We’ve closed TVD’s HQ for the holidays. While we’re away, why not fire up our Record Store Locator app and visit one of your local indie record stores?
Perhaps there’s an interview, review, or feature you might have missed? Catch up and we’ll see you back here on January 6, 2025.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
Ba ba-blah / Blah blah / Blah blah / Blah blah / Something about books / Did you see see the petrol prices, I am totally shook / We don’t care about that / We don’t care about that / Stop talking / Shhhhh-shut up
And yes, the final Idelic Hour episode of 2024. What a year, what a life, what a rock ‘n’ roll journey! A good amount of new wax and song. I’m thanking my lucky stars in all directions.
Thanks to Jon Meyers. I believe 2025 might be year 15? Fuck me! But thanks Jon for allowing me to share music. My years on this planet have taught me music connects me to my “soul,” and a lonely soul is… lonely.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Released worldwide for the first time on vinyl since its original release.
The iconic The Wiz Broadway soundtrack, originally released in 1975, featuring the original cast of the Tony Award-winning musical is going to be reissued back on vinyl for the first time worldwide since its original release. To be released on 7 February, this adaptation of The Wizard of Oz includes standout numbers like “Ease on Down the Road” and “Home,” showcasing a vibrant blend of R&B, funk, and pop.
The album’s energetic and innovative sound helped redefine the musical genre, setting a new standard for African-American theatrical productions. Its success led to a groundbreaking film adaptation and remains a cornerstone of musical theatre history.
Celebrating Peter Criss on his 79th birthday. —Ed.
Kiss: The McDonald’s of Rock! The ultimate mass-produced fast food for your ears! Over 100 million albums served and counting! Hell, they actually kinda LOOK LIKE Ronald McDonald! And their concerts should have drive thru windows!
Which is to say that while other bands may produce better songs, when it comes to dependable lowest-common-denominator rock product, Kiss makes most (if not all) of your other hard rock outfits look like mom and pop burger joints.
But I’m not slagging ‘em. No matter highly evolved your tastebuds may be, don’t you ever get the unshakable hankering to sink your teeth into a Mickey D’s cheeseburger? They’re so wrong they’re right! And it’s just like that with Kiss. I can make fun of the make-up and the dumbed down music (they make Grand Funk sound smart!) but when push comes to shove I can’t resist songs like “Strutter” and “Black Diamond” and “Rock and All Nite” any more than I can a holster of McDonald’s fries. They’re greasy and taste great with salt on ‘em!
And THEE DEFINITIVE Kiss product is of course 1975’s Alive!, which in the great seventies live el pee tradition is a twofer and as such probably one LP too long, but who’s counting? Think of it as a double Happy Meal! As a graduate of the Class of ’76 I couldn’t escape this baby, everybody owned a copy on 8-track and played it nonstop in their cars as they rolled down the main drag of Littlestown, Pennsylvania (which was so small it didn’t EVEN HAVE a McDonald’s) looking for girls WHO DIDN’T EXIST, that is when they weren’t playing Frampton Comes Alive! (which in the great seventies live tradition was a double album as well).
And here are the best of the Best New Releases of 2024. Part one is here.
10. Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra – Live at the Adler Planetarium (International Anthem) The Exploding Star Orchestra is the long-running large scale band of cornetist-trumpeter-composer-bandleader-visual artist Mazurek, who was once a fixture on the Chicago scene. Currently living in Marfa, TX, he returned to his old stomping grounds for this delightful set of expansive jazz, the performance accompanied by abstractions derived from Mazurek’s paintings and animations that were digitally projected above the heads of the audience and band in the planetarium’s Grainger Sky Theater. Sun Ra and Fire Music are the roots, but this is very much music of the future.
