Rolling Reissues 2016

Thanks for the tips, will check it out. Re the grotty subway clips, I was also influenced by John Darnielle saying in the press materials for All Eternals Deck that he was influenced by seeing the Warriors riding in the smoggy twilight, looking ghostly, and "scarred but smarter," or something like that. Could apply to a lot of the people in a lot of his albums and novels, the ones that live long enough to (maybe) wise up, but he's most specifically referring to "High Hawk Season":
Who will rise and who will sink?
Who's going to stand his ground
and who's going to blink?
Surge forward from Van Cortlandt Park
like frightened sheep
Spirit throngs that hoist us high,
three thousand warriors deep

Spray our dreams on any surface
where the paint will stick
Try to time the rhythm,
listen for the click...

Wikipedia claims that some audiences tended to flip out when it was originally shown, so theaters were released from their contractual obligation to screen it.

I'm still surprised no one's talking about the Blue Orchids reissues / new material campaign - new album, double live CD (from 1981 and 1985), Martin Bramah solo album, and a collection of Rough Trade singles and stuff on LP. I bought the lot (well, there's other stuff, I didn't buy, but I bought all the music) and the updates have been cool.

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/blueorchids

There's a version of "Work" with The Fall's "Before The Moon Falls" which was apparently once the same song. It says the link is only up for 80 hours, but that was a couple of days ago!

https://soundcloud.com/ratherthanrepeat/blue-orchids-work-before-the-moon-falls

That's exciting! I love this band. First rate psychedelic post-punk, I rate them right up there with The Fall, Magazine, Chameleons, Siousxie, Comsat Angels, etc.

I ordered the three signed CD package. Sucks that the Awefull compilation is vinyl only, but I already have most of the songs on A Darker Bloom and The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain).

Yeah, I'm excited about these Blue Orchids releases, they're one of my favourite bands and I saw them live a month ago and the new songs (I assume from the new album) were phenomenal - the best stuff of theirs I've heard since the early singles.

From Drag City:

NEW LANDS AND MIRROR REAPPEAR JUNE 10TH!
Continuing the Flying Saucer Attack reinstatement program that began with last year's new release, Instrumentals 2015, and the subsequent reissue of FSA's 1995 LPs Further and Chorus earlier this year, we now arrive at the 1997's New Lands and 2000's Mirror.

Following the chilled-out acoustic drafts blowing through both Further and Chorus, it seemed that the direction for future FSA musics was clear: increased melodicism with more roots exposed in ever-cleaner productions, right? Uh, no. After what felt to be an extended wait, New Lands arrived in late '97, marking phase two of Flying Saucer Attack as an ostensible solo act for Dave Pearce. Further, New Lands presented a foreboding atmosphere, with coarse electric textures from the very top of the record and the highly palpable psychedelic shadows of the debut Flying Saucer Attack album flickering throughout, albeit in a much altered form.

The distance between albums only increased between New Lands and Mirror - over two years this time, with Mirror arriving wrapped in a vibrant, multicolored cover designed by Savage Pencil. The violent spells of New Lands had given way to a flattened drone on the electric pieces from Mirror while the glittering acoustics of "Suncatcher" and "Tides" highlighted an incredible fragility within the songs.

New Lands, Mirror and the eventual Instrumentals 2015 show us that following their manic first years, Flying Saucer Attack never stopped evolving. And now the vinyl artifacts are back among us - to be excavated and reexamined on June 10th!

Flying Saucer Attack Online:
Official Website& Video-http://fsa.space/
Drag City-http://www.dragcity.com/artists/flying-saucer-attack
New Lands-http://www.dragcity.com/products/new-lands
Mirror-http://www.dragcity.com/products/mirror

Numerophiles-

Over the last three years, you might have noticed a slight bend in our release scheduled towards the textural and atmospheric. Iasos and Jordan De La Sierra were our first volleys into the Private Issue New Age world. Last week we completed the Bay Area holy trinity with Joanna Brouk: Hearing Music, our 69th release. All three of these have arrived courtesy of Douglas Mcgowan, who recently joined our staff and heads up our west coast efforts. His previous efforts brought the world great compilations like I Am The Center and albums by Ted Lucas and Dwarr for his own Yoga Records. To celebrate his arrival, we’ve forced Douglas to maintain our ever-evolving PINA playlist on Spotify, which we encourage you follow for all your meditation/psychic readings/yoga class needs.

Joanna Brouk: Hearing Music

She was a composer who wrote scores with geometric shapes, a poet who became a pioneer of early electronic music. Joanna Brouk's little-known body of work exists at the nexus between ambient, new age, drone, and classical minimalism—stark in its simplicity, lush in its expanse. Studying under Robert Ashley and Terry Riley at the fabled Mills College Center For Contemporary Music before graduating into the margins of the '70s bay area new music scene, Ms. Brouk blazed her own trail well outside of the musical establishment to create uncompromising electronic and acoustic work of sleek beauty and primal power. Describing herself as less a composer than a channel, she took her cues from the frequencies of the natural world and the talents of collaborators like Maggi Payne and Bill Maraldo. Hearing Music collects for the first time the deepest cuts from her beguiling and rare cassette releases and her archive of previously unreleased recordings. CD contains 8 bonus tracks.

