The Fat Angel Sings

Things were very different in early 1995 when Spiritualized’s magnificent second album “Pure Phase” came out at the height of Britpop, reaching number 20 in the charts. But as Jason Pierce shows this evening, not much has changed in his world. Seven albums and 30 years later, J Spaceman’s vision remains essentially the same as he channels the heavy cosmic blues and raw Americana that has come to define the Spiritualized sound through a 15-piece ensemble for this special anniversary performance. The 1995 fan favourite “Pure Phase” gets the transcendent live treatment it always deserved

This is the band’s second night at the Barbican as part of a run of shows this year celebrating “Pure Phase“, the Spiritualized album that tends to get overlooked in favour of its follow-up “Ladies And Gentleman We Are Floating In Space“, but which many fans consider to be the perfect distillation of Pierce’s musical genius.

It moved the band on from their more delicate debut “Lazer Guided Melodies” by bringing in some of Pierce’s most immediate pop songs – “Medication”, “Lay Back In The Sun” – and introducing the soulful gospel tropes he’d explore in rich detail later on, while retaining the electronic tones and harmonious drones that always suggested he was tuned to a celestial frequency only he could hear – a result of his fastidious production and mixing methods.

Pure Phase also gave the band some personality and helped to solidify their approach. Back then, Pierce played up to his spaced-out image by wearing an astronaut suit and posing vacantly for press shots in a T-shirt with the slogan “Drugs Not Jobs”, arm in arm with his partner at the time, Kate Radley.

This evening, Pierce is the only person on stage not wearing black as he stands to the right in a pale shirt, shades and silver trainers with his band arranged in a semi-circle around the stage, leaving a large empty space in the centre. The eye lands on the rhythm section anchored in the middle, Starsailor’s James Stelfox on bass and long-time Spiritualized drummer Kevin Bales. Above them, a huge moon is projected on the backdrop – maybe we will be floating in space? – and the room is bathed in swirling green light, reflecting the colour of the “Pure Phase” reissue in 2021. 

You usually know what you’re getting with a Spiritualized show, but this evening you really do because “Pure Phase” is played in sequence. Pierce’s regular five-piece band is joined by strings, brass and four backing singers, which allows him to deliver maximalist versions of each song, perhaps presenting “Pure Phase” in its entirety for the first time in the way he’d always imagined it (budget permitting). 

Somehow Pierce turns 60 this year, and for all the garlands tossed at his most recent album “Everything Was Beautiful“, he has effectively been writing versions of “Medication” for the last 30 years. “Every night I stay up late and make my state more desperate,” he sings, slightly crumpled, on this transcendent junkie prayer that opens the show, but by the end he’s come alive as the brass rings out: “Makes me feel so good – leaves me fucked up inside!” This leads into the sweeter “The Slide Song” and gentler “All Of My Tears” before the audience is vaporised by the pulsating sax-and-strobe overload of “These Blues”.

Everything that makes Spiritualized such a compelling live experience is contained in “Pure Phase” – even the sinuous electronic passages seem to glow as if beamed in from another dimension. And yet the 20-minute encore of “Cop Shoot Cop”, that deep-fried acid-rock gospel trip from “Ladies And Gentleman…“, immediately illustrates the leap Pierce took for his next album. That one turns 30 in two years – start queuing for tickets now. 

Set list: medication the slide song electric phase all of my tears these blues let it flow take good care of it born, never asked [laurie anderson] electric mainline lay back in the sun good times pure phase spread your wings feel like goin’ home cop shoot cop…

This double album showcases Led Zeppelin’s electrifying concert at the Forum, in Inglewood, California, on 4th September 1970, during their summer 1970 North American Tour.

