New Music: Pink Floyd, Depeche Mode, Nickel Creek

A stunning hardcover edition celebrating the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side Of The Moon as well as eagerly-awaited full-length returns from Depeche Mode and Nickel Creek are featured in my column this week.

Title: Pink Floyd — The Dark Side Of The Moon: The Official 50th Anniversary Book

Author: Jill Furmanovsky
Publisher: Thames & Hudson

Hardcover: 160 pages

Tell me more: Released in March 1973, Pink Floyd's eighth studio album The Dark Side of the Moon would ultimately prove to be one of the most iconic rock albums of the 20th century and is the groundbreaking English troupe's most beloved effort. According to Wikipedia, The Dark Side of the Moon is certified 14 times platinum in the United Kingdom and topped the LPs and Tape charts in the U.S. where it has "charted for 975 weeks." Now in celebration of the 50th anniversary of that release, Thames & Hudson has issued the must-have "Pink Floyd — The Dark Side Of The Moon: The Official 50th Anniversary Book." 

Curated by Jill Furmanovsky and featuring art direction from Aubrey Powell, the gorgeous LP-sized hardcover volume features rare and previously unseen photographs (including backstage and onstage images of the band taken during The Dark Side of the Moon tours of 1972-1975), song lyrics, tour dates, a Melody Maker review of the band's 1972 Wembley concert and much more; the book was created with the involvement of members of Pink Floyd. A truly marvelous keepsake for fans of Pink Floyd and The Dark Side of the Moon. Information: wwnorton.com.

Artist: Depeche Mode

Title: Memento Mori (Columbia Records)

You might like if you enjoy: Depeche Mode, Color Theory, Erasure

Tell me more: On their 15th studio album Memento Mori, Depeche Mode remind the music world why the British outfit matters more than ever; this is especially true following co-founder Andrew "Fletch" Fletcher's tragic death on May 26, 2022. Electronic rock's most enduring artist, Depeche Mode's David Gahan and Martin Gore are back with a brilliant batch of tracks that revisit familiar territory even while moving their sound ever onward into the future. The opener "My Cosmos is Mine" is a dark and brooding track with Gahan's powerful baritone awash in the troupe's signature electronica soundscape. The compelling "Watch Another Angel Die" is infectious on its surface even as the song's lyrics ponder religious doubt. The album's most enticing track, "Ghosts Again," is a sweeping number with a dynamic rhythm and irresistible flow across its full length. Romantic doubt ("Don't Say You Love Me," "Before We Drown"), self reflection ("My Favorite Stranger"), death ("Soul With Me"), obsession ("Always You," "Never Let Me Go") and human nature ("People Are Good") are detailed expertly via compelling originals produced by James Ford — along with additional production by Marta Salogni. Information: depechemode.com.

Artist: Nickel Creek

Title: Celebrants (Repair Records)

You might like if you enjoy: Nickel Creek, First Aid Kit, bluegrass music

Tell me more: Celebrants is Americana outfit Nickel Creek's first original album since 2014's A Dotted Line. It almost goes without saying that it is wonderful to have new music from the talented trio of Chris Thile, Sean Watkins and Sara Watkins — especially when the disc is as great as this one. My favorite track is the sumptuous musical jaunt "Strangers," with the dashing mix of Thile's mandolin, Sara Watkins' fiddle and Sean Watkins' acoustic guitar work dancing with the trio's artful harmonies. Other standout songs on the 18-track disc include the gorgeous "Holding Pattern," rousing "Where the Long Line Leads," sonically ambitious "The Meadow" and bewitching "Stone's Throw." Additional kudos to bassist Jeff Picker for his musical skills that enhance the music making across Celebrants. Information: nickelcreek.com.

Robert Kinsler

The Rolling Stones' 'Goats Head Soup' 2020 out today!

