"Hey Clockface, keep those fingers on the dial," Elvis Costello implored on the jaunty, jazz-flavored title track of his 2020 album. "You said you'd be a friend to me, but time is just my enemy and it is hurting me so..." Despite his pleas, time has been rather good to Costello's artistry. Though initially branded an "angry young man" - and indeed, he channeled the punk zeitgeist early on with his fast and furious compositions - Costello has been able to travel wherever his muse takes him.
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Elvis Costello and The Attractions, Armed Forces: Super Deluxe Edition (UMe) uDiscoverMusic Store: black / color Elvis Costello is revisiting his 1979 album in super-sized format. Armed Forces arrives today as a deluxe, slipcased 9-disc vinyl set with three 12-inch LPs, three 10-inch LPs, and three 7-inch singles including 23 previously unreleased live tracks and the complete contents of the previous Rhino/Edsel deluxe edition (with many
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Joni Mitchell Archives - Volume 1: The Early Years (1963-1967) (Rhino) 5-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 5-CD + Lithograph bundle: Joni Mitchell Online Store The first in a series of box sets, Joni Mitchell Archives - Volume 1: The Early Years (1963-1967) features nearly 6 hours of unreleased material - 119 tracks across 5 CDs - all from the period prior to the commencement of the legendary singer-songwriter's recording career.
Back in 2018, Legacy Recordings released Forever Words, a collection of new songs featuring previously unheard lyrics by Johnny Cash. The 16-track set offered new melodies and performances by a "Who's who" of artists including Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson, Jewel, John Mellencamp, Brad Paisley, The Jayhawks, Robert Glasper, Cash's daughter Rosanne Cash, and his stepdaughter Carlene Carter. Now, Legacy is expanding the original album with a further 18 tracks (16 of which
Elvis Costello is hardly resting on his laurels this fall. He's prepping for the October 30 release of his latest studio album, Hey Clockface, and is in the middle of a 50 Songs for 50 Days online campaign in which he showcases a different - and often politically relevant - song each day until the U.S. election. Now, he's announced his biggest project yet for 2020: a deluxe 9-disc vinyl Super Deluxe Edition of Armed Forces with three 12-inch LPs, three 10-inch LPs, and three 7-inch singles
Over the past few days, two rock legends dished on some upcoming catalogue projects while discussing their latest musical works. On Friday, in a new interview with Billboard, Elvis Costello talked about next month's Hey Clockface, releasing October 30 - but also let slip some details about another series of reissues around his first decade of material: Recently I went to a meeting at a record company for the first time since the '90s [at Universal, which last year renewed its global license
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cosmo's Factory [Half-Speed Master] (Craft Recordings) LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP/merch bundle: Craft Recordings Online Shop Craft Recordings reissues Creedence Clearwater Revival's hit-filled fifth album - featuring "Lookin' Out My Back Door," "Run Through the Jungle," "Who'll Stop the Rain," "Travelin' Band," and "Up Around the Bend" - on 180-gram half-speed mastered vinyl (from
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Grateful Dead, Workingman's Dead: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Grateful Dead/Rhino) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Often hailed as one of Grateful Dead's most accessible albums along with its follow-up, American Beauty, Workingman's Dead placed its focus on tighter songcraft in a country/folk-oriented vein that would later be described as "Americana." It introduced the group's
By the middle of the '80s, Roy Orbison was primed for a comeback. In 1986, his epic ballad "In Dreams" was placed prominently in David Lynch's film Blue Velvet, which sparked renewed interest in the velvet-voiced crooner and rocker. The following year, The "Big O" staged the ultimate comeback concert with a remarkable lineup of guests including Tom Waits, Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello, J.D. Souther, k.d. lang, and Jennifer Warnes. The star-studded group had
Elvis Costello and the Imposters have been in the news a lot lately. They are set to embark on a U.S. tour this summer co-headlining with Blondie and recently released a new EP, Purse. The four-song set features all unreleased tracks, including previously unrecorded lyrics from Johnny Cash ("If You Love Me") and Bob Dylan ("Down in the Bottom" featuring Rebecca and Megan Lovell). Purse also features co-writes with Paul McCartney ("The Lovers That Never Were") and Burt Bacharach ("Everyone's
Looking for our usual Release Round-Up? Alas, there's not much new in the way of catalogue music this Friday (and we've already filled you in on Billy Paul and Leon Russell!), but for a very good reason: tomorrow sees releases a-plenty as part of Record Store Day! Without further ado, welcome to our annual rundown of Must-Haves for this year's RSD event! Once you're through reading, let us know what you're most looking forward to picking up tomorrow at your favorite local independent
In recent years, Cherry Red Records has made waves with their box set celebrations of music eras gone by. From late-'70s Scottish independent releases and '60s Baroque pop, to '80s shoegaze and even the avant-garde sound explorations of Edgard Varese and Karlheinz Stockhausen, the label has a reputation for their meticulous deep-dives into music subcultures. In November, Cherry Red put the spotlight on the late-'70s U.K. pop-rock scene with Harmony In My Head: UK Power Pop & New Wave,
This 3-CD set is a musical exploration of the development of British New Wave. While in the U.S. "new wave" was a lose term applied to pretty much any pop that came out in the late '70s and early '80s, U.K. purveyors used the term to refer to their deliberate reaction to, if not rejection of, the punk musical aesthetic. It eventually mutated into the Mod Revival--members of which drew greatly from the melody-driven pop of the '60s--and later to another unique British psychedelic strand in the
