VIA PRESS RELEASE | Analogue Productions announces their latest high-quality reissue, transporting listeners to the vibrant streets of Havana with the highly-anticipated 180-gram black vinyl, 45 RPM 4LP deluxe edition of the legendary Buena Vista Social Club.

Additionally, this will be the first time that these recordings will be released on reel-to-reel tapes. Mastered by Bernie Grundman from the original analog master tapes and plated and pressed at the acclaimed Quality Record Pressings, this reissue marks the self-titled album’s first 45RPM US vinyl release since 2001, and delivers an unparalleled listening experience.

Highlighting the heart of Cuban music in stunning fidelity, the luxurious packaging features tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination, crafted by Stoughton Printing for a timeless aesthetic.

Additionally, a 12-page booklet, includes lyrics and rare studio images from the vibrant sessions at Havana’s EGREM Studios in 1996. The deluxe reissue of Buena Vista Social Club arrives February 14th, and will also be available separately on reel-to-reel tape. Pre-order it now at store.acousticsounds.com.

Buena Vista Social Club is a legendary collective of Cuban musicians whose self-titled 1997 album became a global sensation, selling over 12 million copies worldwide and earning a GRAMMY® Award for Best Tropical Latin Performance. Produced by Ry Cooder, it featured iconic performers like Ibrahim Ferrer, Compay Segundo, Omara Portuondo, and Rubén González, as it revived the classic sounds of Cuban son, bolero and danzón, and became a cultural phenomenon.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | “A colorful, captivating slice of music history…Drawing from an impressive array of interviews with band members, music journalists, and festival organizers, the authors vividly capture the chaos of the festival’s early days.” –Publishers Weekly

Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock’s Wildest Festival (St. Martin’s Press; March 25, 2025) sees New York Times bestselling authors Richard Bienstock and Tom Beaujour (Nothin’ But A Good Time) telling the no-holds-barred history of the iconic music festival.

Through hundreds of new interviews with artists, tour founders, festival organizers, promoters, publicists, sideshow freaks, stage crews, record label execs, reporters, roadies and more, Lollapalooza chronicles the tour’s pioneering 1991–1997 run, and, in the process, alternative rock’s rise—as well as the reverberations that led to a massive shift in the music industry and the culture at large.

Lollapalooza features a foreword by Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil along with original interviews with some of the biggest names in music, including Perry Farrell and Jane’s Addiction, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nine Inch Nails, Sonic Youth, Tool, Smashing Pumpkins, Ice-T, Rage Against the Machine, Green Day, Patti Smith, Alice in Chains, Metallica, and many more.

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Celebrating Chris Britton on his 81st birthday. —Ed.

You’ve heard of rock music? Well, these English trogolodytes played real rocks. Legend has it the members of The Troggs were discovered as feral children living in the vicinity of Cheddar Gorge in the mid-1950s, where they romped about naked and walked on all fours. Five years of English lessons, some rudimentary musical training, and learning how not to hoot and waggle their genitalia at the sight of females of the species later, they were ready to bring their ludicrously crude garage rock to the listening public.

Here in the US The Troggs are primarily (if not exclusively) known for the cave man stomp “Wild Thing,” but in England’s green and pleasant land they scored a fair number of hits, which is where 1967’s Best of the Troggs comes in. You may not have wanted to let these guys anywhere near a live chicken (the results were invariably bloodcurdling), but their early work holds up as a prime example of the sonic possibilities of inspired primitivism.

To the extent that the Troggs are labeled a proto-punk band, it has less to do with attitude (Reg Presley and the boys didn’t have a rebellious or mean-spirited bone in their bodies) than with their determination to prove that any rough beast could slouch its way towards the Top of the Pops. What the Troggs offer the listener are a bunch of likable songs banged out with an equally likable amateur spirit; it bears remembering that it took years to teach these lads how to use knife and fork, and their learning curve more or less ended there.

That said, they’re not exactly the neanderthals you might think, and if you’re expecting every track to be a barbaric yawp along the lines of “Wild Thing” you’re in for a disappointment. A few songs do the crunge: “From Home” features some nasty fuzz guitar and is heavy as a club, while “Gonna Make You” is all cock-sure assertion set to a badass Bo Diddley beat.

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After an exceptional 2024, Elemental Music starts off the new year in strong fashion by adding three more entries to their Motown Sound Collection; Reflections by Diana Ross and the Supremes, Nitty Gritty by Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Pure Smokey by Smokey Robinson. Allowing younger generations of vinyl aficionados the opportunity to build solid shelves of Motown albums without years of perseverance and good luck, all three are available now on limited edition 140 gram vinyl.

