Robin Gibb – Bee Gees (May 20), Donna Summer (May 17), Chuck Brown (May16), Donald “Duck” Dunn – Booker T & The MGs (May 13), Rob Doherty (May 5), Adam “MCA” Yauch – The Beastie Boys (May 4), Tommy Marth – The Killers (April 23), and Greg Ham – Men At Work (April 19).

In many different and diverse ways, these individuals have touched our lives.  And now that they’re gone, they will be missed, especially for what was yet to come from them.

Rest In Peace, my friends…Rest!

Decca Records (UK) plan the release of Analog Man by Joe Walsh, expected on June 11.

Frontiers Records (UK) will release XXX from Asia in a several formats that include a CD/DVD configuration that will throw in two bonus songs.  It’s expected on July 2.

Atlantic Records (UK) has scheduled the release of Ill Manors from Plan B, with a planned date of July 16.

Favored UK reissue label, Edsel plans the reissue of three The Beat classics that include I Just Can’t Stop It (1980) in a 2CD/DVD Deluxe Edition set featuring a second disc of 19 bonus tracks, and a DVD with video promos, Top Of The Pops broadcasts, and a live track.  Edsel will also reissue Wha’ppen (1981), with bonus tracks and a DVD of promo videos, and live performances, and Special Beat Service (1982), also with its own collection of bonus tracks, and a DVD filled with cool videos.  All three of these reissues are planned for the UK market on June 25.

EMI Music (UK) has assembled a Blur Box collection, Blur 21, that will gather remastered and expanded editions of the Blur releases as well as include four discs of rarities, three DVDs of live performances, a hard bound book, and a collectible 7″ disc.  This massive set will include download rights to the digital files of all of these tracks as an expanded bonus to purchasers of this Box.  This definitive Blur Box is expected on July 30.  This Box set is also expected in a 13-disc vinyl LP package.

Antenna/Esoteric Records will release Alt, a brand new album of music from Van Der Graaf Generator on June 25.

Mercury UK will release the new album from Gaslight Anthem called Handwritten in both CD and CD deluxe packages on July 23.

The UK division of Dead Oceans Records plan the release of There’s No Leaving Now from The Tallest Man On Earth, with a scheduled date of June 11.

Esoteric Records (UK) will reissue remastered and expanded versions of Victims Of Circumstance (1984), and Ring Of Changes (1983), by the famed Barclay James Harvest, all released on June 25.

DGM Records will release Live In Argentina 1994 featuring King Crimson on June 11.

I’m particularly excited about the reissue and remastering of It’s Better To Travel (1987) from Swingout Sister.  It is being released in a 2CD Deluxe Edition that will be expanded with nine bonus cuts that include “Breakout” in a remixed version, an instrumental version of “Communion”, and a long version of “Another Lost Weekend”.  The UK reissue is scheduled for July 2.  Love it!!

A Box set featuring ELP (Emerson, Lake & Palmer) called Tarkus is being scheduled for July 16.

Now Sounds (UK) plan the reissue and expansion of Come On Down: The Complete MGM Recordings featuring the music of Every Mother’s Son.  It will contain extra tracks.  It is on the calendar for June 25.

Reactive/Esoteric Records (UK) will reissue Tyger (1987) from Tangerine Dream in an expanded/remastered set.  This set will add in two bonus TD cuts.  It arrives on June 25.

And finally, Other Voices Records released a live album from the prime years of Attrition, called The Truth In Dark Corners.  This album contains 10 live performance tracks from the Netherlands in 1985, and is currently available.

On lesser scales, but no less impressive, were talents like Melanie, Maggie Bell, Janis Ian, Gayle McCormick (A Group Called Smith), Harriet Wheeler (The Sundays), Nico (Velvet Underground – oh, yes, who else sounds like her?) and all the many other female performers that have walked this stage called Rock and Roll.

I have a love for so many of them.  Putting together a list of any kind detailing the Top 5 Female Artists is a tough request but one that I’m asking that you think about and do.

Leave your comments about who makes your Top 5 cut.

[This is part one of a loosely connected 3-part idea.  Two polls that segues into a commentary.  Should be fun (I think).]

The new album, New York Connection, opens up with a captivating Russ Ballard song, “New York Groove”, which demands instant replay, even before you move on.  And that’s a helluva way to begin an album.  Scott’s latest incarnation of Sweet takes on classic tracks like the enduring Dead Or Alive’s 1984 song, “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)”, Velvet Underground’s most noticeable “Sweet Jane”, and Springsteen’s (or does this really belong to Patti Smith?) “Because The Night”.

“You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)” takes on a new life as Sweet turns it away from its ’80s synth-style to the revered Sweet effect.  I can’t confess to liking Sweet’s take on “Because The Night” because it is quite a different song, however, I was never much the fan of the song anyway.

The surprises of the album are their covers of “Blitzkrieg Bop” (The Ramones) in a super-great version; “Gold On The Ceiling” (Black Keys); “Shape Of Things” (The Yardbirds); and of course, the show-stopper, “New York Groove”, which rules this album’s groove space (listen below).

I’m a fan of Sweet.  New York Connection reaffirms why I’m a fan.

