Rarebird's Rock and Roll Nest

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...

Cunningham Bird is a duets album recorded by solo artists Madison Cunningham and Andrew Bird, released digitally in October of 2024, with CD and vinyl formats coming in December. The title not only denotes the collaborating performers, but is also a play on the name Buckingham Nicks, the duo whose self-titled 1973 album is the basis for this new duets album. For those who are unaware -- and I can't blame anyone who is -- Buckingham Nicks was a duo which consisted of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, shortly before both of them joined Fleetwood Mac. The sole Buckingham Nicks album from 1973 is historically significant, because it led to the duo being discovered by Mick Fleetwood, which led to the two of them becoming members of Fleetwood Mac, which led to the creation of Rumours -- one of the best-selling albums of all time. So, you would think the Buckingham Nicks album would be similarly iconic, right? But it's not, because it has not been legitimately commercially ...

You've probably heard the news by now that Linkin Park are releasing a new studio album in November, featuring new singer Emily Armstrong (formerly of Dead Sara, replacing the late Chester Bennington) and new drummer Colin Brittain (replacing Rob Bourdon). The band has already begun touring in support of the album. The album's title is From Zero , and according to the band's official website: "Before Linkin Park, our first band name was Xero. This album title refers to both this humble beginning and the journey we’re currently undertaking." Xero was the early name used by Linkin Park when the band first formed in 1996. The early lineup included original singer Mark Wakefield, along with Linkin Park emcee Mike Shinoda, drummer Rob Bourdon, DJ Joe Hahn, guitarist Brad Delson and bassist Dave "Phoenix" Farrell. This early version of the band recorded a short demo tape which was circulated among friends and relatives. After Bennington joined the band in ...

Who created the folk-rock genre? Most pundits (as well as Google) will credit the Byrds for this achievement, as their 1965 debut album Mr. Tambourine Man effectively bridged the gap between Dylan-esque folk music and British Invasion-style rock music. Another music history question: What was the first country rock album? Most will argue that it was either the Byrds' 1968 album Sweetheart of the Rodeo , or the Flying Burrito Brothers' 1969 debut album The Gilded Palace of Sin , and it's hard to argue against them in either case. However, there is an obscure album from 1963 -- predating the aforementioned albums -- which could be said to mark an earlier beginning for both of those genres. And one of the members of the band who recorded it was a teenage mandolin player named Chris Hillman -- who would later become a founding member of both the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers. Before the Byrds formed in 1964, Hillman had played in a San Diego-based bluegrass band cal...

The 60th set of exclusive vinyl items offered to members of Third Man Records’ Vault service was mailed out to the members in July of 2024. For those who are unaware, Third Man Records is the label owned by Jack White, the leader of the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, and the Dead Weather, and 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 60th Vault package featured a 3-LP set titled Third Man Live , containing live discs from Jack White, Dinosaur Jr., and W.I.T.C.H., recorded at the three different Third Man Records locations in Detroit, Nashville, and London. The 7-inch single offers three live cuts by Mudhoney, recorded at Third Man in Nashville. All of the discs in this set were pressed in beautiful "skycloud" colored vinyl, a blue-and-white marble blend based on the color of the walls in all three Third Man venues. Each of the three LP's ...

Jack White has once again boldly bucked music industry convention. On July 19, 2024, White secretly guerilla-released a new limited-edition, vinyl-only studio solo album through his Third Man Records imprint. The album, simply titled No Name , was distributed only at the Third Man Records stores in Detroit, Nashville, and London as a free item given out with any purchase at the stores. Some copies were randomly sent to Third Man Records Vault members. (I was not one of those members who received it). The number of copies printed and distributed was not disclosed. The album was not initially available from streaming services, but White’s official Reddit page provided a link (now deleted) to a Google Drive featuring various formats of the album for download and distribution. Besides having no name, the album also has no cover art, as it's packaged in a plain white sleeve, with a plain white center label which has "NO NAME" stamped on Side A. It's pressed in natural-colo...

For Record Store Day in 2024, the British alternative band Keane issued a live album titled Live At Paradiso 29.11.04 . Limited to 2,500 vinyl copies, the album documents a concert performed by the band in Amsterdam in late November of 2004, the year in which their debut album Hopes and Fears was released. The double-LP was pressed in one red vinyl disc and one white vinyl disc. During the titular concert at the historic Amsterdam venue, the band performed 11 of the 12 tracks from Hopes and Fears , as well as the non-album B-side "Snowed Under", and two songs ("Nothing In My Way" and "Hamburg Song") which would later be recorded for Keane's 2006 sophomore album Under The Iron Sea . The band did an amazing job of performing the songs live, suggesting that the material had been developed over time. Tom Chaplin's falsetto vocals do not soar quite as high in this live setting as they do on record, but his soft and emotive tenor is still powerful, ...

As someone who remembers the days before the internet was available to the public, I am still often amazed by how much easier it has become to access rare recordings. Once upon a time, if a certain obscure album only had a single pressing of, say, 100 copies, way back in a year like, say, 1971, then there seemed to be little or no possibility of the album ever being obtainable by almost anyone. Before the digital age, physical media was usually the only way to hear such an album -- and what were the odds of getting one's hands on an album as obscure as that? It was highly unlikely that you would find such an album in a record store, and even if you did, why would you have any interest in purchasing a recording that was so unknown? It was equally unlikely that such a record would get played on a radio station, even a hip college station or anything like one, except maybe in the artist's home town. Would homemade cassette tapes have circulated? Probably only within a small commun...