Featured here, are a multitude of Zeppelin classics the set is dominated by three outstanding folk/blues rock medleys: “From the Midnight Sun” (later titled “Immigrant Song”) and “Heartbreaker”; “Communication Breakdown,” “Good Times Bad Times,” “For What It’s Worth” and (not listed) “I Saw Her Standing There,” and Zeppelin’s signature blues rock medley comprised of “Whole Lotta Love,” “Let that Boy Boogie Woogie,” “I’m Movin’ On,” “Think It Over,” and “Lemon Song.” The bass and guitar transitions between the tunes on “Communication Breakdown” medley are funky, and the explosive renditions of Stephen Stills’ “For What It’s Worth” and Lennon/McCartney’s “I Saw Her Standing There” are priceless in their inventive approach. “Live on Blueberry Hill” also features fresh performances of “What Is and What Should Never Be” (with a pleasantly coarse Page guitar), an exhilarating, ultimately exhausting “Moby Dick,” and John Paul Jones’ freaky “Organ Improvisation.” “Since I’ve Been Loving You” is the peak performance of the evening. In the course of eight minutes, Plant’s wails and screams, Page’s raw electric guitar, and Bonham’s deep, thundering drums generate music that could accompany the damned to hell. Originally a bootleg recording of the English rock group Led Zeppelin’s performance at the Los Angeles Forum on September 4th, 1970, which took place during their summer 1970 North American Tour.

The audience recording is one of the first Led Zeppelin bootlegs, and one of the first ever rock and roll bootlegs. It was released on the Blimp label. The album was reissued on the Trademark of Quality label and shipped to England. The album sold so many copies that many fans thought it was a legal release. The sleeve notes describe it as “One hundred and six minutes and fifty three seconds of pure alive rock.” Led Zeppelin perform a powerful set of songs (prior to recording “Zeppelin III“) comprised of heavy blues numbers and a dense onslaught of rock & roll. While the sound clarity is adequate at times, at other moments the sound is faint and simply flat — common flaws in bootleg recordings from this era. Still, the music on “Blueberry Hill” packs a punch. 

“Live on Blueberry Hill” derives its name from Zeppelin’s performance of Fats Domino’s “Blueberry Hill” as a final encore. The bootleg also features one of the few known live performances of “Out on the Tiles”, from the group’s third album, plus “Bron-Yr-Aur”, which would not be released officially until five years later, on “Physical Graffiti”.

From the 1980s the bootleg became available on CD as a two-disc set, often under the titles “Blueberry Hill” and The Final Statements. “I actually prefer …Blueberry Hill to [pioneering Zeppelin bootleg] Pb,” remarked photographer (and Jimmy Page’s friend) Ross Halfin, “even though it isn’t such good sound quality, but because it includes the whole show.” In 2017, the Empress Valley bootleg label released the nine-CD, “Live On Blueberry Hill: The Complete 1970 L.A. Forum Tapes”, which includes five different source recordings of the concert.

2025 marks the 30th anniversary of the release of our second record “King!” It seems both an impossibly long time ago, yet somehow also like it was only yesterday… We are thrilled to announce that 4AD is honouring “King’s” 30th with a limited-edition, remastered vinyl reissue for Record Store Day 2025 on April 12th! Pressed on limited green vinyl, remastered by Kevin Vanbergen, and featuring original sleeve design by Chris Bigg (v23).

Belly’s second album, “King”, celebrates its 30th anniversary with a special vinyl pressing on Record Store Day 2025. Belly found themselves at something of a crossroads when it came to following up their 1993 debut album “Star” – a wildly successful record that earned the band two GRAMMY nominations including the coveted Best New Artist award

With bassist Gail Greenwood having joined the ranks in between, she plus the trio of Tanya Donelly and brothers Chris and Tom Gorman rented a house in rural Rhode Island to write collaboratively before heading to Nassau in the Bahamas to record in Island Records founder Chris Blackwell’s legendary studio Compass Point (a place famed for where AC/DC, Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club, and countless others recorded major works)

Away from industry pressure and guided by veteran producer Glyn Johns (Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Who), they made the most of the relaxed surroundings, recording live in the room and minimising overdubs so to capture as much of the band’s chemistry on tape as they could. Featuring singles “Now They’ll Sleep”, “Seal My Fate”, and “Super-Connected”, the resultant “King” was a step on, a deceptively complex album where the quartet had chosen artistic growth over commerciality

Their lyrics took more of a political and personal bent, while musically it was heavier, in part due to Gail’s muscular playing style and more deft guitar interplay between Tanya and Tom

Keeping its original sleeve design by Chris Bigg (v23), this long demanded repress is coming on limited green vinyl with the album having been remastered by Kevin Vanbergen.S

We are also excited to announce we’ll be playing a limited run of fall 2025 shows to honour “King’s” Anniversary, performing the entire album (plus some other songs, of course). Dates, cities and ticket links coming soon!

