Welcome to the biggest and busiest week for new music so far this year. Thanks to Record Store Day next Saturday, there are more than 700 titles being released in coming days. I tried not to tumble down the RSD rabbit hole — if I included every cool vinyl offering, we’d be here all day — but there were a few titles that were too awesome to be ignored. (For more RSD action, keep an eye peeled for Area Resident’s roundup of essentials later this week.) Anyway, let’s get down to business:
Blood, Sweat & Tears
What The Hell Happened To Blood, Sweat & Tears Soundtrack + Score
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In 1970, Blood, Sweat & Tears were arguably the hottest band in America. Their eponymously titled second album had spent seven weeks atop the Billboard Album charts, spawned three Top 5 singles, been nominated for four Grammys (ultimately winning two) and sold more than four million copies. Theye were touring to sold-out audiences around the world and had just completed their third album — what could possibly go wrong? Enter the State Department and Richard Nixon. The upcoming documentary What The Hell Happened To Blood, Sweat & Tears? is a political thriller with a classic rock band at the heart of the action. The soundtrack features 10 previously unheard performances from their 1970 Iron Curtain Tour. The original score was composed by founding member Bobby Colomby and arranger/composer/musician David Mann, and performed by the current lineup of Blood, Sweat & Tears.”
Easy Star All-Stars
Ziggy Stardub
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The return of Easy Star All-Stars features a complete reggae re-imagining of David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars. The album features guest performances by Macy Gray, Steel Pulse, Fishbone, Alex Lifeson (Rush), Vernon Reid (Living Colour), The Skints, Mortimer, The Expanders, Samory I, Naomi Cowan and many others. Blending musical versatility, instrumental prowess, beautiful vocal harmonies and a premier rhythm section, Easy Star All-Stars have established themselves as one of the top international reggae acts on the scene for nearly two decades, bringing together fans of reggae, classic rock, dub and indie rock into one big family. In 2003, their album Dub Side Of The Moon — a full-album cover of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon — was a sensation when originally released.”
The Heavy
Amen
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Some of their finest work yet, Amen boasts 10 new songs of relentless energy from The Heavy, a band that has spent the past decade soundtracking huge moments in pop culture with their distinct brand of seditious blues drama, soul and gospel passion, the crunch of prime hip-hop and garage-punk’s visceral electricity. To name a few: Their music battered at the winter cabin windows of Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, swept Barack Obama to a second term and knocked Mark Wahlberg for six in The Fighter. The Heavy also made history as the first band to get an encore demand from David Letterman on The Late Show.”
Ian Hunter
Defiance Part 1
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Rock legend Ian Hunter’s new album Defiance Part 1 is a star-studded affair that sees the former Mott The Hoople frontman joined by the late, great Jeff Beck, Johnny Depp, Joe Elliott, Billy F Gibbons, Taylor Hawkins, Duff McKagan, Todd Rundgren, Slash, Jeff Tweedy, Robert Trujillo, Waddy Wachtel, Brad Whitford, Billy Bob Thornton, Stone Temple Pilots and others. “It was a fluke,” Ian Hunter says. “This was not planned. Really, I’m serious. I really couldn’t believe some of them. I mean, it’s amazing what’s happened. It’s been such a buzz.” Now in its seventh decade, Ian Hunter’s illustrious career has long been marked by collaboration, from the golden age of Mott the Hoople to his fabled partnership with Mick Ronson and 21st-century renaissance with his crack backing combo, The Rant Band. Now, with Defiance Part 1, the legendary singer-songwriter, author, and rock ’n’ roll star takes creative solidarity to an unprecedented new level with spectacular accompaniment from a truly awe-inspiring roster of guests, famous fans, and lifelong friends.”
Hüsker Dü
Tonite Longhorn
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “A two-LP set of rare, early Hüsker Dü live recordings, featuring original flyers and artwork. Drawn from the historical Hüsker Dü recording archives compiled by Terry Katzman, this double disc live set is an essential companion piece to the band’s Savage Young Du Box Set. While that release principally featured studio demos, the 28 tracks presented here are the aural and enchanting equivalent of a time machine that vividly thrusts the listener straight back to Hüsker Dü‘s embryonic unsheathing on stage. Side A dates to July 1979. Side B gives us a full year’s evolution to July 1980, while Sides C and D land the listener in September 1980. Perhaps 120 people in total saw these three performances. Until now, a handful at most have heard the playbacks. So, rare and fresh, it’s all here: The songs, the driven performances, the small club intimacy of being in front of select friends, fans, and peers, with one fair shot at getting it right. These four sides compellingly document that you can’t doubt that they did.”
Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires
The Sound Emporium EP
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Sound Emporium is a single-sided 12″ EP featuring two new originals from RSD U.S. ambassadors Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires, a reimagined version of Tour of Duty from the Isbell and The 400 Unit’s album Here We Rest, and a cover of Richard Thompson’s Beeswing. Side B holds a stunning vinyl etching designed by Pearl Rachinsky-Moreland.”
Pearl Jam
Give Way
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Recorded during Pearl Jam’s March 5, 1998 Melbourne Park show during the Australian tour in support of their fifth studio album Yield, the highly sought after Give Way is being released on vinyl for the first time as well as being officially released on CD. The 17-track album, pressed on double black vinyl and housed in a gatefold sleeve, includes live versions of Given To Fly, Faithfull and Do The Evolution. The CD, originally scheduled for release in 1998 as a promotional item, never saw the light of day outside of an extremely limited number surfacing over the years… until now. The title of this Record Store Day release is a nod to the Australian version of the yield sign.”
St. Paul & The Broken Bones
Angels in Science Fiction
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “When Paul Janeway learned he was going to be a father, he was struck by “divine inspiration.” Following the tradition of greats like Aristotle, William James and John Steinbeck, who wrote letters to their future sons, the singer decided to scribe his own thoughts — of joy, of fear, of confusion — as messages to his then-unborn daughter. Those letters ultimately became Angels In Science Fiction, the stunning fifth LP from his band, Alabama genre-benders St. Paul and The Broken Bones. “I knew what I wanted to say,” he says of the material. “I like to be a bit more coy at times, but I wanted these lyrics to be more direct. This is a record I would have written whether I did this for a living or not. I don’t know if those records come along all the time.”
Sir Douglas Quintet
Texas Tornado Live: Doug Weston’s Troubadour, 1971
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Sir Douglas Quintet came out of the box swinging in 1965 with the international hit She’s About a Mover, sung by Doug Sahm alongside Vox organ player Augie Meyers and a trio of talented musicians. They quickly established a fanbase in Texas before relocating their mix of regional Mexican conjunto and British Invasion flash to San Francisco. Touring frequently, the Quintet were in top form when they visited the legendary Los Angeles nightclub Doug Weston’s Troubadour in September of 1971 for this performance. This previously unreleased eight-song set from the kings of Tex-Mex featuring She’s About A Mover, Medocino and six more party starters.”
Smashing Pumpkins
Atum: Act 3
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Smashing Pumpkins’ 12th studio album is a three-act rock opera album titled Atum (pronounced Autumn). Atum will feature 33 tracks and is the sequel to 1995’s Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and 2000’s Machina/Machine of God. Atum was written and produced by Billy Corgan over the past four years. The album tells an epic interplanetary story set in the not-too-distant future, though the songs themselves respectively stand on their own in the Pumpkins pantheon. This is the final instalment in a concept album trilogy that began with 1995’s Melllon Collie and then continued with 2000’s Machina. The album features three original members of the band — Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin — as well as longtime guitarist Jeff Schroeder. Corgan had been developing the idea for the rock opera for years, and the pandemic gave him the time off the road to meticulously complete it in the grandiose way he had intended.”
Muddy Waters
Hollywood Blues Summit: Live at the Ash Grove, July 30, 1971 Live
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Rock ’n’ roll hall of fame inductee Muddy Waters is one of the most important singer-songwriter/guitarists of the post-modern blues era. His early 1960s touring of the U.K. inspired many British musicians including The Rolling Stones, who took their name from his classic song Rollin’ Stone. Over the ’60s and into the early 1970s, Waters became an international force performing on various bills and artist pairings on club, concert hall and festival stages. This eight-song, never-before-released set was recorded at the legendary Ash Grove club in Los Angeles over the Blue Summit weekend (with Freddie King and Lightnin’ Hopkins) over July 27 – Aug. 1, 1971. The show was recorded not long before his infamous London sessions recordings. That album was one of his six Grammy-winning traditional folk recordings throughout the ’70s.”