9. Ivo Perelman, Chad Fowler, Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille – Embracing the Unknown (Mahakala) The rhythm section here is drummer Cyrille and bassist Reggie Workman (who also adds some percussion to this set), a pair that has already made their mark in this week’s lists as part of the Mal Waldron/Steve Lacy archival set The Mighty Warriors: Live in Antwerp. Cyrille and Workman had already been on the scene for decades by that point, and here we are decades later, with neither having lost a thing. Figure in the lung stamina and deep feeling of Perelman on tenor sax and Fowler on the stritch and saxello and we’re talking another total gem from one of the best jazz labels currently operating.
8. Thumbscrew – Wingbeats (Cuneiform) The trio Thumbscrew, which is Mary Halvorson on guitar, Tomas Fujiwara on drums and vibraphone, and Michael Formanek on bass, has made TVD’s yearly best list numerous times already. They’ve (obviously) make it again with Wingbeats, their eighth album, and they’ve done it mainly through three weeks of intense compositional construction offered by the City of Asylum Pittsburgh residency program. The interweave of the playing here is amongst the finest in Thumbscrew’s entire run, in part through a creative equality that’s further reflected in the equal number of pieces each member has brought to the record. And then they cap it all off with an exquisite version of “Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, The Blue Silk.”
7. Alan Licht – Havens (Black Editions Group / Vin Du Select Qualitite) Having emerged in the 1980s to join Rudolph Grey’s Blue Humans, Love Child, and Run On, Licht has also recorded numerous solo albums since the first one in 1994. He’s an insanely versatile giant on the electric guitar, and Havens is his second for the VDSQ label after Currents in 2015. A double LP offering six tracks that’s bookended with side-long pieces, Havens is built almost entirely out of just Licht’s guitar; opener “Nonchalant,” a Guitar Soli deep dive built on precise repetitions and slight variations, is a highlight, as is the cover of The Stooges’ “1970,” but Havens offers a fascinating ride, rigorous but wholly satisfying, from start to finish.
Sometime around 1967 one Theodore Roosevelt “Hound Dog” Taylor, aged approximately fifty-two, walked into the eight-story Sears and Roebuck Department Store at the intersection of State and Van Buren Streets in Chicago. He passed the tombstones, farm tractors, and ready-made milking stalls, walked beneath the monorail for the kiddies and strolled into the music department. He was there to buy himself an electric guitar.
It didn’t take him long to pick one. He walked over to the small selection of cheap Japanese Teisco guitars, pointed to the cheapest model and said “That one will do.” The salesman, a man of taste, was appalled. “I wouldn’t let my dog play that guitar,” he said, “if my dog was tone deaf.”
“How much?”
“$49.99 and worth I’d say offhand two bucks of it. It’s a dinky piece of cheap-sounding Jap shit. You look like a slick guitarist, and nobody in his right mind would play a Teisco guitar. I’d ask you why you have six digits on your left hand, and why it looks like you cut off the sixth digit on your right hand with a butcher knife, and why your thumbs are the size of baby bananas, but it’s none of my damn business.”
“I cut off the extra nubbin with a straight razor.”
“Why?”
“I suppose I was a mite inebriated.”
“Why didn’t you cut off the other one? For symmetry’s sake?”
“I’ll tell you. I cut off the one and it fell on the floor and a rat the size of Jack Johnson run out and grabbed it.”
“What’s that have to do with not cutting off the other one?”
“That rat snatched up that straight razor too. And I wasn’t about to fight him for it. That rat was the size of two separate pit bulls. Damn thing grinned at me. Maybe if I’d had a gun. A big gun. I had a .25 caliber that might give a person pause, but you shoot a rat like that with a .25 caliber and you’re likely to make him angry. Now if you don’t mind I’ll have that Teisco guitar. Unless you’ve got something cheaper.”
St. Clairsville, OH | Ohio Sam Goody store, among final 2 stores in US, closing soon. Here’s when. Big Lots and Walgreens announced sweeping store closures this year, and now Sam Goody is going out of business for good. The music retailer is closing down its final two locations, one of which is in Ohio. The record store chain will shut down its Ohio store located at the Ohio Valley Mall in St. Clairsville, Ohio, about two hours east of Columbus. Its Oregon location will also close, putting an end to the chain’s 73-year history. While there is no official closing date, the Ohio store closure is set to happen sometime in February 2025. Ohio’s Sam Goody location will begin marking down prices on items leading up to the store’s closing.
