With so many new releases out next week, we’ve had to pick eight rather than the usual six. First out the bag is Stereophonics, who celebrate over 25 years as one of the UK’s most-loved bands with their new album, Make ’Em Laugh, Make ’Em Cry , Make ’Em Wait. The album’s 8 tracks include the brand-new single ‘There’s Always Gonna Be Something’. Stereophonics have developed a deep-seated bond with their fans that is like few others.
When They All Looked Up is one of renowned folk singer-songwriter Kate Rusby’s best-sounding albums to date, blending delicate acoustic instrumentation with lush, cinematic textures. It is sure to become a fan favourite, drawing in long-time listeners while captivating a new generation of folk music lovers. Leading the album is the poignant first single, ‘Let Your Light Shine’, a heartfelt message to her teenage daughters. With its inspiring lyrics and Kate’s golden vocals, it is destined to become a stand-out moment in her catalogue.
Dream Into It tells the rich and deeply personal tale of Billy Idol’s voyage from young punk-rock dreamer to his re-set as a leather-gloved MTV icon; then on to all his well publicised highs, lows, overdoses and accidents; culminating with a devastatingly honest assessment of the price of fame and the wisdom accrued by getting your act together and embracing family. While the album tells a story it is also a completely satisfying pumping, rocking pop-punk odyssey, as only Billy Idol can create.
Self Esteem returns with her third studio album, A Complicated Woman. It’s a big, bold and poptastic statement. A Complicated Woman is her first album since the Brit and Mercury-nominated Prioritise Pleasure – crowned the Guardian and Sunday Times Culture’s Album of the Year.
Live in the City of Diamonds captures the visceral excitement of a Simple Minds concert. In a performance at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome in 2024, the band play a perfect mixture of songs from throughout their career, including early tracks such as ‘Love Song’, ‘Sons and Fascination’ and ‘Sweat in Bullet’, tracks from their era-defining album New Gold Dream including their first Top-20 UK single ‘Promised You a Miracle’, 1985’s international hit ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ and songs from the multi-platinum album Once Upon a Time, 1989’s number-one single ‘Belfast Child’ and songs from 1991’s Real Life album, including fan favourite ‘See The Lights’.
Metal is more than just music: it’s lifestyle. And that’s something Employed To Serve truly believe in after more than a decade in the game, rising from road-warrior martyrs touring squats across Europe to stake their claim as arena-ready contenders following a huge tour with Gojira. Practising what they preach, Employed To Serve have alchemised ingredients from across the metal universe and radically raised the bar with Fallen Star. It’s an utterly uncompromising record of dizzying diversity.
A modern classic, 2000’s Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia is the breakthrough album from The Dandy Warhols, blending psych-rock, alt-pop and a laid-back indie cool. Featuring the anthemic ‘Bohemian Like You’, the hypnotic ‘Godless’ and the driving energy of ‘Get Off’, this record is packed with attitude, hooks and hazy, effortless charm. Now reissued on transparent blue vinyl, this double-LP edition brings new life to an album that defined an era – a must-have for fans of alternative rock and beyond.
Our release of the week is Skeletà, the sixth album from Grammy-winning Swedish theatrical rock icons Ghost, a band on an inevitable path to world domination. This is the band’s most unflinchingly introspective work to date, with lyrics that render the distinct individual emotional vistas of each of its 10 songs in one-on-one fashion, at times as if in a self-dialogue in a mirror. The end result is a singular collection of timeless, universal sentiments, all filtered through a prism of a uniquely personal point of view.
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