“Outdoor Crying” is a song about anguish and vulnerability – It’s about a search for meaning, identity and the struggle of committing to what it means to be human. With flavours of hip hop, rock, electronica, indie and folk all weaving together, the sonic palette of “Outdoor Crying” truly exemplifies its core message of remaining open and accepting the ever-changing nature of existence – “Always, at once, we are everything.” “I just wanted this song, and the whole album really, to sound like a person bare and naked, screaming into the void – letting every part of themselves explode into the ether” says Thomas. “A lot of the time, music is my way of inhabiting and making sense of, or exploring, my feelings; so with each song, what you’re really hearing is someone in the middle of going through something. I developed a sense of dissociation from my daily life a long time ago, as a mode of protection from a lot of hurt and fear I was dealing with. Although a lot of the source of that initial anguish is gone, the dissociation is something I’m still very much trying to unlearn, or let go of.
Over the years, my music has always been one of the only places where that connection to “feeling” has remained very strong, sometimes overwhelmingly so, and I think you can hear and feel that in the songs.” “Basically, if somebody asked me to describe my music, I would say: It’s the sound of someone trying”. “Outdoor Crying” is the third release from an upcoming collaboration album between two of Calder’s own alter egos, Daggy Man and Tom Calder.
The wait is over: Blondie’s career-spanning box set will finally be released this summer. Actually, make that box sets. “Against the Odds 1974-1982” has been in development for years; The Numero Group says in their product description that the catalogue number was assigned in 2016. Several Record Store Day releases tied to the project have been released, but few concrete details about the set – until now. The New York new wavers, who crossed into the pop charts on a wave of disco and post-punk with hits like “Heart of Glass,” “Call Me,” “Atomic,” “Rapture,” “The Tide is High” and others, will go deep with “Against the Odds“, billed as “the first ever authorized and in-depth archive in their history” – 126 tracks, 36 of them never before released, all remastered from the original tapes, with 180-gram vinyl lacquered at Abbey Road in London.
The biggest edition – a black or “Platinum Blonde” vinyl box, limited to 500 copies encompassing 10 LPs, a 10″ EP, a 7″ single and two books – will feature the six albums the band issued for Private Stock and Chrysalis between 1976 and 1982, plus a host of bonus material. The vinyl set boasts four LPs with as-yet unannounced track lists of B-sides, demos and rarities; their names are “Plaza Sound”, “Parallel Beats”, “CocaCola” and “Home Tapes“. The 10”, “Out in the Streets“, features additional outtakes from the group’s pre-history, including a rehearsal tape from 1974 and demos cut with producer Alan Betrock a year later; on the 7″ single, there’s an unissued cover of The Doors’ “Moonlight Drive” backed with an “at-home sketch” called “Mr. Sightseer.” The first of two books feature a new set of liner notes by Erin Osmon, commentary and essays from members current (singer Debbie Harry, guitarist Chris Stein, drummer Clem Burke) and former (keyboardists Jimmy Destri, guitarists/bassists Frank Infante, Nigel Harrison, and Gary Valentine) as well as producers Mike Chapman and Richard Gottehrer, all across 144 pages; the second cover’s the band’s discography in visual form: picture sleeves, labels, and formats aplenty on 120 pages.
Now, from there, you’ve got a few choices of formats. An 8CD set includes the six original albums and two bonus discs (Home Tapes and Out in the Streets); note that despite the absence of two of the bonus discs from the deluxe set – and a product description from Amazon touting “the very best of the out-takes & rarities from the Super Deluxe Collectors’ Edition,” Numero notes that all 124 tracks appear here (along with a 128-page hardcover book). Now, if you just want the bonus tracks (52 in total), you’ve got that opportunity as well, thanks to a 4LP setwith 128-page hardcover book (featuring the same four bonus LPs as the deluxe set) or a 3CD set with 164-page booklet.