Among the credits for Elvis Costello and The Imposters' Look Now is a simple acknowledgment: In Memphis - Mary Isobel O'Brien. The onetime Ms. O'Brien, of course, is better known as Dusty Springfield, and the credit from Declan MacManus and his band makes clear the inspiration for this stunning assemblage of what the artist, correctly, deems "uptown pop." Dusty in Memphis is one of the benchmarks of that style: pop with a dash of soul, or is it soul with a dash of pop? It doesn't hurt that
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! David Bowie, Loving the Alien (1983-1988) (Parlophone) 11CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 15LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The fourth annual volume of Parlophone's ongoing series of box sets dedicated to the late David Bowie, Loving the Alien (1983-1988), arrives on 11 CDs or 15 vinyl LPs. This lavish set is filled with more exclusive material than any of its predecessors, as only three studio albums are
Welcome to our annual rundown of Must-Haves for this year's Record Store Day event! Once you're through reading, let us know what you're most looking forward to picking up tomorrow at your favorite local independent retailer! Our list features just a sampling of our favorites from our friends at Legacy Recordings, Varese Sarabande, Rhino Records, Real Gone Music, Demon Music Group, Walt Disney Records, Omnivore Recordings, and more! Joe's kicking things off with five essential picks (in
We've already filled you in on the upcoming Record Store Day releases from Legacy Recordings, Rhino, and Real Gone Music, but there's still much more on offer from many of our other favorite labels! Here's a selection of "the best of the rest" to be released in brick-and-mortar independent record stores on Saturday, April 21! ABBA, Summer Night City (Polydor) (2000 copies) (Record Store Day UK) (Quantity TBA) Clear/yellow-splatter 7-inch release of ABBA's 1978 non-LP single Baby Huey,
Previously unheard words of Johnny Cash are coming to new life on April 6 with Legacy Recordings' release of Forever Words, an album of new songs built around the late Man in Black's unknown poems and writings. In the spirit of similar projects like The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams and Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes (setting new melodies to lost lyrics by Hank Williams and Bob Dylan, respectively), Forever Words features an all-star array of talent placing Cash's words in an
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Prince, Purple Rain: Music from the Motion Picture (various formats) (Warner Bros.) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. 3CD/1DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. At long, long last - a deluxe, expanded Purple Rain arrives in various formats, including a 2-CD iteration with 11 previously unreleased outtakes and a 3-CD/1-DVD version adding a third CD of 15 single edits and
Welcome to this week's packed Release Round-Up, featuring hotly-anticipated box sets, an extensive campaign from an iconoclastic artist, and much, much more! Paul McCartney, The Paul McCartney Archive Collection: Flowers in the Dirt (Capitol/MPL) DELUXE EDITION (3CD/1DVD) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) SPECIAL EDITION (2CD) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) VINYL (2LP) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Paul McCartney reassesses his 1989 album
As controversial as the Paul McCartney Archive Collection's approach to Flowers in the Dirt has been, the official release of demos from McCartney's fruitful writing sessions with Elvis Costello has made for some excitement around Second Disc HQ. Some of those fateful "McCartney/McManus" demos are now slated for an exclusive Record Store Day piece, it was announced yesterday. Three unheard cassette demos, part of the much-maligned download-only portion of the deluxe box set (which will also
Over the past several years, Roy's Boys, the company founded by Roy Orbison's sons to administer his catalogue, have put together several reissue projects celebrating the immense legacy of the late artist. These have included a comprehensive box set of his years on the MGM label for Universal and a one-disc career-spanning greatest hits from Legacy Recordings. They are teaming up with Legacy again to celebrate one of Orbison's landmark performances with Black &White Night 30, due to be
Last August, Paul McCartney announced his return to The Beatles' longtime home of Capitol Records, bringing all of his solo works beginning with 1970's McCartney into the fold of the Universal Music Group-owned label. Today, the long-awaited multi-format Archive Collection release of 1989's Flowers in the Dirt has been announced for March 24, 2017 via MPL/Capitol/UMe. Highlighted by four collaborations with Declan MacManus, a.k.a. Elvis Costello, Flowers in the Dirt featured productions by
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Elvis Costello, Unfaithful Music & Soundtrack Album (UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Elvis Costello has compiled a 2-CD companion release to his recently-released, utterly engrossing memoir Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink. Featuring songs that "offer the deepest emotional connection to the themes and stories in his book," Unfaithful Music & Soundtrack Album non-chronologically spans the onetime Angry Young Man and latter-day
"Every day I write the book," sang Elvis Costello on his first U.S. Top 40 hit, and this year he is indeed writing one. The iconoclastic British rocker, who's chased his muse through the most diverse of places, from punk to bluegrass, will let it all out in prose on the hotly anticipated memoir Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink. And now, Universal Music Enterprises, the home base for Elvis' catalogue for nearly a decade (following stints at Rykodisc/Demon in the 1990s and Warner