Rarebird's Rock and Roll Nest

For Record Store Day 2026, the U.K.-based Demon label issued a T. Rex record titled Songs From "Marc" , containing ten tracks recorded by the Marc Bolan-led band for Bolan's 1977 TV series Marc . The LP was limited to 2,500 copies, and was pressed in orange vinyl. Marc aired on British television for six weeks in the late summer of 1977, exactly around the time of Bolan's untimely death in a car crash on September 16th of that year. The show promised an intriguing new phase in the career of the then-faded glam-rock star. He served as the show's host, and lip-synced songs recorded and mimed by the final T. Rex lineup. The show spotlighted other U.K. musical acts from the time, and also showed sequences of a dance troupe called Heart Throb moving to the sounds of recorded songs. For fans of Bolan, the low-budget show is fun to watch, but is also saddening, because it shows the not-quite-30-year-old singer and guitarist during his final days, when he was clearly w...

For Record Store Day 2026, Robert Plant's current band Saving Grace issued a limited edition vinyl EP containing four new studio tracks. The 12-inch, 45 rpm EP, titled All That Glitters... , was limited to 3,500 copies. Saving Grace was also the name of Plant's most recent album from 2025, recorded with the titular U.K.-based band, featuring co-vocalist and accordionist Suzi Dian. The sound of Saving Grace is mainly acoustic, and is inspired by folk, blues, Gospel, and Americana styles. Their mostly gentle sound is far more reminiscent of Plant's work with Alison Krauss than of his work with Led Zeppelin, but it has a more Celtic ambience, and an occasional touch of psychedelia. The 77-year-old Plant is no longer the heavy metal screamer that he once was. His vocals on Saving Grace are understated and controlled, and Dian's vocal accompaniment provides a "sweeter" counterpoint. The songs on the album are covers drawn from various genres, usually rendered w...

This past April 11th, the Rolling Stones released a limited edition, white-labeled 12-inch vinyl single titled "Rough and Twisted", under the pseudonym The Cockroaches. This one-sided single was limited to 1,000 numbered copies worldwide. As of four days later, the song has still not been released to streaming services, and the single is being sold for big bucks on eBay and Discogs. Why the fake name? The Cockroaches was a name that the superstar rock band sometimes used in the 1970's, when they wanted to secretly perform a gig in a low-profile venue away from the spotlight. The distribution of this single was done in a similarly secretive way. Signs began to appear around London, advertising a mysterious band called the Cockroaches, with a QR code that connected visitors to their official website . This website featured a graphic of the disc's plain white cover, and when a "flip" link was clicked, it listed GPS coordinates referring to locations of stores...

Cats were a rock band based in Philadelphia, who were active from 1976 until 1981, and released one self-titled new wave-era album in 1980. The band Cats had no connection to the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical; the very first stage performance of Webber's Cats took place one year after the Cats album was released. One of Cats' songs, "(He's Got) The Rest Of His Life", sounds lyrically similar to Billy Joel's hit "You May Be Right", which was released the same year. However, that Cats song had appeared the previous year on a 1979 various artists compilation which showcased Philadelphia musicians, so it predated the release of Joel's song. Also, since this band bore some musical similarity to Queen, you might suspect them of lifting the title of their album's opening track "On The Prowl" from Queen's "Man On The Prowl", but -- guess what? Cats predated that Queen song by four years. Considering the band's 1976 ori...

For Record Store Day 2026, Rhino Records is issuing a live album from the Cars, titled Heartbeat City Live . The album contains 17 songs performed by the new wave quintet on September 11, 1984 at The Summit in Houston, Texas. The 2-LP set will be limited to 3,500 copies. This concert was part of the tour to support the band's multi-platinum 1984 album Heartbeat City . The show was recorded for broadcast by the Westwood One radio network. The Record Store Day website previously stated (but no longer states) that the concert was "previously unreleased on any audio format - physical or digital". I'm glad that text was removed, because it is not quite accurate. All 17 of the tracks were included on the recent Deluxe Edition of Heartbeat City , issued in 2025 in both physical and digital formats. 13 of the songs were issued on a home video release of the concert in 1985 -- which, I realize, is considered a video format as opposed to an audio format. That videocassette w...

For Record Store Day 2026, Stewart Copeland's 1985 solo album titled The Rhythmatist is being reissued by Demon Records, in a limited vinyl edition which will be pressed in blue translucent vinyl, and limited to 1,200 copies. This edition has new cover art, and each copy will come with an exclusive art print signed by Copeland. The album will be also be reissued on CD on May 29th, with seven bonus tracks consisting of alternate versions of the album's singles "Koteja (Oh Bolilla)" and "Gong Rock". The first post-Police album by that band's former drummer, The Rhythmatist was the soundtrack album to Copeland's 1985 film of the same name, which was released on home video (A&M Video VC 61008). Directed and produced by Jean-Pierre Dutilleux, that amusing 57-minute curio showed Copeland undertaking a series of National Geographic -like adventures in East and West Africa, with the stated intention of studying the influence of African rhythms on mu...

