Iggy Pop news

Iggy Pop's new album, EVERY LOSER, is scheduled for January 6. Pre-Order and Pre-Save HERE. It is his 19th solo album and his first to be released via Atlantic/Gold Tooth Records, the label founded by Pop's producer Andrew Watt.

“I’m the guy with no shirt who rocks; Andrew and Gold Tooth get that, and we made a record together the old-fashioned way,” Iggy said in a statement. “The players are guys I’ve known since they were kids and the music will beat the shit out of you.”

The cover of EVERY LOSER is an original piece of art created by contemporary fine artist Raymond Pettibon. He emerged onto the scene in the late 70s and designed album covers for artists such as Sonic Youth and Black Flag with his signature comic book-like drawings. Pettibon’s work has been exhibited widely throughout the United States and around the world, including an installation of the High Line Billboard in New York and a solo exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

The new album will also be available as limited-edition vinyl, cassettes and CDs – Available HERE. As part of the release of EVERY LOSER, Iggy is offering an exclusive relaunch of legendary fanzine, PUNK Magazine, from founder and legendary editor John Holstrom with a full Iggy issue, which contains an exclusive interview with Iggy by Flea. Iggy originally graced the cover of the John Holstrom Fanzine in July 1976.

Pop's most recent full-length recording was 2019’s contemplative, critically acclaimed Free.

Andrew Watt’s credits includes work with Justin Bieber, Post Malone, Elton John, Ed Sheeran, Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, Ozzy Osbourne and more. In 2021 he was honored with the GRAMMY® Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, and recently produced Ozzy Osbourne’s #1 Billboard Chart-topping album Patient Number 9, as well as the single “Hold Me Closer,” the hit collaboration by Britney Spears and Elton John. 

At the top of 2022, Watt produced the entirety of Eddie Vedder’s critically acclaimed solo release Earthling, and in February, he landed two hits on the Hot 100 in The Kid LAROI’s “Thousand Miles” and Ed Sheeran and Lil Baby’s “2step.” Beyond his producing and songwriting, Watt joined Vedder on tour as part of his all-star side project, The Earthlings.

Track listing:

1. Frenzy
2. Strung Out Johnny
3. New Atlantis
4. Modern Day Rip Off
5. Morning Show
6. The News For Andy
7. Neo Punk
8. All The Way Down
9. Comments
10. My Animus Interlude
11. The Regency

Paul McCartney career singles box set due next month

Available from December 2, The 7” Singles Box, features eighty 7” Paul McCartney singles. It includes 163 tracks totaling over 10 hours of music and will also be released digitally. Preorder HERE.

Among the many hits are “My Love,” “Live and Let Die,” “Band on the Run,” “Silly Love Songs,” “Coming Up,” “Ebony and Ivory,” “Say Say Say,” “No More Lonely Nights” and “Wonderful Christmastime.”

The format of the 7” single had a profound impact and influence on Paul both as a songwriter and as a music fan. Paul recalls in his foreword that comes with this set how he still enjoys the thrill of flicking through crates in record shops looking for new discoveries and how much respect he and The Beatles had for the B-side.

The box set features recreations of 65 singles – complete with their original B-sides (using restored artwork from 11 different countries) as well as 15 singles never before released on 7”. These 15 singles are made up from tracks previously released on 12”, picture discs, CD singles & promos, digital downloads, music videos, two previously unheard demos, and a previously unheard 7” single edit.

Presented in a wooden art crate, the collection has a 148-page book that features a personal foreword by Paul, an essay by music journalist Rob Sheffield, chart information, liner notes, and single artwork. Each box includes a randomly selected exclusive test pressing of one of the singles.

For full details, go to paulmccartney.com

Final Robert Gordon album pairing with Chris Spedding due later this month

When news came in October that rockabilly crooner Robert Gordon had passed away, among the many tributes were former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock, who called Gordon “a fabulous singer [who] will be sorely missed.” Blue Öyster Cult drummer Albert Bouchard said, “He was a soulful man with an unnaturally powerful voice. He had perfect pitch up until the day he died. He was still doing his vocal warm-ups in the hospital when almost every other thing in his body was failing. I will never forget him.” 

The final album that Gordon worked on was a collection of recordings from 1998, an album crafted in collaboration with British guitarist and frequent collaborator Chris Spedding (Paul McCartney, Elton John, Bryan Ferry, Roger Daltrey).