Adelaide, AU | Crackle & Pop Records: 10 years in the making. Celebrating ten years of pop-ups this weekend at The Wheaty, we chat with Crackle & Pop Records owner Adam about the business and what the future holds. Unlike other record stores around Adelaide, Crackle & Pop Records has no shop front. Nor do they have an official website selling their wares. For a decade this innovative pop-up has been setting up shop at a wide range of venues across the state slinging the best vinyl records from all your favourite artists. The brainchild of music lover Mark Cnotek, Crackle & Pop Records ran under Mark’s leadership for nine years before he handed the reins over to the Buckley family: Adam, Anita and their son Jack. The trio have taken C&P Records to a new level and are pumped to celebrate the thriving pop-up record store’s tenth birthday with a special event in the front bar of The Wheaty this Saturday, December 21.
Laguna Beach, CA | Longtime Laguna Beach Record Store Up For Sale: A well-loved Laguna Beach record store—is going up for sale, The Orange County Register reported. Roughly six weeks ago, the doors of Laguna Beach record store Sound Spectrum were closed by its owner — this week, news was announced that the longtime music stop is preparing to be sold, The Orange County Register reported. Edith Otto, who operated the record store alongside her late husband Jimmy, told the newspaper that it’s difficult to let the business — located in Laguna Beach’s popular Historical Interesting Places District — go up for sale. “I’ve relived decades of my life over again,” Edith Otto told The OC Register. “That’s why I don’t feel bad. We had such a wonderful life. Jimmy and I were so blessed. I’ve had all these joyful memories.” “It will be hard to really let it go,” she continued. “I’ll just have to do that. That’s how life is.”
Montreal, CA | In Montreal, one man is fighting to stop DVDs from going the way of the dodo: The Luddites were a 19th-century group of British textile workers who destroyed the mechanized looms and knitting frames they saw as a threat to their livelihoods. They were followers of Ned Ludd, an elusive apprentice weaver who had supposedly smashed a stocking frame. Although there’s no evidence that Ludd actually existed, the name stuck around, and the word Luddite has since entered the lexicon to describe anyone who resists new technology. In recent years, peculiar signs have started popping up around Montreal, attached to street lights and signposts. They’re unprepossessing, but intriguing, with just a few words scrawled in permanent marker. “Visit eBay,” they say in French, “Le Pro des DVD.” Unlike Ludd, Montreal’s DVD pro is decidedly real. Jean-François Hall, a self-described “dinosaur” who doesn’t subscribe to streaming platforms, says he has sold more than 50,000 DVDs in the past three years.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Legendary rock band The Used have announced their nationwide 25th Anniversary Tour kicking off this spring. Full details can be found here.
In celebration of the unforgettable fan experience of three nights in each city with full album play-throughs of their first three records: their self-titled record The Used (2002), In Love And Death (2004), and Lies For The Liars (2007), the band have released limited edition vinyl with reimagined artwork for each album. The limited supply will be available Thursday, December 19 for purchase at www.TheUsed.net.
The reconceptualised visions of the cover art from artists Cam Rackam, Alex Pardee, and Craola will bring visual dimension to these beloved records, making this special edition a must-have for fans of both the band and the genre. More on each artist below.
First released in 2002, their platinum-certified self-titled album that shattered records and expectations will debut with new cover art created by longtime collaborator, Cam Rackam, a fresh take on the original artwork by PR Brown. Their platinum-certified second record, In Love and Death (2004), featuring reimagined artwork by the original artist and long time collaborator Alex Pardee, stands as their most impactful and commercially successful release, solidifying their place in the post-hardcore and emo scenes.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Here’s another one of those great early-‘90s glam metal albums that got lost in the grunge explosion. And because it came out in 1992, Capitol never bothered releasing it on vinyl in the US. So this one’s been a long time comin’—and as soon as you hear the opening cut “Hang On Lucy,” you know you’re in for a ride.
