to f–k themselves,” remembered Trucks.

Now, we can look back at this album to see a wildly talented band in its earliest days. The Allman Brothers Band may have had a lot of drama over the years, but at the heart of it all is its undeniable mission for authentic Southern rock and roll. That’s what you hear on “The Allman Brothers Band”, musicians who take their craft seriously but also know how to let loose and rock out.

Rocket, our latest CoSign, emerged in late 2023 with a supremely confident debut EP, featuring massive hooks and a whole lot of volume. Now, after cutting their teeth on tour opening for a variety of seasoned rock bands, the Los Angeles quartet have offered their official debut album, and it’s a blast. It can be hard to classify their sound, but in my humble opinion, Rocket are a straight-up rock and roll band. They play music with a visceral amount of energy and a restless, communal sonic language.

When they go for the outright rippers, like “One Million,” they sound enormous — but it’s the dreamier cuts, like “Another Second Chance,” that demonstrate their dynamism and willingness to muddy up the waters. As far as debut albums go, very few are as confident and sticky as “R Is for Rocket”.

Ian Shelton has been going through it. The Militarie Gun frontman has written honestly about his vices and mental struggles before, but as the album artwork and title for “God Save the Gun” suggests, this new album was really his “come to Jesus” moment. Now, that’s not to say it’s about belief in organized religion or even the transcendental power of a spiritual community — instead, Shelton tracks his experience getting sober and the way it’s changed his outlook on life, cramming hook-filled power pop cuts with full-throated meditations on aging, fucking up, and rising above. It’s certainly the band at their most mature, though the excellent, haywire lead single “B A D I D E A” suggests that they’re still happy to turn up the volume and get a little reckless.

Miltarie Gun are gearing up for the release of their anticipated new album “God Save the Gun” and they’ve just shared its third single, “Throw Me Away.” It’s a catchy, anthemic, ’90s-style alt-rock song that Ian Shelton says is “about the feeling of only being valued when you’re visible or useful and the desperate need to hold onto that. What someone loves about you one day might be cited as a reason they hate you now. It’s the desire for external validation and also the deep resentment of it.”

Militarie Gun have lots of tour dates coming up, including a tiny Brooklyn show at Alphaville next week That show is one day before they play Chicago’s Riot Fest, and that will be followed by one leg of tour dates with Death Lens and Milly and then another with Liquid Mike and Public Opinion.

“God Save the Gun” drops 17th October via Loma Vista,

Villanelle introduced themselves in the biggest way imaginable, receiving big receptions every night as the opening band on Liam Gallagher’s huge ‘Definitely Maybe: 30 Years’ tour.

Gene has been writing songs for as long as he can remember but only formed Villanelle earlier this year with Ben Taylor (guitar), Jack Schiavo (bass) and Andrew Richmond (drums). They made such an instant impact following early gigs such as at London rock ‘n’ roll pub The Marquis that Liam offered them the opening slot on his current tour.

Opening for one of music’s most iconic frontman playing one of the all-time most influential albums, in front of huge crowds on a bill completed by another indie great in the shape of Cast or The View was a sink-or-swim moment, but Villanelle naturally made the most of the opportunity. As Maximum Volume’s review of the Sheffield show enthused, “Gene has a neat line in cool insouciance, an even better line in lead guitar and some very decent songs. The surname might have got Villanelle on this bill, but it’s their talent that will keep them appearing on others.”

Villanelle have also already caused a wave of excitement following shows as guests to the likes of Seb Lowe, Overpass and Pastel.

Remembering Bert Jansch, born on this date in 1943. There might be no better time than the present to be a record collecting fan of Bert Jansch. Vinyl reissues from all stages of the Brit-folk guitar linchpin’s career have been flowing into the racks for a while now, and we’re currently experiencing a crescendo of material from the late singer-songwriter.

The 1960s was flush with fingerpickers, and Bert Jansch was amongst the very best. Adding to his appeal, the Scottish troubadour was also a capable vocalist, solid songwriter, and a deft collaborator, first teaming with fellow guitarist John Renbourn; in short order the duo co-founded the progressive folk combo Pentangle.

Jansch’s eponymous debut and its follow-up “It Don’t Bother Me”, both issued in 1965, have endured as classics, and for those wishing to become conversant with the man’s work, they are the place to begin; last year Superior Viaduct issued the LPs singly, and both will be part of Earth Recordings’ upcoming box set of Jansch’s output for the Transatlantic label.

This period remains the most lauded stretch in the guitarist’s oeuvre, in part due to its consistency and sharpness of focus. 1966 brought third album  “Jack Orion”, which both extends from and contrasts with its predecessor, the opening strains of banjo in “The Waggoner’s Lad” picking up where “It Don’t Bother Me’ finale “900 Miles” left off. The instrumental switch intertwines productively with Renbourn’s guitar, as his role, having commenced on the prior disc’s “Lucky Thirteen,” is deepened across four “Jack Orion” cuts to positive effect.

The most significant development is the preponderance of traditional material. Up to that point Jansch had mostly served up original songs to an occasionally outstanding result (e.g. “Needle of Death,” which will likely continue to be his most celebrated tune), but “Jack Orion” has none. Instead, he unveils “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in a fresh, concise arrangement and then expands the title-track to over eight minutes, though many will recognize it from its lengthier side-long version on Pentangle’s 1970 effort “Cruel Sister”.