2LP/2CD/Stream

I'll prob re-post this some other time on the Green On Red Lone Justice etc. thread, cos def has that blue jean jacket mid-80s ambitious, mostly friendly but sometimes morose and often wound-tight been-around boondocks sound---also rec to fans of Jason and the Scorchers (for the guitars more than the front man), Drivin' & Cryin', Chuck Prophet's solo ventures, Cracker, the Kinks'Muswell Hillbillies, Wussy---but, while most of the original album had to grow on me (and still ain't all the way here). most of the demos are immediate grabbers (that/those guitars never let me down, when they get a reasonable amount of room, which they usually do).
"Positively Lost Me" is the most inspired song, leading off the original album (a bit downhill afterwards): like one of Wussy's bent muffler folk-slammers of the present century, each verse adds more stuff you lost when you lost me, empty bottles and a broken tree, but even better stuff too, all the way up the hill and out the window:

THE RAVE-UPS’ 1985 ALBUM TOWN + COUNTRY
TO BE REISSUED BY OMNIVORE RECORDINGS ON JULY 8
Americana pioneers’ debut album reissued and expanded with 11 bonus tracks.
Contains sought-after “Positively Lost Me” from the film Pretty in Pink.
Also features new liner notes by frontman Jimmer Podrasky
and many never-seen photographs.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — While the members of the Rave-Ups held day jobs in the mailroom at A&M Records, they were able to use the label’s studios at night and during lunch breaks to record what would become a genre-defining release. Enlisting the help of producer Stephen Barncard (Grateful Dead’s American Beauty) as well as the legendary pedal-steel player Sneaky Pete Kleinow, the band released Town + Country in 1985.
The album gained enough attention to get the band featured in John Hughes’ classic 1986 film Pretty in Pink. Sadly, their “Positively Lost Me” didn’t make the soundtrack, and the Fun Stuff Records-issued Town + Country fell out of print. Fans of the band (and the film) have been searching for it ever since. Three decades later, it’s finally available again via Omnivore Recordings on July 8, 2016.
This reissue of Town + Country features the original 10 songs, plus a whopping 11 previously unissued bonus tracks — including live radio performances recorded for Dierdre O’Donoghue’s influential Snap program on Los Angeles’ legendary KCRW-FM, as well as 1986 material produced by Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) and Mark Linett. A detailed historical essay from the band’s Jimmer Podrasky, complemented by numerous unseen photos from the sessions/era, make this not only a document of time + place, but one that helps document a moment in musical history.
Mastering and restoration was overseen by Grammy® winner Gavin Lurssen
According to Podrasky from the liners: “Music has the uncanny ability to thwart time and space. It informs a moment. It indexes lives. It creates strange bedfellows. It outlasts people — even the people who helped make the music. Music resonates more than any other art form — that is its unique power. It remains with us long after the last note has faded. Town + Country was the beginning of a lifelong journey for me — the start of a trip that still hasn’t ended. I’m proud and honored to have been a part of something that has withstood the test of time.”
Town + Country has been gone for far too long. Now, fans can positively find it.
Track listing:
1. Positively Lost Me
2. Remember (Newman’s Lovesong)
3. Better World
4. Class Tramp
5. In My Gremlin
6. Radio
7. By The Way
8. Not Where You’re At (But Where You Will Be)
9. You Ain’t Goin Nowhere
10. Rave-Up/Shut-Up
Previously unissued bonus tracks:
11. If I Had A Hammer (The Hammer Song) (Fun Stuff demo)
12. Nine Pound Hammer (Live on Snap)
13. Positively Lost Me (Live on Snap)
14. Square Hole
15. Train To Nowhere (Early Version)
16. The Rumor
17. Please Take Her (She’s Mine) (Early Version)
18. Mickey Of Alphabet City (Early Version)
19. No No No
20. See You
21. Blue Carrot (Early Version)

# # #

ammmusic

caroline k rec excelente

No idea how this is, sorry if horrible triggers (but Creation, Easter---maybe it's good):

http://d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net/20160520/45/55/ae/3c/e083046c8728429cc1fb6d6e_344x560.jpeg

VELVET CRUSH’S PRE-TEEN SYMPHONIES
EXPLORES MUSICAL ORIGINS
OF POWER POP CULT LEGENDS
Due July 22 on Omnivore Recordings, collection contains 16 previously unissued tracks, including demos and live tracks bookending the band’s breakthrough Teenage Symphonies to God. Features liner notes from the band’s Ric Menck; plus photos.

SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. — When Rhode Island’s Velvet Crush appeared on the scene in the early 1990s, they were obviously a force to reckon with. Signing with England’s Creation Records (Oasis, My Bloody Valentine, Teenage Fanclub), they released their debut LP in 1991. But, it was 1994’s Teenage Symphonies to God (the title being a play on Brian Wilson’s description of what would become SMiLE) on Sony 550 Music that put them on the map. Co-produced by the legendary Mitch Easter, it opened America’s eyes to what those over the pond were so wild about.
But, what was the genesis of that record? We can now find out with Pre-Teen Symphonies, a collection of 16 previously unissued tracks from Velvet Crush: eight demos (including one for the classic single “Hold Me Up”) and eight tracks recorded live in 1995 at Cabaret Metro in Chicago. The set, available on CD and Digital, will be released on Omnivore Recordings on July 22, 2016.
As the band — fronted by Paul Chastian (bass, guitar and vocals) and Ric Menck (drums) with Jeffrey Underhill (guitar) — proved the past was the future by taking elements from classic ’60s melodies, ’70s power pop, and ’80s reinvention, Pre-Teen Symphonies is a unique look into the development of a classic, and the live power that drove it.
Menck writes in the liners: “It’s probably no exaggeration to make the claim that Teenage Symphonies to God was the pinnacle of our illustrious career as a band. It’s certainly the album by Velvet Crush that most people know. Pre-Teen Symphonies collects all the loose ends, and hopefully, helps to usher in a new chapter for the little band that could from Providence, Rhode Island.”
Find your path with Pre-Teen Symphonies.
Pre-Teen Demos:
1. Hold Me Up
2. My Blank Pages
3. Time Wraps Around You
4. Not Standing Down
5. Turn Down
6. This Life Is Killing Me
7. Weird Summer
8. Star Trip

Live At Cabaret Metro, Chicago:
9. Window to the World
10. My Blank Pages
11. Ash and Earth
12. Time Wraps Around You
13. Atmosphere
14. This Life Is Killing Me
15. Hold Me Up
16. Remember the Lightning

Also:
Watch (and feel free to post) the Velvet Crush trailer: http://youtu.be/HBphNIsRiVs

just found this album by <b>Rexy</b> via inclusion of a track on the 'Sharon Signs To Cherry Red' compilation (early 80s UK indie women), it got reissued earlier this year and I love it. weird mix of super blank confessional DIY synth stuff, jazzy disco cuts and covers which while arguably throwaway don't by any means suck: https://luckynumber.bandcamp.com/album/running-out-of-time

the singer went on to do session stuff and playing Gary Moore's band of all things

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0685524032_16.jpg

much love for Velvet Crush, especially the "She Gives Me One Thing To Believe"/"If Not True" 7" (which I guess is way earlier and not on Creation)

Yeah, fixing to listen again. It's initially appealing, rough-edged power pop, bleaty and beaty: all demos and live, like the bonus tracks I've been favoring re Rave-Ups and Muffs. Rave-Ups prev. released LP tracks still growing on me though. Especially "Better World," where he's skeptical of progressive and Greatest Generation claims, as a given, not getting shrill about it, but his parents dead and brother not doing so well, but he's marching on but also to a sinuous, even backwards-seeming but as written, no retro gimmicks, riff. So he's got the Beatles legacy too, carrying on amidst (offstage but prevalent) 80s musical & other glitz.
Also like "Class Tramp," which starts off like it's gonna be a Kinks mockery of Mr. Middle Class Salary Whore, but then turns the mirror: look out now, he might be your Dad. Okay though, be a hip classy Class Tramp too. Very cheerful, like celebration "In My Gremlin" (can't afford no "Mercury" of course, though trying to hotwire the same tune). Some are grim, but need those too.
xpost Bangles round-up is real good from the first listen, other than those few thin Bangs tracks, and a clunky live cover of "7 & 7 Is." Never seen Bangles on a power-pop thread, unless I do it dammit.

oh yeah, and the McGarrigles' xpost Porto Novo starts strangely, with olde folkie warbles over yachty tasty licks. And these top-paid studio pros should never be asked to play a straight-fwd guitar shuffle. But in terms of at least gettin' concise-if-not-always-down sounds, and thematically appropriate melodic-harmonic explorations, Kate McG. is the Lennon figure here, with Anna the moonier McCartney. Then again, her "Park Fixture" is dynamically *about* an obsesso romantic, as written and performed from that POV. (And she tries to get more concise, "I love my kid" etc.) So far seems like about half of this album works pretty well after all. Do like Kate's solo voice more than the duets.

Back to xpost Velvet Crush: so limber tunes, even some hooks, can push through or to the surface of concentrated demos----but the more I play these *live* 8 (out of 16) tracks, the more I call for more shows, bros!

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a088e1e7fb68010cf6ad8ff4a/images/77000891-c7a2-412f-9435-22f648d10321.jpg

Waxwork Records is proud to announce the new double LP release of MY BLOODY VALENTINE (1981). Praised by director Quentin Tarantino as his favorite slasher movie of all time, MY BLOODY VALENTINE (1981) tells the story of a small mining town and it’s residents that fall victim to a vengeful, homicidal maniac on Valentine’s Day. The film has garnered a cult following and has also sparked a major-studio remake in 2009.

By working directly with composer Paul Zaza (Prom Night, Curtains, Porky’s), Waxwork was allowed to work directly from the original master tapes to source the complete, haunting score. This release marks the very first time the score to the 1981 slasher-horror classic has been re-leased in any format.

The foreboding score by Paul Zaza is a mix of both minimal synth and orchestral compositions intertwined with bluegrass and country soundtrack cues. Expertly mastered by Thomas DiMuzio at Gench Mastering, the complete score clocks in at over one hour and spans two 180 Gram opaque blood red vinyl records.

