Posts Tagged ‘Grateful Dead’

BOB DYLAN/GRATEFUL DEAD – ” Honky Tonk Lagoon ” Eugene ’87 Bootleg

Posted: October 22, 2021 in MUSIC
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While you can put ten Deadheads in a room and end up with 12 opinions, there’s one thing most fans agree on: the 1987 tour the Grateful Dead did with Bob Dylan was not their best. The period presented somewhat of a low point—performance-wise—for each act. The Dead, however, were devoted Dylan followers dating back to their 60s roots, so who were they to deny their hero when he asked to join up with them for a stadium tour?

Sure, Bob Dylan may not have been in his best fighting shape, and it’s not like the Grateful Dead needed him to sell tickets, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a band that had already at that point played Woodstock, at the Great Pyramid of Giza, and would later that summer score their first Billboard Number 1 with the album “Touch of Grey”.

Yet, while many agree that the tour—later cataloged on the official live album, “Dylan & The Dead”, released in 1989—was not the strongest, those willing to do a little digging can find diamonds in the rough. With Jerry Garcia still relatively on the mend off his diabetic coma in 1986, the frontman was re-entering performances with fresh vigour as the band steadily moved toward what would prove to be a late-career peak through the end of the 1980s.

Though the 1987 joint tour may not be the most enjoyable to listen to, these concerts served as a catalyst for something great both from the Dead as well as Dylan, who would emerge in 1989 with possibly his best and most well-received album of the decade, “Oh Mercy”. That is why it was exciting to see a new Dylan and the Dead bootleg quietly uploaded to Bob’s YouTube channel this week, entitled “Honky Tonk Lagoon“.

A shared characteristic of both Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead is the massive amount of bootlegs in each others catalogue. From Dylan’s “The Basement Tapes” to the Grateful Dead’s “Dick’s Picks” series, there exist massive amounts of unofficial-official content. Though audience recordings of Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead’s July 17th, 1987 concert at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, OR have existed for years, the audio uploaded to Dylan’s YouTube page on October 15th represents a sizable improvement in quality as it was taken from a KLCC broadcast of the concert.

Since it was released through the Dylan channel, Honky Tonk Lagoon features only performances of Bob’s originals with the Grateful Dead as his backing band. The Dead are tight on the uptempo blues of “Maggie’s Farm” that starts the collection while the singer is best described as someone doing a bad impression of Bob Dylan.

As is to be expected from shows on the 1987 joint tour, not every song is a winner. The Dead make the most of newer compositions like “Dead Man Dead Man”, which Jerry imbues with a bit of “West L.A. Fadeaway” energy, and Brent Mydland is given the space to shine on “Watching The River Flow”. The gems come as the Grateful Dead get to take on the Dylan songs they’ve co-opted into their own songbooks long ago, like “Ballad of a Thin Man”, “All Along The Watchtower”, “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”, or the Jerry Garcia Band staple “Tangled Up In Blue”.

Though there aren’t any extensive jams, the result is a humbling documentation of a band prostrating itself before its almighty. The excesses of the Grateful Dead were poised to destroy the group by the mid-1980s, resulting in Jerry’s diabetic coma that forced him to have to relearn the guitar. Though they were the ones filling the stadiums, these shows relegated the Grateful Dead to simply being Bob Dylan’s backing band. An experience like that no doubt painted the bright lights of the stage in a different hue, and it’s likely no coincidence that the Dead went on to experience their most profound period of commercial and critical success while also playing their strongest shows of the entire decade soon thereafter.

Just as Dylan & The Dead is meant to be appreciated as a cultural antiquity rather than a document of peak performance, so too is Honky Tonk Lagoon meant to be enjoyed for the effect it had on the Grateful Dead.

The GRATEFUL DEAD – ” P.N.E. Garden Auditorium, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 29th July 1966 Record Store Day Release 2017

Posted: October 3, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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“P.N.E. Garden Auditorium, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 7/29/66 marks Grateful Dead’s debut performance outside of the United States. Their complete July 29th, 1966 performance is being released in a limited edition, 2-LP, 180 gram vinyl-set, with four bonus tracks from the ensuing 7/30 performance at the same venue.”

In an interview, Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux said that he had wanted to release this concert as an album, but it was too short for the Dave’s Picks series. He said that since the concert was an early one, from before the time of CDs, that made it seem like a good choice for an LP. He added, “As a vinyl release it works extremely well where you get three or four songs per side and they’re all really short songs – anywhere from three to five minutes.”