SPIN Magazine saying at the time that it marked their evolution from “indie darlings to rock contenders.” Having been out of print on vinyl since its release 30 years ago, 4AD are delighted to be working with both the band and Rhino in North America to finally put it back on the shelves on Record Store Day 2025

Camper Van Beethoven’s ground breaking debut album, “Telephone Free Landslide Victory“, is back on vinyl for the first time since the 1980s. This Record Store Day release is pressed on limited edition clear and orange marbled vinyl, making it a must-have for fans and collectors. Featuring the cult classic “Take the Skinheads Bowling”, the album showcases Camper Van Beethoven’s unique blend of folk, punk, ska, and absurdist wit.

Beloved for its playful, offbeat charm and eclectic instrumentation, “Telephone Free Landslide Victory” cemented the band’s status as pioneers of alternative music. The sleeve design has been recreated to match the original 1980s pressings, complete with a kraftpak board cover.

The band’s line-up at the time of recording was David Lowery (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Jonathan Segel (violin, keyboards, guitar, backing vocals), Chris Molla (guitar, backing vocals), Victor Krummenacher (bass, backing vocals), and Anthony Guess (drums). The album is the only Camper Van Beethoven record not to feature guitarist Greg Lisher. Lisher is actually listed in the album credits as a band member, but he did not join the band until after the album was recorded.

The reunited Camper Van Beethoven frequently features several of the album’s songs in their set lists, including “Take the Skinheads Bowling”, the countrified Black Flag cover “Wasted”, the hardcore send-up “Club Med Sucks”, “The Day That Lassie Went to the Moon”, “Ambiguity Song”, and several of the instrumentals.

The band originally intended the album to be titled “Telephone Tree Landslide Victory”, but a friend who was producing advance copies of the LP on cassette mistakenly replaced “Tree” with “Free”

The Grays were a short-lived rock band comprising singer/songwriters/multi-instrumentalists Jon Brion, Jason Falkner, Buddy Judge, and Dan McCarroll. They released only one album, the out-of-print but highly regarded Ro Sham Bo (1994) on Sony/Epic Records.

In 1993, former Til Tuesday touring member Jon Brion and guitarist Jason Falkner, fresh from his tenure in Jellyfish, got together with a couple of other musician buddies (Buddy Judge and Dan McCarroll) and crafted one of the definitive power-pop classics of that decade as The Grays.

Falkner who had just come out of a tumultuous period with the band Jellyfish. The band members would often swap instruments depending on the need of the individual song and would contribute to each other’s songs

Out of print forever and never pressed on vinyl, this expanded edition of the band’s sole LP, “Ro Sham Bo”, contains two bonus tracks from the original recording sessions, and is limited to 1,300 copies for Record Store Day. Don’t be surprised if this one’s gone within the first hour of shops opening their doors.

The band released its first and only album “Ro Sham Bo! on February 22nd, 1994, on Epic Records.

Definitely one of the greatest blues compilations ever, the list of contributors is jaw dropping, Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Rickie Lee Jones, the Cowboy Junkies among others covering the brilliant songs of Blind Willie Johnson…The album was funded via a Kickstarter campaign that featured cigar box guitars made of wood from Willie Johnson’s 1920s/1930s Marlin, Texas, home that he shared with wife Willie B Harris. These ten unique folk instruments are individually numbered and collectively known as the Blind Pilgrim Collection.  The album “Reflects the enduring, mercurial influence of the artist, but also the weight the Christian gospel imposes on questions of the human condition as it encounters suffering, joy, mercy, loneliness, death, and resurrection.” The Press praised the album saying “Producer Jeffrey Gaskill’s able guidance has resulted in 11 stirring renditions which replicated the soul of the songs not just the sounds.