Fans of Dokken, Ratt, Skid Row, and Mötley Crüe will flip over Under the Influence—and lead vocalist Drew Hannah is in the grand tradition of Vince Neil et al. Trivia note one: Wildside ruled the Sunset Strip (and were the subject of a bidding war between Capitol and Polygram) under the name Young Gunns but was forced to change their name when Lionsgate Films came out with their Young Guns movie.
Trivia note two: this was the first non-Van Halen record recorded at Eddie Van Halen’s 5150 home studio, engineered by famed Led Zeppelin producer Andy Johns. Real Gone Music had this lost classic remastered for vinyl to make sure it pops—fire orange pressing housed in a deluxe gatefold jacket!
Remembering Professor Longhair, born on this date in 1918. —Ed.
Prior to his passing in 1980, the New Orleans pianist Professor Longhair reliably delivered the goods to club and festival audiences far and wide. For evidence, please consult Live in Chicago; cut at the University of Chicago Folk Festival on February 1, 1976, it offers a fine dose of the man’s immediately recognizable sound.
Professor Longhair’s 1970s renaissance is one of the sweeter late acts in the whole of 20th century American music; throughout the decade Henry Roeland Byrd was knocking out crowds on festival stages across the USA and Europe, but before the Alligator label’s 1980 release of Crawfish Fiesta the pianist was still primarily known on home stereos for his ‘50s work as collected by Atlantic on their classic ’72 LP New Orleans Piano.
Amid his newfound fortune new Fess material was largely approached with disinterest; as detailed in John Sinclair’s notes for Live in Chicago, he did record with Snooks Eaglin circa ’71-’72, but the results languished on the shelf until Rounder put them out in ‘87 as House Party New Orleans Style (Rhino followed suit four years later under the tile Mardi Gras in Baton Rouge).
Rock & Roll Gumbo paired the Professor with the guitar and violin of Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, but it was contemporaneously issued only in France on the Blue Star imprint, and other than Live on the Queen Mary, a ’78 album capturing a performance at a party hosted by Paul and Linda McCartney, there was basically nothing else.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Famously formed in 8th grade for a school talent show, The Donnas began as a self-styled co-ed answer to the Ramones, playing gleefully unapologetic, pop-punk paeans to adolescent alienation and hedonism from a decidedly female perspective. But by the time of 2004’s Gold Medal, their sixth album and second for the major label Atlantic, the group has clearly—dare we say it?—matured.
With the notable exception of the single (and career highlight) “Fall Behind Me,” Gold Medal marks a move away from The Donnas’ harder/faster ethos towards a more polished (acoustic guitars…whaaat?) pop sound veering towards ‘70s psychedelia under the helm of Avril Lavigne producer Butch Walker. And you can tell it from the album’s graphics, which flash vintage, Peter Max-esque squiggles on the front cover and feature a faux black light poster inside (which we have reproduced for this reissue along with the original printed inner sleeve).
The result was an album that lead vocalist Brett Anderson a.k.a Donna A. deems her favorite, and one that stands as probably the most underrated album in the band’s fabulous catalog (most of which we have recently released here at Real Gone Music). Real Gone Music’s reissue comes in gold smoke vinyl—an overlooked early-oughties gem.
We’re entering the home stretch with the first half of the year’s Best New Releases. A common theme is the pursuit of fresh possibilities.
20. BASIC – This is BASIC (No Quarter) Doing it sans vocals, Chris Forsythe (guitar), Nick Millevoi (baritone guitar, drum machine), and Mikel Patrick Avery (percussion, electronics) aren’t exactly venturing into well-trod territory with a sound that can perhaps be a bit oversimplified as art-rock/prog-rock meets new wave. Suffice it to say that if you dig the early ’80s records of Robert Fripp, King Crimson from the same era, and pointedly, Fred Maher and Robert Quine’s Basic, then This is BASIC will likely hit you right in the pleasure zone. Math rock lovers take note.
