The Reverend's Guide to Record Store Day 2026

For those of you who celebrate the holiday, Record Store Day is rapidly approaching, and if you haven’t scanned the list of available hot wax at least a dozen times by now, what sort of record collector are you? It’s shaping up to be one of the best RSD events in recent memory – sure, there are a bunch of major label retreads, reissues of albums you didn’t want to buy when they were new, and gimmicky picture discs and 3” records (really…this is something we needed?) – but this spring’s sale also includes a bunch of previously-unreleased studio and live gems worth your time and money.

What follows below is the Reverend’s carefully-curated list of Record Store Releases that I’ll be spending my hard-earned coin on buying. There are other titles of merit on this year’s list – your tastes may vary – as well as more than a few albums that I already own on vinyl and/or CD and see no reason to part with a dollar to get the newest and hottest version of such. The below-listed flapjacks are those that I think will provide the most bang for your buck, and to buy every LP here will run you a cool $300+ so if you haven’t been saving your pennies (do they still exist?), well, shame on you… 

Marshall Crenshaw - The Bootleg Sounds of Marshall Crenshaw: 1984-87 (Yep Roc Records)
    Crenshaw is a helluva songwriter and performer, so The Bootleg Sounds of Marshall Crenshaw: 1984-87 promises to be a real banger. Marshall personally dug through his archives to assemble this special vinyl release, which includes unreleased recordings, demo tapes, and live takes recorded during the noted time period that resulted in acclaimed LPs like Downtown, Mary Jane & 9 Others, and Good Evening. The 14-track album includes a bunch of original tunes as well as covers of Gene Pitney’s “Town Without Pity” and Buddy Holly’s “That’ll Be the Day,” recorded with Garry Tallent and Max Weinberg of the E Street Band. Fun fact: Crenshaw portrayed Holly in the 1987 Ritchie Valens biopic La Bamba, performing Holly’s “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” in the movie and on the soundtrack album. 

The dB’s - Cycles Per Second: US Tour 2024 (Propeller Sound Recordings) 
    Peter Holsapple and the dB’s have enjoyed a modicum of “rediscovery” these past few years, and justifiably so…the band’s power-pop flecked, old school indie rock sound is unique to the dB’s, one of the finest bands from the 1980s ‘college rock’ era. Propeller Sound Recordings reissued the band’s first two albums – 1981’s Stands for deciBels and 1982’s Repercussion – a couple years back, which resulted in a 2024 reunion tour featuring all four original band members (yes, even Chris Stamey!). Cycles Per Second is a document of that tour, a baker’s dozen of classic dB’s tunes including fan faves like “Black and White,” “Love Is For Lovers,” “Lonely Is,” and the scorching “Amplifier.” The album has been pressed on ‘firework splatter’ vinyl for RSD and includes a full-color inset of tour photos.

The Dream Syndicate - Sketches For Medicine Show (Fire Records)
    The Dream Syndicate released a wonderful, deluxe four-CD box set of the band’s 1984 sophomore album Medicine Show late last year, and fans thought that was about all that the archives held for that period of the band’s history. Come Record Store Day 2026, however, a new chapter will be written with Sketches For Medicine Show, a collection of rare recordings circa 1983-84 that includes a handful of rehearsal recordings and live tracks including the band’s unique version of Bob Dylan’s “Knocking On Heaven’s Door” and Bonnie Dobson’s anti-war folk classic “Morning Dew.” Syndicate frontman Steve Wynn has assured fans via social media that none of the seven tracks on Sketches were included on the deluxe box set, so this LP offers all new munchies for your ears. This may also be the rarest of this year’s RSD releases, with only 600 copies distributed regionally.

Freddie King - Feeling Alright: The Complete 1975 Nancy Jazz Pulsation Concerts (Elemental Music)
    There aren’t that many blues releases on this spring’s RSD slate, but this triple-disc Freddie King live set should make up for the lack of quantity with a collection of unparalleled quality. Capturing the legendary blues guitarist performing before 50,000 fans at France’s Nancy Jazz Pulsations Festival in October 1975, the album is previously unreleased. Produced by award-winning reissue wizard Zev Feldman, and sourced from original ORTF (Office de radiodiffusion-télévision française) recordings, the discs are pressed on 180-gram vinyl and the title is authorized by King’s estate. The release includes appreciations of the artists from his daughter Wanda King and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons as well as extensive liner notes from music journalist and historian (and a friend of mine) Cary Baker. If a three-LP set is a bit too rich for your bank account, budget-friendly CD and digital versions will be released on April 24th. 

Ngozi Family - Gate Crash ’78 (Now-Again Records)
    This Zamrock stuff scratches a 1970s-era rock ‘n’ roll itch you didn’t know you had, and everything I’ve heard from the Ngozi Family, Paul Ngozi, Chrissy Zebby Tembo, Witch, and other bands from Zambia’s ‘70s rock scene is of uniformly high quality and high energy. Gate Crash ’78 is a long-lost Ngozi Family/Chrissy Zebby Tembo album that was test-pressed but never released back in the day. This is number one on my RSD hit parade, and once you’ve heard guitarist Paul Ngozi, it’ll be high on your list too. Now-Again Records has done an admirable job in documenting this obscure corner of rock ‘n’ roll history, and Gate Crash ’78 carries on the tradition with an eight-page booklet featuring rare photos and details on the Ngozi Family’s amazing history.

The Ramones - Live In San Francisco (Rhino Records)
    Another year and another live Ramones disc hits the shelves – and we have Rhino Records to thank! The tracklists on all these authorized live hubcaps, as well as most of the recent glut of bootleg vinyl, don’t vary by that many songs and, well, they’re the Ramones, so they mostly all deliver the same electrifying tightrope walk of sound. But we fanatics buy ‘em up anyway, like good little lemmings collecting baseball cards, and since this is a long overdue authorized release of the band’s 1979 City Hall Plaza show in San Francisco for the End of the Century tour, we’ll probably buy this one as well. Often bootlegged (notably as City Hall by Bad Joker Records and Live 1977 & 1979 by Live Wire Productions), the legit release offers up 27 songs on two LPs pressed on 140-gram ‘neon pink’ vinyl. 