A new edition of Queen's 1974 sophomore album Queen II is expected before the end of 2026. While speaking about the reissue on his Planet Rock Christmas radio special in the U.K. on December 22nd, Queen guitarist Brian May played a previously unreleased outtake from the album, titled "Not For Sale (Polar Bear)", which will be one of the bonus tracks on the new edition of Queen II . Here is the snippet of the program during which May played the song: The song is a sensitive ballad about a Christmas decoration in a store window, written by May in 1969. May commented that the song was originally recorded by his pre-Queen band called Smile, and that the Smile version has been heard on bootlegs. However, the Smile version of the song was actually issued in Japan and the Netherlands on legitimate, if not exactly band-approved, releases. First of all, who were Smile? Smile were a British progressive rock trio formed by college students Brian May and singer/bassist Tim ...

You may have heard about the upcoming Beach Boys box set titled We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years , set to be released on February 13th. Among many other tracks recorded between 1974 and 1977, the 3-CD set will include the entire 1977 album Beach Boys Love You , which is generally considered a Brian Wilson solo album with some participation from the other Beach Boys. And included among the box set's bonus material is most of the unreleased 1977-recorded album Adult/Child , which was the intended follow-up to Beach Boys Love You , and was also mainly a Brian Wilson solo project with some help from other Beach Boys. That album was shelved in favor of the weaker 1978 M.I.U. album, which was a discouraging work by middle-aged "boys" who were seemingly pretending it was 1963. Some Beach Boys fans describe Adult/Child as "another lost masterpiece", in allusion to the legendary unfinished Smile album which was expected to be revealed to the world a decade...

Bob Weir, the guitarist and vocalist who co-founded the Grateful Dead in 1965, has died at age 78. Weir reportedly overcame cancer, but then died from underlying lung issues. Weir had certainly kept himself busy for 60 years, doing plenty of touring from the time he was a teenager until his final years. Even after the demise of the Dead in 1995, Weir had toured and recorded with numerous bands, some of whom featured other former members of the Dead. And when the Grateful Dead went on hiatus during their existence, Weir would then also find time to work with other bands, or record solo albums. Weir's second solo recording, Heaven Help The Fool from 1978, is currently unavailable. Heaven Help The Fool was produced by Keith Olsen, who had recently worked with the Dead on their 1977 Terrapin Station album. Six of the eight songs on Heaven Help The Fool were co-written by Weir and sometime Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow. Weir was supported by such musicians as Waddy Wachtel, To...

For Record Store Day Black Friday 2025, the dBpm music label -- founded by the band Wilco in 2011 -- issued an LP titled dBpm 15 , to mark the 15th year of the label's operation. The LP was limited to 3,400 copies, and was pressed in red vinyl. The LP contained 12 tracks, mostly rarities from the label's history, some of them previously unreleased. Seven of the tracks were recorded by Wilco, while four were Jeff Tweedy solo recordings. Also, it included a track which Tweedy recorded with the late Daniel Johnston. This compilation is not likely to make a household name of the dBpm label, but it certainly does Wilco proud. Their seven tracks are good ones, including a newfangled Neil Young-like ballad recorded in 2010 ("Art of Almost"), a dreamy retro-'60's folk-rocker ("Tell Your Friends"), a gentle country-rock Beatles cover ("Don't Let Me Down"), a quirky Sleater-Kinney cover ("Modern Girl"), and a live alt-country track re...

Donna Jean Godchaux, who was best known for singing with the Grateful Dead from 1972 until 1979, recently passed away at age 78 after battling cancer. Donna joined the Grateful Dead as a backup singer shortly after her late husband Keith Godchaux became the band's keyboardist in 1971. Keith's keyboard playing shifted the Dead in a different musical direction than before, as his influences were based on jazz and classical styles, in contrast to his predecessor Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, whose style was more blues-based. Donna certainly added something different to the Dead as well, having been their only official female member ever. Donna had previously worked as a studio session vocalist, notably having sung on Elvis' "Suspicious Minds" and Percy Sledge's "When A Man Loves A Woman". Despite her impressive credentials, Donna was not a great fit for the Grateful Dead, especially during their live shows, where her vocal pitch (and occasional waili...

While promoting her new studio album Here For It All , pop legend Mariah Carey has been answering questions about a "secret grunge album" that she recorded way back in 1995, under the pseudonym Chick. This is not the first time Carey has mentioned this long-lost recording, but she largely avoided talking about it publicly for 25 years after the fact. In her 2020 memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey , the singer finally began to share details about the alternative rock recording. More recently, Carey spoke with fellow r&b artist SZA on the debut episode of Apple Music's Flowers , during which SZA played snippets of two songs from the unreleased album and begged Carey to release it, saying, "We need it!". On The Tonight Show , Carey told Jimmy Fallon that she has "always regretted not putting it out", and Fallon played a snippet of the song "Prom Queen". Questlove went as far as to call it Carey's best record! Carey has teased a possibl...

