The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band started life as an anarchic art school band adapting songs from old 78 RPM singles into a chaotic comedy/music live show. They started writing original material in a similar vein until their act was ripped off for "Winchester Cathedral" (a group of session musicians credited as "The New Vaudeville Band). After that, The Bonzos evolved into a psychedelic pop group with strong comedy leanings. Additionally, The Bonzos were the house band for the UK TV series "Do Not Adjust Your Set" (a precursor to "Monty Python's Flying Circus") and guitarist/pianist/singer/songwriter Neil Innes became the unofficial "Seventh Python" who later created The Rutles with Eric Idle.

Still Barking is a massive, 17 CD & 3 DVD compilation of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band's original run from the sixties to the early seventies. The CDs include their five original studio albums, their non-album single tracks, a slew of rarities, demos, BBC session appearances, and several live shows. The DVDs include Neil Innes' art school film, the band's complete appearances on "Do Not Adjust Your Set", two concert recordings, and various TV appearances. If you're a superfan of The Bonzos (like I am, obviously), this box set is everything in one place, and there's a lot of stuff you haven't heard or seen before.

Note #1: The set is strictly focused on the original run of The Bonzos and their 1988 reunion single. The 2007 reunion album Pour L'Amour des Chiens (as well as the live albums released afterwards) are not included. Additionally, there's no solo tracks included, so the bonus tracks from the old Cornology set are not here either.

Note #2: There is a second, much more expensive version of the box set that includes (among other things) a vinyl single of an alternate version of "Boo!". The main version is on the set (and it's unheard before now), but the alternate version is only on the pricey box set … and on the streaming services. A nice touch.

Note #3: Still Barking was released on December 13, but the copy my lovely wife Noreen pre-ordered for me as a birthday gift didn't arrive until December 28. I wanted to note the set because it's a limited edition and if you want one, you might need to grab it soon. I'll replace this bit with a more detailed review once I get a chance to really dig in.

East Village were a British band that recorded a bunch of singles and ended up breaking up on stage in 1991. They recorded Drop Out in 1990, but it wasn't released until 1993. It's a shame because the album is an absolute gem. If you're a fan of guitar pop (think The La's, Teenage Fanclub, and Big Star), you will love this album. "Silver Train" and "Shipwrecked" start the album out with lighter songs, "Freeze Out" cranks up the guitar, and the driving "When I Wake Tomorrow" puts it all together. It should've been a smash.

In 1994, a compilation called Hotrod Hotel was released, containing twelve songs from East Village singles and two outtakes. The 30th Anniversary edition of Drop Out has a second disc, which is basically Hotrod Hotel with two extra songs inserted: "Meet The Wife" and "Barrel Dog". The bonus tracks are almost as good as the base album. "Back Between Places" is as good as anything on Drop Out.

Spotify and Apple Music only seem to have the original album. The Bandcamp site only lets you listen to the original album as well, but the download does include all the bonus tracks.

As Fish winds down his musical career, he's wrapping up the deluxe re-releases of his solo albums with the first two, Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors and Internal Exile. For both albums, he's taken the opportunity to remix and resequence the albums. Each deluxe edition also includes a disc of demos, a disc of live material, and a Blu-ray with 5.1 versions, documentaries, promo videos, and audio-only of several "official bootlegs".

After a nasty break-up with Marillion, Fish took the lyrics the band had rejected and worked with keyboard player Mickey Simmonds to flesh out new songs. The result is the best solo album of Fish's career, Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors. The album opens with a progressive rock masterpiece, the newly renamed "Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors". "Big Wedge" and "State Of Mind" are political rockers that attack greed, American society ("Big Wedge") and Thatcherism ("State Of Mind"). Like Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill", Fish's "The Company" masks lyrics about the breakup with jaunty music. "A Gentleman's Excuse Me", a gorgeous ballad backing Fish's heartbreaking lyrics with a lovely piano and orchestral backing, is a highlight of the album and Fish's solo career overall. Fish also adds the original recording of "Internal Exile" to the running order. The song's Scottish feel matches with the lyrics about Scotland independence that would end up being used as the title track of his second album. Fish's career is bookended by classics. This debut, plus his final album, Weltschmerz are the best of his solo career.

Fish describes his second album, Internal Exile, as feeling like a compilation album in the accompanying videos. In the new 2024 remix, Fish resequenced the album and added two songs to give it a better flow. I wasn't familiar with the original version, so I'll take his word for it. The album isn't as good as Vigil, but it's not far off. The bittersweet "Just Good Friends" is a big highlight as is the re-recorded title track. The original album was a little short in length, so Fish covered Thunderclap Newman's "Something In The Air" to finish out the original album. Side note: In one of the documentaries, Fish talks about pressuring the record company to release "Something In The Air" as a single. They did, begrudgingly, but put no promotion behind it and it flopped. Two years later, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers put out a cover with a video to match and had a huge hit. Overall, Internal Exile is an excellent follow-up. If you liked Vigil, it's worth giving this a listen.

For both albums, the demos add some interesting background to the songs and the live versions really shine. Fish's initial solo band did a terrific job with these songs. Both are absolutely worth the upgrade.

Back in 2004 I wrote:

After releasing the aggressive Know Your Enemy in 2001, and then following up with "best of" and "rarities" albums, Lifeblood is a terrific album of epic pop more along the lines of "A Design For Life" rather than older rockers (which I'm sure drives a lot of fans of the punky early years crazy). James Dean Bradfield has one of the best voices in rock, and the more dramatic songs (like "Empty Souls", "I Live To Fall Asleep", and "Solitude Sometimes Is") really show off the power of his voice. Strings, pianos, and horns flesh out the sound, and the result is stunning. A band that continues to get better and better.

Still a bit of an odd duck in the Manics' catalog, Lifeblood nonetheless gets the 20th anniversary treatment. Along with the album, you get a disc containing all the B-sides from album's singles along with a few remixes and a disc containing demos, live tracks and a few more alternate mixes.

The B-sides are really solid, and not all would have fit on the album. "Voodoo Polaroids" is the big standout: it's a terrific rocker that doesn't fit the main album's sound, but it's a great track. Included with the B-sides are two songs that were included on the Japanese version of the original: "Antarctic" and "The Soulmates". Both were worthy additions to the main album, and "The Soulmates" is as good as anything on the album. The remixes of "1985" (one by Gwenno and one by Steven Wilson) don't really do much for me. The original is excellent, and the remixes just kind of muddle it up for me. The demos are always interesting listening, and the live songs recorded for BBC are excellent as well.