Hellafied includes both original songs and cover versions. It was nearly lost forever until Gordon rescued it from the vault. He worked in his last days to finalize the project and get it ready for release.

Now, the entire project is set to be released via Cleopatra Records on November 25. Stream the lead off track, "One Day Left": https://orcd.co/robert_gordon_chris_spedding_one_day_left

Pre-order the CD/vinyl: https://cleorecs.com/store/?s=hellafied&post_type=product
Pre-order/pre-save the digital edition: https://orcd.co/robert_gordon_chris_spedding_hellafied

TRACK LIST:

1. One Day Left
2. Please Don’t
3. Have I The Right
4. Middle Of The Night
5. Signs Of Love
6. I’ll Make It Right
7. Why (Don’t You Love Me)
8. I Saw A Smile
9. Don’t Let Go
10. Girl Like You
11. Please Don’t Touch
12. Tell Him No
13. You Don’t Know What You Got
14. Believe What You Say

We Are Scientists return with new album 'Lobes' in January

"There was definitely a period in my life when I thought being jaded was cool,” says We Are Scientists vocalist/guitarist Keith Murray about the band’s song “Less From You,” taken from the band’s eighth official studio album Lobes (release date: January 20, 2023 via Masterswan Recordings).

Having had his pessimism proven wrong so many times in life about “so many things - friendship, love, an unexpectedly great Mai Tai in the basement of a British hotel,” Murray says it’s been impossible to “really maintain that full-throttle cynical outlook into adulthood. Sure, whittling down my pessimism has meant that I don’t get to enjoy the peculiar pleasure of having my own rotten expectations subverted quite as often, but 'Less From You' celebrates the greater delight of having my already-high hopes exceeded.” 

Bassist Chris Cain says that he really wanted the bass part of this song to be performed on their Moog Voyager — “a nice thick synth bass felt like a great way to add some sleaze to the party, but in the end, a blend of Moog and bass guitar sounded best.” He jokingly adds that makes him worried he’ll “actually have to play this bass part at live shows instead of taking a dance break.”

Speaking of performing live, last week the band announced two upcoming U.S. shows: the first being a free rooftop show on December 3rd in Las Vegas at the launch of BrewDog’s largest bar in the World and the second is on January 20th in Brooklyn, NYC at Brooklyn Made for the band’s Lobes album release. These shows arrive right before the band heads to the UK and Europe on the Show Lobes Tour, with more US dates to be announced in the coming months.

LISTEN/PURCHASE: "Less From You"
https://100percent.it/LessFromYou

Written immediately after they finished post-production on their 2021 album Huffy, “Less From You” arrives after their hit “Operator Error” (which they recorded in their Midtown Manhattan studio in the midst of the Covid lockdowns). “We were so psyched to finish Huffy after having given ourselves this formidable challenge of self-producing it and were fairly exultant with the end result," Murray says, pointing out that the Covid lockdown prompted them to record it on their own in their Midtown Manhattan studio. 

"That euphoria gave us a burst of further enthusiasm that colored the songs we wrote after that that we turned into Lobes.” It also didn’t hurt that the later songs on the album were written when both members left Manhattan - Murray was living on Miami Beach for a year, “vibing really hard on that tropical scene” and Cain to Utah for a few months. “That change of scenery gave both of us a chance to clear our heads and get a little distance from what we’d been doing,” he says.

The lyrics for Lobes were written over a stretch of two to three years. Though the origins of the first songs began around the same time as Huffy, they exist in entirely different musical universes.

Murray says the album's lead single “Operator Error" is the song that bridges Lobes with Huffy. “We consider Huffy our daytime record – it’s an upbeat rock album designed to soundtrack jetski rides to the Bahamas and piña colada in aquamarine-tiled jacuzzis. Our new album, Lobes, however, is our nighttime album. As the first song on the record, ‘Operator Error’ soundtracks that moment when you realize that all of those tiki cocktails you started drinking at 11:00am are going to give you a wicked hangover by sunset, and so your best bet is to just keep the party going, consequences be damned! Lobes is, overall, more electronic, dancier, more ominous, and way sexier than Huffy; ‘Operator Error’ kicks the door open into that seamy underworld.”

Lobes by We Are Scientists is due out January 20, 2023 via Masterswan Recordings. "Less From You" is out now on all DSPs. The album is available to pre order from the band’s webstore, including on Limited Edition "Black Lobe in a Cathode Blue Bath” LP.

