10
Aug
2004
· With an overflowing crush of CD releases in the next two months, new artists and new albums will have to fight for the back-to-school dollar against a host of exciting, expanded CD re- issues. Honored as the best rock album of the 1980s by the editors of Rolling Stone, The Clash's London Calling from 1979 was a life-changing experience for many, in a magical time when these godfathers of punk walked away from the mangled production of 1978's Give 'Em Enough Rope and said: Why not a double album then, and a triple-album set next (in 1980)? Due next month on Epic's Legacy label, the bonus material is to die for, with demos from the era recently discovered by guitarist Mick Jones, rare photos, and new writings reflecting on this 25th-anniversary edition.
A bonus documentary DVD is included, as well, with live footage and interviews with band members and manager Kosmo Vinyl.
· As the band prepares to turn away and leave the stage for the last time this New Year's Eve, Guided by Voices is celebrating a 10th anniversary of its epic Bee Thousand album. Lovingly re-issued by Scat Records on August 31, as Bee Thousand: The Director's Cut, this one is a special gift to vinyl fans, as the original sessions are expanded to 55 tracks over three LP records, with new cover art that uses Robert Pollard's original design in a gatefold sleeve.
· Also due later this month is Columbia Records' Legacy Edition of Jeff Buckley's 1994 masterpiece Grace. Newly re-mastered and adjusted back to its original sequence, a second CD features solo covers of songs by Screaming Jay Hawkins, Bob Dylan, Hank Williams, and Nina Simone, and the previously unreleased "Forget Her." Other rarities fill out the disc, with live tracks, collaborations, and cover versions of Big Star's "Kanga-Roo" and the MC5's "Kick Out the Jams." A bonus DVD documents these sessions, featuring videos and interviews.
· The upcoming film Wicker Park looks like a cool psychological thriller, and Lakeshore Records is making an interesting move by releasing two separate soundtrack CDs at the end of this month. Nominated for a Grammy with Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, composer Cliff Martinez has crafted the original motion picture score - quite a career journey for the former Weirdos drummer. The "soundtrack album" is just as tasty, featuring an opening title song by Stereophonics, a "love theme" by +/-, a cover of Coldplay's "The Scientist" by Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde and Nine Inch Nails collaborator Danny Lohner, and exclusive or rare tracks from Lifehouse, Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service, and Mates of State.
· There's no denying the strong musical genes that run through the Bachman clan of our brothers to the north. With Canadian royalty Randy Bachman of The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive as his father, Tal Bachman's ability to surf the hook of a great pop song is as natural as a game of catch in the backyard. This Tuesday Tal releases what he calls his "second" debut album, self-produced at his own "in barn" recording studio aside his Utah home. Entitled Staring Down the Sun, on the Sextant imprint, this pensive pop gem is joyous and rolling like a bright Sunday morning, and features a bonus acoustic version of his international hit "She's So High." Look for this terrific singer-songwriter on stage next month at the Crofton Clear Air Concert in Duncan, British Columbia, featuring Neil Young, Barenaked Ladies, and Tal's father.
· Also due this coming Tuesday is the long-awaited DVD release of the indie film Punk Rock Holocaust, filmed last year over 44 dates of the Vans Warped Tour. Merging a punk-rock road-trip movie with the blood and humor of the slasher genre, this murder mystery lays the knife to crew, musicians, and food-shack vendors alike - perhaps by the hand of the haunted band Brutal Enigma? With everyone from Rancid, Pennywise, The Used, and Less Than Jake performing as actors and musicians on stage, this one looks like a cameo-fest of enormous proportions. Others caught up in the gore include Andrew WK, Mest, Simple Plan, Tsunami Bomb, and Dropkick Murphys.
Television Alert:
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno welcomes PJ Harvey tonight and Macy Gray on Thursday; The Late Show with David Letterman hosts Wilco this evening, Modest Mouse on Thursday, and The Hives on Monday; Late Night with Conan O'Brien conjures up Incubus on Monday overnight.