It's worth the upgrade if you liked the original, and a nice opportunity to reevaluate it for skeptics.

Tom Petty's two previous albums, Damn The Torpedoes and Hard Promises, were launched with big hit singles: "Don't Do Me Like That" and "Refugee" for the first and "The Waiting" and "A Woman In Love" for the second. The follow-up, Long After Dark, was announced with an odd choice. "You Got Lucky" is a great song, but the synthy verses and twangy guitar are quite a left turn. I don't know if that caused the album to get less attention, but the album is a somewhat overlooked gem in Petty's catalog. "Straight Into Darkness" is one of Petty's best-ever songs. "Change Of Heart" (inspired by The Move's "Do Ya") is a barn burner of a song that should have been a classic rock radio staple. And in my opinion, "A One Story Town" and "Finding Out" should have been hits as well.

The new deluxe edition adds a second disc with a mix of outtakes and recordings from a French TV session. The outtakes show how much of a roll Petty was on at this point. "Never Be You" is terrific and "One On One" is even better. I'm amazed it didn't make the album, but I have no idea what I'd cut to make room. "Keeping Me Alive" was kept off the album by producer Jimmy Iovine because he felt it was "too country". He's not wrong about it not matching the album's feel, but the song deserved better than to be buried as an outtake until 1995's Playback box set.

While the album was in the charts, MTV aired a documentary about the band and the album called "Heartbreakers Beach Party". Petty wanted an unconventional film, and Cameron Crowe's directorial debut does just that. It's a strange movie, but a ton of fun. MTV played it exactly once and shelved it after because it was "too weird". The movie's been remastered and had a short theatrical run, so I'm hoping a DVD or Blu-ray will follow.

I've always had a soft spot for this album. It was the first new album for me after becoming a fan, and I played it to death. Sounds just as good today.

The final Police album is the one that launched the band to superstardom before the inter-band arguments finally caused them to self-destruct. The album was a huge hit on the back of songs like "Synchronicity II", "Wrapped Around Your Finger, "King Of Pain", and the classic but misunderstood "Every Breath You Take" (it's really not a love song: don't play it at weddings anymore, please?). It also has "Mother": one of the most annoying songs on a hit record since Genesis' "Who Dunnit?". "Mother" couples Andy Summers atonal ranting with faux Middle Eastern backing. That lone misstep doesn't doom the album though. Still the best Police album in a string of excellent albums.

Along with the single B-sides, The "B-Sides / Bonus Tracks" disc includes non-album tracks include "Every Bomb You Make", a rework of "Every Breath You Take" recorded for the satirical UK TV series "Spitting Image" with lyrics denouncing the IRA. Stewart Copeland recorded "derangements" of "Walking In Your Footsteps" and "Tea In The Sahara" for his film "Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out". They're both radical reworkings, but I like both more than most remixes. You also get backing tracks of "Every Breath You Take" and "Roxanne", presumably recorded for TV appearances where Sting would sing real lead vocals while all three would mime their instruments.

The two "Unreleased" CDs include the demo or an alternate version (frequently both) for every song on the album. They make for a very deep dive into the album, following how songs progressed to their final versions. After the album tracks are done, there are demos for four unused songs (two written by Stewart Copeland and two by Andy Summers). "I'm Blind" wouldn't have fit Synchronicity, but it would have been at home on an earlier Police album as one of Copeland's usual one or two songs. "Loch" was intended as a bridge between "Synchronicity I" and "Synchronicity II". It's a moody piece: pretty, but I'm not sure that it would have worked as a link. Andy's "Goodbye Tomorrow" (eventually reworked as "Someone To Talk To") would have been a nice replacement for "Mother" on the main album. After the demos, are covers of Eddie Cochran's "Three Steps To Heaven" and Chuck Berry's "Rock And Roll Music", both using a very typical arrangement for The Police.

While the three members of the band got along personally, they reportedly found working together unbearable with explosive arguments over the music. Despite this, they were a tremendous live band. The box includes a recording of their 1983 show in Oakland, California. The setlist included all of Sting's songs from Synchronicity (skipping only Andy's "Mother" and Stewart's "Miss Gradenko"), and mixes in most of the hits from the previous four albums with a couple of deep cuts mixed in. The show set starts out with a warp-speed version of "Synchronicity I" and the band just blasts all the way through to the closer that mixes "Reggatta de Blanc" and Harry Belafonte's "Jamaica Farwell" into a powerful version of "Can't Stand Losing You".

This is not just a remaster, this is a brand new 2024 rebuild of the entire Queen debut album, which, with the benefit of hindsight, we have re-titled Queen I - Brian May

Famously recorded during leftover unused time in the studio, Queen's debut never had the best sound. And due to disagreements with their producer, a song was left out of the running order. For the new version of the debut, various effects and delays were used to give the original recordings far better sound, and the missing track "Mad The Swine" was dropped back into the running order where it was originally intended. The result is a vast improvement over the original. Freddie Mercury's voice was dazzling from the start and Brian May's distinctive guitar sound is already in place, but the band is basically a hard rock band that's hinting at the more complex music to come. "Keep Yourself Alive" and "Doing All Right" are maybe the best-known tracks on the album, but the rest of the album holds up surprisingly well. The new polish really helps.

The bonus material is a mix of demos, session outtakes, BBC appearances and a disc of live material. The demos are interesting listening. They're certainly rougher than the final versions, but they're already quite impressive. The live disc offers two big surprises. One is a recording of "Hangman", a Queen original that never got a studio recording. It's a bluesier song that you're used to hearing from Queen. Very different, but very cool. The other big surprise is two songs from a 1970 performance recorded before they settled on John Deacon as their bassist. The sound of the recording is a little rough, but it's cool to hear something this early from the band. "Jesus" has basically the same arrangement as on the debut, but it's rougher. The other 1970 song is a rare cover: a heavy, bluesy take on Bo Diddley's "I'm A Man". The De Lane Lea demos and much of the Queen I Live have apparently been previously released, but they make sense to include here as well.