This is a great recording. Its interesting to see how they mixed these older sets. This was (obviously) a huge growth period and they were really pushing the envelope as for as what they could do electronically. Interesting how they distribute the different tracks to right and left speakers

The Dead go through much of their standard repetoire for this time but do it very well. Bob may be low in the mix, but the other guys, especially Pigpen and Jerry are tearing it up. Pig’s early organ playing is a delight, he was really good and with Jerry is the main instrumental voice in the band. The real surprise here though are two songs I’m not that familiar with: “You Don’t Have To Ask” and “Cardboard Cowboy”. Both are excellently played examples of mid sixties psychedelic rock. I think “Cardboard Cowboy” may have been played at one other show. The crowd are either lame or not miked as they’re barely audible and it sounds like there may be 10 people in attendance. For example the band do a great ripping version of “You Don’t Have To Ask” that stops on a dime after a great Jerry solo and there’s… silence,

Original cover art by Canadian poster artist, Bob Masse. The iconic 60’s poster artist has designed original works for artists such as Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Doors, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Steve Miller Band, No Doubt, Fiona Apple & Smashing Pumpkins to name a few. The show was mastered from the original audio recordings by GRAMMY winning sound engineer Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering in Petaluma, CA. This audio was first made available in January, 2016 as the bonus disc in the 2-CD The Grateful Dead (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) as it features most of the tracks that would make their way on to the first official Grateful Dead album. It was previously unreleased before this year and is only available as a stand-alone show in this limited edition vinyl set.

GRATEFUL DEAD – ” Skull & Roses ” 50th Anniversary Edition

Posted: March 26, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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On June 25th, Deadheads will get their hands on the new, 50th anniversary edition of the Grateful Dead’s second live LP “Skull & Roses”, The release including 60+ minutes of unreleased audio from the band’s July 2nd, 1971 performance at the Fillmore West.

As 2021 marches along so do the reissues for classic 50th Anniversary celebrations of some titles. For The Grateful Dead, which has a solid following even among newer generations who were not around at their peak, the albums, in their order, are moving along. Last year, “Workingman’s Dead” arrived in definitive CD and LP editions. The year before it was “Aoxomoxoa”. Now, it’s the turn for the ‘Skull and Roses’ collected live tracks album officially titled Grateful Dead. The Grateful Dead’s second live release was an eponymously titled double LP whose cover bears the striking skull-and-roses visual motif that would become instantly recognizable and an indelibly linked trademark of the band. As opposed to their debut concert recording, Live/Dead (1969), this hour and ten minutes concentrates on newer material, which consisted of shorter self-contained originals and covers.

Explains GD legacy manager/archivist David Lemieux, “Skull & Roses” captures the quintessential quintet, the original five piece band, playing some of their hardest hitting rock ‘n’ roll (‘Johnny B. Goode,’ ‘Not Fade Away’), showing off their authentic Bakersfield bona fides (‘Me & My Uncle,’ ‘Mama Tried,’ ‘Me & Bobby McGee’), and some originals that would be important parts of the Dead’s live repertoire for the next 24 years (‘Bertha,’ ‘Playing In The Band,’ ‘Wharf Rat’). Of course, the Grateful Dead were never defined by one specific ‘sound’ and amongst the aforementioned genres and styles the band brought to this album, they also delved deeply into their psychedelic, primal playbook with an entire side dedicated to their 1968 masterpiece ‘The Other One.’.. Skull & Roses sounds as fresh today as the first time I heard it in 1985, and as fresh as it was upon its spectacularly well-received release in 1971.”

To celebrate, Grateful Dead HQ has shared “The Other One” from the previously-mentioned Summer ’71 rarity at San Francisco’s Fillmore West. Grateful Dead perform “The Other One” live from Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA 7/2/71.

The standout centerpiece of the 1971 live album was Side 2’s “The Other One”, and this one from a little over two months later is every bit its equal. Every version of “The Other One” from 1971 is unique and different, but they all maintain a hold on the spirit of the song and can be viewed as one big, continuous piece of music.

