Features / Release Round-Up

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles out today.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Paul McCartney, The Boys of Dungeon Lane (MPL/Capitol)

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Paul McCartney Store
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Paul McCartney Store

Paul McCartney releases his first new studio album since 2020’s McCartney III.  The Boys of Dungeon Lane, like McCartney III and its two predecessors, was recorded almost entirely by the artist.  Andrew Watt, whose credits include the most recent albums from Elton John and The Rolling Stones, is in the producer’s chair.  The album promises “Wings-style rock, Beatles-style harmonies, McCartney-style grooves, understated intimacy, melody driven storytelling, character songs – the common thread being Paul.”  It’s out on CD, LP (including numerous exclusives), and digital formats.

Billy Joel, The 100th: Live at Madison Square Garden – The Complete Concert (Columbia/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

On March 28, 2024, Billy Joel performed the 100th concert of his long-running residency at New York’s Madison Square Garden.  Just months later, on July 25, Joel brought down the curtain on the ten-year residency with its 104th date (and the singer-songwriter’s 150th overall show at the venue).  Now, Columbia and Legacy are bringing that landmark 100th show, featuring special guest Sting, to DVD and Blu-ray.  The 100th: Live at Madison Square Garden – The Complete Concert finds Joel in reflective yet rocking mode as he performs a string of his classic hits including “My Life,” “Vienna,” “New York State of Mind,” “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” “Piano Man,” and “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” along with his then-recent single “Turn the Lights Back On.”  (The ballad was his first pop single to hit the charts since 1997 and his first single release since 2007.)  The DVD and Blu-ray offer the complete concert, including the songs cut from the original CBS-TV broadcast (“The Downeaster Alexa,” “The Longest Time,” “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” with Sting, “Half a Mile Away,” “The Entertainer,” “Don’t Ask Me Why,” “Allentown,” “Nessun Dorma,” “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” “Uptown Girl,” and “Big Shot”).   Read more here.

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, Live from Asbury Park 2024 (Columbia/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band’s performance at the 2024 Sea.Hear.Now festival comes to CD after a Record Store Day release on vinyl.  The 3CD set features live renditions of such favorites as “Spirit in the Night,” “Thunder Road,” “Blinded by the Light,” “4th of July Asbury Park (Sandy),” and “Jersey Girl.”

The Monkees, Good Times! 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Rhino revisits The Monkees’ Good Times! in a 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition which celebrates not only the album, but the 60th anniversary of The Monkees and the memory of producer Adam Schlesinger, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork (all of whom died following its release) and Davy Jones (who had passed away in 2012 but was nonetheless featured on Good Times! via archival material).  The 2CD set rounds up four non-LP sides originally presented as bonus tracks on various exclusive editions (and later pressed on vinyl as the Good Times Plus! EP) as well as an instrumental presentation of all thirteen songs. Also today, Rhino releases an audiophile vinyl edition of the original album as part of the Rhino Reserve series. The 180-gram pressing was cut from the original analog master tapes by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in Oxnard, California. The LP will be available exclusively through independent retailers in the U.S. and via Rhino.com.  Read more here.

Allen Toussaint, The Allen Toussaint Songbook (Rounder/Craft) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Craft Recordings celebrates the legacy of the late, great Allen Toussaint with this 2CD or 2LP Deluxe Edition of his 2013 concert release – his first live set since 1975!  This expanded edition’s second disc draws on eight tracks recorded at New York’s Joe’s Pub (including covers of Jerry Garcia’s “Hi Lee Hi” and Paul Simon’s “American Tune,” a medley of Chris Kenner songs, and the classic “What Do You Want the Girl to Do”) as well as interviews and performances conducted with original album producer Paul Siegel.  The result is an even deeper portrait of the music Allen Toussaint gifted the world as he spread the gospel of New Orleans. This reissue is the first time The Allen Toussaint Songbook has been released on vinyl.  Read more here.