Runt w/Todd Rundgren - The Necessary Cosmic Frenzy (Rhino Records)
    This is another title high on my “buy” list, the first ever solo performance by rock legend and innovator, Todd Rundgren. Runt was Rundgren’s first band after the Nazz – it was really a solo joint to begin with – and he’d be billed under his own name soon after the release of the lone, self-titled and excellent Runt album in 1970. This live performance from Philadelphia’s Sigma Sound Studios took place on June 30th, 1971 and was broadcast by WMMR-FM radio. Rundgren was backed for the occasion by his future Utopia bandmember “Moogy” Klingman, bassist Stu Wood, guitarist Tom Cosgrove, and drummer Norman “N.D.” Smart. Rundgren would leave Runt in the rearview mirror with the release of the expansive Something/Anything? two-album set in 1972 and the rest, as they say, is history.

Thin Lizzy - Live In Cleveland 1976 (UMR/Vertigo Records)
    After several years spent treading the boards, British hard rock band Thin Lizzy, fronted by an Irish singer, songwriter, and bassist – the musical genius that was Phil Lynott – broke through to stateside audiences in 1976 with a pair of acclaimed albums, Jailbreak and Johnny the Fox. This FM radio broadcast was originally included as part of 2024’s six-disc 1976 box set, broken out here as a stand-alone 2-LP set pressed on transparent vinyl. The May 1976 concert, broadcast on Cleveland’s WMMS-FM, includes most of the songs from Jailbreak as well as a handful of earlier tunes. I have personal knowledge of the depth of WMMS’s tape archives, and if they’re starting to produce these live shows for vinyl reissue, we collectors are in for a treat!      

Honorable Mention (i.e. other groovy RSD releases to consider): Dr. Feelgood’s Oil City Confidential, the soundtrack to director Julien Temple’s 2009 film about the influential 1970s British R&B band; The Gits’ Etcetera, an odds ‘n’ sods collection of rarities and live tracks from the ill-fated but influential punk rock band; The Mooney Suzuki’s People Get Ready, a 25th anniversary reissue of the Detroit sound-adjacent rockers’ classic album with a bonus 1999 concert disc; John Prine’s BBC Sessions, a nine-song collection of material from the acclaimed singer/songwriter’s first two albums, performed live on BBC radio; Terry Callier’s At The Earl of Old Town, a cool live show from the 1970s-era folk/jazz/blues guitarist (who found a modicum of fame in the 1990s in the U.K.); and SRC’s Milestones, the Detroit rocker’s acclaimed sophomore album, a masterful mix of hard rock, prog, and British Invasion influences. 

Archive Review: Todd Rundgren's Todd Live (2010)

Save for a loyal but rapidly-graying audience, Todd Rundgren is in danger of being lost amidst a sea of cookie-cutter indie-rockers that don’t possess an ounce of his individuality, innovative nature, or sheer musical “chutzpah.” As close to a true renaissance man as rock ‘n’ roll has created, Rundgren – a talented multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, video and multi-media artist, and tech wizard – has pretty much always done it his way, often with interesting results, exploring the outer limits of pop, rock, prog, and electronic music both as a solo artist and with his band Utopia.

Although he’s been making music for better than 40 years now, the anything-goes 1970s were Rundgren’s era, the prolific musician cranking out eleven critically-acclaimed albums that hit the charts with varying commercial returns over the ten-year period. The double-disc 1972 album Something/Anything? provided Rundgren with a modicum of pop stardom, a not entirely-welcome status that the artist quickly denied with the following year’s difficult-albeit-exciting album A Wizard, A True Star. Featuring nearly 56-minutes of music crammed onto two sides of vinyl…a technological marvel in and of itself for the time…side one of the album featured a Beatlesque extended medley of proggish rock, side two a few pop/rock songs surrounding a ten-minute medley of R&B hits.

Todd Rundgren’s Todd

Against this backdrop, the release of the double-album Todd in February 1974 found the artist’s fans wondering which Todd Rundgren would show up in the grooves. While Todd ventured further into the musical experimentation that Rundgren began with A Wizard, A True Star, especially considering the artist’s growing fascination with synthesizers and other technological means to shape music, in truth the album also crossed paths with Todd’s Something/Anything? era pop-rock cheap thrills and Utopia’s just-over-the-horizon electronic adventures.

Although Todd didn’t set the woods on fire commercially, the pricey double-LP did climb to #54 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart, and yielded a minor hit (#69) in the lofty, ethereal-pop tune “A Dream Goes On Forever.” Undaunted, Rundgren moved onward and upward with 1975’s aggressive Initiation, a reckless synthfest that further pushed the boundaries of vinyl capabilities with better than 30-minutes of music squeezed onto each side, the album’s electronic-rock soundscape furthering the artistic sojourn that Rundgren had begun with the release of the Todd Rundgren’s Utopia album a few months after Todd.

Whereas Todd Rundgren’s Utopia would initially best Todd in sales, rising to #34 on the album chart without the benefit of a hit single, through the years the equally-difficult Todd has taken on an aura of its own, the album’s reputation often preceding the actual listening, with gems like the aforementioned “A Dream Goes On Forever,” rocker “Heavy Metal Kids,” and Rundgren’s flirtations with Gilbert & Sullivan satisfying the curious and influencing a generation of like-minded fellow-travelers to follow in Rundgren’s considerable wake.

Todd Live

In 2010, Rundgren put together a band of various friends, including bassist Kasim Sultan from Utopia, guitarist Jesse Gress, keyboardist Greg Hawkes (The Cars), drummer Prairie Prince (The Tubes), and saxophonist Bobby Strickland to perform Todd live, for the first time, in its entirety. The Philadelphia show of the special, limited six-date sold-out mini-tour – which also included a performance of Rundgren’s 1981 album Healing – was recorded and videotaped for subsequent release on CD and DVD. While Healing will be released at a later date, the live performance of Todd is more or less a re-creation of that classic album, in spirit if not exactly musically, minus one song – “In and Out the Chakras We Go.”

