Record Rack: A round-up of the week’s new albums, reissues and/or box sets.
ARTIST: Hoodoo Gurus
RELEASE: Purity of Essence
BACKSTORY: The ninth studio album from the long-running Aussie rockers — and their first in six years — won’t be out in the U.S. until May, but fans can pick up the Australian version on import beginning this week. The 16-track album was co-produced by Charles Fisher, who handled production on the Gurus’ Mars Needs Guitars!
BUY IT: Purity of Essence via JB Hi-Fi or Amazon.com
ARTIST: Robin Guthrie
RELEASES: Sunflower Stories
BACKSTORY: The Cocteau Twins co-founder this week releases the third in a trilogy of EPs that follow last year’s full-length album Carousel. The four-track disc — which includes “Horse Heaven,” “Petals,” “Slightly Out of Focus” and “Sunflower Stories,” none of which appeared on Carousel — arrives in a limited-edition pressing of 1,000.
BUY IT: Sunflower Stories via Amazon.com
ARTIST: The B-52s
RELEASE: Cosmic Thing
BACKSTORY: Attention audiophiles: The mega-selling 1989 album from the Athens, Ga., party rockers — bearing the radio smash “Love Shack,” plus singles “Channel Z,” “Roam” and “Deadbeat Club” — is reissued this week by Audio Fidelity, which remastered the album from the original master tapes and pressed it on a 24-karat gold disc.
BUY IT: Cosmic Thing via Amazon.com
