Weezer rock out, Nancy Wilson goes it alone, Tony Joe White makes a big comeback, Miranda Lambert ropes in some friends, the BosstoneS aim for greatness and Van Morrison turns into your crazy uncle. Here are your plays of the week:
Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram & Jon Randall
The Marfa Tapes
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Barely a dot on the map, Marfa is an eccentric outpost in the midst of a vast expanse of nothingness, the perfect place to lose — or find — yourself. For Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall and Jack Ingram, it’s both. Over the past several years, the desolate location has become a songwriting haven for the trio, yielding both massive hits and profound personal growth. When they returned for five days this past November though, they came not to write, but to record, capturing a captivating new album inspired by the stark beauty of west Texas and the deep, lasting bonds the three have forged there. Recorded raw and loose with just a pair of microphones and an acoustic guitar, The Marfa Tapes is a stunning work of audio verité; an intimate, unadorned snapshot of a moment in time fueled by love, trust, and friendship.”
The Mighty Mighty BosstoneS
When God Was Great
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Mighty Mighty BossToneS are a band on a mission. Since their formation, the pioneering ska-punk act has eschewed musical trends, survived the pitfalls of mainstream success, and continually crafted albums that pay homage to a genre that they helped create. The band’s 11th studio album When God Was Great is the culmination of their extensive and all-embracing career and sees the band bringing back friends, tourmates, and bandmates from the past for a sonic celebration that stresses the power of perseverance and human connection during tumultuous times. “As grim as everything around us was in the outside world, this was the most fun we ever had making a record,” explains the band’s outspoken frontman Dicky Barrett. “The feeling in the studio was really magical and I think that quality presents itself on the finished — here’s an ugly word — product.”
https://youtu.be/mTZ3MMBCAgE
Van Morrison
Latest Record Project: Volume 1
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Van Morrison’s 42nd record and his most dynamic and contemporary album in years, Latest Record Project: Volume 1 is a 28-track delve into his ongoing love of blues, R&B, jazz and soul. However much you may love his classic albums, this new project proves that he’s living in the present, and remains an artist of integrity and distinction. “I’m getting away from the perceived same songs, same albums all the time,” says Morrison. “This guy’s done 500 songs, maybe more, so hello? Why do you keep promoting the same ten? I’m trying to get out of the box.” Latest Record Project: Volume 1 is the result of our enforced period of isolation. Unable to tour, Morrison remained busy with constant songwriting, starting ideas on piano, guitar or saxophone. What emerged is a wealth of new material, which shimmers with a directness and vibrancy that comes from working with a rhythm section with whom he shares an immediate, spontaneous connection.”
Weezer
Van Weezer
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Van Weezer, the band’s 15th studio album, is produced by Suzy Shinn (Panic! At The Disco, Fall Out Boy). The inspiration for this album derives from the deepest roots of Weezer — metal! What has metal got to do with Weezer, you ask? In his earliest years, Rivers Cuomo was a huge KISS fan; Brian Bell was a big Black Sabbath fan; Pat Wilson worshipped at the altar of Van Halen and Rush; Scott Shriner loved Slayer and Metallica. The last time this vein of harder rock was mined by Weezer was on their much-loved 2002 album Maladroit; Van Weezer is primed to take that album’s sonics many steps further courtesy of producer Suzy Shinn.”
Tony Joe White
Smoke From The Chimney
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Smoke From The Chimney, a nine-song album of never-before-heard Tony Joe White tunes, will be released on Easy Eye Sound. Produced by Dan Auerbach and rounded out by Nashville’s most seasoned studio musicians, Smoke From The Chimney started out as a number of unadorned voice-and-guitar demos from White’s home studio before being transformed into full band arrangements harkening back to the albums he recorded in the late ’60s and early ’70s in Nashville and Muscle Shoals — just as he was emerging as an internationally recognized songwriter and recording artist.”
Nancy Wilson
You And Me
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “With her band Heart, Nancy Wilson has recorded 16 albums and sold over 35 million albums worldwide. Within that history-making career, You And Me represents something special, as it is Wilson’s very first solo studio album. “Being off the road last year from touring with Heart, and at home with my good guitars and amps out,” she says, “I felt like I was once again able to reconnect with my pre-Heart self, my college-girl self, creating poetic, intimate and romantic songs, which pretty much is what I first brought in to Heart … I don’t know why it took me so long to do this,” she laughs. “Maybe I was stuck in traffic, maybe I was stuck in the Heart vortex of it all.” But in a year with “no traffic,” Wilson finally found a place for the music she’s been writing in her head for decades.”
