This week’s list could have gone a few different ways. It could have been absurdly long — after all, there are more than 600 new releases on the way, including titles by Lambchop, Paris Jackson, The Cribs, The Darcys, The Nels Cline Singers, Kim Mitchell and Yukon Blonde. On other hand, I could have whittled it down to one album: AC/DC’s Power Up, which is obviously the 800-pound gorilla of this week’s titles. Instead, I decided to shoot for somewhere in the middle with the three biggest names on the list. And here they are:
AC/DC
Power Up
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “AC/DC will release their 17th full-length album Power Up on Nov. 13. This marks the legendary band’s first new music since 2014. For the album, the band reunited with producer Brendan O’Brien, who helmed Black Ice in 2008 and Rock Or Bust in 2014. Charged up for the next decade, AC/DC cut 12 new tracks for the album, proudly maintaining their signature sound and all of its powerful hallmarks.”
Elton John
Elton: Jewel Box
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The ultimate exploration into Elton John’s extensive back catalog, Elton: Jewel Box covers deep cuts, rarities from the earliest stages of his and Bernie Taupin’s musical journey, B-side spanning 30 years, and songs discussed in his best-selling, critically acclaimed 2019 memoir Me. The eight-CD box set of buried treasures comes in a beautiful hardcover book with the discs housed in the back, all wrapped in an outer slipcase. Each section comes accompanied by extensive notes, including a track-by-track commentary by Elton for Deep Cuts. All audio was mastered at Abbey Road Studios by Grammy-winning mastering engineer Sean Magee. With an unprecedented number of previously unheard and unreleased tracks painstakingly excavated from deep within the archives, this is the ultimate treasure trove for Elton John fans.”
Chris Stapleton
Starting Over
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Starting Over, the highly anticipated new studio album from Chris Stapleton, is an album of startling prescience — completed in late February only days before the shutdown began. Across its 14 tracks are songs that examine life’s simplest joys and most serious struggles. Alongside 11 written by Stapleton with both longtime friends and new collaborators are three carefully chosen covers: John Fogerty’s Joy Of My Life and Guy Clark’s Worry B Gone and Old Friends. The resulting album — both timely and timeless — speaks to and transcends the current moment in ways unimaginable even while it was being created. Produced by Dave Cobb (who also plays acoustic guitar), the record features his beloved wife, Morgane Stapleton (vocals, tambourine), with longtime bandmates J.T. Cure (bass) and Derek Mixon (drums). Special guests include legendary musicians Mike Campbell (electric guitar), Benmont Tench (Hammond B3 organ) and Paul Franklin (pedal steel) as well as the Nashville Urban Choir.”