Dunedin, New Zealand band the Verlaines were in between their 1985 debut “Hallelujah All the Way Home” and sessions for what would become their sophomore album “Bird Dog” when they played Auckland in May of 1986. The gig was recorded in hopes of capturing a releasable live version of their tune “Slow Sad Love Song” for inclusion on “Bird Dog“, which didn’t end up happening as they’d hoped. The tapes of the full performance that surfaced more than 30 years later as “Live at the Windsor Castle, Auckland, May 1986” find the trio of Graeme Downes, Jane Dodd, and Robbie Yeats burning through material from that early phase of their run in strong, scrappy form. The entire presentation of the set crackles with an unpolished bootleg energy, down to the thin applause between songs from what sounds like a small but enthusiastic audience watching an obscure band rock a tiny club. Add in the less-than-high-fidelity recording quality and the Verlaines’ generally shambling approach to melancholy melodic pop, and Windsor Castle is the perfect document of where the band was at on that May night.
They tear through songs from their debut like the jumpy “For the Love of Ash Grey” and “Lying in State,” as well as tunes from the yet-to-be-tracked “Bird Dog“. Some of the band’s best songs from this era were their early singles, and live versions of “Doomsday,” “Pyromaniac,” and the slow-burning “You Cheat Yourselfof Everything That Moves” are among the most exciting moments of this live set as well.
Light in the Attic Records, in cooperation with Laurie Anderson, proudly announces the inaugural title in their ongoing “Lou Reed Archive Series: Words & Music, May 1965“. Released in tandem with the late artist’s 80th birthday celebrations, the album offers an extraordinary, unvarnished, and plainly poignant insight into one of America’s true poet-songwriters. Capturing Reed in his formative years, this previously unreleased collection of songs—penned by a young Lou Reed, recorded to tape with the help of future bandmate John Cale, and mailed to himself as a “poor man’s copyright”—remained sealed in its original envelope and unopened for nearly 50 years. Its contents embody some of the most vital, ground breaking contributions to American popular music committed to tape in the 20th century.
Through examination of these songs rooted firmly in the folk tradition, we see clearly Lou’s lasting influence on the development of modern American music – from punk to art-rock and everything in between. A true time capsule, these recordings not only memorialize the nascent sparks of what would become the seeds of the incredibly influential Velvet Underground; they also cement Reed as a true observer with an innate talent for synthesizing and distilling the world around him into pure sonic poetry.
The story of how this reissue came to pass is just as delicious as the music. In his early days as a songwriter-for-hire, Lou Reed attempted to protect his intellectual property by engaging in what has been referred to as a “poor man’s copyright”: mailing a copy of a reel containing a bunch of demos to himself. That tape sat dormant for decades, discovered only as archivists Don Fleming and Jason Stern were digging through Reed’s personal effects following his death in 2013. What they discovered were the sketches for future classics like “Pale Blue Eyes” and “Men of Good Fortune,” rendered roughly with just guitar and vocals. The remastered versions of these tunes, released by Light In The Attic as part of an apparent series of archival releases, feels like getting 4K footage of the Big Bang. It’s the raw material of a whole universe of art being flung into the black to eventually evolve into supernovas.
Featuring contributions from Reed’s future bandmate, John Cale, “Words & Music, May 1965” presents in their entirety the earliest-known recordings of such historic songs as “Heroin,” “I’m Waiting for the Man,” and “Pale Blue Eyes”—all of which Reed would eventually record and make indelibly influential with the Velvet Underground. Also included are several more previously-unreleased compositions that offer additional insight into Reed’s creative process and early influences.
Produced by Laurie Anderson, Don Fleming, Jason Stern, Hal Willner, and Matt Sullivan, the album features newly-remastered audio from the original tapes by GRAMMY®-nominated engineer, John Baldwin. Rounding out the package are new liner notes from acclaimed journalist and author, Greil Marcus, plus in-depth archival notes from Don Fleming and Jason Stern, who oversee the Lou Reed Archive.
