Elephant - For A Friend / For A Friend Pt. 2 single

Ever since I heard their debut EP when it was released in 2021, Rotterdam’s Elephant have continuously impressed me with two more albums and now the first two singles from their third album, scheduled to be released in March.  “For A Friend”, the first single from that album has been released as a 7” on orange vinyl through the Paradiso Vinyl Club and is another great shot of sunshine-y melancholy rock with a lazy groove and hooks that will have you singing long after the song is over.  The flipside contains “For A Friend, Pt 2”, a moody, ethereal instrumental soundscape, enhanced by the sounds of a crackling fire, that is brilliantly slated to be the album’s closing track.  Also, while it has nothing to do with this single, do yourself a favor and check out their next single "20k", a stunningly hypnotic track that at its very core has elements that will be familiar to fans of the band's previous work, but with more of a hip-hop beat and the use of vocoder that finds them really expanding their sound.  

(Paradiso Vinyl Club / Excelsior Recordings / Elephant)

Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe - An Evening Of Yes Music Plus  

At the end of 1988, following the release of the more commercial sounding, pop-oriented Yes albums 90125 and Big Generator, Jon Anderson, unhappy with the direction they had taken, left the band.  He released a solo album, In The City Of Angels, and then started a solo project involving the 1971-1972 members of Yes, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe and Bill Bruford (four-fifths of the band that recorded Fragile and Close To The Edge).  Since the fifth member of that Yes lineup was still in the band, Bruford’s King Crimson bandmate Tony Levin joined on bass and the project evolved into the band Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, who released an eponymous album in 1989, which hit 14 on the UK Charts and 30 in the US.  Following the album’s release, they did a world tour called An Evening of Yes Music Plus.  Two shows on the tour were recorded for broadcast and release.  NEC Arena in Birmingham, England was recorded on October 25, but not released until 2012, and the show included on this release was recorded for the King Biscuit Flower Hour at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California on September 9.  While this concert has been released a few times in the past, this newly remastered version sounds fantastic.  Also of note here is the absence of Levin, who missed several shows on the tour, due to being in the hospital recovering from hepatitis, and was replaced by Jeff Berlin.  The show has an interesting opening with Anderson, Howe and Wakeman each coming out one by one and doing a short solo piece.  Anderson starts things off with a very nice medley of sorts of the Yes songs "Time and A Word" and "Owner of A Lonely Heart" as well as the ABWH cut "Teakbois".  Next up is Howe on his acoustic guitar with lively takes on "The Clap" and "Mood For A Day," often with the crowd joining in on handclaps.  Lastly is Wakeman, often showcasing his speed and dexterity with pieces of "Gone But Not Forgotten", "Catherine Parr" and "Merlin the Magician", all tracks from his solo career.  Once Wakeman finishes his section, the familiar opening notes of “Long Distance Runaround” start up and the full band comes out on stage.  Bruford has his moment at the end of the song with an extended solo, that unfortunately sounds a little dated today with the heavy emphasis on electronic drums.  The remainder of the set is a nice mixture of tracks from The Yes Album, Fragile and Close To Edge along with the ABWH album.  The band sounds very tight and the new songs fit in perfectly with the older tracks, really coming to life live and often showing a little more experimentation stylewise.  In addition to the two CD’s that contain the live performance, this box set also include two DVD’s.  The first DVD contains video of the concert, while the second disc has the promotional video “In The Big Dream”, with several promo and live videos and video of them recording the album. (Unfortunately I haven’t had access to the DVD’s so I can’t comment on them).   

(Esoteric Records)

Slaughter & the Dogs - Do It Dog Style (Vinyl LP Edition)