The physical box set is crazy expensive ($175 on amazon), but the digital versions are very reasonably priced. The big box set looks cool, with a hardbound book and vinyl copy of the new version of the album. This is interesting listening, especially if you're more familiar with Queen's hit single years.

The fourth and final Ultravox album with their classic lineup (until a reunion twenty-five years later) shows the band still firing on all cylinders. "White China" opens the album with all synths and electronic percussion. This is immediately followed by the heavy guitar of "One Small Day", and then Ultravox's signature blend of the two with dark, emotional lyrics: "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes". "Dancing" describes the final moments of a couple together knowing a nuclear war is about to wipe everything out. One of Ultravox's best-ever songs. The side ends with the moody, elegant title track. The second half starts with a rare duet of sorts: Midge Ure sings the lead vocals as normal, but Mae McKenna adds Gaelic vocals to the chorus. Her high, clear voice is a perfect foil to Ure's rich, deep voice. The album closes out with the urgent "A Friend I Call Desire". A superb end to the lineup's original run.

As with the first three sets, you get a Steven Wilson remix (a stereo mix on the CDs and a 5.1 mix on the DVD) and a full concert from the "Set Movements Tour" that supported the album. The 1984 singles from the album contained a slew of extended remixes, and they're included on one of the bonus discs. Additionally, fresh extended remixes were made, some from guest producers and those are on a separate disc as well. In general, I'm not a big fan of extended remixes, so while these two were interesting, they wouldn't get a lot of playing time. The remaining disc gathers single mixes and B-sides. The two non-albums B-sides are the experimental "Easterly" and the dramatic "Building". Neither is better than the album tracks.

A fascinating addition are the two short songs Ultravox recorded for ads for Levi's. "Rivets" jumps from a moody intro to an upbeat ending. It's a cool little track, and I'm quite surprised the ad agency went for it. The agency then commissioned a piece for a second commercial called "Threads". "Threads" is a far synthier affair that was rejected. A very different second version was recorded. When that was also rejected, the band reworked it into their superb final single "Love's Great Adventure". Although it was originally released after Lament and later included on their greatest hits album The Collection, several versions are included here. It wouldn't have fitted the overall vibe on Lament, but it's a terrific single.

The tour, titled "Set Movements", pulled six of Lament's songs into the set along with nice selections from the first three. The new songs hold up nicely with the older material and the band sounds great from the opening through the long percussion ending of set closer "The Voice" to the electric show closer "All Stood Still".

Because the two discs of extended remixes don't do as much for me, the bonuses overall aren't quite as cool as on the other sets, but the album is still excellent, and the live set is a treat. Absolutely worth grabbing.

Back in 2004 I wrote:

This Is The Sea is the high point of the early Waterboys "big music" sound, packing a massive sound around anthemic songs like "Don't Bang The Drum", "The Pan Within" and "This Is The Sea". The single from the album, "The Whole Of The Moon", takes that huge sound and hooks it up with a perfect pop song. A majestic masterpiece.

The 6 CD set 1985 is a super-deep dive into my pick for The Waterboys best album, This Is The Sea. It's laid out roughly chronologically, so you hear early demos evolve into work-in-progress recordings, which finally become the released versions on the last disc.

CD 1, Towers Open Fire, sets the stage for the larger story. It's a mix of early demos and live performances from 1984 and 1985, most recorded before the This Is The Sea sessions. CD 2, The Black Book, is absolutely fascinating. It's taken from a single session where Scott basically demoed everything he had written to that point, and it's a nice illustration of how ideas get reused. Songs like "Winter Blues", "The Mercenary And The Samaritan", "Looking For Dickon", and "Talk About Wings" have lyrics or musical bits that were reused as part of the final songs for the album. They give you a good feel for how the songs evolved. CD 3, A Sky Full Of Crows, starts with the arrival of the band and the documents the first batch of band demos. "Rain Come Down", a sparse and dramatic vocal/guitar/drum demo is the big highlight.

CD 4, The Ladder, starts in on more finished sessions. The original plan for the album was to have it open with a "fast" version of "This Is The Sea", and then close with a slower version. The one-two punch of "Don't Bang The Drum" and "The Whole Of The Moon" became the opener, but there are two takes of the fast version on this CD. The first has Mike Scott handling the lead guitar himself. It's a terrific version, and Scott sounds great … until you hear the second version. Scott was unsatisfied with his take and learned that one of his heroes, Tom Verlaine, not only now lived in London, but lived above the studio they were using, and his co-producer Mick Glossop knew him. Verlaine did several takes of the guitar solo, and it's magic. The original mix came out on a Waterboys rarities album, and Scott was never happy with the mix. For this box, Scott used Verlaine's takes to create a new edit and recorded a fresh lead vocal. It's a killer version. CD 5. Mountaintop, starts to take the story past the album. Steve Wickham joins the band, and his fiddle work starts to hint at where Scott would take the band for Fisherman's Blues. The disc includes some alternate versions of "The Whole Of The Moon", one being an alternate mix/take of the final version and the other being a new version for the promo video including Wickham's fiddle. There are also some radio sessions of songs from the album, plus a reworked title track ("Behold The Sea") and a song that would be part of the next sessions ("Higher In Time"). The disc closes with a 2023 update/remix of the best of the unused songs, "Beverly Penn". CD 6 closes out the set with the album as released. Hearing all the bits and pieces gives a fresh appreciation for how good the final product was.

The original limited edition set also includes a large book titled 1985: How The Waterboys Made This Is The Sea And Saw The Whole Of The Moon. The set is sold out on the band's site, but if you can score one, the book is a nice addition to the set.

As you'd expect, this is aimed at big fans of the album. If you love This Is The Sea, the set is a must.

Apostrophe (') was Frank Zappa's most commercially successful album, and his only Billboard Top 10 album. It's one of Frank's more accessible albums, probably best known for the "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" suite that takes up most of side one. Despite the single edit of the suite getting airtime on the "Dr. Demento" radio show, Apostrophe (') is not a novelty album. It's also got "Cosmik Debris", a killer blues rock song about a confrontation with a "guru", "Uncle Remus" which matches Zappa's lyrics about racism with lovely gospel-flavored music from George Duke, and a long jam with Frank and Cream bassist Jack Bruce on the title track. It's one of Frank's best albums.

