MICK RONSON – Only After Dark: The Complete MainMan Recordings

For many, Mick Ronson needs no introduction. However, for his much celebrated fame with Bowie’s Spiders From Mars, his associations with Mott The Hoople and Lou Reed and having a lifetime champion in Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott, there’s one aspect of Ronson’s career that’s sometimes overlooked: his 1970s solo recordings.

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THE FALL – Fall Sound Archive Vol 3: 1982

Many albums get tagged with the word “seminal”, but few are more deserving of that than The Fall’s ‘Hex Enduction Hour’. Spearheading the beginning of a very prolific period for the band, ‘Hex’ is more than an album – it’s an art project. Given its subsequent influence upon on experimental underbelly of rock, punk and indie music, it’s fitting that it would eventually provide the heart of a great box set.

The third edition of Cherry Red’s Fall Sound Archives reissue series, ‘1982’ does exactly what it says on the tin. It brings together two studio albums (‘Hex Enduction Hour’ and ‘Room To Live’), various Peel Sessions and a slew of live recordings (a vastly expanded edition of ‘In A Hole’ and a harder to find live recording sourced from an Australian gig).

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Brand new Anthony Phillips album released in October

It’s a good time to be an Anthony Phillips fan.  Following the October release of Rocking Horse Club’s excellent tribute album ‘Which Way The Wind Blows’ [a full review can be found here], the original Genesis guitarist will release a new solo album on 25th October.

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Zappa: Mammoth ‘Hot Rats’ box set to be released in December

There’s some very special news for Frank Zappa fans.  The Zappa family will release ‘The Hot Rats Sessions’ on December 20th.

The lavish 6CD set is said to contain every note recorded during the sessions of the classic 1969 LP and will contain an abundance of rare material.

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What Else Is New?: The 2019 Dinosaur Jr. Reissues

There have been various Dinosaur Jr. reissues over the years – most notably the Rhino CDs from 2010 – but none that have served the band especially well in the age of deluxe editions and lavish box sets for legacy artists. The Rhino reissues were a step in the right direction with each featuring a smattering of bonus materials (save for ‘You’re Living All Over Me’ which managed to be a potential downgrade from the earlier SST CD), but those still didn’t give the big fans too much in terms of unreleased materials or rarities. Luckily, the 2019 campaign from Cherry Red Records puts that right. The period between 1990 and 1997 presents their most commercially successful, but with that came four great albums, an archive of unheard live material and a lot of other stuff that deserves to be shared.

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