Like a time machine back to the Wild West days of New York City's art and music worlds colliding in 1980, Recall Records is releasing the soundtrack to the documentary film Downtown 81, staring the young, wildly talented artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Featuring 21 strobe-light and avant-garde memories, highlights include the wet and stinky "I'm a Doggy" by The Lounge Lizards, Liquid Liquid's influential hip-hop seed of "Cavern," and James Chance, Tuxedomoon, Lydia Lunch, Melle Mel, and Kid Creole & the Coconuts.
Next week the soaring spirit of Stevie Ray Vaughan takes flight in an ungraded video and a new CD collection of rarities. Originally a VHS video release from 1990, Pride & Joy is reborn on DVD with tasty bonus features, including three acoustic performances from MTV's Unplugged, television commercials, and promo clips. The Epic Legacy imprint also offers up Solos, Sessions & Encores, a 14-track CD of moments with a variety of friends and peers, including Jeff Beck, Lonnie Mack, Albert King, Bonnie Raitt, and Lou Ann Barton.
Berkeley, California's Amoeba Music store, one of the nation's brightest lights in record retail, is celebrating 17 years in business with an in-house record label, recently debuting with singer/songwriter Brandi Shearer. Next week, they drop the highly anticipated Gram Parsons Archives Vol. 1: The Flying Burrito Brothers Live at the Avalon 1969, a two-CD featuring home-demo recordings and the 14-song concert, recorded by engineer Owsley Stanley and found deep in the vaults of the Grateful Dead.
Selling the "swindle" to a new generation, this evening the infamous Sex Pistols reunite on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, perfectly timed for Virgin Records' 30th-anniversary LP reissue of Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. The reissue will duplicate the original 1977 vinyl release, containing a bonus seven-inch single of "Submission" and poster.
Television Alert:
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno presents the return of the Backstreet Boys on Friday; The Late Show with David Letterman gives thumbs-up to The GO Team on Wednesday, Ryan Adams on Thursday, and Jay-Z on Friday; Late Night with Conan O'Brien boasts Slash on Thursday, Band of Horses on Monday, and Grizzly Bear on Tuesday overnight; Last Call with Last Call with Carson Daly features Regina Spektor on Wednesday and Talib Kweli on Friday overnight; Jimmy Kimmel Live hosts Every Time I Die on Wednesday and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore on Thursday overnight; and Saturday Night Live's musical guest this weekend is Feist.
New Releases Coming Tuesday, November 6:
Agnostic Front - Warriors (Nuclear Blast) on the road this month with the Persistence Tour with Ignite and Hatebreed
Barenaked Ladies - Talk To the Hand: Live In Michigan (Shout Factory) CD or DVD featuring a bonus sound-check and backstage fun
Bottomless Pit - Hammer of the Gods (Comedy Minus One) new from former members of Seam and Silkworm
Boy / Girl - Boy / Girl (307 Knox Records) CD EP from this noisy guitar/drums duo, convulsing, hunchin', and sweating through three songs and two odd interludes
Bright Eyes - Motion Sickness: Live Recordings (Taem Love) featuring a tour diary and covers of Elliott Smith's "The Biggest Lie" and Feist's "Mushaboom"
Jimmy Buffett - Live in Anquilla (Mailboat) two-CD and -DVD companion filmed earlier this year in Rendezvous Bay
Dion - Son of Skip James (Verve Forecast) all new, featuring three originals and covers of Bob Dylan's "Baby I'm in the Mood for You," Williw Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man," and Robert Johnson's "Preachin' Blues"
Five For Fighting - Back Country Live (Columbia) CD or DVD featuring an electrifying performance of "Superman" from 2001's Concert For New York City
Rob Garza - Dust Galaxy (ESL Music) solo debut from the Thievery Corporation co-founder, with guests Adam Blake of Cornershop, Darrin Mooney & Martin Duffy of Primal Scream, and James Canty of Ted Leo's Pharmacists and Nation of Ulysses
