Bob Mould's Workbook gets reissue treatment

It's only a coincidence that I've posted info on another Omnivore release. They just put out so much good stuff...

When Hüsker Dü split in 1987, Bob Mould all but went into self-imposed exile. Two years later, Mould would re-emerge with his first solo album Workbook.

His compositions and performances on Workbook plumbed emotional depths and hit musical heights few expected. Instant classics like "Wishing Well" and "See A Little Light" would remain live staples of Mould solo sets for decades to come.

On Feb. 25, Omnivore Recordings will commemorate the 25th anniversary of this work with the deluxe 2-CD 2-LP Workbook 25. In addition to the original album's 11 tracks, the first CD adds "All Those People Know," originally issued as the B-side of the single "See A Little Light."

The second CD is Bob's complete 1989 performance at Chicago's Cabaret Metro. Thirteen of the 17 tracks are previously unissued from this show, which features music from the then two-week old Workbook, as well as Hüsker Dü favorites and a cover of Richard & Linda Thompson's classic "Shoot Out The Lights."

Workbook 25 will also make the album available on vinyl for the first time since its original release, pressed on 2 LPs for sonic superiority. The vinyl edition will include "All Those People Know" as well.

Pre-orders for Workbook 25 can be placed at http://omnivorerecordings.com/shop/records/bob-mould/

Workbook 25's release will be followed in short order by a previously announced "25 Years of Workbook" set Feb. 27 at the Noise Pop festival in San Francisco and a six-date run of select, intimate dates where Bob, along with long-time bassist Jason Narducy, will be performing selections from Workbook as well as other songs in his catalog.

Tour dates:

February 27 - San Francisco - Great American Music Hall (Noise Pop Festival)
March 1 - Chicago - Old Town
March 2 - Chicago - City Winery
March 4 - Minneapolis - The Women's Club
March 5 - Washington DC - 9:30 Club
March 7 - New York - City Winery
March 8 - New York - City Winery

Rufus Wainwright retrospective due in March

Vibrate: The Best of Rufus Wainwright will be released March 4 by Universal Music Enterprises (UMe).

The new collection’s single disc and digital edition features 17 songs that define one of modern music’s most innovative talents, as well as a brand new recording, “Me and Liza.” A 2CD and digital deluxe edition adds 16 rare live and studio tracks.

 

This release encapsulates a career in music that is like no other. From the 1998 release of his debut album to 2012’s Out of the Game, Rufus Wainwright has played it his way, refusing to be categorized while establishing himself as one of contemporary music’s very best songwriters, singers and performers.

 

For those already familiar with Wainwright’s impressive body of work, this collection will delight. For everyone else, Vibrate: The Best of Rufus Wainwright serves as a solid gold introduction.

 

The new song, “Me and Liza” was co-written with Guy Chambers. The deluxe edition adds live versions of some of Wainwright’s best-known songs, recorded at Kenwood House in 2010, plus “The Maker Makes” from Brokeback Mountain, “La Complainte de la Butte” from Moulin Rouge, the new song “Chic and Pointless,” and “WW111,” which has never before been available on a physical release.

 

Without doubt, Rufus Wainwright has established himself as one of his generation’s great male vocalists and songwriters. The New York-born, Montreal-bred singer/songwriter has released seven acclaimed studio albums and two live albums, including his acclaimed GRAMMY® nominated Rufus Does Judy At Carnegie Hall.

 

Wainwright has also collaborated with many artists, including, most recently, Robbie Williams, co-writing and dueting on the title track of his Swing Both Ways album. He has also worked with the Pet Shop Boys, Shirley Bassey, Elton John, Antony, David Byrne, Joni Mitchell, Robert Wilson, Lou Reed, Boy George, and Mark Ronson.