An expanded edition of the Smashing Pumpkins album Machina / The Machines of God from the year 2000 is being sold exclusively through Billy Corgan's Madame ZuZu's website , in a limited-edition pressing of 3,500 units. The shipping date was set for today, September 5, 2025. As of this writing, the set is not yet available digitally, or in any other format through any other distributors. Subtitled as the Aranea Alba Edition , the 8-LP box set contains a staggering 80 tracks, 48 of them making up the full Machina album in the form which Corgan had originally envisioned, along with 32 bonus tracks. Where did all of those tracks come from? The original Machina CD issued in 2000 consisted of just 15 tracks. Corgan's original plan was to release Machina as a 2-CD set, like the earlier Pumpkins classic Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness . But the folks at Virgin Records did not think this idea was feasible, after the band's 1998 album Adore was considered a commerci...

Before Billy Joel was signed to Columbia Records and recorded his well-known 1973 Piano Man album, he issued his debut solo recording titled Cold Spring Harbor on the Family Productions label in late 1971. This album did not sell well, falling just short of making it to the Billboard Top 200 album chart. The album's failure was blamed on the Family label owner Artie Ripp, who produced the album and mixed it at the wrong speed, giving Joel's now-famous voice an unnaturally high-pitched effect. Joel disowned the album, and tried (for a long time unsuccessfully) to get out of his recording contract with Ripp. Ten years later, Joel recorded live versions of two of the album's songs for his 1981 live release Songs In The Attic , namely "She's Got A Way" and "Everybody Loves You Now", and the former became a Top 40 hit. The Cold Spring Harbor album was then remixed by Ripp and Larry Elliot, and the remixed version of the album was issued by Columbia in...

Terry Reid passed away earlier this month at the age of 75, after being treated for cancer. Ironically, the late British singer and guitarist was best known for what he did not do: he turned down an invitation by Jimmy Page to be the lead singer for Led Zeppelin -- and, in fact, Reid was the one who recommended Robert Plant for the job. Reid also was invited by Ritchie Blackmore to front Deep Purple in 1969, but also turned that offer down, before Ian Gillan got the job as that band's second -- and most famous -- frontman. Reid began his career as a late-period member of Peter Jay & The Jaywalkers. The Yardbirds were one of several high-profile British bands whom the Jaywalkers toured with. If you listen to the 2-CD U.K. Reid compilation Super Lungs from 2004 (not to be confused with the less satisfying 1-CD U.S. compilation Superlungs from 2005), you will understand why Page wanted Reid to join the New Yardbirds. On those early recordings, Reid's high tenor vocals show...

The recent passing of Mick Ralphs, the founding guitarist of Bad Company and Mott The Hoople, has brought my attention to a 1972 single by a band called Hackensack. This band was from England, not from New Jersey, and their sound was an early form of heavy metal. Their '72 single was "Moving On", the Ralphs composition which would later be recorded by Bad Company as "Movin' On". The lead guitarist for Hackensack was Ray Smith, later known as Ray Major, who would later become a member of a post-Ralphs, post-Ian Hunter lineup of Mott. Hackensack's lead vocalist was Nicky Moore, who would go on to replace Bruce Dickinson in Samson a decade later. Hackensack had toured with Mott The Hoople during that band's 1972 Rock 'n' Roll Circus tour, which is presumably how they came to record "Moving On" before Bad Company was formed. Ralphs had written the song -- about the pressures of touring -- for Mott, and that band did record the song in...

At long last! On September 19, 2025, the Buckingham Nicks album is finally being reissued by Rhino, in CD and digital formats. Also, a limited edition vinyl issue will be sold through the Rhino website, limited to 5,000 copies. In addition, a special vinyl edition , limited to 2,000 copies, will contain two replica 7-inch singles with original mixes of four songs. You may be understandably asking: "What album are you talking about?" Buckingham Nicks was the self-titled 1973 album recorded by the duo of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, a few short years before they attained mega-stardom as members of Fleetwood Mac. In fact, this album is what led to the two performers being asked to join Fleetwood Mac, after Mick Fleetwood heard a recording of the album's closing track "Frozen Love". This album ought to be legendary, right? In a way, it has become that. But, oddly enough, the album has not been commercially available for decades. It was never officially r...

Brian Wilson, the brilliant but troubled co-founder of the Beach Boys, passed away on June 11, 2025, at the age of 82. During the 1960's heyday of the Beach Boys, Brian was the main creative force behind the legendary California rock band, which he co-founded with his brothers Dennis and Carl, his cousin Mike Love, and his high school friend Alan Jardine. The 1966 Beach Boys album Pet Sounds , a baroque pop masterpiece which was masterminded by Brian, is now widely considered to be one of the greatest albums ever recorded. Unfortunately, Brian was also known for his struggles with mental illness and other personal troubles ever since the 1960's. Another legend associated with Brian's name is the unfinished Beach Boys album Smile , which was intended to be the 1967 magnum opus follow-up to Pet Sounds , but was scrapped long before completion. Decades later, Wilson would eventually "finish" Smile as a solo album in 2004. Another unreleased Brian Wilson album whic...