Releases from November–December 2018
Great albums from around the world
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Find releases from 2019 | 2017.
Also check out some of the great reissues of classic albums.
The hottest pre-sale releases
Pre-sale of the week is Rome by The National, out on 13 December.
Jump to: 7 December | 30 November | 23 November | 16 November | 2 November
Releases for 7 December 2018
Our smashers for 7 December open with the 40th(!) studio album of Van Morrison’s storied career, the modestly titled The Prophet Speaks, of which Van himself said: “It was important for me to get back to recording new music as well as doing some of the blues material that has inspired me from the beginning.” John Mellencamp has released hundreds of original songs over his illustrious career, but he has also recorded numerous celebrated cover versions, breathing new life and spirit into various staples of the classic American musical canon; a handpicked selection of these forms Other People’s Stuff. Danish hard rock titans Volbeat release Let’s Boogie! – a captivating live document of a rip-roaring hometown show. The Butterfly Package contains the complete performance from the last night of Coldplay’s most recent tour, plus a filmed concert from a week earlier and a documentary convering the band’s colourful 20-year history. Within Temptation return with a futuristic take on metal with a clear message. Resist is driven by grand melodies and dark hooks, mind-blowing arrangements and dark melodies. And the most important message of it all? Wake up and protect your freedom. And resist!
Our release of the week is Springsteen On Broadway, a recording of a unique solo acoustic evening with The Boss, his guitar, a piano, and his very personal stories from his best-selling autobiography Born To Run, plus a special appearance by Patti Scialfa. This historic series of sold-out performances of Springsteen’s one-man show was extended three times after its initial eight-week run, and ran for a total of 236 performances.
- Springsteen On Broadway is the solo acoustic performance written and performed by Tony Award, Academy Award, and 20-time Grammy Award winner Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen On Broadway, based on his best-selling autobiography Born To Run, is a unique evening with The Boss, his guitar, a piano, and his very personal stories. In addition, the show features a special appearance by Patti Scialfa.
- This historic series of sold-out performances of Bruce Springsteen’s one-man show began previews on 3 October 2017 and officially opened 12 October 2017. The show was extended three times after its initial eight-week run, and ran on Broadway at The Walter Kerr Theatre until 15 December 2018, a total of 236 performances.
- Van Morrison releases the 40th(!) studio album of his storied career. The modestly titled The Prophet Speaks features 6 brand-new Van compositions amongst the 14 songs. Van himself said: “It was important for me to get back to recording new music as well as doing some of the blues material that has inspired me from the beginning. Writing songs and making music is what I do, and working with great musicians makes it all the more enjoyable.”
- John Mellencamp has released hundreds of original songs over his illustrious career, but he has also recorded numerous celebrated cover versions, breathing new life and spirit into various staples of the classic American musical canon. The aptly titled Other People’s Stuff collects a selection of those covers, handpicked from seminal albums, compilations, unearthed sessions and documentaries. For the album, which serves as a proud homage to some of the greatest songs in history, Mellencamp has also recorded a brand-new version of ‘Eyes On The Prize’ which was originally performed at The White House.
- Danish hard-rock titans Volbeat release Let’s Boogie! – a captivating live document of a rip-roaring hometown show. Lead singer Michael Poulsen remarked on the historic show: “Headlining Telia Parken was a dream come true, and we’re humbled and honoured that so many members of the Volbeat family came from far and wide to celebrate with us. We’re thrilled to be able to share what was a milestone night for us with everyone.”
- Coldplay celebrate their record-breaking ‘A Head Full Of Dreams’ tour with the release of The Butterfly Package. The first part, ‘Live In Buenos Aires’, was recorded on 15 November 2017, the final night of the tour, and is the first time that a Coldplay concert has been released in its entirety. The accompanying two-hour concert film ‘Live In São Paulo’ was filmed a week earlier, on 8 November 2017. The Butterfly package is completed by the documentary film ‘A Head Full Of Dreams’, which charts Coldplay’s colourful 20-year history.
- After two decades, Within Temptation are ready to break with the past. Following the release of Hydra in 2014, the band returns with a futuristic take on metal – both instrumentally and thematically. The message of their seventh studio album is clear: Resist. Armed with ten anthemic tracks, driven by grand melodies and dark hooks, this is an utterly distinctive metal record that takes inspiration from our modern and future society and casts it into mind-blowing arrangements and dark melodies. And the most important message of it all? Wake up and protect your freedom. And resist!
