Each week Release Day Picks profiles new LPs and EPs Team JamBase will be checking out on release day Friday. This week we highlight new albums by Trey Anastasio, Elvis Costello & The Imposters, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and The Flaming Lips. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.
Trey Anastasio – The Beacon Jams
Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio compiled The Beacon Jams, made up of 18 songs recorded during the virtual residency held at The Beacon Theatre in New York City over eight consecutive Fridays between October 9, 2020 and November 27, 2020. The Beacon Jams saw Anastasio performing at an empty Beacon Theatre during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The concerts saw the guitarist performing solo and with a variety of collaborators while pulling from his solo songbook as well as the Phish catalog to craft setlists, often reworking the material to create fresh arrangements. Those who performed with the guitarist included The Rescue Squad string quartet, members of the Trey Anastasio Band, Phish drummer Jon Fishman and keyboardist Jeff Tanski as well as Celisse and Jo Lampert. Founding TAB bassist Tony Markellis took part in the run, marking his final performances with Trey before his death the following April. Anastasio co-produced the compilation with longtime collaborator Vance Powell, who handled mixing duties. Proceeds from the album will go towards the Divided Sky Foundation to help Anastasio fund a residential recovery program/facility in Ludlow, Vermont. Over $1.2 million in fan donations was raised for the cause during the residency.
“I absolutely loved The Beacon Jams,” Anastasio stated. “We would end on Friday night, the stream would click off, and I’d go home and start planning the next one. With each passing week, we all got more comfortable. Everyone was making discoveries. What made it feel successful to me was that we weren’t trying to recreate a live concert. What I was hoping was that it would be a fresh form of entertainment – turning lemons into lemonade. I feel like that turned out to be the case.”
Elvis Costello & The Imposters – The Boy Named If (Alive At Memphis Magnetic)
Elvis Costello today released The Boy Named If (Alive At Memphis Magnetic), a live-in-the-studio companion to January’s Grammy-nominated The Boy Named If album. The acclaimed singer-songwriter is backed on the set by The Imposters. The Imposters feature keyboardist Steve Nieve, drummer Pete Thomas and bassist Davey Faragher with touring guitarist Charlie Sexton. The set out now via EMI/Capitol Records was recorded in October 2021 and May 2022 during tour rehearsals at Memphis Magnetic Recording. Costello and his mates took on a series of The Boy Named If cuts along with songs by The Rolling Stones, Nick Lowe, The Byrds and Paul McCartney as well as a fresh remix by the Japanese duo, chelmico — the lone track not recorded in Memphis — and a new take on Elvis classic “Every Day I Write The Book.”
Costello shared the following about his time with the band at Memphis Magnetic Studio in October 2021:
“When The Imposters and I entered Memphis Magnetic studio in October 2021 it was the first time we’d been face-to-face or side-by-side while playing the songs from The Boy Named If.
“That album had been recorded over ‘electrical wire’ in late 2020 from our respective lairs and cupboards under the stairs but now we were in Memphis on pretext of rehearsing for our first full tour ever since the world ended in March 2020. Now we were three days from opening on the Soundstage at Graceland but what better way to prepare than playing some of your favorite songs while negotiating with the trickier angles in our new tunes.”
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers – Live At The Fillmore (1997)
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ first live album in 13 years, Live At The Fillmore (1997), was released today through Warner Records. The album was recorded during the final six performances of the group’s landmark 20-show residency at The Fillmore in San Francisco in January and February 1997. Heartbreakers lead guitarist Mike Campbell shared his thoughts on the run:
“Playing the Fillmore in 1997 for a month was one of my favorite experiences as a musician in my whole life. The band was on fire and we changed the set list every night. The room and the crowd was spiritual… AND… we got to play with some amazing guests. I will always remember those nights with joy and inspiration.”
Some of those guests included The Byrds guitarist and frontman Roger McGuinn and blues legend John Lee Hooker. Along with the special guests, Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers nodded to their influences with covers including Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” J.J. Cale’s “Crazy Mama” and The Rolling Stones’ “Time is On My Side,” alongside others by The Kinks, The Everly Brothers, Bill Withers, The Byrds, Chuck Berry and Booker T. & the M.G.’s. The band also delivered classics from their own catalog including “American Girl,” “Runnin’ Down A Dream,” “I Won’t Back Down” and extended jams on “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” and “It’s Good To Be King.” Additionally, the compilation contains humorous stage banter, highlighting the connections forged between the band and audience over the course of the run. Campbell and longtime Petty collaborator Ryan Ulyate co-produced Live At The Fillmore (1997). Executive producers include Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench as well as members of Tom Petty’s family, Adria Petty, Annakim Petty and Dana Petty.
The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots: 20th Anniversary Edition
The Flaming Lips’ breakout album, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, received a 20th-anniversary expanded reissue today. Originally released in 2002, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots contains one of the band’s most well-known songs, “Do You Realize??,” and an instrumental version of the popular track is part of the 20th-anniversary edition. The expanded reissue also features dozens of unreleased and rare tracks in the form of B-sides, demos, remixes, radio sessions, live cuts and more. Some of the highlights include “Assassination of the Sun,” “Thank You Jack White (For the Fiber-Optic Jesus You Gave Me)” and a 25-minute demo version “Psychedelic Hypnotist Daydream.” The collection boasts a trove of radio sessions from the era which not only see the band performing Yoshimi songs but also covering Pink Floyd’s “Lucifer Sam” and “Breathe,” Radiohead’s “Knives Out” and Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.” The expansive collection also comes with two contrasting live concerts. One is a banter-heavy 2002 private performance for a small audience of radio contest winners in Boston. The other features the Lips in all their psychedelic spectacle glory at The Forum in London in 2003.