“I was working for a record company as a songwriter,” Lou Reed remembered in 1972, “where they’d lock me in a room and they’d say, ‘Write ten surfing songs,’ ya know, and I wrote ‘Heroin’ and I said, ‘Hey, I’ve got something for ya.’ They said, ‘Never gonna happen, never gonna happen.'” Reed wasn’t able to introduce “Heroin” to the world until March 1967 when the Verve label released “The Velvet Underground& Nico. The VU’s debut album disappointed commercially but became greatly influential; Brian Eno once quipped that while the LP only sold around 30,000 copies in its first five years, “everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band!” (It’s been cited that it actually sold over 58,000 copies in two years.) The influence of Lou Reed, who died in 2013 at the age of 71, as a songwriter and an artist, has remained mighty over the ensuing decades. The centerpiece of the inaugural Lou Reed Archive Series release is the Deluxe 45-RPM Double LP Edition of Words & Music, May 1965. Limited to 7,500 copies worldwide, this stunning collection was designed by multi-GRAMMY®-winning artist Masaki Koike and features a stylized, die-cut gatefold jacket manufactured by Stoughton Printing Co., with sequential foil numbering. Housed inside are two 45-RPM 12-inch LPs, pressed on HQ-audiophile-quality 180-gram vinyl at Record Technology Inc. (RTI) featuring the only vinyl release of “I’m Waiting for the Man” – May 1965 Alternate Version.” A bonus 7-inch, housed in its own unique die-cut picture sleeve and manufactured at Third Man Record Pressing includes the only vinyl release of six previously-unreleased bonus tracks providing a never-before-seen glimpse into Reed’s formative years, including early demos, a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” and a doo-wop serenade recorded in 1958 when the legendary singer-songwriter was just sixteen years old. An accompanying saddle-stitched, die-cut 28-page book features lyrics, archival photos, and liner notes Also included is an archival reproduction of a rarely-seen letter, written by Reed to his college professor and poet, Delmore Schwartz, circa 1964. The set includes a CD containing the complete audio from the package, housed in a die-cut jacket.
“Alone Together” was the debut solo album from Dave Mason, released in June 1970. “Only You Knowand I Know” reached #42 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The LP record itself was not the traditional black vinyl as about 30% of the albums produced were a swirled mix of pink, brown and beige.
Performing with Mason was a roster of guest musicians, including Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, LeonRussell, Jim Capaldi, Rita Coolidge, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon.
As with so many artists, Dave Mason’s first solo album is probably his best. Perhaps it’s because he had a backlog of songs that Traffic had never recorded, but 1970’s “Alone Together” is chock full of great songs. On the other hand, it’s easy to see why Mason left Traffic even before that group’s (temporary) breakup in 1969; the soft rock sound of “Alone Together” is hard to place in the context of the jazz-pop experiments Traffic would explore when they reunited in 1971.
The eight lengthy songs take time to unfold, and the peerless musicianship, with Mason’s lyrical guitar and Leon Russell’s inimitable boogie-soul piano in the centre, treads the line between chops and soul with nary a misstep. The classic single “Only You Know and I Know” is the clear highlight, but every song is a winner.
The Original ROLLING STONE Review:
Like Traffic’s new album John Barleycorn Must Die, former Traffic member Dave Mason’s Alone Together is a good album — careful, well played, occasionally brilliant and well-conceived — but like John Barleycorn, Alone Together never breaks its vinyl bonds and soars. The song writing talent of Mason remains undiminished on Alone Together, and his easy fluid voice, long in Traffic vocalist Stevie Winwood’s giant shadow, is used to maximum effect.
This is, of course, the marbled LP, a brilliant burst of color spinning on the turntable, the grooves barely discernible so the needle seems to be floating across the record. Maybe the next step could be a little cartoon around the edge of the record, like those flip-the-pages funnies, or a slow inward spiral so you could be literally hypnotized by the record.
The music is vintage Mason, veering here and there towards commercialism but never quite getting there, slick but not offensive. Falling in line with the rest of Great Britain, Mason chose old Delaney and Bonnie sidemen for the session, including Leon Russell, Jim Keltner, Carl Radle and Rita Coolidge, plus old Mother Don Preston. Russell, as always, is much in evidence, and his piano (if it is him — the album doesn’t say and we have only internal evidence), particularly on “Sad and Deep As You,” is masterful.
