Release Day Picks: June 15 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 Buddy Guy, The Brothers Comatose, Arthur Buck, Rebelution, Melody’s Echo Chamber and The Allman Brothers Band. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.

Buddy Guy – The Blues Is Alive And Well

The Scoop: Buddy Guy is emphatically letting everyone know plenty with the title of his new album: The Blues Is Alive And Well. One, that the blues legend is still around and making music and two, that the 81-year-old guitarist is doing his best to make sure that genre that he loves is still thriving well into this century and beyond. For his latest, Guy dug into his Rolodex to recruit some A-list friends to assist on the 15-track effort. Guy is joined by a trio of musicians that grew up idolizing his generation of the blues musicians: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Jeff Beck as well as a more left-field choice with the rising British star James Bay. Give a listen to “Cognac” which features both Richards and Beck:

Label: Silvertone/RCA Records

Producer: Tom Hambridge

Number Of Tracks: 15

Running Time: 64:00

Guest Musicians: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, James Bay

Tracklist:

1. A Few Good Years
2. Guilty As Charged
3. Cognac
4. The Blues Is Alive & Well
5. Bad Day
6. Blue No More
7. Whiskey For Sale
8. You Did The Crime
9. Old Fashioned
10. When My Day Comes
11. Nine Belwo Zero
12. Ooh Daddy
13. Somebody Up There
14. End Of The Line
15. Milking Mutha For Ya

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The Brothers Comatose – Ink, Dust & Luck

The Scoop: Bay Area Americana act The Brothers Comatose went a different route for their latest full-length studio album Ink, Dust & Luck. After years of self-producing their own efforts and using digital technology, the band tapped John Vanderslice to produce and recorded direct to two-inch analog tape. “Ink, Dust & Luck is a snapshot of a band that’s truly found their collaborative voice,” lead singer/guitarist Ben Morrison said of the new LP in a statement. “For the first time, every single band member contributed songs to the album. We took the old school approach of no overdubs, just straight to tape and I think this raw energy really shines through.” The five-piece recruited old friend Nicki Bluhm to duet with Ben on the record’s lead single “Sugar Please.” Watch the video for “Sugar Please”:

Label: Self-Released

Producer: John Vanderslice

Number Of Tracks: 10

Running Time: 36:04

Guest Musicians: Nicki Bluhm

Tracklist:

1. Don’t Make Me Get Up and Go
2. Already Ready
3. Sugar Please
4. As The Crow Flies
5. Cedarwood Pines
6. These Ways
7. Love By Degrees
8. Grandpappy
9. Get Me Home
10. Joshua Tree

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Arthur Buck – Arthur Buck

The Scoop: The relationship between singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur and R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck dates back to when the former opened for the latter during R.E.M. tours in the early-2000s. Following other collaborations, Buck and Arthur met up in Mexico in late-2017, during which time they co-wrote eight of the 11 songs featured on their self-titled debut. Portland, Oregon’s Type Foundry Studio was the site of initial recording sessions, with additional tracking completed at Arthur’s Brooklyn, New York-based studio. “My first thought was, ‘Hey, I’ll get Peter to play acoustic guitar on some of the stuff I’m working on!,’” Arthur stated. “So I started showing him songs. But he was like, ‘That’s cool. Now check this out.’ And he started playing chords and whatnot. So I put my guitar down and began singing over his changes, and it was magical. It was easy. And these great songs just started popping out.” Watch the “I Am The Moment” video below:

Label: New West Records

Producer: Joseph Arthur

Number Of Tracks: 11

Running Time: 44:18

Guest Musicians: N/A

Tracklist:

1. I Am The Moment
2. Are You Electrified?
3. The Wanderer
4. Forever Waiting
5. If You Wake Up In Time
6. Summertime
7. American Century
8. Forever Falling
9. Before Your Love Is Gone
10. Wide Awake In November
11. Can’t Make It Without You