In 2016, the Zappa Family Trust issued The Crux Of The Biscuit, a collection of outtakes and alternate mixes from Apostrophe ('), but for the 50th anniversary, they've done it up properly. Along with the original album, you get a disc of outtakes which overlap The Crux Of The Biscuit (but doesn't replace it) and two full-length concerts from March, 1974. The shows were recorded after the famous concerts at The Roxy in L.A., but most of the "Roxy & Elsewhere" band is still here. In a clever touch, a live version of "Inca Roads" from a different 1974 show was included so that at least one version of every song the band did on their February to March 1974 tour is here. The box set also includes an audio-only Blu-ray with the album in stereo, 5.1, Dolby Atmos, and Frank's original Quadraphonic mix.

For serious Zappa fans, this is a must. For newbies, I generally recommend One Size Fits All as an introductory listen, but Apostrophe (') makes a good choice as well.

The sound quality on these official bootlegs is generally excellent. This year's batch has a couple of exceptions. The sounds on the two London shows from 2022 are way below the usual standard. Craig Finn's lead vocal is buried, and the instrument mix is very weird. Those two sound more like an old-school homemade bootleg. The Minnesota State Fair show also has problems: the keys and horns are almost totally inaudible. The rest sound terrific.

Since COVID, The Hold Steady has usually livestreamed at least one show from their annual residency at the Brooklyn Bowl. This year, the livestream didn't happen, so the show was made available for download two days after the show. Nice touch.

At a soundcheck for one of the 2020 Brooklyn Bowl shows the band performed a new take on Heaven Is Whenever, substituting a few songs and shuffling the running order. At one of the 2024 shows, they repeated the exercise on the other album that Franz Nicolay didn't play on. Teeth Dreams: Revisited adds in "Saddle Shoes" and "Records & Tapes" and drops "Wait Awhile" and "Runners High" and shuffles the running order. The original album has a bad reputation, but I loved it. The revamp is an interesting listen, and it's performed with a little softer touch than the original album. Feels more like a Hold Steady album instead of the hard rock of the original.

"One Hand Clapping" was originally a one hour live-in-the-studio documentary featuring Paul McCartney & Wings, recorded between while Band On The Run was sitting at #1 in the UK charts. The documentary was not released at the time, but eventually appeared on a DVD accompanying the 2010 deluxe version of Band On The Run.

This release contains the audio of the full session that was edited down to make the film. As you'd expect, the hits like "Jet", "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Band On The Run", "Junior's Farm", and a take on "Live And Let Die" with orchestral accompaniment sound absolutely amazing. They're much looser versions of the songs you know, and they show how good this edition of Wings was. Along with that, you also get McCartney goofing around with songs like "Baby Face", "Blue Moon Of Kentucky", and series of other sub-two-minute song fragments. It was probably charming when you were there, but the songs just lay flat compared with the hits.

The good songs make it more than worth it, however. Except for a drummer change, this is sort of a loose, early preview of the classic live album Wings Over America.

On July 23, 1968, L.A.'s famous Whisky A Go Go club's marquee read "Mothers Of Invention - Recording Session". The event would be a marathon five-hour show with The Mothers and several guest acts including The Turtles, Alice Cooper, The GTO's and the infamous Wild Man Fischer. The show was indeed recorded, but Frank never released the show in full, although a few excerpts appeared on other albums.

Live At The Whisky A Go Go, 1968 contains all of the Mothers Of Invention's performances, roughly three hours of live album. The shows are a mix of improvisations, tracks from the first three band albums (Freak Out!, Absolutely Free, We're Only In It For The Money) and a few then-unreleased compositions. Along the way, you get the first live performance of "Brown Shoes Don't Make It". Overall, this is more of the early Mothers sound, with a little less of Zappa's guitar heroics, but recommended for fans of the early Mothers.

All the shows from Springsteen's 2023/2024 tour are available for purchase as CDs or downloads from nugs.net. I'd seen Bruce twice in festival-type lineups, but never at his own show. Planned on buying the recording anyway, but I was blown away by the performance and was especially looking forward to hearing the recording. The show includes thirty songs, runs a smidge over three hours, and Springsteen and the E Street Band are on fire from the start. Highlights included a touching tribute to his late bandmate George Theiss followed by a performance of "Last Man Standing", a fan request for "Racing In The Street" and blazing performances of hits like "Born To Run", "Prove It All Night", "The Promised Land", "Thunder Road" and staples like "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", the "Detroit Medley" and "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)". A fabulous souvenir and a heck of a live album on its own.

In celebration of his seventieth birthday, Midge Ure held a one-off concert at The Royal Albert Hall. The show is broken into four sections. First is a short acoustic set. The best part of this section is a gentle version of "Lament" focusing on piano, violin, cello, and Ure's voice. A stunning version. The second section pulls in Ure's solo band, Band Electronica, who replicate Ultravox's sound on a mix of band and solo songs including a great take on Midge's debut solo single, "No Regrets". The third section has Midge & Band Electronica performing Vienna from start to finish. The original album is a classic, and the band does a superb job on it. You'd be forgiven if you thought it was Ultravox. Even at seventy, Ure can pull off the demanding vocals of the title track. The final section holds the encores, which gives a chance to pull in more Ultravox hits, plus "Fade To Grey" from Ure's time with Visage. It's a killer encore. Very highly recommended.

The digital services all call the album Live At The Royal Albert Hall 04.10.23, while the actual CD is clearly just Royal Albert Hall 04.10.23. No idea why.

The Who's 1982 tour in support of their second Kenney Jones album, It's Hard, became known as their "farewell tour". The label has been mocked over the years as The Who went back on the road in 1989 and has toured semi-consistently since 1996. The official live album from the tour, Who's Last, got compared to the band's first live album, the legendary Live At Leeds, and it's not in the same class. The Who in 1982 were not the same band they were in 1970. Who's Last was mostly taken from their final show in the US and is not held in very high regard. The biggest complaint with the album, and the 1979-1982 tours in general, is always Kenney Jones. He's a fine drummer, but The Who just sounds a little stiff with a conventional player. Kenney doesn't play with Keith Moon's abandon, and the songs just miss something.

