New Music Monthly: September 2018 Releases

More musical goodness than one person can handle is coming your way in September, and if last month didn't bust yer bankroll, you just weren't trying! Take out a home loan or hit up your local neighborhood loan shark 'cause this month brings new albums by folks like Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Eric Lindell, Richard Thompson, Billy Gibbons, Joe Bonamassa, R&B legend Swamp Dogg, and the great Alejandro Escovedo that you know you're gonna want. Throw in CD and vinyl reissues and archive releases from talents like J.D. Souther, Moby Grape's Skip Spence, Bob Seger, Eric Burdon & the Animals, Tom Petty, and the Ramones and you'll be raiding your kid's college fund before the month is through...

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!

SEPTEMBER 7
Clutch - Book of Bad Decisions   BUY!
Mike Farris - Silver and Stone   BUY!
JEFF the Brotherhood - Magick Songs   BUY!
Lenny Kravitz - Raise Vibration   BUY!
L7 - Hungry for Stink [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
Eric Lindell - Revolution In Your Heart   BUY!
Paul McCartney - Egypt Station   BUY!
Mirah - Understanding   BUY!
Pentangle - Sweet Child [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
Bob Seger & the Last Heard - Heavy Music: The Complete Cameo Recordings 1966-1967   BUY!
Paul Simon - In the Blue Light   BUY!
Spiritualized - And Nothing Hurt   BUY!
Swamp Dogg - Love, Loss and Auto-Tune   BUY!

SEPTEMBER 14
Eric Burdon & the Animals - Winds of Change [mono vinyl reissue]   BUY!
The Doors - Waiting For the Sun: 50th Anniversary Edition   BUY!
Alejandro Escovedo - The Crossing   BUY!
Hawkwind - Road To Utopia   BUY!
Malcolm Holcombe - Come Hell or High Water   BUY!
Low - Double Negative   BUY!
Monster Truck - True Rockers   BUY!
Jorge Santana - Love the Way: The Solo 70s Recordings   BUY!
Richard Thompson - 13 Rivers   BUY!
Uriah Heep - Living the Dream   BUY!
Various Artists - Chicago Plays the Stones   BUY!
We Were Promised Jetpacks - The More I Sleep The Less I Dream   BUY!
Paul Weller - True Meanings   BUY!
Ann Wilson - Immortal   BUY!

SEPTEMBER 21
Mandy Barnett - Strange Conversations   BUY!
Joe Bonamassa - Redemption   BUY!
Billy Gibbons - The Big Bad Blues   BUY!
Lenny Kravitz - 5   BUY!
Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way   BUY!
Lenny Kravitz - Circus   BUY!
Lenny Kravitz - Mama Said   BUY!
Prince - Piano & A Microphone: 1983   BUY!
The Ramones - Road to Ruin: 40th Anniversary Edition   BUY!
Slash - Living the Dream   BUY!
JD Souther - Black Rose [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
JD Souther - Home By Dawn [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
JD Souther - John David Souther [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
Supersuckers - Suck It   BUY!
The Textones - Old Stone Gang   BUY!
Various Artists - Ska Authentic   BUY!
Voivod - The Wake   BUY!

SEPTEMBER 28
All Them Witches - ATW   BUY!
King Crimson - Meltdown In Mexico   BUY!
Mudhoney - Digital Garbage   BUY!
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - An American Treasure [box set]   BUY!
Skip Spence - AndOarAgain [3-CD reissue]   BUY!
U2 - The Best of 1990-2000 [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
Tony Joe White - Bad Mouthin'   BUY!

Release dates are subject to change, so don't blame us...

Album of the Month: The Textones' Old Stone Gang...after better than three decades, Textones' frontwoman Carla Olson put the original band together (sans Phil Seymour, R.I.P.) to record a few tracks and see if the old band magic still exists (hint: it does...). The result was Old Stone Gang, the Textones’ third official studio album and their first in 30+ years. If you were ever a fan of the band, you definitely need to hear this 'cause it's really like they never left! 

JD Souther’s Asylum Years Revisited

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist John David “JD” Souther was working in L.A. as a session player in the late ‘60s when fate intervened via an introduction to future Eagles frontman Glenn Frey. The two got along well and ended up recording a 1969 album under the group name Longbranch Pennywhistle with songs that they’d written together. After Frey formed the mega-successful band that will forever be his legacy (Frey sadly passed away in 2016), the two songwriters collaborated together on several hit Eagles tunes, including “Best of My Love,” “Heartache Tonight,” and “New Kid In Town.” The band’s last big chart hit, 2009’s “How Long,” was written by Souther.

Souther wrote several hits for Linda Rondstadt as well, and produced several tracks for her 1973 album Don’t Cry Now. At the urging of label boss David Geffen, Souther hooked up with former Byrds member Chris Hillman and Poco’s Richie Furay in a country-rock “supergroup,” the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band. That collaboration lasted for a couple of modestly-successful albums circa 1974-75 before Souther returned to session work, songwriting, and his fledgling solo career.

In amidst all this activity, and almost overshadowed by his higher-profile songwriting triumphs, Souther had released three solo albums for Geffen’s Asylum Records label. All three of Souther’s long out-of-print Asylum albums were reissued on CD earlier this year by archival specialists Omnivore Recordings, re-mastered with bonus tracks and new liner notes that included fresh interviews with the artist. On September 21st, 2018 those Souther albums will return to vinyl when Omnivore reissues John David Souther, Black Rose, and Home by Dawn on high-quality 180gr vinyl. All three LPs were cut from the original analog masters by Kevin Gray at Cohearent and were overseen by Souther and Omivore’s award-winning Cheryl Pawelski.

The critically-acclaimed self-titled album John David Souther was released in 1972. Arguably a minor classic of country-flavored ‘70s “avocado rock” (a term coined by Souther’s friend, writer Bill Martin), the album featured a slew of great songs written by Souther as well as studio guests like guitarists Wayne Perkins and Ned Doheny; bassists Chris Ethridge and Brian Garafalo; drummers John Barbata and Gary Mallaber and, of course, his friend Glenn Frey.  

Black Rose followed in 1976, about which Rolling Stone magazine scribe Stephen Holden wrote “John David Souther’s second solo album benefits from a beautiful, all-star Peter Asher production. More sophisticated than either his first album or the two Souther-Hillman-Furay albums, Black Rose underscores Souther’s melodic writing.” Black Rose also featured a veritable “who’s who” of Cali rock, including several members of the Eagles, Lowell George of Little Feat, jazz legend Stanley Clarke, and guitarist Joe Walsh. The vinyl reissue of Black Rose features updated album artwork that no longer features the artist’s name and title, which is how Souther originally intended.

After a short detour to Columbia Records, Souther recorded another album for Asylum, 1984’s Home by Dawn. Produced by David Malloy (known for his work on album by country stars like Eddie Rabbit and Reba McEntire), Home by Dawn saw Souther move further towards a pure country sound that would prove influential on a generation of Nashville artists to follow.

Souther would take a lengthy hiatus from recording, returning to music in 2008 with a new solo album. During the interim, he worked frequently as an actor, with a recurring role on the hit TV show Thirtysomething and movies like 1990’s Postcards From the Edge. It was with his trio of Asylum Records albums that Souther built his reputation as a singer and songwriter, however, and it will be good to get them back on shiny black vinyl again after better than 30 years.