2018

Rockabilly Greats/75 Original Rockabilly Classic [Digipack / 3 CD]

Morrison Van/Joey DeFrancesco: You're driving... [Digipack / CD]

With notable collaborations and fresh arrangements, Paul Simon revisits and lends new perspective to ten of his personal favorites from his body of work.<br/><br/>"This album consists of songs that I thought were almost right, or were odd enough to be overlooked the first time around. Re-doing arrangements, harmonic structures, and lyrics that didn't make their meaning clear, gave me time to clarify in my own head what I wanted to say, or realize what I was thinking and make it more easily understood."<br/>- Paul Simon, July 2018<br/><br/>Produced by Simon and Roy Halee, who have worked together since the 1960s, the album features a talented cast of musicians who have joined Simon to lend fresh perspectives on 10 of the artist's favorite (though perhaps less-familiar) songs, drawn from his unparalleled body of work.<br/><br/>Revisiting his repertoire, Simon has selected songs originally appearing on There Goes Rhymin' Simon (1973), Still Crazy After All These Years (1975), One-Trick Pony (1980), Hearts and Bones (1983), The Rhythm of The Saints (1990), You're The One (2000) and So Beautiful Or So What (2011), refreshing and transforming the compositions through new arrangements and collaborations.<br/><br/>Among the many musicians joining Simon on In The Blue Light are jazz icons trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, guitarist Bill Frisell, and drummers Jack DeJohnette and Steve Gadd. Two of the compositions recorded with the New York-based chamber ensemble sextet yMusic, "Can't Run But" and "Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War," are being brought to the stage each night as show-stopping highlights on Simon's Homeward Bound - The Farewell Tour. <br/><br/>Simon explains in the album's liner notes, "It's an unusual occurrence for an artist to have the opportunity to revisit earlier works and re-think them; to modify, even completely change parts of the originals.<br/><br/>"Happily, this opportunity also gave me the gift of playing with an extraordinary group of musicians, most of whom I hadn't recorded with before. I hope the listener will find these new versions of old songs refreshed, like a new coat of paint on the walls of an old family home."

Efter den firade specialutgåvan av "Sgt Pepper" är det nu dags för nästa Beatlesklassiker att bli rejält uppgraderad: 50-årsfirande "The Beatles" - mest känd som "The White Album", bandets kanske mest utmanande och omdiskuterade platta. På fyra sidor presenterade gruppen hårdför rock, vackra ballader, ljudcollage och tidlösa popklassiker. "Vi gav oss ut i helt nya riktningar utan karta", enligt Paul McCartney. Den nya specialutgåvan, som släpps i olika format, är ett himmelrike för alla beundrare av Beatles enastående musikkonst. <br/><br/>"This is the first time The BEATLES ('White Album') has been remixed, presented here as a 2LP 180-gram black vinyl set. To create the new stereo audio mixes for 'The White Album,' Giles Martin and Sam Okell worked with an expert team of engineers and audio restoration specialists at Abbey Road Studios in London. This 2LP 'White Album' release includes Martin's new stereo album mix, sourced directly from the original four-track and eight-track session tapes. Martin's new mix is guided by the album's original stereo mix produced by his father, George Martin. Half-speed cut by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios".<br/><br/>180-gram 2LP vinyl set featuring the new stereo album mix. Packaging faithful to the original album.

WASP: WASP 1984 [Digipack / CD]

Denna americanatrubadur blev ett stort namn i och med hans turné på våra breddgrader 2017. Hans tidigare skivor är olika, och den nya är precis detta också. Den Tom Petty-influerade americana på debuten har under resan blivit något annat, men det hänger ihop likväl. Karma for cheap är mer en södra Californien-platta med mer rock, mer Beatles (kanske framförallt George Harrison), mer David Bowie, fler instrument - och sagolikt bra. Och ingen, absolut ingen sjunger som Aaron Lee Tasjan.

Hiatt själv placerar "The Eclipse Sessions" vid sidan om två av sina bästa album - 1987 år "Bring the Family" (med Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe och Jim Keltner) och "Crossing Muddy Waters" från 2000. "The three albums are very connected in my mind", säger Hiatt. "They all have a vibe to them that was unexpected. I didn't know where I was going when I started out on any of them. And each one wound up being a pleasant surprise."