The centerpiece of the 1982 tour was the two nights at Shea Stadium with The Clash opening. The second show was released on video back in 2015, and the new Live At Shea Stadium 1982 finally releases the show as a CD. This gave me a chance to revisit the tour. For starters, the band plays with more energy at this show. Pete Townshend was a huge fan of The Clash, and I'm guessing that having them on the bill fired him up quite a bit. The set list for this show is interesting as well. It includes the hits you'd expect, but the surprise is that the songs from It's Hard work much better live than they did on the album. The 1982 shows generally ended with "Twist And Shout" with John Entwistle on lead vocals (as is the case here), but for this show the band also covers "I Saw Her Standing There", and it works quite well.

Overall, Live At Shea Stadium 1982 is a big improvement on Who's Last. No, it's not better than Live At Leeds, but it's worth a listen.

Back in 1990 I wrote this about Neil Young's Ragged Glory:

Young turned the amps up a bit on his last album, Freedom. On his Japan-only EP, Eldorado, he cranked it up a bit more. On Ragged Glory, Young and Crazy Horse finish the job, turning the power up to full blast. Ragged Glory is a powerful guitar album, screaming with feedback on every track. Highlights include the first single, "Mansion On The Hill", the overkill stomp "F#*!in' Up", and the hymn-meets-Hendrix "Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)". Buy it, turn your stereo way up, and let Ragged Glory rip.

Neil Young's been working a ton with his revamped lineup of Crazy Horse, with Nils Lofgren returning in place of the retired Frank Sampedro. Fu##in' Up captures a 2023 show where Neil & The Horse performed Ragged Glory in order, only dropping the closing "Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)". Micah Nelson from Promise From The Real also joins, allowing Micah and Nils to add a little piano now and then, which actually fits very nicely. Does the material hold up with band members now thirty years older? It does. Way better than you might think. Young's voice isn't quite as strong, but these songs aren't about the vocals anyway. It feels like the band is playing the songs a touch slower, and maybe Young's explosive lead guitar isn't quite what it once was, but those are nitpicks. If you're a fan of Ragged Glory, this is worth checking out.

Ever the contrarian, Neil has also decided to rename each of the originals using a title pulled from a different lyric in the song, So "Country Home" became "City Life", "White Line" became "Feels Like A Railroad (River Of Pride)", and so on. No, I have no idea why.

The podcast that caused Young to boycott Spotify is now available everywhere, so his catalog is back, so there's a link for that as well.

In the mid-2010's, Oscar Fuentes Bills and Sepand Samzadeh were commissioned to record a soundtrack for a documentary film about artist Jean-Paul Bourdier. Because of creative differences, the soundtrack wasn't used and is now presented as the fourth Days Between Stations album. This one is a bit of a change from the first three. On their first three albums, Oscar and Sepand have brought in bassists, drummers and singers to flesh out the band. Exception for the final track, the album is strictly Oscar and Sepand with an occasional drum machine. After opening with a pretty little waltz, the album takes its main shape: lovely little instrumental pieces. I totally get them working as soundtrack music, but it's a nice listen as a standalone album as well. "Seeds" and "Ascend" are the best of the instrumentals. They both really show off some lovely piano from Oscar. The album closer, "Being", is more in the style of their first three albums. Frequent contributor Durga McBroom sings lead vocals and a drummer's been brought on board. The song isn't as poppy as the singles from the last two albums - this is a nine-minute epic with more beautiful piano, emotional vocals, and a dazzling guitar solo.

I confess I was expecting to be disappointed since I figured the album would essentially be background music. I was very pleasantly surprised. The songs hold up nicely on their own; however, I'm still looking forward to the next proper Days Between Stations album. A live-in-the-studio album has been announced for 2025.

2022's Rarities Oxhumed: Volume One was a collection of remixes, live tracks, and a few rarities from The John Entwistle Band (John's late career solo project). Rarities Oxhumed: Volume Two follows up with more live tracks and a few more remixes. The alternate mixes are not that different from the originals, and the live tracks are a mixed bag with two notable exceptions. "Tommy-Eminence" is a terrific live version of "Sparks" with a bass-heavy instrumental coda from "Eminence Front". The other biggie is "Boris Blues", an extended version of "Boris The Spider" with a jazzy intro and a middle section reminiscent of the version he performed with The Best, the short-lived supergroup with Entwistle, Keith Emerson, Skunk Baxter, Joe Walsh, and Simon Phillips. These two make this album a must for big Entwistle fans.

1967 goes round and round in heaven… 1967 goes round and round in heaven… 1967 goes round and round in heaven…

In 2024, Robyn Hitchcock published an unusual biography, 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left. The book focuses on his public school life at age 14 and his exposure to new music. 1967: Vacations In The Past is a companion album that has covers of many of the songs he refers to in the book along with one new original, "Vacations In The Past", which totally fits the vibe. The album has Robyn accompanied by bass, keyboard, and guitar. Former Soft Boy Kimberley Rew contributes guitar to "Itchycoo Park", "I Can Hear The Grass Grow", and "Waterloo Sunset". The song selection is terrific, from obvious choices like "See Emily Play" and "A Day In The Life" to lesser known gems like Tomorrow's "My White Bicycle" and The Move's "I Can Hear The Grass Grow". Overall, the covers are charming, but none will replace the originals. The book is worth a read, and the album makes a nice companion.

A charity single to benefit the Teenage Cancer Trust and Teen Cancer America, "Going Home (Theme From Local Hero)" brings together what must be the largest "supergroup" ever for a 10-minute version of Mark Knopfler's instrumental theme from the film Local Hero. The cover is much longer than the original, but still quite faithful with a long moody section in the opening (featuring Jeff Beck's final performance) and a drum fill from Ringo and his son Zak Starkey lead into a power chord from Pete Townshend that kicks off the more familiar second half. However, this isn't a "Do They Know It's Christmas"-style cover with each participant taking their turn. The various performances weave in-and-out and overlap each other. Some appearances are just a bar or two, some are longer. The result isn't the mishmash you might expect with all of these different players. Knopfler's long-time collaborator Guy Fletcher stitched it all together, and he should win a Grammy for making this sound like a single performance. It's excellent and worth a listen.

Figuring out who's who in the track is nigh on impossible, but the official YouTube video is a big help. The video displays the name of the people playing at any particular moment, so it's a little easier to pick things out. The video is linked below.

