Release Day Picks: October 21st 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 The Dean Ween Group, David Crosby, Leonard Cohen and the cast of David Bowie’s play Lazarus. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.

---

The Dean Ween Group – The Deaner Album

The Scoop: Ween guitarist Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo started to put together The Deaner Album following his main band’s 2012 breakup. More than four years later the guest-filled, 14-track affair is finally here. Deaner shows off his many influences over the course of the LP from The Allman Brothers Band (“Dickie Betts”) to Prince (“Mercedes Benz”) to Funkadelic (“Garry”). One of the guests Melchiondo enlisted was P-Funk guitarist Michael Hampton, who contributed to a number of songs including the album-closing Funkadelic cover “Doo Doo Chasers.” Listen to the first single from The Deaner Album, “Mercedes Benz”:

Label: ATO Records

Producer: Dean Ween

Number Of Tracks: 14

Running Time: 52:37

Guest Musicians: Curt Kirkwood, Chuck Treece, Mike Hampton, Guy Heller, Dave Dreiwitz, Claude Coleman, Glenn McClelland, Carol Brooks, Ray Kubian, Lucas Rinz

Tracklist:

1. Dickie Betts
2. Exercise Man
3. Bundle of Joy
4. Charlie Brown
5. Shwartze Pete
6. I’ll Take It and Break It
7. Garry
8. You Were There
9. Bums
10. Gum
11. Nightcrawler
12. Mercedes Benz
13. Tammy
14. Doo Doo Chasers

Stream / Download / CD/LP

---

David Crosby – The Lighthouse

The Scoop: At 75-years-old David Crosby has hit an unexpected creative period in his long, and celebrated career. After a 21 year wait between solo records Croz’s latest, The Lighthouse, will be his second in as many years. Produced by Snarky Puppy’s Michael League and recorded at Jackson Browne’s studio Groove Masters, the record finds Crosby offering up am intimated stripped-down affair that channel his early folkie days. The nine-track effort sees the legendary singer-songwriter touching on themes of love, romance, war and immigration. Give a listen to the album’s lead single “Things We Do For Love,” which Crosby wrote for his wife Jan:

Label: GroundUp Music/Verve Label Group

Producer: Michael League

Number Of Tracks: 9

Running Time: 40:35

Guest Musicians: Michael League, Michelle Willis, Becca Stevens, Bill Laurance, Cory Henry

Tracklist:

1. Things We Do For Love
2. The Us Below
3. Drive Out to the Desert
4. Look In Their Eyes
5. Somebody Other Than You
6. The City
7. Paint You A Picture
8. What Makes It So?
9. Be the Light of Common Day

Download / CD/LP

---

Leonard Cohen – You Want It Darker

The Scoop: Is there a better way to drum up anticipation for a new album than proclaiming yourself ready to die? When Leonard Cohen dropped that bomb in a recent The New Yorker interview, it raised the stakes for his latest album You Want It Darker as perhaps a swansong album akin to Warren Zevon’s The Wind. I like how Bernard Zuel for the Sydney Market Herald said it though: “Indeed, if you were to draw conclusions from the lyrics that Leonard was coming to terms with the end – and along the way making amends, providing guidance and wondering what would lie next – you would be a) right; but also b) about 50 years behind.” Leonard Cohen has been pondering finality since the beginning of his time. This album certainly looks to be rife with those themes, but what is perhaps even more compelling is the near-unanimous rave reviews thus far, marking this as a potential late-career masterpiece. Have a listen to “You Want It Darker” off the new record:

Label: Sony Music

Producer: Adam Cohen

Number Of Tracks: 9

Running Time: 36:07

Guest Musicians: Pat Leonard (orchestrations)

Tracklist:

1. You Want It Darker
2. Treaty
3. On The Level
4. Leaving the Table
5. If I Didn’t Have Your Love
6. Traveling Light
7. It Seemed the Better Way
8. Steer Your Way
9. String Reprise / Treaty

Stream / Download / CD/LP

---

Various Artists – Lazarus (Original Cast Recording)

The Scoop: One of the final projects late iconic musician David Bowie worked on before his death this year was the play he wrote with Enda Walsh entitled Lazarus. The play made its debut about a month before Bowie’s death at age 69, premiering last December at the New York Theatre Workshop. The LP features the cast of the original New York production, including star Michael C. Hall, Sophia Anne Caruso, Cristin Miloti, Michael Esper and other cast members backed by a seven-piece house band who assembled to record the album on January 11. The ensemble tracked what appears on the record only moments after learning of Bowie’s passing. The album also includes three tracks co-produced by longtime collaborator Tony Visconti which are being billed as “the three final David Bowie studio recordings.” The trio of new tracks was recorded with the same group of musicians led by Donny McCaslin that was featured on the majority of the late musician’s final album ★ (Blackstar). One of those three new songs is “Killing a Little Time,” listen to it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAK61Kdt6vw

Label: ISO / Columbia Records

Producer: David Bowie, Tony Visconti, Henry Hey

Number Of Tracks: 23

Running Time: 1:21:39

Guest Musicians: Original New York Cast of Lazarus, Michael C. Hall, Lynn Craig, Sophia Anne Caruso, Michael Esper, Cristin Milioti, Krystina Alabado, Nicholas Christopher, Donny McCaslin, Ben Monder, Jason Lindner, Tim Lefebvre, Mark Guiliana

Tracklist:

1. Hello Mary Lou (Goodbye Heart) – Ricky Nelson
2. Lazarus – Michael C. Hall & Original New York Cast of Lazarus
3. It’s No Game – Michael C. Hall, Lynn Craig & Original New York Cast of Lazarus
4. This Is Not America – Sophia Anne Caruso & Original New York Cast of Lazarus
5. The Man Who Sold The World – Charlie Pollack
6. No Plan – Sophia Anne Caruso
7. Love Is Lost – Michael Esper & Original New York Cast of Lazarus
8. Changes – Cristin Milioti & Original New York Cast of Lazarus
9. Where Are We Now – Michael C. Hall & Original New York Cast of Lazarus
10. Absolute Beginners – Michael C. Hall, Cristin Milioti, Michael Esper, Sophia Anne Caruso, Krystina Alabado & Original New York Cast of Lazarus
11. Dirty Boys – Michael Esper
12. Killing A Little Time – Michael C. Hall
13. Life On Mars – Sophia Anne Caruso
14. All The Young Dudes – Nicholas Christopher, Lynn Craig, Michael Esper, Sophia Anne Caruso & Original New York Cast of Lazarus
15. Sound And Vision – David Bowie
16. Always Crashing in the Same Car – Cristin Milioti
17. Valentine’s Day – Michael Esper & Original New York Cast of Lazarus
18. When I Met You – Michael C. Hall & Krystina Alabado
19. Heroes – Michael C. Hall, Sophia Anne Caruso & Original New York Cast of Lazarus
20. Lazarus – David Bowie
21. No Plan – David Bowie
22. Killing A Little Time – David Bowie
23. When I Met You – David Bowie

Stream / Download / CD/LP

---

Compiled by Jeffrey Greenblatt, Ryan Dembinsky, Andy Kahn and Scott Bernstein.