You want treats? You got ’em: New releases from The Beatles, Black Grape, Jimmy Buffett, Kevin Drew, 54•40, Shooter Jennings, Van Morrison, Marnie Stern, Frank Zappa and plenty more. Dig in and grab a handful:
The Beatles
Now And Then
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Together and apart, The Beatles have always had a talent for the unexpected. And now, 2023 brings one of the most anticipated releases of their long and endlessly eventful history. Now And Then is the last Beatles song written and sung by John Lennon, developed and worked on by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, and now finally finished by Paul and Ringo over four decades later. Besides John’s vocal, Now And Then includes electric and acoustic guitar recorded in 1995 by George, Ringo’s new drum part, and bass, guitar and piano from Paul, which matches John’s original playing. Paul added a slide guitar solo inspired by George; he and Ringo also contributed backing vocals to the chorus. In Los Angeles, Paul oversaw a Capitol Studios recording session for the song’s wistful, quintessentially Beatles string arrangement, written by Giles Martin, Paul and Ben Foster. Paul and Giles also added one last, wonderfully subtle touch: backing vocals from the original recordings of Here, There And Everywhere, Eleanor Rigby and Because, woven into the new song using the techniques perfected during the making of the LOVE show and album. The finished track was produced by Paul and Giles, and mixed by Spike Stent.”
Black Grape
Orange Head
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Black Grape could only have been made in Manchester. The swagger, fun and cryptic humour seem hewn from a city once described as offering an archetypally different way of English urban life to London. Both Shaun Ryder and Paul Leveridge, known as Kermit, came from edgy-but-cool parts of the city. So we have two restlessly creative men, both from the wrong side of the tracks, neither inclined to go to art school or enroll on an MFA programme, yet loaded with street smarts and musical talent, and wanting the world. Good old punk had told every scally they could have it, and a generation of went for it in our own ways, with varying degrees of success. Shaun’s astonishing rise and fall with Happy Mondays is the stuff of legend.”
Jimmy Buffett
Equal Strain On All Parts
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The music world remembers and celebrates Jimmy Buffett — beloved singer-songwriter, performer, entrepreneur, best-selling author, and mayor of Margaritaville. Buffett instructed us to “keep the party going,” and that’s just what we’ll do. Buffett’s musical legacy continues with a meaningful and heartfelt album, Equal Strain On All Parts. The title is inspired by Buffett’s grandfather’s description of a good nap. The record, co-produced by longtime Coral Reefers, Michael Utley and Mac McAnally, features well-known friends, including Paul McCartney, Emmylou Harris, Lennie Gallant, Angelique Kidjo and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Recorded this year, the 14-song album brims with Buffett’s characteristically playful songs, but it also brings a thoughtful side.”
Cold War Kids
Cold War Kids
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “If Nathan Willett followed his usual impulses, Cold War Kids’ 10th album might just have been a five-song EP, or an album with entirely different songs than the 12 ultimately chosen here. Instead, Willett took a rare pandemic-era breather to really contemplate what a Cold War Kids album could, and should, sound like in 2023, and how to infuse the material with meaningful discourse about his life specifically and the state of the world more broadly. Clearly, it was worth the wait: the aptly self-titled result is perhaps the strongest and most well-rounded full-length in the long-running California band’s ample catalog, and the purest possible distillation of Cold War Kids‘ nearly 20-year career. “If I’ve got five songs done that I’ve worked on in a certain way, I tend to want to put them out as an EP and go do some shows around it,” Willett says. “Continually as my brain would go to that place, I’d go, no, just wait, and really put together a full-length record. I needed to approach things very differently and work with some new people in a way that was a little uncomfortable. This album is where I’ve most felt like I was the executive producer of everything.”
Micky Dolenz
Dolenz Sings R.E.M.
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Micky Dolenz Sings R.E.M. is and EP comprised of songs R.E.M. wrote throughout their career, all beautifully reimagined by Dolenz and producer Christian Nesmith. The EP features fresh and completely new arrangements of some of R.E.M.’s most memorable and catchy songs. As Dolenz says: “Once again, this EP reaffirms my long-held conviction that a solid recording always begins with solid material. You don’t get much more solid than R.E.M. What a joy to sing these classics and honor a team of outstanding writers.” Says Michael Stipe: “These songs are ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. Micky Dolenz covering R.E.M. Monkees style, I have died and gone to heaven. This is really something. Shiny Happy People sounds INCREDIBLE (never thought you or I would hear me say that!!!). Give it a spin. It’s wild. And produced by Christian Nesmith (son of Michael Nesmith), I am finally complete.”
Kevin Drew
Aging
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Where other Kevin Drew songs throughout his vast and incredible catalog — both with BSS and as a solo artist — lean into the exuberant fist-pump of being alive, Aging is an album best played at the end of the night; a collection for the stragglers left when the bar is about to close; a serenade for those who are coming down; songs that are quietly sad but ultimately ruminative and comforting.
