New Release Round-Up 12-04-20

Shawn Mendes - Wonder - Island
Grammy nominated Shawn Mendes returns with his fourth studio album Wonder, the follow up to 2018’s platinum Shawn Mendes.  Includes the first single, also entitled “Wonder” and 13 other tracks recorded over the course of 2020.  “Wrote an album. It’s called “Wonder”.  "It really feels like a piece of me has been written down on paper and recorded into song. I tried to be as real and as honest as I’ve ever been.  It’s a world and a journey and a dream and an album I’ve been wanting to make for a really long time.”

Frank Black - Christmass - Demon
Demon Records is proud to present a new series of vinyl reissues from American singer-songwriter Black Francis / Frank Black. The first release in this new series is 'Christmass', a collection of acoustic performances from Frank Black's 2006 US solo tour. Recorded both live on stage and in hotel rooms whilst on the road, the album includes tracks from across Black's career. Highlights include stripped back renditions of Pixies' classics 'Where Is My Mind?', 'Cactus' and 'Wave Of Mutilation' along with 'I Burn Today', 'Bullet' and 'Nadine' from Black's solo albums. This new definitive vinyl edition is pressed on two 140g 'cactus' green vinyl.

Green Druid - At The Maw Of Ruin - Earache Records
2020 release from this metal band spawned in the mile-high city of Denver Colorado, the first city to legalize marijuana. Green Druid was nominated for 'Best Metal Band' at the 303 Magazine Awards. Album closer is a cover of UK trip-hop pioneers Portishead's 'Threads'.

Amy Winehouse - 12x7: The Singles Collection - Republic
A 7” singles box set comprising all of Amy Winehouse's singles from the Frank, Back To Black and Lioness: Hidden Treasures albums. Tracks include ‘Stronger Than Me’, ‘Rehab’ and ‘Love Is A Losing Game’, all of which won the Ivor Novello Award for Amy in 2004, 2007 and 2008. The set also includes the Grammy Award winning ‘Body and Soul’, a duet with Tony Bennett. The singles are housed in individual picture sleeves and pressed on black vinyl. The box also features a 20-page lyrics booklet and a set of art cards.

Also Available: The Collection [5CD Box Set]

Yusuf / Cat Stevens - Tea For The Tillerman: 50th Anniversary Edition - A&M
Tea For The Tillerman is arguably Cat Stevens’ best known and most cherished album. Originally released in November 1970, Universal Music will be celebrating it’s 50th anniversary in style on 20th November 2020 with a multi-format release suite, including a very special 5CD/BD/1LP/12” Live E.P. Super Deluxe Edition reissue of one of music’s most classic albums.  The Super Deluxe set features a brand new 2020 Remaster of the record, as well as a brand new 2020 Mix (overseen by Yusuf Islam producer / engineer David Hefti), with audio mixed from the original 1970 Island Records multi-track master tape. The 2020 Mix also appears on the 1LP which is 100% exclusive to this box set. CD3 features Yusuf’s brand new interpretations of these wonderful songs, Tea For The Tillerman², which is released on stand-alone formats on 18th September 2020. Yusuf has chosen to include it here in order to present the very most complete edition of the original album, and to show how these songs have evolved over their 50 year lifespan. CD4 features demos, outtakes and alternate versions, including two wholly previously unreleased tracks (“Can This Be Love?” and “It’s So Good”), while CD5 features 25x live performances including 5 previously unreleased tracks recorded Live At The Troubadour, 4 previously unreleased live performances from the 8th December 1970 show at Fillmore East, and 6 previously unreleased live from British, French and German TV performances in 1970/71. The Live At The Troubadour performance is also included in full on the live 12” E.P. (exclusive to this box). The Super Deluxe box set is rounded out with a BluRay featuring HD 24bit/96khz audio of the 2020 Mix, as well as 8x previously unreleased live TV performances, 7 tracks performed live at KCNET studios, Los Angeles, and the official “Father And Son” video.

 

Yusuf / Cat Stevens - Mona Bone Jakon: 50th Anniversary Edition - A&M
Back in 1970 and following a period of illness and recuperation, singer-songwriting troubadour Cat Stevens re-emerged with a new record deal with Island Records and a spiritual and artistic rebirth. ‘Mona Bone Jakon’, his first album for Island, showcased a markedly different change in direction for Cat, unveiling with it a remarkable set of new compositions that included classics like ‘Trouble’, ‘Maybe You’re Right’ and the UK hit single ‘Lady D’Arbanville’. To commemorate the album’s 50th anniversary comes this definitive super deluxe box set of ‘Mona Bone Jakon’. Sounding as fresh as the day it was recorded, the original album is represented here by a brand new 2020 remaster of ‘Mona Bone Jakon’ by Geoff Pesche at Abbey Road, overseen by original producer Paul Samwell-Smith 2020 on CD, as well as a new 2020 Mix by David Hefti on both CD and LP. The set also includes an exclusive third CD of previously unreleased demos, and a fourth featuring 18 live performances from 1970/71. This box is rounded out with a live 12” etched vinyl E.P. of a rare audience recording of ‘Live At Plumpton Jazz & Blues Festival’ from August 1970, and with a BluRay disc featuring the original promo video of ‘Lady D’Arbanville’, plus eight live TV performances, and the HD audio of the new Mona Bone Jakon 2020 Mix. Also included is a 98-page beautifully illustrated hardcover book with extensive new sleevenotes. Finally there’s also a selection of memorabilia including Island Records press kit, two Island press photos, a replica 1970 Plumpton Jaxx and Blues flyer, a Cat Stevens tour sticker and ‘dustbin’ greetings card and pop art print in a card envelope.

Sturgill Simpson - Cuttin' Grass - Vol. 1 (The Butcher Shoppe Sessions) - High Top Mountain
Since breaking through in 2014 with his Grammy nominated Metamodern Sounds in Country Music album, Sturgill Simpson has established himself as one of the most daring and most acclaimed artists of our time. His music stretches across genres and styles, from the psychedelic soul of 2016's A Sailor’s Guide To Earth (Grammy nominated for Album of the Year and winner for Best Country Album) to the fuzzed-out rock attack of Sound & Fury in 2019. Now Simpson returns to the music of his native Kentucky with his first bluegrass project, Cuttin' Grass - Vol. 1 (The Butcher Shoppe Sessions). A true "mixtape for the fans", as Sturgill calls it, sees him reimagining songs from across his catalogue backed by some of Nashville's finest acoustic virtuosos.

Kacy & Clayton and Marlon Williams - Plastic Bouquet - New West Records
Every December, Christchurch, NZ  enjoys the start of summer as Saskatoon, SK  begins to freeze over. For as far apart as these places may seem, you would never know it from the sound of Plastic Bouquet, the debut collaborative album between Saskatoon duo Kacy & Clayton and Christchurch singer and songwriter Marlon Williams.  While on tour across Europe in 2017, Kacy & Clayton quite literally stopped Marlon in his tracks. As if playing by divine design through the radio, the pair’s “Springtime of the Year” immediately enchanted him.  Soon thereafter, Marlon hopped a flight to Saskatoon and they wrote and recorded the bulk of what would become Plastic Bouquet. They unlocked undeniable chemistry.  With Plastic Bouquet, these three musicians find common ground in dusty country spun through a kaleidoscope of psychedelic soul and dreamy fifties delivery.  They created an ethnosphere that is more than the sum of its parts. It’s also the beginning of something very exciting.