Releases for 30 November 2018
We have some lovely new releases to tell you about, kicking off with What Is Love, the new album from Clean Bandit, about which the band say: “The album looks at many different kinds and stages of love. We’ve been making it over three years, during which time we’ve all experienced love in our lives in different ways.” So there you go! Jeff Tweedy’s new solo album of all-new material, Warm, was of course produced and recorded entirely by Jeff at the now legendary Chicago studio The Loft, and follows the acoustic retrospective Together At Last (2017) and Wilco’s 2016 album, Schmilco. As is usual with The 1975, advance info about their new release is sparse, with little known beyond the track listing and the title A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships. Still, the Manchester indie poppers reliably deliver infectious, hooky guitar-driven music. A Bird In The Hand is Beans On Toast’s tenth, and probably best, album. Beans has become something of a cult national treasure – a consistent and reliable modern-day troubadour, not afraid to speak his mind. And don’t forget that this week also brings us the second half of Kate Bush’s epic Remastered album reissue box sets. This time she gives us her work from Aerial onwards, including the 2016 live album Before The Dawn.
Release of the week is the latest live issue from the David Bowie archives. Glastonbury 2000 contains his full performance at the legendary festival that year, featuring a set list to die for with songs for serious Bowie-heads and for music-lovers alike. This long-overdue release of a very special Bowie night is not to be missed.
- Glastonbury 2000 documents David Bowie’s legendary Sunday-night headline performance on 25 June at the most famous festival on Earth.
- The full 21-song performance is released here for the first time. The set includes many of David’s greatest hits. His performance of ‘Heroes’ became a highlight of the record-breaking ‘David Bowie Is…’ exhibition and is the only track here that has been previously released. The DVD features never-before-seen footage. Both audio and video have been newly mastered.
- All formats include David’s diary, originally written for Time Out, which documents him preparing for the show in his own inimitable manner, and there is also new artwork from Jonathan Barnbrook (who worked with Bowie on the sleeves for Heathen, The Next Day and ★) and notes from renowned author and Bowie fan Caitlin Moran, who reviewed the show for The Times.
- The package features photos of Bowie resplendently dressed in a three-quarter length one-of-a-kind Alexander McQueen frock coat, the pattern of which was made to echo the hat (the famous ‘bipperty-bopperty hat’ mentioned in the song ‘Queen Bitch’) worn by David at his Glastonbury Fayre debut in 1971.
- What Is Love is the new album from Clean Bandit, about which the band say: “The album looks at many different kinds and stages of love. We’ve been making it over three years, during which time we’ve all experienced love in our lives in different ways […] brotherly love; family love; romantic love; crazy all-consuming love; the pain of love turning into something different or dishonest; and, of course, in ‘Rockabye’, unconditional motherly love.” So there you go!
- Jeff Tweedy’s new solo album of all-new material, Warm, was of course produced and recorded entirely by Jeff at the now legendary Chicago studio The Loft, with help from some of his usual collaborators – Spencer Tweedy, Glenn Kotche and Tom Schick. This new album follows the acoustic retrospective release Together At Last (2017) and Wilco’s 2016 album, Schmilco.
- As is usual with The 1975, advance info about their new release is sparse, with little known beyond the track listing and the title A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships. Still, the Manchester indie poppers reliably deliver infectious, hooky guitar-driven music.
- A Bird In The Hand is Beans On Toast’s tenth, and probably best, album. Sticking firmly to his own tradition of releasing a new album on the same date each year, 2018 produces Beans’ most accomplished album to date. Over the course of his huge career Beans has become something of a cult national treasure. What seemed at first like a throwaway festival act has evolved into something much more important: a voice of truth and honesty. Beans is a consistent and reliable modern-day troubadour, not afraid to speak his mind.
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- Kate Bush Remastered Part 2
- Kate Bush releases, for the first time ever, definitive remastered versions of her entire album catalogue on vinyl and CD, including many rarities and cover versions.
- The complete remastered works are available in two CD box sets or 4 vinyl box sets. The first two vinyl sets and the first CD set were released on 16 November, with the latter two vinyl sets and the second CD set released on 30 November. Details of the first half of this series can be found here.
- The albums, many of which have been unavailable on vinyl for a decade, have been remastered by Kate and James Guthrie. Kate’s 10 studio albums are spread over 3 vinyl boxes, whilst the fourth box contains many rarities previously unavailable on vinyl, including a whole disc of cover versions. The live album Before The Dawn is included in CD Box 2 in its original mastered form. The total number of discs is 18 in both the vinyl and CD sets.
