"When Lowell [George] and I first got together," Little Feat co-founder Bill Payne remembered to author Bob Mehr in 2022, "our philosophical discussions became about what kind of band we want to be in. We're not going to be a blues band...but we'll play some blues. We're not going to be a country band...but we'll […]
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Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores today! Stephen Stills, Live at Berkeley 1971 (Omnivore/Iconic) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP Box: Stephen Stills Webstore Omnivore and Iconic Artists are serving up a previously unreleased 14-song live album drawn from Stephen Stills' concerts at the […]
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How do you follow up an essential document like this year's comprehensive Wattstax box set? If you're Craft Recordings, you plan a trip deep into the unheard history of the legendary Memphis label, through dozens of demos released for the first time anywhere. Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos is an impressive 7CD […]
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Leaving a pop group can be a tricky thing. Will the work you do on your own connect with audiences the same way it did with your bandmates? Ultimately, there's only one way to find out: strike hard and make the music your own. Bobby Brown of New Edition delivered a master class in how […]
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More than 40 years after they took the U.K. - and then the world - by storm, the story of pop duo WHAM! will be told in a multi-format compilation, issued just after a new documentary set for release this summer. The Singles: Echoes from the Edge of Heaven is arguably the most comprehensive look […]
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The title of the new collection from Cherry Red's Righteous imprint, Lush Exotica, conjures up images of tropical islands, palm trees swaying in the breeze, sun-drenched beaches, and Polynesian paradise. Perhaps no artist provided a more vivid soundtrack to those images than Arthur Lyman. The late vibraphonist and marimba player (1932-2002), born in Oahu, Hawaii, […]
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Can a song truly make change? In an increasingly complex, divided and uncertain world, it's a fair question that has no easy answers. As a child, though, I can tell you I believe the answer was yes. After all, there was Harry Belafonte's "Turn the World Around." It's funny to think that a song from […]
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Kenny Rogers released the 28th and final studio album of his lifetime with 2015's Once Again It's Christmas. On June 2, UMe will celebrate the late superstar's musical legacy with a posthumous release featuring eight previously unreleased tracks and two rarities. Life Is Like a Song, coming on CD, vinyl, and digital formats, has been […]
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In the pantheon of jazz-rock, Frank Zappa's 1969 LP Hot Rats is surely near the pinnacle. The primarily instrumental album recorded by Zappa, multi-instrumentalist Ian Underwood, and the top tier of L.A.'s session musicians melded the compositional and improvisational sophistication of jazz with Zappa's gritty, searing, and blues-drenched electric rock style. Recorded to 16 tracks […]
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Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there's plenty of great new/old music to usher you into the weekend. Follow up your Record Store Day with a few digital versions of the latest exclusive vinyl releases, plus rare live material […]
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