 Rolling Stones fans, take note! I'll be reviewing this new release and featuring it in my next album review column early next week - Robert Kinsler

THE ROLLING STONES - ‘GOATS HEAD SOUP’ 2020

OUT NOW

 

THE ROLLING STONES’ 1973 CLASSIC ‘GOATS HEAD SOUP’ RELEASED BY 

POLYDOR/INTERSCOPE/UME IN MULTI-FORMAT AND DELUXE EDITIONS TODAY

 

FEATURING DEMOS, OUTTAKES AND PREVIOUSLY UNHEARD TRACKS “SCARLET,” 

“CRISS CROSS” AND NEWLY UNVEILED “ALL THE RAGE”

 

www.rollingstones.com

 

Rolling Stones photo courtesy of Aubrey Powell

Another prized jewel in the Rolling Stones’ unmatched catalog, 1973 classic Goats Head Soup, restored to its full glory and more, is released in multi-format and deluxe editions today, September 4. The album is available now in multiple configurations, including four-disc CD and vinyl box set editions with a treasure trove of unreleased studio and live material, as well as across all streaming and download services. 

 

Listen to Goats Head Soup 2020 here

 

The reissue follows the unveiling of never before released “Criss Cross” on July 9 and the highly anticipated release of previously unheard track “Scarlet,” a holy grail for any Stones devotee, on July 22. Long-lost “Scarlet,” recorded in October 1974, features Jimmy Page and Rick Grech alongside Mick and Keith. The track, which is as infectious and raunchy as anything the band cut in this hallowed era, has been hailed as “a phenomenal piece of rock history,” while shooting straight onto the A-List at Planet Rock and already spending more than four weeks on the BBC Radio 2 playlist following last month’s release. 

 

A third, newly unveiled song, “All The Rage,” which has a wild post-“Brown Sugar” strut and which, in the words of MOJO, “flat out rocks,” is released today. “All The Rage” is out now, listen here. 

 

All three newly unveiled tracks are featured on the box sets and deluxe CD and vinyl editions of Goats Head Soup, alongside many more rarities, outtakes and alternative mixes, shedding new light on tracks such as “100 Years Ago,” praised by UNCUT as “genuinely striking,” and “Hide Your Love,” with further unissued mixes by Stones insider and acclaimed producer Glyn Johns. 

 

The box set editions of Goats Head Soup also include Brussels Affair, the 15-track live album recorded in a memorable show in Belgium, on the autumn 1973 tour that followed the album's late August release. This much-sought-after disc, mixed by Bob Clearmountain, was previously available only in the Rolling Stones' “official bootleg” series of live recordings in 2012.

 

Additionally, the CD and vinyl box sets offer the original ten-track album in 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res mixes, along with the videos for “Dancing With Mr. D,” “Silver Train” and “Angie.” An exclusive 120-page book, available with the Super Deluxe Boxset, features a remarkable array of photographs, essays by writers Ian McCann, Nick Kent and Daryl Easlea and faithful reproductions of four tour posters from 1973.

 

Their 11^th U.K. studio album, recorded in Jamaica, Los Angeles and London as their last collaboration with producer Jimmy Miller, Goats Head Soup came in the wake of the Stones' landmark 1972 double album Exile On Main St. The new set was introduced by the single that became one of their most exalted ballads, the endlessly elegant “Angie,” completed by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards during a songwriting sojourn in Switzerland. The timeless love song, showcasing Jagger's yearning lead vocal and Nicky Hopkins' beautiful piano motif, topped the charts in the U.S., where it was certified platinum, and went to No. 1 across Europe, Australia and beyond.

 

The many other highlights of the album included the majestically brooding opener “Dancing With Mr. D,” the lithely strutting “100 Years Ago” and “Star Star,” the graceful “Winter” and the exhilaratingly funky, horn-filled “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker),” featuring Mick Taylor's wah-wah lead guitar. Richards' rueful lead vocal on “Coming Down Again” featured another Stones stalwart, saxophonist Bobby Keys.

 

As titled by Clash, 1973’s Goats Head Soup is “a unique album, one that arguably stands as one of their best.” Forty-seven years on, the expanded reissues of Goats Head Soup prove that's still true, and then some. 

 

 

THE ROLLING STONES’ GOATS HEAD SOUP 2020 IS OUT NOW WORLDWIDE

https://the-rolling-stones.lnk.to/GoatsHeadAlbumPR

 

LISTEN TO “ALL THE RAGE” HERE

https://the-rolling-stones.lnk.to/AllTheRageVideo

 

 

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