Seventies power pop group The Nerves to get anthology in October

Third Man Records will release an anthology from San Francisco power pop band The Nerves on Oct. 23. The album will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the LA-based trio's self-titled 1976 EP and only official release. 

The Nerves – Best Collection gathers studio, live, and demo recordings, compiled in close association with surviving members Paul Collins and Peter Case along with the late Jack Lee’s daughter Cynthia.

“We were making a big, loud, exciting racket, doing our own songs. It sounded strange and familiar all at once, and we were high on it.” – Peter Case, The Nerves

Unlike previous anthologies that often relied on secondary copies or rips from vinyl and CDs, Third Man located The Nerves’ original source recordings, now newly mastered or remastered by Warren Defever at Third Man Mastering in Detroit, especially for this release. 

Many tracks have not been heard since the day they were recorded. Included are Case’s “When You Find Out” – later reimagined by Case with The Plimsouls and covered by such artists as Graham Coxon and Peter Bjorn and John. It is at all DSPs and streaming services alongside an official music video featuring rare archival footage streaming now on YouTube.

Formats: Digit via TMR, CD, limited-edition 2xLP colored vinyl, with liner notes by Peter Case. 

Pre-orders/pre-saves are available now.

LISTEN TO “WHEN YOU FIND OUT”

WATCH “WHEN YOU FIND OUT” OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

PRE-ORDER/PRE-SAVE THE NERVES – BEST COLLECTION

Track list (LP): 

Side A
Hanging on the Telephone
When You Find Out
Give Me Some Time
Working Too Hard
Are You Famous
Letter To G

Side B
Day In and Day Out
You Won't Be Happy
Stand Back and Take a Good Look
Many Roads to Follow
Why Am I Lonely?
Come Back and Stay / I Need Your Love
Any Day Now
Will You Come Through?

Side C
One Way Ticket
Paper Dolls
Walking Out on Love
House on the Hill
Little Suzy
Radio Station
Everyday Things
Do You Wanna Love Me?

Side D
Things Of The Past
I Don't Fit In
USA
Let Me Into Your Life
I Need Your Love
One Way Ticket
Paper Dolls

THIRDMANRECORDS.COM

Out Friday: Night Ranger's 'Best Of'

Veteran hard rock band Night Ranger's new ‘Best Of’ album - out Friday via Frontiers Records - includes newly remixed and remastered versions of '80s hits such as "Don't Tell Me You Love Me," "(You Can Still) Rock in America," "Sister Christian," "When You Close Your Eyes," and "Four in the Morning," alongside others tracks from more recent releases. Formats are CD, vinyl, and double LP in black, gold, and orange splatter.

"The new 'best of' is a celebration of not only our classic hits but also what we’ve created over the last 20 years. And we’re just gonna keep cranking it cause we’re having too much fun to stop. So enjoy the ride and see ya on the road.” – Jack Blades

Original members Jack Blades (bass and vocals), Kelly Keagy (drums and vocals), and Brad Gillis (guitars) are still around, with Eric Levy (keyboards), and Keri Kelli (guitars) rounding out the lineup. 

This ‘Best Of” album also features two bonus tracks: a new take on “Wasted Time” recorded live off the floor at Sweetwater Studios, also accompanied by an exclusive music video, and a live performance of “Feliz Navidad” that showcases the band’s playful side.

Track List:

1. Don't Tell Me You Love Me (2026)
2. (You Can Still) Rock in America (2026)
3. Sister Christian (2026)
4. When You Close Your Eyes (2026)
5. Four in the Morning (2026)
6. Breakout
7. Tomorrow
8. Growin' Up in California
9. Time of Our Lives
10. High Road
11. No Time to Lose Ya
12. Somehow Someway
13. Truth
14. Don't Let Up
15. Only for You Only
16. Wasted Time (Sweetwater Studios) (Bonus Track)
17. Feliz Navidad (Live) (Bonus Track)
18. Hole In The Sun (Bonus Track Japan)

David Byrne and Talking Heads news: solo Hollywood Bowl shows and new concert film; band rarities box set

Since David Byrne performs at the Hollywood Bowl this weekend (his Coachella Weekend appearance this past April was among my top 5 standouts), it's a good time to remind fans about the highly recommended Talking Heads' 3CD and 1LP+7" box set Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live from earlier this year.

