Arlo Parks - Collapsed In Sunbeams - Transgressive
Twenty-year-old, London-based musician and poet Arlo Parks, has been very steadily climbing the ranks as an artist to watch since the release of her confessional debut single "Cola" in 2018. Arlo has received praise from artists such as Billie Eilish, Wyclef Jean, Clairo, Florence Welsh and Phoebe Bridgers during the past year while growing her fan base exponentially. Arlo's debut album "is a series of vignettes and intimate portraits surrounding my adolescence and the people that shaped it. It is rooted in storytelling and nostalgia - I want it to feel both universal and hyper specific." On a personal level, Parks struggled with her identity growing up; a self- confessed tom-boy who was super sensitive and "uncool," she says it was like "I'm a black kid who can't dance for shit, listens to emo music and currently has a crush on some girl in my Spanish class." By the time she reached 17, she shaved her head, figured out she was bisexual and produced/wrote an album's worth of material.

Lucero - When You Found Me - Liberty & Lament
Like the great river that flows through Memphis, the music of Lucero keeps rolling on, twisting and turning through the years, the same dark and brooding steadiness always at work.  Since forming in late the ‘90s, this group of Memphis road-dogs has mixed heartfelt lyrics with the sounds of early rock and roll, classic punk, country-folk, and deep-fried Southern soul. It’s a sound that stands on the pillars of American music, born more of feeling than technique, delivered night after night to legions of fans in dive bars and theaters, and on stages as august as Red Rocks Amphitheater and the Ryman. In short, it’s music that is built to last, impervious to trends.  For their tenth studio album, When You Found Me, the band continues its natural evolution, this time tapping into a more atmospheric, widescreen vision (one that wouldn’t seem out of place on a Reagan-era FM dial) while still staying tethered to its roots.  “I wanted a very classic rock sound for this album,” says songwriter and frontman Ben Nichols. “I wanted it to sound like stuff I heard on the radio growing up. I didn’t want to make a retro record at all, but I did want to reference some of those sounds and tones and moods. I think we struck a nice balance between nostalgia and something that still sounds like contemporary Lucero.”

Aaron Lee Tasjan - Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan! - New West Records
Every now and then an artist comes along who makes you remember why you started listening to albums in the first place: Aaron Lee Tasjan is that artist. With his off-center charm and restless creative dazzle, he makes music with conviction that has its roots in rock’s murky past, armed with an arsenal of songs that spill over with humor, intelligence, irony, and at times prophecy.He updates the idea of androgyny but dispels the emotional and social ambiguity with lyrics that reflect his own geographic and artistic wanderings. Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan! is 11 songs. The man who began the album, is not the same man who completed it, transformed both by the experiences that inspired the songs and crafting them. This is not anxious music for anxious times, but rather music as an antidote for anxious times. It is the sound of the future arriving.

John Mayall - The First Generation 1965-1974 - Snapper UK / Madfish
There are box sets and then there are BOX SETS. John Mayall’s The First Generation 1965-1974 set sits firmly in the latter category, being substantial both in the artefacts contained within and the superb music it encompasses. The first set of this size to be released documenting John Mayall’s early years sees not only all albums from his much lauded formative career, but also unreleased tracks aplenty. Featuring Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Harvey Mandel, Blue Mitchell, Jon Mark and many more outstanding musicians, this mammoth package contains 35 CDs, a beautiful hardback book and much more. Not for nothing did Mayall earn the moniker ‘Godfather of the British Blues’. For a short but compelling time in the 60s and 70s he recognised raw talent, took it in, nurtured it, and everyone thrived and benefitted as a result. Many of the best musicians of the period passed through the hallowed ranks of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. All are on show here in a stunning set crammed with musical highlights.

Passenger - Songs For The Drunk And Broken Hearted - Nettwerk Records
Mike Rosenberg, better known as Passenger, is a multi-award winning, platinum-selling singer-songwriter from Brighton, England. Although still known for his busking, he long ago made the journey from street corners to stadiums – most notably with 'Let Her Go', which reached number 1 in 19 countries and which has now notched more than two billion plays on YouTube. For his latest album "Songs For The Drunk And Broken Hearted" Rosenberg explains, “I chose the album title because a lot of the songs are about drinking and the emotions felt around it” he explains. There are personal references Rosenberg adds, “I’ve recently gone through a break-up, which is always a rough time but can actually be very inspiring too. I spent a few months going out and drinking too much which was fun and heartbreaking and awful all at once. Some of the material is personal and some of it is about other people, either people I’ve met or fictional characters. That’s always been a Passenger thing: sad stories about people drenched in disappointment with that sense of what could have been.”