 

Track listing:

1. Going to a Town (Release the Stars)
2. Out of the Game (Out of the Game)
3. Me and Liza (NEW SONG)
4. Hallelujah (Shrek)
5. Oh What A World (Want One)
6. April Fools (Rufus Wainwright)
7. Poses (Poses)
8. Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk (Poses)
9. Vibrate (Want One)
10. The One You Love (Want Two)
11. I Don't Know What It Is (Want One)
12. The Art Teacher (Want Two)
13. Go or Go Ahead (Want One)
14. Dinner At Eight (Want One)
15. Foolish Love (Rufus Wainwright)
16. Sometimes You Need (Out of the Game)
17. Grey Gardens (Poses)
18. Tiergarten (Release the Stars)

Deluxe edition (Disc 2):

1. Bitter Tears (Out of the Game)
2. The Maker Makes (from Brokeback Mountain soundtrack)
3. Across The Universe (Poses bonus track)
4. La Complainte de la Butte (from Moulin Rouge soundtrack)
5. Chelsea Hotel No.2 (bonus track on Want Two)
6. Chic and Pointless (NEW SONG, produced by Guy Chambers)
7. WW111 (physical release debut; composed with Guy Chambers)
8. Jericho (Live from the Artists’ Den, spring 2012)
9. Montauk (Live from the Artists’ Den, spring 2012)
10. If Love Were All (Live at Kenwood House, summer 2010)
11. Do It Again (Live At Kenwood House, summer 2010)
12. Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart (Live At Kenwood House, 2010)
13. Memphis Skyline (Live At Kenwood House, 2010)
14. Martha (Live at Kenwood House, 2010)
15. One Man Guy (Live at KCRW, June 2001)
16. Jo Whiley BBC interview (Royal Opera House, July 2011)

 

rufuswainwright.com

The Dream Syndicate Live '82 back in print

And the cool reissues keep on coming from Omnivore. After being blown away by the reunited band live last week in LA, this will be a must have for me. Official details follow...

A few weeks before The Dream Syndicate entered the studio to record their seminal album The Days of Wine and Roses, they set up in Studio ZZZZ in left-leaning non-com station KPFK-FM in Los Angeles, on Sept. 5, 1982, for a live on-air set.

 

In attendance were members of R.E.M., The Bangles and Green on Red, as well as many friends of the band. On Feb. 4, when the recording receives proper U.S. release on Omnivore Recordings, you can be there, too. 

 

The Day Before Wine and Roses — available on CD for the first time in 15 years — documents the genesis of one of the most important pieces of the Paisley Underground puzzle. The band (Steve Wynn; guitar and vocals; Karl Precoda, guitar; Kendra Smith, bass; and Dennis Duck, drums) began its set at 2 a.m., according to Wynn’s liner notes. And that could not have been a more perfect hour for the ethereal sounds of this highly influential band.

Comprising originals that appeared on their first EP and others that would later appear on their 1983 debut, as well as covers of classics by Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Donovan, The Day Before Wine and Roses not only presents an important time in alternative music, but also defines it. Packaged with a full-color booklet, the set also features the original 1994 liner notes and a postscript from original and current reissue producer Pat Thomas.

In addition, Steve Wynn offers additional notes with recollections of the evening including a malt liquor run, the forced removal of an ex-girlfriend, and presence of R.E.M.’s Peter Buck — later his band mate in the Baseball Project — of which he was not aware until years later. He even reveals that the live wee-hours version of “Days of Wine and Roses,” included in this collection, might have been might have been superior to the studio version. You decide.

The Dream Syndicate's influence on the bands that followed in their wake cannot be under-estimated. Their pioneering “loud-soft-loud” dynamic from “verse to chorus to verse” was cited by both Black Francis and Kurt Cobain as inspiration for the Pixies and Nirvana.

Track Listing:
 

1 Some Kinda Itch
2 Mr. Soul
3 Sure Thing
4 That’s What You Always Say
5 Outlaw Blues
6 Open Hour
7 When You Smile
8 Season of the Witch
9 The Days of Wine and Roses

Kaiser Chiefs news

Kaiser Chiefs have announced that fifth studio album, Education, Education, Education & War will come out on April 1 via ATO Records. 