The release is out June 18th, Rhino Records will unleash a 2CD and a separately available 2LP (Black) 180g-weight vinyl 50th Anniversary set for fans. The album, of course, will be newly remastered for this package. It will also contain a previously unreleased July 2nd, 1971 concert on the expanded bonus disc. This set will also be made available on DD format in both the expanded edition and the remastered album only. Hi-res DD (FLAC and ALAC) can be purchased at Dead.net. There will also be a limited edition collectable black and white propeller-coloured vinyl set that is limited to 5,000 copies only.

ROCK POSTERS – ” Chuck Berry ” Grateful Dead at the Fillmore and Winterland

Posted: January 30, 2021 in MUSIC
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JERRY GARCIA – ” Jerry Garcia ” Released On This Day In 1972

Posted: January 22, 2021 in MUSIC
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The early 1970s were a very formative time for the Grateful Dead, both collectively and individually.

The band started the decade with the release of their fan-favourite studio albums in 1970’s “Workingman’s Dead” and “American Beauty”, yet band members also made time to pursue solo endeavors. Members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart both released solo albums in 1972, as did Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia, who celebrated the arrival of his own solo debut, Garcia, on January 20th, 1972.

As pure of an individual effort as anyone has ever put into their own solo album—save the help of drummer/bandmate Bill Kreutzmann—Garcia gave the guitarist ample opportunity to take a step back from the madness of Dead’s live shows to go into the studio, have some fun on pedal steel guitar, and focus on “the song” as a finite entity. While the track listing for Garica does include a number of Dead live staples that had already been in the rotation since ’71 including “Sugaree”, “Bird Song”, “Deal”, and “Loser”, there was still enough weirdness included on Garcia to intensify the appetite of any Deadhead looking for a little space odyssey—see “Late For Supper” and “An Odd Little Place”.

Garcia, more or less, is a synthesis of Jerry’s tastes and sensibilities as an ambassador to American roots music. The album as a whole is still a wonderfully muddy mix of folk, country, blues, jazz, and acid rock, and certainly speaks for the Garcia fans who like to colour in between the lines.

GRATEFUL DEAD – ” Dick’s Picks 26 ” (4-LP Set)

Posted: July 27, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Grateful Dead Dick's Picks 26 (4-LP Set)

Real Gone Music has announced another “vinyl adventure” for Grateful Dead fans, this one a reissue of Dick’s Picks 26: 4/26/69 Electric Theater, Chicago, IL / 4/27/69 Labor Temple Minneapolis, MN.

Described by the label as “a worthy counterpoint to what is one of the greatest ‘official’ live albums in rock ‘n’ roll history,” Live Dead, this hand-numbered, limited-edition 4-LP box set is available to purchase now.  You’ll hear tracks from the then-soon-to-be-released “Aoxomoxoa”  plus a thrilling “Dark Star” medley, a rendition of Jimmy Reed’s “I Know It’s a Sin,” and much more.

Having surveyed the ‘Seventies with our first two vinyl ventures (Dick’s Picks Vols. 24 & 34) into the Grateful Dead catalogue, we really wanted to travel back to the band’s ‘Sixties beginnings for our next multi-LP magnum opus’and boy, did we ‘pick’ the right shows! Recorded but a few months after the shows that formed Live Dead, and featuring a spellbinding version of the ‘Dark Star’/’St. Stephen’/’The Eleven’ medley that was that album’s centerpiece,

Dick’s Picks Vol. 26 stands as a worthy counterpoint to what is one of the greatest ‘official’ live albums in rock ‘n’ roll history. Add in the fact it also captures the band working on material for the forthcoming album Aoxomoxoa‘ including an incredible version of ‘Mountains of the Moon” and serves up a real live Dead rarity with a rendition of Jimmy Reed’s ‘I Know It’s a Sin,’ and this is a Pick that’s clearly worthy, one, of coming out on vinyl, and, two, of some special treatment when it does! Which is a challenge we at Real Gone Music relished; so, in addition to re-printing Bear’s notes from the original CD release on the LP insert, we enlisted Bear’s son Starfinder Stanley to provide some added context on behalf of the Owsley Stanley Foundation, from whence the tapes for these shows come. And speaking of those tapes, this 4-LP set is mastered for vinyl by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering, with lacquers cut by Jeff Powell, who got his start at Memphis’ legendary Ardent Studios and has worked with everybody from Bob Dylan to Gregg Allman to Irma Thomas. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Furnace Record Pressing, the whisper-quiet test pressings were approved by engineer Jeffrey Norman, Dead archivist David Lemieux, and Real Gone’s own Gordon Anderson, so the audio experience that awaits is truly a cut above. As for the packaging, each of the four LPs is housed inside a polyvinyl sleeve carefully nestled (with extra padding!) inside a two-piece hardshell box with insert. We are only pressing 1500 hand-numbered copies of Dick’s Picks Vol. 26; if prior experience is any guide, they will not last long!