- The track-listing for the fourth vinyl box and the final 4 CDs of the second CD box is:
- 12" Mixes: 1. ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’ / 2. ‘The Big Sky (Meteorological Mix)’ / 3. ‘Cloudbusting (The Orgonon Mix)’ / 4. ‘Hounds Of Love (Alternative Mix)’ / 5. ‘Experiment IV (Extended Mix)’
- The Other Side 1: 1. ‘Walk Straight Down The Middle’ / 2. ‘You Want Alchemy’ / 3. ‘Be Kind To My Mistakes’ / 4. ‘Lyra’ / 5. ‘Under The Ivy’ / 6. ‘Experiment IV’ / 7. ‘Ne T’Enfuis Pas’ / 8. ‘Un Baiser D’Enfant’ / 9. ‘Burning Bridge’ / 10. ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’ 2012 Remix
- The Other Side 2: 1. ‘Home For Christmas’ / 2. ‘One Last Look Around The House Before We Go’ / 3. ‘I’m Still Waiting’ / 4. ‘Warm And Soothing’ / 5. ‘Show A Little Devotion’ / 6. ‘Passing Through Air’ / 7. ‘Humming’ / 8. ‘Ran Tan Waltz’ / 9. ‘December Will Be Magic Again’ / 10. ‘Wuthering Heights’ (Remix / new vocal from The Whole Story)
- In Others’ Words: 1. ‘Rocket Man’ / 2. ‘Sexual Healing’ / 3. ‘Mná na hÉireann’ / 4. ‘My Lagan Love’ / 5. ‘The Man I Love’ / 6. ‘Brazil (Sam Lowry’s First Dream)’ / 7. ‘The Handsome Cabin Boy’ / 8. ‘Lord Of The Reedy River’ / 9. ‘Candle In The Wind’
- Kate Bush Remastered Part 2 CD box set £94.99
Releases for 23 November 2018
With the excitement around Black Friday there are very few records being released on 23 November, but there’s one that we really must tell you about. Love & Work: The Lioness Sessions will serve as the seminal log of the era when Songs: Ohia turned fully away from the battlefield folk and deconstructed Americana of earlier recordings. The songs on this expanded box set are raw experiments that mostly serve to illustrate Jason Molina’s well of words and ideas. But then there is the devastating Sacred Harp hymn ‘Wondrous Love’, on which he softly warbles “Into eternity I will sing / Into eternity I will sing.” The set also contains photos, drawings and essays from those who knew Molina best. You don’t have to try too hard to mythologise Jason Molina. He did all the work for you.
- The Lioness was the first Jason Molina project to turn fully away from the battlefield folk and deconstructed Americana of earlier Songs: Ohia recordings. The expanded box set Love & Work: The Lioness Sessions will serve as the seminal log of the era, complete with lost songs, photos, drawings and essays from those who knew Molina best. We know Molina was diligent in both love and work. He treated songcraft like a job at the mill, and his approach to romance was not so different. We know that when he fell in love with his wife, he was dutiful in his adoration. There were strings of love letters and poetic gesture. Included in this edition are replicated examples of this relentless love – an envelope with a letter from Molina, a photograph of Molina and his wife-to-be, a postcard, a two of hearts playing card, and a personal check for one million kisses.
- Featuring primarily guitar, hand drums and voice, these songs are raw experiments that mostly serve to illustrate Molina’s well of words and ideas. But then there is the devastating Sacred Harp hymn ‘Wondrous Love’. While he may have had his new love in mind, one can’t help but think of Molina’s legacy as he softly warbles “Into eternity I will sing / Into eternity I will sing.” You don’t have to try too hard to mythologise Molina. He did all the work for you.
Releases for 16 November 2018
Our first recommendation for 16 November comes from The Smashing Pumpkins; 4 years after Monuments To An Elegy, Billy Corgan has gathered together three quarters of the original line-up and Shiny And Oh So Bright is the exciting and fascinating result. The traditional instruments of Mumford & Sons’ first two albums return on Delta, but this time fed through a number of different effects so that they’ve become unrecognisable. The result is innovative and experimental but always highly listenable. Down The Road Wherever features 14 unhurriedly elegant compositions by Mark Knopfler in a sound he describes as “the Delta meets the Tyne”. His guitar playing is as deft and richly melodic as ever. Jean-Michel Jarre returns after 40 years to his 1978 masterpiece in Equinoxe Infinity, a concept album about the watchers (the characters with binoculars) as being part of the struggle between human and artificial intelligence. We don’t normally recommend reissues, but we can’t miss out Kate Bush Remastered, freshly mastered versions of her entire catalogue; 16 November brings us her first 7 albums, with the rest coming on the 30th. It’s hard to think of a more perfect run of singer-songwriter albums. Suffice to say these are all essential.