For the first time in over twenty years, Do It Dog Style, the 1978 debut album from one of Manchester’s earliest punk bands, Slaughter & the Dogs, is again “officially” available on vinyl.  The album kicks off with the energetic “Where Have All The Boot Boys Gone”, a track that has been credited as the inspiration behind the Oi! Movement, and while there is also plenty of great early punk like “Boston Babies”, “I’m Mad”, with its poppy choruses, and “We Don’t Care”, there’s also a lot of diversity.  “Victims of The Vampire”, “Keep On Trying” and “Dame To Blame” are extremely infectious tracks that perfectly mesh ragged punk with glam, while “You’re A Bore” is more on the rock side of things.  Then there’s “Since You Went Away”, which is slower and somewhat reminiscent of the jangly alt rock that was in its very early infancy.  The band named themselves after two of their favorite albums, Bowie’s Diamond Dogs and Mick Ronson’s Slaughter on 10th Avenue and fittingly, Ronson contributes guitar to the glam sounding cover of the late sixties track “Quick Joey Small” (originally a bubblegum pop song from  The Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus) and their take on The New York Dolls’ “Who Are the Mystery Girls”, which is louder, faster, ragged and more energetic than the original.  Honestly, it’s way better and Ronson’s on fire here.  Ironically, they also do a cover of The Velvet Underground’s “I’m Waiting For The Man”, but it’s a pretty straightforward version that doesn’t really add much to the song.  In addition to the twelve tracks from the original album, this version includes two songs that were originally non-album B-sides.  Just as the title says, “Johnny T” (flipside of the “Dame To Blame” single) is a raucous tribute to Johnny Thunders and “Come On Back” (flipside to the “Quick Joey Small” single) is a massively catchy, no-frills, straight-ahead rocker.  The album is presented in a deluxe gatefold sleeve that includes press clippings and memorabilia from that era.  

(Captain Oi! Records)

Storace - Crossfire

While best known as the lead vocalist of the Swiss hard rock band Krokus, 2021 found Marc Storace starting work on a solo career, releasing his debut album Live and Let Live under the name Storace. Unfortunately, it was released during the pandemic and without any way to properly promote it, the album didn't get much notice.  When it came time to work on Crossfire, the follow-up, Storace teamed up with Tommy Henriksen (Alice Cooper, Hollywood Vampires, Crossbone Skully) who produced the album, co-wrote all the songs and played a variety of instruments.  For the most part the album shifts away from the more muscular, classic rock sounds of the debut, often like a more modern-day sounding throwback to his work with Krokus, which is evident from the get-go with the full speed ahead power rocker “Screaming Demon”.  “Rock This City,’ which has an intriguing short, sci fi sounding instrumental “The New Unity” as its lead in, and “Hell Yeah” are big sounding anthems, although with the drawback of 80’s metal lyrics that are a bit dated.  “Adrenaline” shows the influence of Def Leppard, down to the guitars, effects and vocal harmonies in the chorus, while “Love Thing Stealer” will bring to mind AC/DC.  Although still rockers, “Let’s Get Nuts” has a bit more of a poppier side and “We All Need The Money” adds a little bit of boogie woogie swagger.  The meaty rocker “Thrill And A Kiss” is a definite high point, and “Millionaire Blues” is another straight-ahead rocker, although a little nondescript.  Closing things out are what have become my two favorite tracks here, and two that actually sound different than the rest.  “Sirens” is a powerhouse track that’s heavy, darker and more introspective and “Only Love Can Hurt Like This” is a strong, piano-led power ballad with an emotional vocal performance from Storace.  Speaking of his vocals, it should be noted that at over seventy years old, Storace sounds just as good as ever.  If you long for the days when bands like Krokus were making their name, do yourself a favor and give Crossfire a listen.

(Frontiers Music)

Various Artists - Dearly Beloved : A Prince Songbook

Dearly Beloved - A Prince Songbook is a fantastic three-CD set compiling fifty-two tracks (five on CD for the first time) that recognize his incredible songwriting.  Disc one is devoted to tracks he wrote or co-wrote for other artists, while disc two consists of soul, funk and jazz covers and disc three is covers that are for the most part genres outside the soul and funk genre.  Of course, when it comes to a collection like this there are going to be songs that come to mind that aren’t included but having said that they have done an outstanding job with the songs and artists that are here.    

Disc one opens with some of the biggest hits other artists have had with Prince songs, including Martika’s “Love… Thy Will Be Done” and Sheena Easton’s “Sugar Walls”, both Top 10 hits, and The Bangles’ “Manic Monday”, which hit number 2.  There are also a couple of Top 10 R&B hits with Prince’s childhood friend and former bandmate André Cymone’s “The Dance Electric” and Patti LaBelle’s “Yo Mister”.  Other high points are “The Sex Of It” from Kid Creole & The Coconuts, the super funky with a rock edge “Sex” from Dutch girl group Lois Lane, the psychedelic tinged rocker “Van Gogh” from Van Gogh, the stunningly gorgeous, smoky jazz groove of “Dream Of Fire” from Portuguese Fado singer Ana Moura with Herbie Hancock, and “North Carolina” from former Prince vocalist Shelby J (featuring Anthony Hamilton), which is a soulful, gospel flavored track with a slow funk beat.  The remaining cuts on disc one are Elisa Fiorillo’s “Oooh This I Need”, with the slow, burning sexy funk of bands like Apollonia 6 and Vanity 6, the super funky “I Want U” from Rosie Gaines (another former Prince vocalist), Monie Love’s “In A Word Or 2”, Mica Paris’ “If I Love U 2 Nite”, Nona Hendryx’s “Baby Go-Go” (with backing vocals from George Clinton and Mavis Staples), Paula Abdul’s “U”, former Revolution bassist Brownmark’s “Shall We Dance?” and strangely Kenny Rogers’ “You’re My Love”, which actually sounds more like a Kenny Rogers song than a Prince song.  