The lift-off lid box features the original sleeve notes by Bear, a.k.a. Owsley Stanley, and new insights by his son Starfinder Stanley of the Owsley Stanley Foundation.  The music has been mastered for vinyl by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering, with lacquers cut by Jeff Powell.  It’s been pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Furnace and approved by engineer Jeffrey Norman, Dead archivist David Lemieux, and Real Gone’s Gordon Anderson.

The box set is limited to only 1,500 hand-numbered copies.

The Grateful Dead, Dick’s Picks Vol. 26 –4/26/69 Electric Theater, Chicago, IL 4/27/69 Labor Temple Minneapolis, MN[4-LP] (originally Grateful Dead / Rhino CD GDCD 4046, 2002 – reissued Real Gone Music, 2020)

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE GRATEFUL DEAD Fillmore Rock Poster

Posted: July 15, 2020 in MUSIC
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The first example of a rock poster to feature band photographs, these by Herb Greene. Wilson’s lettering, by now evolved into a more elegant ‘blocky’ style, reflected his discovery of the work of Vienna Secessionist designer, Alfred Roller. Together again, Jefferson Airplane, with original vocalist Signe Anderson, and the Grateful Dead shared this August billing.

GRATEFUL DEAD – ” The Grateful Dead live: A Complete Chronological Playlist “

Posted: June 16, 2020 in MUSIC
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A Spotify playlist published by the U.K. outlet Far Out has put every Grateful Dead official live release in chronological order. This mammoth undertaking amounts to a whopping 355 hours and chronologizes the band’s 30 year history of live concerts.

The playlist, titled “The Grateful Dead live: A complete chronological playlist”, was made public earlier this week. The collection features all of the official live releases sanctioned by the band, from Dick’s Picks to Road Trips to the Download Series and everything in between.

Even though the Dead, who had only recently changed their name from The Warlocks, played their first show on December 4th, 1965 at one of Ken Kesey‘s famous Acid Tests, the playlist’s first entry comes from the Rare Cuts & Oddities 1966 collection released in 2005. This album delivered what it promised via a hodgepodge of studio outtakes from the band’s self-titled debut album, as well as rough early recordings from gigs at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, CA and Los Angeles’s Danish Center. From there, “The Grateful Dead live” traverses through the long strange trip that was the Dead’s career. The final entry on the playlist, unsurprisingly, is “So Many Roads” taken from the Dead’s final concert on July 9th, 1995 at Chicago’s Soldier Field. While it wasn’t the final song Jerry Garcia sang at that concert, the pain and exhaustion in his voice perfectly encapsulates the final march of the Grateful Dead. Garcia died of a heart attack a month later on August 9th, 1995, signaling the end of the Grateful Dead.

While “The Grateful Dead live: A complete chronological playlist” doesn’t offer any new material, and obviously is unable to include the thousands more hours of Dead content available via an army of concert tapers, it condenses the band’s career into a neat package. To anyone looking to begin the deep dive into the seemingly-never ending well of the Grateful Dead, this playlist would be an ideal starting point. It could also be useful to any Deadhead looking to kill just under 15 days time.

Far Out Magazine

GRATEFUL DEAD – ” Aoxomoxoa ” 50th Anniversary Edition

Posted: March 29, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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To celebrate the 50th anniversary of their experimental 1969 release Aoxomoxoa, Grateful Dead Inc. has prepared a special, deluxe edition of the record, featuring two exclusive mixes of the album (“one fully remastered from the original 1969 mix and the other remastered from the definitive 1971 band-produced mix”), as well as a third disc of unreleased live music dating back to January 24th-26th, 1969.

“Aoxomoxoa” is a 1969 album by the Grateful Dead. One of the first rock albums to be recorded using 16-track technology, fans and critics alike consider this era to be the band’s experimental apex. The title is a meaningless palindrome, usually pronounced “ox-oh-mox-oh-ah”.

