New Music: Cowboy Junkies, Colin Hay, The Loud Family, Anton Barbeau

March 2022 is being marked by a number of stellar new audio releases.

Artist: Cowboy Junkies

Title: Songs of the Recollection (Proper Records)

You might like if you enjoy: Hope Sandoval, Cowboy Junkies, Mazzy Star

Tell me more: The Cowboy Junkies are back with Songs of the Recollection, a set of nine artfully reworked covers that surprise and thrill. The potent "Five Years" mines the introspective elements of the David Bowie classic, with Margo Timmins' signature vocals focused and then subsequently detached as the song purposely unravels to great effect in its burgeoning close. The cosmic country feedback-adorned reading of Gram Parsons' "Ooh Las Vegas" is equal parts Americana and shoegaze. The troupe's countrified folk rock is the perfect sonic brush to paint the lovely "No Expectations" (a Mick Jagger and Keith Richards co-write), haunting version of the Neil Young favorite "Don't Let It Bring You Down" (bolstered by some fiery electric guitar work) and atmospheric reading of Bob Dylan's "I've Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You." Other songs artfully revisited include Neil Young's "Love In Mind," Gordon Lightfoot's "The Way I Feel," Vic Chesnutt's "Marathon" and The Cure's "Seventeen Seconds." In addition to singer Margo Timmins, Cowboy Junkies' talented lineup includes her brothers Michael Timmins (guitar) and Peter Timmins (drums) along with Alan Anton (bass guitar). Songs of the Recollection will be released via Proper Records on March 25, 2022. Information: CowboyJunkies.com.  

Artist: Colin Hay

Title: Now And The Evermore (Lazy Eye/Compass Records)

You might like if you enjoy: Colin Hay, Men At Work

Tell me more: Let's face it; the last few years have been tough. A global pandemic that continues to claim thousands of lives everyday, relentless violence across American cities — and now a terrible invasion led by Russia against the Ukraine resulting in the genocide of countless men, women and children — is all enough to make even the best of us to retreat from the real world. Leave it to singer-songwriter Colin Hay to cast a welcome ray of hope amidst the darkness. His new album Now And The Evermore (available now) finds Hay frequently tackling life and mortality with an optimistic approach. Just listen to the bona fide singalong original "Love Is Everywhere," wistful "Into The Bright Lights," defiant "The Sea Of Always" and Celtic-minded "All I See Is You" to be inspired by Hay's infectious songcraft. The title track (enhanced by terrific drumming from Ringo Starr) is aimed at making the best of the days we have left ("Nobody gets a sequel, no / Everyone gets shown the door / I'll be counting on the rising sun / To give me all my waking days / Until it sets upon the now and evermore"). Hay is able to explore loss as well, as he does on the chamber folk gem "Starfish And Unicorns," reflective "A Man Without A Name" and shimmering album closer "When Does The End Begin?" Information: ColinHay.com.  

Artist: The Loud Family and Anton Barbeau

Title: What If It Works? (Omnivore Recordings)

You might like if you enjoy: Game Theory, Anton Barbeau, Big Star, The Three O'Clock

Tell me more: Founded by singer-songwriter Scott Miller in 1982, Game Theory released a number of outstanding albums and several EPs that secured the power pop band's hero status. After the end of Game Theory in 1990, Miller recruited a new group of players and formed The Loud Family. In 2014, Omnivore Recordings began to release a series of remastered and expanded reissues of Game Theory's complete catalog. That record label's ambitious effort to champion the work of Miller now includes an expanded and deluxe edition of The Loud Family's 2006 album What If It Works, an LP which found Miller teaming with rising singer-songwriter Anton Barbeau to create a true masterpiece (sadly, Miller passed away in 2013 at the age of 53).  The material across What If It Works? is melodic to be sure, but the surrounding layers made up of literate songwriting, sharp musical arrangements, great musicianship and experimental elements make for an action-packed listen with new discoveries to be heard with every listen. Just listen to original album track-list offerings "Rocks Off" (a Rolling Stones cover), "Pop Song 99," "Flow Thee Water" and the title track, as well as bonus tracks like the cascading "Don't Bother Me While I'm Living Forever," melodic "I've Been Craving Lately," and rocking "Little Daisy." The reissue (due March 25 via Omnivore Recordings) features the original 10-track release, as well as more than a dozen bonus tracks. The wonderful packaging includes a 16-page booklet filled with photos, an essay from Stew Stewart, and a conversation between Barbeau and Scott Miller's widow (Kristine Miller) discussing the making of the album. Information: OmnivoreRecordings.com. 

Artist: Anton Barbeau

Title: Power Pop!!! (Big Stir Records)

You might like if you enjoy: Cheap Trick, Matthew Sweet, The Beatles

Tell me more: March 25th is twice as nice for songsmith Anton Barbeau; not only is Omnivore Recordings issuing a must-hear reissue of his 2006 collaboration with Scott Miller and the Loud Family, but Big Stir Records is issuing his highly-anticipated new studio album Power Pop!!! the same day. Power Pop!!! features 19 tracks, including a mix of brief entries (including the 6-second "When I Am Happy") and full-length selections that are both listenable and ambitious. Barbeau's return comes on the heels of parade of notable titles including Manbird (2020) and Oh The Joys We Live For (2021). The title Power Pop!!! is somewhat sardonic with Barbeau's melodic music gifts on display even while he bends and outright expands the genre powerfully exclaimed in the album title itself. In addition to melodic and memorable tracks such as "Power Pop," the psychedelic "American Road," Beatlesque "The Drugs," bewitching "Rain, Rain" and Baroque ballad "Valerie's Waiting"; the intoxicating instrumental "Entrez-Vous Dans Les Maisons," driving electronica-tinged "The Never Crying Wolf Boy," hard-charging minute-long "Hillbilly Village," experimental "The Sound," jazzy instrumental "Fretless Bronze (For Matthew)" and Neo-funk sortie "Free" collectively keep the listener on the edge of their sonic seat. Information: antonbarbeau.com and bigstirrecords.com.

