Today is the day for a 2-CD/1-DVD set of previously unissued live performances from the band Incubus. Celebrating their twentieth year together, Incubus is launching a 4-week, 18-city tour co-headlining with Linkin Park. The tour kicks off tonight in Boston, Massachusetts, but the performances on Incubus HQ Live date from one year ago, recorded in West Hollywood, California.  That was when the band set up shop at a storefront on La Brea Avenue for seven special nights of performances.   HQ Live preserves performances from the six nights that were broadcast live online between June 30 and July 6, 2011, all featuring the line-up of Brandon Boyd (lead vocals/guitar), Mike Einziger (lead guitar/keys), Jose Pasillas II (drums), Ben Kenney (bass) and DJ Kilmore (DJ/keys).  The shows led up to the release of the band's album If Not Now, When?, released on July 12, 2011.

The release is truly a celebration of a career that's encompassed, in Brandon Boyd's words, "twenty years, seven albums, multiple live albums, EPs, DVDs, somewhere in the ballpark of 1,500 live shows and an etcetera stint that would go on for a paragraph."  All have been rendered in a style that's often hard to describe, blending alternative rock, metal, funk, rap, hip-hop, techno and even jazz (and everything in between).  Four of Incubus' songs have topped the top spot on the U.S. Alternative Songs chart, and all four are heard in live versions on HQ Live: "Drive," "Megalomaniac," "Anna Molly" and "Love Hurts."  (The latter two songs first appeared on the band's No. 1 album Light Grenades, from 2006.)

Incubus HQ Live is available in a variety of formats, as we reported back on June 28: a standard edition (16-track CD + DVD), a Special Edition (28-track double-CD + DVD); and a Limited Edition Box Set (4 LPs + 6 CDs + 2 DVD/Blu-ray, plus autographed swag). The Limited Edition box is exclusive to Incubus' website, and was scheduled to ship on July 6. The other two configurations arrive today at retail. The DVD content is the same for all three versions, but the DVD contains a significantly different song sequence than the CDs. Lead singer Brandon Boyd supplies new, detailed liner notes for all three releases. Reuben Cohen at Lurssen Mastering has mastered the CDs, and the DVD - running at a whopping 130 minutes - is presented in 5.1 surround sound, mixed and mastered by Darren LaGroe at Sonic Frequencies.  The DVD concert was directed by Marc Scarpa.

The standard 1-CD/1-DVD edition can be ordered here, and the 2-CD/DVD edition here.   But that's not all.  Retail giant Best Buy is also offering five exclusive CD bonus tracks on both versions sold at their stores: "Rebel Girls," "Hold Me Down," "Surface to Air," "Defiance (Live)" and "The Original (Live)."  These tracks appear to be available with both the 1-CD/1-DVD and 2-CD/1-DVD configurations and can be ordered here or reserved in store!

After the jump: some of your favorite artists have teamed with Omnivore Recordings for a very special CD to benefit a terrific cause, and a folk classic is revisited.  Hit the jump, won't you?

There's nothing like a great album, but what's even better?  How about a great album for a great cause?  Such is the case with today's release of Joey's Song, Volume 2 from the fine folks at Omnivore Recordings.  The Omnivores have brought together an array of top-tier artists to contribute to the fight against epilepsy.  The proceeds from the Joey's Song series of CDs "go directly to research, treatment and support of those affected by epilepsy."

The Joey in question is Joseph Gomoll.   When he passed away at just four years of age from a rare form of epilepsy, his father Michael Gomoll established The Joseph Gomoll Foundation to raise awareness of the disease and contribute to the quest for its treatment and cure. Fifteen artists have come together for the second volume of Joey's Song, including Sam Phillips (subject of a recent Omnivore reissue), Mark Olson and Gary Louris (both of the Jayhawks), Rosanne Cash and Pete Droge.  Two-thirds of the album's tracks are previously unissued, and all have been donated by the artists to this most worthy of causes.   This stellar line-up follows the talent assembled for the first volume, including Thea Gilmore, Neko Case, the Cowboy Junkies and the Crash Test Dummies.

To support the important work of the Joseph Gomoll Foundation and check out its other collections (including today's release of Joey's Songs for Kids, Volume 2, featuring contributions from The Knack, Freedy Johnston and the Handsome Family), visit JoeysSong.org.

The track listing for Joey's Song, Volume 2 follows, along with a link to order this noteworthy new compilation.