 

The British alt-rock band will start the New Year with two exclusive UK shows at Gorilla in Manchester and the Scala in London ahead of a run of dates including Madrid, New York, Mexico City and Los Angeles.

 

One of the most successful groups of the last decade, they have released four albums which have sold millions worldwide. Their '11 album let fans could choose 10 out of 24 tracks they had recorded in order to create their own version of the album - earning Kaiser Chiefs the Q Award for Innovation, and two D&AD awards in Cannes for creativity.

It was recently announced that Ricky Wilson, the band’s frontman, was chosen to be a coach on the UK’s version of The Voice, alongside Will.I.Am, Kylie Minogue and Sir Tom Jones which airs there on BBC1.

 

For more information and to purchase tickets for the February shows, visit kaiserchiefs.com

 

Education, Education, Education & War Track Listing:

1. The Factory Gates

2. Coming Home

3. Misery Company

4. Ruffians On Parade

5. Meanwhile Up In Heaven

6. One More Last Song

7. My Life

8. Bows & Arrows

9. Cannons

10. Roses
 

 

February 2014 Tour Dates 

2/11       Manchester, UK @ Gorilla

2/13       London, UK @ The Scala

2/14       Madrid, Spain @ Sala Arena

2/15       Barcelona, Spain @ Razzmatazz

2/19       Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

2/21       Guadalajara, Mexico @ Teatro Diana

2/22       Mexico City, Mexico @ Plaza Condesa

2/25       Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey

Classic Camper Van Beethoven reissues on the way

Since I did a feature on the band for their most recent studio album, I can't wait to hear these reissues. Read more details from the press release...

When indie superstars Camper Van Beethoven signed with Virgin Records in the late ’80s, it seemed inconceivable. How could that irreverent act, a band with great wit and wide-ranging instrumentation, move to a major label without “selling out” and sacrificing all that made them great?

As it turned out, the first three tracks on Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart were a pop song, an instrumental and an adaptation of a dirge about death. Heck, the release even had a love song for Patty Hearst. No, Camper Van Beethoven hadn’t sold out. They just had better distribution now.

 

On Feb. 4, Omnivore Recordings will proudly revisit a time when Camper Van Beethoven helped pioneer American alt-rock, with reissues of the band’s first two Virgin albums: Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart and Key Lime Pie.

 

Produced by Dennis Herring (Elvis Costello, Counting Crows, Modest Mouse), Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart finds itself reissued on CD with 10 bonus tracks, and on vinyl for the first time since its original issue.

 

Featuring new photos and liners in both the CD and LP, the album is being released in tandem with its acclaimed follow-up Key Lime Pie, with full cooperation from the band itself.

 

Key Lime Pie, also produced by Herring, was a logical next chapter in the saga of CVB while offering higher production value. From a track about Jack Ruby to a cover of Status Quo’s “Pictures of Matchstick Men,” Key Lime Pie was a slice above the rest and a fitting dessert for the 1980s.

 

This reissue contains nine bonus tracks on the CD. The nearly hour-long album was originally pressed on one LP, but Omnivore has expended it to two LPs (for better sound) and added a bonus track to Side 4 that plays at 45 rpm.

 

It’s been a few years since the end of the ’80s but Camper Van Beethoven has proved timeless. Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart attests to that. It’s even spelled out in the title: beloved, revolutionary and a real sweetheart.

 

The band, which broke up after the two Virgin recordings, has reunited and continues to record and tour today.