Influenced by the passing of friends and mentors, as well as the health scares of friends and family, Aging brings together songs written over a decade marked by the signifiers of midlife — love, loss, and illness — all while wrestling with the hard truths of aging: How do you deal with the blunt-force impact of loss? What does it mean to look and feel different than you did before? Aging was the inevitable title of Drew’s meditative new record – because he was living everything that comes with it. Compared to his shambolic solo debut Spirit If (2007), with its 23-piece band and romantic musings, to the black-light synth-pop-tinged Darlings (2014) and its carnal obsessions, Aging’s collection of minimalist piano ballads is more contemplative than anything Drew has released before.”
Elliott BROOD
Town
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “With a familiar 1, 2, 3, 4…Elliott BROOD count in a new album cycle, Town & Country, that explores the people and places that shape our lives, wherever we call home. On Part 1, Town, Elliott BROOD rumble and rock over a map of all the towns and cities that are home to our experiences and imaginations, histories and future plans. While Windsor doesn’t compete with the likes of Asbury Park or Butcher Hollow for the most famous hometown in music history, its bridges and bars have inspired some of Elliott BROOD’s most beloved songs and albums. A song is always the fastest way home. Dressed in the hand-embroidered suits that bear the symbols of each of these two realms, town and country, Elliott BROOD hit the road once again with their brand of nitty gritty city folk. Over bridges and into barrooms, lose your way to find yourself in Elliott BROOD’s Town.”
54•40
West Coast Band
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “54•40 has been telling Canada where they came from and where they’re going for the last 40 years. Now, it’s time for Neil, Brad, Dave and Matt to reveal their band culture in a collection of songs called West Coast Band. Through self-referential and often very literal stories, the songs explore bizarre shenanigans, odd dynamics and personalities of its members. Throughout their career, 54•40 have earned critical acclaim and numerous awards, solidifying their status as Canadian music icons. Their ability to craft introspective and socially conscious lyrics, addressing themes such as personal struggle, love, and political issues, has endeared them to fans worldwide 54•40’s music often blends elements of alternative, post-punk, and folk rock, with a raw and organic energy that sets them apart from their contemporaries. Neil Osborne’s soulful vocals, combined with the band’s dynamic instrumentation, create a unique sonic landscape that resonates with audiences of all generations.”
Shooter Jennings & The Werewolves of Los Angeles
Do Zevon
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Shooter Jennings and the Werewolves of Los Angeles — which includes multi-instrumentalist Brian Whelan (Dwight Yoakum, Jim Lauderdale) alongside longtime Jennings drummer Jamie Douglass, bassist Ted Russell Kamp and guitarist John Schreffler — made a memorable debut at 2022’s Rebels & Renegades Music Festival in Monterey. The band next lit up the City of Angels with a gig at the Roxy during Grammy Week. “This last year we had a blast doing two separate shows paying tribute to one of my favorite artists of all time, Los Angeles legend Warren Zevon,” says Jennings. “When Zevon was picked to be potentially inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame this year we, along with millions of Zevon fans, were hoping that he would finally get his due in the halls of Rock & Roll History. Unfortunately, Zevon didn’t make it in this year… Upon hearing this news, the Werewolves of Los Angeles gathered in our Wolfcave to discuss what we could do about it. We decided that even though Warren wasn’t going into the hall of fame, we could take a special trip up to New York City that weekend and do our own celebration of Warren’s bad-ass music.”
King Creosote
I Des
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “They say long live the king and all, but nothing’s ever set in stone. A quarter of a century since his self-inflicted coronation, and self-released debut solo album, Kenny Anderson — DIY pop voyager, ancestral seaside home restorer, squeezebox lothario, Fife for lifer, diamond miner, hijacker of hearts, and the man also known as King Creosote — has released over 100 records (at a relatively conservative guess), collaborated with the likes of Jon Hopkins, KT Tunstall, Beta Band’s Lone Pigeon, and had his songs covered and performed by artists including Patti Smith and Simple Minds. Yet he’s still standing, fallible, doubtful, patched together, bloody-minded and unbowed. He’s got a new LP, despite or perhaps because of it all. It’s called I Des. While the record’s kaleidoscopic musical terrain plots vibraphones, accordions, e-bows, samplers, ungulates, scratched records and wine glass-drones across its landscape, there’s common ground in the wonder of the synthesiser — not to mention Anderson’s singular voice, and his roguish, roving, ever-evolving, gorgeous songs in the key of Fife.”
Van Morrison
Accentuate The Positive
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Like this year’s acclaimed Moving On Skiffle, Accentuate The Positive sees Van Morrison returning to one of his childhood passions: this time rock ‘’n’ roll. Growing up in Belfast shortly after World War II, he was immensely inspired by the heady sounds of 20th-century blues and rock ’n’ roll. Listening to artists such as Fats Domino, Chuck Berry and The Everly Brothers, it wasn’t long until Van was intuitively reinterpreting these sounds with his own band in local hometown venues. Several decades later, Morrison now revisits the genre by reimagining some of his personal favourites for Accentuate The Positive, and infusing those timeless songs with an energy that constantly challenges and expands upon its traditions. Van’s inimitable voice combined with superb arrangements and highly accomplished brings a fresh zeal to such great songs as The Johnny Burnette Trio’s Lonesome Train, Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, Shakin’ All Over and Big Joe Turner’s pioneering rock ’n’ roll hit, Flip, Flop and Fly.”