19. Steph Richards – Power Vibe (Northern Spy) It’s unsurprising given the decidedly retro cover design, but there are a few moments on the fifth full length by trumpeter-flugelhornist-composer-improvisor-bandleader Richards that spring forth from the same era that has so impacted BASIC, if not necessarily the same influences. Because Richard’s work is more jazz rooted and can inspire comparisons to assorted ’70s happenings, including flashes of Creed Taylor’s CTI aesthetic. But Power Vibe is far from any kind of straightforward throwback. Richards playing is the predominant driver of the album’s goodness.
18. claire rousay – sentiment & sentiment remixed (Thrill Jockey) Often, when a steadfast experimentalist makes a move toward the pop sphere, a feeling of disappointment can arise and linger. That’s happily not the case with sentiment, as rousay hasn’t drifted into bland conventionality, but is instead still navigating the fringes; her recent stuff has been described as emo ambient (with ties to her earlier experimental work still strong) and there has been comparisons to slowcore, and that’s astute, but also indie-folk, and that’s sweet. Also nifty is the remix album, which is really worth the effort.
17. Telepathic Band – Telepathic Mysteries Vol. 2 (577) The Telepathic Band is Daniel Carter on saxophones, clarinet, and flute, Patrick Holmes on clarinet, Matthew Putman on piano and keyboard, Hilliard Greene on bass, and Federico Ughi on drums. This set is the second half a session that took place at Sear Sound in NYC in 2019. Although clearly launching from the avant-garde (with decades-long relationships as the bonding agent), there’s an occasional sense of tranquility in this material that’s reinforced by the album’s cover photo. But of course, they do build up the intensity very nicely, and it’s great to hear so much top-notch clarinet. A favorite amongst many fine records released by 577 in 2024.
Final Two Sam Goody Stores to Close: Ending a seven-decade run. After a seven-decade run as one of the nation’s premiere record store chains, Sam Goody has announced the closure of its final two brick-and-mortar locations. The stores are located at the Ohio Valley Mall in St. Clairsville, Ohio and the Rogue Valley Mall in Medford, Oregon. According to WTRF, the Ohio location will close first, with its final date set for sometime in February 2025 — until then, prices will be reduced. No timeline has been given for the closure of the Oregon location. Founded shortly after the introduction of long-playing records, Sam Goody became a household name for discount vinyl sales in the ’50s, and a mainstay of malls across America and the United Kingdom in the ‘80s and ‘90s. In recent years, though, the brand’s popularity has waned, due to factors like digital music sales, streaming, mismanagement, and more.
Minneapolis, MN | What were the top sellers of 2024 at Minneapolis’ favorite record store? Chappell Roan, Charli XCX and other young pop stars sold well this year at the Electric Fetus alongside former customer Prince. Prince is still a hot seller at Minneapolis’ best-known record store, but in 2024 so were a lot of today’s hottest young pop acts. “Good Luck, Babe!” hitmaker Chappell Roan had the top-selling album of the year at the Electric Fetus, according to a newly issued year-end list from the 56-year-old record shop. …Other big sellers in 2024 at the expansive Minneapolis store were local pop-rock darlings Hippo Campus, Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, St. Vincent, Brigitte Calls Me Baby, Noah Kahan and up-and-comer Taylor Swift. Most of those names eschew the stereotype that kids these days only stream their music instead of buying it. “It’s encouraging to see so many younger music fans craving physical media in addition to streaming,” the Electric Fetus’ Jim Novak said.
Twin Falls, ID | Boise record shop opens pop-up in Twin Falls before the holidays: The pop-up store will be back in Twin Falls on December 21 from 12-5 p.m. at 125 Main Avenue West. For anyone in the Magic Valley looking to surprise their loved ones with the pure sound of a vinyl record this holiday season, you’re in luck. A Boise record shop has decided to set up a limited time only pop-up store in downtown Twin Falls. For the past six Saturdays, the Boise-based Modern Sounds Vinyl and Music has been setting up a small pop-up shop in downtown Twin Falls. If you’re still looking for the perfect gift for the music lover on your list, you still have one more Saturday to check it out. The Modern Sounds Vinyl and Music, Magic Valley pop-up store, will be back in Twin Falls on December 21st.
