Record Rack: A weekly round-up of the pertinent new albums, reissues and/or box sets due out Tuesday.
ARTIST: Ian Brown
RELEASES: My Way
BACKSTORY: The former Stone Roses singer delivers his sixth solo CD, recorded at Battery Studios, where he and his ex-bandmates recorded their seminal debut 20 years earlier. Brown told the NME that he used Michael Jackson’s landmark Thriller
BUY IT: My Way via Amazon.com
ARTIST: 7 Worlds Collide
RELEASE: Sun Came Out
BACKSTORY: Neil Finn, of Split Enz and Crowded House, follows up his 2002 all-star live album
BUY IT: Sun Came Out via Amazon.com
ARTIST: Various Artists
RELEASE: Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy
BACKSTORY: Mark Mulcahy, frontman of nearly forgotten ’80s college-rock act Miracle Legion, is the subject of this new tribute album, featuring contributions by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe, Dinosaur Jr, Mercury Rev and the Pixies’ Frank Black. Proceeds from the project will benefit Mulcahy, who was left to raise his twin 3-year-old daughters alone after his wife, Melissa Rich Mulcahy, died suddenly last September.
BUY IT: Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy via Amazon.com
More new releases after the jump…
ARTIST: Elvis Costello
RELEASE: Live at the El Mocambo
BACKSTORY: This oft-bootlegged live LP kicks off the singer’s new The Costello Show live-performance series of complete concert recordings. The 14-track live album captures Costello and the Attractions’ March 6, 1978, concert at Toronto’s El Mocambo club, as broadcast by CHUM-FM. Some 300-500 promotional copies of Live at the El Mocambo were released on vinyl that year by Columbia Records in Canada. In 1993, Rykodisc reissued the album on CD, again as a promo-only item; this time it was available as a bonus disc in the 2½ Years box set or to fans who bought Ryko’s versions of Costello’s first three albums.
BUY IT: Live at the El Mocambo via Amazon.com
ARTIST: Revolting Cocks
RELEASE: Sex-O Mixxx-O
BACKSTORY: With the first tour in 20 years underway from Al Jourgensen’s Ministry spinoff — albeit with entirely new players — the group releases this 10-track collection of remixes from this spring’s Sex-O Olympic-O.
BUY IT: Sex-O Mixxx-O via Amazon.com
ARTIST: Dead Can Dance
RELEASES: The Serpent’s Egg
BACKSTORY: The duo’s fourth album, originally released in 1988 and remastered from the original analog tapes, is reissued on 180-gram vinyl in a limited edition of 5,000 copies.
BUY IT: The Serpent’s Egg via Amazon.com
ARTIST: Melvins
RELEASE: Chicken Switch
BACKSTORY: The proto-grunge act gets remixed by a variety of noise and experimental artists — but with a twist. Each remixer was given a full album, not just a single track, to work with. Among the mixers: Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, Merzbow and Matmos.
BUY IT: Chicken Switch via Amazon.com
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS:
- The Stone Roses’ 20th anniversary round-up: Video, audio, links, interviews, podcasts
- Thom Yorke, Michael Stipe, Frank Black pay tribute to Miracle Legion’s Mark Mulcahy
- Elvis Costello’s ‘Live at the El Mocambo’ to kick off ‘The Costello Show’ live CD series
- Al Jourgensen goes pop? Ex-Ministry frontman threatens to make ’80s synthpop album
- Revolting Cocks map first headlining tour in 20 years — but without Al Jourgensen
