Metallica is continuing to release remasters of their catalog, with the latest being the 5x-platinum Load, available everywhere on June 13th. Produced by Bob Rock, Load is the follow-up to Metallica, the best-selling album of the Soundscan era. Load contains fan favorites including “Until It Sleeps,” “Hero of the Day,” “King Nothing,” and, for the first time ever, the original extended version of “The Outlaw Torn,” which was originally edited due to manufacturing limits.
The 3CD Expanded Edition includes 41 tracks across 3 CDs of the newly remastered album, previously unreleased, demos, rough mixes, & live tracks from their worldwide tour. The CDs are housed in a digipak with an embossed cover and includes a 36-page booklet.

No matter which edition one hears of the Great Jazz Trio, leader Hank Jones can be counted upon to deliver the goods. This live LP, originally recorded for the Japanese label East Wind and briefly available in the U.S. on Inner City prior to its premature demise, showcases excerpts from two evenings at the Village Vanguard. On this occasion, Jones is ably accompanied by Ron Carter and Tony Williams, so it is no surprise the fireworks begin right away with an exciting interpretation of Charlie Parker's "Moose the Mooche." Jones immediately cools the crowd with an expressive arrangement of John Coltrane's beautiful ballad "Naima." The pianist previously recorded Claus Ogerman's "Favors" two years earlier for his LP Hanky Panky, but this extended version proves to be an even better post-bop vehicle. Ron Carter's bluesy "12+12" proves to be a suitable closing number for this rewarding live date.

From the fertile San Francisco ballroom scene, the Sopwith Camel emerged in 1966 with a refreshingly melodic spin on the overamplified electric kool-aid coming from their psychedelic peers the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Quicksilver Messenger Service. The band's name was almost snatched by Bay Area concert impresario Chet Helms, who was looking for a catchy moniker to promote the new blues-based group being fronted by Janis Joplin and eventually settled on Big Brother & the Holding Company. Unfortunately, the band has suffered the double indignation of either being cast in the same lot as its trippy hippie counterparts or as sunshine pop lightweights – neither of which is wholly accurate. Their one hit - the title track, "Hello, Hello" - did reach the Top Ten…

If you view The Very Best of Yes as a singles sampler, not an attempt to offer a thorough overview of Yes' doggedly album-oriented career, this 11-track collection is actually quite successful, offering the bulk of the band's best-known songs, from "I've Seen All Good People," "Roundabout," and "Long Distance Runaround" to "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and "Leave It." It's sequenced chronologically, too, which gives some sense of the band's development. Therefore, for the curious, this offers a nice snapshot of what Yes did throughout the '70s and into the mid-'80s.

Issue 4 of the best summer chill hits from "Maretimo Chill Radio". Again finely selected by Michael Maretimo. Wave noise on, worries off. Enjoy the summer!

Nightmares have never sounded so beautiful! Swedish grandeurs of melancholic heaviness, Katatonia, return with Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State, set for release on June 6, 2025 via Napalm Records. Once again, the Stockholm-based unit masterfully navigates the tightrope act between nocturnal darkness and Scandinavian despair while subtly weaving a sense of hope into the listener’s heart. Since emerging in the early nineties, Katatonia has projected a beacon of light for the forgotten and the lonely ones, offering solace to those willing to lose themselves in the band’s immersive soundscapes. From their roots in death-doom metal to the post-metal entity they embody today, their art remains as haunting as ever. Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State marks the next step in Katatonia’s evolution, building upon the foundation of their previous album, Sky Void of Stars (2023)…

Two welcome changes in style made Blue Valentine a fresh listening experience for Tom Waits fans. First, Waits alters the instrumentation, bringing in electric guitar and keyboards and largely dispensing with the strings for a more blues-oriented, hard-edged sound. Second, though his world view remains fixed on the lowlifes of the late night, he expands beyond the musings of the barstool philosopher who previously had acted as the first-person character of most of his songs. When Waits does use the first-person, it's to write a "Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis," not the figure most listeners had associated with the singer himself. The result is a broadening of subject matter, a narrative discipline that makes most of the tunes story songs, and a coherent framing for Waits' typically colorful and intriguing imagery…

A 1971 live recording, from when Ella Fitzgerald was still at the peak of her vocal powers, Ella à Nice isn't one of the vocalist's all-time greatest live recordings, but it's a very nice set placing her in the company in which she felt most comfortable, a simple piano/bass/drums trio led by her longtime musical partner, Tommy Flanagan. Most of the set list's time is taken up by themed medleys such as "Aspects of Duke," "The Bossa Scene," and "The Many Faces of Cole Porter" that are perfectly nice but, as medleys tend to be, a little disappointing. One would rather hear Ella work her magic on the entirety of "The Girl From Ipanema" or "Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me" than be teased with a verse and chorus. On the other hand, the opening "Night and Day" is simply outstanding. Opening slowly with an extended vamp by Flanagan and bassist Frank DeLaRosa…

Founded in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1968 - Disbanded in 1981. Originally born as a German-British band, the music of Message oscillates between a substantial heavy rock and a nice folk rock articulated around a range of keyboards arrangements. With a combination of compelling rhythms, first rate compositions and strong playing, Message come up with a winner this time. Murdoch continues his quirky experiments with vibrato-tremolo heavy guitar sound. It adds much of the needed distinction to the whole affair. And there's a greater sense of exploration this time round, making it all feel more "progressive".