Culminating with an abrupt jump-cut into “The Gardener,” Jansch and Renbourn’s first stab at the Child Ballad still satisfies, with the traditional sources heightening the emotional impact throughout and nowhere more so than during “Nottamun Town.” From there “Jack Orion’s” second side just rolls, with the oft-recorded folk ballad “Blackwater Side” a highlight.

The fortuitous interweaving of the album’s trim running-time continued into the full-on co-billing of “Bert and John“, also from ’66, but Superior Viaduct’s reissues vault over that LP and ’67’s “Nicola” to arrive at ’69’s decidedly different “Birthday Blues“. Often breezy and consistently less intense than “Jack Orion“, the contents employ the Pentangle rhythm section of upright bassist Danny Thompson and drummer Terry Cox to appealing ends.

Appealing, but not breathtaking, though folks having discovered Pentangle without dipping into solo Jansch will likely find it a welcoming point of entry. As its title suggests, the disc leans toward blues structures, but the atmosphere is folky rather than heavy (with occasional harmonica injections by Duffy Power), even during the darker-tinted standouts like “Poison” and “Promised Land.” Filled out entirely with originals, the generically named closer “Blues” is anything but in aural terms, blending the ambiances of the coffeehouse and the jazz joint courtesy of Thompson’s bass.

Finding Jansch under the spell of “Birthday Blues’ sleeve designer, noted sculptor, future wife and inspiration for “Miss Heather Rosemary Sewell,” the disc is spiked with moments of uplift without ever coming on too strong in the positivity department. The overall heft might be lighter in comparison to his more acclaimed sessions, but it broadens the terrain of the Transatlantic years, and it’s still a keeper.

1971’s “Rosemary Lane” concluded Jansch’s run for the British indie as it took him back to the rudiments of guitar and voice with returning producer Bill Leader, whose hand guided all of the Transatlantic LPs except for the Shel Talmy-helmed “Birthday Blues“. Blending his own compositions with a few freshly arranged traditional sources, there’s also “Alman,” which is credited to 16th-17th century English composer Robert Johnson, and “Sarabanda” by Baroque-era Italian violinist-composer Arcangelo Corelli.

It all comes together with aplomb while resisting easy encapsulation as a career reset. Although a purely solo affair, the results are sonically bolder than “Bert Jansch” (which was recorded via reel-to-reel in Leader’s house), and the trad numbers (the title track, “Reynardine” and “Sylvie”) aren’t as severe in mood as what’s found on “Jack Orion“. Still, the general temperament is attractively pensive, even when slipping into bluesy mode.

Most prominently expressed in “Nobody’s Bar,” the folk-blues gestures occur less often than some might wish. Perhaps it’s this low ratio coupled with the lack of Renbourn or any other collaborative support that contributes to “Rosemary Lane” rep in some quarters as a likeably modest affair sandwiched between the full-band maneuvers of “Birthday Blues” and ’73’s “Moonshine” (which was reissued by Earth in 2015 on compact disc, standard vinyl, and later as a picture disc).

The reality is that “Rosemary Lane”, “Birthday Blues”, and “Jack Orion” are all important entries in the early work of a Brit-folk cornerstone. That all three are soon to be easily obtainable is cause for a little good cheer in a tumultuous time.

Remembering Bert Jansch on what would have been his 82nd birthday. In 2010, Jansch spoke about his career as one of Britain’s greatest guitarists, folk, blues, Led Zeppelin and being a “26-pints-a-night man”.

“Bert At the BBC” is a comprehensive collection of Jansch’s appearances at the BBC, featuring over eight hours of rare and unreleased recordings, including live-on-air spots, studio sessions and full concerts straight from the BBC vaults, delving further into this legendary performer’s canon. Bert Jansch was the very essence of folk music, providing inspiration for everyone from Paul Simon and Neil Young to Led Zeppelin and countless folk revivalists.

This unparalleled limited-edition compendium is available as a 4xLP and 8xCD set, housed in a coffee-table book set with a lavish 40-page book tracing the recordings from Bert’s earliest moments at the BBC. It includes interviews and insights from Lauren Laverne, Jools Holland, Johnny Marr, Jacqui McShee, Bob Harris, Bernard Butler, Mark Radcliffe and many more. Twenty broadcasters, producers and collaborators contribute at length to the booklet, with great affection for this gentle, maverick genius. Bert’s BBC legacy remains the most significant and exciting untapped reservoir of his music. The undeniable advantage of recordings made for broadcast is that they were, by their nature, created for public consumption and, barring live-on-air appearances – which might go well or go badly, but were going out either way – were explicitly signed-off by the artist as representations of his art that were good enough to be heard.

The set is compiled by Colin Harper, author of Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British folk and blues revival (Bloomsbury, 2000), who contributes detailed liner notes to the package. The release is mastered by IFTA award-winning engineer Cormac O’Kane.

The vinyl release features 48 tracks on LP and is accompanied by a download card with over six hours of extras spanning 1966–2009, including BBC4’s St Luke’s concert (2003), and a complete Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh concert (2004) for BBC Radio Scotland. It is also available as a special 8xCD set containing all 147 tracks and encased within a coffee-table book.

“Bert Jansch At The BBC” is an epic and enduring trail, 45 years in the making. “He was that rarity, a musician who really did deserve to be regarded as a legend.” The Guardian // “As a guitar player there was no one like him. He was jazz and blues and folk but there was a whole world in there that was just him, esoteric” Johnny Marr.

Limited edition 4 LP “Coffee table” sized Bookback package, with 40 pages of liner notes, featuring unseen photos & exclusive interviews. DL card holds an additional 6 hours of tracks from the BBC Archives.