Marnie Stern
The Comeback Kid
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “It’s been a decade since we last heard new music from Marnie Stern, but when her guitar bursts in like a shower of stardust on The Comeback Kid, the followup to 2013’s The Chronicles of Marnia, it’s like no time has passed. The Comeback Kid is a statement of intent: “I can’t keep on moving backwards,” Stern repeats on the anthemic lead single Plain Speak, her fingers furiously tapping the fretboard as the song joyfully zips forward like a rocket hitting warp speed. Make no mistake: This is no nostalgia trip. Stern continually pushes herself outside of her comfort zone throughout The Comeback Kid, including not leaning on the tapping technique that launched a thousand Eddie Van Halen comparisons. Til It’s Over is as straightahead an “alternative rock” song as Stern has ever made and there’s a cover of Ennio Morricone’s Il Girotondo Della Note.”
The Struts
Pretty Vicious
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The charismatic quartet of Brit rockers known as The Struts have collaborated with the likes of Kesha and Tom Morello and opened for The Rolling Stones and Foo Fighters (the latter of which dubbed them “the best opening band we’ve ever had“). Now they seem to have finally hit their stride as they’ve harnessed the raucous nature of their live shows and transmuted it into an full-length project. Produced by The Struts alongside Julian Raymond (Freddie Mercury, Cheap Trick), Pretty Vicious manages to infuse their arena-sized energy into their most concentrated and exciting songs to date. “This record showcases each individual member’s strengths,” Luke Spiller says. “It’s some of my favorite music, hands down, we’ve ever conjured up. It’s the record everyone’s been waiting for.”
Swampmeat Family Band
Polish Your Old Halo
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The evolution of Swampmeat Family Band continues apace. When the Birmingham outfit released their incendiary third album Muck three years ago, it marked the culmination of the kind of vision that frontman Dan Finnemore had always had for them; having returned from the U.S. after a spell as a key member of Philadelphia rockers Low Cut Connie, he was burning with ideas and inspiration, channeling a renewed creative energy into a new-look version of the garage band he’d formed, as simply Swampmeat, with drummer T-Bird Jones in 2006. Polish Your Old Halo, a record that continues Finnemore’s hot vein of songwriting form with Muck and capitalises upon that album’s creative momentum, without being afraid to try new things and remove old ones; the brass and strings that made it on to Muck have been left to one side, propelling Finnemore’s writing to the fore.”
Lol Tolhurst, Budgie & Jacknife Lee
Los Angeles
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Made up of two of the most illustrious and inventive drummers of the post-punk era — The Cure’s Lol Tolhurst and Budgie from Siouxsie & The Banshees and The Creatures — along with stellar producer and multi-instrumentalist Garret ‘Jacknife’ Lee, this unlikely alt-supergroup have spent the last four years spiriting up one of the most extraordinary albums to appear in 2023. Perusing the tracklist, with its guest credits for, amongst others, James Murphy, Bobby Gillespie, The Edge, Civil Rights avant-gardist Lonnie Holley, Mary Lattimore, Starcrawler wildchild Arrow de Wilde and Mark Bowen from Idles, you may rightly wonder just what the 13-track long-player holds in store. The answer: a hard-hitting and compulsively exploratory 55-minute electronic headfuck, founded on unrivalled rhythmic expertise, fleshed out with an armoury of synths, guitars (Jacknife’s forté) and supplementary percussion, often overlaid with elite-class strings and brass, then universally twisted, manipulated and quite masterfully sculpted by Lee, with his super-producer’s hat on.”
Various Artists
Brown Acid: The Seventeenth Trip
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Lucky number 17? You better believe it. We here at Brown Acid have been scouring the highways and byways of America for even more hidden stashes of psych/garage/proto-punk madness from the so-called Aquarian Age. There’s no flower power here, though — just acid casualties, rock stompers and major freakouts. As always, the songs have been officially licensed, and all the artists get paid.”
Frank Zappa
Over-Nite Sensation 50th Anniversary Edition
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In 1973, Frank Zappa and The Mothers were once again on the move. Coming off a year laden with a pair of well-lauded high watermarks — July 1972’s jazz-fusiony solo masterstroke Waka/Jawaka and November 1972’s big-band progression The Grand Wazoo — Zappa wanted to next convene another revised Mothers collective, rethink some long-throw compositional tracts, and begin exploring the differences inherent in the form and function of his songwriting. In turn, Zappa also decided to bring his own singing voice more to the lead vocal fore than ever before, as well as refine the scope of his guitar playing. And thus, September 1973’s Over-Nite Sensation was born. A stone cold classic, Over-Nite Sensation has long been viewed by both the cognoscenti and layman as being a gateway album entry into the Zappaverse at large, serving as a mighty grand place to enter into the breach along with his follow-up March 1974 solo release Apostrophe(’). It was also the first album by Zappa to be released in Quadraphonic surround sound, an ever-evolving sonic medium Zappa would continue to explore throughout his career on the cutting edge.”