Full list of the participants: Joan Armatrading, Jeff Beck, Richard Bennett, Joe Bonamassa, Joe Brown, James Burton, Jonathan Cain, Paul Carrack, Eric Clapton, Ry Cooder, Jim Cox, Steve Cropper, Sheryl Crow, Roger Daltrey, Duane Eddy, Sam Fender, Guy Fletcher, Peter Frampton, Audley Freed, Vince Gill, David Gilmour, Buddy Guy, Keiji Haino, Tony Iommi, Joan Jett, John Jorgenson, Mark Knopfler, Sonny Landreth, Albert Lee, Greg Leisz, Alex Lifeson, Steve Lukather, Phil Manzanera, Dave Mason, Hank Marvin, Brian May, Robbie McIntosh, John McLaughlin, Tom Morello, Rick Nielsen, Orianthi, Brad Paisley, Nile Rodgers, Mike Rutherford, Joe Satriani, John Sebastian, Connor Selby, Slash, Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr and Zak Starkey, Sting, Andy Taylor, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, Ian Thomas, Pete Townshend, Keith Urban, Steve Vai, Waddy Wachtel, Joe Louis Walker, Joe Walsh, Ronnie Wood, Glenn Worf, Zucchero

Nitpicky note: The original soundtrack for Local Hero shows this song's title as "Going Home (Theme Of The Local Hero)" This version has changed it to "Going Home (Theme From Local Hero)". I call it out here so that any of you seeing this figuring I'd messed up the title would know it wasn't me.

After three years exploring traditional Irish music with the Waterboys, Mike Scott wanted to get back to rock. The "Raggle Taggle" line-up of the band broke up, and Scott recorded 1993's Dream Harder in New York backed by American session musicians. Afterwards, Scott would ditch the band name and record two solo albums (both excellent). Dream Harder is a mixed bag. The two opening cuts, "The New Life" and "Glastonbury Song" are stunners, and the closing "Good News" is just as good. What's in between varies. "Preparing To Fly" and "The Return Of Pan" sound like the "Big Music" Waterboys, but the hokey "Corn Circles" grinds the momentum to a halt.

In 2024, Scott came across alternate mixes of the songs for Dream Harder and decided to take a fresh look. The new mixes aren't radically different, but he did take the opportunity to shuffle the running order a bit.

PLUSES: Two of the weaker songs, "Suffer" and "Spiritual City", were replaced by "Kiss The Wind" and "Workin' Out My Karma" which were both big improvements. He also mixed an unedited version of "The New Life", which adds about 10 seconds to the original and adds a minute-or-so coda of what feels like a different song. But it's a nice improvement.

MINUSES: While he was cutting, "Corn Circles" should have gone as well. It's a faux-country song about the "mysteries" of crop circles, even though the hoaxers who created them owned up to several years prior. I also don't get putting "Kiss The Wind" as the new opening track. The New Life" is a very strong opener, so it seems off to have it show up second.

There are currently no plans for an official release of Dream Harder: Director's Cut, but you can hear it on Spotify and YouTube (and a few other streamers as well, but not Apple for some reason). It's worth a relisten.

As the title implies, Cardinals At The Window is a benefit compilation to aid Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. It's a massive compilation of 136 songs, all previously unreleased, and running a shade over 10 hours in length. It's also a phenomenally varied collection with folk, rock, country, hip hop, experimental music that defies easy categorization, and more. Will you like everything on there? Seems unlikely, unless you have a far more diverse palette that I do. However, for me, there was a solid 30+ songs and 2+ hours that I liked, so that'll do. The contributions from R.E.M., The Hold Steady, and Dawes got me to check it out, and I did find some new (to me) acts that need more investigation, like The War On Drugs, Rosali and Mipso.

Cardinals At The Window is a $10 minimum purchase, but you can add extra if you like. 100% of the proceeds are split between several charities in the area.

Arielle's last album, '73, took a hard-turn into a very seventies vibe. Her latest, Reel To Real, takes a similar turn into the sixties. She doesn't pull off the sixties vibe quite as well: the instrumentals "Bell-Bottoms & Bel Airs" and "Lava Lamp Love" get the vibe right and "Stray Dog" mixes in a little Small Faces or Kinks-style piano, but her seventies tastes keep peeking through. This doesn't take anything away from the album at all. "Back To Being Bad" starts out with some hard rock, but overall, the album has a little mellower vibe. Arielle's focus this time around is more on her voice than her guitar work. Not quite up to the lofty standard she set for herself with '73, but a fine album regardless.

Cast's first album in seven years may also be their last, if you believe a 2021 interview with band leader John Power. The album starts out with surprises: a short acoustic ballad and what almost feels like a hard rock version of Cast until you get to the chorus. After that, the album hits its stride. The third song, "The Rain That Falls", is vintage Cast power pop. "Faraway" is a lovely band ballad, and "Love Is The Call" feels like it could have been an outtake from Power's previous band, The La's. The album ends on a strong note with "Tomorrow Call My Name" which mixes in some gentle strings with what feels like a goodbye song from the band.

If this really is Cast's swan song, they're going out on a high note.

The full title of Coldplay's latest is apparently Music Of The Spheres Vol II: Moon Music, although it seems to be billed everywhere as just Moon Music. As you'd expect, it follows the template from 2021's Music of The Spheres and mixes some classic Coldplay pop with more experimental songs. It's like there are three albums here. The delicate title track. the upbeat "feelslikeimfallinginlove", "Jupiter" and "All My Love" are old-school Coldplay. All very solid. There are two tracks with guests credited, "We Pray" and "Good Feelings", and they're easily the weak spots on the album. They add hip-hop into the mix, and that combination just doesn't click for me. The rest are the more ambient and experimental, and they're interesting, but overstay their welcome a smidge. Overall, I think the album is on a par with Music Of The Spheres, a big improvement over Everyday Life but no match for their early heyday. I get that bands can and should evolve over time. I'm just not as fond of where Coldplay's ended up.

The album comes in several editions, each of which add something different. The "Full Moon Edition" adds ten songs, a mix of outtakes and alternate versions. The "Tour Edition" adds ten different songs, all live. Except for "feelslikeimfallinginlove" and "All My Love", the songs are all from older albums. The live "Vida La Vida" is the best of them, but they're all solid. The "Notebook Edition" adds a replica of Chris Martin's studio notebook and ten still different songs. This time voice memo demos of the full album is the bonus. I bought the first two but passed on that one.