“In 1969, for their third album, the Grateful Dead eschewed outside producers and created Aoxomoxoa themselves, beginning a run of self-produced albums that would continue until 1977,” Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux said in an official statement. “Scrapping the first sessions, which were recorded to eight-track tape, the Dead now had 16 tracks with which to experiment their psychedelic sound, with an album that included entirely Robert Hunter-penned lyrics for the first time.”

The newly compiled edition of Aoxomoxoa will be available on June 7th in a CD and digital format. The band will also release a limited edition picture disc vinyl of the record, boasting the remastered version of the LP (only 10,000 available). The reissue’s bonus disc of live music recorded January 24th to 26th, 1969 at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco, California (the recordings were among the first live performances recorded to 16-track tape). including two early versions of Aoxomoxoa tracks, “Durpee’s Diamond Blues” and “Doin’ That Rag,” as well as the final live performance of “Clementine,” a song the Dead began playing in 1968 but never released on a studio album. The Dead lineup at the time of the Avalon shows was Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Phil Lesh, Tom Constanten, Mickey Hart, and Bill Kreutzmann.

UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1968: 1968, California, San Francisco, Grateful Dead, L-R: Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart (standing). ((Photo by Malcolm Lubliner/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images))

THIS WEEKS ESSENTIAL NEW RELEASES Friday 13th July 2018

Posted: July 13, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC, THIS WEEKS ESSENTIAL PURCHASES
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There’s some rather good albums out tomorrow. We have new records from Cowboy Junkies, Mattiel, Luluc, Rayland Baxter, Dirty Projectors, Lotic, Body/Head, The Hunna, The Ophelias, Immersion and a new ‘Black Mirror‘ soundtrack, this time from Alex Somers and Sigur Ros on limited white vinyl.

Some nice reissues as well, with coloured vinyl from Tom Waits for the ‘Foreign Affairs‘ album which hasn’t been on vinyl for some years. We also have old albums made new from The Libertines, Grateful Dead, a repress of the King Gizzard ‘Polygondwanaland’ coloured vinyl on Fuzz Club (in standard sleeve packaging) and a Trojan Records 50th anniversary picture disc. Special mention must go to the Holger Czukay/David Sylvian ‘Plight & Premonition and Flux and Mutability’ albums released as a double LP.

Dirty Projectors – Lamp Lit Prose

‘Lamp Lit Prose’ arrives just over a year after 2017’s self-titled ‘Dirty Projectors.’ Here David Longstreth’s band returns with a new album that is the yang to the yin of the 2017 effort. The songs signal a page turned for Longstreth: hope instead of heartbreak, a restorative balance. Guitars have returned to the Dirty Projectors’ world, intricate and gorgeous vocal harmony too. The album begins with “Right Now,” David singing, “there was silence in my heart, but now I’m striking up the band.” In addition to the core musicians and guests, LA string group the Calder Quartet, and The Brass Players of Los Angeles both appear on several songs. ‘Lamp Lit Prose’ is a recommitment to the sounds and ideals of Dirty Projectors, embracing the band’s trademarks while pushing forward the sonic envelope.

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Cowboy Junkies   –  All That Reckoning

With Cowboy Junkies’ new album, All That Reckoning, the band once again gently shakes the listener to wake up. Whether commenting on the fragile state of the world or on personal relationships, this new collection of songs encourages the listener to take notice. It also may be the most powerful album Cowboy Junkies have yet recorded.

Jason Isbell  –  Sirens Of The Ditch

The debut album from accomplished guitarist and songwriter Jason Isbell, formerly of Drive By Truckers, is reissued with four unreleased tracks from the original recording sessions. The addition of those extra songs finds ‘Sirens Of The Ditch’ clocking in at 15 total tracks.

‘Sirens Of The Ditch’’s mystical quality can be partially attributed to the FAME recording studio (Aretha Franklin, Duane Allman, Otis Redding) in Isbell’s hometown of Muscle Shoals, AL, where the album was recorded.

Co-produced by Isbell and Patterson Hood (Drive By Truckers), ‘Sirens Of The Ditch’ features Isbell singing lead vocals and playing guitar throughout, joined by Shonna Tucker (formerly of Drive By Truckers) on bass and Brad Morgan (Drive By Truckers) on drums. Several musicians pop in for cameos including Spooner Oldham and David Hood (Patterson’s father) on ‘Down In A Hole’, John Neff (formerly of Drive By Truckers) on ‘Dress Blues’ and Patterson himself guests on ‘Shotgun Wedding’.