LP Package Details:

• The Complete MY BLOODY VALENTINE (1981) Film Score Debut
• Double LP Featuring Over One Hour Of Music
• Pressed to Two 180 Gram Opaque Red Vinyl Records
• Liner Notes By Composer Paul Zaza
• Liner Notes By Director George Mihalka
• Artwork By Ghoulish Gary Pullin
• Old Style Tip-On Gatefold Jacket With Soft Touch Coating
• Printed Inner Sleeves

LISTEN: My Bloody Valentine Original Score (Samples) -
https://soundcloud.com/waxwork-records/sets/my-bloody-valentine-1981

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JUDY HENSKE & JERRY YESTER’S CLASSIC
FAREWELL ALDEBARAN RETURNS NEARLY 50 YEARS
AFTER ORIGINAL RELEASE VIA OMNIVORE RECORDINGS
ON AUGUST 12
First-ever legitimate CD version of lost classic is remastered
from original master tapes with five previously unissued bonus tracks.
First-ever reissue LP pressing to appear on starburst vinyl
with gatefold jacket and eight-page booklet.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Farewell Aldebaran arrived at the end of 1969 and promptly disappeared by the start of the new decade. With each of its ten tracks differing in style, and no promotion upon its original release, the album never had chance. While many records have tags “lost classic” or “cult masterpiece” hung on them, this album actually is one and inexplicably slipped through the cracks, never having been afforded a proper reissue.
Conceived and composed by singer Judy Henske (dubbed “Queen of the Beatniks” by producer Jack Nitzsche) and artist-producer, Jerry Yester (The New Christy Minstrels, The Modern Folk Quartet, The Lovin’ Spoonful, The Association, Tim Buckley, and later, Tom Waits), Farewell Aldebaran was co-produced with Lovin’ Spoonful alum Zal Yanovsky (who also chipped in on guitar, bass and vocals). Among its many notable contributors: David Lindley, Paul Beaver (of the pioneering electronic music duo Beaver and Krause) and influential jazz bassist, Ray Brown.
Why did it languish in obscurity originally? “Maybe its snarling rockers, genteel ballads and gothic mood pieces made it too difficult to fit into conventional musical categories, or perhaps it simply fizzled due to lack of promotion. Whatever its initial fate, Judy Henske and Jerry Yester’s only album as a dud has become a genuine cult classic savored and pondered over by fans for nearly half a century,” surmises Barry Alfonso in his reissue liner notes.
Henske says, “At the time we recorded Farewell Aldebaran, I was reading only two things, The Oxford Book of English Verse and my Encyclopedia Britannica. It was the most psychologically balanced that I have ever been. One night I prayed, ‘Please God, give me a whole lyric in a dream so I can write it down.’ The next morning when I woke up I had ‘Snowblind’; it was complete. The next week I got ‘Raider’ the same way. I love this album.”
“Judy and I started writing together in ’66,” explains Yester. “And I believe our first effort was ‘Three Ravens.’ A year and a half later Herb Cohen gave us the go-ahead to do an album. It was very exciting for us to concentrate on an album of our own songs, and from the beginning there was a feeling of ‘no rules.’ That feeling stayed with us all through the making of Farewell Aldebaran. The excitement was heightened by it being the first of a number of albums co-produced by Zal Yanovsky and I. Of all the albums that I’ve been a part of, this one has always stood out as being the most fun, and free of constraints. It feels like it was yesterday.”
Omnivore Recordings is proud to reintroduce Farewell Aldebaran nearly 50 years after its first release on August 12, 2016. This is the first authorized and licensed reissue of this oft-bootlegged psych-folk classic — originally issued on Frank Zappa’s avant-garde Straight Records label — now remastered from the original master tapes. The CD includes five instrumental demos from Jerry Yester’s personal archives while the limited-edition first pressing of the LP will be on starburst colored vinyl. Both editions have extensive liner notes by Alfonso drawing upon new interviews with Henske and Yester, plus photos, original lyric sheets and additional illustrations.
From baroque pop to guitar-driven rockers, Farewell Aldebaran employs the use of instruments as unconventional as bowed banjos and hammered dulcimers to vocal samples on a Chamberlin tape organ to an early use of the Moog synthesizer on the title track. Farewell Aldebaran still defies classification, but has more than stood the test of time. This long-out-of-print album has now found a home; please say hello to Farewell Aldebaran.
Track Listing:
1. Snowblind
2. Horses on a Stick
3. Lullaby
4. St. Nicholas Hall
5. Three Ravens
6. Raider
7. One More Time
8. Rapture
9. Charity
10. Farewell Aldebaran

Previously unissued bonus tracks (CD only):
11. Merry-Go-Round (“Horses on a Stick” instrumental demo)
12. Charity (instrumental demo)
13. Zanzibar (“Farewell Aldebaran” instrumental demo)
14. Moods For Cellos (“Three Ravens” instrumental demo)
15. Divers Asleep (“Rapture” instrumental demo)
# # #

Watch (and feel free to post) the Farewell Aldebaran trailer:
http://youtu.be/G_85DzlXJ_E

Kill Rock Stars' YouTube channel incl their collections of Kleenex/LiliPUT, Essential Logic, and many other albums (original releases too): http://www.youtube.com/user/KillRockStars/playlists?view=50&shelf_id=5&sort=dd