Release Date: May 08, 2012

–Matt Rowe

Iggy Pop’s validity at being one of Rock’s early children is undisputable.  He has stinted with The Stooges and made several classic albums with that lineup.  He then created one of the most potent pre-punk albums ever made with Raw Power.  After lanquishing for a time, being then resurrected by David Bowie, Iggy Pop went on to show just how great a performer he could be.  Now, some 35 years later, 35 FREAKING YEARS later, this man can STILL show anyone how it’s really done in that molten hot core of creation.

Within the first few songs, Iggy has already sacrificed himself to the audience, launching from the stage and into the hands of the very essence of his craft, the people.  Do I sound like I’m in awe?  You’re bloody right, I am.  Nothing captures the incredible energy that this man puts forth like Live at The Avenue B.

With 21 songs, many of them classic Pop tunes from every era of his career, along with a small dose of covers like “Louie Louie,” and “Shakin’ All Over,” Iggy’s 1999 show from Brussels underscores his unending dance with the ultimate purity of Rock.  In this show, Iggy discourses with the audience, comes into extreme close contact with them (including a swarming of fans on the stage), and powerfully centers the universe at his feet.  He mocks, he adores, he dances, he entertains.  He does all of this in magnificent widescreen and choices of beautifully mixed Stereo, or if you prefer, 5.1 Dolby or DTS.

Iggy Pop IS the Rock’n’ Roll Hall of Fame and Live at The Avenue B easily explains why Iggy is its reigning icon.  I rave not because I’m a fan, which I am.  I rave because this DVD showcases a powerful display of rock n roll, the like of which I have never before seen on DVD.

You owe it to yourself to pick this one up. No shit!

“I’m a product of the paranoia of the age I’m in…” – Avenue B

Release Date: July 19, 2005                                                                  

–Matt Rowe

Audio Fidelity will re-release Nothing’s Shocking, the 1988 debut from Jane’s Addiction in a remastered Gold Disc Edition planned for June 5.

Atlantic Records plan the release of Uncaged by the Zac Brown Band, which is scheduled for July 10.

Atlantic has also scheduled the as yet untitled new album from Flo Rida for July 3.

Hip-O Records will re-release Along Came A Spider, the 2008 SPV/Steamhammer album from Alice Cooper.  It is on the calendar for July 10.

Eagle Rock plan Diamond In The Mind, a 2011 Live set featuring Duran Duran, musically on CD, and visually on DVD and BD (Blu-ray Disc), all planned for July 10.

Mighty Loud Records will release Best In Show by Jackyl on July 31.

Mercury Records has scheduled Handwritten by The Gaslight Anthem for CD and LP on July 24.

Speak Of The Devil  by Ozzy Osbourne is planned for DVD release by Eagle Rock on July 17.  Live At The Checkerboard Lounge 1981featuring Muddy Waters and The Rolling Stones is also planned by Eagle Rock, but on July 10.

Epic and Legacy Recordings will release 12″ vinyl LP of Ozzy Live featuring Ozzy Osbourne with a planned release date of May 22.

Real Gone Music plans It’s A Happening World (1967) by The Tokens to be released on CD on June 26.

Candlelight Records will release Industrialist by Fear Factory on both CD and LP scheduling for June 5.

Mute Records (haven’t heard from these guys in a while) plan the release of The Lost Tapes with music from Can, expected on June 19.

Domino Records will release In Our Heads by Hot Chip on June 12 in both CD and vinyl LP sets.

Fuel Music is releasing Life Will Write The Words by The Rocket Summer on June 5.

Guided By Voices emerge to release Class Clown Spots A UFO on June 12, following their Let’s Go Eat The Factory.  Class Clown Spots A UFO is planned for CD and LP.

Yep Roc Records will release Throw It To The Universe by The Soundtrack Of Our Lives on CD, DD, and LP, all planned for June 26.

Such a long, long path it has traveled.  It’s grown (or side-tracked, depending on your individual point of view).  But one thing is solid, it has remained in our cultural displays for over 50 years.  50 years!!

But one thing that has changed dramatically is how we listen to it.  It used to be an experience all to itself for a long, long time.  We anticipated the arrival of new songs from a band that we loved.  We pored over the album musically and visually.  (Remember how disappointed you were when the album contained little other than the vinyl inside?)  It was played , and played, and played some more.  Many of us didn’t have the greatest stereo equipment to play it back but who cared.  We were listening to songs that we were going to grow to love.

But now, music comes in chunks.  A song is the prize (like it was during the Top40 heydays but those hits led to the album, whereas today really doesn’t, not anymore).

Today, the song has to fit into a playlist, often an emotional playlist.  One for exercising to.   One for driving to.  One for sad times, one for happy times.  One for the current favorites.  But with the availability of cheap disc space (or whatever passes for storage these days), it’s easy to fill up a player, phone, hard-drive, or cloud storage with days of music.

Gone is the experience.  Hello song for the moment.  For the moment because we’re very likely to forget about them in the very near future.  With so many songs available, that’s easy to do.