“A strong debut, full of the kind of confident, charismatic songwriting that just can’t be taught.”

Deafheaven – Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

Deafheaven’s new album, Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, finds them working with old friends again. The Jack Shirley-produced and Nick Steinhardt-art directed (of Touché Amoré) collection gets its title from Graham Greene’s novel The End of the Affair, referencing a moment when someone is looking for love, in all of its imperfection and simple beauty. This sentiment is carried throughout the hazy, yearning romanticism of the record with song titles and words as sumptuous as the sounds around them.

Clarke describes the composition of Ordinary Corrupt Human Love beginning with “small seeds of healing, repair, and rebirth,” and like each subsequent Deafheaven album, this record is, in fact, a revelation. Defeat has inspired some of our best art. If you survive something terrible, you surface on the other side, walk toward the light, and come back to life. If you’re an artist, this kind of new self-knowledge can lead to creating something universal and remembered, something that can live longer than you do.

While Deafheaven have managed to cross over this road in the past, they’ve nailed the feeling wholly with Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, a feeling that comes with experience and wisdom. Yes, everybody deals with hurt, everybody’s been the cause of their own implosions, and everybody has the capacity to overcome and love again. Deafheaven have found a way to externalize all of this, and in making their most complete record to date, they turn it into a balm and a cathartic exorcism.

Body/Head – The Switch

Body/Head, the duo of Kim Gordon (CKM, Sonic Youth, Free Kitten, etc.) and guitarist Bill Nace (X.O.4, Vampire Belt, Ceylon Mange, etc), will release their second studio album, ‘The Switch’, on the 13th of July on Matador Records. Their debut album together as Body/Head, ‘Coming Apart’, from 2013, was more of a rock record

Brick benfolds95 12 2d

Ben Folds  –  Brick

Brick – The Songs of Ben Folds, 1996-2012 features 13CDs housed in a unique brick box set.
This collection of 194 tracks spans the career to date of one of the most adventurous and exciting songwriters and performers of his generation, who has not only worked with a diverse range of artists including William Shatner, Sara Bareilles and Regina Spektor, but authors Nick Hornby and Neil Gaiman.
In addition to featuring all the Ben Folds Five and Ben Folds’ solo studio albums, the box set also includes the 2002 Ben FoldsLive album, the live album Songs For Goldfish which accompanied the 2005 album Songs For Silverman, the alternative Seeds versions from Stems And Seeds, and all the bonus tracks, b-sides and rarities from the whole period. Ben Folds Five formed in in 1993, accompanied by Robert Sledge (bass, synthesizers, backing vocals) and Darren Jessee (drums,backing vocals), with Folds on lead vocals and piano, this outstanding musical trio forged a path as an incendiary live band. Releasing their self-titled debut album in 1995, the album featured such BFF’s classics as Underground and Philosophy. This was followed in 1997 by Whatever and Ever Amen. The album featured the singles, Battle Of Who Could Care Less and Kate, as well as UK Top 30 and mainstream radio hit in the USA and Australia, Brick. The third and final BFF’s album (until their 2012 reformation) was The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner.

In 2001 Folds released his first solo album, Rockin’ The Suburbs, which was recorded in Adelaide, Australia, where he was living at the time. The title track was remade for the 2006 film Over The Hedge, featuring William Shatner on vocal duties (both versions appear on this box set, as well as the five other songs recorded for the film). This was followed in 2005 by Songs For Silverman, which reached no.13 on the Billboard chart. The next year Folds released Supersunnyspeedgraphic, a compilation of songs,which were originally released on the EPs Sunny 16, Speed Graphic and Super D. The final Folds solo album to appear in this box set is 2008’s Way To Normal, which is his highest-charting solo album to date in the US, having entered at no.11 on the Billboard chart. The album featured a guest appearance by Regina Spektor, as well as are mastered follow up version, Stems and Seeds. For this Folds created a different track order and stem files, which allowed the listener to use computer applications to produce their own remixes. In 2011, Ben Folds Five reunited to record new tracks for a Ben Folds retrospective. Excited by the experience, the band reconvened in Folds’ studio and recorded what would become the first BFF’s album for 13 years. With the title track’s lyric supplied by Folds collaborator Nick Hornby, The Sound of the Life of The Mind was to be their highest charting album, reaching no.10 on the Billboardchart. The box includes a 60 page booklet featuring a brand new interview with Paul Myers.