Barry Gibb - Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers' Songbook (Vol. 1) - Capitol
A lifelong bluegrass and country music fan, legendary singer, songwriter and producer Barry Gibb has long dreamed of a project that would bring him together with some of the artists he admires the most. With the help of Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb, that dream has become a reality with Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers' Songbook (Vol. 1)—out this week via Capitol Records. Featured artists roster includes Alison Krauss, Brandi Carlile, Dolly Parton, Keith Urban, Sheryl Crow and more.

Sturgill Simpson - Cuttin' Grass - Vol. 1 (The Butcher Shoppe Sessions) - High Top Mountain
Since breaking through in 2014 with his Grammy nominated Metamodern Sounds in Country Music album, Sturgill Simpson has established himself as one of the most daring and most acclaimed artists of our time. His music stretches across genres and styles, from the psychedelic soul of 2016's A Sailor’s Guide To Earth (Grammy nominated for Album of the Year and winner for Best Country Album) to the fuzzed-out rock attack of Sound & Fury in 2019. Now Simpson returns to the music of his native Kentucky with his first bluegrass project, Cuttin' Grass - Vol. 1 (The Butcher Shoppe Sessions). A true "mixtape for the fans", as Sturgill calls it, sees him reimagining songs from across his catalogue backed by some of Nashville's finest acoustic virtuosos.

Kacy & Clayton and Marlon Williams - Plastic Bouquet - New West Records
Every December, Christchurch, NZ  enjoys the start of summer as Saskatoon, SK  begins to freeze over. For as far apart as these places may seem, you would never know it from the sound of Plastic Bouquet, the debut collaborative album between Saskatoon duo Kacy & Clayton and Christchurch singer and songwriter Marlon Williams.  While on tour across Europe in 2017, Kacy & Clayton quite literally stopped Marlon in his tracks. As if playing by divine design through the radio, the pair’s “Springtime of the Year” immediately enchanted him.  Soon thereafter, Marlon hopped a flight to Saskatoon and they wrote and recorded the bulk of what would become Plastic Bouquet. They unlocked undeniable chemistry.  With Plastic Bouquet, these three musicians find common ground in dusty country spun through a kaleidoscope of psychedelic soul and dreamy fifties delivery.  They created an ethnosphere that is more than the sum of its parts. It’s also the beginning of something very exciting.

Shawn Mendes - Wonder - Island
Grammy nominated Shawn Mendes returns with his fourth studio album Wonder, the follow up to 2018’s platinum Shawn Mendes.  Includes the first single, also entitled “Wonder” and 13 other tracks recorded over the course of 2020.  “Wrote an album. It’s called “Wonder”.  "It really feels like a piece of me has been written down on paper and recorded into song. I tried to be as real and as honest as I’ve ever been.  It’s a world and a journey and a dream and an album I’ve been wanting to make for a really long time.”

Frank Black - Christmass - Demon
Demon Records is proud to present a new series of vinyl reissues from American singer-songwriter Black Francis / Frank Black. The first release in this new series is 'Christmass', a collection of acoustic performances from Frank Black's 2006 US solo tour. Recorded both live on stage and in hotel rooms whilst on the road, the album includes tracks from across Black's career. Highlights include stripped back renditions of Pixies' classics 'Where Is My Mind?', 'Cactus' and 'Wave Of Mutilation' along with 'I Burn Today', 'Bullet' and 'Nadine' from Black's solo albums. This new definitive vinyl edition is pressed on two 140g 'cactus' green vinyl.

Green Druid - At The Maw Of Ruin - Earache Records
2020 release from this metal band spawned in the mile-high city of Denver Colorado, the first city to legalize marijuana. Green Druid was nominated for 'Best Metal Band' at the 303 Magazine Awards. Album closer is a cover of UK trip-hop pioneers Portishead's 'Threads'.

