New Music Monthly: October 2019 releases

Lotsa great music this month, with new tunes from friends old and new like Wilco, the Wildhearts, Joseph Arthur, the Muffs, Swans, and others. Not enough? How 'bout a new album from prog-rock supergroup Flying Colors (with Steve Morse, Neil Morse, and Mike Portnoy)? The first new LP in decades from glam-rockers Angel? A new set from Mississippi bluesman Jimmy "Duck" Holmes (produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys)? Maybe archive releases and reissues from Frank Zappa, Jethro Tull, Neil Young, and Big Star will scratch that itch. No? There's just no pleasing you people...

Release dates are subject to change and nobody tells me when they do. If you’re interesting in buying an album, just hit the ‘Buy!’ link to get it from Amazon.com...it’s just that damn easy! Your purchase puts valuable ‘store credit’ in the Reverend’s pocket that he’ll use to buy more music to write about in a never-ending loop of rock ‘n’ roll ecstasy!

OCTOBER 4
Angel - Risen   BUY!
Flying Colors - Third Degree [prog supergroup w/Steve Morse, Neal Morse & Mike Portnoy]   BUY!
North Mississippi Allstars - Up and Rolling   BUY!
that dog. - Old LP   BUY!
Wilco - Ode To Joy   BUY!
The Wildhearts - Diagnosis EP   BUY!

OCTOBER 11
808 State - Transmission Suite   BUY!
Joseph Arthur - Come Back World   BUY!
Babymetal - Metal Galaxy   BUY!
Kim Gordon - No Home Record   BUY!
Lacuna Coil - Black Anima   BUY!
Vinnie Moore - Soul Shifter   BUY!

OCTOBER 18
Alter Bridge - Walk the Sky   BUY!
Fastball - The Help Machine   BUY!
Rob Halford - Celestial   BUY!
Jimmy "Duck" Holmes - Cypress Grove [produced by Dan Auerbach]   BUY!
Jim James - The Order of Nature   BUY!
Jethro Tull - Stormwatch [40th anniversary box]   BUY!
Mark Lanegan Band - Somebody's Knocking   BUY!
Refused - War Music   BUY!

OCTOBER 25
Jan Akkerman - Close Beauty   BUY!
Big Star - In Space [CD & vinyl reissue]   BUY!
Longwave - If We Ever Live Forever   BUY!
The Muffs - No Holiday   BUY!
Grace Potter - Daylight   BUY!
Sunn O))) - Pyroclasts   BUY!
Swans - Leaving Meaning   BUY!
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Colorado   BUY!
Frank Zappa - Halloween 73   BUY!

Album of the Month: Big Star's In Space, a reissue of the band's 2005 "reunion" album on both CD and vinyl. Big Star founder Alex Chilton had put together a new version of the band a decade previous, built around original drummer Jody Stephens and the talented duo of Jonathan Auer and Ken Stringfellow from the Posies. In Space was the only studio LP released by this line-up and would prove to be Chilton's last album released before his death in 2010. Although it's often criticized as no better than a Chilton solo album, one has to ask "what's wrong with that?"

New Music Monthly: August 2018 Releases

Wow, if the new releases trickled into the stores throughout July, the month of August opens the floodgates. New albums from blues singer Shemekia Copeland, alt-rockers Robert Poss (Band of Susans) and Interpol, Rich Robinson's the Magpie Salute, metal up 'n' comers the Oh Sees, White Denim, and the Lemon Twigs will tax any fan's finances. Throw in a live album by Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul and archive releases from the Hampton Grease Band, Crack the Sky, the Posies, Status Quo, Bob Marley and many more and August is guaranteed to break the bank!

If we wrote about it here on the site, there will be a link to it in the album title; if you want an album, hit the 'Buy!' link to get it from Amazon.com...it's just that damn easy! Your purchase puts money in the Reverend's pocket that he'll use to buy more music to write about in a never-ending loop of rock 'n' roll ecstasy!

AUGUST 3
Gene Clark & Carla Olson - So Rebellious A Lover   BUY!
Shemekia Copeland - America's Child   BUY!
Ronnie Davis & Idren - Come Straight   BUY!
Electric Light Orchestra - Secret Messages [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
Hampton Grease Band - Music To Eat   [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
James House and the Blues Cowboys - James House and the Blues Cowboys   BUY!
Winston Jarrett & the Righteous Flames - Jonestown   BUY!
Robert Poss - Frozen Flowers Curse the Day   BUY!

AUGUST 10
The Gladiators - Presenting the Gladiators   BUY!
Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul - Soulfire Live!   BUY!
The Magpie Salute - High Water I   BUY!
Walter Salas-Humara - Walterio   BUY!

AUGUST 17
Blue October - I Hope You're Happy   BUY!
Thee Oh Sees - Smote Reverser   BUY!