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Rebelution – Free Rein

The Scoop: The sixth studio album by California-based reggae rockers Rebelution features contributions from Jamaican producers Don Corleon (Rihanna, Sean Paul) and Winta James (Damian Marley, Chronixx) on three of the 12 tracks making up Free Rein. The release of the follow-up to the band’s 2016 Grammy-nominated album Falling Into Place was preceded by series of singles issued over the past several Fridays. One of those tracks, “Celebrate,” was written following the death of the band’s friend and former tour mate Mike Eyia. “I want them to stand tall and stand proud and think positively because no matter what, things can get better,” frontman Eric Rachmany stated. “I want them to stand tall and stand proud and think positively because no matter what, things can get better. I want people to play this song [“Celebrate”] and feel good about their lives and who they are in their own skin. That’s what I want people to feel … At the end of the day, life is a celebration and while it’s important to grieve it’s also important to recognize that life is worth living for. So, I definitely think this applies to anyone whose passed on or in remembrance of anybody, Mike too.” Stream “Celebrate” here:

Label: 87 Music / Easy Star Records

Producer: Don Corleon, Winta James

Number Of Tracks: 12

Running Time: 43:29

Guest Musicians: N/A

Tracklist:

1. Celebrate
2. City Life
3. Legend
4. Settle Down Easy
5. Take on Anything
6. Patience
7. Rise on Top
8. Trap Door
9. Good Day
10. Healing
11. More Energy
12. Constellation

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Melody’s Echo Chamber – Bon Voyage

The Scoop: After releasing and touring behind her 2013 debut Melody Prochet, the creative force behind Melody’s Echo Chamber, went through a bout of writers block as she attempted to craft her follow-up. Last year the Paris-based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter suffered a serious accident that kept her hospitalized. Her long recovery helped her to break free and begin writing the material that became her new record Bon Voyage. After working with Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker on her self-titled debut, for Bon Voyage Prochet teamed up with producers Reine Fiske (Dungen) and Fredrik Swahn (The Amazing). The seven-track effort is full of swirling psychedelic pop songs that she’s described as her “fables of spiritual search and emotional healing.” Check out the music video for “Desert Horse”:

Label: Fat Possum Records

Producer: Melody Prochet, Reine Fiske, Fredrik Swahn

Number Of Tracks: 7

Running Time: 33:00

Guest Musicians: Gustav Esjtes (Dungen), Johan Holmegaard (Dungen), Nicholas Allbrook (Pond)

Tracklist:

1. Cross My Heart
2. Breathe In, Breathe Out
3. Desert Horse
4. Har Var Du Vart?
5. Quand Les Larmes D’un Ange Font Danser La Neige
6. Visions Of Someone Special, On A Wall Of Reflection
7. Shirim

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The Allman Brothers Band – Peach Picks: Cream Of The Crop 2003

The Scoop: The latest The Allman Brothers Band live archival release collects 36 standout tracks played at shows between July 25 – August 10, 2003. Peach Picks: Cream Of The Crop 2003 features the last and longest-lasting ABB lineup of founding members Gregg Allman, Jaimoe and Butch Trucks as well as Derek Trucks, Marc Quinones and Oteil Burbridge. The compilation also includes guest appearances from Susan Tedeschi, Karl Denson and Branford Marsalis. “That was an important time in the growth of that incarnation of the ABB. We had just released Hittin’ The Note and everybody was psyched to be playing a lot of new material from an album we all were very proud of and there was new life being breathed into a lot of the older songs,” Warren Haynes, who served as supervising producer, said in a statement. Listen to “Black Hearted Woman” from the compilation:

Label: Peach Records

Producer: Warren Haynes

Number Of Tracks: 36

Running Time: 5:14:03

Guest Musicians: Susan Tedeschi, Karl Denson & Branford Marsalis

Tracklist:

Disc One

1. Don’t Want You No More
2. It’s Not My Cross To Bear
3. Black Hearted Woman
4. Rocking Horse
5. Hot ‘Lanta
6. Old Before My Time
7. Come And Go Blues
8. Woman Across The River
9. Desdemona
10. The High Cost Of Low Living
11. Hoochie Coochie Man
12. Revival

Disc Two

1. Trouble No More
2. Midnight Rider
3. You Don’t Love Me
4. Who To Believe
5. Stormy Monday
6. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
7. In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed

Disc Three

1. Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More
2. Worried Down With The Blues
3. Statesboro Blues
4. Stand Back
5. Melissa
6. Mountain Jam
7. Layla

Disc Four

1. Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’
2. Done Somebody Wrong
3. Gambler’s Roll
4. Soulshine
5. Who’s Been Talking
6. Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright
7. Wasted Words
8. Dreams
9. Whipping Post
10. One Way Out

Download / CD/LP

Compiled by Jeffrey Greenblatt, Andy Kahn and Scott Bernstein.