For the Record
The Beatles - Abbey Road (180G)
The Beatles' musical masterpiece. This Abbey Road release features the new stereo album mix, sourced directly from the original eight-track session tapes. To produce the mix, Giles Martin working with Sam Okell, was guided by the album's original stereo mix supervised by his father, George Martin. It is time to experience Abbey Road again!
Beth Hart - War In My Mind (Ltd. Ed. Blue 2XLP)
Beth Hart is as real as it gets. In a music industry full of glossy production and airbrushed photoshoots, this is one artist who throws down her cards, shares her darkest secrets and invites you to join her for the ride. With War In My Mind, this Grammy-nominated talent has never served herself up so raw on a record, one that embraces her merits and flaws, channels her bittersweet headspace and spins gold from her demons. The sleeve shot of Beth pounding a piano below her own personal stormcloud is a fitting representation of new material that hits like a force of nature. Having followed the fascinating career of Beth Hart for a quarter-century, we've learned not to rule anything out - so long as it's real. And now, with War In My Mind, this songwriter has made a record that bares her soul, wears her heart on her sleeve, and makes no apology for it. War In My Mind will be released on September 27, 2019 via Mascot Label Group/Provogue.
Sturgill Simpson - Sound & Fury (Ltd. Ed. 180G Red Vinyl)
Produced by Simpson, Sound & Fury, was recorded primarily at the McGuire Motor Inn in Waterford, Michigan, with his bandmates Bobby Emmett, Chuck Bartels, Miles Miller, who all serve as co-producers along with Grammy nominee John Hill (Cage The Elephant, Portugal. The Man, Bleachers). The album - which Simpson describes as "a sleazy, steamy rock n roll record" - is a marked departure from 2016's acclaimed A Sailor's Guide To Earth, which won Best Country Album and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 59th Grammy Awards.
Wilco - Ode To Joy (Ltd. Ed. Pink Vinyl)
The album features 11 songs written and produced by Jeff Tweedy and recorded by Wilco at the bands' own Chicago studio dubbed The Loft. The album is the follow-up to their 2016 album Schmilco and their self-imposed short hiatus. The album's title comes from Jeff's absolute determination to demand joy from life, no matter how dire the daily news is; his band and his songwriting are in peak form as you hear on this release.
Marc Cohn and Blind Boys of Alabama - Work to Do
Produced by John Leventhal, the unique collection combines the songwriting talents of Marc Cohn with the soul stirring harmonies of Blind Boys of Alabama and falls on the heels of more than a year of live collaborative dates. Work To Do is comprised of three studio tracks by Cohn and The Blind Boys, (two originals and a version of the gospel standard "Walking To Jerusalem") and seven intimate live performances recorded at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook, CT, during a taping of the PBS series The Kate.
Seratones - Power (Ltd. Ed. Purple Vinyl)
Produced by Bradley Shultz of Cage The Elephant, the album stands as Seratones’ follow-up to their 2016 debut Get Gone. The debut garnered the band critical acclaim, and they intend to take the nuances of Get Gone and perpetuate them into a bigger, more genre-bending sound on Power. Focusing on their powerhouse of a frontwoman A.J. Haynes, the album delves into “her years fighting for reproductive rights and serving as a counselor at one of Louisiana’s last remaining abortion providers, her advocacy for racial equality, her struggles to adapt and overcome, her love of poetry, and much more,” according to a press release.
Ray Charles - Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
Regarded by many critics as Ray Charles's best studio albums, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music Volumes 1 & 2 is a landmark album in American music. The album's integration of soul and country music bent racial barriers in popular music, amid the height of the Civil Rights Movement. In the process of recording the album, Charles became one of the first African-American musicians to exercise complete artistic control over his own recording career.
Van Morrison - Moondance (Ltd. Ed. 140G Orange Vinyl)
Highlights include 'Caravan', 'Into the Mystic' and 'Moondance'. Van Morrison's 1970's follow up album to Astral Weeks titled Moondance was every bit as brilliant; buoyant and optimistic where Astral Weeks had been dark and anguished it cracked the Top 40 and generated classic hits.