For the Record
Greta Van Fleet - Anthem of the Peaceful Army
Modern rock n' roll band Greta Van Fleet have released their highly-anticipated first album, Anthem Of The Peaceful Army. The album includes current single "When The Curtain Falls". Greta Van Fleet recently set a record as the first band in 15 years to hit #1 airplay at Active Rock radio with two consecutive singles. Greta Van Fleet was formed by the Kiszka brothers Josh, Jake, and Sam and drummer Danny Wagner in 2012 in Frankenmuth, Michigan. The band was signed to Lava Records in March 2017 and a month later, they released their debut studio EP, Black Smoke Rising. A second EP, From the Fires, containing the four songs from Black Smoke Rising and four new songs, was released on November 10, 2017. The band's heavy rock sound is influenced by Led Zeppelin although they are mostly influenced by traditional artists from blues, soul, funk and folk music.
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - Live From The Ryman (Ltd. Ed. green vinyl, 2xLP)
Live From The Ryman was primarily recorded during Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit's six sold out nights at Nashville's legendary Ryman Auditorium in 2017. The double album features 13 live versions of songs from Isbell's last three critically acclaimed, award-winning studio albums - Southeastern (2013), Something More Than Free (2015) and The Nashville Sound (2017) - including the Grammy winning tracks "24 Frames" and "If We Were Vampires" plus fellow standouts "Cover Me Up," "Something More Than Free" and "Elephant," fully documenting Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit's emergence as one of the finest live bands on the road today.
November Record Store Spotlight - Twenty One Pilots - Trench (Ltd. Ed. olive vinyl, 2xLP)
Chart-topping twosome Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun are Twenty One Pilots. The Ohio-bred altpop rockers formed as a 3-piece in 2009 while still in high school, originally featuring Joseph, Nick Thomas, and Chris Salih. Upon the departure of Thomas and Salih, drummer Josh Dun was recruited to fill the slot, and the band continued as a duo.In 2013 they signed with longtime punk label Fueled By Ramen Records and released Vessel. The album sold over a million records in the U.S. garnering Platinum status.Mainstream success followed in 2015 when the band released their #1 selling Blurryface. Topping the Billboard 200, the double album featured the Grammy-winning single "Stressed Out" (#2 on the Billboard 100) and other monster hit "Ride". They also received a Grammy-nomination for "Heathens", their contribution to the Suicide Squad soundtrack.
October Record Store Spotlight - Aretha Franklin - The Atlantic Singles Collection 1967-1970 (2xLP)
Double vinyl LP pressing. The Atlantic Singles Collection 1967-1970 features 25 tracks which Franklin released during her first three years with Atlantic Records. Includes classics like "Respect", "A Natural Woman (You Make Me Feel Like)" and "Chain Of Fools." When Aretha Franklin joined Atlantic Records in 1967, it was the beginning of an unprecedented run that would ultimately cement her place as a music legend, a global household name, and one of the most influential singers of all time. Within the space of just three years, her name was almost never out of U.S Pop and R&B Top 20, garnering nine gold singles, three gold albums, as well as three Grammy Awards and her first string of international hits.
Jackie Greene - The Modern Lives Vol 1 & 2 (Ltd. Ed. color vinyl)
Hailed as "the Prince of Americana" by the New York Times, Greene has always had a knack for capturing the human experience in all it's messy, emotional complexity, and on his new EP, 'The Modern Lives - Vol 1,' he draws inspiration from some of the great social paradoxes of our 21st century world: that the technology designed to simplify our lives can actually complicate them in ways we'd never imagined, that the most crowded cities can actually be the loneliest places to live, that the constructs meant to connect us to each other can actually leave us feeling more isolated than ever. The EP also marks Greene's first release as part of his new partnership with Blue Rose Music, the record label and multimedia company founded by media and tech veteran Joe Poletto. Released from the shackles of traditional music business models, Greene was free to follow his muse in the basement. There, he found that the physical limitations of the space were actually inspiring rather than prohibitive, as they forced him to get more creative than ever with his arrangements and to learn to let go in the quest for sonic perfection. It's a distinctly New York metaphor, and Greene wastes no time in getting to the point on the EP as he grapples with the close quarters and hectic pace of life in his new hometown.
John Mellencamp - The Best That I Could Do 1978-1988 (Ltd. Ed.)
The Best That I Could Do 1978-1988 is the first greatest hits compilation album by singer-songwriter John Mellencamp, released by Mercury Records in 1997. It compiles Mellencamp's most popular material recorded during his first decade with Riva and Mercury Records, beginning with 1978's A Biography, up through 1987's The Lonesome Jubilee, with a new recording of Terry Reid's "Without Expression". Mellencamp picked the songs for the album and also came up with the title for the album. The album reached #33 on the Billboard 200. This album and Rough Harvest came about because, after leaving Mercury Records for Columbia Records, Mellencamp still owed the label two more albums.
St. Paul & the Broken Bones - Young Sick Camellia (Ltd. Ed. brown vinyl)
2018 release from the critically-acclaimed Birmingham, Alabama outfit. Young Sick Camellia contains nine songs infused with the band's cross-section of soul, rock 'n' roll, R&B and funk, mixed with passion, intensity and a boundary-blurring musical exploration that has become synonymous with St. Paul & The Broken Bones. The band teamed up with celebrated R&B/hip-hop/dance producer Jack Splash for Young Sick Camellia, whose work appears on albums by Solange, Kendrick Lamar, Diplo, Alicia Keys, Cee Lo Green, Mayer Hawthorne and many more. Led by the insightful lyrics and extraordinary vocals of exhilarating front man Paul Janeway, St. Paul & The Broken Bones possess the unique ability to make you dance and shout while simultaneously making you think.
Thrice - Palms (Ltd. Ed. red/black vinyl)
Thrice created Palms with a free-form and fluid approach to the album's sonic element. The result is their most expansive work to date, encompassing everything from viscerally charged post-hardcore to piano-driven balladry. To carve out that eclectic sound, Thrice enlisted trusted producer Eric Palmquist for the recording of the percussion and vocal tracks, and self-produced all of the guitar parts on Palms. "When we track our own stuff we tend to be far less neurotic about getting every note perfect," says singer Dustin Kensrue. "It's more about getting the right emotion out of the performance, so that it connects on a deeper level."