New Releases Coming Tuesday, August 17:
... and like the winds, young grasshopper, are subject to change
R.L. Burnside - A Bothered Mind (Fat Possum) with guests Kid Rock and Lyrics Born
California Guitar Trio - Whitewater (Inside Out) produced by Tony Levin of King Crimson and featuring his bass mastery on one track
Court & Spark - Witch Season (Absolutely Kosher)
The Cure - Three Imaginary Boys, Faith, Pornography, and Seventeen Seconds (Warner Strategic) expanded re-issues
Gram Rabbit - Music to Start a Cult to (Stinky) like swirling sands of Mazzy Star, Timbuk 3, and the Beta Band, this high desert trio sparked with a meeting at the annual Gram (Parsons) Fest in Joshua Tree
Charlotte Hatherley - Grey Will Fade (Double Dragon) import-only solo album from the Ash guitarist, produced by Eric Drew Feldman of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band
Head Automatica - Decadence (Warner Bros) with guest Dan "The Automator" Nakamura
Moments in Grace - Moonlight Survived (Salad Days/Atlantic) just off tour with the Vans Warped fest, this debut showcases the theatric vocals of Jeremy Griffith over driving emo-punk
Northern State - All City (Columbia) all-girl hip-hop
The Oranges Band - Two Thousands (Morphius)
The Presidents of the United States of America - Love Everybody (iMUSIC)
Queen - Greatest Hits (Hollywood) re-vamping of this best-selling collection, with live tracks and a previously unreleased version of "I'm In Love with My Car," now featured in the Jaguar television ad campaign
Saliva - Survival of the Sickest (Island) with guest Brad Arnold of 3 Doors Down
Slang - More Talk About Tonight (Terminus) with Lori Carson, Vic Chesnutt, and DJ Logic
Spiderbait - Tonight Alright (Interscope) featuring the band's number-one single in its Australian homeland, a cover of Ram Jam's "Black Betty"
The Sunshine Fix - Green Imagination (Spin Art) cascading with Mellotron, a children's choir, lap steel, and a small orchestra of horns and reeds, this is smart, slippery, mind-pop adventure from Bill Doss of The Elephant 6 Collective and formerly of Olivia Tremor Control
Talking Heads - The Best of Talking Heads (Rhino) 18-track career-spanning anthology
Talking Heads - The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads (Rhino) two-CD re-issue from 1982, now expanded with 13 live tracks
Travis - At the Palace (Rhino) DVD filmed last December, featuring the group's take on "Jingle Bells"
The Uncle Devil Show - A Terrible Beauty (Compass) new from Del Amitri vocalist Justin Currie
· As the band prepares to turn away and leave the stage for the last time this New Year's Eve, Guided by Voices is celebrating a 10th anniversary of its epic Bee Thousand album. Lovingly re-issued by Scat Records on August 31, as Bee Thousand: The Director's Cut, this one is a special gift to vinyl fans, as the original sessions are expanded to 55 tracks over three LP records, with new cover art that uses Robert Pollard's original design in a gatefold sleeve.
· Also due later this month is Columbia Records' Legacy Edition of Jeff Buckley's 1994 masterpiece Grace. Newly re-mastered and adjusted back to its original sequence, a second CD features solo covers of songs by Screaming Jay Hawkins, Bob Dylan, Hank Williams, and Nina Simone, and the previously unreleased "Forget Her." Other rarities fill out the disc, with live tracks, collaborations, and cover versions of Big Star's "Kanga-Roo" and the MC5's "Kick Out the Jams." A bonus DVD documents these sessions, featuring videos and interviews.
· The upcoming film Wicker Park looks like a cool psychological thriller, and Lakeshore Records is making an interesting move by releasing two separate soundtrack CDs at the end of this month. Nominated for a Grammy with Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, composer Cliff Martinez has crafted the original motion picture score - quite a career journey for the former Weirdos drummer. The "soundtrack album" is just as tasty, featuring an opening title song by Stereophonics, a "love theme" by +/-, a cover of Coldplay's "The Scientist" by Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde and Nine Inch Nails collaborator Danny Lohner, and exclusive or rare tracks from Lifehouse, Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service, and Mates of State.
