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Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Joe Jackson channels 'Hope and Fury' next spring with new album, tour

Joe Jackson's new album 'Hope and Fury' will be released digitally, on CD, and 180g vinyl with gatefold sleeve worldwide on April 10, 2026, and is available for preorder starting today.

To accompany the release, Joe Jackson and his band will embark on a major North American tour from May to July 2026, followed by an extensive European run from September to December. In total, the Grammy-winning artist will perform more than 80 shows across 14 countries. Tickets go on sale November 14 and will be available on Joe Jackson’s website.

For his return to a more traditional pop/rock sound, Jackson and co-producer Patrick Dillett were joined by his on-and-off band since 2016 — bassist Graham Maby, guitarist Teddy Kumpel, and drummer Doug Yowell — augmented by percussionist Paulo Stagnaro. 

Track list:

Welcome to Burning-by-Sea
I’m Not Sorry
Made God Laugh
Do Do Do
Fabulous People
After All This Time
The Face
End of the Pier
See You in September

TOUR DATES 2026
NORTH AMERICA

MAY
11 – Poughkeepsie, NY – Bardavon 1869 Opera House
13 – Montreal, QC – Place Des Arts – Théâtre Maisonneuve
14 – Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall
16– Rochester, NY – Kodak Theatre
17 – Detroit, MI – Masonic Cathedral
19–20 – Chicago, IL – Park West
22 – Madison, WI – Orpheum Theatre
23– Minneapolis, MN – Pantages Theatre
27 – Vancouver, BC – Vogue
28 – Seattle, WA – Moore Theatre
30 – San Francisco, CA – Curran Theatre
31 – San Diego, CA – Balboa Theatre

JUNE
2 – Los Angeles, CA – Orpheum Theatre
3 – Tucson, AZ – Fox Theatre
5 – Albuquerque, NM – Kimo Theatre
6 – Boulder, CO – Chautauqua Auditorium
9 – Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater
10 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
12 – Omaha, NE – Admiral
14 – Austin, TX – The Paramount Theatre
16 – Houston, TX – Heights Theatre
17 – Dallas, TX – Majestic Theatre
19 – San Antonio, TX – Empire Theatre
21 – New Orleans, LA – The Joy Theatre
24 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
26 – Atlanta, GA – Center Stage
27 – Charlotte, NC – Knight Theatre
29 – Orlando, FL – Steinmetz Hall @ Dr. Phillips Center

JULY
1 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – The Parker
2 – Clearwater, FL – Capitol Theatre
7 – Washington, DC – Lincoln Theatre
8 – New Brunswick, NJ – State Theatre
10 – Providence, RI – Uptown Theater
11 – Portland, ME – State Theatre
14 – Medford, MA – Chevalier Theatre
15 – Stamford, CT – Palace Theatre
17 – Philadelphia, PA – The Lansdowne Theater
18 – New York, NY – Beacon Theatre

Friday, November 7, 2025

Album Review: Expanded Edition of OMD’s 1985 Album ‘Crush’

Last month, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - the British synth pop band best known here for the top 5 single “If You Leave,” from the “Pretty in Pink” film soundtrack - marked the 40th anniversary of their U.S. breakout album Crush with an excellent expanded reissue on various formats. 

Today, the Los Angeles City Council officially recognized Nov. 7 as “OMD Day in Los Angeles,” presented by LA City Councilwoman (7th District) Monica Rodriguez. The group, led by singer/bassist Andy McCluckey and keyboardist/vocalist Paul Humpreys, also performs at House of Blues in Anaheim on Sunday and Monday. 

OMD’s solid sixth album Crush, produced by Stephen Hague (New Order), often featured a more streamlined sound than prior efforts. The U.S. hit single "So in Love” and fan favorite “Secret” are still mainstays amid OMD live setlists, as evidenced earlier this year by stellar sets this writer witnessed at Pasadena’s Cruel World Festival and the Greek Theatre.

Available in stores on 2LP, 2CD and digital formats, the remastered edition of Crush sounds better than ever. There are seven unreleased tracks from the album’s multitrack sessions (mixed by Humphreys) as well as two demos, an alternative mix, four never-before-heard songs, non-album single B-sides and extended or 12” mixes (some never previously reissued or issued on CD or digitally). The great packaging has rare photos and informative liner notes by journalist/author Jason Draper, who got recent quotes from McCluskey.

Besides the aforementioned singles, Disc 1 highlights include the darkly hypnotic “Women III,” “88 Seconds in Greensboro” (another in a long line of topical lyrics ripped from the news), a haunting “Native Daughters of the Golden West” (inspired by a LA museum trip), and the lovely understated “Hold You.” Among the Disc 2 gems are “Wheels of Steel” and fun, Caribbean-tinged “Lana Turner” (both strong enough that they would’ve made the original album better), plus the glorious “So in Love – Special American Dance Remix” and “Secret – Extended Mix.”