Grateful Dead  – Anthem of the Sun: 50th Anniversary Edition

Anthem of the Sun: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition includes two versions of Grateful Dead’s original album, both of which have been newly remastered: first, the original 1968 mix, and second, the 1971 remix. Both mixes of the albums were remastered by Grammy-winning engineer David Glasser from the original analog master tapes. The second disc boasts a previously unreleased complete live show recorded on October 22nd, 1967 at San Francisco’s Winterland.  It’s been newly  remastered by Jeffrey Norman and marks the first known recording of the Dead with Mickey Hart, who joined the band in September 1967.  A picture disc vinyl edition features the remastered 1971 mix only.

The Rolling Stones  – From the Vault: No Security – San Jose 1999 

The Rolling Stones revisit a 1989 performance from their No Security tour which extended from the band’s Bridges to Babylon outing.  This title will be released on DVD, 2CD/SD (Standard Definition) Blu-ray, 2CD/DVD, 3 LP, and digital audio and video platforms.  Whew!  (The 1998 concert album entitled No Security featured tracks culled from the Bridges to Babylon tour.)

Ben Folds Five  –  The Complete Sessions at West 54th 

This week brings a release from another longtime favorite!  Real Gone Music has the audio debut of Ben Folds Five’s June 9th, 1997 performance for PBS’ Sessions at West 54th of 15 songs including “Brick,” “Kate,” and “Battle of Who Could Care Less.”

This Week’s Releases

Rick Astley – ‘Beautiful Life’ LP
Rayland Baxter – ‘Wide Awake’ LP
Body/Head – ‘The Switch’ LP
Cowboy Junkies – ‘All That Reckoning’ LP
Holger Czukay & David Sylvian – ‘Plight & Premonition/Flux & Mutability’ 2LP reissue
Mikaela Davis – Delivery’ LP
Dirty Projectors – ‘Lamp Lit Prose’ LP
Grateful Dead – ‘Anthem Of The Sun’ picture disc LP reissue
The Hunna – ‘Dare’ limited sparkle vinyl LP
Immersion – ‘Sleepless’ LP
Jason Isbell – ‘Sirens Of The Ditch’ 2LP reissue
The Jayhawks – ‘Back Roads & Abandoned Motels’ LP
The Libertines – ‘Time For Heroes: The Best Of’ red vinyl LP reissue
Lotic – ‘Power’ limited LP
LULUC – ‘Sculptor’ limited maroon vinyl LP
Mattiel – ‘Mattiel’ limited coloured vinyl LP
Nightmares On Wax – ‘Deep Shadows Remixes’ 12″
The Ophelias – ‘Almost’ green vinyl LP
OST: Alex Somers & Sigur Ros – ‘Black Mirror: Hang The DJ’ limited white vinyl LP
Pariah – ‘Her From Where We Are’ LP
The Rolling Stones – ‘From The Vault: No Security – San Jose 1999’ 3LP
Tom Waits – ‘Foreign Affairs’ LP reissue
Wolf Eyes – ‘Dread’ LP reissue
Yes – ‘90125’ limited coloured vinyl LP reissue
Adrian Younge & Ali Shaeed Muhammad – ‘The Midnight Hour’ 2LP
Various Artists – ‘Trojan Records 50th Anniversary’ picture disc LP

There were an astonishing amount of forthcoming albums announced this week that we now have for preorder.  Paul Weller has a new record ‘True Meanings’, out 14th September and a week later there is a new one from Christine & The Queens; you can choose between an English version, a French version or a deluxe box set that contains both versions. October 12th sees a brand new album from John Grant, ‘Love Is Magic’ is released on standard black vinyl 2LP and a limited deluxe clear vinyl 2LP that only us indie stores will have. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds release a live EP on the 28th September called ‘Distant Sky’.

Lots more new albums coming soon too on the way from Seasick Steve, The Proclaimers, Mikey Collins, Slaves,The Lemon Twigs, Black Honey, Nothing, Paul Haig, The Joy Formidable, Mudhoney,Marissa Nadler, Black Peaks, Birdpen and a limited remix 12″ from Parquet Courts.

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