Farewell Aldebaran: Foreboding yet outward bound, folk, olde verse, and mid-20th Century romantic and Romantic (idealistic, fatalistic) imagery X concerns ("Age of Anxiety" Auden called it, Bomb Culture Jeff Nuttall titled his life studies of UK para-Beat etc. activities/mindset), further times expert chamber folk-pop-rock focus---crisp, fluid, but not "snarling rockers" or particularly "guitar-driven" in the rawk sense----otherwise, just as advertised above.
Although Henske maybe has even more vocal range, and male vocals (mostly Yester's deceptively gentle, Nesmith-ish clarity, and Yanosky's unpretentious support) are occasionally featured, otherwise the vibe & polish remind me of Michele (O'Malley's) studio aces-in-space Saturn Rings, another 1969 release, and produced by Curt Boettcher, with hip guests, though Henske and Yester did almost all of this themselves. Some of it also suggests the more expansive tracks on Cale's pastoral-post-country gothic Vintage Violence, released in 1970. And it sails by the wilder shores of early English folk-rock too.
Title track is esp. rec to fans of Laser Pace, what with synthesizer (incl morphing of vox) by Paul Beaver (I gotta check Beaver & Krause, right? Bernie Krause added electronic shadings to one of my favorites, Link Wray's mid-70s The Link Wray Rumble.
Fun instrumental bonus versions, incl. "Moods For Cellos," very different from scary swooping LP use: this seems like a wordless Beacn Boys lullaby.
Lots to wrap brain around, but so far only the opener, "Snowblind," seems a bit awkward, as written. It's more about the overall effect, anyway (attitude w musical smarts also re with United States of America's '68 s/t).

And is the xpost Modern Folk Quartet good??

So glad taht this version of farewell Alderbaraan is coming. Been waiting to hear about a legit reissue of this for years. joe foster said he was about to do one about 10 or so years back, then the Radioactive needledrop appeared and the legit from tapes one was dropped. & looks like various post-Radioactive versions of the same label have been brought out since.

I have a different needledrop that was circulated through a blog after the radioactive one appeared. & I think there are corners in the sound i'd like to hear more clearly.

Fantastic news. love that lp.

yeah, i'm surprised it hadn't been reissued before, outside of phoenix/radioactive boots. kinda one of those legendary collector records.

That was a period where Radioactive seemed to get off on "scooping" legit labels with needle-drop bootlegs... I remember they dropped the Christ Tree record right before Hand/Eye's box set came out, too.

As I mentioned in the band's own thread, the Screaming Blue Messiahs box Vision in Blues is now available for pre-order. Their debut EP and all three of their studio albums, remastered, with all available B-sides and bonus tracks appended, plus a previously unreleased live album.

Nice! Couldn't really get into the later albums, but I'll buy if I can find a reasonable price.

This essential garage noir release comes out August 19:

http://www.numerogroup.com/products/the-scientists-a-place-called-bad

With a sound that was swampy, primal and modern-urban all at once—as much in the tradition of rock n’ roll and punk rock as it was a rejection of those things, the Scientists’ formula was as universal as it was specific to their own experience. The themes of getting wasted, driving around in hotted-up cars, being trapped in crap jobs, and paranoia were their subject matter. Machine throb bass and drums with jagged car-wreck guitars were their modus operandi. Fitting into no place or time they spurned all but the most rudimentary and elemental of rock structures to create a sound all their own.

> 4CD includes complete studio recordings, live recordings, and a previously unissued set from Adelaide UniBar, plus dozens of previously unpublished photographs, discography, and fold out Perth Punk family tree.

> 2LP version boils the box down to 22 essentials, plus unpublished photographs, discography, and fold out Perth Punk family tree.

> Deluxe mail order only version includes previously unissued Cheap Nasties 7" EP (limited to 1000) or 10 song cassette (limited to 100)!

Saxophonist Arthur Blythe's first four albums - In The Tradition, Lenox Avenue Breakdown, Illusions and Blythe Spirit, all released on Columbia between '79 and '82 - are being reissued as a 2CD set, remastered with new liner notes, by the UK label Beat Goes On.

Great to have those out again. I never did hear them all, but think Illusions was the one to employ Blood Ulmer as a jangling barbed wire team player (it worked).
Still got some doubts about some of the opening tracks on xpost Farewell Aldebaran: the mix seems too crowded at tymes, though 60s enthusiasm would do that, and better than too sparse; also the aforementioned mid-20th Century romantic and Romantic (idealistic, fatalistic) imagery X concerns can seem dated and predictable (like a lot of dystopian science fiction, then and now), but the musical enthusiasm and freshness does take it further than a lot of other artistes managed. "Three Ravens" pulls and pushes like that, though thought it was gonna be a draw, for a while. Don't know why I referred to this finished track as "scary and swooping," but it sure is different enough from the bonus instrumental source, "Moods For Cellos."
I may have confused "Three Ravens" for "Raider," which is my fave now, with the calling voices I mentioned, like an Appalachia-to-British Isles ballad ritual the Velvet Underground might've dug: " 'Raider,' she cries, 'you got tearrrs in your eyes, oh you're dreeam-ing mmmeee." Excellent bass by Jerry Scheff, bowed banjo and hammered dulcimer by David Lindley and Solomon Feldthouse of Kaleidoscope.
I shouldn't have said that "Henske and Yester do almost all of it themselves." Yes, Yester does a lot, but, as well as Zal and some Kaleidoscopians, jazz bassist Ray Brown shows up, ditto Tim Buckley's sometime co-writer, Larry Beckett, and the splendid session/touring drummer Fast Eddie Ho (who played on Buckley's Yester-produced Goodbye and Hello, also with the Mamas and Papas and many others).
Anybody heard Rosebud, Henske & Yester's later group? Still wondering about Modern Folk Quartet too.

