New Music Monthly: July 2018 Releases

The industry typically slows down during the dog days of summer, but July this year has a bounty of great music by some solid rock, blues, and Americana artists. For you blooze fans, check out new tunes by Rory Block, Boz Scaggs, and the Apocalypse Blues Revue. For the rockers among you, there are reissues of classic LPs by folks like Guadalcanal Diary, Soul Asylum, and the almighty Lords of the New Church as well as new jams from folks like Ty Segall, Willie Nile, and Peter Holsapple.

I didn't forget my Americana friends, either, the genre represented this month by the legendary Kinky Friedman's first album of new music in 40 years as well as platters by the Jayhawks and Elvin Bishop (which, to be fair, treads the fine line between Americana and blues). And for those folks that prefer their music on vinyl, how about reissues of albums by Rolling Stone bassist Bill Wyman, Americana star Jason Isbell, British space music pioneers Hawkwind, Swans, and U2?! No matter your taste in music, there's something this month for everybody!

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!

JULY 6
The Animals - Animalisms   BUY!
Rory Block - A Woman's Soul   BUY!
Fate's Warning - Live Over Europe   BUY!
Kinky Friedman - Circus of Life [first new album in 40 years]   BUY!
Hawkwind - Live Hits [vinyl]   BUY!
The Nude Party - The Nude Party   BUY!
Wishbone Ash - Here to Hear (import)   BUY!

JULY 13
Cowboy Junkies - All That Reckoning   BUY!
Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio - Something Smells Funky 'Round Here   BUY!
Guadalcanal Diary - At Your Birthday Party   BUY!
Jason Isbell - Sirens of the Ditch [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
The Jayhawks - Back Roads and Abandoned Motels   BUY!
Bill Wyman - Monkey Grip [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
Bill Wyman - Stone Alone [vinyl reissue]   BUY! 

JULY 20
Apocalypse Blues Revue - The Shape of Blues To Come   BUY!
Lords of the New Church - Lords of the New Church: Special Edition   BUY!
Ty Segall & White Fence - Joy   BUY!
Soul Asylum - Made To Be Broken   BUY!
Soul Asylum - Say What You Will...Everything Can Happen   BUY!
Swans - Soundtracks For the Blind [vinyl reissue]   BUY!

JULY 27
Galen Ayers - Monument [daughter of Kevin Ayers]  BUY!
Drivin N Cryin' - Too Late To Turn Back Now [reissue]   BUY!
Peter Holsapple - Game Day   BUY!
Willie Nile - Children of Paradise   BUY!
Michael Romeo - War of the Worlds, Pt. 1   BUY!
Boz Scaggs - Out of the Blues   BUY!
Dee Snider - For the Love of Metal   BUY!
U2 - Achtung Baby [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
U2 - The Best of 1980-1990 [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
U2 - Zooropa [vinyl reissue]   BUY!

Album of the Month: In a month with promising new albums from both Peter Holsapple of the dB's and Willie Nile, I'm going to have to go with Nile's Children of Paradise. Although Holsapple is an extremely talented songwriter and musician, he hasn't released a solo album in 21 years, and his last recording altogether was six years ago, with the wonderful dB's 2012 reunion album Falling Off the Sky. We're not sure what we're going to get, we just figure that it's going to be good. With Nile, though, who has been cranking out new music every couple of years, the singer/songwriter may be at the top of his game; his songwriting pen is sharp and his lyrics insightful and concise, the music rockin' like nobody's business. If you could only afford one album this month, I'd go with the Willie Nile. But if you can squeeze two CD purchases into July, grab the Peter Holsapple disc, too...you'll be glad that you did!  

Lords of the New Church Debut LP Expanded

Lords of the New Church

Comprised of the Dead Boys’ Stiv Bators, the Damned’s Brian James, Sham 69’s Dave Tregunna, and the Barracuda’s Nick Turner, Lords of the New Church were the first “supergroup” of the post-punk era. The band’s self-titled 1982 debut album stands as one of the true classic rockers of the era, and now the title is going to get an overhaul and expansion for the new century.

On July 20, 2018 Blixa Sounds will reissue the band’s debut album as a two-disc set titled Lords of the New Church: Special Edition. The set will feature the album’s ten original songs as well as two B-side bonus tracks in “Girls Girls Girls” and “Young Don’t Cry” as well as the single version of the band’s Top 30 hit “Open Your Eyes.”