Konnecting… is a 15-track collection of electro-pop sings bringing together for the first time the works and three guises of electronic pioneers David Baker and Simon Leonard - I Start Counting, Fortran 5, Komputer.
Konnecting… tracks the duo's output from the first Mute release, Letters To A Friend (I Start Counting, 1984, produced by Daniel Miller), through to the club hit, Heart On The Line (Fortran 5, mixed by Vince Clarke), the Midnight Cowboy sampling Time To Dream (1993, Fortran 5) through to Komputer's paean to Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space (Valentina, 1997) to the very British electronic pop/folk music of Headphones And Ringtones and Like A Bird, from Komputer's 2007 release, Synthetik.

The Seeds were one of the most influential bands in the '60s American garage rock scene; they delivered hypnotic, stripped-down tunes dominated by Daryl Hooper's circular keyboard lines and the fuzzy, feral guitar breaks of Jan Savage, while lead singer Sky Saxon wailed a thinly veiled paen to drugs and sex, including "Mr. Farmer," "Rolling Machine," and "Up in Her Room." The Seeds scored their biggest hit with "Pushin' Too Hard" in 1967, but the band had already attracted a sizable following in their hometown of Los Angeles, and they would release a string of memorable singles through the end of the decade. Singles As & Bs 1965-1970 collects both sides of the 11 singles the Seeds released during their heyday, including variant B-sides for two releases, and as a bonus the set includes a rare, unedited take of "Pushin' Too Hard"…

B.B. King has cut a lot of albums since the success of Live at the Regal. And, like the live shows they document, none of them are any less than solid and professional, hallmarks of King's work aesthetic. But every so often B.B. truly catches fire; his playing and singing comes up an extra notch or two, and the result is a live album with some real sparks to it. Live in Cook County Jail is one of those great concerts that the record company was smart enough to be there to capture, documenting B.B. firing on all cylinders in front of an audience that's just damn happy for him to be there. Possibly the best live version of "The Thrill Is Gone" of all its many incarnations, and rock solid renditions of classics like "Everyday I Have the Blues," "How Blue Can You Get?," "Sweet Sixteen" and a great medley of "3 O'Clock Blues" and "Darlin' You Know I Love You"…

This 1963 date is titled for Dexter Gordon's living in self-imposed Parisian exile and recording there with two other exptriates and a French native. Along with Gordon, pianist Bud Powell and Kenny "Klook" Clarke were living in the City of Lights and were joined by the brilliant French bassman Pierre Michelot. This is a freewheeling bop date with the band working out on such categoric standards as "Scrapple from the Apple," and "A Night in Tunisia." In addition, American vernacular tunes such as "Willow Weep for Me" and "Stairway to the Stars" are included. Gordon is at the very top of his game here. His playing is crisp, tight, and full of playful fury. Powell, who at this stage of his life was almost continually plagued by personal problems, never sounded better than he does in this session…

Dream Sequence is an electronic wandering through this German band's most familiar instrumental endeavors. The two discs are made up of tracks stemming from such monumental albums as 1974's Phaedra and 1976's Stratosfear, merging right into some of their finest material from the early '80s. Fans of full-length Tangerine Dream tracks should take note that three of their most popular offerings are only excerpts, including "Rubycon Part One." The rest of the album is comprised of delightful synthesized washes that represent Tangerine Dream's mind-numbing electronic voyages, like the spaciousness of "Cloudburst Flight" or the finite complexity of "Logos Part One." Not all of their music basks in the coldness of keyboard machination though…

Well, this is something serious Hendrix collectors have been waiting for. Band of Gypsys famously played a total of four shows 12/31/69 and 1/1/70 at the Fillmore East (two shows each night). This is the complete first set from the first night; their debut live show. Although the original Band of Gypsys album was compiled from the second night, it wasn't because there weren't amazing performances to choose from on the first night. The first couple songs are a bit rough around the edges, but when Jimi goes deep blues with "Hear My Train a Comin'," he really starts feeling it and turns in an absolutely amazing version (that's why it was previously released on Band of Gypsys 2 and Live at the Fillmore East). "Machine Gun" is another stunner…