Merrie Land is the second album from supergroup The Good, The Bad & The Queen – Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, Tony Allen and Simon Tong – back after a decade with a questioning goodbye letter, a series of observations and reflections on Britishness in 2018. The timing could not be more apt, and there could not be a more perfect band to untangle the optimism, disorientation and confusion in the atmosphere today.
- British rock supergroup The Good, The Bad & The Queen – Blur’s Damon Albarn, The Clash’s Paul Simonon, The Verve’s Simon Tong, Afrobeat legend Tony Allen and producer Danger Mouse – have announced Merrie Land, their first new album in more than a decade.
- The album is described as “a series of observations and reflections on Britishness in 2018.” The album surveys what a post-Brexit UK might look like: an extrapolation of the close-focused scoping of London in their first album, now writ large for a country in the midst of tumultuous change.
- Note: The deluxe CD comes presented in an A4 book. The LP is available on green vinyl, only from record shops.
- Yes – you read that right, the full title of the new Smashing Pumpkins album, in all caps. Maybe we can just call it Shiny & Bright Vol.1 for ease – but officially Billy insists it must be referred to at all times as SHINY AND OH SO BRIGHT, VOL.1: NO PAST. NO FUTURE. NO SUN.
- It’s something of a return to form for the band, with three quarters of the classic line-up returning, 4 years after Monuments To An Elegy – here’s the latest single, with lyric video.
- Mumford & Sons release their fourth album, Delta, which features a return of the traditional instruments of their first two albums, but this time fed through a number of different effects so that they have become unrecognisable. The result is innovative and experimental but always highly listenable.
- Note: the LP is an exclusive version only available in record shops.
- Mark Knopfler’s new album, Down The Road Wherever, features 14 unhurriedly elegant Knopfler compositions inspired by a wide range of subjects from his own early days in Deptford to the compulsion of a musician hitch-hiking on a snowy night. Knopfler himself describes the sound as “the Delta meets the Tyne”. Certainly his deft, richly melodic guitar playing is as front and centre as ever.
- Never one to do things normally, Jean-Michel Jarre releases a new album barely a month after a career-spanning anthology. Equinoxe Infinity returns us after 40 years to one of his best-loved compositions. This concept album will not be a direct follow-up to the 1978 masterpiece, but rather a meditation about the watchers (the characters with binoculars) as being part of the struggle (or not) between human and artificial intelligence. Jarre describes this album as “Equinoxe on steroids”.
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- Kate Bush Kate Bush Remastered
- Kate Bush releases, for the first time ever, definitive remastered versions of her entire album catalogue on vinyl and CD, including many rarities and cover versions.
- The complete remastered works are available in two CD box sets or 4 vinyl box sets. The first two vinyl sets and the first CD set were released on 16 November, with the latter two vinyl sets and the second CD set released on 30 November. Details of the second half of this series can be found here.
- The albums, many of which have been unavailable on vinyl for a decade, have been remastered by Kate and James Guthrie. Kate’s 10 studio albums are spread over 3 vinyl boxes, whilst the fourth box contains many rarities previously unavailable on vinyl, including a whole disc of cover versions. The live album Before The Dawn is included in CD Box 2 in its original mastered form. The total number of vinyl discs is 18.
- Kate Bush Remastered Part 1 CD box set £69.99
Releases for 2 November 2018
Leading off 2 November’s fab five is More Blood, More Tracks, the latest chapter in the highly acclaimed Bob Dylan Bootleg Series. This volume – the 14th – contains 11 recordings made during the sessions for the artist’s 1975 masterpiece, Blood On The Tracks, which redefined the boundaries and structures of modern pop songwriting. The Prodigy return with some of their fiercest ever tunes on No Tourists, proving that Liam Howlett, Maxim and Keef Flint remain riotous two decades since they changed the face and sound of electronic music with the epochal The Fat Of The Land. There are few bands that can or will match Sweden’s Opeth, one of the best bands on the planet on record or on stage; and Garden Of The Titans, recorded live in 2017 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside Denver, contains tracks spanning the band’s nearly 30-year career. Dionysus is the hotly anticipated new album from acclaimed Australian duo Dead Can Dance: seven movements in two acts in the form of an oratorio that represent the different facets of the myth and cult of Dionysus, taking inspiration from across the world, making tracks that evolve less like songs and more akin to fragments of the cohesive whole.