This is a must-purchase for serious OMD fans.

Happy Mondays retrospective on the way this month

London Records are set to mark 40 years of the Happy Mondays with a series of special releases, beginning with the new compilation The Factory Singles, available November 28 on double CD, double LP & cassette, pre-order HERE.

In March 2026, Happy Mondays will embark on a huge UK tour to celebrate 35 years of Pills ’N’ Thrills and Bellyaches, supported by original 1991 tour mates The Farm and Northside. Tickets on sale now HERE.

The Factory Singles compiles all Happy Mondays singles on the legendary Manchester label Factory Records, including “Step On,” “Kinky Afro,” “Hallelujah” and “24-Hour Party People.” This definitive collection captures the band’s ground-breaking output from 1985 –1992, celebrating their pivotal role in shaping UK music culture. The Factory Singles will be available across multiple formats — including 2LP, 2CD, and a 1LP Blood Records Exclusive. The artwork has been conceived by the band's iconic original designers from Central Station – and features distinctive variations across each format. Vivid, enduring ink stains serve as a striking visual metaphor for the lasting imprint the band left on Manchester and the British music scene.

Complementing the physical editions, a brand-new digital remix drop series will be unveiled from renowned producers Daniel Avery, Paul Oakenfold, Anna Prior, Mella Dee, and Shadow Child - bridging the Mondays’ legacy with today’s electronic innovators. Original Mondays collaborator Paul Oakenfold has revisited “Step On” after 35 years with a stunning new remix available October 29, pre-save HERE.

Of the remix, Oakenfold reveals: "When I listen back to Step On now, it still sounds dangerous. It still sounds alive. And it still gets dancefloors moving. That’s the test of real music—not how it charts, but how it feels decades later. To be able to come back to it 35 years on and give it a fresh spin is special. It’s not just nostalgia - it’s about showing that the spirit of the track still connects, still has that edge, and can still light up a dancefloor today."

Oakenfold, who produced Pills ’N’ Thrills and Bellyaches as well as providing many of the Mondays most successful remixes, also contributes liner notes, in which he writes: “When I think back to working with the Happy Mondays, I don’t think about chaos first. I don’t think about the drugs or the headlines. I think about the music. Because above all else - above the madness and the mayhem - was a sound that was utterly new. A sound that broke the rules. A sound that made your feet move before your brain caught up. A sound we helped shape, together.”

Since emerging from the deviant streets of early 80s post-punk Salford, Happy Mondays have been the UK’s craftiest doyens of accidental, spasmodic genius. The nation’s premier rock ‘n’ roll pirates, who swerved the boredom, dodged reality and made something out of nothing. Something different from everything that had gone before. Both cackling lunatic delinquents and savvy musical scholars, they comprised Shaun Ryder and his dastardly wit, his brother Paul’s undulating basslines, drummer Gaz Whelan’s enigmatic beats, guitarist Mark Day’s intoxicating guitar lines and Paul Davis’ transcendental keyboards. And Bez, of course, with his onstage maracas and pterodactyl-winged freaky dancin’, who was (and remains) their one-off talismanic soul.

Signed by the late, great Anthony ‘Tony’ Wilson to the still-influential Factory Records in 1985, Happy Mondaysreleased four albums on the label - Squirrel And G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out) (1987), Bummed (1988), Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches (1990) and ...Yes Please! (1992).

The collapse of Factory in November 1992 - in part caused by the £400,000 bill for recording …Yes Please! in Barbados - marked the beginning of the end of the first incarnation Happy Mondays, who split in 1993, with Shaun going on to form the hugely successful Black Grape with Kermit of Ruthless Rap Assassins.

Happy Mondays have successfully reformed several times, and last year undertook their first headline tour since the passing of founder member Paul Ryder in 2022. In 2026, Happy Mondays will celebrate the 35th anniversary of Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches with an extensive UK Tour.

HAPPY MONDAYS - THE FACTORY SINGLES - TRACK LISTINGS
2CD:
Cat# : LMS1725592
UPC: 5061017255925

CD1
01 Delightful
02 Freaky Dancin'
03 Tart Tart
04 24 Hour Party People
05 Wrote for Luck
06 Lazyitis - One Armed Boxer
07 Hallelujah (The MacColl Mix)
08 Step On
09 Kinky Afro
10 Loose Fit
11 Judge Fudge
12 Stinkin' Thinkin'
13 Sunshine & Love
14 Angel