Released in 1968, Reflections is notable in the Supremes’ discography for a variety of reasons, two of them related to billing and lineup as Florence Ballard exited the group as the set was being recorded. She’s heard on three of the album’s songs including the title track. As Cindy Birdsong made her entrance, Motown used this circumstance to help solidify a new hierarchy, with Reflections credited to Diana Ross and the Supremes.

Straight away, Reflections isn’t subtle in its psychedelic inflections, though that’s not a knock. The LP ranks high in the group’s oeuvre in terms of quality attained through good judgement that pertains to matters of taste and ultimately, restraint, or perhaps better said, caution. Maybe a mite too cautious, as “I Can’t Make It Alone,” with its harpsichord-ish chimes and what sure sounds like a Theremin (but is almost certainly an approximating synth), serves as a standout (and is maybe the record’s best song). It really should’ve been released as a single.

This brings us to how Reflections marks the Supremes’ culminating collaboration with songwriters Holland-Dozier-Holland. The team’s compositions dominate side one, the stronger of the record’s two halves, as “Forever Came Today” and “In and Out of Love” are also highlights. Side two’s versions of “What the World Needs Now is Love,” “Up, Up and Away,” and “Ode to Billie Joe” go down smooth, but they lack the spark of personal interaction that made Holland-Dozier-Holland’s input such a major component in the Motown narrative.

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We’ve closed TVD’s HQ for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. 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 tomorrow, 1/21.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Independent Project Records (IPR) and the New York City three-piece Springhouse announced today that they will reissue the band’s 12-track album, From Now to OK on March 14. Originally released as a limited edition CD in 2008 by Independent Project Records, this edition will be released on vinyl, CD, and digital formats and includes a bonus CD of previously unreleased demos and live tracks. A single and video for the track “Moving Van” is out now. Full album details here.

From Now to OK captures Springhouse exploring a more acoustic, folk rock-indebted sound; still showing their trademark flair for dreamy melodic textures, the ever-Anglophile Springhouse can be heard embracing the late sixties influence of Nick Drake and The Beatles.

All physical formats will be presented in a beautiful package from master designer Bruce Licher. This new LP edition will be made available on black vinyl as well as clear orange vinyl (a super-limited translucent green tint vinyl of only 200 copies was released for RSD Black Friday in November of 2024). The new CD edition has been remastered by Josh Bonati and also includes the second bonus disc of demos and rarities, packaged with a folding insert in an oversized CD pocket folder letterpress-printed by hand at Independent Project Press.

New York trio Springhouse may be best remembered as the first major-signed, nationally touring US shoegaze band of the original era: a 1991 MTV video, “Layers,” a Rolling Stone feature and copious airplay brought notice to two memorable albums on the fabled Virgin Records’ subsidiary Caroline Records. The group started with a hot 1990 debut single for Singles Only (a label founded by Bob Mould, Maxwell’s Steve Fallon, and radio DJ Nick Hill) then signed to Caroline, who released their first two albums, 1991’s Land Falls (featuring superb design by IPR’s Bruce Licher) and 1993’s Postcards From the Arctic.

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Remembering Françoise Hardy, born on this date in 1944. —Ed.

French vocalist Françoise Hardy openly disdains being described as an icon, though of course her modesty plays a large role in why she continues to be revered by so many. Naturally, the most important component in her enduring reputation is the music; a superb singer and true artist from within the oft-unrelenting 1960s pop machine, her records have aged exceptionally well, retaining the allure of their era as they lack period gaffes. Hardy’s first five French language albums, all originally issued by Disques Vogue from ’62-’66, comprise a highly worthy run of productivity.

Françoise Hardy is a cornerstone of the ’60s Euro-pop phenomenon known as yé-yé. Akin to rock, girl groups, svelte male crooners, and the majority of the era’s teen-oriented sounds in general, yé-yé was widely considered to be of an ephemeral nature, and by extension was basically dominated by the collusion of producers and labels. The singers, amongst them France Gall, Sylvie Vartan, Clothilde, and Chantal Kelly, were the crucial ingredient in a very calculated recipe.

Hardy differed from the norm by writing a significant amount of her own stuff, all but two songs on her debut in fact, and as a result she evaded the sometimes embarrassing subject matter thrust upon other yé-yé girls. Furthermore, she was regularly photographed with guitar in hand, though it’s unclear to what extent she actually played on these recordings. To borrow a phrase relating to Studio-era Hollywood, Hardy transcended the “genius of the system” method of pop manufacture, instead excelling at a subdued auteur-driven approach.

