Boo Boo Records

December/January 2018 Program Titles Released This Week:

Anderson .Paak – Oxnard CD (Aftermath)

The third album from California singer Anderson .Paak serves is his first release on Dr. Dre’s Aftermath label. The album’s title is a homage to Anderson’s hometown. It is also a continuation of the theme which .Paak has been using for some years, which is naming his projects after coastal towns of California. These include his 2014 mixtape, Venice and his debut album, Malibu. Earlier this year, he shared with Rolling Stone that “… this is the album [he] dreamed of making in high school, when [he] was listening to [Jay-Z]’s The Blueprint, The Game’s The Documentary, and [Kanye West’s] The College Dropout.” Guests include Kadhja Bonet, Norelle, Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre & Cocoa Sarai, Pusha T, Snoop Dogg & The Last Artful Dodgr, J. Cole, Q-Tip, and BJ The Chicago Kid. [Vinyl edition due 2019.]

Michael Bublé – Love CD/LP (WB)

Love is the first studio album in two years from multi-Grammy Award winning artist Michael Bublé and the global superstar’s most romantic record to date. After a two-year break from public life to spend time with his family, the Canadian singer-songwriter returned to the studio with a new perspective on life and a renewed commitment to honoring the music he has always loved. Bublé co-produced the collection and brings new love to several rich classics from the American Songbook. The album opens with the idealistic and dreamy “When I Fall In Love”. It also includes a haunting take on another Rogers & Hart standard, “My Funny Valentine.” Other standouts are an ebullient “When You’re Smiling”, a swinging “Such A Night” as well as Bublé’s hand-picked favorites including “Unforgettable”, “Help Me Make It Through The Night”, and “I Only Have Eyes For You”. [Deluxe CD edition includes two bonus tracks.]

The Good, The Bad & The Queen – Merrie Land CD/LP (Studio 13)

Merrie Land is the second album from The Good, The Bad & The Queen, a band comprising of Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, Tony Allen and Simon Tong. Produced by Tony Visconti and the band, and completed in London and Wales in 2018, during the current ongoing period in which the UK is preparing to leave the European Union, Merrie Land is a questioning good-bye letter, a series of observations and reflections on Britishness in 2018. The album sees the band’s focus move beyond London with a beautiful and hopeful paean to the Britain of today – an inclusive Britain – and the possibilities of the future. In the band’s own words, Merrie Land is a ten-song lament of Anglo-Saxosentialism marking the reluctant end of a relationship, and about picking up the pieces and seeing what can be salvaged. The band set a beautifully muted palette and lustrous finish to bring out a mood that is bruised yet unapologetically defiant and optimistic, and carries the underlying message: we will survive. In times of metaphysical trauma, the people need to forge ahead and wear armor. Here it is, set to the mood music of a nation about to be broken yet undefeated. [A deluxe edition box set featuring colored LP and CD versions of the album, a 56-page A4 hardback book, a hand-printed wood cut, a screen print, postcards, and bonus tracks is available. Limited indie-exclusive green colored vinyl pressing available as well.]

[Read more…] about New Releases for November 16, 2018

December/January Program Titles Released This Week:

All That Remains – Victim Of The New Disease CD (Razor & Tie)

Metalcore vets All That Remains follow-up 2017’s The Madness with Victim Of The New Disease which is ushered in by the pull no punches lead single “F**k Love” and also features a guest appearance by Asking Alexandria singer Danny Worsnop on “Just Tell Me Something”. Integrating excruciating personal experiences, political rants and controversial commentary with music that’s just as confrontational, it’s an unapologetic showcase of honesty and ingenuity which induces gentle head-bobbing one moment and teeth-clenching fist pounding the next. [Vinyl edition due January 11.]

Charles Bradley – Black Velvet CD/LP/LP+12”+MP3 (Daptone/Dunham)

Black Velvet is a celebration of Charles Bradley, lovingly assembled by his friends and family at Dunham/Daptone Records. Though chronologically the material spans Charles’ entire career, this is no anthology, “greatest hits” or other shallow rehashing of the songs that already made him famous. Rather, this album is a profound exploration through the less-traveled corners of the soulful universe that Charles and his longtime producer, co-writer and friend Thomas “TNT” Brenneck created in the studio together over their decade-long partnership. It features new songs recorded during the sessions from each of his three albums, heard here for the very first time in all their scorching glory. [As a one-time pressing for the super-fan comes a gorgeous black velvet wrapped box set that includes the following: 180gm vinyl version of the standard LP, a bonus 12” 45rpm EP with stripped-down mixes of four Bradley classics, an exclusive slip-mat, two printed heavy-duty inner sleeves sporting a surreal painting of Charles and the interview in which he explains the origin of the painting, a 12” x 12” photo-book with extensive liner notes from TNT, an exact replica of Charles’ original “Black Velvit” business card, and a seeded download card (once you’ve retrieved your download, you can plant the card and wildflowers will grow in memory of Charles).]