 

Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart CD Track List:

1. Eye Of Fatima (Pt. 1)
2. Eye Of Fatima (Pt. 2)
3. O Death
4. She Divines Water
5. Devil Song
6. One Of These Days
7. Turquoise Jewelry
8. Waka
9. Change Your Mind
10. My Path Belated
11. Never Go Back
12. The Fool
13. Tania
14. Life Is Grand
 
Bonus Tracks:
15. Love Is a Weed
16. Harmony In My Head
17. Wade In the Water
18. Eye Of Fatima Pts. 1 & 2 (Edit)
19. The Day That Lassie Went To The Moon (Live)
20. One Of These Days (Live)
21. Smash It Up (Live)
22. Seven Languages (Live)
23. Kodachrome (Live) “Kodachrome”® is a registered trademark for color film
24. Hanging Around (live)
25. Pope Festival

Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart LP Track List:

Side One
1. Eye Of Fatima (Pt. 1)
2. Eye Of Fatima (Pt. 2)
3. O Death
4. She Divines Water
5. Devil Song
6. One Of These Days
7. Turquoise Jewelry
 
Side Two
1. Waka
2. Change Your Mind
3. My Path Belated
4. Never Go Back
5. The Fool
6. Tania
7. Life Is Grand

Key Lime Pie CD Track List:

1. Opening Theme
2. Jack Ruby
3. Sweethearts
4. When I Win The Lottery
5. (I Was Born In A) Laundromat
6. Borderline
7. The Light From A Cake
8. June
9. All Her Favorite Fruit
10. Interlude
11. Flowers
12. The Humid Press Of Days
13. Pictures Of Matchstick Men
14. Come On Darkness
 
Bonus Tracks:
15. Closing Theme (Aka Guitar Hero)
16. (I Was Born In A) Laundromat (Edit)
17. Country 2 (Demo)
18. Good Guys & Bad Guys (Live)
19. Wasted (Live)
20. Take The Skinheads Bowling (Live)
21. Before I Met You (Live)
22. L’aguardiente (Soho Natural Sesson)
23. (I Don’t Want To Go To The) Lincoln Shrine (Soho Natural Session)

Key Lime Pie LP Track List:

Side One
1. Opening Theme
2. Jack Ruby
3. Sweethearts
4. When I Win The Lottery

Side Two
1. (I Was Born In A) Laundromat
2. Borderline
3. The Light From A Cake
4. June
5. All Her Favorite Fruit
 
Side Three
1. Interlude
2. Flowers
3. The Humid Press Of Days
4. Pictures Of Matchstick Men
5. Come On Darkness

Side Four (Plays at 45 prm from the center out)
1. Closing Theme (aka Guitar)

Bonus Q&A with Foals

photo by Steve Gullick

Here is more from my interview...

Q: The band is part of the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas concert #1 lineup on Dec. 7 in LA. Are you looking forward to it?

Yeah. Real excited. The lineup looks great. We just like to come back to the States. We were there for a few months this year. I think we feel more comfortable in the States than we have been before. It’ll be nice to be back. 

Q: It only took five years, but KROQ is finally giving Foals some decent radio play. Do you get a lot of attention from UK radio?

We do. It feels good. Obviously, being from Britain, we’ve had that kind of attention from the start. We were always aware of what it’s like for British bands trying to make their way in the States. It definitely feels good to be playing the KROQ party and playing in the OC. It feels like we’re making headway in the States; connecting with more people. 

Q: When you go out into the crowd with your rare Travis Bean TB1000S natural and TB500 black guitars, do you ever worry about damaging them?

They’re indestructible. I think even if I tried to break them, I couldn’t. I’d make a fool out of myself and be there awhile. They’re built like tanks. 

Q: How did Jimmy playing more Rhodes piano on the new album affect the sound?

I feel like Jimmy came into his own on this record. We never knew he could play piano as well as can. He just sort of pulled it out. It expanded the parameters of what the band could do because we weren’t just relying on guitar interplay the whole time. I think it brought a kind of soul to a lot of the songs. 

