New Music Monthly: June 2019 Releases

We're standing on the brink of summer and the outlook is groovy! There are only four weeks in June's release schedule, but there's a lot of rock 'n' roll goodness here to kick off the season. You'll find new albums by folks like the Black Keys, Chris Stamey, Bruce Springsteen, the Raconteurs (with Jack White), the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Santana, Peter Frampton, and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, among many others. There are a few choice archival releases this month as well, including a long-lost live Neil Young album, a vinyl reissues of James Taylor's One Man Band and a 25th anniversary vinyl reissue of Americana legend Dave Alvin's classic King of California album (with bonus tracks).

Speaking of the archives, Krautrock and prog fans will like Universal's reissues of seven classic mid-to-late '70s albums by the legendary Tangerine Dream on CD with bonus tracks. Isaac Hayes' classic soundtrack to the movie Shaft gets a deluxe reissue, Prince is represented by a collection from his vaults, and Warren Haynes and Gov't Mule return with a red-hot live set. It's safe to say, no matter your taste in music, there's something in June to tickle your fancy!

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!

JUNE 7
Perry Farrell - Kind Heaven   BUY!
Peter Frampton Band - All Blues [w/Sonny Landreth]   BUY!
Dylan LeBlanc - Renegade   BUY!
Gary Nicholson - The Great Divide   BUY!
Gary Nicholson (as 'Whitey Johnson') - More Days Like This   BUY!
Pelican - Nighttime Stories   BUY!
Santana - Africa Speak   BUY!
Silversun Pickups - Widow's Weeds   BUY!
Slowness - Berths   BUY!
James Taylor - One Man Band [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
Neil Young & Stray Gators - Tuscaloosa [1973 concert]   BUY!

JUNE 14
Chris Robinson Brotherhood - Servants of the Sun   BUY!
Roger Daltrey - The Who's Tommy Orchestral   BUY!
Isaac Hayes - Shaft (Music From the Soundtrack)   BUY!
Iron & Wine/Calexico - Years To Burn   BUY!
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real - Turn Off the News, Build A Garden   BUY!
Bruce Springsteen - Western Stars   BUY!
Tangerine Dream - Cyclone [CD reissue]   BUY!
Tangerine Dream - Encore [CD reissue]   BUY!
Tangerine Dream - Force Majure [CD reissue]   BUY!
Tangerine Dream - Phaedra [CD reissue]   BUY!
Tangerine Dream - Richochet [CD reissue]   BUY!
Tangerine Dream - Rubycon [CD reissue]   BUY!
Tangerine Dream - Stratosfear [CD reissue]   BUY!

JUNE 21
Collective Soul - Blood   BUY!
Def Leppard - Def Leppard - Volume Two [box set]   BUY!
Hollywood Vampires - Rise   BUY!
Hot Chip - A Bath Full of Ectasty   BUY!
Chuck Mead - Close To Home   BUY!
Prince - Originals   BUY!
The Raconteurs - Help Us Stranger   BUY!

JUNE 28
The Allman Betts Band - Down To the River   BUY!
Dave Alvin - King of California [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
The Black Keys - Let's Rock   BUY!
Generation Axe - The Guitars That Destroyed The World [Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Zakk Wylde]   BUY!
Gov't Mule - Bring On the Music  [live]   BUY!
Magma - Zëss
Chris Stamey - New Songs For the 20th Century   BUY!

Album of the Month: The Black Keys' Let's Rock. It was another tough decision this month, with cool new music coming from talents like Chris Stamey, the Raconteurs, Bruce Springsteen, and Lukas Nelson, among many others. I'm going with the Black Keys this month, tho' as Let's Rock is the blues-rockin' duo's first new LP of studio material in five years and is said to be a return to the guitar-heavy sound of their early material. Recorded in the frontman Dan Auerbach's Nashville studio, it will be good to hear singer/guitarist Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney back in the groove again!

CD Review: The dB's Like This (1984/2006)

Formed in 1978 in North Carolina by guitarist/songwriter Chris Stamey, bassist Gene Holder, and drummer Will Rigby, the dB’s stood at the forefront of the late 1970s/early ‘80s Piedmont “jangle-pop” movement that included Mitch Easter’s fondly-remembered band Let’s Active and producer and musician Don Dixon’s various projects. Peter Holsapple, a former bandmate of Stamey’s, hooked up with the trio later the same year and the band moved to NYC in search of fame and fortune.

Sadly, they couldn’t get a stateside record deal, instead signing with British imprint Albion for the release of two excellent pop/rock efforts: 1981’s Stands For Decibels and 1982’s Repercussion. Although both albums were critically acclaimed, they were ignored by the masses – much like Big Star’s first two albums, an obvious touchstone for the dB’s sound – and Stamey left the dB’s in ’83 to pursue a solo career.

With Holsapple fronting the band, the three remaining members recorded Like This in 1984. Influenced, perhaps, as much by the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield as by the British Invasion, the album added more of Holsapple and Rigby’s roots-rock sound to the pop formula, moving beyond Stamey’s art-rock maneuvers to deliver an ingratiating collection of songs. It’s no stretch of the imagination to say that Like This paved the way for folks like Matthew Sweet and Velvet Crush to follow, influencing contemporaries like R.E.M. and the Fleshtones as well.

Like This opens with the charming “Love Is For Lovers,” a spry song with great vocal harmonies and hook large enough to reel in any listener, a song prime for covering by the right artist. “Love Is For Lovers” sets the table for the feast to follow, songs like the beautifully bittersweet “Lonely Is (As Lonely Does),” which matches lofty vocals with lush, intricate instrumentation and mournful lyrics.

“Amplifier,” a tragic, dark-hued tale of love, loss and suicide sports clever lyrical gymnastics supported by a solid rhythm and snakelike guitar licks to pierce the wall of sound. “A Spy In The House Of Love” displays the boy’s Southern funk side, with a loping rhythm and Holsapple’s soulful vocals while the fierce, rocking “Rendezvous” features Holsapple’s nifty fretwork and some of Rigby’s best drumming, the rhythms hitting your ears like a tidal wave.

“White Train” documents a meeting with the devil, a story of sin and salvation and a heaven-bound soul with a twangy rockabilly soundtrack and fine harmonies from the trio. The Collectors’ Choice Music CD reissue of Like This offers bonus tracks in the form of “Darby Hall,” a Gothic tale with ethereal vocals and delicate instrumentation, and a largely disposable and unnecessary remix of “A Spy In The House Of Love” that robs the song of its original energy.

As written by history, the dB’s chose to release Like This and jump into a tour opening for R.E.M. rather than wait for their label, Bearsville, to sign a distribution deal with Warner Music. The label folded shortly after the album’s release, leaving the band high and dry and dooming the album to commercial obscurity.

Although they would later sign a deal with R.E.M.’s label, IRS Records, for their 1987 release The Sound Of Music, the dB’s would never get over their “cult band” status and broke up after their fourth album. With Like This finally restored on compact disc, pop/rock fans can rediscover this long-lost musical bridge between Big Star’s groundbreaking early 1970s albums and ‘90s-era popsters like Matthew Sweet, Jellyfish and the Posies. Enjoy! (Alt.Culture.Guide, 2006)

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: The dB's Like This