While some of the more technologically-created fantasia from the original album has been stripped from this live performance, modern electronics allow a lot of the factory showroom sheen to rise out of songs like “I Think You Know,” a discordant albeit lovely mid-tempo ballad with shimmering fretwork and squalls of electronic snowfall. Rundgren’s operatic satire of the music biz, “An Elpee’s Worth of Toons,” mixes Gilbert & Sullivan with a dash of Utopia-styled electronica and a pop/rock vibe to deliver its devastating lyrical message amidst a cacophony of instrumentation and Todd’s best bent vocals. Changing directions so rapidly that it could give the listener whiplash, Rundgren and crew slide effortlessly into the ethereal “A Dream Goes On Forever,” this live version slightly less busy than the studio reading, but lacking none of the bittersweet melancholy of the original.

Rundgren further indulges in his Gilbert & Sullivan obsession with a spry cover of “Lord Chancellor’s Nightmare Song,” evoking memories of Sideshow Bob from The Simpsons. This performance is pure delight, Rundgren’s unabashed enthusiasm dripping from his nimble vocals as Greg Hawkes’ provides the rhythmic backdrop with his chopping piano play. One of the overlooked gems from the original Todd was the hard rocking “Everybody’s Going to Heaven/King Kong Reggae” mash-up, the live version pounding at the pavement with jackhammer ferocity, guitar-drums-bass-keyboards slam-dancing behind Todd’s strained vocals, the man finally cutting loose with a fire-and-brimstone guitar solo before breaking down into the monster jam that is “King King Reggae.”

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Another overlooked cut from Todd was the smooth-as-silk pop song “Izzat Love?” With an undeniable melodic hook and harmony vocals rising about the swirl of low-key instrumentation, the song sounds like something from Todd’s early band Runt, updated with a few modern flourishes but otherwise a lofty example of Rundgren’s 1960s-styled pop/rock chops. The song ends abruptly, descending into madness in an electronic storm, leading into the muscular, blustery “Heavy Metal Kids,” an up-tempo rocker with malevolent intentions, crashing drumbeats, and tortured guitarplay. Todd ends with the gospel-tinged pop of “Songs of 1984,” a perfect showcase for both Rundgren’s songwriting skills but also his immensely diverse musical sense, the mid-tempo verses brought up a notch by the uplifting, choir-like choruses.    

While it’s unlikely that this live Todd will gain Rundgren many new fans, it’s certain to appeal to his horde of longtime followers…but if a couple of young pups are curious after hearing the live versions of these songs and decide to check out the originals, or other equally-exciting entries in Rundgren’s large early catalog – many of which have been repackaged by British archival label Edsel Records as reasonably-priced double CD sets – all the better! (Rock Beat Records)

Review originally published by Blurt magazine, 2010

Archive Review: Todd Rundgren's Todd Live (2012)

Save for a loyal but rapidly-graying audience, Todd Rundgren is in danger of being lost amidst a sea of cookie-cutter indie-rockers that don’t possess an ounce of his individuality, innovative nature, or sheer musical “chutzpah.” As close to a true renaissance man as rock ‘n’ roll has created, Rundgren – a talented multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, video and multi-media artist, and tech wizard – has pretty much always done it his way, often with interesting results, exploring the outer limits of pop, rock, prog, and electronic music both as a solo artist and with his band Utopia.

Although he’s been making music for better than 40 years now, the anything-goes 1970s were Rundgren’s era, the prolific musician cranking out eleven critically-acclaimed albums that hit the charts with varying commercial returns over the ten year period. The double-disc 1972 album Something/Anything? provided Rundgren with a modicum of pop stardom, a not entirely-welcome status that the artist quickly denied with the following year’s difficult-albeit-exciting album A Wizard, A True Star. Featuring nearly 56-minutes of music crammed onto two sides of vinyl…a technological marvel in and of itself for the time…side one of the album featured a Beatlesque extended medley of proggish rock, side two a few pop/rock songs surrounding a ten-minute medley of R&B hits.

A Wizard, A True Star

Against this backdrop, the release of the double-album Todd in February 1974 found the artist’s fans wondering which Todd Rundgren would show up in the grooves. While Todd ventured further into the musical experimentation that Rundgren began with A Wizard, A True Star, especially considering the artist’s growing fascination with synthesizers and other technological means to shape music, in truth the album also crossed paths with Todd’s Something/Anything? era pop-rock cheap thrills and Utopia’s just-over-the-horizon electronic adventures.

Although Todd didn’t set the woods on fire commercially, the pricey double-LP did climb to #54 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart, and yielded a minor hit (#69) in the lofty, ethereal-pop tune “A Dream Goes On Forever.” Undaunted, Rundgren moved onward and upward with 1975’s aggressive Initiation, a reckless synthfest that further pushed the boundaries of vinyl capabilities with better than 30-minutes of music squeezed onto each side, the album’s electronic-rock soundscape furthering the artistic sojourn that Rundgren had begun with the release of the Todd Rundgren’s Utopia album a few months after Todd.

Whereas Todd Rundgren’s Utopia would initially best Todd in sales, rising to #34 on the album chart without the benefit of a hit single, through the years the equally-difficult Todd has taken on an aura of its own, the album’s reputation often preceding the actual listening, with gems like the aforementioned “A Dream Goes On Forever,” rocker “Heavy Metal Kids,” and Rundgren’s flirtations with Gilbert & Sullivan satisfying the curious and influencing a generation of like-minded fellow-travelers to follow in Rundgren’s considerable wake.

Todd Rundgren’s Todd Live

In 2010, Rundgren put together a band of various friends, including bassist Kasim Sultan from Utopia, guitarist Jesse Gress, keyboardist Greg Hawkes (The Cars), drummer Prairie Prince (The Tubes), and saxophonist Bobby Strickland to perform Todd live, for the first time, in its entirety. The Philadelphia show of the special, limited, six-date sold-out mini-tour – which also included a performance of Rundgren’s 1981 album Healing – was recorded and videotaped for subsequent release on CD and DVD. While Healing will be released at a later date, the live performance of Todd is more or less a re-creation of that classic album, in spirit if not exactly musically, minus one song – “In and Out the Chakras We Go.”