Grizzly Bear - Friend (Warp) CD and 12" EP featuring alternative takes, pals performing their favorite GB songs, a "choir version" of the song "Alligator," and a cover of The Crystals' He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)"
The Harlem Experiment - The Harlem Experiment (Ropeadope) featuring Don Byron and Carlos Alomar, with guests Taj Mahal and James Hunter, this ambitious, jazzy project goes back to the inner city holy land that spawned and supported much of our collective, national culture - incorporating dialogue from Malcolm X in "One for Malcolm," and cool interpretations of Cab Calloway's "Reefer Man" and Ben E. King's "A Rose In Spanish Harlem"
Jay-Z - American Gangster (Def Jam) inspired by the new Denzel Washington-Russell Crowe movie, with guests Nas, Kanye West, and Pharrell Williams
Lucinda Black Bear - Capo My Heart and Other Bear Stories (Eastern Spurs) cool new indie strings cabaret helmed by Christian Gibbs
Monster Bobby - Gaps (Hypnote) seamlessly spinning under the flashing lights in the pop circus of his mind, this offbeat, one man DIY debut from Brighton brings back the melancholy snap of ABC and Simple Minds
Monster Magnet - 4-Way Diablo (SPV) featuring a cover of the Rolling Stones' "2,000 Light Years from Home"
The Mother Truckers - Broke, Not Broken (Funzalo) husband and wife team featuring Josh Zee of Protein
Peter Mulvey - Notes from Elsewhere (Signature Sounds) a great way to introduce yourself to this terrific singer/songwriter, 17 of his songs from the past 15 years are newly recorded collection in a solo setting
The National - "Apartment Story" (Beggars Banquet) CD single featuring a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Mansion On the Hill"
Operation Ivy - Energy (Hellcat) remastered CD reissue of this ska-punk classic featuring hard-to-find seven-inch tracks
Plain White T's - STOP (Fearless) remastered CD reissue from 2002, featuring three bonus tracks and new artwork
Saga - 10,000 Days (Inside Out) the 18th album from this progressive Canadian juggernaut, and the final album with vocalist Michael Sander
John Sebastian & David Grisman - Satisfied (Acoustic Disc) outstanding guitar and mandolin bliss featuring a cover of the Everly Brothers' hit "Walk Right Back" and Mississippi John Hurt's "Coffee Blues"
Sigur Rós - Hvarf / Heim (XL Recordings) two-CD accompaniment to their live concert film, recorded in a wild variety of stops throughout Iceland
The Slits - Return of the Giant Slits (Blast First) CD reissue of this long out-of-print 1981 gem, bolstered by a second disc of dub versions and radio interviews
Bill Staines - Old Dogs (Red House) all new with covers of songs by John Stewart and Norman Blake
The Wedding Present - Live 1987 (Manifesto) two-CD set collecting the band's cassette-only issues sold only at gigs and through the mail
Robin & Linda Williams - Radio Songs (Red House) collected from the best of their 20 years on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion radio show
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black: The Deluxe Edition (Universal) import-only expanded reissue with eight new songs
Wussy - Left for Dead (Shake It Records) fragile, spinning, and crashing in all its catchy, creepy Midwest glory, this is the second album from Chuck Cleaver's post-Ass Ponies band, sharing songwriting, guitar and vocal duties with Lisa Walker like a modern day Johnny & June
various artists - Discovered: A Collection of Daft Funk Samples (Rapster) original, hard to find tracks of funky soul fantasia that the duo of Daft Punk chopped and blocked into their signature grooves, featuring George Duke, Sister Sledge, Chaka Khan, and Breakwater
various artists - For Pete's Sake: The Pete Townshend Connection (Castle) import-only collection of 16 songs written by Townshend, but performed by others including Gallagher & Lyle, Ronnie Lane, Pudding, and Billy Fury
various artists - Larger Than Life: A Celebration of Steve Goodman and His Music (Red Pajama / Oh Boy) DVD filmed in 1997 with performances by John Prine, Lyle Lovett, Todd Snider, Emmylou Harris, and Arlo Guthrie