Willie Johnson wrote a lot of good songs and a lot more people have heard of him because of this. His memory and his songwriting deserve to be heard,

Tracklist 0:00 A1 –Tom Waits The Soul Of A Man 3:29 A2 –Lucinda Williams It’s Nobody’s Fault But Mine 7:24 A3 –Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning 10:36 A4 –Cowboy Junkies Jesus Is Coming Soon 14:53 A5 –The Blind Boys Of Alabama Mother’s Children Have A Hard Time 19:35 A6 –Sinéad O’Connor Trouble Will Soon Be Over 22:54 B1 –Luther Dickinson, The Rising Star Fife and Drum Band Bye And Bye I’m Going To See The King 26:49 B2 –Lucinda Williams God Don’t Never Change 31:13 B3 –Tom Waits John The Revelator 34:04 B4 –Maria McKee Let Your Light Shine On Me 38:02 B5 –Rickie Lee Jones Dark Was The Night—Cold Was The Ground

Bruce Springsteen performed “Because the Night,” the 1978 Top 20 hit he co-wrote with Patti Smith, at “People Have the Power: A Celebration of Patti Smith,” the tribute concert that took place tonight at Carnegie Hall in New York.

You can watch, below, a video of the performance, at which Springsteen was backed by Tony Shanahan (of Smith’s band) and Charlie Sexton on guitars, Flea (of The Red Hot Chili Peppers) on bass, Benmont Tench (of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers) on piano, and Steve Jordan (the current Rolling Stones touring drummer) on drums.

“We love ya, Patti,” said Springsteen, after taking the stage. “Patti gave me this big hit, right here, I’m about to sing. If I had sung this song, it would not have been a hit. It needed her voice, and her incredible lyrics, so Patti, I have to thank you, so dearly, for our one big hit together. Thank you, darling.”

I will add more details from the show — which included a surprise appearance by Johnny Depp — when they become available.

The show was part of an annual series of tribute concerts that raise money for music education. Michael Stipe, Jesse Malin, Courtney Barnett, Ben Harper and Susanna Hoffs were among the many other artists scheduled to perform, with Scarlett Johansson, Michael Shannon, Jim Jarmusch and Sean Penn reading Smith’s poetry.

Patti Smith herself sang “People Have the Power,” with Springsteen, Lenny Kaye, and many of the evening’s performers.

Another set of two great songs by Cat Stevens, performed LIVE from the Saturnight concert in Tokyo, 1974. As most fans know, this album is rarely available on CD yet, only on vinyl. It was only released in Japan for raising money for UNICEF. The 50th anniversary of Cat Stevens’ classic live album, “Saturnight (Cat Stevens Live In Tokyo)”.

Originally issued by A&M Records only in Japan, and following its Record Store Day Black Friday 2024 release on 180g coloured vinyl, the album is now available on limited-edition 140g lava splatter vinyl and is packaged for the first time in a gatefold sleeve, which features lyrics and new retrospective notes by Hallam Kite, tour manager Carl Miller, and bass player Bruce Lynch.

Recorded at Nakano Sun Plaza in Tokyo on June 22nd, 1974, on the Japanese leg of the Bamboozle Tour that supported the release of “Buddha and the Chocolate Box”, Saturnight was Cat Stevens’ first live album. Also included is a soulful cover of Sam Cooke’s “Another Saturday Night.” Stevens and his band were fresh from recording the song at a studio in Tokyo using a Japanese brass section – the very same version that would go on to become a hit single later that year. The performance on “Saturnight” captures the first time they ever played “Another Saturday Night” live.

“Saturnight” includes many of his greatest hits from the early ‘70s such as “Wild World,” “Where Do The Children Play?” “Hard Headed Woman,” “Father & Son,” “Peace Train,” “Bitterblue,” “Sitting” and “Oh Very Young.”

 Stevens arranged for the proceeds to be donated to UNICEF. He had recently become a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and with their help, had visited Ethiopia and Kenya earlier in 1974. There, he saw firsthand some of the utter devastation caused by drought and famine, but also witnessed the remarkable resilience and nobility of the human spirit. The experience moved him profoundly and had a truly lasting impact on his life and career, so much so that his humanitarian efforts would soon overtake his personal musical ambitions.

Yusuf / Cat Stevens’ little known 1974 concert album, “Saturnight: Live From Tokyo”, will be released in the U.S. in multiple formats for the first time ever, more than 50 years after it was originally released only in Japan, The record has been remastered from the original production master at Abbey Road Studios and will be available on CD and vinyl on May 2nd, 2025, via Cat-O-Log Records/UMe.