Music News Update March

Audiogoners an update on some music news below, work is ongoing or indeed about to start :-) on the review side of things hopefully you will all see something worthwhile (or otherwise) by the end of the month.

As an aside I got today the new Fleetwood Mac re-masters and for fans for the later 70’s incarnation of the band I’m glad to say the re-mastering is excellent and at last these discs (Fleetwood Mac, Rumours and Tusk) sound great on CD.
I haven’t listened to the bonus material yet but that stretches to 2 full CD’s.

I hope some of you find something newsworthy for your future purchases below.

More later.

GENERAL AND RELEASE NEWS:

WILCO: Have recently finished mixing their new album at Abbey Road it's called A Ghost Is Born, release date is June 8th.

U2: News is breaking that work on their new album is going slower than expected; the release date has been put back to the winter.

NICK DRAKE: A completely new original Nick Drake song has been found whilst trawling through his home tapes.
Apparently the last song he ever committed to tape, Toe The Line is scheduled to be the closing track on a compilation called I Was Made To Love Magic.
This release will feature alternative versions of 13 Drake originals.
Release date is not official yet but expected in the summer.
Nick Drake died in 1974 having only released 3 albums and over the years the appreciation of his work has grown and grown.
His song Pink Moon was featured in the States on a Volswagen commercial a few years back.

PINK FLOYD-re-mastered and released with an extra track When The Tigers Broke Free, The Final Cut is out this Monday, 22th March.
There is a 16 page booklet with the CD.
Also DSOTM has been released in Japan on DualDisc CD/DVD-V hybrid.

THE WHO-two totally new Who tracks Real Good Looking Boy and Old Red Wine will be released on a new compilation Then And Now, released in the States March 30th.
A totally new Who album is rumoured for Jan.2005.

TODD RUNDGREN-April 5th sees the release of a new album of totally new material entitled Liars.

THE DIVINE COMEDY –Neil Hannon’s band have a new record out on 29th March called Absent Friends.

JJ.CALE-After 8 years Mr Cale finally releases a new record called To Tulsa And Back
apparently it features slow Blues and country-soul ballads.
Release is due in May.

PATTI SMITH-11 new original Smith songs are the substance of Trampin’ her new album due out April 26th.
Lenny Kaye features on guitar.

JERRY GARCIA-Rhino/Warners release a 6 CD box set in May.
The set features the Grateful Dead front man’s five solo albums and almost 4 hours of unreleased material which spills over to a bonus disc.
All the material is re-mastered and a 100 page booklet will feature with new essays by Robert Hunter.

CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN-Cooking Vinyl re-releases 4 albums on March 29th.
Telephone Free Landslide Victory, II/III, Camper Van Beethoven and Camper Vantiques all have bonus unreleased tracks.

KRAFTWERK-Have 4 CD’s reissued by Virgin/Astralwerks in the U.S on 4th April-Autobahn, The Man Machine, Trans Europe Express and Radioactivity.

ERIC CLAPTON-Has his new album a tribute to Blues legend Robert Johnson called Me And Mr Johnson out on Monday it features 14 songs by Robert Johnson.

TOOTS AND THE MAYTALS-Their new record is due on April 6th and features an all star cast ,usually a bad sign :-)of Eric Clapton, Bonnie Riatt, Jeff Beck ,Ben Harper and Keith Richards.

BLACK SABBATH-Rhino/Warners release an 8 CD box set called Black Box on 29th April.

RICHARD AND LINDA THOMPSON-Universal reissue re-mastered versions of 3 of their albums Hokey Pokey, Pour Down Like Silver and a personal favourite I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight.
All albums feature believe it or not bonus tracks all of which appear to be live recordings.