Record Rack: A round-up of the week’s new albums, expanded reissues and/or box sets, appearing each Monday on Slicing Up Eyeballs.
ARTIST : Iggy and The Stooges
RELEASE: Ready to Die
BACKSTORY: Iggy Pop and his fellow Stooges this week release their fifth album overall and first since 2007’s reunion set The Weirdness. The 11-track album is the first credited to “Iggy and The Stooges” since Raw Power. The band features Pop, James Williamson, Scott Asheton and Mike Watt.
BUY: Amazon.com (CD, digital, vinyl)
ARTIST : Melvins
RELEASE: Everybody Loves Sausages
BACKSTORY: The alt-rock pioneers follows up 2012’s Freak Puke this week with their latest album, a collection of cover songs by artists including David Bowie, Roxy Music, Queen, The Fugs, Throbbing Gristle, The Kinks, The Jam and many more.
BUY: Amazon.com (CD, digital)
ARTIST : The Blow Monkeys
RELEASE: Feels Like a New Morning
BACKSTORY: The U.K. sophistipop act, which frontman Dr. Robert resurrected a few years ago, follows up its 2012 double-disc reissues with a brand-new studio album that includes a bonus disc featuring 10 solo-acoustic performances of Blow Monkeys songs.
BUY: Amazon.co.uk (CD, digital)
ARTIST : Big Country
RELEASE: The Journey
BACKSTORY: The reconfigured Big Country — with The Alarm’s Mike Peters filling in for the late Stuart Adamson and the new addition of original Simple Minds bassist Derek Forbes — this week releases, in the U.S., its first new album in 14 years. The album came out earlier this month in the U.K.
BUY: Amazon.com (CD, digital)
ARTIST : Midnight Oil
RELEASE: Essential Oils
BACKSTORY: The Aussie rockers this week release, in the U.S., a new 2CD, 36-track best-of that serves as a truly career-spanning overview of the band’s catalog, from the group’s first album to its last. The album was released in Europe and Australia last year (see full tracklist).
BUY: Amazon.com (CD)