· There's no denying the strong musical genes that run through the Bachman clan of our brothers to the north. With Canadian royalty Randy Bachman of The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive as his father, Tal Bachman's ability to surf the hook of a great pop song is as natural as a game of catch in the backyard. This Tuesday Tal releases what he calls his "second" debut album, self-produced at his own "in barn" recording studio aside his Utah home. Entitled Staring Down the Sun, on the Sextant imprint, this pensive pop gem is joyous and rolling like a bright Sunday morning, and features a bonus acoustic version of his international hit "She's So High." Look for this terrific singer-songwriter on stage next month at the Crofton Clear Air Concert in Duncan, British Columbia, featuring Neil Young, Barenaked Ladies, and Tal's father.
· Also due this coming Tuesday is the long-awaited DVD release of the indie film Punk Rock Holocaust, filmed last year over 44 dates of the Vans Warped Tour. Merging a punk-rock road-trip movie with the blood and humor of the slasher genre, this murder mystery lays the knife to crew, musicians, and food-shack vendors alike - perhaps by the hand of the haunted band Brutal Enigma? With everyone from Rancid, Pennywise, The Used, and Less Than Jake performing as actors and musicians on stage, this one looks like a cameo-fest of enormous proportions. Others caught up in the gore include Andrew WK, Mest, Simple Plan, Tsunami Bomb, and Dropkick Murphys.
Television Alert:
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno welcomes PJ Harvey tonight and Macy Gray on Thursday; The Late Show with David Letterman hosts Wilco this evening, Modest Mouse on Thursday, and The Hives on Monday; Late Night with Conan O'Brien conjures up Incubus on Monday overnight.
New Releases Coming Tuesday, August 17:
... and like the winds, young grasshopper, are subject to change
R.L. Burnside - A Bothered Mind (Fat Possum) with guests Kid Rock and Lyrics Born
California Guitar Trio - Whitewater (Inside Out) produced by Tony Levin of King Crimson and featuring his bass mastery on one track
Court & Spark - Witch Season (Absolutely Kosher)
The Cure - Three Imaginary Boys, Faith, Pornography, and Seventeen Seconds (Warner Strategic) expanded re-issues
Gram Rabbit - Music to Start a Cult to (Stinky) like swirling sands of Mazzy Star, Timbuk 3, and the Beta Band, this high desert trio sparked with a meeting at the annual Gram (Parsons) Fest in Joshua Tree
Charlotte Hatherley - Grey Will Fade (Double Dragon) import-only solo album from the Ash guitarist, produced by Eric Drew Feldman of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band
Head Automatica - Decadence (Warner Bros) with guest Dan "The Automator" Nakamura
Moments in Grace - Moonlight Survived (Salad Days/Atlantic) just off tour with the Vans Warped fest, this debut showcases the theatric vocals of Jeremy Griffith over driving emo-punk
Northern State - All City (Columbia) all-girl hip-hop
The Oranges Band - Two Thousands (Morphius)
The Presidents of the United States of America - Love Everybody (iMUSIC)
Queen - Greatest Hits (Hollywood) re-vamping of this best-selling collection, with live tracks and a previously unreleased version of "I'm In Love with My Car," now featured in the Jaguar television ad campaign
Saliva - Survival of the Sickest (Island) with guest Brad Arnold of 3 Doors Down
Slang - More Talk About Tonight (Terminus) with Lori Carson, Vic Chesnutt, and DJ Logic
Spiderbait - Tonight Alright (Interscope) featuring the band's number-one single in its Australian homeland, a cover of Ram Jam's "Black Betty"
The Sunshine Fix - Green Imagination (Spin Art) cascading with Mellotron, a children's choir, lap steel, and a small orchestra of horns and reeds, this is smart, slippery, mind-pop adventure from Bill Doss of The Elephant 6 Collective and formerly of Olivia Tremor Control
Talking Heads - The Best of Talking Heads (Rhino) 18-track career-spanning anthology
Talking Heads - The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads (Rhino) two-CD re-issue from 1982, now expanded with 13 live tracks
Travis - At the Palace (Rhino) DVD filmed last December, featuring the group's take on "Jingle Bells"
The Uncle Devil Show - A Terrible Beauty (Compass) new from Del Amitri vocalist Justin Currie