Track listing:

1. "Operator Error"
2. "Dispense With Sentiment"
3. "Human Resources"
4. "Lucky Just To Be Here"
5. "Turn It Up"
6. "Settled Accounts"
7. "Here Goes"
8. "Parachute"
9. "Less From You"
10. "Miracle of '22"

Brendan Benson gets 'Low Key' in December

Not every two-year period measures out the same, noted Brendan Benson, the 51-year old Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and co-founder of The Raconteurs. Benson had just finished his well-received seventh album, Dear Life, in 2019 when his world came to a stop.

“I was rehearsing for South-By-Southwest and gearing up for a tour and had a band ready and then, of course, the world shut down,” he said in a press release. 

“Everything changed,” Benson said. “I went to work on some songs, so I’d have new material when things opened up.” Over months with minimal interactions, those songs coalesced and took on lives of their own, he said.

Benson’s solitude evolved into Low Key, the eighth album by the idiosyncratic songwriter who has enjoyed both worldwide popularity with The Raconteurs and a devoted cult following for his numerous solo projects.

Low Key, the Nashville-based artist said, was his chance to explore how lives and relationships changed during the lengthy isolation from the normal interactions of everyday life. Benson might not have written songs such as “People Grow Apart” and “Whole Lotta Nothing” prior to 2019, he said.

“The lockdown afforded people the opportunity to cut ties – or maybe it caused people to do that,” he said. “Whatever the case may be, a lot of people fell out.”

“But then relationships ending is one of my favourite topics for songwriting,” he said with a laugh.

This isn’t to say that the eight song effort recorded in Benson’s own Readymade Studio in Nashville is a grim look at the state of human condition. The lead track “Ain’t No Good” pokes fun at destructive self-absorption while the guitar-heavy “Whatever’s On My Mind” skewers Benson’s own hyperkinetic, stream-of-consciousness thinking.

And then there’s the most unlikely track of all: A cover of Gerry Rafferty’s smooth 1978 hit, “Right Down the Line.” The cover was suggested by a friend.

“She’s always been saying I should do that song. I don’t normally pay attention when people say that stuff. But then I happened to hear it one day and I said, ‘Dang. This is good.’”

Low Key concludes with “Something A Little Like Home,” a song that surprised Benson because it turned to the loneliness of being on the road and what people will do – one night stands, bad behaviour -- simply to stave off the solitude of their environment.

But that said, Benson added that he is excited to tour again, not just in support of Low Key but Dear Life as well. Low Key, he said, works as a coda for Dear Life, almost a sequel. And because Dear Life never had its own tour moment in front of a live audience, he’d like to build some shows around supporting both.

The fact is, it’s been a long, rough two years for everyone, Benson said. He knows that this wait for normal times, whatever that is, might be a long one. But he’s hardly new at this. Benson has been in the industry for decades and has produced his own eight solo records as well as many others.

The lockdown that left him mostly with himself, professionally speaking. Confined to his Nashville studio, Benson played every instrument on Low Key and handled all of the initial production. 

The end result was exactly what Benson had been searching for – even if he didn’t know it at the time. Those years spent honing his craft as a songwriter, producer and touring musician, turned what could have been a liability of isolation into something far deeper, a body of work he described as the best of his career.

“I have nothing to prove anymore,” he said. “With age and experience comes a certain wisdom and freedom. I feel comfortable, confident. I don’t need validation. That’s why I am so excited for everyone to hear this.

“I think I’ve finally figured it out.”

Brendan Benson's new album Low Key will be available on Limited Edition 180 gram blue vinyl and digital/streaming platforms on Dec. 2 via Schnitzel 

Track listing:

Aint’ No Good
I Missed The Plane
People Grow Apart
Right Down The Line

Whole Lotta Nothin
Whatever’s On My Mind
All In
Something A Little Like Home

'A Hollywood High,' limited engagement concert film from Duran Duran, in theaters today

Duran Duran's new limited engagement concert film "A Hollywood High" opens tonight at theaters across America, with an encore screening next week. 

A highly enjoyable viewing experience for new and old fans alike, the 75-minute film boasts sharp visuals and excellent sound. It should be an even better audio experience in a fully equipped auditorium since it was mixed and mastered with Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision.