While some of the more technologically-created fantasia from the original album has been stripped from this live performance, modern electronics allow a lot of the factory showroom sheen to rise out of songs like “I Think You Know,” a discordant albeit lovely mid-tempo ballad with shimmering fretwork and squalls of electronic snowfall. Rundgren’s operatic satire of the music biz, “An Elpee’s Worth of Toons,” mixes Gilbert & Sullivan with a dash of Utopia-styled electronica and a pop/rock vibe to deliver its devastating lyrical message amidst a cacophony of instrumentation and Todd’s best bent vocals. Changing directions so rapidly that it could give the listener whiplash, Rundgren and crew slide effortlessly into the ethereal “A Dream Goes On Forever,” this live version slightly less busy than the studio reading, but lacking none of the bittersweet melancholy of the original.

Rundgren further indulges in his Gilbert & Sullivan obsession with a spry cover of “Lord Chancellor’s Nightmare Song,” evoking memories of Sideshow Bob from The Simpsons. This performance is pure delight, Rundgren’s unabashed enthusiasm dripping from his nimble vocals as Greg Hawkes’ provides the rhythmic backdrop with his chopping piano play. One of the overlooked gems from the original Todd was the hard rocking “Everybody’s Going to Heaven/King Kong Reggae” mash-up, the live version pounding at the pavement with jackhammer ferocity, guitar-drums-bass-keyboards slam-dancing behind Todd’s strained vocals, the man finally cutting loose with a fire-and-brimstone guitar solo before breaking down into the monster jam that is “King King Reggae.”

Another overlooked cut from Todd was the smooth-as-silk pop song “Izzat Love?” With an undeniable melodic hook and harmony vocals rising about the swirl of low-key instrumentation, the song sounds like something from Todd’s early band Runt, updated with a few modern flourishes but otherwise a lofty example of Rundgren’s 1960s-styled pop/rock chops. The song ends abruptly, descending into madness in an electronic storm, leading into the muscular, blustery “Heavy Metal Kids,” an up-tempo rocker with malevolent intentions, crashing drumbeats, and tortured guitarplay. Todd Live ends with the gospel-tinged pop of “Songs of 1984,” a perfect showcase for both Rundgren’s songwriting skills but also his immensely diverse musical sense, the mid-tempo verses brought up a notch by the uplifting, choir-like choruses.    

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

While it’s unlikely that Todd Live will gain Rundgren many new fans, it’s certain to appeal to his horde of longtime followers…but if a couple of young pups are curious after hearing the live versions of these songs and decide to check out the originals, or other equally-exciting entries in Rundgren’s large early catalog – many of which have been repackaged by British archival label Edsel Records as reasonably-priced double CD sets – all the better! (Rock Beat Records, released 2011)

Review originally published by Blurt magazine, 2012

New Music Monthly: May 2020 Releases

Maybe May will be the month that this damn Covid-19 crapola goes the way of the do-do and we can all get out again to the clubs and record stores and imbibe on our favorite tunes. Distribution woes aside, the month promises an impressive slate of new tunes, including albums by American Aquarium, Willie Nile, Steve Earle, Jason Isbell, Marshall Chapman, and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, among many others! For those of you who dig the sounds of the past, check out the six-disc live set from Todd Rundgren's Utopia or the more affordable two-disc live set from Richard Thompson. No matter your taste in music, there's something here for everybody...

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!

MAY 1
American Aquarium - Lamentations   BUY!
Built to Spill - Built To Spill Plays the Songs of Daniel Johnston   BUY!
The Psychedelic Furs - Made of Rain   BUY!
Todd Rundgren's Utopia - Benefit For Moogy Klingman [six-CD live box]   BUY!

MAY 8
Airborne Toxic Event - Hollywood Park   BUY!
Lamb of God - Lamb of God   BUY!
Mark Lanegan - Straight Songs of Sorrow   BUY!
John Stewart - Old Forgotten Altars: The 1960s Demos   BUY!
Richard Thompson - Live At Rock City: Nottingham 1986   BUY!

MAY 15
Marshall Chapman - Songs I Can't Live Without   BUY!
Ruthie Foster Big Band - Live At the Paramount   BUY!
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - Reunions   BUY!
King Buzzo - Gift of Sacrifice   BUY!
Magnetic Fields - Quickies   BUY!
Moby - All Visible Objects   BUY!
Willie Nile - New York At Night   BUY!
Sparks - A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip   BUY!
Weezer - Van Weezer   BUY!

MAY 22
The 1975 - Notes On A Conditional Form   BUY!
Steve Earle & the Dukes - Ghosts of West Virginia   BUY!
Iron City Houserockers - Have A Good Time...But Get Out Alive!   BUY!
Throwing Muses - Sun Racket   BUY!
Woods - Strange To Explain   BUY!

MAY 29
Mick Hayes - My Claim To Fame   BUY!
The Killers - Imploding the Mirage   BUY!
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Chunky Shrapnel   BUY!
Static-X - Project Regeneration   BUY!
Vandenberg - 2020   BUY!

Album of the Month: Tough choice, what with new music from personal faves like Willie Nile, King Gizzard, Jason Isbell, and Steve Earle this month, but I'm gonna have to go with an oldie-but-goodie that has endured for 40 years now – Iron City Houserocker's Have A Good Time...But Get Out Alive! Originally released in 1980, the sophomore effort from these Pittsburgh rockers is even more fierce the band's debut and this two-disc deluxe reissue includes the original LP as well as a bonus disc comprised of 16 previously-unreleased demo tracks including cool covers of "Rooster Blues" and "Doo Wah Diddy." Co-produced by Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson, and Little Steven the album features a batch of original Joe Grushecky songs guaranteed to rock yer turntable! A vinyl version will be released in June with a download card for all the bonus material. The Rev sez "check it out!"