Amy Winehouse - 12x7: The Singles Collection - Republic
A 7” singles box set comprising all of Amy Winehouse's singles from the Frank, Back To Black and Lioness: Hidden Treasures albums. Tracks include ‘Stronger Than Me’, ‘Rehab’ and ‘Love Is A Losing Game’, all of which won the Ivor Novello Award for Amy in 2004, 2007 and 2008. The set also includes the Grammy Award winning ‘Body and Soul’, a duet with Tony Bennett. The singles are housed in individual picture sleeves and pressed on black vinyl. The box also features a 20-page lyrics booklet and a set of art cards.

Also Available: The Collection [5CD Box Set]

Yusuf / Cat Stevens - Tea For The Tillerman: 50th Anniversary Edition - A&M
Tea For The Tillerman is arguably Cat Stevens’ best known and most cherished album. Originally released in November 1970, Universal Music will be celebrating it’s 50th anniversary in style on 20th November 2020 with a multi-format release suite, including a very special 5CD/BD/1LP/12” Live E.P. Super Deluxe Edition reissue of one of music’s most classic albums.  The Super Deluxe set features a brand new 2020 Remaster of the record, as well as a brand new 2020 Mix (overseen by Yusuf Islam producer / engineer David Hefti), with audio mixed from the original 1970 Island Records multi-track master tape. The 2020 Mix also appears on the 1LP which is 100% exclusive to this box set. CD3 features Yusuf’s brand new interpretations of these wonderful songs, Tea For The Tillerman², which is released on stand-alone formats on 18th September 2020. Yusuf has chosen to include it here in order to present the very most complete edition of the original album, and to show how these songs have evolved over their 50 year lifespan. CD4 features demos, outtakes and alternate versions, including two wholly previously unreleased tracks (“Can This Be Love?” and “It’s So Good”), while CD5 features 25x live performances including 5 previously unreleased tracks recorded Live At The Troubadour, 4 previously unreleased live performances from the 8th December 1970 show at Fillmore East, and 6 previously unreleased live from British, French and German TV performances in 1970/71. The Live At The Troubadour performance is also included in full on the live 12” E.P. (exclusive to this box). The Super Deluxe box set is rounded out with a BluRay featuring HD 24bit/96khz audio of the 2020 Mix, as well as 8x previously unreleased live TV performances, 7 tracks performed live at KCNET studios, Los Angeles, and the official “Father And Son” video.

 

Yusuf / Cat Stevens - Mona Bone Jakon: 50th Anniversary Edition - A&M
Back in 1970 and following a period of illness and recuperation, singer-songwriting troubadour Cat Stevens re-emerged with a new record deal with Island Records and a spiritual and artistic rebirth. ‘Mona Bone Jakon’, his first album for Island, showcased a markedly different change in direction for Cat, unveiling with it a remarkable set of new compositions that included classics like ‘Trouble’, ‘Maybe You’re Right’ and the UK hit single ‘Lady D’Arbanville’. To commemorate the album’s 50th anniversary comes this definitive super deluxe box set of ‘Mona Bone Jakon’. Sounding as fresh as the day it was recorded, the original album is represented here by a brand new 2020 remaster of ‘Mona Bone Jakon’ by Geoff Pesche at Abbey Road, overseen by original producer Paul Samwell-Smith 2020 on CD, as well as a new 2020 Mix by David Hefti on both CD and LP. The set also includes an exclusive third CD of previously unreleased demos, and a fourth featuring 18 live performances from 1970/71. This box is rounded out with a live 12” etched vinyl E.P. of a rare audience recording of ‘Live At Plumpton Jazz & Blues Festival’ from August 1970, and with a BluRay disc featuring the original promo video of ‘Lady D’Arbanville’, plus eight live TV performances, and the HD audio of the new Mona Bone Jakon 2020 Mix. Also included is a 98-page beautifully illustrated hardcover book with extensive new sleevenotes. Finally there’s also a selection of memorabilia including Island Records press kit, two Island press photos, a replica 1970 Plumpton Jaxx and Blues flyer, a Cat Stevens tour sticker and ‘dustbin’ greetings card and pop art print in a card envelope.