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 Neil Young, Jeff Tweedy, Kitchen Dwellers and Phish. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.
Neil Young – Songs For Judy
The Scoop: The 23-tracks that make up Neil Young’s new live album Songs For Judy were recorded in November 1976, while Young performed solo sets at Crazy Horse shows. Let’s let Neil detail the release in his own words:
Joel Bernstein “boy photographer” music lover, collector and archivist, and Cameron Crowe, writer and music lover were responsible for the record album Songs For Judy. JB was on my solo tour in 1976, tuning my acoustic guitars. He also was recording cassettes of the shows from our P.A. board mixes. Basically, what the people heard. Joel and Cameron chose these songs and did a great job. The album is quite unique and I think the period was very well captured in the sound and performances. It was a moment in time, and it’s easy to tell why it’s called Songs For Judy.
The archival release serves as the debut on Young’s Reprise Records imprint Shakey Pictures Records.
Jeff Tweedy – WARM
The Scoop: WARM is the second solo album to be released by Jeff Tweedy. Unlike last year’s Together At Last which was a collection of mostly Wilco songs, the new record features 11 newly-written tunes. The album coincides with the recent release of Tweedy’s autobiographical book, Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir Of Recording And Discording With Wilco, Etc.. Recorded at Wilco’s Chicago studio The Loft, Tweedy enlisted help from his son, Spencer Tweedy, as well as his band mate Glenn Kotche and producer/engineer Tom Schick
Kitchen Dwellers – Reheated, Vol. 1
The Scoop: Reheated, Vol. 1. is the inaugural release in a series of all-covers EPs by the Kitchen Dwellers. For the first installment the Bozeman, Montana-based band dug into The Band’s catalog for a four-song collection that features takes on “Get Up Jake,” “Don’t Do It,” “Rockin’ Chair” and “Chest Fever.” “The Band’s storytelling, musicianship, and vocal abilities are what makes them such an influential group to this day,” shared the band’s guitarist Max Davies. “Those are all things that resonate with us and it was a blast to step inside their shoes and learn a thing or two.”
Phish – The Baker’s Dozen: Live At Madison Square Garden
The Scoop: Jam titans Phish played a historic 13-show Baker’s Dozen residency at Madison Square Garden in New York City between July 21 – August 6, 2017. The quartet wound up performing 237 songs without any repeats over the course of the residency. The Baker’s Dozen: Live At Madison Square Garden contains music from the run in three different formats: a massive box set that includes every note played and a 3-CD and 6-LP set featuring 13 tracks hand-picked by the band. Phish tapped famed engineer Elliot Scheiner to remix each show for the new releases, which are out today on the group’s JEMP Records imprint.
Compiled by Jeffrey Greenblatt, Andy Kahn and Scott Bernstein.
