Well, it’s finally happened. And not a moment too soon. After months of being inundated with new studio albums, we’ve finally reached the inevitable point every fall when the box sets, live albums (and DVDs), anthologies and reissues start to dominate. Of course, when they’re as good as the crop arriving this week, there’s no reason to complain. See for yourself.
Dave Alvin
From An Old Guitar: Rare and Unreleased Recordings
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Grammy-winning artist Dave Alvin’s From An Old Guitar: Rare and Unreleased Recordings features songs recorded over the years for his own records and tribute albums, but “the majority were recorded for no other reason at all than the sheer kicks of going into a recording studio to make some joyous noise with musicians and singers that I love and admire,” offers Alvin. Produced by Alvin, From An Old Guitar: Rare and Unreleased Recordings offers a mix of acoustic blues and ballads to electric bar room blues to folk and country/rock. The album features songs written by Alvin as well as one’s written Alvin’s dear friends like Peter Case, Bill Morrissey and Chris Smither, as well as heroes like Willie Dixon, Bob Dylan, Earl Hooker, Doug Sahm, Lil’ Hardin Armstrong, Marty Robbins and Bo Carter. There are also contributions from dearly departed comrades like Chris Gaffney, Amy Farris and Bobby Lloyd Hicks as well as from old Blasters pals like Gene Taylor along with various members of The Guilty Men/Women/Ones.”
David Bowie
No Trendy Réchauffé (Live Birmingham 95)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “No Trendy Réchauffé (Live Birmingham 95) is a previously unreleased live album recorded live at the Birmingham NEC 13th December 1995. This was the final show of the Outside tour in 1995 and was the first night of a five night festival promoted as The Big Twix Mix Show. The set list features rare live performances Jump They Say and Strangers When We Meet. The album also features two versions of Hallo Spaceboy, the second of which was filmed as Spaceboy as the intended next single at the time. The video was never completed, as the track was subsequently remixed by Pet Shop Boys for single release and an alternative promotional video made.”
Nick Cave
Idiot Prayer: Alone at Alexandra Palace
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Idiot Prayer – Nick Cave Alone at Alexandra Palace was recorded in June 2020 as the U.K. slowly emerged from lockdown, and was conceived as a reaction to the confinement and isolation of the preceding months. In Idiot Prayer, Cave plays his songs alone at the piano in a rarely seen stripped back form, from early Bad Seeds and Grinderman, right through to the most recent Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds album, Ghosteen. The performance was filmed by award-winning cinematographer Robbie Ryan (The Favourite, Marriage Story, American Honey) in Alexandra Palace’s stunning West Hall. It was edited by Nick Emerson (Lady Macbeth, Emma, Greta). The music was recorded by Dom Monks. ”
Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Eric Clapton, one of the world’s pre-eminent blues/rock guitarists, once again summoned an all-star team of six-string heroes for his fifth Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2019. Held at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, the two-day concert event raised funds for the Crossroads Centre in Antigua, the chemical dependency treatment and education facility that Clapton founded in 1998. Following a six-year hiatus, the festival returned reenergized with outstanding performances by Clapton, James Bay, Jeff Beck, Doyle Bramhall II, Gary Clark Jr., Robert Cray, Sheryl Crow, Andy Fairweather Low, Peter Frampton, Vince Gill, Buddy Guy, Sonny Landreth, Lianne La Havas, Los Lobos, John Mayer, Keb’ Mo’, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Randolph, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Jimmie Vaughan and more.”
John Fogerty
Fogerty’s Factory
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “What began as some quality time together, playing music as a family, has now become a digital EP. While self-quarantining together the Fogerty Family, featuring John with his sons Shane, Tyler (Hearty Har) and daughter Kelsy, gathered in their home studio to play some music together. An idea was spawned; why not film these session’s and release them as videos? “Our family got together and decided we would spread some joy with music in these trying times,” explains John. “We recreated Cosmos Factory and it became Fogerty’s Factory … my sons, daughter Kelsy, Julie and we even got Bob Fogerty to shoot the cover photo, a total family affair!”
Jimi Hendrix
Music, Money, Madness … Live In Maui
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Music, Money, Madness . . . Jimi Hendrix In Maui chronicles the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s storied visit to Maui and how they became ensnared with the ill-fated Rainbow Bridge movie produced by their controversial manager Michael Jeffery. Directed by John McDermott and produced by Janie Hendrix, George Scott and McDermott, Music, Money, Madness … Jimi Hendrix In Maui incorporates never-before-released original footage and new interviews with firsthand participants and key players such as Billy Cox, Eddie Kramer, Warner Bros. executives and several Rainbow Bridge cast members, as well as its director Chuck Wein. Their fascinating account tells the definitive story about one of the most controversial independent films ever made.”
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
K.G.