For Record Store Day 2024, an interestingly conceived double-LP is being issued, pairing two related disco albums from 1979. The first of the two vinyl LP's in the set is No. 1 in Heaven by Sparks, which was Ron and Russell Mael's foray into electronic music. The other LP in the set is an album by a mysterious female singer named Noël, written and produced by the Mael brothers, titled Is There More To Life Than Dancing . This 2-LP set will be limited to 1,500 copies. Both albums will reportedly be reissued on CD one month later, on May 17th. If there was any such thing as "alt-disco" or "alternative dance" circa 1979, it was arguably created the previous year by either Blondie or Kraftwerk. But 45 years later, this RSD release makes a case for the duo of Ron and Russell Mael as similar pioneers when it came to bridging the gap between new wave and dance-pop in the late-1970's. First off, the Sparks album No. 1 In Heaven , which is currently availabl...

For Record Store Day 2024, the Culture Factory label is issuing yet another live album by Nico, the late German chanteuse best known for her association with the Velvet Underground. Nico At The Live Inn, Tokyo '86 was recorded at Shibuya Live Inn in Tokyo, Japan on April 11, 1986. This RSD LP is pressed in transparent green vinyl, and is limited to 2,000 copies. The Record Store Day website states that the album "has never been released on vinyl", but that is not exactly true. Although this album has never before been commercially issued in the U.S., it was released on vinyl in the U.K. and Japan in 1987 as Nico In Tokyo , and was issued on CD during the '90's in those same territories under the same title. Also, the album was released on vinyl in Italy for Record Store Day 2017, under the title Live In Tokyo 1986 . The sound quality of the album is usually excellent, and the album itself is quite good as well. Nico, who was born in Germany in 1938 as Christa...

The 59th set of exclusive vinyl items offered to members of Third Man Records’ Vault service was mailed out to the members in March and April of 2024. For those who are unaware, Third Man Records is the label owned by Jack White, who is 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 59th Vault package was titled Elvis Presley at 706 Union Ave: The Sun Singles 1954-55 , and contained five 7-inch vinyl reproductions of Presley's first five singles, which were originally released on Sun Records seventy years earlier. These five discs were pressed in yellow-and-black-marble-colored vinyl, resembling the colors of the Sun Records logo. An additional 7-inch disc contained four more tracks recorded during Elvis' sessions at Sun Records, pressed in a different design of yellow and...

For Record Store Day 2024, Rhino Records is issuing a previously unreleased live album from The Doors, in both CD and LP formats. Live at Konserthuset, Stockholm, September 20, 1968 will be limited to 6,000 vinyl 3-LP sets (pressed in light-blue translucent vinyl), and 8,000 double-CD sets. The album documents two live shows performed on that day at that concert hall in Sweden, recorded for a radio broadcast. The documented concerts were performed during the final date of the band's only European Tour. The recordings have been used for bootlegs many times, but this is the first time the concert is receiving an official release. The sound quality on the unofficial releases was often quite good; if it has been cleaned up further for this official release, then it may end up sounding great. Musically, it sometimes sounds as though the Doors were tailoring their act just a bit to adjust their music for the tastes of European audiences. The earlier show of the day is the one featur...

For Record Store Day Black Friday in 2023, Amoeba Records issued a previously unreleased live album by the late country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons, recorded in Philadelphia in 1973. The double-LP titled The Last Roundup: Live from the Bijou Café in Philadelphia, 3/16/73 was limited to 7,500 vinyl copies. The concert documented on this album took place on March 16, 1973, six months before Parsons died at the age of 26. Gram's singing partner was the then-unknown Emmylou Harris. The Fallen Angels also consisted of Neil Flanz (pedal steel guitar), Kyle Tullis (bass), Jock Bartley (lead guitar), and N.D. Smart II (drums). The double-LP was sourced from the soundboard recording made at the intimate Bijou Café venue in Philly, and the sound quality -- though not 100% squeaky clean -- is closer to that of a commercial release than of an unofficial recording. The set list was drawn from Gram's first solo album GP and from his work with the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Byrds, and ...

For Record Store Day Black Friday in 2023, a live LP by Sparks was issued in a limited edition of 3,500 copies, pressed in clear vinyl. Live At The Record Plant 1974 documents a live-in-the-studio eight-song set from a lineup consisting of most of the personnel from that year's Propaganda album. This live album has frequently appeared as a bootleg in the past. This RSDBF LP marks its first official release, on Sony's Sound City imprint. For those not familiar with Sparks, they are an art-pop duo with a long and complicated 50-plus-year history that isn't over yet. (Their 26th studio album, titled The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte , was released last year). The Mael brothers -- the only two constant members -- were born in Los Angeles, but you wouldn't know it from their seemingly Euro-centric sound. In fact, they never achieved much commercial success in America, but they were all the rage in England in the mid-'70's, when they successfully appealed to that co...

It's that time of year again for Pink Floyd's biggest fans. As they did at the end of 2021 and of 2022, the Floyd have released a large number -- 18, to be exact -- of full-length concert recordings to streaming services. This year's offerings consist of 18 shows recorded in 1973, the year in which their landmark album Dark Side Of The Moon was released. The first of these 18 concerts took place on March 6th of that year, just a few days after the release of the album. The last two of them took place the following November 4th, both performed at London's Rainbow Theatre. Why have they done this? Reportedly, the release of these recordings extends copyright ownership for a longer time, whereas the legal rights to the recordings would expire and fall into public domain if the owners did not make use of them before a certain date. A Sony representative explained it this way to Rolling Stone magazine in 2013: “The copyright law in Europe was recently extended from 50 ...