Release Day Picks: September 8 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 Gregg Allman, The National, Jack Johnson, Victor Wooten and Tony Allen. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.

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Gregg Allman – Southern Blood

The Scoop: In March of 2016 iconic performer Gregg Allman assembled his touring band at the historic FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama to record what would be his final album. Southern Blood finds Allman and his talented ensemble tackling songs that Gregg felt held deep meaning for him. While the 10-song LP features covers of material by the Grateful Dead, Little Feat, Tim Buckley and others, Allman penned the beautiful opening track “My Only True Friend” with Scott Sharrard. Southern Blood ends with “Song For Adam,” a tune penned by Jackson Browne who provides harmony vocals on the tune. Gregg knew his time was growing short when he recorded Southern Blood and the LP serves as a fond farewell to a rock great. Watch the official video for “My Only True Friend”:

Label: Rounder

Producer: Don Was

Number Of Tracks: 10

Running Time: 58:18

Guest Musicians: Jackson Browne, Gregg Allman Band

Tracklist:

1. My Only True Friend (Gregg Allman-Scott Sharrard)
2. Once I Was (Tim Buckley-Larry Beckett)
3. Going Going Gone (Bob Dylan)
4. Black Muddy River (Jerome J. Garcia-Robert C. Hunter)
5. I Love the Life I Live (Willie Dixon)
6. Willin’ (Lowell George)
7. Blind Bats and Swamp Rats (Jack Avery)
8. Out of Left Field (Dewey Lindon Oldham Jr.-Dan Penn)
9. Love Like Kerosene (Scot Sharrard)
10. Song for Adam featuring Jackson Browne (Jackson Browne)

Stream / Download / CD/LP

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The National – Sleep Well Beast

The Scoop: Today The National has finally issued a new studio album four long years after 2013’s Trouble Will Find Me. Sleep Well Beast was recorded by the band at Long Pond studio in New York’s Hudson Valley as well as at additional sessions in Los Angeles, Paris and Berlin. The 12-track effort was produced by Aaron Dessner with assists from Bryce Dessner and Matt Berninger. While The National stray outside their normal sonic palette, Sleep Well Beast still has all of the hallmarks of classic albums from the group especially Berninger’s intense vocals and Bryan Devendorf’s unorthodox drumming. Watch the video for “Day I Die”:

Label: 4AD

Producer: Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner, Matt Berninger

Number Of Tracks: 12

Running Time: 57:37

Guest Musicians: Arone Dyer

Tracklist:

1. Nobody Else Will Be There
2. Day I Die
3. Walk It Back
4. The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness
5. Born to Beg
6. Turtleneck
7. Empire Line
8. I’ll Still Destroy You
9. Guilty Party
10. Carin at the Liquor Store
11. Dark Side of the Gym
12. Sleep Well Beast

Stream / Download / CD/LP

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Jack Johnson – All The Light Above It Too

The Scoop: It’s easy to take Jack Johnson for granted at this point in his career. The singer-songwriter who has been releasing albums since 2001 has carved out a niche with his breezy brand so SoCal surf pop that has cross-generational appeal. Johnson shows no slowing down in his knack to write catchy tunes that are often times the perfect soundtrack for taking your mind of off things. For his seventh studio album, and his first in four years, Johnson looked to a number of experiences for from the last year for inspiration explaining “This album shares what has been on my mind during the past year or so. A year in which I sailed through the North Atlantic Gyre for a documentary about plastic pollution in the ocean. A year in which Trump was elected as the President of the United States. A year in which I camped, surfed, got stitches, explored, dreamed, shared time and endless conversations with my family and friends … all of which inspired these songs.” Check out the lyric video for the album’s lead single “My Mind Is For Sale”:

Label: Brushfire Records

Producer: Robbie Lackritz

Number Of Tracks: 10

Running Time: 38:06

Guest Musicians: N/A

Tracklist:

1. Subplots
2. You Can’t Control It
3. Sunsets For Somebody Else
4. My Mind Is For Sale
5. Daybreaks
6. Big Sur
7. Love Song #16
8. Is One Moon Enough?
9. Gather
10. Fragments (From the Film “The Smog of the Sea”)

Stream / Download / CD/LP

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Victor Wooten – TRYPNOTYX

The Scoop: The first solo record in five years from Béla Fleck & The Flecktones bassist Victor Wooten features the virtuostic musician alongside drummer Dennis Chambers and saxophonist Bob Franceschini. The album also sees guest contributions from vocalist Varijashree Venugopal and “voicetrumentalist” comedian Michael Winslow. The resulting 14-track LP was self-produced by Wooten, whose last solo album Sword & Stone was issued in 2012.

Label: Vix Records

Producer: Victor Wooten

Number Of Tracks: 14

Guest Musicians: Dennis Chambers, Bob FranceschiniVarijashree Venugopal, Michael Winslow

Tracklist:

1. Take Off
2. Dc10
3. Liz & Opie
4. Cruising Altitude
5. Funky D
6. The 13th Floor
7. A Little Rice and Beans
8. A Soul Full of Ballad
9. Caught in the Act
10. One Hand
11. Trypnotyx
12. Final Approach
13. Cupid
14. Landing

Stream / Download / CD/LP

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Tony Allen – The Source

The Scoop: Legendary drummer Tony Allen co-wrote with his regular collaborator, saxophonist Yann Jankielewicz, the 11 tracks making up The Source, his debut on Blue Note. The 76-year-old Afrobeat pioneer blends elements of jazz on the follow-up to the Nigerian-born Paris-based drummer’s EP A Tribute To Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers, which was issued earlier this year. Several Paris-based jazz musicians were enlisted for the recording sessions, and the album also features a contribution from Allen’s previous collaborator Damon Albarn and guitarist Indy Dibongue from Cameroon. Check out “Wolf Eats Wolf” below:

Label: Blue Note

Producer: Vincent Taurelle, Bertrand Fresel

Number Of Tracks: 11

Guest Musicians: Rémi Sciuto, Jean-Jacques Elangue, Nicolas Giraud, Daniel Zimmermann, Mathias Allamane, Jean-Philippe Dary, Vincent Taurelle, Indy Dibongue, Damon Albarn

Tracklist:

1. Moody Boy
2. Bad Roads
3. Cruising
4. On Fire
5. Woro Dance
6. Tony’s Blues
7. Wolf Eats Wolf
8. Cool Cats
9. Push And Pull
10. Ewajo
11. Life Is Beautiful

Stream / Download

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Compiled by Jeffrey Greenblatt, Andy Kahn and Scott Bernstein.