Thanks to the one-two retail punch of American Black Friday and Record Store Day, there are approximately 70 bajillion box sets, live albums, tribute discs and vinyl reissues arriving next week — along with a handful of actual new releases. Here are the ones that caught my eyes (and ears):
The Black Halos
How The Darkness Doubled
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Halos are back in Black! Formed in the underbelly of the Vancouver punk music scene in 1994, The Black Halos were a sneering, snotty, slap in the face to the Seattle grunge scene. Their raucous live shows garnered the attention of Sub Pop. The band came to an abrupt end when their van, trailer, and equipment were stolen in Montreal in 2008. Now original members Billy Hopeless, Rich Jones and Jay Millette have reunited, adding new members John Kerns and Danni Action. Following jammed-to-the-rafters shows at Toronto’s Canadian Music Week and their hometown of Vancouver, the band are ready to win over a new generation of rock ‘n’ roll fans with a brand new album, How The Darkness Doubled. Rich explains “Reuniting with Billy and Jay for this new album brought my focus back to writing with a mindset that was pure, uncompromising Halos — as far as I’m concerned we’ve really achieved it. Having our friends John and Danni on board makes this feel like the strongest lineup that we’ve ever had and you can really hear it on this record. Additionally, Billy and I had always planned to call the third album How The Darkness Doubled. So it seemed natural to use that title now, 20 years later, for what I consider to be a spiritual followup to The Violent Years.”
David Bowie
Divine Symmetry: The Journey To Hunky Dory
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Parlophone Records proudly announces Divine Symmetry, a four-CD, one Blu-Ray box set that celebrates the 12 months running up to the release of the David Bowie’s Hunky Dory in December 1971 via home demos, BBC radio sessions and live and studio recordings. Divine Symmetry contains 48 previously unreleased tracks/demos from the period, and new alternative mixes of Hunky Dory tracks by original co-producer Ken Scott. 1971 was a pivotal year for Bowie. He signed a record deal with RCA, he met Andy Warhol, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop while in New York, became a father and penned the song Kooks as a show of paternal pride, played live for the first time that June with Mick Ronson, Woody Woodmansey and Trevor Bolder, the band that would later be christened The Spiders From Mars and recorded the classic album Hunky Dory.
Captain Beefheart And The Magic Band
Clear Spot 50th Anniversary Edition
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The 50th anniversary deluxe edition of the classic 1972 album from Captain Beefheart And The Magic Band is a limited edition two-LP crystal-clear vinyl set that features the original album recut from the original master tapes at Bernie Grundman Mastering, plus an additional LP of rare studio outtakes, alternate versions and previously unreleased instrumental rough mixes from the Clear Spot sessions. Produced by Ted Templeman, the original album features Big Eyed Beans from Venus, Her Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles, My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains and more.”
Elvis Costello And The Imposters
The Boy Named If (Alive at Memphis Magnetic)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Elvis Costello & The Imposters’ The Boy Named If (Alive at Memphis Magnetic) is a companion to January’s widely acclaimed album The Boy Named If, which was just nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. This new album features live-in-the studio renditions of TBNI songs, a version of Costello’s Every Day I Write the Book, numbers by The Rolling Stones, Nick Lowe, The Byrds and Paul McCartney, and a brand-new remix by the Japanese duo chelmico. The album captures the band playing, as Costello puts, “Some of our favourite songs while negotiating with any tricky angles in our new tunes.”
The Flaming Lips
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots 20th Anniversary Box Set
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Flaming Lips celebrate the 20th anniversary of their classic 2002 album Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots with an expansive box set that also includes B-sides, demos, remixes, radio sessions, two concerts and other assorted rarities from the era. The CD set includes over 50 tracks never released and dozens of rare tracks. Released in July 2002, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots remains the commercial high-water mark in The Flaming Lips’ wild four-decade journey, giving the Grammy winners their first RIAA-certified Gold Record. As the eagerly awaited followup to 1999’s masterwork The Soft Bulletin, Yoshimi proved that singer/guitarist Wayne Coyne and multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd had yet another masterpiece in them. The LP is a sci-fi-themed quasi-concept album that cast The Flaming Lips’ most playful and profound songs to date in a wondrous swirl of ambient electronics, digital beats, and psychedelic splendor. The record yielded the band’s top-streamed track, Do You Realize?? (a timeless stargazing anthem that, in 2009, was named the Official Rock Song of the band’s native Oklahoma) and also landed the Lips their first-ever Grammy win for the cosmic album-closing instrumental Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia).”
Janis Joplin & Jorma Kaukonen
The Legendary Typewriter Tape: 6/25/64 Jorma’s House
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “A legendary 1964 rehearsal collaboration receives its first official issue. Jorma Kaukonen (later of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna) met a singer named Janis Joplin at a hootenanny in San Jose, Calif., in the fall of 1962. Over the following years, Janis would call on Jorma to accompany her at gigs. As they continued to play together, the Bay Area was changing musically and developing into the legendary San Francisco scene to which both Janis and Jorma would be integral. During a rehearsal for a show in North Beach, Jorma started his reel-to-reel machine to capture what they were working on. For decades, this recording was the stuff of legend, with inferior, multi-generational transfers making their way through select collector’s circles. Now, for the very first time, it is available officially, with the blessing and cooperation of both the Janis Joplin Estate and Jorma Kaukonen. The Legendary Typewriter Tape: 6/25/64 Jorma’s House contains this legendary recording, featuring restoration and mastering from acclaimed Grammy winner Michael Graves. The tracks include Joplin on vocals, Kaukonen on guitar, and Jorma’s wife Margareta typing away intermittently in the background. This may have just been a rehearsal, but it is so much more. Featuring Joplin originals, as well as blues classics, The Legendary Typewriter Tape is an intimate glimpse into two major artists at the beginnings of what would become highly influential careers. As Jorma says in his liner notes: “This is indeed a window into a simpler time when the music truly was everything.”
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Live At The Fillmore 1997
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Before starting a 20-show run at the Fillmore, Tom Petty outlined his plans in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle: ‘We’re musicians and we want to play. We’ve made so many records in the past five years, I think the best thing for us to do is just go out and play and it will lead us to our next place, wherever that may be.’ The shows at the Fillmore ended up being some of the most joyful, honest, inspirational and prolific experiences of the band’s career, creating a unique bond between the group and their fans. This album features more covers than originals, paying tribute to the artists and songs that shaped Petty’s love of music as he was growing up — before he became a legendary songwriter and performer in his own right. Highlights include Bob Dylan’s Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, J.J. Cale’s Crazy Mama, The Rolling Stones’ Time Is On My Side and more from The Kinks, Everly Brothers, Bill Withers, The Byrds, Chuck Berry and Booker T. & the M.G.’s. The collection also features special performances with The Byrds’ front man Roger McGuinn and blues legend John Lee Hooker. Other standouts include extended versions of original tracks Mary Jane’s Last Dance and It’s Good To Be King.”
Joe Strummer
Live at Music Millennium
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Joe Strummer’s Nov. 4, 1999 in-store performance at iconic Portland, Ore., independent record store Music Millennium receives its first-ever official release for Record Store Day Black Friday. The soundboard recording, pressed to vinyl, captures Strummer performing intimate acoustic takes on Junco Partner, X-Ray Style, Island Hopping, The Road To Rock N Roll and Trash City. The RSD release continues the ongoing celebration this year of what would have been the late Clash and Mescaleros frontman’s 70th birthday.”