This can go several directions.  One is the reality that we have moved from the singular music experience of immersing in a new release.  But I’m most interested in a future prediction here.  Like many things, it’s easy to see that in the not too distant future, familiar things are going to disappear.  Manufacturing, overnight deliveries, the way we do business, the way we buy and sell things.  For music, that is also a truth.  Eventually, the production of a disposable song (I hate that term but it’s applicable) will be so cheap that even $0.99 cents is far too expensive to sell it for.  And that certainly isn’t too enticing for the artists of our past to want to pursue, nor would many of them have done so if that was the case.

Fortunately, back then, it wasn’t the case.  Now?  A fast track to reality.

Labels, once they get acceptable pricing figured out, would do well to get back into the business of helping to get us interested in the best of new music.  Yes, the individual bands don’t really need that to get their music out there.  But they need the distributive muscle that comes with a certain kind of directed trust that is still part of the label design today (it really is).

Until some genius comes up with a plan to be that (labels are closest to it, and streaming and iTunes are farthest away), we’re in a stagnant musical atmosphere, where a trusted source is the gate-keeper of great new music.  But then, how long will we be appreciative of a band or song once directed to them?

I wonder how long Rock and Roll has to live if every song is is too fleeting, leaving behind no footprint.

I really wonder.

In addition to my second run-in with a hacker who installed some kind of redirect, breaking all of my links, I am in the midst of selling my house.  That alone is a trying experience with the “do this – do that” prepping for an impending sale.  It’s a lot to occupy your mind with.

And I’m so far behind with a series of excellent reviews, and other things.

Just a quick note.

For many of you, there isn’t an unattached anecdote or story to some of Walsh’s Top40 hits released in the ’70s that you can’t recall easily enough.  You’ll remember “Rocky Mountain Way”, and “Walk Away”.  There’s “Life’s Been Good”, and “Turn To Stone”.  And there is now new Joe Walsh for those that have waited to hear some good old-fashioned Rock, the kind that we know that Joe Walsh can bring to life.

His new album, Analog Man, is slated for release on June 5.  It’s been a LONG 20 years since Joe’s last, Songs For A Dying Planet (1992).  20 years.  And we get to point you to a fairly private link to a live video of a song off that album, “Lucky That Way”.  Enjoy the video.  Also, enjoy the private SoundCloud link for a pure audio stream of the song.

What do you think?  Still Joe Walsh?  Still rockin’?

Photo by Andrew Macpherson

Reprise Records will release an LP set of Americana from Neil Young & Crazy Horse.  The 2LP, 180g set will be released on July 10.

Razor & Tie Records will release The Duke from Joe Jackson on June 26.

Columbia Records will release Swingin’ Into the 21st by Wynton Marsalis on June 19.

Columbia Records will release Set List Electric by Miles Davis on June 26.

The Record Store Day exclusive 2LP release of The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends will be released as a CD on June 26 via Warner Brothers.

LA’s White Arrows will release Dry Land Is Not A Myth via Turnout Records scheduling for June 19.

Concord Records have Green Onions (1962) by Booker T & The MGs available on CD planned for July 24.

Century Media will release City of Vultures from Rise To Remain on June 5.

Classic New Release plans to issue The Ravi shankar Collection featuring the world’s best known sitar player, Ravi Shankar.  It is scheduled for May 22.

Legacy with RCA Records will release The RCA Albums Collection, a boxed set featuring none other than Sam Cooke.  This is on the calendar for June 19.

Legacy Recordings along with Epic Records plan the box set release of The Complete Stanley Clarke 1970s Epic Albums Collection.  It, too, is planned for June 19.

Other June 19th Legacy-reissued Box set albums collections include Complete Albums from John Denver (RCA); the Complete RCA Albums Collection from Paul Desmond; George Duke: The Complete Epic Albums Collection (Epic); The Complete Stan Getz Columbia Albums (Columbia); The Complete Columbia Albums Collection from Dexter Gordon; Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia – 1933-1944; Complete Albums Collection featuring Judas Priest; Complete Albums Collection from Kansas; The Classic Albums Collection from Electric Light Orchestra (ELO);  The Complete Original Mahavishnu Orchestra Columbia albums Collection; The Complete Columbia Albums Collection featuring the music of Return To Forever; A Woody Shaw collected The Complete Columbia Albums Collection; Complete Albums Collection from Wayne Shorter; Complete RCA Albums Collection from Nina Simone; The Complete Albums Collection of Washington Grover, Jr; and The Complete Weather Report/The Jaco Years – Columbia Albums Collection.

Real Gone Music will release The Complete Reprise Singles featuring the music of Electric Prunes, planned for June 26.  The label will also release A Retrospective: 1962-1970 featuring the collected music of The New Christy Minstrels, also on June 26.

Real Gone Music also have five Dick’s Picks featuring the live performances of The Grateful Dead on the calendar for June 26.  Those include Volume 27: Oakland Coliseum Arena – 12/16/92; Volume 28: Pershing Municipal Auditorium – 02/26/73, and Salt Palace – 02/28/73; Volume 29; Volume 30: NY Academy of Music – 03/25 & 28/72; Volume 31: Philadelphia Civic Center – 08/4-5/74, and Roosevelt Stadium – 08/06/74.