In the tradition of the original filmic auteurs, few recognized Hardy as a major talent during her emergence on the scene. She definitely sparked interest in fellow musicians however, including The Beatles, Mick Jagger, and Bob Dylan, the last so struck by her skills he dedicated the poem “Some Other Kinds of Songs” to her; it’s on the back of Another Side of Bob Dylan’s sleeve.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | It’s been 20 years since Hinder’s major label debut Extreme Behavior was released, and we’re still not sure the music industry has recovered. Seldom have commercial and critical success been poles apart to this degree; this record went TRIPLE platinum and scored, what, four major hit singles (more if you count the international charts)?!

Yet, critical scorn was unrelenting, one reviewer commenting Hinder “appeal not to fans of music, but fans of high fives.” Which is pretty funny…but this Oklahoma City band laughed all the way to the bank, as songs like “Get Stoned,” “Lips of an Angel” (#3 on the Hot 100), “How Long,” and “Better Than Me” were worldwide hits. Part of this was due to the undeniable charisma of lead vocalist Austin John Winkler; producer Brian Howes also deserves credit for co-writing the songs.

But a big part of Hinder’s allure (aside from the fetching cover photo taken straight from the cover of the book How to Tell a Naked Man What to Do: Sex Advice from a Woman Who Knows) was the band’s devil-may-care attitude.

Fans of Jackass found their party-hearty soundtrack right here; Extreme Behavior is good, unclean fun. Remastered for its first-ever vinyl reissue on its 20th birthday by Mike Milchner from Sonic Vision, and pressed in blackberry vinyl!

Japanese freak rock heroes Acid Mothers Temple—with their offshoot groups and collaborations and what not—have been winning hearts and minds and blowing the latter since 1996 with their dozens of psychedelic and space rock albums, and one thing is undeniable: they have a playful sense of humor, as you can tell by their positive genius for coming up with amusing album titles that evoke classical rock albums of the past. Or maybe they don’t think they’re funny at all. I do.

There are far, far too many to mention, but my favorites include 2001’s Absolutely Freak Out (Zap Your Mind!), that same year’s Electric Heavyland, 2002’s St. Captain Freak Out & the Magic Bamboo Request, 2004’s Minstrel in the Galaxy, 2009’s Are We Experimental, that same year’s Dark Side of the Black Moon: What Planet Are We On?, 2011’s The Ripper at the Heaven’s Gates of Dark and THAT same year’s Son of a Bitches Brew, 2012’s Chaos Unforgiven Kisses or Grateful Dead Kennedys, 2013’s Doobie Wonderland, 2024’s Trust Masked Replicants, and my personal fave, 2006’s Starless and Bible Black Sabbath.

I’m not going to run down all of Acid Mothers Temple name variations and offshoot bands—suffice it to say they’ve mostly recorded under the names Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. and Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno, although if you’re lazy like me you’ll just call them Acid Mothers Temple and be done with it. Stylistically, they’ve covered entire continents worth of territory—the playful Doobie Wonderland is a far cry from the spacy jazz rock of Son of a Bitches Brew or the ferocious metal bong-grind of Starless and Bible Black Sabbath.

Despite those album titles, group founder Kawabata Makoto doesn’t cite classic rock—although he concedes he got his LOOK from Ritchie Blackmore—as a primary influence on Acid Mothers Temple’s music. He’s more likely to cite Krautrock, progressive rock, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. But things he’s said over the years make it clear his music comes from a more cosmic place.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Latino is thrilled to reissue one of salsa music’s most essential albums, Tremendo caché, from two of the genre’s biggest stars, Celia Cruz and Johnny Pacheco.

Originally released in 1975, the album marks the second of several popular collaborations between the artists and includes such classic hits as “La sopa en botella,” “Tres dias de Carnaval,” and the chart-topping favorite, “Cúcala.” Joining Cruz and Pacheco in the studio is an all-star lineup of talent, including Papo Lucca, Justo Betancourt, and Roberto Torres, among many others.

Returning to vinyl for the first time in decades on March 14th, and available for pre-order, this 50th anniversary edition of Tremendo caché features all-analog mastering by Clint Holley at Well Made Music and is pressed on 180-gram vinyl for the ultimate listening experience and housed in an replica of its original album jacket. A “Caché en Negro y Blanco” (black with white splatter) 180-gram color vinyl variant (limited to 300 copies), with an exclusive bundle option that includes a Vaya Records T-shirt, is available at Fania.com.

Tremendo caché also arrives in honor of The Queen of Salsa’s centennial, which Craft Latino will celebrate throughout the year with a series of digital and vinyl reissues, exclusive content, and other special releases. For more information, visit Fania.com.

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