New Music Monthly: April 2019 Releases

Welcome to Spring 2019! The flowers are blooming, the weather is getting warmer, and maybe it's raining wherever you are. But there's plenty of great music being released this month to keep you company, including new tunes from folks like Jimbo Mathus, Melissa Etheridge, Will Kimbrough, Nils Lofgren, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, and bluesman Harpdog Brown. Throw in live discs from Todd Rundgren's Utopia and Lone Justice, and archive releases from Professor Longhair, reggae legends Culture, and Pearl Harbour & the Explosions and April shapes up to be a helluva month for music!

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! 

APRIL 5
The Drums - Brutalism   BUY!
Lee Fields & the Expressions - It Rains Love   BUY!
Dana Gillespie - What Memories We Make: Complete Mainman Recordings 1971-1974   BUY!
Idlewild - Interview Music   BUY!
Jimbo Mathus - Incinerator   BUY!
Priests - The Seduction of Kansas   BUY!
Professor Longhair - Live On the Queen Mary   BUY!
Professor Louie & The Crowmatix - Songs Of Inspiration   BUY!
Todd Rundgren's Utopia - Live at the Chicago Theatre [CD/DVD]   BUY!

APRIL 12
The Budos Band - V   BUY!
Culture - The Nighthawk Recordings   BUY!
Melissa Etheridge - The Medicine Show   BUY!
Lone Justice - Live at the Palomino, 1983   BUY!
Pearl Harbor & the Explosions - Pearl Harbour & the Explosions [reissue]   BUY!
Shovels & Rope - By Blood   BUY!

APRIL 19
Cage the Elephant - Social Cues   BUY!
Will Kimbrough - I Like It Down Here   BUY!
Mitch Woods - A Tip of the Hat To Fats   BUY!

APRIL 26
Harpdog Brown - For Love & Money   BUY!
J.J. Cale - Stay Around [posthumous release]   BUY!
The Cranberries - In the End   BUY!
The Damned Things - High Crimes   BUY!
Craig Finn - I Need A New War   BUY!
Foxygen - Seeing Other People   BUY!
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Fishing For Fishies   BUY!
Nils Lofgren - Blue With Lou   BUY!
The Mountain Goats - In League With Dragons   BUY!
Nine Shrines - Retribution Therapy   BUY!

Album of the Month: Dana Gillespie's What Memories We Make: Complete Mainman Recordings 1971-1974 is a two-disc set that collects the powerhouse vocalist's two RCA Records albums she made while hanging around David Bowie and was managed by MainMain. This includes her bluesy, critically-acclaimed 1973 RCA debut Weren't Born A Man and the rapid follow-up, 1974's Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle. Throw in some alternative versions and demo recordings from the rare 1971 BOWPROMO promotional-only album and you have a complete document of an important era in the artist's career. Gillespie is undergoing a bit of a rediscover these days – aside from What Memories We Make, the newly-revived Rev-Ola Records label also recently reissued the singer's first two albums for Decca Records on CD as London Social Scene.  

It’s Election Day! Vote for your Rock & Roll of Fame nominees!

The MC5 photo by Leni Sinclair

The nominees were chosen a month or so ago, but today is election day across the U.S.A. so after you’ve gone and do your civic duty, log onto the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame website and register to vote for your favorite artists to be inducted into the “mistake on the lake.” Fan voting doesn’t ensure that an artist gets honored, but it seems to reflect the zeitgeist of the HoF insiders.

I voted for the five artists listed below, each with a brief reason why I picked the Zombies, MC5, John Prine, Roxy Music, and Todd Rundgren for my ballot. Other artists included on this year’s HoF slate include Stevie Nicks, Def Leppard, the Cure, Rage Against the Machine, Kraftwerk, Devo, and Radiohead as well as non-rock oriented artists like Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Janet Jackson, and LL Cool J.

The Rev is only going to bang his head against this wall one more time – it’s either the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame or it’s not, and pop and R&B artists like Jackson, Rufus, and rapper LL Cool J shouldn’t be inducted unless it’s really a “pop culture” HoF, in which case they should change the damn name of the institution. Right now Def Leppard and Stevie Nicks lead the fan voting, with Todd Rundgren (surprisingly) in third place. Sadly, the most influential of all these artists, Detroit’s MC5, are currently in last place in fan voting. I’m gonna predict that Nicks, Def Leppard, Radiohead, the Zombies, and Rundgren get the nod tho’ Jackson and Rufus are outside choices. 

The Zombies
They’ve received three previous nominations so if they don’t get in this year I don’t think that they ever will. The influential British band is an overlooked British Invasion participant that scored Top 10 charting hit singles in the U.S. and the U.K. with songs like “She’s Not There,” “Tell Her No,” and “Time of the Season.” Their 1968 album Odessey and Oracle is widely considered a classic of 1960s rock and their influence can be heard in the music of followers like Game Theory, XTC, and even fellow nominee Todd Rundgren.

Todd Rundgren
Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Todd Rundgren is a bona fide music genius but while he’s been eligible for Hall of Fame induction for nearly a quarter-century, this is his first nomination. Todd isn’t the most commercially successful nominee on this list, but he’s undeniably one of the most influential, and over the past 50 years he’s released almost two-dozen studio and live albums, pioneered the use of video in music, and was one of the first to incorporate computers into his work to create interactive multimedia…and that’s just as a solo artist. His work with the prog/electronic/pop outfit Utopia has been widely acclaimed, and Rundgren is also an acclaimed producer who has helmed albums by artists as diverse as XTC, Badfinger, Grand Funk Railroad, Meatloaf, and the New York Dolls, among others. He’s earned his spot… 

Roxy Music
The 1970s-era “glam-rock” outfit Roxy Music is another first-time HoF nominee and they should be inducted immediately, if only for giving the world Bryan Ferry, Phil Manzanera, and Brian Eno. They were big stars in their British homeland, less so in the states, but their eight studio albums circa 1972 to 1982 would become a major influence on “new wave” bands of the 1980s like Duran Duran, the Smiths, Magazine, and Tears For Fears. Roxy songs like “The Thrill of It All,” “Love Is the Drug,” “Both Ends Burning,” and “Avalon” remain classics of suave style and musical substance.