Co-directed by Gavin Elder, Vincent Adam Paul and George Scott, "A Hollywood High" was shot from atop The Aster, a private members' club and hotel in Hollywood across from the iconic Capitol Records tower - Duran Duran's original record label home. A small invite-only audience got to witness the unique event. In fact, drummer Roger Taylor says it was the first time the band had performed on a rooftop.

The film serves as a love letter to Los Angeles and Hollywood by the group. An opening sequence projects notable landmarks from the past and present such as the Hollywood sign, the corner of Hollywood & Vine and more. 

Each of the musicians recall their first impressions of the city. Keyboardist Nick Rhodes talks about the mystique of the Sunset Strip and how the band stayed at the "Riot" Hyatt Hotel, known for infamous celeb activity during the 1970s during Duran Duran's first trip to LA. Singer Simon Le Bon recalls being amazed at all the big ad billboards and neon everywhere, as well as oil pump jack sightings. 

There is archival footage from the band's first LA press conference at The Magic Shop, two shows at the Roxy on Sunset and the inaugural American tour. Rhodes briefly discusses with producer/mixer David Kershenbaum how the latter's remix of early tracks helped the group get airplay on U.S. radio. 

Quickly touching on Duran's 1993 comeback with "The Wedding Album," Rhodes gives props to former member Warren Cuccurullo, whose guitarwork on the major hits "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone," played a major role in the band's renewed American success. The band's Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in front of Capitol around that period (where this writer was in attendance) is also seen. 

Following that 15-minute section, it's onto the fine hourlong concert, where all the musicians look as if they're having fun. Le Bon's voice is relaxed and he sounds great. The camera men offer plenty of awesome aerial shots, where viewers see cars zipping by below, a gorgeous sunset and the Capitol building bathed in blue and yellow colors (at Duran's request), in honor of Ukraine during "Ordinary World."

Here's the setlist:

A View to a Kill/Invisible/All of You/Notorious/Come Undone/Give it All Up/Pressure Off/White Lines (Don't Do It)/Anniversary/Ordinary World/Tonight United

For more info, go to DuranDuranAHollywoodHigh.com or www.duranduran.com.

Out now: The Beatles - 'Revolver' special edition packages

Whenever part of The Beatles' catalog (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles, Abbey Road, Let It Be) has been spruced up in recent years, many longtime fans - this writer included - feel as if they're listening to the music for the first time. 

Now, the band's 1966 classic Revolver was just reissued in newly mixed and expanded Special Edition packages via Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe.

Once again, producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell were at the boards to create sparkling new stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes with the album’s original mono mix taken from its 1966 mono master tape. 

Thanks to a modern de-mixing technology developed by the team responsible for Peter Jackson's 2021 "Get Back" documentary series (still streaming on Disney+ and also available on home video), they were able to isolate the instrumental tracks and bring them more to the fore.  

Both physical and digital Super Deluxe collections have the album’s original mono mix, over two dozen early takes from the sessions and three home demos, plus a four-track EP with new stereo mixes and remastered original mono mixes for “Paperback Writer” and “Rain”. The album’s new Dolby Atmos mix is available digitally.

The highly recommended Super Deluxe CD (and vinyl) collections come with a 100-page white hardback book with black lettering. It features a foreword from Paul McCartney, an intro by Giles Martin, insightful track by track notes by Kevin Howlett, seldom and unseen photos, rare images of handwritten lyrics, tape boxes, and recording sheets, 1966 print ads, extracts from original album cover artist/musician Klaus Voormann’s "Revolver" graphic novel and more.

This album saw the band - McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, with brief guest appearances by the Rolling Stones' Brian Jones and Marianne Faithfull - delving into multiple genres (Indian, chamber music, etc.) and being more adventurous in the studio.  

 

Released on August 5, 1966, Revolver spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the UK albums chart, and a double A-side 7" single with “Eleanor Rigby” and “Yellow Submarine” reached the pole position there for four weeks in August and September.

In America, Capitol Records put out an 11-track version of Revolver. It was No.1 for six weeks on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. "I’m Only Sleeping," "And Your Bird Can Sing" and "Doctor Robert" had already been released from the sessions for Capitol’s North American release of the Yesterday And Today compilation album that June. 

Among the revelatory stereo tracks on the new edition of the main album:

>The rollicking bassline, wicked electric guitar snatches, dry drums and cowbell on opener "Taxman" - all more pronounced than ever.