Heard a track from this today and very lovely it was too.

http://www.numerogroup.com/products/jimmy-carter-and-dallas-county-green-summer-brings-the-sunshine

THE HEATERS,
ONE OF L.A.’S BEST-KEPT SECRETS OF THE NEW WAVE,
RELEASES 1983 RECORDINGS SOME 33 YEARS LATE
Omnivore to release American Dream: The Portastudio Recordings on August 19. Features new liner notes from band members.

STUDIO CITY, Calif. — The Heaters were one of L.A.’s hottest live acts in the late ’70s, opening for heavyweights like Talking Heads, Van Halen, and Cheap Trick. The band’s explosive stage technique, visual smarts, great pop songwriting, and Mercy Bermudez’s soaring lead vocals — the sound of Phil Spector mixed with the energy of punk — made them the band to see on the Sunset Strip. Sadly, their debut album (one of the most highly anticipated releases of the day) was plagued with problems and captured none of their magic. It was a commercial failure, with little exposure in radio and no sales. A second album “sounded” better, but met the same fate.
However, sisters Maggie and Missy Connell along with Mercy Bermudez kept recording on a Portastudio, concentrating on the girl-group side of their sound. They created tracks that would become a Holy Grail for not only Heaters and girl-group fans, but for anyone who was lucky enough to have heard them. Rhino Records loved the material and wanted it re-recorded it for a new release, but the three thought the songs should be released as they were, and turned down the deal. That was more than 30 years ago.
American Dream: The Portastudio Recordings, due out August 19, 2016 on Omnivore Recordings, is the first-ever official release of those 10 tracks from Maggie, Missy, and Mercy as the Heaters. Their glistening harmonies, which drew on the golden era of girl groups, the ’50s and ’60s, and were filtered through the ’80s, will finally be widely available — in the 21st century! But great music is timeless, and the time has come for the true sound of the Heaters to reach the masses the way it was intended.
According to Maggie Connell: “Today anyone with a computer can record an album at home. That was not the case when Missy, Mercy, and I began the Porta Project. Before 1983, album making was like an occult science — available only to the chosen few. Young musicians were blindfolded novices and producers were High Priests. So there was something subversive about recording yourself . . . like Toto defrocking the Wizard of Oz by discovering the ‘man behind the curtain.’ Today technology has created a more level playing field . . . along with greater freedom. Yet I wonder if that freedom has led to better music. There is something enlivening about pushing against limitation, and having something to prove — if only to yourself. So, I’m grateful for my part in this record — and for all the frustration that inspired it.”
With the full cooperation, and liner notes, by the band, we can finally turn up the Heaters!
Track Listing:
1. American Dream
2. All I Want To Do

3. 10,000 Roses

4. Every Living Day

5. Just Around The Corner
6. Sandy
7. I Want To Love Again
8. Rock This Place

9. Love Will Be Hurrying To You
10. I’ll Meet You There

Blonde Redhead announces Numero Group box set collecting early material, shares rare early single "Big Song"

STREAM: "Big Song" -
Soundcloud / Pitchfork
https://soundcloud.com/numerogroup/blonde-redhead-big-song-1/s-8RCqT

VIDEO: Trailer Video -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrHDACdGNnE

Teeming with the energy and grit of pre-Giuliani Manhattan, Blonde Redhead's long out-of-print early recordings have finally crawled their way out of the '90s basement thanks to Numero Group who will issue a 4LP / 2CD set on Sept. 30. Weighing in at 37 tracks, Masculin Féminin compiles the band's first two albums for Steve Shelley's Smells Like Records (self-titled and La Mia Via Violenta), their period singles, extant demos, and radio performances across four LPs or two CDs. Dozens of previously unpublished photographs illustrate two lengthy essays on this essential New York band's formative years.

This is the latest installment in Numero Group's 200 Line series which has also included releases from Unwound, Bedhead, Codeine, White Zombie and The Scientists.

"These songs combine a raw need, a ready access to neediness, with seemingly incongruous cinematic changes reminiscent of '60s Italian pop music and movie scores. They switch between emotional grandeur and eye scratching immediacy." -Arto Lindsay

TOUR DATES:

06/16 - Brooklyn, NY - Red Hook Summer Stage



Blonde Redhead
Masculin Féminin
(Numero Group)
Street Date: Sept. 30, 2016

Track List:

Masculin
LP 1 - Self-titled

1. I Don't Want U
2. Sciuri Sciura
3. Astro Boy
4. Without Feathers
5. Snippet
6. Mama Cita
7. Swing Pool
8. Girl Boy
LP 2 - 7"s and Bonus Material

9. Amescream
10. Big Song
11. Inside You
12. Vague
13. Jet Star
14. This Is The Number Of Times I Said I Will But Didn't (4 Track Demo)
15. Instrumental (Live at Snacktime)
16. Slogan Attempt
17. Swing Pool Instrumental (Live at Snacktime)
18. Woody (4 Track Demo)

Féminin
LP 1 - La Mia Vita Violenta

19. (I Am Taking Out My Eurotrash) I Still Get Rocks Off
20. Violent Life
21. U.F.O.
22. I Am There While You Choke On Me
23. Harmony
24. Down Under
25. Bean
26. Young Neil
27. 10 Feet High
28. Jewel