John Prine
Another deserving artist just now receiving his first HoF nomination although he’s been eligible for 22 years, singer/songwriter John Prine is the missing link between Bob Dylan’s 1960s-era albums and Bruce Springsteen’s early 1970s work. Prine has released nearly two-dozen critically-acclaimed albums since his self-titled 1971 debut album, and his original songs like “Sam Stone,” “Angel From Montgomery,” “Hello In There,” and “Sweet Revenge” changed the rules of songwriting like nobody since Dylan himself. A master at blending roots-rock, country, and folk music Prine has won three Grammy® Awards and inspired songwriters like John Hiatt, Todd Snider, and Jason Isbell, among many others.

MC5
Sadly, while the legacy of Motor City sonic terrorists MC5 is safe, the Detroit band’s induction into the HoF is unlikely. This is their fourth nomination to the institution since becoming eligible in 1991 and it’s a real tragedy that they haven’t already been voted in…MC5 may be the most important band on this whole damn list, and although they only released three albums during their brief three-year tenure, they were massively influential, inspiring punks from the Clash and the Sex Pistols to the Dead Boys and Patti Smith as well as more contemporary artists like the White Stripes and Soundgarden. The MC5’s explosive, original mix of hard rock, blues, and jazz delivered with punkish fury continues to find a new audience among disaffected youth decades after the band’s break-up.

Do your duty as a music fan and vote for your favorites for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame! 

Artist photos courtesy of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

New Music Monthly: May 2017 Releases

The list of albums scheduled for May release is mighty impressive, including new music from old friends like the Afghan Whigs, Blondie, Robin Trower, the Suicide Commandos, Todd Rundgren, and the Mountain Goats. There's also a career retrospective from Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, a long-lost LP from rock 'n' roll legend Dion, reissues from Neil Young and Jethro Tull, and cool new blues tunes from Janiva Magness and John Nemeth, both amazing vocalists you should know about. And don't forget our "album of the month," from Nashville's Raging Fire. No matter your taste in music, there's a lot to like in May; here's what you'll be spending your hard-earned coin on buying this month...

MAY 5
The Afghan Whigs - In Spades   BUY!
At The Drive-In - In-ter a-li-a   BUY!
Blondie - Pollinator   BUY!
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Lovely Creatures   BUY!
Robin Trower - Time and Emotion   BUY!
Suicide Commandos - Time Bomb   BUY!
Various Artists - Max's Kansas City 1976 & Beyond   BUY!

MAY 12
Danzig - Black Laden Crown   BUY!
Dion - Kickin' Child   BUY!
Janiva Magness - Blue Again   BUY!
Raging Fire - These Teeth Are Sharp   BUY!
Todd Rundgren - White Knight   BUY!
Paul Weller - A Kind Revolution   BUY!
Neil Young - Official Release Series, Discs 5-8   BUY!
Neil Young - Official Release Series, Discs 8.5-12   BUY!

MAY 19
Selwyn Birchwood - Pick Your Poison   BUY!
DragonForce - Reaching Into Infinity   BUY!
Jethro Tull - Songs From The Wood (40th Anniversary)   BUY!
Pokey LaFarge - Manic Revelations   BUY!
The Mountain Goats - Goths   BUY!
John Nemeth - Feelin' Freaky   BUY!

MAY 26
The Charlatans UK - Different Days   BUY!
Justin Townes Earle - Kids In The Street   BUY!

(Album release dates are subject to change without notice and they don't always let me know, so there...)

Album of the Month: Raging Fire's These Teeth Are Sharp, the Nashville rock legends first new music in 30 years. The popular rockers were one of the best unsigned bands of the '80s, but they never managed to catch the break that would propel them out of the underground and into the major leagues (to be honest, it was hard being a rock band in the Music City in the 1980s...). The surviving band members (Michael Godsey, R.I.P.) reunited in the wake of the release of the retrospective Everything Is Roses 1985-1989 and, liking what they heard, recorded the songs that would become These Teeth Are Sharp. Check 'em out on the band's website and you'll agree that Raging Fire is the best band you've never heard! Watch for a review of the album here in the next couple of weeks, and check out the Reverend's That Devil Music review of Everything Is Roses... 

Todd Rundgren’s Utopia Live at the Old Waldorf LP

Few artists in rock ‘n’ roll have displayed the influence of a restless muse more than musical chameleon Todd Rundgren. The talented singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist has dabbled with a lot of different sounds through his lengthy career, but few have been as influential and enduring as his pioneering prog-rock band Utopia. Formed in 1973 as Todd Rundgren’s Utopia (so named so as to take advantage of the frontman’s modest fame), within a couple of years the band had shed the Rundgren label and gelled around a line-up of Rundgren on guitar and vocals, bassist Kasim Sulton, keyboardist Roger Powell, and drummer Willie Wilcox. Utopia had also evolved into a true band effort, with all four members writing material, singing on the albums, and sharing production and engineering duties.

Utopia released two influential and critically-acclaimed albums in 1977 in Ra and Oops! Wrong Planet, the former being more prog-oriented, the latter evincing more of a pop sound. Touring constantly, Rundgren and Utopia performed in San Francisco on August 5th, 1978 at The Old Waldorf, a show that was captured on tape for posterity. Appearing on CD in England late last year as the first official release for the concert (which shouldn’t be confused with the KSAN-FM radio broadcast from 1979 at the same venue), Utopia's Live at the Old Waldorf presents an inspired mix of Todd’s solo work (“Black and White,” “Hello, It’s Me,” “It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference”) and Utopia material such as “Trapped,” and “Abandon City.”