AUGUST 24
Alice In Chains - Rainier Fog   BUY!
Crack the Sky - Crackology   BUY!
Crack the Sky - Living In Reverse   BUY!
Neil & Liam Finn - Lightsleeper   BUY!
Interpol - Marauder   BUY!
Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood - With Animals   BUY!
The Lemon Twigs - Go To School   BUY!
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Kaya [40th anniversary edition]   BUY!
The Posies - Frosting On the Beater [deluxe reissue]   BUY!
White Denim - Performance   BUY!

AUGUST 31
Angel - Angel: The Casablanca Years [box set]   BUY!
The Band - Music From Big Pink [50th anniversary edition]   BUY!
Alice Cooper - A Paranormal Evening at the Olympia Paris   BUY!
Amos Lee - My New Moon   BUY!
Nick Mason - Unattended Luggage   BUY!
David Olney - This Side or the Other   BUY!
Status Quo - Down & Dirty at Wacken   BUY!
Aaron Lee Tasjan - Karma For Cheap   BUY!
Various Artists - The Soul of Baltimore: The Ru-Jac Records Story [box set]   BUY!

Album of the Month: It's another hard call, but in a month crowded with great music, I'm going to go with Shemeka Copeland's America's Child album. One of the top two or three best blues singers in the business today, Copeland returned to Nashville to record America's Child with talented producer and guitarist Will Kimbrough and a cast of great singers and musicians like Emmy Lou Harris, John Prine, Mary Gauthier, Al Perkins, Rhiannon Giddens, Steve Cropper, and more. Although Copeland veers close to Americana territory on a couple of songs (and does so well), America's Child is pure-D blues, Copeland mixing socially-conscious tunes with bluesy romantic moments, calling on the talents of skilled wordsmiths like Kimbrough, Prine, Gauthier, John Hahn, Kevin Gordon & Gwil Owen, among others. She even delivers a fiery take on the Ray Davies' Kinks classic "I'm Not Like Everybody Else." 

Long Overdue Angel Box Set Coming

Hard rockers Angel were one of the most underrated outfits of the 1970s, releasing a slew of very cool records – five studio and a smokin’ live set – for Neil Bogart’s legendary Casablanca Records label. Discovered by Gene Simmons of Kiss, who helped Angel get their deal with Casablanca, the original band included singer Frank DiMino, guitarist Punky Meadows, bassist Mickie Jones, keyboardist Gregg Giuffria, and drummer Barry Brandt.

It was these five ambitious young men that recorded the band’s self-titled 1975 debut. Originally positioned by their label as a too-late-to-the-party glam band, Angel was dressed entirely in white (as compared to their stablemates Kiss, who were clad in black). Thankfully, because of DiMino’s hardy vocals, Meadows’ explosive fretwork, and Giuffria’s innovative keyboard playing, Angel would transcend their label’s marketing to make some great music. Helluva Band followed in 1976, with On Earth As It Is In Heaven coming a year later and peaking at #77 on the album charts. Jones left the band, to be replaced by Felix Robinson in time for White Hot.

The aptly-titled White Hot album was released in 1978, yielding a minor radio hit (#44 on the Billboard charts) with the band’s raucous cover of the Young Rascals’ song “Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore.” Cracks had begun to form in the partnership, though, and by the time of the band’s 1979 album Sinful (originally titled Bad Publicity and released with a different cover before being replaced), the band had clearly run its course (although Sinful did sneak onto the album’s chart, rising to #159). The 1980 set Live Without A Net would prove to be the band’s swansong, with DiMino and Meadows leaving the band in 1981.

Angel were true pop-metal pioneers, easily a decade ahead of their time, and on August 31st, 2018 the band will finally get its due when Caroline Records/Universal Music releases Angel: The Casablanca Years, a seven-disc CD box set comprised of the Angel’s previously-mentioned albums as well as a bonus disc with mono song mixes and rare songs that only appeared on soundtrack albums from movies like 1980’s Foxes. Writer and Angel expert Dave Reynolds has penned new liner notes for the set, which are included in a 28-page booklet featuring rare photos and Angel memorabilia.

Frank DiMino reformed Angel in 1998 with drummer Barry Brandt, and has toured sporadically since. Gregg Giuffria led his own band during the 1980s (Giuffria), enjoying modest chart success during the “hair metal” years, and later formed the equally-successful outfit House of Lords, which released a pair of albums in the late ‘80s. Jones sadly passed away in 2009, and Punky Meadows recently returned from a hiatus from music of 13 years, during which he owned and operated a tanning salon. The guitarist released his critically-acclaimed solo debut, Fallen Angel, in 2016. Meadows will be joining DiMino and Angel this year for tours of the U.S. and the U.K. in support of the new box set.

Buy the box set from Amazon.com: Angel The Casablanca Years