Yeah, Coldplay's using songs titled by icons instead of words again. "👋" is "A Wave" and "🌈" is of course "Alien Hits / Alien Radio" as you'd expect. Oh, and "⦵" on the Tour Edition is the title track from 2021's Music Of The Spheres. Yeah, I still think it's a little pretentious. Despite my snark, the songs themselves aren't terrible.

Crowded House's second reunion album is a fine successor to Dreamers Are Waiting. Songs like "Teenage Summer", "Oh Hi", and "The Howl" could be long-lost extras from their 1990's heyday. "I Can't Keep Up With You" feels like a more modern re-think of their sound, and the opener "Magic Piano" reminds me a bit of Ray LaMontange's dreamier albums. If you enjoyed Crowded House back in the day, give this a listen.

In 2022, Dawes released the dramatic change-of-pace Misadventures Of Doomscroller, in which the band's sound was stretched into longer, proggier songs than they'd done in the past. In 2023, the band's bassist and pianist left the band, reducing Dawes to Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith and session musicians. The sound of the album abandons Doomscroller's adventurousness and brings Dawes back to the easy-going folk rock of their earlier albums. "Still Strangers Sometimes" is the best song here, and the album is very consistent overall. I admit I'm a little disappointed they didn't try more in the vein of Misadventures Of Doomscroller, but Oh Brother is a solid album.

Former Stone Roses guitarist/songwriter John Squire had a batch of songs written and was looking for a lead singer. He'd asked his management to keep an eye out for a good female singer but after joining Liam Gallagher for a couple of encores at Knebworth, he changed the plan. In retrospect, it's an obvious team-up between Manchester legends. Liam's post-Oasis work has been better than I expected, but it's obvious he thrives with a great songwriter. Squire's got the tunes and results are terrific. The album reminds me more of Squire's band The Seahorses than it does the dance/indie/jangle mashup of The Stone Roses or Liam's solo work. It's straight-ahead rock with Squire's guitar heroics on full display. I suspect this will be a one-off, but I'd love to see them do another one.

It's the best album I've made since Dark Side Of The Moon in 1973 - David Gilmour speaking to Billboard Magazine

No. It's not. - Owen speaking on behalf of anyone who's heard Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall, The Final Cut, David Gilmour, or About Face

David Gilmour's third solo album since 2000 is the best of the three. The album has a similar feel to Rattle That Lock, although it's focused more on Gilmour's distinctive voice and less on Gilmour's guitar work (although it's not ignored). "The Piper's Call" is the most "Floydian" song on the album, with Gilmour's guitar front and center. However, the best song on the album is a cover of The Montgolfier Brothers' 1999 song "Between Two Points" featuring a superb lead vocal from David's daughter Romany. Overall, a really nice solo album, and David's best in a while, but not a match for the albums in my snarky comment above.

Weller's last album, Fat Pop, focused on rock and soul flavored pop music. Released the day before his 66th birthday, 66 takes pop in a different direction, more of an older, gentler style. It's more like pop music was before The Beatles changed everything. There are some exceptions, which feel a little out-of-place. "Flying Fish" is synthy dance pop and "Jumble Queen" is a horn-powered rocker co-written with Noel Gallagher. The deluxe edition closer, "Gotta Get On" is a more typical Weller rocker. It's a great song, but it really doesn't go with the overall feel of the album. "Rise Up Singing", which is largely Weller singing over strings and harp. It's got a very early sixties feel with a lovely arrangement, and it's the best thing on the album. Weller's used orchestration before, but this is a bit of a left turn. Worth a listen before purchase. But if you're on board, the deluxe edition is worth getting for "Gotta Get On" and the charming "Wheel Of Fortune".

Later in the year, Weller released the Supplement: 66 EP with four songs left off the album and I get why. "That's What She Said" is the best of the lot, with more sixties-flavored pop. The songs fit the vibe of the main album, but just aren't quite up to the same standard.

On Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits, Mike Campbell keeps doing what he does well. The album is a mix of stompers like "So Alive" and "Shake These Blues", Petty-esque songs like "Innocent Man" and "Angel Of Mercy" (featuring Heartbreakers' drummer Steve Ferrone), and a brief country detour duetting with Lucinda Williams on "Hell Or High Water". Campbell's longtime bandmate in the Heartbreakers, Benmont Tench, adds his distinctive piano to boogie of "Don't Wait Up", and Graham Nash adds vocals to the chiming "Dare To Dream". Campbell even adds his twist on George Thorogood's "I Drink Alone" with a honky-tonk twist on "My Old Friends". The album ends on a quiet note with a demo of a couple of mandolins playing a little jig. Another really fun album. It's a shame that Campbell held off on his solo career so long.

I really dug Courtney's debut album, The Attractions Of Youth, and was a little disappointed by the follow-up, 404. Supernatural cranks the volume up and is a welcome return to form. "Young In America" is a stomper that would have fit nicely on the first album, "Supernatural" shifts gears between indie pop and heavy rock, and it's a cool blend. "The Vapor" is a catchy slab of pop-punk, and "I Feel It Now" closes things out with a gentler song with an epic chorus. Great stuff.

And just pretend your sneaky lies / your nasty little alibis / somehow all add up to be the truth - "Life's A Bloody Show"

Without his band during the pandemic, Richard Thompson went the acoustic route. He released a couple of EPs and a live album of acoustic guitar music with his wife Zara Phillips on occasional backing vocals. On Ship To Shore, Thompson's got his electric guitar plugged back in and his band is on board. The first side seems like a warm-up: fine songs, but the album really takes off at the mid-point. "Turnstile Casanova" and "Maybe" give Thompson a chance to show off his fiery guitar work. "Life's A Bloody Show" serves as a follow-up of sorts to 2015's "Fergus Laing" with another stinging "tribute" to the same vile target. Zara's harmonies on "What's Left To Lose" show an especially nice blend with Richard's deep voice.

Richard's a dazzling acoustic player, and the EPs and such were great, but so I'm glad to hear him back on electric with his band.