Salt Lake City, UT | Randy Stinson, the face of record stores in Utah, dies at age 83: Stinson spent his life sharing music with others, before and after he opened his cherished store in 1978. Randy Stinson, founder of the iconic Salt Lake City vinyl record shop named after him and remembered by his family as a “walking Rolodex of music,” died on Dec. 14, 2024, of natural causes at the age of 83. Randy opened Randy’s Record Shop in October 1978 and ran it for four decades before retiring in 2018, when his son Sam took over. The Travel Channel once named the shop as one of “eight must-visit American Record Stores” alongside other greats, like Amoeba Music in Los Angeles. …Connecting people with music, through the store or his own collection, was Randy’s favorite part of all of it. “Whatever culture that Randy brought to the city and the local community, it was just a place for music lovers…”
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Elton John today unveils a brand new video for his Triple Platinum-certified Christmas classic, “Step Into Christmas,” available to watch now. The new video reimagines what it was like behind the scenes for the now iconic original 1973 visual, starring British actress and model Cara Delevingne as Elton.
Over 50 years after Elton’s classic performance, the gloriously kitsch new video finds the video production team frantically trying to get the set ready for his arrival as they attempt to make it “Christmassy enough.” Despite the addition of a festive feather boa, balloons, and confetti, chaos reigns as they wrangle an escaped turkey, fail to book a real reindeer, and tackle a deranged fan who storms the set, all whilst Cara brilliantly mirrors Elton’s choicest dance moves and iconic facial expressions from the original video.
Cara’s star turn in the video sees her fulfilling a lifetime ambition to step into Elton’s high-heeled boots. A lifelong fan and aspiring Elton wannabe from an early age, the pair have become firm friends over the years.
Elton says: “I saw Cara at Glastonbury last summer, and we talked about how much we’d love to work together if the right idea came up. She’s hilarious to spend time with; we both have quite a self-deprecating sense of humor. When someone suggested the idea of her playing me in a riff on the 1973 ‘Step Into Christmas’ video, I just thought it was the perfect opportunity. Thank God Cara thought the same because it came out great.”
The new movie about Bob Dylan, A Complete Unknown, focuses on the controversy of his going electric at the Newport Folk Festival in July of 1965. Dylan was the darling of the new folk scene in the early ’60s and was heralded as the voice of the generation. His poetic songs of injustice galvanized the anti-war and civil rights movements of the time. When Dylan chose to go electric, many viewed it as heresy for abandoning the purity and non-commercial aspects of folk. What often gets lost in this debatable topic is that the move in fact launched Dylan’s long career as a peerless and dogged performer.
Although acknowledged as one of the most, if not the most, important songwriter of the rock era, Dylan is a road-dog, who has performed and played with countless group configurations. His mid-’60s electric period was marked by controversy, but he and his backing group The Band (formerly the Hawks and comprised of Canadians Robbie Roberston, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson, and American Levon Helm) are one of the most successful collaborations between a rock artist and a backing group of musicians.
Although their time together on the road in the 1960s was often met with scorn by the folk crowd (loosely chronicled by Dylan in his songs “Maggie’s Farm” and “Positively Fourth Street,” to name two), they were making exciting music that could fit into Dylan’s description of music that he called that “wild mercury sound.” The difficulty of performing this music night after night in the face of mounting derision caused one of the members of The Band, drummer Levon Helm, to quit by the fall of 1965.
When Dylan had his motorcycle accident in the summer of 1966, it brought a close to that chapter of his career that saw him release three monumental albums in a row (Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited in 1965 and Blonde on Blonde in 1966), but also resulted in his getting off the “wild mercury” caravan of raucous music, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as his tendency at this time toward self-doubt and fury.