CD2
01 Tart Tart (The Reflex Revision)
02 24 Hour Party People (Jon Carter's Main Vocal)
03 W.F.L. (Think About The Future Mix)
04 Hallelujah (Club Mix)
05 Rave On (Club Mix)
06 Step On (Twistin' My Melon Mix)
07 Kinky Groovy Afro Remix AKA "Euromix"
08 Loose Fit (Greg Wilson and Ché Wilson Remix)
09 Bob's Yer Uncle (Perfecto Remix)
10 Stinkin' Thinkin' (Junior Style) (12” Mix)
11 Sunshine & Love (Fire Island Mix)

2LP
Std Black
Cat# : LMS1725594
UPC : 5061017255949

Coloured - Magenta & Yellow
Cat# : LMS1725595
UPC : 5061017255956

A1 Delightful
A2 Freaky Dancin'
A3 Tart Tart
A4 24 Hour Party People
A5 Wrote for Luck

B1 Lazyitis - One Armed Boxer (with Karl Denver)
B2 Hallelujah (The MacColl Mix)
B3 Step On
B4 Kinky Afro
B5 Loose Fit

C1 Judge Fudge
C2 Stinkin' Thinkin'
C3 Sunshine & Love
C4 Angel

D1 Hallelujah (12” Mix)
D2 Step On (Twistin' My Melon Mix)
D3 W.F.L. (Think About The Future Mix)

Richard Marx sings jazz 'After Hours' with January album

The new album by Richard Marx, After Hours, arrives Jan. 16. It is the follow up to 2022’s Songwriter. New single “Big Band Boogie” (feat. Kenny G), introduces the collection's jazz palette. Other featured guests on the album include Rod Stewart, Chris Botti, Tom Scott, and more.

On October 21, Marx performed “Big Band Boogie” with Hugh Jackman, opening Marx’s five-night NYC Café Carlyle residency. 

A nod to the Great American Songbook, After Hours blends beloved standards with brand new originals written in the same spirit. The album was recorded entirely live with a 24-piece ensemble, capturing full takes. See tracklisting below.

Marx says, "I never seriously considered doing a standards or covers album before because at heart, I am a songwriter, first and foremost. The challenge of writing songs as if I were pitching them to Frank Sinatra in 1948 really appealed to me. Creating these songs was more fun than I could've imagined, and singing them all live in the studio with the whole band, just like Frank and Dean used to do, was the thrill of a lifetime."

Recent singles from After Hours include "All I Ever Needed" featuring trumpeter Chris Botti and “Magic Hour.” Earlier this year, Marx released “Forget About The World.” 

This year, Marx continues with his podcast and YouTube series, Stories To Tell. Each episode, a guest joins Marx for cocktail-infused conversation at his home bar - including Kenny G, KISS’ Paul Stanley, Katie Couric, Rick Springfield, Eric Benet and more. The show was inspired by a Zoom YouTube series Marx started during the pandemic to connect with friends and collaborators from David Copperfield to Olivia Newton-John. Marx also joined joined The Voice Australia as a coach alongside Melanie C (aka Sporty Spice), Ronan Keating, and Kate Miller-Heidke.

Track Listing: 

Love is Here to Stay (feat. Randy Waldman)
All I Ever Needed (feat. Chris Botti)
Young at Heart (feat. Rod Stewart)
The Way You Look Tonight
Magic Hour
Moonlight Serenade
Not Like This
Days of You (feat. Drea Tomè)
Forgot to Remember
Summer Wind (feat. Tom Scott)
Big Band Boogie (feat. Kenny G)
Raise A Glass
Fly Me to the Moon

Live Dates: 

Dec 12 – Richard Marx & Matt Scannell of Vertical Horizon @ Fremont Theater (San Luis Obispo, CA)
Dec 13 – Richard Marx & Matt Scannell of Vertical Horizon @ Golden State Theatre (Monterey, CA)

The Damned tackles favorite songs by others on 'Not Like Everybody Else' in January

The Damned will release NOT LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE, a covers album dedicated to the memory of Brian James, the band’s founding guitarist, who passed away last March. Scheduled for Jan. 23 via earMUSIC, the album was recorded in five days at Revolver Studio in Los Angeles. 

NOT LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE finds The Damned – Dave Vanian on vocals, Captain Sensible on guitar, Rat Scabies on drums, Paul Gray on bass and joined by longtime keyboardist Monty Oxymoron – recording with Rat Scabies for the first time in 40 years.

To pre-save the album early, please click here. See below for the full track listing. Fans who order the album through the Official Album Store will receive three exclusive 7” vinyl singles featuring previously unreleased B-sides.

The first single from the forthcoming album, “There's A Ghost In My House” reimagines R. Dean Taylor's classic. The single is accompanied by a music video directed by Gilbert Trejo and filmed during the band’s recent US tour. 