Various Artists, Joey's Song, Volume 2 (Omnivore Recordings OVCD-28, 2012)

1. Lying (The Long-Play Version) - Sam Phillips
2. No Surprise - Willy Wisely (*)
3. No Water No Wood - Mark Olson
4. Seven Year Ache (Live From Zone C) - Rosanne Cash (*)
5. New Orleans - Peter Bradley Adams (*)
6. Loud Boy - The Small Ponds (*)
7. In the Canyon (Live) - Gary Louris (*)
8. Once (Live) - Mark Erelli (*)
9. Love - Star & Micey (*)
10. Jesse Likes Birds - Carrie Elkin (*)
11. Far Too Far - Trespassers William
12. Carefree - Holly Beth Vincent (*)
13. Love Knows No Borders - Giant Sand
14. Under the Waves (Live Studio Recording) - Pete Droge (*)
15. Hastings-on-Hudson (Summer 2000) - Mark Kozelek (*)

Last but certainly not least...

Founding member of Pentangle and major exponent of the 1960s British folk music revival, the Scotland-born musician and songwriter Bert Jansch (1943-2011) left a tremendous musical mark before his untimely death last year, aged 67.  Though Jansch's first solo album was released in 1965, he remained a vital force on the folk scene, recording with regularity through the mid-2000s.  One of Jansch's most beloved albums is getting the deluxe treatment from Omnivore with the 30^th Anniversary Edition of Heartbreak (1982), due on November 6.  It will make a fitting reminder of the legacy of the often-unheralded folk figure, who received Lifetime Achievement Awards from BBC Radio, the MOJO Merit Award and was chosen as one of Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

Long out of print, Heartbreak is returning in style. The first pressing of the vinyl edition will be issued on 1,500 pieces of clear vinyl (with subsequent pressings on black vinyl), while the 2-CD version includes the original Heartbreak album in its entirety plus 14 previously unreleased tracks recorded in June 1981 inside McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, California.  At McCabe's, Jansch performed a handful of the Heartbreak tracks as well as other favorites such as Jackson C. Frank's "Blues Run the Game" and Ewan MacColl's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face."  Both the vinyl and CD versions will arrive near what would have been Jansch's 69th on November 3.  Folk legend Ralph McTell has provided new liner notes, as have the album's original producers, Rick and John Chelew.

What the Chelew brothers lacked in experience when they stepped into the Los Angeles' Silverlake Studio with Jansch, they made up for in enthusiasm.  (Though Heartbreak was their first production, John went on to produce John Hiatt's hit Bring the Family as well as albums for The Blind Boys of Alabama and others.)   They enlisted Albert Lee on guitar and the supreme Jennifer Warnes on background vocals in support of Jansch on acoustic guitar.  Jack Kelly and Matt Betton played drums, with Randy Tico on bass.  Jansch brought original songs and rearranged traditional tunes to the June 1981 sessions as well as cover versions of "If I Were a Carpenter" and less expectedly, "Heartbreak Hotel."  But maybe for Jansch, the Elvis Presley hit wasn't so unexpected; the artist had always championed the various styles of music that inspired him, including blues and jazz as well as traditional folk.

The expanded edition of Bert Jansch's Heartbreak arrives November 6 from Omnivore Recordings.  Amazon links aren't available yet, but you can order directly from Omnivore here!

Bert Jansch, Heartbreak: 30^th Anniversary Edition (Omnivore, 2012)

LP:

Side One:

1. Blackwater Side
2. Sit Down Beside Me
3. Up To The Stars
4. Is It Real?
5. Wild Mountain Thyme

Side Two:

1. Heartbreak Hotel
2. No Rhyme Nor Reason
3. If I Were A Carpenter
4. Give Me The Time
5. And Not a Word Was Said

2-CD Edition:

CD 1: The Original Album (originally issued as Hannibal Records HNBL 1312, 1982)

1. Blackwater Side
2. Sit Down Beside Me
3. Up To The Stars
4. Is It Real?
5. Wild Mountain Thyme
6. Heartbreak Hotel
7. No Rhyme Nor Reason
8. If I Were a Carpenter
9. Give Me The Time
10. And Not a Word Was Said

CD 2: Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop:

1. Curragh Of Kildare
2. Poor Mouth
3. Blackwater Side
4. One For Jo
5. Let Me Sing
6. If I Were a Carpenter
7. Blues Run The Game
8. Is It Real?
9. Ask Your Daddy
10. The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face
11. Kingfisher
12. Wild Mountain Thyme
13. Come Back Baby
14. I Am Lonely

All tracks on CD 2 are previously unreleased.