The 1975 demos are fascinating to hear and discover which tunes were still skeletal in form ("Psycho Killer") or pretty much had the bones already intact ("Love Goes to a Building on Fire"). Among the New York live performances: The lo-fidelity Max's Kansas City 1976 set as a trio is like a bootleg with audience chatter. High points include "Don't Worry About the Government" and the frantic "Thank You for Sending Me an Angel." Byrne introduce their wiry cover of Jonathan Richman's "Pablo Picasso" as something they'd "never done before and probably won't do again." The early '77 Jabberwocky Club selections a few months later in Syracuse, NY, with the jagged "No Compassion" being a standout, is much better.  

Box set background:

After relocating from Rhode Island to New York City in early 1975, singer/guitarist David Byrne, drummer Chris Frantz, and bassist Tina Weymouth began recording early demos with their friend, J.R. Rost to get an idea of what they sounded like; those recordings open the collection. 

That September, at the request of Mark Spector, they recorded an album’s worth of demos at CBS Studios. The session didn’t result in a contract, but it did preserve early versions of songs that would form the backbone of Talking Heads’ first two albums: “Don’t Worry About The Government,” “The Book I Read,” “Thank You For Sending Me An Angel,” and “Stay Hungry.”

Tentative Decisions also uncovers a cache of live recordings from 1976 and 1977. The October 1976 performance at Max’s Kansas City took place just a few weeks before the group met with Seymour Stein and signed to Sire Records. A few months later, the January 1977 show at The Jabberwocky Club in Syracuse would be among the last by the original trio before Jerry Harrison joined in March.

The earliest recordings on Tentative Decisions reach back to The Artistics, the band Frantz and Byrne formed while they were students at the Rhode Island School of Design. Recorded in 1974 at Frantz’s apartment on Benefit Street in Providence, the demo represents the earliest known recordings of “Psycho Killer” and “Warning Sign.”

In the liner notes, Frantz says The Artistics’ aspiration to become the RISD house band—entertaining friends with covers of The Kinks, Motown, and Al Green—changed when they began writing their own songs. “One day, David knocked on the door of the painting studio Tina and I shared,” Frantz recalls. “He played us the first verse and chorus of ‘Psycho Killer,’ which sounded promising.” Byrne asked Weymouth, who spoke French, to write lyrics for the bridge while Frantz added some verses—and so it began.

Track Listing (3CD):

Disc One

“Psycho Killer” (September 1975 Demo)
“Tentative Decisions” (September 1975 Demo)
“No Compassion” (September 1975 Demo)
“Warning Sign” (September 1975 Demo)
“I’m Not in Love” (1976 Demo)
“Thank You For Sending Me An Angel” (1976 Demo)
“The Book I Read” (1976 Demo)
“I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That” (1976 Demo)
“Love Goes To A Building On Fire” (1976 Demo)
“Happy Day” (1976 Demo)
“Artists Only” (Live at the Lower Manhattan Ocean Club, New York, NY, 8/17/76)
“Psycho Killer” – The Artistics
“Warning Sign” – The Artistics

Disc Two

CBS Demos (September 1975)

“Psycho Killer” *
“Sugar On My Tongue” *
“Thank You For Sending Me An Angel” *
“I Want To Live” *
“I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That” *
“The Girls Want To Be With The Girls” *
“Who Is It?” *
“With Our Love” *
“Stay Hungry” *
“Tentative Decisions” *
“Warning Sign” *
“I’m Not In Love” *
“The Book I Read” *
“Love Goes To A Building On Fire” *
“No Compassion” *

Disc Three

Live at Max’s Kansas City, New York, NY (10/9/76)

“Artists Only” *
“1, 2, 3 Red Light” *
“Happy Day” *
“Don’t Worry About The Government” *
“Psycho Killer” *
“Love Goes To A Building On Fire” *
“Thank You For Sending Me An Angel” *
“With Our Love” *
“Pablo Picasso” *
“I’m Not In Love” *

Live at the Jabberwocky Club, Syracuse, NY (1/26/77)

“No Compassion” *
“New Feeling” *
“Psycho Killer” *
“A Clean Break (Let’s Work)” *
“Sugar On My Tongue” *

Live at the Lower Manhattan Ocean Club, New York, NY (8/17/76)

“I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That” *
“Take Me To The River” *

* Previously Unreleased

To purchase: amazon.com

In related news:

David Byrne is bringing his celebrated 2025/2026 world tour to the big screen. Filmed over multiple nights at the Hippodrome in Byrne’s hometown of Baltimore, the film captures the production that has played to audiences for over 150 shows across four continents. It was shot by Brady Corbet, director of the Academy Award®-winning film The Brutalist. The film is in postproduction now, with distribution and release details to be announced.