Sarah Brightman – Hymn CD (Decca Gold/Verve)

Sarah Brightman returns with an inspirational collection of orchestrated, choir-based songs. For Brightman, every project comes from an emotional place, and Hymn is no exception. The album encompasses songs by such modern composers as Eric Whitacre (Fly To Paradise), Japanese superstar musician and songwriter Yoshiki (Miracle), and German DJ Paul Kalkbrenner (Sky And Sand). Hymn’s mystical, uplifting tone is set with its title track, a song by British prog-rock band Barclay James Harvest. From there the album becomes excitingly eclectic, encompassing many styles. “Sogni”, described as a mash-up of two arias from two different operas by French composer Georges Bizet, is flawlessly sung by Brightman and French tenor Vincent Niclo. Also included are “Canto Per Noi”, written by famed Italian composer Ennio Morricone and Romano Musumarra, and “Follow Me”, the love theme from the 1962 film Mutiny On The Bounty. Finally, the album closes with a new rendition of Brightman’s signature smash duet with Andrea Bocelli, “Time To Say Goodbye”, in a new solo rendition with lyrics Sarah wrote herself, and sung in English for the first time.

[Read more…] about New Releases for November 9, 2018

November Program Titles Released This Week:

Rodney Crowell – Christmas Everywhere CD/LP (New West)

“A few years back, it became evident to my family, and indeed myself, that I’d gone sour on all things related to Christmas. Sometime around Christmas 2016 I came home to find my granddaughters, sitting side by side and playing on our old upright piano a melody that to my ear sounded like something from the early nineteenth century. I asked them what song they were playing and in unison they replied, ‘something we just made up.’ I hit record on my iPhone and asked them to play it again. Using their melody almost entirely, I spent a couple of months composing the words to ‘Come Christmas’. I was finally ready to record an album of original Christmas songs. With Dan Knobler producing and some very gifted musicians and vocalists lending their talents, the making of the album Christmas Everywhere ranks as some of the most enjoyable recording sessions I’ve ever experienced.” – Rodney Crowell

Dead Can Dance – Dionysus CD/2xLP+CD (PIAS America)

Dead Can Dance’s new album took shape as Brendan Perry became fascinated by long established spring and harvest festivals that had their origins in Dionysian religious practices throughout Europe. Dionysus brings to the fore the rites and rituals that today continue to be informed by the Greek god. The album’s seven movements, in the form of an oratorio, represent different facets of the Dionysus myth and his cult. As with the rest of the Dead Can Dance catalog, rhythms inspired by world traditions play a key role, with tracks seeming less like songs and more like fragments of a cohesive whole. Perry blends all of the album’s elements together using field recordings and chanting, including a goatherd in Switzerland, beehives from New Zealand, and bird calls from Mexico and Brazil. Perry uses this not only to invoke the album’s atmosphere and symbolic references but also to demonstrate how music can be found everywhere. [Indie-exclusive deluxe edition features heavyweight colored vinyl, CD and a 16-page 12″ x 12″ hardback picture book with padded cover.]

Marianne Faithfull – Negative Capability CD/LP+CD (BMG)

Negative Capability (a title borrowed from Romantic poet John Keats) is Marianne Faithfull’s 21^st album of her 54-year recording career. Facing down arthritis and bolstered by collaborators including Warren Ellis, Nick Cave, Rob Ellis, Ed Harcourt and Mark Lanegan, Negative Capability is charged with brutal honesty and autobiographical reflection as she addresses losing old friends, the loneliness of living in her adopted city of Paris and still hoping love can come around. It includes the single “The Gypsy Faerie Queen” co-written with Nick Cave and covers of contemporaries The Rolling Stones (“As Tears Go By”) and Bob Dylan (“It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”). [Deluxe vinyl + CD edition includes bonus tracks.]

JD McPherson – Socks CD/LP (New West)

Featuring eleven original tracks written by JD McPherson and his friends, Socks is a collection of holiday songs sure to become standards while you are decking the halls or decorating the tree. Come get warm by the fire with songs such as, “All The Gifts I Need” and “Every Single Christmas”, or burn the cookies to the title cut and “Ugly Christmas Sweater”. There is something for everyone on this record to enjoy whether you are in the Christmas spirit or if you just wanna say, “Bah Humbug.”

[Read more…] about New Releases for November 2, 2018