Ttrack listing:

There's A Ghost In My House (R. Dean Taylor)
Summer In The City (Joe Cocker)
Making Time (The Creation)
Gimme Danger (Iggy & The Stooges)
See Emily Play (Pink Floyd)
I'm Not Like Everybody Else (The Kinks)
Heart Full Of Soul (The Yardbirds)
You Must Be A Witch (The Lollipop Shoppe)
When I Was Young (The Animals)
The Last Time (The Rolling Stones)

Depeche Mode news

Following last month's opening of the DEPECHE MODE: M limited theatrical engagement, Columbia Records and Sony Music Vision will put out two physical releases: The CD/DVD and CD/Blu-ray bundles of the feature film DEPECHE MODE: M (package contents detailed below), and the CD and vinyl pressings of the MEMENTO MORI: MEXICO CITY live album.

Both titles are set for release December 5.

The physical release of DEPECHE MODE: M includes 2 DVDs or Blu-rays and 2 CDs chronicling the band’s three sold-out concerts at Mexico City’s Foro Sol Stadium during their 2023 Memento Mori World Tour. 

Disc 1 of the package is DEPECHE MODE: M – the documentary. 
Disc 2 is MEMENTO MORI: MEXICO CITY a full-length concert film also directed by Fernando Frías at the Mexico City shows in 2023 where Depeche Mode played for more than 200,000 fans. Finally, included in each bundle is the 2CD accompanying live album, MEMENTO MORI: MEXICO CITY, featuring over 2 hours of music from these concerts, as well as four previously unreleased bonus tracks from the Memento Mori album sessions. 

The live album MEMENTO MORI: MEXICO CITY will also be available in standalone 2CD and 4LP vinyl formats. Both formats include exclusive live photos from the Foro Sol shows.

All formats include four previously unreleased tracks from the Memento Mori Sessions, which were recorded alongside Depeche Mode’s 2023 release Memento Mori. The first of these songs, “In The End,” became available digitally on all DSPs in October. The song previously debuted during the end credits of the world premiere of DEPECHE MODE: M at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2025.

Track list (MEMENTO MORI: MEXICO CITY live CD/LP):

Memento Mori: Mexico City
Intro
My Cosmos Is Mine
Wagging Tongue
Walking In My Shoes
It’s No Good
Sister Of Night
In Your Room
Everything Counts
Precious
Speak To Me
Home
Soul With Me
Ghosts Again
I Feel You
A Pain That I’m Used To
World In My Eyes
Wrong
Stripped
John the Revelator
Waiting for the Night
Just Can’t Get Enough
Never Let Me Down Again
Personal Jesus

All products also include four bonus tracks from the Memento Mori Sessions:
Survive
Life 2.0
Give Yourself To Me
In The End

Classic Neil Young album 'Tonight's the Night' to get 50th Anniversary deluxe limited edition release later this month

Due Nov. 28 via Warner/Reprise, the 50th Anniversary Deluxe limited edition of Neil Young's 'Tonight's the Night,' with six bonus tracks, will be released on vinyl, CD and digitally. A clear vinyl format is available for pre order at Greedy Hand Store and indie retailers. The original artwork has been reimagined for this limited-edition release.

Included on the new anniversary release are unreleased original versions of "Lookout Joe" and "Walk On," both recorded during the original 1973 album sessions at S.I.R. in Los Angeles. "Lookout Joe" replaces the original released album version that was recorded at Young's Broken Arrow Studio and subsequently included in Tonight’s the Night original release.

Both "Lookout Joe" and "Walk On" were recorded in the same sessions as the original album sessions. There are also five bonus tracks on the 50TH ANNIVERSARY edition: These versions of "Lookout Joe", "Walk On," and "Tonight's The Night" (Take 3) have never been released.

"Everybody's Alone," "Raised on Robbery" (featuring Joni Mitchell) and "Speakin' Out" Jam appeared in NEIL YOUNG ARCHIVES VOL II, while the unreleased TTN version of “Wonderin'’ from the same sessions has only ever been available to stream on NYA. This is the first time all six bonus tracks from the original sessions have been available on vinyl.

All formats will be available at the Greedy Hand Store at Neil Young Archives (NYA) and music retailers everywhere. Hi-res digital audio will be available at Neil Young Archives and most DSPs. All Greedy Hand Store purchases come with free hi-res digital audio downloads from the NYA Download Store at NYA.

Track listing:

Tonight’s The Night
Speakin’ Out
World On A String
Borrowed Tune
Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown
Mellow My Mind
Roll Another Number (For The Road)
Albuquerque
New Mama
Lookout Joe [New 1973 version]
Tired Eyes
Tonight’s The Night (part II)

Bonus Tracks - from original TTN sessions at S.I.R.

Walk On
Wonderin’
Everybody’s Alone
Raised On Robbery [feat. Joni Mitchell]
Speakin’ Out Jam
Tonight’s The Night (take 3)