Nobody does melancholy like Eels, and Eels Time! proves it. The album opens on a wistful, reflective note with E ruminating on age and death on "Time" and "We Won't See Her Like Again" and follows that up with "Goldy", a song about relationship failures. Just when you think all is lost, "Sweet Smile" brings upbeat pop with a lyric about falling in love. Of course, being Eels, it's love from afar, but it's a start. By "If I'm Go Anywhere", we've even got a sort-of love song, and by "I Can't Believe It's True" E's found someone and can't believe his luck and "Let's Be Lucky" ends with a note on striving for the best in the face of the worst. Eels Time! feels like E's first concept album since the classic Electro-Shock Blues.

Mike Weston's first three albums as Adult Cinema have been a blend of classic rock and classic prog. For his fourth album, Weston steers hard into prog, with nods to pre-Dark Side Pink Floyd. 365 is four roughly fifteen minute largely instrumental pieces named after the seasons. "Spring" opens with a little poetry over a moody, slow burn that builds to a big finish. Reminds me of the feel of the instrumental parts of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", and the Hammond certainly reminds me of Rick Wright. The second piece, "Summer", is the most varied of the four. It opens with a funkier groove with horns mixed in, transitions into a Delta blues vocal section, then a guitar & Hammond-heavy section reminiscent of the Floyd's "One Of These Days" before getting dreamy again and then speeding back up for a big finish. A whole album in one song. "Autumn" works in a bit of an electronic feel with a synthy loop reminiscent of Kraftwerk but mixes in more dreamy keyboards and eventually some loud guitar as well with vocals from Weston. The closing piece, "Winter", brings the album full circle. It opens with sound effects, a short narration, and a hypnotic minor-key swirl of keyboards before working in a little more Kraftwerk-style keyboards and what seems to be a dramatic ending to the piece, before a gentle coda including piano and Vocoder ends the album proper.

If you're familiar with the long-form pieces Mesmerica and Beautifica by James Hood, that'll give you a nudge in the right direction. 365 has that long, expansive feel but it's way more dynamic. It falls somewhere between those two and Mike Oldfield's legendary opus Tubular Bells. 365 is not built for shuffling - it's clearly designed to be enjoyed as one complete work.

Valley Lodge's first new album in six years opens with the high-energy power pop of "Daylights" and just rolls from one gem to the next. "Hanging Around" mixes driving bass and some acoustic guitar and piano into the catchiest song on an album full of them. "Secret Lover" mixes in some strings, "After School" cranks up the tempo to near-punk speed, and "Out Of Time" throws a little hard rock into the mix. Valley Lodge's most consistent album to date. Great stuff.

Damned if you do, far worse not to start, is it better to burn out or fall apart? - "Requiem"

Since releasing The Old Guys in 2018, Amy Rigby has published an excellent autobiography with a companion CD of early demos, recorded a handful of one-off singles, and put out two work-in-progress albums. Hang In There With Me is the official follow-up, and it's a highlight of Rigby's career. "Hell-Oh Sixty" is the only work-in-progress song to make the transition to the new album coupling chiming guitar, a reflective lyric, and a little grungy guitar from Amy's husband Wreckless Eric. "O Anjali" turns a customer service call into a relationship song of sorts, "Dylan In Dubuque" celebrates standing firm the face of chaos, and "Bricks" may be the first song to mix a kiss-off song with DIY home improvement and a call-out to Warren Zevon. While Eric's grunge is still in the mix, Amy's pop sensibilities and her clever lyrics take front page. Absolutely worth the wait.

We knew the gutter, also the future - "Big Black X"

Described by the band as their farewell album, Smoke & Fiction sends them out on a very high note. "Ruby Church" swaggers open the album with everything you want from X: John Doe and Exene voices sound exactly like they should, and Billy Zoom's guitar is a powerhouse as you'd expect. After that, "Sweet Til The Bitter End" turns up the volume a touch more. The title track is the centerpiece with a lyric reminiscing about X's early days, driving around the country using folded maps, looking for a big black "X" on the club's marquee. "Struggle" (which is mistitled "Surreal" in Bandcamp) has Billy Zoom channeling the feel of "How I (Learned My Lesson)" and it sounds amazing. The album closes out with the fiery "Baby & All". X has a farewell tour scheduled, and they haven't ruled out further one-off songs or performances, but this is the last big push. They're going out with style: Smoke & Fiction is vintage X in the mode of their early classics.

Four members of the final lineup of That Petrol Emotion reformed as The Everlasting Yeah and released an amazing debut album, Anima Rising in 2015. Nine years later, after COVID and other health issues sidelined the band, the second album is out. Staying Cool Staying Free With The Everlasting Yeah picks up where the debut left off. "Girl From Miki City" starts the album out on a high note, but the second song, "Myself When I Am Real" is where the album really takes off. As on the debut, the band settles into a groove that you don't want to see end. Four minutes in, the vocals start and the whole thing just flows. "You Can't Hold Water In A Closed Fist" mixes in an acoustic break. The band roars back in on "Rise Up" with nice harmonies and a touch of Television-style guitar interplay. The album ends up on a long epic, "Heartbeat Still", which mixes slow, moody portions and guitar raveups into a killer closer.

Anima Rising was great, but this is better. Hopefully, the third album won't hit the problems that dogged this one.

Described by the band as "the world's first 'choose-your-own-adventure' album", Afterglow is a dozen songs with lyrics about different characters in the fictional town of Valentine. In fact, the first edition vinyl comes with a completely different running order to emphasize that you can (and should) shuffle the song order around. The concept is married to melodic rock with big guitars and an amazing lead singer in Sydney Ray White. Executive produced by Pete Townshend, the sound has a Who-ish vibe between the power chords, the big choruses, and the occasional appearance of the Lowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1 organ from "Baba O'Riley" (you can't mistake that sound for anything else). Pete adding background vocals to "My Heart Is In New York" doesn't hurt either.

The album opens with the explosive "Only Attraction" which sets the tone for the rest of the album. "Paradise" and "Trippin'" both show off big guitars and pair them with dramatic choruses. "My Heart Is In New York" is one of several gentler songs that really gives White's voice a chance to shine. "Make Our Own Way" is reminiscent of Don Henley's "Boys Of Summer", and it ends the album on a high point. The album really has no weak spots. It's irresistible from start to finish.

I was interested in this album because of Townshend's patronage, but the album blew me away from the first listen. It absolutely holds up on its own. Afterglow is easily my pick for album of the year.