Foreigner 'Head Games' reissue on the way

Foreigner continues its 50-year celebration with a newly remixed and remastered edition of Head Games, the band’s multi-platinum third studio album, originally released in 1979, set for October 30 on CD/Blu-ray and black vinyl. Pre-Order Here. The collection will also be available the same day via DSPs. 

Newly discovered unreleased track “Trouble” is available digitally: Listen Now.

Featuring the hits “Dirty White Boy” and the title track, the new collection has been overseen by current Foreigner bassist Jeff Pilson and producer Wyn Davis. 

The 1979 debut of Head Games featured Lou Gramm (lead vocals, percussion), Mick Jones (lead guitar, piano, backing vocals, lead vocals), Ian McDonald (guitars, keyboards, synthesizers), Rick Wills (bass, backing vocals), and Dennis Elliott (drums). The album was notable as it marks the first appearance of bass guitarist Rick Wills, and the last album to feature original founding members Ian McDonald and Al Greenwood. It was also the last Foreigner album to feature founder and lead guitarist Mick Jones on lead vocals.

Head Games Super Deluxe CD/Blu-ray edition features the original 10-track studio album newly remixed, alongside a full disc of outtakes and alternate versions. The collection also unearths a previously unreleased concert from the Head Games tour. A Blu-ray completes the package with an immersive Dolby Atmos mix of the original studio album.

In addition to the Super Deluxe CD/Blu-ray set, Head Games will be available in multiple configurations, including a standalone 1LP vinyl edition of the newly remixed 2026 album; Dolby Atmos versions of both the complete Super Deluxe audio collection and the newly remixed original 10-track album; and a Digital Super Deluxe Edition available for streaming and download.

Among the collection’s most significant discoveries is the previously unreleased track “Trouble,” recorded in May 1979 during the original Head Games sessions at Atlantic Studios in New York. Recently discovered during research for the new Head Games boxed set, “Trouble” was originally co-produced by legendary producer Roy Thomas Baker and has now been newly remixed for its first commercial release. The track also features a newly added guest guitar appearance by Peter Frampton, a longtime friend of Mick Jones. “Trouble” will be released as a special 7-inch single backed with “Zalia,” another non-album rarity from the Head Games era; and is available as a D2C Exclusive on Rhino.com and on the band’s merch store.

Head Games: Super Deluxe
3CD + Blu-ray Track Listing

DISC 1: “HEAD GAMES” 2026 STEREO RE-MIX

Dirty White Boy
Love On The Telephone
Women
I’ll Get Even With You
Seventeen
Head Games
The Modern Day
Blinded By Science
Do What You Like
Rev On The Red Line

DISC 2:
OUTTAKES, ROUGH MIXES & ALTERNATIVE VERSIONS

Trouble (2026 Remix Featuring Peter Frampton)
Zalia (2026 Remix)
Love On The Telephone (Aka Slip Away)*
Zalia*
Happy Hour With Al*
Rev On The Red Line (Early Version)
Rev On The Red Line (Complete With Lead Vocals)
Blinded By Science (Complete With Edit)
Head Games (Early Version)
Dirty White Boy (Early Version)
Rev On The Red Line (Aka Go Down)
Blinded By Science (Alternate Take)
Seventeen (Early Mix)
I’ll Get Even With You (Aka Low Blow)
I Want You Ii (Take 35)
The Modern Day (Aka If I Don’t Have You)
*Instrumental

DISC 3: HEAD GAMES TOUR 1979
LIVE AT ROCHESTER COMMUNITY WAR MEMORIAL
ROCHESTER, NY,
OCTOBER 27, 1979

Long, Long Way From Home
Blue Morning, Blue Day
I’ll Get Even With You
Head Games
I Need You
The Modern Day
Women
Cold As Ice
Feels Like The First Time
Dirty White Boy
Starrider
Double Vision
Love On The Telephone
Headknocker
Hot Blooded

DISC 4: BLU-RAY AUDIO
ATMOS MIX

Dirty White Boy
Love On The Telephone
Women
I’ll Get Even With You
Seventeen
Head Games
The Modern Day
Blinded By Science
Do What You Like
Rev On The Red Line

2026 STEREO REMIX

Dirty White Boy
Love On The Telephone
Women
I’ll Get Even With You
Seventeen
Head Games
The Modern Day
Blinded By Science
Do What You Like
Rev On The Red Line

Bonus Track:
Trouble (2026 Remix Featuring Peter Frampton) 

Out now: Early rarities collection from Velocity Girl

Getting their start as the 1980s bled into the 90s, Velocity Girl arose from a new indie pop underground in Washington, DC, and its suburbs, a group of bands clustered around then-nascent Slumberland Records who broadened DC's punk paradigm. 

This new compilation 1989-1992 covers the band's pre-Sub Pop years. "Clock" has original vocalist Bridget Cross, later of fellow DC band Unrest. Cross also provides vocals for the band's debut single "I Don't Care If You Go," included here with all the B-sides from the US and Australian 7" versions.

The next phase of the band begins with the departure of Cross and the addition of Sarah Shannon as main vocalist, whose voice is first heard on two previously unreleased songs from a 1991 session, including current single "I Know Exactly What You Mean." 

An aforementioned "I Don't Care If You Go" is included as a digital AA side, a showcase for original vocalist Bridget Cross. 

Seattle label Sub Pop would soon come calling and worldwide fame would ensue. These songs were restored from the original tapes, newly remastered and the package has liner notes by DC scene scholar John R. Davis. 

Track List:

01 Clock
02 I Don't Care If You Go
03 Always
04 Not At All
05 I Don't Care If You Go (Acoustic)
06 I Know Exactly What You Mean
07 That's Entertainment
08 What You Say
09 Tales of Brave Aphrodite
10 Forgotten Favorite
11 Why Should I Be Nice To You?
12 Warm/Crawl

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