The Who, Live at Eden Project 25/07/2023 (earMusic)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP Standard Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP Eco-Friendly Recycled Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

The Who’s July 2023 concert at Cornwall’s Eden Project – an attraction consisting of adjoining biomes housing thousands of plant species – comes to 2CDs or 3LPs.  Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend were joined by the Heart of England Philharmonic Orchestra for a set including “Baba O’Riley,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” “Behind Blue Eyes,” “Pinball Wizard,” and “My Generation.”  The vinyl edition is available on standard or recycled vinyl.

Willie Nelson, Dream Chaser (Legacy)

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Willie Nelson is back with what’s being billed as his 156th (!) studio album.  Dream Chaser, arriving from Legacy Recordings in all of the expected formats, precedes the soon-to-be-93-year old legend’s latest go-round headlining the Outlaw Music Festival this summer.  Dream Chaser features new tunes co-written with frequent collaborators Buddy Cannon and Mickey Raphael as well as “I Can’t Read Your Mind,” on which Nelson and Cannon share credit with none other than Bob Dylan.  (Though he joined the last two Outlaw Festivals, Dylan won’t be performing on this summer’s jaunt.)  Though Dylan and Nelson have sung together before, including on the 1993 duet “Heartland,” this marks their first co-composition.

Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts, As Time Explodes (NYA/Reprise) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

This 2025 live album from Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts – a.k.a. Neil (guitar, pump organ, piano and vocals), Spooner Oldham (organ and piano), Micah Nelson (guitar, Stringman and vocals), Corey McCormick (bass and vocals), and Anthony LoGerfo (drums and vocals) features tracks from the near-entirety of Young’s career including “After the Gold Rush,” “Harvest Moon,” “Ohio,” and “Like a Hurricane.”  Available on CD and LP.

Various Artists, Where the Willow and the Dogwood Grow: Words and Music – Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan (Ace) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Ace’s long-running Songwriters Series continues with a star-studded volume dedicated to Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, featuring covers by the likes of Bruce Springsteen (“Jersey Girl,” of course!), Diana Krall (“Temptation”), Marianne Faithfull (“Strange Weather”), Willie Nelson (“Picture in a Frame”), Ramones (“I Don’t Wanna Grow Up”), Johnny Cash (“Down There by the Train”), and others.

Les Misérables: The 40th Anniversary All-Star Cast (First Night Records) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Les Misérables is celebrating 40 years in London’s West End and also packing houses in a worldwide concert tour that comes to New York’s Radio City Music Hall this summer; to mark the ongoing success of Boublil and Schonberg’s classic musical, First Night Records is releasing a new cast recording starring Killian Donnelly (Valjean), Bradley Jaden (Javert), Katie Hall (Fantine), Shan Ako (Eponine), Adam Gillen (Thénardier), Marina Prior (Madame Thénardier), Beatrice Penny-Touré (Cosette), Jac Yarrow (Marius), and James D. Gish (Enjolras).  Producer Cameron Mackintosh explains, “As Les Mis approached its 40th record-breaking year in London last October, I felt it was the perfect time to record the first complete album of the contemporary production of this great musical as it is now staged all over the world. We wanted it to have the quality of a studio recording while maintaining the excitement and emotion of being on stage with the actors, right in the midst of the action. With the Arena Spectacular World Tour and the London anniversary company playing simultaneously last year, I decided to put together an all-star cast drawn from both productions featuring the stars who currently are playing Les Misérables around the world.”  It’s out on 2 CDs or digital formats today.  (While the CD is out today in Europe, Amazon is showing a North American date of July 17.)

Renee Fleming with Bela Fleck, The Fiddle and the Drum (Thirty Tigers) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Opera great Renee Fleming has teamed with banjo legend Bela Fleck to celebrate the rich legacy of Appalachian music.  Fleming and Fleck are joined by guests including Dolly Parton (the traditional folk song “In the Pines,” a longtime Parton family favorite), Vince Gill (Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnett’s “The Scarlet Tide”), Jerry Douglas (the Joni Mitchell-penned title track and “The Cuckoo”), and others. Available on CD, LP, and digitally.