There has been a slate of semi-legit and authorized Rundgren and Utopia live discs released in the last couple of years, but few of these titles have appeared on vinyl. On December 2nd, 2016 the good people at Real Gone Music will release Utopia’s Live at the Old Waldorf as a limited edition double-LP set on glorious gold vinyl in a gatefold sleeve in a run of 1,000 copies. Featuring sixteen smokin’ performances spanning four sides, you can order your vinyl copy of Live at the Old Waldorf from Amazon.com or directly from the Real Gone Music website.

CD Preview: An Evening with Todd Rundgren

One of the most multi-talented artists in rock music, Todd Rundgren is a singer, songwriter, and producer; he’s a pioneer in the production and promotional use of video; he’s a computer software developer and interactive artist. Rundgren’s legacy is built on better than two dozen solo and studio and live recordings as well as a significant body of work recorded with his band Utopia. As a producer, he’s shepherded more than 50 albums to completion, including successful, charting albums by artists as diverse as Badfinger, Hall & Oates, the New York Dolls, Cheap Trick, Grand Funk Railroad, Meat Loaf, and Patti Smith, among many others.

Rundgren continues to tour and record, and on August 26, 2016 you can “spend an evening” with this legendary artist when Cleopatra Records releases An Evening with Todd Rundgren – Live at Ridgefield, a two-disc CD/DVD set recorded live at the Ridgefield Playhouse in Ridgefield, Connecticut on December 15, 2015. The album features live versions of some of Rundgren’s best-known and beloved songs, including hits like “Hello, It’s Me,” “I Saw The Light,” and “Bang the Drum all Day” as well as songs originally by his bands Nazz and Utopia.

The CD features eighteen songs, including material from a whopping ten Rundgren solo albums like 1972’s Something/Anything, 1976’s Faithful, and 1985’s A Cappella plus songs from three Utopia LPs, including 1977’s Oops! Wrong Planet, and from the acclaimed albums by Rundgren's early band the Nazz, 1968's Nazz and 1969's Nazz Nazz. The DVD offers seven additional songs, and a separate single-disc Blu-ray video version of the performance will also be released.  

Accompanying Rundgren on stage for the show are longtime collaborators Jesse Gress (guitar) and Kasim Sulton (bass) as well as keyboardist John Ferenzik and drummer Prairie Prince (The Tubes, Jefferson Starship). An Evening with Todd Rundgren – Live at Ridgefield is presented in a special six-panel digipak and will also be available as a digital download and as a limited-edition, ten song vinyl album. Rundgren hasn’t released that many live recordings throughout a career that now spans six decades, making this one a ‘gimme’ for Todd fans and fans of classic rock ‘n’ roll.

Buy the CD/DVD from Amazon.com: An Evening With Todd Rundgren
 
An Evening With Todd Rundgren track listing:
1. I Saw The Light
2. Love of The Common Man
3. Open My Eyes
4. Sometimes I Don't Know What To Feel
5. Black And White
6. Buffalo Grass
7. Determination
8. Lost Horizon
9. Bang The Drum All Day
10. Kiddie Boy
11. Black Maria
12. Drive
13. Secret Society
14. Love In Action
15. Couldn't I Just Tell You
16. Can We Still Be Friends
17. Hello It's Me
18. One World

Todd Rundgren’s Box O’ Todd Live Box Set

With so many new album releases every month, it’s easy to overlook something specific that may scratch a musical itch that’s been running like drunken chiggers across your cerebellum. One such release that may have flown under your well-tuned rock ‘n’ roll radar is Box O’Todd, a three-disc, limited edition live box set from legendary singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Todd Rundgren released on March 18th, 2016 by Purple Pyramid, a subsidiary of Cleopatra Records.

Rundgren, of course, has left his mark on rock music as both an artist and producer. After making his bones as an integral member of the bands Nazz and Runt (really a Todd solo vehicle), Rundgren launched his solo career in earnest in 1971 with the classic double-album Something/Anything, on which he played all the instruments on three sides of the disc. Rundgren would subsequently release classic albums like Todd, Faithful, and Hermit of Mink Hollow, finding moderate commercial success and the occasional hit single; his side band, Utopia, provided an outlet for Rundgren’s more outré instrumental compositions. As a producer, Rundgren has worked on classic albums by artists like Meatloaf, the New York Dolls, and Grand Funk Railroad as well as recordings by XTC, Hall & Oates, Sparks, and the Tubes, among others, and he continues to tour and record to this day.   

Box O’Todd features previously unreleased (but frequently bootlegged) live in-studio performances which were all originally broadcast on FM radio at the time. Disc one features a 1971 performance by Rundgren, backed by the Hello People, which was originally broadcast on WMMR-FM in Philadelphia. The Hello People were an odd late 1970s/early ‘80s band that mixed mime and music, and they served as Rundgren’s touring band for a while (Todd also produced their 1975 LP Bricks). The performance offers a mix of songs by Rundgren and the Hello People.

Disc two of Box O’Todd captures a 1972 performance by Rundgren and the Hello People, originally broadcast from the UltraSonic Studios on WLIR-FM radio in Long Island, New York. The third disc of the box features a 1973 performance in Cincinnati which was broadcast by WKRQ-FM and features an early performance by Rundgren with his band Utopia. Box O’Todd also comes with a 20-page booklet featuring liner notes by esteemed writer Dave Thompson (a buddy of mine), rare color photos, a signature guitar pick, three collectible pins, and a backstage pass – goodies that will certainly appeal to the hardcore Todd fan – as will three discs of great live music. 

