Sure, Mercury Rev shares the same hot shot producer of The Flaming Lips,
on The Secret Migration. Sure, lead singer Jonathan Donahue was even once a roadie for the Flaming Lips. And sure, Donahue even sings in the same childish wonder of Wayne Coyne, while narrating like Bob Ross, with words of “swirling clouds” and “green forests.” But does that mean that Mercury Rev is a Flaming Lips clone? No way.
What Nitty has is a great party album for people to dance and get down to.
This is the first book written by a band member that deals directly with the Grateful Dead and the inner workings of this American Institution.
Joe Strummer often spoke of reissuing the lone album from his mid-Seventies pre-Clash band, the 101ers. But the punk legend’s untimely death of a heart attack in 2002 gave the project a new urgency that will finally land it in shops again on June 14th, almost twenty-five years after its original release.
Richard Dudanski, Strummer’s longtime friend and former 101ers drummer, is overseeing the release of Elgin Avenue Breakdown (Revisited) (Astralwerks), which features newly unearthed live tracks that showcase Strummer’s raw, R&B beginnings.
To read more, visit rollingstone.com.
Nebraska-based indie rock outfit Cursive has rounded up 12 rare and unreleased tracks for “The Difference Between Houses and Homes (Lost Songs and Loose Ends 1995-2001.” Due Aug. 23 via Saddle Creek, the set features all but one track with original guitarist Steve Pedersen, who was later replaced by Ted Stevens.
“Lost Songs” opens with the previously unreleased 1995 track “Dispenser” and includes tracks from such 7-inch singles as 1996’s “The Disruption,” 1997’s “Zero Hour” and the following year’s “The Icebreaker.”
The set also includes “I Thought There’d Be More Than This,” an unreleased cut from 1996 put to tape in Otho, Iowa, constituting the lone song here not recorded in Lincoln, Neb., with producers Mike and AJ Mogis.
The only song recorded by Cursive’s present lineup (Stevens, guitarist/vocalist Tim Kasher, cellist Gretta Cohn, bassist Matt Maginn and drummer Clint Schnase) is 2001’s “Nostalgia,” released on a split single with Small Brown Bike.
Here is the track list for “Lost Songs and Loose Ends”:
“Dispenser”
“Pivotal”
“Sucker & Dry”
“Icebreakers”
“And the Bit Just Chokes Them”
“There’s a Coldest Day in Every Year”
“Disruption in the Normal Swing of Things”
“Nostalgia”
“Knowledgeable Hasbeens”
“Polar”
“Disruption in our Lines of Influence”
“I Thought There’d Be More Than This”
Source billboard.com.
Bonnie Raitt eschews the 12-bar blues of her past on the new album “Souls Alike,” due Sept. 13 via Capitol. For the first time, the artist also takes the production reigns in tandem with Tchad Blake (Pearl Jam, Crowded House).
Tracks include first single “I Will Not Be Broken,” “The Bed I Made,” “I Don’t Want Anything To Change,” “Deep Water” and “Crooked Crown,” penned by what the label describes as unnamed, “lesser-known writers.”
“Some of the songs are clearly terrain that people have come to know and appreciate from me, but the rest are about finding some new direction and something new to say,” Raitt says.
In related news, Eagle Rock Entertainment will on Tuesday (May 31) release the DVD “Live at Montreux 1977,” featuring Raitt’s early hit cover of Del Shannon’s “Runaway.” Four songs from her 1991 return to the famed Swiss festival are included as bonus tracks.
Source billboard.com.
As it prepares to launch a European tour Saturday (May 28) in Barcelona, Sonic Youth is also prepping a series of upcoming releases. According to its official Web site, the group is “putting the finishing touches” on a double-disc reissue of its 1990 major-label debut, “Goo.” No release date is yet confirmed for the album, which will be bolstered with eight-track demos, B-sides and previously unreleased tracks.
“I always kind of discounted ‘Goo’ and thought [1992’s] ‘Dirty’ represented more what we were going for at that point,” Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore told Billboard.com in 2004. “In retrospect, listening to ‘Dirty,’ especially in reissue form, it leaves me a bit spent. But I have a completely renewed interest in ‘Goo’ now and I’m really excited.”
Also on tap in the coming months is a CD chronicling an April, 12, 2003, performance at New York’s Anthology Film Archives, plus a double-vinyl album that captures four instrumental tracks recorded in Melbourne by Moore, drummer Steve Shelley, guitarist Lee Ranaldo and bassist Jim O’Rourke.
Source billboard.com.
Nine Inch Nails have chosen Interscope labelmates Queens Of The Stone Age to open their fall North American arena tour. The itinerary will be announced early next month, according to NIN’s official Web site, and will most likely not begin until mid-September. Sources say a third band may join the bill, but that a final decision has not been made.
NIN will wrap its current North American run with Dresden Dolls June 2 in Mexico City. International festival and headlining dates are on tap through August. QOTSA will follow a similar path, completing a North American tour June 4 in Auburn, Wash., and then heading to Europe through late August.
The Trent Reznor-led NIN has returned to the top of the charts thanks to “With Teeth,” its first album since 1999. Save for a headlining slot at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, the first batch of North American dates have been held in theaters and large ballrooms and have done big business at the box office.
To read more, visit billboard.com.