The album will be expanded with the addition of a 13-song live set from 1982, performing at the legendary Long Island NY club My Father’s Place. Along with high-octane live versions of songs from their debut like “Question of Temperature,” “Russian Roulette,” “Holy War,” and “Apocalypso” the live disc also features a cover of New Orleans music legend Allen Toussaint’s “Fortune Teller.” The set also includes a twelve-page, full-color booklet with liner notes by music journalist Craig Rosen.

Formed in 1980 by Bators and James at the suggestion of I.R.S. Records founder Miles Copeland, the Lords originally included former Generation X bassist Tony James and Clash drummer Terry Chimes. James’ former Damned bandmate Rat Scabies even sat in on drums for a while, before the band line-up gelled with the addition of Tregunna and Turner. Although their time in the sun was short-lived, Lords of the New Church released three classic rock albums between 1982 and their 1989 break-up, following up on their debut with Is Nothing Sacred? in 1983 and The Method to Our Madness a year later.

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Lords of the New Church: Special Edition

STIV: The Life and Times of A Dead Boy

Stiv Bators was a one-of-a-kind rock ‘n’ roll frontman, a charismatic singer and performer who, while maybe not the greatest singer in the history of the genre, was nonetheless talented enough to infuse his lyrical delivery with no little attitude and emotion. Bators is, perhaps, best known as the singer for Cleveland, Ohio punk pioneers the Dead Boys, and for the international hard rock outfit Lords of the New Church, the former a legendary and influential group and the latter enjoying modest commercial success both stateside and in the U.K.

Few but the faithful know that Bators was a solo artist with a fine, if obscure pop-punk album recorded for Greg Shaw’s Bomp! Records label. He was also the frontman for a number of long-forgotten, fly-by-night bands like the Whores of Babylon (with Dee Dee Ramone and Johnny Thunders of the New York Dolls) and the Wanderers (with Dave Tregunna of Sham 69). Bators tragic, accidental death in 1990 robbed the world of rock ‘n’ roll of an influential voice.

STIV: The Life and Times of A Dead Boy is a feature-length documentary film focused on Bators and his care3er. The first film ever made about the controversial singer, Bators’ life will be remembered through archive footage, photography, music, and new interviews with those who knew him. Filmmaker Danny Garcia will direct the project, and it’s not his first rodeo in the punk rock arena, with films like The Rise and Fall of the Clash and Sad Vacation: The Last Days of Sid and Nancy to his credit.

With a tentative release date of May 2018, Garcia has launched an IndieGoGo crowdfunding effort to raise the cash to complete the film. With a number of interviews already in the can, the filmmaker needs to raise some cash to conduct more interviews, edit the film footage, and license music for the movie. Listen to some classic Stiv tunes like “Sonic Reducer,” “Ain’t It Fun,” or “Russian Routlette” and then surf over to the STIV fundraising page and check out the various perks available for your support of this worthwhile project.

Lords of the New Church Revisited by Real Gone Music

When they formed in 1981, Lords of the New Church was a sort of intercontinental punk "supergroup." Comprised of singer Stiv Bators (Dead Boys), guitarist Brian James (The Damned), bassist Dave Tregunna (Sham 69), and drummer Nick Turner (The Barracudas), the band transcended its punk/hardcore roots to deliver a sound that mixed punk's energy with garage and hard rock, their songs replete with melody and sing-along choruses that separated them from much of what was going on in either the U.S. or the U.K. at the time. The Lords' live performances were the stuff of legend, Stiv picking up the torch from punk godfather Iggy and nearly killing himself on stage every night, while James' underrated fretwork soared above the yeoman work of a solid rhythm section.

The Lords released three albums proper during their roughly eight years in the trenches circa 1981-1988, not counting multiple "hits" collections and live discs sporting bootleg quality sound and dodgy provenance. These three albums – the self-titled 1982 debut, 1983's Is Nothing Sacred? and 1984's The Method to Our Madness – are essential 1980s-era rock 'n' roll listening, influential and entertaining and, sadly, out of print for years. Thanks to Real Gone Music, all three albums will be reissued on September 30th, 2013 with spiffed-up sound and new liner notes from Scott Schinder. Sadly, none of the reissues include bonus tracks, and you're going to have to find a copy of the Killer Lords CD to hear the band's incredibly ramshackle cover of Madonna's "Like A Virgin."

The three releases are part of RealGone's September schedule, which also includes albums from Billy Preston and more live music from the Grateful Dead.

Lords of the New Church - "Russian Roulette"

 

Lords of the New Church - "Little Boys Play With Dolls"