Who is the Sky? has become one of the most acclaimed live productions of Byrne's career. Built around an ensemble of 13 musicians, singers, and dancers in constant motion across the stage, the show blends visual art, storytelling, and music cut into a single performance, with set lists that move between the new record and Talking Heads classics like "Psycho Killer," "This Must Be the Place," “Life During Wartime” and "Burning Down the House." Since launching in September 2025, the tour has traveled across North America, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the U.K. and Asia. The tour wraps up September 19 at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, NY.

“When Brady told me he wanted to shoot our show in 70 millimeter (70 millimeter!) I didn't realize what a difference it would make until I saw some frames he sent me,” shared David Byrne. “He was right, it really does capture the wide screen visual scope of the show. I've never seen anything like it.”

“I am so grateful to David Byrne and his entire team for entrusting us to capture his hometown show on 8-perf and 15-perf 70mm,” stated Brady Corbet. “The band’s performance is an inclusive celebration of community, and of Baltimore in particular—one of America’s most underappreciated historic cities.”

“We are thrilled to help bring David Byrne’s incredible, joyous tour to the screen in a way that can be shared for all time,” said The Deep End’s Jason Fine and Amit Dey. “This film will capture one of our greatest artists at the peak of his craft, in a moment that brings people together when we need it most, and that will elevate the concert film experience to a new level.”

Tour photo courtesy: Grandstand PR

Music-themed book review roundup: Tears for Fears' Roland Orzabal, David Bowie, The Eagles

Books With Appealing Music Star Backstories

Roland Orzabal
Welcome to Your Life: Love, Death and Tears for Fears
(Dey Street)

As creative half of Eighties synth pop juggernaut Tears for Fears alongside Curt Smith, Roland Orzabal made major indelible hits like "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," "Head Over Heels," and "Sowing the Seeds of Love." Here, the British singer/songwriter/guitarist adds a unique spin on the average music memoir by writing about astrology's influence on his life after worldwide fame in 1985. Welcome to Your Life is an engaging read, where Orzabal leaves most star chart talk to each chapter's conclusion. Fans should find the details surrounding his colorful upbringing, broken home (which led to forming bands alongside sympathetic high school acquaintance Smith), TFF albums and tours, delving into Arthur Janov's Primal Therapy, a managerial thief, splitting from Smith and solo years, dealing with his first wife's illness and death, overcoming a harrowing Ambien addiction, the TFF reunion and finding a happy life with a new wife and baby quite interesting. Hardcover, 287 pages. Purchase: amazon.com

Sean Egan

Eagles and 'Hotel California' - 50 Years
(Motorbooks)

This December will mark fifty years since the Eagles' classic fifth studio release came out. Egan's sleek coffee table book - available Sept. 8 - dutifully examines the genesis of America's third best-selling album of all time. The author covers all pertinent career bases: notably the Linda Ronstadt connection, the band's early country-rock albums failing to set the charts afire (though a few singles did well), music critics and the British public's initial indifference to the sound and lyrics, personnel changes (Joe Walsh seemed an odd choice at first), '70s debauchery, how the Hotel California recording transpired, eventual breakup, Don Henley and Glenn Frey's solo career successes, the Eagles' reunion and final album. There are ample archival photos, plus sidebars on collaborators, rivals, studios, execs, and more. Hardcover, with slipcase, 176 glossy pages. Preorder: amazon.com

Alexander Larman

Lazarus: The Second Coming of David Bowie
(Pegasus)

