Release Day Picks: July 28th New Album Highlights

Each week Release Day Picks profiles new LPs and EPs Team JamBase will be checking out on release day Friday. This week we highlight new albums by Arcade Fire, The Isley Brothers & Santana and Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.

Arcade Fire – Everything Now

The Scoop: Four years after the release Reflektor, Montreal’s Arcade Fire returns with Everything Now, the band’s fifth studio album. Arcade Fire enlisted longtime collaborator Markus Drava to co-produce the LP, but also went for new sounds by bringing aboard Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter, Pulp’s Steve Mackey and Geoff Barrow of Portishead as additional co-producers. The resulting effort is a statement on commercialism featuring plenty of dance-friendly tracks which owe more to ABBA than David Bowie including “Put Your Money On Me.” Yet there’s still a handful of songs on the LP more in the band’s traditional wheelhouse such as “Creature Comfort.” Watch the official video for “Creature Comfort”:

Label: Columbia

Producer: Arcade Fire, Markus Dravs, Thomas Bangalter, Stevev Mackey, Geoff Barrow

Number Of Tracks: 13

Running Time: 47:11

Guest Musicians: N/A

Tracklist:

1. Everything_Now (Continued)
2. Everything Now
3. Signs Of Life
4. Creature Comfort
5. Peter Pan
6. Chemistry
7. Infinite Content
8. Infinite_Content
9. Electric Blue
10. Good God Damn
11. Put Your Money On Me
12. We Don’t Deserve Love
13. Everything Now (Continued)

Stream / Download / CD/LP

The Isley Brothers & Santana – Power Of Peace

The Scoop: Renowned guitarist Carlos Santana paired his namesake band with R&B icons Ronnie Isley and Ernie Isley for the Latin rock group’s 24th studio album Power Of Peace. The Isley Brothers, Carlos and his wife, Santana drummer Cindy Blackman Santana, collectively chose the 13-songs they recorded on the LP. Among them is the new original “I Remember” featuring the group’s drummer on lead vocals. The 12 additional tracks are covers by artists such as Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Willie Dixon, Curtis Mayfield and Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Here’s their collaborative take on Swamp Dogg’s “Total Destruction To Your Mind”:

Label: Legacy Recordings

Producer: Carlos Santana

Number Of Tracks: 13

Running Time: 66:05

Guest Musicians: N/A

Tracklist:

1. Are You Ready
2. Total Destruction To Your Mind
3. Higher Ground
4. God Bless The Child
5. I Remember
6. Body Talk
7. Gypsy Woman
8. I Just Want To Make Love To You
9. Love, Peace, Happiness
10. What The World Needs Now is Love Sweet love
11. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)
12. Let The Rain Fall On Me
13. Let There Be Peace On Earth

Stream / Download / CD/LP

Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders – GarciaLive Volume Nine

The Scoop: Technically billed as a Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders show, the latest iteration of the GarciaLive goldmine takes us back to the classic Jerry Garcia Band haunt, the Keystone in Berkeley, California on August 11, 1974. The lineup included Jerry on guitar and vocals, Merl on keys, John Kahn on bass, Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann, and Martin Fierro on both saxophone and flute (effectively this would become the Legion of Mary lineup only with Ron Tutt on drums). The release contains just nine tunes, but it spans almost two hours and it’s a heavy hitter in terms of some Garcia band favorite covers, including “That’s What Love Will Make You Do,” “The Harder They Come” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.” The show has a relaxed groove throughout due to Fierro’s contributions on sax and flute, but the band is hot and the recording is pristine. Just check out the nearly twenty minute Harder They Come Below for all the evidence you need. Have a listen to the band performing Jimmy Cliff’s “The Harder They Come” below.

Label: Round Records/ATO Records

Producer: Jerry Garcia (original recordings), produced for release by Marc Allan & Kevin Monty, recorded by Betty Cantor-Jackson,

Number Of Tracks: 9

Running Time: 117:24

Guest Musicians: John Kahn (bass), Bill Kreutzmann (drums), Martin Fierro (saxophone & flute)

Tracklist:

1. That’s What Love Will Make You Do
2. La La
3. It Ain’t No Use
4. Mystery Train
5. The Harder They Come
6. Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I’ve Got)
7. It’s Too Late
8. (I’m A) Road Runner
9. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Stream / Download / CD/Digital

Compiled by Ryan Dembinsky, Andy Kahn and Scott Bernstein.