Our release of the week is She Remembers Everything, on which Rosanne Cash proves that dreams still beckon in a damaged world, and renders them with fierce grace. Familiar yet alien, Cash’s take on being a woman in the world reveals just how much has gone awry. She Remembers Everything contains echoes of nearly all the styles she’s used during four decades as a recording artist.
- On She Remembers Everything, Rosanne Cash proves that dreams still beckon in a damaged world, and renders them with fierce grace. The follow-up to her 2014 release The River & The Thread – recipient of 3 Grammys including Best Americana Album – offers shimmering pop, with hints of twang and jazz, that could find a home in almost any year of postwar American music. But the luminescence and bright production are shot through with a darker vision, trenchant vocals, minor chords, and bent notes that destabilize the landscape. Familiar yet alien, Cash’s take on being a woman in the world reveals just how much has gone awry.
- Closing out the four decades Cash has spent as a recording artist, She Remembers Everything contains echoes of nearly all her previous styles. Listeners familiar with Seven Year Ache or Interiors will recognize the knowing ache of this record. Those who listened to recordings and live shows in subsequent years will likewise find the literary voice that has framed her more recent music. Cash’s time focused on roots music also lends a classic form to her songwriting that makes it universal and timeless.
- Bob Dylan – More Blood, More Tracks – The Bootleg Series Vol. 14 is the latest chapter in the highly acclaimed Bob Dylan Bootleg Series. This volume makes available the pivotal studio recordings made by Bob Dylan during six extraordinary sessions in 1974 – four in New York (16, 17, 18 & 19 September) and two in Minneapolis (27 & 30 December) – that resulted in the artist’s 1975 masterpiece, Blood On The Tracks. One of the top-selling albums of Dylan’s career, Blood On The Tracks redefined the boundaries and structures of modern pop songwriting (a genre Dylan had virtually invented a decade prior), reached #1 on the Billboard 200, achieved RIAA double-platinum status and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015.
- Blood On The Tracks was originally recorded during four days in New York City in September, 1974. Soon thereafter, the album was mastered and review copies began to circulate. A few months later, Dylan felt the album needed a different approach and re-recorded five of the tracks at Minneapolis Sound 80 Studios beginning in late December of that year. While a few of the out-takes from the original New York sessions have been highly prized by bootleggers and collectors, most of these recordings have never been available in any format.
- More Blood, More Tracks assembles 10 of the most emotionally resonant alternate takes of each of the 10 songs appearing the original Blood On The Tracks plus a previously unreleased version of ‘Up To Me’.
- The original electronic music trailblazers The Prodigy are back with some of their fiercest ever tunes. No Tourists has been written, produced and mixed over the last year by Liam Howlett in his studio in London’s Kings Cross. Though this is, Liam notes, “very much a band album”. Maxim and Keef Flint are very much present and correct, each supplying their legendary vocal skills on this, the Essex machine’s seventh studio album. Yes, there are one or two collaborators, but fundamentally this is the sound of the central Prodigy three, bringing their riotous sound to audiences old and new, two decades since they changed the face and sound of electronic music with epochal album The Fat Of The Land. Expanding on the general shape of the project, Liam says: “this album is equally aggressive as the last records – but in a different way.”
- There are few bands that can or will match Sweden’s Opeth. Since forming in the tiny Stockholm suburb of Bandhagen in 1990, the band has eclipsed convention, defiantly crushed the odds and, most importantly, crafted 12 stunningly beautiful albums, becoming one of the best bands on the planet, on record or on stage. Ask any Opeth fan. Enquire with any band that’s shared the proverbial pine with the Swedes. Or get a label representative to talk about Opeth. They’ll all tell you the same thing: Opeth are peerless. And they’re only getting better. Filmed and recorded in 2017 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside Denver, Garden Of The Titans is a live performance including tracks spanning the band’s nearly 30-year career.
- Dionysus is the hotly anticipated new album from acclaimed Australian duo Dead Can Dance. It consists of two acts across seven movements that represent the different facets of the myth and cult of Dionysus, and takes the musical form of an oratorio, which has informed both spiritual and secular pieces of music as far back in history as the early 16th century. Two years in the making, Brendan Perry has amassed an array of folk instrumentation and, as often heard on previous albums, takes inspiration from across the world, making tracks that evolve less like songs and more akin to fragments of the cohesive whole.
Other releases for 2018
Find releases from 2019 | 2017.
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