>That dramatic string octet on "Eleanor Rigby" literally sounds like the players are bowing their wood instruments right beside you.

>Chiming acoustic guitar and electric guitar interjections during "I'm Only Sleeping" are much clearer.

>Sweet and supple harmonies on McCartney's tender "Here, There and Everywhere" totally stand out.

>"Yellow Submarine" has a few sound effects so real (this is 1966, mind you), they're almost jarring.

>Original album producer Sir George Martin's warm piano tinkling on the ebullient "Good Day Sunshine" are more direct.

>The circuitous electric guitar work on "Doctor Robert" is brawnier.

>"Got to Get You Into My Life" has punchier horns.

>The trippy, experimental closer "Tomorrow Never Knows" still remains weirdly wonderful and like nothing recorded since (and we can hear where Liam Gallagher of Oasis got his trademark enunciation influence).  

The EP features a rockier sounding "Paperback Writer" and janglier "Rain" in stereo. 

For the two studio sessions discs, highlights include:

>Two different versions of "Got to Get You Into My Life." Take 5, sans horns, has McCartney, George Martin and John Lennon discussing the best way to start off, extra lyrics that were later cut and some mid-song chatter. The second rock version is quite different.

>Various work tape versions of "Yellow Submarine" show how the song evolved, from unadorned acoustic to quite detailed.

>"Eleanor Rigby (Take 2)" finds Martin discussing with the Fab Four whether they think vibrato should be used on the string octet. 

Other songs are presented in various stages, giving you the opportunity to ponder, 'What if they kept the arrangement that way for the final version?' 

Here are the track listing details for the Super Deluxe box set (5CD + 100-page hardbound book in slipcase/digital audio collection)...

CD1: Revolver (New stereo mix)
1: Taxman
2: Eleanor Rigby
3: I’m Only Sleeping
4: Love You To
5: Here, There And Everywhere
6: Yellow Submarine
7: She Said She Said
8: Good Day Sunshine
9: And Your Bird Can Sing
10: For No One
11: Doctor Robert
12: I Want To Tell You
13: Got To Get You Into My Life
14: Tomorrow Never Knows

CD2: Sessions One
1: Tomorrow Never Knows (Take 1)
2: Tomorrow Never Knows (Mono mix RM 11)
3: Got To Get You Into My Life (First version) – Take 5
4: Got To Get You Into My Life (Second version) – Unnumbered mix - mono
5: Got To Get You Into My Life (Second version) – Take 8
6: Love You To (Take 1) - mono
7: Love You To (Unnumbered rehearsal) - mono
8: Love You To (Take 7)
9: Paperback Writer (Takes 1 and 2) – Backing track – mono
10: Rain (Take 5 – Actual speed)
11: Rain (Take 5 – Slowed down for master tape)
12: Doctor Robert (Take 7)
13: And Your Bird Can Sing (First version) – Take 2
14: And Your Bird Can Sing (First version) – Take 2 (giggling)

CD3: Sessions Two
1: And Your Bird Can Sing (Second version) – Take 5
2: Taxman (Take 11)
3: I’m Only Sleeping (Rehearsal fragment) - mono
4: I’m Only Sleeping (Take 2) - mono
5: I’m Only Sleeping (Take 5) - mono
6: I’m Only Sleeping (Mono mix RM1)
7: Eleanor Rigby (Speech before Take 2)
8: Eleanor Rigby (Take 2)
9: For No One (Take 10) – Backing track
10: Yellow Submarine (Songwriting work tape – Part 1) - mono
11: Yellow Submarine (Songwriting work tape – Part 2) – mono
12: Yellow Submarine (Take 4 before sound effects)
13: Yellow Submarine (Highlighted sound effects)
14: I Want To Tell You (Speech and Take 4)
15: Here, There And Everywhere (Take 6)
16: She Said She Said (John’s demo) - mono
17: She Said She Said (Take 15) – Backing track rehearsal

CD4: Revolver (Original mono master)
Album tracklist (same as above)

CD5: Revolver EP
1: Paperback Writer (New stereo mix)
2: Rain (New stereo mix)
3: Paperback Writer (Original mono mix remastered)
4: Rain (Original mono mix remastered)

Available at all major music retailers and streaming services

Photo: Apple Corps/UMe/Capitol