Buy the CD box from Amazon.com: Todd Rundgren's Box O'Todd

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Box O’Todd track list:

DISC 1 - Live From Philadelphia 1971
1. Banter & Soundcheck
2. Believe In Me
3. Lady On The Terrace
4. I Got My Pipe
5. It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference
6. Rock All Over Again
7. Everybody In The Congregation
8. Broke Down & Busted
9. Tonight I Wanna Love Me A Stranger
10. Ooh Baby Baby
11. Hold Me Tight (Excerpt)
12. Before I Grow Too Old
13. Be Nice To Me
14. I'm Feelin' Better
15. The Ballad (Denny & Jean)

DISC 2 - Ultrasonic Studios 1972
1. Broke Down & Busted
2. Georgia Swing
3. Outside Love
4. Piss Aaron
5. A Dream Goes On Forever
6. I Saw The Light
7. It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference
8. Feels So Good to Be Alive
9. Mad Red Ant Lady
10. Blaze
11. Lady On The Terrace
12. Slut

DISC 3 - Counterpart Studios Cincinnati 1973
1. Intro
2. I Saw The Light
3. A Dream Goes On Forever
4. Piss Aaron
5. Lord Chancellor's Nightmare Song
6. Hello It's Me
7. Banter
8. Utopia Theme
9. Black Maria
10. Hungry For Love
11. The Ikon (Segments)

CD Preview: Todd Rundgren At The BBC 1972-1982

Although he’s enjoyed a hit single or two during his extensive career – which is now in its fifth decade – Todd Rundgren remains the consummate “cult artist,” too often overlooked when the classic rock era is being discussed. Still, Rundgren’s expansive muse, which has danced across the rock, prog-rock, electronic, and pop genres, has resulted in an eclectic body of work displayed on nearly two-dozen albums, both solo and with his band Utopia, that have earned the artist a faithful legion of fans that have long followed him on his sojourn across the musical landscape.

Rundgren’s musical evolution has never been more apparent that it is on the retrospective At The BBC 1972-1982. Scheduled for December 2, 2014 release by Esoteric Recordings – one of the more interesting and adventuresome of the U.K. archival labels – this four-disc set offers an intriguing look back at the artist’s enormous talents during what is arguably the most productive period of Rundgren’s lengthy career. The collection comprises three CDs and a DVD which include all of the surviving radio and television broadcasts by Rundgren extant in the BBC archives. The set features Rundgren’s BBC Radio One “In Concert” performance that occurred in relation to the release of his Top 30 charting 1972 album Something/Anything?

The box also includes the classic 1975 performance by Rundgren and Utopia, including a previously-unreleased song “Something’s Coming,” as well as a 1977 Utopia performance from the Oxford Polytechnic to promote the band’s album Ra. The DVD offers three different performances from The Old Grey Whistle Test TV series, a 1975 session with Rundgren and Utopia, a film of Rundgren and the band at the Bearsville picnic in 1977, and an entire 1982 Rundgren solo performance for The Old Grey Whistle Test with a pair of songs not originally included on the TV broadcast.

All of the performances here have been re-mastered from the original BBC master recordings, and the set is packaged in a clamshell box with an illustrated booklet featuring a new essay. Featuring thirty previously-unreleased tracks across the set, At The BBC 1972-1982 is going to be a “must have” addition to any Rundgren fan’s collection. We have the complete track listing below, as well as a handy link to Amazon.com in case you just can’t wait!

CD Disc One
1. I Saw the Light
2. It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference
3. Piss Aaron
4. Hello It’s Me
5. Be Nice to Me
6. Black Maria
7. Real Man
8. The Seven Rays

Tracks 1-6, Todd Rundgren, BBC Radio One "In Concert," July 1972
Tracks 7 & 8, Todd Rundgren & Utopia, The Old Grey Whistle Test, October 1975

CD Disc Two
1. Freedom Fighters
2. Mister Triskets
3. Something’s Coming
4. The Last Ride
5. Sunset Boulevard / Le Feel Internacionale
6. Heavy Metal Kids
7. The Wheel
8. Open My Eyes
9. Sons of 1984
10. Do Ya
11. Couldn’t I Just Tell You

All tracks, Todd Rundgren & Utopia at the Hammersmith Odeon, October 1975

CD Disc Three
1. Communion with the Sun
2. Love of the Common Man
3. Sunburst Finish
4. Jealousy
5. Windows
6. Singring and the Glass Guitar
7. Utopia Theme

All tracks, Todd Rundgren & Utopia at Oxford Polytechnic, January 1977

DVD Disc Four (NTSC/region free)
1. Real Man
2. The Seven Rays
3. Bearsville Picnic
4. Love of the Common Man
5. It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference
6. Too Far Gone
7. Can We Still Be Friends
8. The Song of the Viking
9. Compassion
10. Lysistrata
11. Tiny Demons
12. Time Heals (promotional video)
13. One World
14. A Dream Goes on Forever

Tracks 1 & 3, Todd Rundgren & Utopia, The Old Grey Whistle Test, October 1975
Track 3, Todd Rundgren & Utopia, Bearsville Picnic
Tracks 4-14, Todd Rundgren, The Old Grey Whistle Test, June 1982

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Todd Rundgren's At The BBC 1972-1982

Todd Rundgren & Utopia Live at the Electric Ballroom

New music from Todd Rundgren and Utopia is always welcome ‘round these parts, so the announcement by Esoteric Recordings that they’ve released Live at the Electric Ballroom is cause for celebration. Already available from fine vendors like Amazon.com, the album captures Rundgren and Utopia performing at the Electric Ballroom in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for an October 23, 1978 FM radio broadcast.

The concert has been stored away in the vaults until now, and the previously-unreleased two-disc set features the entire concert, mastered from the original tapes. Among the 17 tracks on Live at the Electric Ballroom are such Rundgren fan faves as “Can We Still Be Friends,” “Real Man,” and “Hello, It’s Me,” of course, as well as lesser-known gems like “Black Maria” and “The Death of Rock and Roll.” The set also includes an illustrated booklet with new essay notes. We have the tracklist for Live at the Electric Ballroom below. Enjoy!   

Disc One
1. Real Man
2. It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference
3. Love of the Common Man
4. Trapped
5. Abandon City
6. The Verb ‘To Love’
7. The Seven Rays
8. Can We Still Be Friends
9. The Death of Rock and Roll

Disc Two
1. You Cried Wolf
2. Gangrene
3. A Dream Goes On Forever
4. Black Maria
5. Eastern Intrigue/Initiation
6. Couldn’t I Just Tell You
7. Hello, It’s Me
8. Just One Victory

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Todd Rundgren & Utopia's Live at the Electric Ballroom