Robert Kinsler

The Loud Family & Anton Barbeau's 'What if It Works,' Scott Miller's final album, coming in expanded reissue from Omnivore, March 25

Nice to see Scott Miller's final album is set to arrive via an expanded edition this spring...Robert Kinsler

The Loud Family and Anton Barbeau's 'What If It Works?'; Scott Miller's final album coming on Friday, March 25, 2022 

New package includes 11 bonus tracks (10 previously unissued, and another from a rare promotional disc), plus photos and liner notes from Tony award winner Stew Stewart, Anton Barbeau and Kristine Miller

From left, Anton Barbeau and Scott Miller. 
(Photo by ND Koster)

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — The end of the era of the Loud Family came quietly as 2000’s “Attractive Nuisance” tour wound down, with the band’s final hometown return show cancelled by the club due to presumed lack of interest. While they remained popular with fans, the benefits of touring had begun to diminish, costing more than the band recovered. Scott Miller, who’d fronted Game Theory from 1982-90, was preparing to start a family and working a full-time job in tech as he anticipated stepping back from music to focus on the rest of life. At the same time, psych-pop singer-songwriter Anton Barbeau was ramping up his career at full speed, releasing new music at a fiery rate, working with musicians and labels from both the U.S. and the U.K. (including the Bevis Frond and members of the Soft Boys, Cake, Hawkwind, and Camel & the Candyskins).

Scott and Anton had been friends since the late 1980s and had worked together on Anton’s recordings on and off from soon after they’d met. Six years after Scott stepped away from music professionally, Scott’s wife Kristine remarked on how good the two sounded together at a casual Sacramento gig, and suggested they record together. That’s how Scott and Anton teamed up to record an album for the Bay Area indie 125 Records, a label that had championed both artists in the early ’00s.  

The result was the 2006 release What If It Works?, an album full of breezy brightness and irresistible pop melodies inspired by the music of Scott’s and Anton’s youth. Setting aside the thoughts of moral philosophy and moments of melancholia that, in part, informed the late Loud Family era, yet sacrificing none of his melodic and lyrical genius, Scott teamed back up with fellow Loud Family bandmates Kenny Kessel and Jozef Becker (with Gil Ray and Alison Faith Levyon hand as well) and brought some of his best work to the project. Scott seemed happy to be returning and, in a sense, his writing recalls the less serpentine melodies of his pre-Lolita Nation Game Theory days. For Anton it was a chance to work with Scott as equals, delivering the full incandescence of his gift for insanely catchy pop songs with members of the Loud Family behind him.

What If It Works? is a gift of an album, an unexpected return from Scott and another great work from Anton. Stunning songwriting from both and a few cover songs from the ’60s and ’70s make the ease and joy of their collaboration abundantly clear. 

This reissue, due out March 25, 2022 as CD and Digital from Omnivore Recordings, features the original release, plus eleven bonus tracks — ten previously unissued (and the other from a rare promotional CD). The packaging features photos, an essay from Stew Stewart (2008 Drama Desk and Tony Award winner for Passing Strange and founder of The Negro Problem), and a conversation between Barbeau and Scott’s widow, Kristine Miller, discussing the making of the record.

Omnivore has also reissued all of the original albums from Scott Miller’s Game Theory as expanded remasters including Across The Barrier of Sound: PostScript, 2 Steps From the Middle Ages, The Big Shot Chronicles Lolita Nation, Real Nighttime Distortion Pointed Accounts of People You Know, Dead Center, and Blaze of Glory.

Track List:

1.     Rocks Off

2.     Song About “Rocks Off”

3.     Pop Song 99

4.     Total Mass Destruction

5.     Flow Thee Water

6.     Remember You

7.     (Kind Of) In Love

8.     Mavis Of Maybelline Towers

9.     I Think I See the Light

10.  What If It Works?

2006 Bonus Tracks:

11.  Don’t Bother Me While I’m Living Forever

12.  I’ve Been Craving Lately

2022 Bonus Tracks:

13.  Third Eye (Scott’s Vocal)

14.  Little Daisy (Scott’s Mix)

15.  (Kind Of) In Love (Scott’s Sketch Demo)

16.  (Kind Of) In Love (Anton’s Demo)

17.  Song About “Rocks Off” (Demo)

18.  I Wanna Make You Come Just By Looking At Your Eye (Demo)

19.  Rise of the Chokehold Princess (At Anton’s)

20.  Pop Song 99 (Demo)

21.  Don’t Bother Me While I’m Living Forever Demo)

22.  What If It Works? (Demo)

23.  Just Gone (At Anton’s)

Tracks 14–23 previously unissued.

Pre-order link: www.omnivorerecordings.com/shop/what-if-it-works