Rarebird's Rock and Roll Nest

The 62nd set of exclusive vinyl items offered to members of Third Man Records’ Vault service was mailed out to the members in December of 2024. For those who are unaware, Third Man Records is the label owned by Jack White, who was the leader of the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, and the Dead Weather, and is now a solo artist. The Vault service promises to deliver exclusive vinyl-only records (usually one full-length album and one 7” single) to its members every three months. The 62nd Vault package featured a new vinyl edition of Raw Power , the raw and powerful 1973 pre-punk record by Iggy (Pop) and the Stooges. This edition utilized the 1973 David Bowie mixes of the album's eight tracks, as opposed to the 1997 mixes by Iggy Pop. But instead of being pressed on an LP, the eight tracks were pressed on four 7-inch colored-vinyl singles, packaged in a splendid silver-foil slipcase. The package also contained two additional 7-inch discs containing five outtakes from the Raw Power s...

In 1977, the jazz-rock collective known as Blood, Sweat and Tears released an album titled Brand New Day , which was their only release on the soon-to-be-defunct ABC Records. At this point in time, the band's nine-member lineup did not include one single member of the original Al Kooper-led octet which recorded the band's 1968 debut album Child Is Father to the Man . However, original percussionist Bobby Colomby is credited with playing on Brand New Day , and Colomby co-produced the album with Roy Halee. (The two men were also co-producers of the 1971 album BS&T; 4 ). But this album did feature David Clayton-Thomas, the robust lead vocalist who sang on the band's second-through-fourth albums, and who helped to propel Blood, Sweat and Tears to chart-topping and Grammy-winning success from 1969 until 1971. Clayton-Thomas was given star billing on the front cover of Brand New Day . He had left the band in early 1972, and the band's popularity quickly faded during his a...

2024 was the fourth year in a row in which Pink Floyd temporarily released numerous 50-year-old concert recordings on streaming services, for the purpose of extending their copyright ownership of the material. The previous two times, the concerts were only available on the streaming services for a matter of weeks. This time, they were apparently gone in a matter of days! In most cases, these recordings were sourced from fan-made bootlegs, and have varying sound quality, some of them very poor. These stealth-released live recordings were really not meant to actually be heard by the fans, and in this latest case, the fans missed the streams if they sneezed, let alone snoozed. I myself was not aware of this latest Floyd "copyright dump" until the recordings had already come and gone from the streaming services. According to information I was able to glean from the web, these recordings appeared on streaming services on or around December 6th, and disappeared around December 13...

For Record Store Day Black Friday in 2024, Jorma Kaukonen released a limited edition album titled Reno Road , issued in both CD and vinyl double-LP formats. The album contains previously unreleased blues recordings made in 1960 by the future guitarist of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. The double-LP was pressed in translucent gold vinyl, and limited to 2,000 copies. The CD, limited to 500 copies, was designed to resemble a gold vinyl record. The album's acoustic blues tracks were recorded in the summer of 1960, when Kaukonen was a 19-year-old student at Antioch College, and had been recently taught to play fingerstyle blues guitar by Ian Buchanan. These recordings were made in the home of his friend Jack Casady on Reno Road in Chevy Chase, MD. Casady, as you probably know, has been Kaukonen's lifelong musical collaborator, in the Airplane, Tuna, and elsewhere. Casady recorded these homemade tracks on his Wollensak tape recorder. 60-odd years later, Casady rediscovered these ...

The 61st set of exclusive vinyl items offered to members of Third Man Records’ Vault service was mailed out to the members in the fall of 2024. For those who are unaware, Third Man Records is the label owned by Jack White, who was the leader of the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, and the Dead Weather, and is now a solo artist. The Vault service promises to deliver exclusive vinyl-only records (usually one full-length album and one 7” single) to its members every three months. The 61st Vault package featured a 3-LP live album by Bob Dylan and The Band, recorded in 1974 during the same tour utilized for the 1974 double-album Before The Flood . The package's 7-inch single contains two additional live tracks from that tour. The 3 LP's and the single were all pressed in green vinyl. The 3-LP set was packaged in a gatefold cover. The set also contains a 15-page booklet with photos from the tour, and new liner notes by Elizabeth Nelson. Dylan's 1974 tour reunited him with The ...

For Record Store Day Black Friday 2024, Pearl Jam are issuing a limited edition 12-inch single apparently titled RSD Song of the Year . The 45 rpm, black-vinyl disc will be limited to 4,000 copies. So, what is the Record Store Day Song of the Year? Officially, it is a live version of Pearl Jam's "Waiting For Stevie", the fourth single from Dark Matter , the 2024 album which displays admirable vitality from the long-running Seattle grunge band. Why this song? Record Store Day co-founder Michael Kurtz explains it this way: "The sentiment behind the music and the fact that it’s just an overall amazing rock track that transcends when performed live makes 'Waiting for Stevie' an easy pick for RSD Song of the Year". And what is that sentiment behind the song? Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder says: "It’s a song about being affected by music. And music changing your life, and maybe leading you to your tribe." Got it...I think. In any case, ...

Libby Titus (born Elizabeth Jurist on July 6, 1947) died earlier this month at the age of 77. Titus was a singer-songwriter who largely stayed out of the spotlight, and was best known for her personal and musical associations. She married Donald Fagen of Steely Dan in 1993, and the couple remained together until Libby's passing. In 1970, she dated Levon Helm of The Band, with whom she had a daughter. (Their daughter Amy Helm is now a recording artist as well). Titus collaborated with numerous musicians over the years, including Burt Bacharach in the late '70's. She was the subject of her friend Carly Simon's 1976 song "Libby". Titus recorded only two albums of her own, both of them self-titled. The second of those, Libby Titus from 1977 (Columbia PC 34152), is currently available. That album is a charming, tastefully arranged lounge-pop offering, which found Titus sharing songwriting credit with Carly Simon, Al Kooper, and Eric Kaz. The Titus/Kaz compositio...