Four Hearts Beat As One: U2 Revisit Tracks on 'Songs of Surrender'

By Mike Duquette | January 12, 2023 | 5 Comments

With 40 years, countless honors, some of the highest-grossing tours of all time, one album that irrationally annoyed a lot of people and - perhaps - less and less to prove, what is left for U2 to do? The Irish legends - fresh from Kennedy Center Honors last year, end a five-year gap between albums […]

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In Memoriam: Jeff Beck (1944-2023)

By Joe Marchese | January 11, 2023 | 5 Comments

Almost two months ago to the day, on November 12, 2022, Jeff Beck took the stage at Reno, Nevada's Grand Sierra Resort.  Performing with his friend Johnny Depp, Beck ran through a setlist of fan favorites and covers.  The guitar virtuoso made every song his own, with razor-sharp precision, an elegant tone, and a spellbinding […]

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Keep It Greasy: "Zappa '80" Premieres Concerts from New York City, Munich

By Joe Marchese | January 11, 2023 | 1 Comment

Following in the footsteps of last year's Zappa '75: Zagreb/Ljubljana, Zappa Records and UMe have rescued another two concerts from the late artist's storied Vault.  On March 3, the labels will release the 3-CD set Zappa '80: Mudd Club/Munich, boasting two very different shows: one from New York's tiny, 240-capacity Mudd Club, and other from […]

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Vinyl Box Watch: Clapton, a-ha, Neutral Milk Hotel All Prep Big Sets on LP

By Mike Duquette | January 11, 2023 | 0 Comments

For nearly no other occasion would you see these three bands in the same sentence, but it's true: vinyl box sets are all forthcoming from blues-rock legend Eric Clapton, Norwegian popsmiths a-ha, and '90s indie-folk darlings Neutral Milk Hotel. This week, on January 13, Clapton readies The Complete Reprise Studio Albums - Volume II from […]

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The Sweetest Punch: "The Songs of Bacharach and Costello" Box Celebrates "Painted from Memory," More

By Joe Marchese | January 10, 2023 | 16 Comments

Elvis Costello has sung jazz with The Charles Mingus Orchestra and pianist Marian McParland, explored hip-hop textures with The Roots, recorded with classical artists The Brodsky Quartet and Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, penned an album with R&B titan Allen Toussaint, and written and recorded with Paul McCartney.  Yet of his many rich, felicitous […]

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