Larman does an impressive job examining the less celebrated second half of David Bowie's career, when the rock legend continued to take compelling musical routes (a hard-edged Tin Machine, the Brian Eno reunion on eerie song cycle Outside, an industrial/jungle-based Earthling), increased acting work and visual art, marriage and fatherhood for a second time. The biography boasts more authenticity than most, thanks to feedback from key Bowie collaborators like Tony Visconti, Mike Garson, Reeves Gabrels, Mark Plati, Gerry Leonard, Gail Ann Dorsey (coincidentally a member of Tears for Fears' touring band for a '90s spell), and others. The book also contains a discography, filmography, bibliography, and notes section. Hardcover, 367 pages. Purchase: amazon.com

Fontaines D.C. news

Fontaines D.C.'s fifth studio album, Dopamine Chamber, is set for Oct. 16 via XL Recordings. Produced by James Ford, it is the follow-up to 2024’s UK platinum-certified Romance. The lead single is “Marianne” and was inspired in part by the 2024 thriller series Ripley.

STREAM “MARIANNE” HERE

WATCH THE "MARIANNE" MUSIC VIDEO HERE

“The album itself is a dopamine chamber,” says the band's Grian Chatten. “You step inside and we test these different mind- or mood-altering pieces of music on you.”

PRE-ORDER / PRE-SAVE DOPAMINE CHAMBER HERE

Formats include LP, deluxe LP, CD, cassette and digital. 

Additionally, the band will do two U.S. gigs next month at Kings Theatre, Brooklyn (September 21) and Hollywood Forever Cemetery (September 25). Fans can get pre-sale tickets here: https://laylo.com/fontainesdc/m/nyla26. General on-sale starts at 10am local time on Friday, August 28.

Of the last album Romance, Chatten says it “was maybe 60 per cent human and 40 per cent corrupted by automation, and a loss of feeling.” He spent time in Venice, Vienna and Sicily in search of lyrical inspiration. “This one feels more like 60 per cent corrupted — the mask is wearing the face a little more.” He resisted any pull towards easy optimism: “I felt it would be more powerful to leave the hope out and reflect the ugliness honestly. This one needed to feel more like a catastrophic warning.”

“Our albums have always questioned a sense of place,” says bassist Conor Deegan. “First Dublin, then being away from Dublin, and then trying to find the romance elsewhere. On this record, the question became: where do you escape to?” 

Adds guitarist Conor Curley, “I was trying to find stuff that pointed into the future.” The new album was made with James Ford between London, the English countryside and Palermo, where Chatten recorded vocals in a makeshift booth built from mattresses and cushions.

“There’s a poignant sense of us being on the brink of some other kind of form of humanity, or non-humanity,” says Chatten. 

The album track listing is TBA.

Live shows:

August 28th - Reading Festival, UK

August 29th - Leeds Festival, UK
August 30th - Electric Picnic, Ireland
September 18th - Shaky Knees, Atlanta, GA, USA
September 20th - Sea.Hear.Now, Asbury Park, NJ, USA
** September 21st - Kings Theatre, Brooklyn, NY, USA (NEW DATE) **
** September 25th - Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Los Angeles, CA, USA (NEW DATE) **
September 27th - Ohana Festival, Dana Point, CA, USA

Marshall Crenshaw rarities compilation coming in October

Following its limited release as a Record Store Day Exclusive earlier this year, Marshall Crenshaw’s The Bootleg Sounds of Marshall Crenshaw: 1984-87 will receive a wide release on October 23 via Yep Roc Records. The album is now available for pre-order.

Personally curated by Crenshaw from his archives, the collection brings together previously unreleased home demos, live performances, and studio recordings from the acclaimed singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for the top 40 hit single "Someday, Someway" in 1982. 

The Bootleg Sounds of Marshall Crenshaw: 1984-87 looks behind the scenes, through the songwriting process, and the home recordings of songs that shaped his third and fourth albums, Downtown (1985) and Mary Jean & 9 Others (1987). The early demos sit alongside live tracks from 1986 and 1987, as well as other long-lost material from the archives.

A previously unreleased rendition of Buddy Holly’s “That’ll Be the Day” features Gary Tallent and Max Weinberg of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. Crenshaw's conection to Holly’s music famously includes portraying the rock ‘n’ roll pioneer in the 1987 La Bamba.

“(We’re Gonna) Shake Up Their Minds” stems from a songwriting block when Crenshaw sent the backing track to acclaimed British singer/songwriter Kirsty MacColl to see where she might take it. “Kirsty wrote a song to the track called “All I Ever Wanted”, but by the time I got it back from her in the mail, I’d figured out the storyline to "Shake Up Their Minds," and finished that song.”