Q: These are some of the most open lyrics you’ve penned to date. 
They made me cringe at the time. That’s kind of what I was going for. It wasn’t like a subsequent thing where I regretted it. I kind of wanted that. I don’t know if I would do it again.

Q: Did taking the trip to Greece midway through writing help you open up? 
Yeah. I got a little bit stuck after being in the studio for a long time with certain songs...I find that going to Greece is good for me. 

Q: Holy Fire is one of your most successful albums to date. What feedback have you gotten from fans? 
The response has been overwhelming. I think we’re at our most intent at the moment in the band. The shows are bigger everywhere. The most rewarding aspect of what’s been going on this year – and this is kind of a product of making the lyrics more direct in certain songs – is the fact that in the shows, there’s more emotional intensity. I feel like the words and the music’s connecting in a more visceral sense with the audience. It’s not as intellectual. 

Q: Were you honored to win Best Live Act at the Q Awards recently? 
Yeah, it felt good. It was a surprise. Hopefully, it shows people that we’re a good live band. I guess that’s the point, isn’t it? 

Q: The “Inhaler” video is quite intense, especially the scene where people seem to be convulsing. 
[The director] wanted it to be British street, skate youth culture. Channeling angst and stuff like that. The kind of emotion in that song releases angst. Teenage frustration. And it was an excuse to hang out with skater friends of ours from Oxford. It’s a pretty homegrown video, that one. A lot of the people are our friends. 

Q: Where did you shoot and record the CCTV performances that were featured on various video segments on your website and whose audio was included on the recent Black Friday/Record Store Day release? 
That was done in the studio we wrote a lot of Holy Fire in. A tiny room in Oxford. It’s also where me and Jack used to practice when we were 15 years old and just learning [our instruments]. To be honest, that was one of my favorite things we’ve done this year. We went in and did them all in a couple days. It felt right and pure. It was nice to go back in the studio where we’d written the songs, having already recorded them. I really enjoyed doing that. 

Q: Early next year, after the sold out UK run of shows, you’re heading to Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and South Africa. Have you been there before? 
No, it’ll be a first for a lot of those places actually. We’ve been to Japan quite a few times, but never to [the other places]. We’re excited about playing some places we haven’t done before and seeing what it’s like.

Interview with Foals

My interview originally appeared at ocregister.com

When it comes to concerts, Foals’ unofficial motto could be “the riskier, the better.”

While performing in Sydney this past September, frontman Yannis Philippakis (center) headed for the venue’s balcony, jumped backwards into a sea of outstretched hands and crowdsurfed back to the stage.

That's become a common occurrence at the band's shows lately, including earlier this year at L.A.'s El Rey Theatre. Appropriately enough, it often happens during the song “Two Steps Twice.”

“I like shows that are dangerous, verging on the violent,” he said last week in a phone interview from London. “The bands I liked growing up, like the Jesus Lizard and Fugazi, put on visceral shows,” where it wasn’t about perfection or choreography but “the passion and feeling, something wild and untamed.”

Philippakis frowns on overly polished productions that use backing tracks: “The tendency for bands to compete against professionalism in pop music has made a lot of rock shows boring and taken the edge off.”

Self-confidence, however, took some time to manifest after Foals’ mid-’90s formation. Back then the Oxford-based alt-rock musicians were still in their early 20s and frequently huddled together onstage, facing away from fans.

“We came from a scene where you played despite the crowd or lack thereof,” recalls the singer/guitarist. “It took us a while to understand there were people who actually wanted to see what our faces looked like.”

The group’s initial penchant for destroying gear during shows has basically dissipated, too, except when it comes to lead guitarist/keyboardist Jimmy Smith, who is “still the worst culprit.”

After two critically hailed efforts, Antidotes (2008) and Total Life Forever (2010), the release of third album Holy Fire has given Foals – rounded out by bassist Walter Gervers, drummer Jack Bevan and keyboardist Edwin Congreave – their biggest success to date. This time, America is along for the ride.

