Music News & Notes

Elvis Costello Names New LP National Ransom, Unveils Album Cover

Legendary songwriter Elvis Costello has a new studio album on the way, which is due out on October 5, has been given the new, only slightly different title of National Ransom. ElvisCostello.info posted the album’s cover art. There’s no firm tracklist yet, but Costello has debuted a number of live songs in concert, which may appear on the LP (we can expect information about the tracklist and a single to be announced soon).

The record was recorded by folk super-producer T-Bone Burnett, who has worked with Costello on three previous albums, including 2009’s 'Secret, Profane & Sugarcane.' It was recorded in Nashville and features backing bands the Imposters and the Sugarcanes. It will be released via Starbucks’ Hear Music label.

In a recent interview with Herald Scotland, Costello said, “The ensemble ranges from two players to nine pieces and while some songs are very intimate and quiet, others are not.”









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Iggy Pop & James Williamson to release Kill City

Kill City is aurgueably Iggy Pop and James Williamson's severly overlooked, yet ultimately essential album that musically bridges the gap between The Stooges' volatile 1973 studio masterpiece 'Raw Power' and Iggy's first two magnificent solo efforts, 'The Idiot' and 'Lust for Life.' Originally recorded in 1975 and later released by Bomp! Records in '77, the sound quality of Kill City was compromised from the get-go, as it originally suffered from a bad pressing (on the infamous green vinyl), and over the years the quality of the record itself managed to get even worse. When the original distributor went out of business, the 2-track album production masters vanished and every subsequent pressing of the album - on record, cassette and CD - used a copy of that deficient green vinyl as its master.

The October release of this album also follows Iggy & The Stooges' current world tour (featuring the reunited James Williamson on guitar), where they've been performing material from Kill City live for the first time.

Kill City will be available on October 19th as a CD Digipak featuring the original 1977 artwork and a 24-page booklet with rare and unseen photos. The vinyl first-run is a limited edition of 1,000 on clear green vinyl (as an homage to the original 1977 pressing). There are no bonus tracks, but, with this newly restored version, people will be able to discover, or re-discover, a truly great album as it was intended to sound.

KILL CITY TRACKLISTING
1. Kill City
2. Sell Your Love
3. Beyond The Law
4. I Got Nothin'
5. Johanna
6. Night Theme
7. Night Theme (Reprise)
8. Consolation Prizes
9. No Sense Of Crime
10. Lucky Monkeys
11. Master Charge

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Optimo to re-release Chris Carter LP

JD Twitch's Optimo Music imprint is scheduled to release 'The Spaces Between,' an updated vinyl version of the 1980 release by Throbbing Gristle co-founder Chris Carter. Carter's debut work was recorded in London between 1974 and 1978 and released via Gristle's Industrial Records. Until now, none of the recordings on the album have ever been available on vinyl. The new version features only six of the original 15 songs, all of which have been re-mastered by Carter himself, plus a bonus track called "Climbing," which Twitch credits with being "one of the first ever recordings to use an 808 drum machine."

The Spaces Between marks a shift in direction for Optimo Music. Twitch launched the label in 2009, and to date has used it mostly as a platform for fledgling artists from Glasgow, such as Big Ned, Den Haan, Divorce and Older Love. The new LP will be Optimo Music's second full-length to date, and its first foray into reissues.

Tracklist
A1. Beat
A2. Outreach
A3. Clouds
A4. Electrodub
B1. Interloop
B2. Solidit
B3. Climbing

Optimo Music will release The Spaces Between in September 2010.

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Morrissey to release re-master of “Everyday Is Like Sunday”

On September 27 Morrissey will release a remastered version of his once UK top ten hit single “Everyday Is Like Sunday” from 1988. I t will be released alongside s special 20th anniversary edition of the singer’s compilation album 'Bona Drag.' The remastered version of “Everyday Is Like Sunday” will be released on CD, two 7" vinyl records and as a digital download. Those looking to purchase the single on vinyl need to pay attention as the first version contains the track “Trash,” recorded live at Irvine Meadows, California in 1991, while version 2 has a live take of the single recorded at The Hollywood Bowl from his performance in 2007.

As a CD, the single will feature an unreleased alternative version of “November Spawned a Monster” called “November The Second” as well as a live performance of the single itself from Top of the Pops the same year it was originally released