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Spins: Green Day • Saviors

Spins: Green Day • Saviors

| February 12, 2024 | 0 Comments

Green Day Saviors (Reprise) Thirty years after sending punk to the top of the charts with breakthrough album Dookie, erstwhile upstarts Green Day return as power-pop elder statesmen with Saviors. With the band’s familiar friend and producer Rob Cavallo back at the helm for the first time in a decade, Saviors’ 15 tracks find frontman […]

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Spins: Rob Fetters • Mother

Spins: Rob Fetters • Mother

| February 12, 2024 | 0 Comments

Rob Fetters Mother (Baby Ranch) If you’re already familiar with him, Rob Fetters may be your favorite musician that your friends have never heard. Fetters’ regional reach into Chicago and surrounding areas is largely due to his former role in the Bears alongside co-frontman Adrian Belew and the great post-Bears power-pop trio Psychodots with bassist […]

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Spins: Paul McCartney & Wings • Band on the Run – 50th anniversary LP

Spins: Paul McCartney & Wings • Band on the Run – 50th anniversary LP

| January 29, 2024 | 0 Comments

Paul McCartney & Wings Band on the Run 50th anniversary LP (MPL/Apple/UMe) Paul McCartney scattered enduring pop singles across the seven albums made with post-Beatles group Wings, but few fans would dispute identifying Band on the Run as the band’s peak. Furthermore, Band on the Run is commonly cited as McCartney’s best overall work outside […]

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Spins: Beastie Boys • Hello Nasty 25th anniversary 4xLP box

Spins: Beastie Boys • Hello Nasty 25th anniversary 4xLP box

| January 17, 2024 | 0 Comments

Beastie Boys Hello Nasty 25th anniversary 4xLP box (UMe) By 1998, Beastie Boys ruled radio and MTV thanks to a steady stream of brash and catchy singles, beginning with 1986 noise-fest “Fight for Your Right” from the trio’s debut and continuing with tracks including “Hey Ladies,” “So What’cha Want,” and “Sabotage” from ensuing albums. After […]

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Spins • The Rolling Stones • Hackney Diamonds – Live Edition

Spins • The Rolling Stones • Hackney Diamonds – Live Edition

| January 8, 2024 | 0 Comments

    The Rolling Stones Hackney Diamonds Live Edition (Polydor/Interscope/Geffen/A&M) It isn’t the backhanded compliment it sounds like to say that Hackney Diamonds is a better album than many Stones fans might have anticipated. Giving away the ending: This is strong work that earns its spot on many 2023 year-end lists, and it’s not unfair […]

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Spins: The Vince Guaraldi Quintet • A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving: Original Soundtrack Recording

Spins: The Vince Guaraldi Quintet • A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving: Original Soundtrack Recording

| November 8, 2023 | 0 Comments

The Vince Guaraldi Quintet A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving: Original Soundtrack Recording (LMFP) Following 1965’s A Charlie Brown Christmas and 1966’s It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, 1973 saw the arrival of the third Peanuts holiday special with A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Fifty years after first airing, the cartoon’s complete soundtrack is released as a vinyl […]

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Spins: Tom Waits •  Island ’83-’93 LP reissues

Spins: Tom Waits • Island ’83-’93 LP reissues

| October 24, 2023 | 0 Comments

Tom Waits Island ’83-’93 LP reissues (Island/UMe) Ten years into his recording career, Tom Waits began a significant stretch of work and creative reboot that continued for another decade and helped cement his reputation as a singularly unclassifiable and consistently engaging artist. This key middle-period run of Waits’ eighth through twelfth albums for Island Records […]

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Spins: The Empty Pockets • Gotta Find The Moon

Spins: The Empty Pockets • Gotta Find The Moon

| October 13, 2023 | 0 Comments

The Empty Pockets Gotta Find The Moon (Self) Chicagoland-based, roots-rock quartet The Empty Pockets just released their latest studio effort Gotta Find The Moon. The follow-up to their 2022 Billboard #1 (blues album chart) Outside Spectrum. Members Josh Solomon (Guitar), Erika Brett (Keyboards), Nate Bellon (Bass), and Adam Balasco (drums) recorded the 14 tracks at the […]

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Spins: Bob Dylan • Shadow Kingdom • Appearing at Cadillac Theatre • Chicago

Spins: Bob Dylan • Shadow Kingdom • Appearing at Cadillac Theatre • Chicago

| September 28, 2023 | 0 Comments

  Bob Dylan Shadow Kingdom (Columbia/Legacy) The pandemic lockdown finally brought Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour to a halt in 2020 after 31 years on the road. A few short months before resuming band travel in late 2021, the Bard gathered a stripped-down ensemble of trusted players for a streamed concert in July as a […]

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Spins: Repentance • The Process of Human Demise

Spins: Repentance • The Process of Human Demise

| September 12, 2023 | 0 Comments

Repentance The Process of Human Demise (Nobel Demon) Local metal journeyman Shaun Glass (Sindrome, Soil, The Bloodline, Dirge Within, Broken Hope) has been an integral and crucial part of the Chicago metal scene for decades. With his “new” band Repentance, Glass has been highly prolific since its 2018 formation by releasing an EP and two […]

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Spins: Pete Townshend • Empty Glass (Vinyl Remaster)

Spins: Pete Townshend • Empty Glass (Vinyl Remaster)

| July 25, 2023 | 0 Comments

The Who’s acclaimed, Rock Hall-of-Fame guitarist’s heralded second album (including breakout AOR single “Rough Boys”) gets a vinyl remaster.

Plus: Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane’s “Rough Mix”

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Spins: Cowboys in the Campfire • Wronger

Spins: Cowboys in the Campfire • Wronger

| July 3, 2023 | 0 Comments

Tommy Stinson’s Cowboys in the Campfire Wronger (Cobraside) The longstanding friendship and musical partnership between Philly guitar-slinger Chip Roberts and Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson (also a veteran of Bash & Pop, Perfect, Guns N’ Roses, and Soul Asylum) has yielded the pair’s debut album as Cowboys in the Campfire. Stinson in particular, has roots in […]

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Anniversary Albums: Tears for Fears • The Hurting

Anniversary Albums: Tears for Fears • The Hurting

| July 2, 2023 | 0 Comments

Tears for Fears The Hurting (40th anniversary Abbey Road remaster LP) (Mercury/UMC) For a band with its staying power and following, Tears for Fears’ catalog is brief. By all reports, it isn’t a lack of work ethic that suppressed productivity – it’s the internal quality control exercised by principals Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. The […]

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Spins: Flaming Lips: The EPs

Spins: Flaming Lips: The EPs

| June 12, 2023 | 0 Comments

  The Flaming Lips Hypnotist vinyl EP Fight Test vinyl EP Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell vinyl EP (Warner Records) Released in conjunction with the Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots 20th-anniversary campaign, these three EPs add to the picture of The Flaming Lips’ surging power during a period of peak creativity while simultaneously edging […]

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Spins: Paramore • This Is Why

Spins: Paramore • This Is Why

| March 2, 2023 | 0 Comments

Paramore This Is Why (Atlantic) After a nearly 6 year hiatus, Paramore is back with a vengeance, and their new album This Is Why is proof that time apart makes the musical heart grow fonder. Joining its neo-pop predecessor After Laughter in solidifying Paramore’s golden trio — Zac Farro on drums, Taylor York on guitar, and the […]

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