Five years later, Kirsty recorded “All I Ever Wanted” for her album, Electric Landlady, and released the track in the UK as a single. "I’m presenting the sequence the way I found it on the tape reel- my demo, followed by the last bit of her demo, which I’d accidentally recorded over.”

Listen/Share: “They Will Never Know”

Crenshaw and his band will hit the road this fall for a run of dates. A complete list is below, and tickets are available here.

Track listing:

1.“They Will Never Know”
2. (We’re Gonna) Shake Up Their Minds
3. All I Ever Wanted (Excerpt)
4. That’ll Be the Day
5. Little Wild One (No. 1) (TV track)
6. The Distance Between
7. Blues Is King (TV track)
8. Right Now
9. Vocal Test
10. Town Without Pity
11. Terrifying Karaoke
12. Synsonics Go Berzerko!!
12. Reet Petite (Live)
13. Try (Live)
14. This Is Easy (Live)

Tour Dates:

October 27 – Hugh’s Room Live – Toronto, Ontario
October 28 – Sportsmen’s Tavern – Buffalo, NY
October 29 – Magic Bag Theater – Ferndale, MI
October 31 – Old Town School of Folk Music – Chicago, IL
November 1 – The Acorn Theater – Three Oaks, MI
November 2 – Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH
November 11 – City Winery Boston – Boston, MA
November 12- Fairfield Theater Stage One - Fairfield, CT
November 13 – Daryl’s House Restaurant & Live Music Club – Pawling, NY
November 14 – My Father’s Place – Roslyn, NY
November 17 – Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center – Old Saybrook, CT
November 18 – Sellersville Theater – Sellersville, PA
November 19 – Elkton Music Hall – Elkton, MD
November 21 – Rams Head on Stage – Annapolis, MD
November 22 – The Birchmere – Alexandria, VA
November 23 – City Winery NYC – New York, NY

Debbie Gibson Expands Christmas Album; Adds December Shows in Las Vegas

I got to interview Debbie in 2024 before she appeared in Pasadena's Rose Parade on New Year's Day '25. Our chat was shorter than I would have liked, but fun. You can find it elsewhere on this blog.

In 2022, Debbie Gibson released her debut holiday album ‘Winterlicious.’ This year, she unveils ‘Winterlicious D’Luxe,’ an expanded collection with tracks from the first installment as well as six new originals. It is set for digital release on October 22 and a double vinyl release on November 6.

Her new Las Vegas run at The STRAT Hotel, Casino & Tower takes place December 17-19*, 20 (*matinee & evening shows). Tickets go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. PDT this Friday on the website HERE.

‘Winterlicious D’Luxe’ will include the forthcoming lead single “Lit Up!,” “El Regalo,” done in Spanish, and a holiday reinvention of her top 5 Eighties hit “Out of the Blue.”

“Winterlicious D'Luxe is something I've been quietly working on throughout the year as both a songwriter and artist… I am so ready to put my stamp on all things holiday music and live shows this year,” said Debbie. “As a longtime Las Vegas local, I'm so thrilled to also be partnering with SPI Entertainment and The STRAT for my first ever solo holiday Vegas run! My show will be full of holiday favorites, both original and classics along with my pop hits! It's festive, it's campy and I can't wait to connect with the audience in this classic intimate showroom setting.”

The announcement follows last year's memoir ‘ETERNALLY ELECTRIC’ from Gallery Books. Her first pop album of original material in 20 years, ‘The Body Remembers,’ arrived in 2021 on her own label Stargirl Records. The new album went to No. 2 on the Apple Pop Sales Charts and achieved one million streams in its first month.

Track Listing:

It’s a Small World

Winterlude
Christmas Star
Let It Snow
Lit Up!
I Wish Everyday Is Christmas
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Heartbreak Holiday — duet with Joey McIntyre
The Gift
Out of the Blue Christmas
Jingle Those Bells
The Candy Man
Christmas Dreams
El Regalo
Sleigh Ride
Jingle Bell Rock / The Christmas Song
Angels in the Snow
Illuminate
White Christmas — duet with Daddy Joe
Cheers!