LP 2 - 7"s and Bonus Material

29. Flying Douglas
30. Harmony (7" Version)
31. 10 Feet High (7" Version)
32. Valentine
33. Not Too Late
34. (I Am Taking Out My Eurotrash) I Still Get Rocks Off (KCRW Session)
35. Pier Paolo (KCRW Session)
36. Country Song (La Mia Vita Violenta Outtake)
37. It Was All So Sudden (4 Track Demo)

Soundcloud advance track & YouTube trailer remind me of some comparisons of Blonde Redhead to younger Sonic Youth trying to be more accessible, re (what I hear as) bad vocals and dull riffs---but maybe they got better?

xpost The Heaters:The band’s explosive stage technique, visual smarts, great pop songwriting, and Mercy Bermudez’s soaring lead vocals — the sound of Phil Spector mixed with the energy of punk seems plausible after to listening to these vintage demos (occasionally clunky as played, though never ever as sung). Although the 60s meets 80s thing, such a thing in some of the 80s, mostly obviously comes across in the first and last tracks: "I'll Meet You There" is stately, swaggering sincerity, jangle-to-twangle and even maybe a Moog briefly improving on 50s-60s-to-80s sax: Bangles-worthy, if not Bangles-challenging (nah, they could handle it now).

"American Dream" seems like a de facto parody and celebration of 60s-80s, high-stepping like "Uptown Girl" (though here's where some of the clunking comes in), serenading someone whose smile is like a new car, "Your hair is like an airport," and even changing faster than "a color TV"---hmmm changing colors, a passing ziiing---little bit of everyday science fiction-reader's snidery there, like xpost United States of America's 60s s/t. By the same token, it's a bit we-get-it-already as written, though proud and fine singing, even ditto final instrumental flourish.

Other lyrics are mostly played 60s-girl-group straight---which also means healthy emotional range, which can incl. flamboyant as hell, from the daze when Ellie Greenwich and her mostly female competitors (yeah, sorry Phil) were concocting AM radio chartbusting showstoppers, not waiting for Broadway to finally cough up Grease and Hairspray.
Oh, one more 60s-80s lyrics exception (and I guess this is the one where "punk" is the closest to applying, re if and where it might get radio/video play): "Sandy" starts like maybe a cover of the Boss's song, but it's another original serenade, girl-to-girl, though also like the cute-friendly-girls-dressed-as-boys-dressed-as/for-girls British Invasion-power-pop publicity pic, she's playing a guy maybe, like in Shakespeare's time, OK---but then suddenly she's explaining, in thee midst of this midsummer night's cold call, "He's in love with his own feelings/He doesn't really see-ee you, he just wants to bee-ee you," and then the full-group chorus really spells it out: "That boy wants to be a girl/That boy wants to be a girl!" Punchline adds another surprise, but still.
60s-wise,rec to fans of the Shangri-Las etc., their influence on early Laura Nyro, also other very belatedly resurrected girl groups like Honey Ltd., who had their own cosmic harmonic thing, incl. in more country-pop reincarnation as Eve.

60s=>80s-wise, yeah the Bangles a bit there at the very end (right before that, they do pick up the pace and the guitars a bit more than previously). Otherwise, Cyndi Lauper's early 80s group Blue Angle maybe, though think Lauper did all the belting, maybe---Annie Golden and Shirts? Don't think I ever heard them, but back in the day said to have a bit of early 60s/Broadway influence (and before that, same was true of early Blondie, esp. with Shadow Morton, who did the same for Noo Yawk Dolls and actual early-mid 60s groops). Other examples worth hearing--??

Blue *Angel*--sorry Cyndi!

"Right before that" (re "they do pick up the pace and guitars a bit more than previously"): tracks 8 and 9.

Anybody heard the two Heaters albums that *were* released in the 80s? Not so good if even the publicist says they weren't, but I still want to check them out.

Bear Family Records and MVD Entertainment Group reach exclusive distribution agreement for the US market

Bear Family Records, the German independent record label specializing in reissues of archival country, rock 'n' roll, rhythm 'n' blues, blues, folk and soul music, will have exclusive distribution in the US (for the first time) via MVD Entertainment Group. The label has been in existence since 1975, founded by collector Richard Weize, started with the double LP "Going Back to Dixie" by Bill Clifton.

Bear Family's oldest recording archives date back to 1896, but a great deal of their releases contain material from the 1960s and '70s. The label has become known for its extravagant box sets and the company describes itself as "a collector's record label" due to its primary business, which is reissuing rare recordings in CD format in small amounts. Historically, Bear Family material has had only limited availability in the US, stocked at Ernest Tubb Record Shops and through mail order sources. With the MVD deal in place, Bear Family box sets will be widely available in the US.

"With joining the MVD Entertainment group of labels, Bear Family is making the next step," said Detlev Hoegen of Bear Family. "While as a record label we are preserving the past, with MVD as our distribution partner we are meeting the challenges of today's global market."

Hoegen also presides over Cree Records, a new-ish imprint of Bear Family specializing in Caribbean, calypso, soul, funk, reggae, disco, and obscure European releases. The label is heavily expanding in the vinyl market and will have approximately 20 new titles on LP (12" 180 gram, 10", and 45s).

