For the Record
Mavis Staples - We Get By
Mavis Staples TITLE: We Get By - Mavis Staples returns with a brand new studio album produced and written by Ben Harper. Backed by Mavis' critically acclaimed live band, We Get By features 10 songs of longing, strength, and spirituality, presented with simplicity, grit and sublime beauty. Highlights include the buoyant, "Anytime", the cathartic, "Change", and the title track, an uplifting duet with Ben Harper.
The Head and the Heart - Living Mirage (Ltd. Ed. Green/Black Vinyl)
Early last year, The Head and the Heart came together in the Mojave Desert's Joshua Tree where they decided to shed old skin before writing their fourth album, Living Mirage, a sweeping, artful expansion of the earthy folk rock that once defined them. This recent "rebirth, a spirit quest of sorts," as bassist Chris Zasche describes it, came from growing pains after their last album, Signs of Light: the amicable departure of guitarist-vocalist Josiah Johnson, replaced by Matt Gervais (husband to singer-violinist Charity Rose Thielen), and the return of keyboardist Kenny Hensley. With a new beginning underway, the writing and recording process continued out of the desert, moving to Appleton, Wisconsin's The Refuge Fox Cities, West Seattle, Omnisound in Nashville, and Barefoot Recordings in Los Angeles with the help of Tyler Johnson and Alex Salibian (Harry Styles, Sam Smith, Cam) and engineer Ryan Nasci.
Justin Townes Earle - The Saint of Lost Causes (Ltd. Ed. 150G Autographed Blue 2XLP)
The Saint Of Lost Causes is the eighth album from American roots troubadour, Justin Townes Earle. Earle's latest album finds a songwriter and artist who is unflinching and unequivocal in his truth. When writing this collection, Earle focused on a different America - the disenfranchised and the downtrodden, the oppressed and the oppressors, the hopeful and the hopeless. There's the drugstore-cowboy-turned-cop-killer praying for forgiveness ("Appalachian Nightmare") and the common Michiganders persevering through economic and industrial devastation ("Flint City Shake It"); the stuck mother dreaming of a better life on the right side of the California tracks ("Over Alameda") and the Cuban man in New York City weighed down by a world of regret ("Ahi Esta Mi Nina"); the "used up" soul desperate to get to New Orleans ("Ain't Got No Money") and the "sons of bitches" in West Virginia poisoning the land and sea ("Don't Drink the Water"). These are individuals and communities in every corner of the country, struggling through the ordinary - and sometimes extraordinary - circumstances of everyday life.
The Get Up Kids - Problems (Ltd. Ed. Blue Vinyl)
On their new album Problems - their first full-length in eight years - The Get Up Kids examine everything from life-changing loss to loneliness to the inevitable anxiety of existing in 2019. But by sustaining the essence of their sound - anthemic choruses with sing-along-ready melodies - the band highlights those troubles as a shared experience, giving way to an unbreakable solidarity. And at the heart of Problems is an invaluable element the band's embodied since their 1997 debut Four Minute Mile: a penetrating lyricism that's both acutely introspective and indelibly resonant.
Cris Jacobs - Colors Where You Are (Ltd. Ed. Splatter Vinyl)
When Cris Jacobs began dreaming about a follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2016 album Dust to Gold, he realized early on he'd have to do things differently this time around. "This record brought about a new discipline for me and a new level of focus that I think brought out the best work," he explains. Color Where You Are is a Tom Petty-inspired arrangement with an off-kilter, syncopated groove. For the first time, Jacobs wrote the bulk of the album's songs in the studio, camping out at Richmond's Montrose Studios to flesh out "germs and ideas that had been floating around" with band members Todd Herrington (bass), Dusty Ray Simmons (drums/percussion) and Jonathan Sloane (guitar).
Kelly Finnigan - The Tales People Tell (Ltd. Ed. Red Vinyl)
Kelly Finnigan's debut solo album for Colemine Records represents the culmination of his 15 years of experience - in the studio as a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, engineer, producer - and touring the US and Europe as a singer, musician, and band-leader. The content within reflects his dedication to expression through the rich American music traditions of soul, gospel, doo-wop, and R&B. The subject is love. It's ecstasies and heartaches. Love sought, found, betrayed, lost, and rediscovered. The result is a marvelous collection of songs and performances that run the gamut from whispering tenderness to roaring appeals; from lean and mean to lush and lovely. And always... always, manifestly honest, and undeniably soulful. With Finnigan guiding these songs from their conception all the way to the record pressing plant, the new release provides the singular voice missing from soul music: a visionary that writes, records, performs and produces his own material.
Motley Crue - The Dirt: O.S.T. (Ltd. Ed. 180G 2XLP)
Original soundtrack. Dirt, the film, is the story of how Mötley Crüe came to be one of the most notorious rock 'n roll groups in history. Motley Crue release the 18-song soundtrack for The Dirt film. Bassist Nikki Sixx says: "During the filming of our movie we got excited and inspired to write new music. "Getting back in the studio with Bob Rock just fueled the creative fires for us. To me, the music sounds like classic Motley. The lyrics were written for the movie and are a reflection of our life."