The high point of the album is clearly “Look at You Look at Me,” a song Mason wrote with Trafficker Jim Capaldi, whose tight, urgent drumming on the cut moves the song along with descretion and skill. Mason’s singing is simply superb. The other exceptional cuts are “Shouldn’t Have Took More Than You Gave” (Mason is not, between you and me, a great song titlist), which features the best wah-wah guitar since Clapton’s initial exposition on “Tales of Brave Ulysses”; and “World in Changes,” with Mason’s deceptively simple lyrics pulled along by some brilliant organ work.
High commercial potential on the album is represented by “Only You Know and I Know,” which has a rick-ticky rhythm reminiscent of “You Can All Join In.” It’s really a trivial song (like others on the album, particularly “Waitin’ On You” and “Just A Song”), but it will sound great on a tinny AM radio at 60 miles an hour.
But the album is more potential than realization. It is, in a very real sense, flawless, but, as Paul McCartney is beginning to learn, great music is much better than flawless music. Jon Carroll (September 3rd, 1970)
TRACKS:
All songs written and composed by Dave Mason, except where indicated.
NYC band Wilder Maker will release their second album, “Male Models”, on July 29 via Western Vinyl. Frontman and songwriter Gabriel Birnbaum and bandmates Nick Jost and Sean Mullins got some vocal help on this one from Adam Duritz (Counting Crows), Katie Von Schleicher, Felicia Douglass (Dirty Projectors, Ava Luna), Alex Schaaf (Yellow Ostrich), V.V. Lightbody, and Jordan Lee (Mutual Benefit), who all sing lead on tracks.
The album’s first single, “Letter of Apology,” needs no extra vocal help, though, as Gabriel works through an existential crisis with self-deprecating humour and Velvet Underground-style chugging melody. It does feature Von Schleicher on guitar.
Tim Heidecker has shared the track “Sirens of Titan,” his collaboration with Kurt Vile that’s on his forthcoming album, “High School“. Against a synth-rock slow-burn that brings to mind Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer,” Tim and Kurt share lead vocals as the reflect on their teenage days, with a ragged, ripping guitar solo from Kurt.
Since 2016, Tim Heidecker has chronicled the annals of adulthood on a series of supreme singer-songwriter albums. The crushing devastation of divorce and the existential malaise of middle-age, the minutiae of home ownership and the ritual of family vacation, child rearing and global warming: Heidecker has handled it all with humour and heart. But, there’s one pivotal lodestar of human development he has yet to mine — that’s right, High School. “High School” is Tim’s new album with first single “Buddy.” Produced by Heidecker, Drew Erickson, Eric D. Johnson and Mac DeMarco, “High School” sees Heidecker emerging as an increasingly playful and poignant story teller, infusing childhood tales with new gravity.
From the album “High School“, out June 24th, 2022 on Spacebomb Records
San Fermin are back with this new single from Brooklyn’s San Fermin. “Tired of Loving You” is elegant, ethereal sophistipop. “‘Tired of Loving You’ started as a love song called ‘Won’t Get Tired of Loving You,'” says founder Ellis Ludwig-Leone. “But I showed it to [vocalist Allen Tate] and he made me write an opposite version where I dropped the ‘won’t,’ which, as soon as he suggested it, we both were like ‘oof, this is heart breaking.’ It ended up being about falling out of love with someone who is really special, and not knowing why.”
Listen to “Tired of Loving You” by San Fermin out June 2nd
Since first arriving on the scene in 2009 with blistering inversions of shoegaze, Montreal’sNO JOY has always found formidable ways to reinvent itself. Now solely composed of musician Jasamine White-Gluz, No Joy has evolved over the course of four studio albums and five EPs, defying expectation and genre, and cementing itself as something rare: a band without a category.
Aside from these re-imaginings, there’s another delightful surprise: a dusky cover of Deftones’ immortal classic “Teenager” rounds out the five song EP. It’s no wonder that a song by Deftones, another band willing to bulldoze through sonic boundaries, would find a home here. There’s a kinship between these artists that makes this cover even more necessary.
No Joy continues to conjure an effortless mix of sound, achieving new heights, while playing with the more traditional confines of the shoegaze genre.
“Teenager – From Heaven” (Deftones cover) by No Joy off ‘Can My Daughter See Me From Heaven’ out on Joyful Noise Recordings worldwide and Hand Drawn Dracula in Canada.
The Fat Angel Sings 