"We are so proud to be working closely with Detlev and his team, and especially proud to be affiliated with such a strong brand as Bear Family." said Ed Seaman, COO of MVD. "This opens new doors for our growing business and allows MVD to expand further into the high end music collector's market."

xpost on Blonde Redhead. They did get better, on the third album. Then they got worse, though slowly, and eventually were the soundtrack to buying clothes in Soho (New York). This is probably close to their peak:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_b-WxQo47U

holy shit @ Bear Family news

Yeah that's awesome... hopefully be able to buy their single CDs for less than $27 or whatever.

Speaking of xxpost Henske & Yester and their prior involvement w members of the Modern Folk Quartet, the MFQ stars in the dramatic climax of this "Stairway" vs. "Taurus" coverage:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/led-zeppelin-stairway-trial-gets-ugly-as-plaintiffs-rest-their-case-20160618
It figures that, even now, a Stone writer would get shook by x-ray looks at the Zep mystique, since LZ long ago entered the RS Boomer Pantheon, and once you're in, you're in. But doesn't really diminish what they did with what they found.

Still, these particular comparisons (by the defense; basically standard practice, as in trials of John Fogerty, Charlie Daniels, etc. etc.) are a bit startling.

re: Modern Folk Quartet - I *adore* the lone track I have of theirs from the Back to Mono boxset "This Could Be the Night". Don't think anything else has ever surfaced, but I would be curious to hear any that did.

"To Catch a Shad" = not bad!

guess I should have specified nothing else produced by Phil Spector has ever surfaced

Uh-oh (re Pentangle, what about, er, "White Summer?)
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/led-zeppelins-10-boldest-rip-offs-20160622

And re xpost Kaleidoscope guys on Farewell Alderbaran, one of 'em, Lindley, was sometimes said to be the source of Page's approach to bowed guitar, although JP said a fellow session muso told him to try it.

He also called Kaleidoscope "the best band I've ever seen," and I think he did mean US, not UK, K, though can't find interview right now.

I thought most people put bowed guitar down to The Creation's Eddie Phillips who was certaionly using it in the mid 60s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC4CcclI2NI

though there may be other sources, but they are a band worth checking out if you're not familiar with them.

Thanks! I should have checked them out a long time ago.

NEW ORDER

Remastered And Updated Version Of Singles Compilation
To Be Rereleased On September 9 Via Warner Music

"All the perks of indie, dance and pop in one seamless package... the results are still terrific
listening". - Pitchfork

"Singles' is a peerless and ultimately simple example of how wonderful pop music can be."
- NME

LOS ANGELES - One of the most celebrated back catalogues in music history is set to be rediscovered when New Order's SINGLES compilation is released in remastered and updated form on September 9, 2016.

SINGLES charts New Order's finest moments, ranging from their 1981 debut "Ceremony" through to the influential classic "Blue Monday" and other career highlights including "Confusion," "True Faith," "Regret," and "Crystal" plus the chart-topping football anthem "World in Motion."

A decade after its initial release, SINGLES has been refined to become a greatly improved representation of the band's history. The renowned Frank Arkwright (The Smiths' Complete) at Abbey Road has remastered the collection with all audio sourced from high quality transfers.

In addition, SINGLES adds "I'll Stay With You" from 2013's Lost Sirens album and replaces the correct single edits or mixes for the tracks "Nineteen63," "Run 2," "Bizarre Love Triangle," "True Faith," "Spooky," "Confusion" and "The Perfect Kiss." The result is a considerable upgrade on the previous version of the album.

This new version of SINGLES will be available in three formats: a heavyweight 180 gram 4LP vinyl box set, a double-CD, and on digital/streaming services.

SINGLES

Track Listing:

Disc 1

Ceremony
Procession
Everything's Gone Green (7'' version)
Temptation (original 7" version)
Blue Monday
Confusion (UK 7'' promo edit)
Thieves Like Us (7'' promo edit)
The Perfect Kiss (7'' edit)
Sub-Culture (7'' version)
Shellshock (7'' edit)
State of the Nation (7'' edit)
Bizarre Love Triangle (7'' remix edit)
True Faith (7'' edit)
Touched by the Hand of God (7'' edit)
Blue Monday '88 (7'' version)

Disc 2

Fine Time (7'' version)
Round and Round (7'' version)
Run 2 (7'' remix edit)
World in Motion
Regret
Ruined in a Day (radio edit)
World (The Price Of Love) (radio edit)
Spooky (minimix)
Nineteen63 (Arthur Baker radio remix)
Crystal (radio edit)
60 Miles An Hour (radio edit)
Here To Stay (radio edit)
Krafty (single edit)
Jetstream (radio edit)
Waiting for the Sirens' Call (Rich Costey radio version)
Turn (Stephen Street edit)
I'll Stay With You ('Lost Sirens' LP version)

Manufactured Reissues Four Rare Jazz LPs On July 22nd
Featuring Milton Marsh and Brother Ah (Sun Ra Arkestra)
Previously Unreleased Brother Ah Material Coming In November
https://gallery.mailchimp.com/78dc98191efe28151fba166f0/images/23df17a2-f92f-4283-aea4-5a8caf5a7522.jpg

more info and audio:
http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=78dc98191efe28151fba166f0&id=753e244dba&e=591064d8e7