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard return with new album K.G., their 16th since they formed in 2010. In the wake of a global pandemic, it’s a collection of songs that saw the six members of the band retreating to their own homes scattered around Melbourne, Australia to compose and record remotely. But have no fear! Not a drop of that unnamed alchemical something that makes this band so special is missing. This is the Gizz firing on all sonic cylinders, for if ever a band were built to swiftly adapt to adverse circumstance then it is them. Hell, on paper Covid-19, with its monstrous yet unseen face, ecological implications and new language, even sounds like an abandoned concept for a King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard album.”
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
Live in S.F. ’16
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Just under a month after delivering their award-winning 2016 album Nonagon Infinity, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard took the stage at San Francisco’s The Independent for a set both wildly frenetic and meticulously executed. In one of their final club gigs before bursting onto the international scene — soon selling out amphitheaters and headlining festivals — the Melbourne septet laid down a breakneck performance that, in the words of one critic, “made every organ ache just right.” Newly unearthed, Live in San Francisco ’16 captures an extraordinary moment in the band’s increasingly storied history, a 13-song spectacular likely to leave every listener awestruck and adrenalized.”
Pink Floyd
Delicate Sound of Thunder (Restored, Re-edited, Remixed)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Delicate Sound Of Thunder encapsulates a band at their best. Alongside the classic live album and full concert film (restored and re-edited from the original 35mm film and enhanced with 5.1 surround sound), included in The Later Years box set, this edition feature 24-page photo booklets, with the four-disc box edition including a 40-page photo booklet, tour poster and postcards. The three-LP 180-gram vinyl set includes 9 songs not included on the 1988 release of the album, while the two-CD includes 8 tracks more than its original release. Filmed at Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum in August 1988 and directed by Wayne Isham, the 2020 release of the Grammy-nominated Delicate Sound Of Thunder is sourced directly from over 100 cans of original 35mm negatives, painstakingly restored and transferred to 4K, and completely re-edited by Benny Trickett from the restored and upgraded footage, under the creative direction of Aubrey Powell/Hipgnosis. Similarly, the sound was completely remixed from the original multitrack tapes by longtime Pink Floyd engineer Andy Jackson with Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, assisted by Damon Iddins.”
Elvis Presley
From Elvis In Nashville
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Recorded live in RCA’s Studio B in Nashville over the course of an epic five day/night run in June 1970 (with an additional session on September 22), Elvis Presley’s performances from those sessions formed the core of three of his most successful studio album releases from the 1970s: Elvis: That’s The Way It Is, Elvis Country (I’m 10,000 Years Old) and Love Letters from Elvis. Now, for the first time, the master recordings from the 1970 Studio B sessions may be enjoyed together as a single official Elvis album. On From Elvis In Nashville, Presley’s studio tracks from the 1970 marathon sessions are presented in pristine audio, newly mixed by acclaimed engineer Matt Ross-Spring (John Prine, Jason Isbell) without the added overdubs or orchestration appearing on earlier releases. From Elvis In Nashville will be available in a 4CD boxed edition including two bonus discs of rare and/or unreleased outtakes from the 1970 sessions. A highlights package will be available in a 2LP 12″ vinyl pressing.”
The War on Drugs
Live Drugs
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Culled from over 40 hard drives of recorded live shows spread out across years of touring behind multiple critically acclaimed records, Live Drugs is unlike anything previously available in The War on Drugs’ catalog. The first volume to capture the band’s live interpretations, Live Drugs is a document showcasing the evolution of the band’s live show over the years. Additionally, Live Drugs is a portrait of the enduring relationship between Adam Granduciel and Dominic East. A longtime friend, guitar tech and stage manager, East is Live Drugs’ co-producer and the presence Granduciel credits as holding everything together. Sequenced to reflect how a typical 70-minute set would flow, Live Drugs thrives on live set staples immortalized on record for the first time. This includes Buenos Aires Beach from the band’s 2008 full-length debut Wagonwheel Blues, and the longtime musical interlude flowing between Under the Pressure and In Reverse, which bookend 2014’s Lost In The Dream.”
Neil Young
Archives Volume II: 1972–1976
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Archives Volume II: 1972-1976 focuses on a feverishly productive era of Neil Young’s career when he was often accompanied by Crazy Horse. During that era, Young released some of his most visceral and stormy albums, including Time Fades Away, On the Beach, Tonight’s the Night, Zuma, and Long May You Run. The critically acclaimed Homegrown, finally released in June, is also part of this legacy. The new box set is the second instalment in the definitive, comprehensive, chronological survey of Young’s legendary body of work. Archives Volume II: 1972-1976 contain 10 CDs with 131 tracks, including 12 songs never before released in any form and 49 unreleased versions of Young’s classics. They include studio and live recordings, both solo and with Crazy Horse, The Stray Gators, Santa Monica Flyers, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and The Stills Young Band. The deluxe edition comes in a towering vertical box and includes a 252-page hardbound book with hundreds of previously unseen photographs, additional archival materials, a partial tape database, a detailed description of the music, a fold-out timeline of the period.”