As mentioned before, the second disc is primarily soul, funk and jazz covers.  There are a few exceptions including Jonny Lang’s standout, swampy funk and blues take on “I Am” (an unreleased Prince cut) and Tuesday Knight’s “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?,” which veers more in an eighties pop rock direction.  Some of the other highlights here include Corinne Bailey Rae’s “I Wanna Be Your Lover”, Valerie Carter’s gorgeous take on “Crazy You”, which in her hands becomes a slower, jazzy torch ballad, a soulful and slightly funky gospel version of “Walk Don’t Walk” from Traces Gospel Choir, Jordan Knight’s slowed down “I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man,”  “Soft And Wet” from N’Dambi, a super funky track with some great rock guitar, Workshy’s really pretty, stripped down take on “Damn U” and “Sometimes It Snows In April from Bobby Sparks II and Lizz Wright.  Rounding out disc two are Stephanie Mills’ “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore?”, The Pointer Sisters “I Feel For You,” which sticks fairly close to the original, but is missing that something that made the Chaka Khan version such a hit, Meli’sa Morgan’s “Do Me Baby”, Crystal Waters’ “Uptown,” Joe Roberts’ “Adore,” Debra Hurd’s “Gotta Broken Heart Again”, Passion’s “Gigolos Get Lonely Too” (originally recorded by The Time), Mellow Man Ace’s “Irresistable Bitch” (featuring Geo) and “It’s Gonna Be Lonely” from Princess & Starbreeze.

Where a lot of the songs on the first two discs don’t stray too far from the original, and a few here still follow that same path, disc three is largely full of tunes that have been completely reinterpreted.  The uniqueness and the diversity of these sixteen tracks makes this my favorite disc of the set.  7 Hurtz with Peaches and Bitch Lap Lap (aka Feist) kick things off with a super fun and funky electronic tinged take on “Sexy Dancer.”  “Take Me With U” is given an upbeat James Brown funk groove by Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, while Hue & Cry give “Sign O’ The Times” a horn-driven, soulful funky bebop treatment, and Lambchop’s “When You Were Mine” is lo-fi alt country with processed vocals.  Dead Or Alive takes the psychedelia of “Pop Life” and adds some Indian instrumentation giving it their unique sound, followed by Robyn’s awesome piano and vocal rendition of “Jack U Off” which has a cabaret feel, and the infectious electropop of The Dirty Monroes’ “Vibrator.”  Dayna Kurt’s rendition of “Joy In Repetition” is an absolutely stunning cover that is subdued and haunting with outstanding vocals and brilliant atmospheric production.  The vocals are also the highlight of the primarily a cappella “Love 2 The 9’s” from Michelle Mailhot, and Bilal’s soulful performance of “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore?” which is very reminiscent of the original.  Next up is Surferosa’s catchy, synth-driven alt pop take on “Controversy” followed by Morgan James’ powerhouse vocal performance on the soulful, somewhat bluesy “Call My Name.”  Joe Stilgoe’s “Partyman” is a fun upbeat, Cab Calloway styled Big Band version and legendary saxophonist Maceo Parker, known for his work with Parliament-Funkadelic, James Brown and Prince, contributes a laid-back jazzy soul take on “Other Side Of The Mirror”.  The disc closes extremely strong with Anne Marie Almedal’s beautiful, dreamy “Paisley Park” and the stunning “Purple Rain” featuring Amanda Palmer’s fragile, whispery vocals backed by a haunting string section composed by Jherek Bischoff.  The box set is rounded out with a nice booklet from Adam Mattera, who curated the collection, and quotes from many of the contributing performers.  

(Cherry Red Records)