The new disc entered the U.K. charts at No. 2, spawned a Top 40 single there and netted a second Mercury Music Prize nomination for the quintet. They also picked up a trophy for best live act at the recent Q Magazine Awards.

Here, Holy Fire has at least dented the upper half of the Billboard 200 tally. “Inhaler” and “My Number” both went Top 20 at alternative radio, and taste-maker KROQ has finally gotten behind the band: the station will host them during Night 1 of this weekend’s sold-out Almost Acoustic Christmas event at the Shrine Auditorium. A headlining warm-up at the Observatory happens tonight.

“We’re playing better than we ever have,” Philippakis notes. “That’s resonating in the States, definitely. We deserve to be taken seriously in the States. … There are a lot of great bands in Britain that don’t get a chance to be appreciated across the continent. It feels good to be making headway and connecting with more people.”

A prestigious booking last March at London’s Royal Albert Hall was filmed and just issued abroad as a DVD, Blu-ray and on a deluxe import edition of Holy Fire. Masterfully shot, it also comes with an insightful making-of album documentary. Both were directed by regular associate Dave Ma.

“That was a pretty special show, because it’s a classical establishment venue. We were excited about doing something (visually) with Dave in a larger scale that wasn’t a music video. It was absolutely the perfect opportunity.”

Ready to step up in business matters as well as sonically, Foals moved from Sub Pop to Warner Bros. Records for distribution and enlisted prominent co-producers and mixers Alan Moulder and Flood. 

That pair's cumulative clientele includes Nine Inch Nails, the Killers, Depeche Mode, U2 and the Smashing Pumpkins. Moulder suggested that Foals “think voodoo.” The resulting songs certainly cast a figurative spell on the listener.

Starting with eerie instrumental “Prelude,” the riveting album finds Philippakis utilizing his falsetto to fine effect on the bombastic, stoner rock vibe of “Inhaler,” before unleashing a rare primal scream. The danceable “My Number” is Foals’ most accessible song, equally infectious “Out of the Woods” is peppered with marimba, and the atmospheric album-closer “Moon” is simply gorgeous, possessing a starkness on par with Sigur Rós.

The London Contemporary Orchestra, conducted by band friend Hugh Brunt, appears on half the album.

Those swelling sounds are most pronounced during the dramatic “Milk & Black Spiders.” The singer pointed out that Foals had never used orchestrations before, but “some songs just begged for it.”

Sampled insect sounds were also used on that track, a result of the band’s attempt to bring an atmosphere of nature – complete with greenery – into exploratory demo sessions in Australia.

“We were recording in a Sydney studio,” Philippakis explains, “then we went to this river house. Certain songs only worked in the city. They (fared) worse and felt a bit 1D. We were just excited about making something that sounded swampy and had this kind of organic matter built into the sound. It became an obsession.”

After returning to England, Moulder and Flood led the musicians to believe they would casually run through those demos. In reality, the rough-hewn playing tended to benefit several songs and figured into the final results.

Other welcome changes entailed Smith emphasizing Rhodes piano over guitar for the first time, resulting in “some of the quietest and most delicate things we’ve ever written” and “the ability to have more depth and different textures.”

Part way through the process, Philippakis (a Greek native of Karpathos) needed a creative jolt, went back to his native country and worked on more lyrics. They ended being the most personal on a Foals album.

“I just wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone. I didn’t want to blur the meaning or hide behind masks. That’s what I was really excited by.”

Foals
Where: The Observatory, 3503 S. Harbor Blvd., Santa Ana
When: 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5
How much: $25
Also: The Brits appear Dec. 7 at L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium as part of KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas, opening for Kings of Leon, Vampire Weekend, Queens of the Stone Age, AFI and more, sold out
Call: 800-745-3000
Online: observatoryoc.com, ticketweb.com 

Photos by Steve Gullick/courtesy Warner Bros. Records