It’s almost December and that means music industry is about to make one last push with new music before it goes into hiatus during January. The holidays are typically stacked a combination of seasonal, premium releases, and new music, all designed to get listeners to buy up. We’ll skip seasonal and focus on a busy month of premium discs and new music.
Premium Releases
Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney fall into the Premium Releases spectrum, each releasing multi-disc material to their rabid fanbases. Springsteen will release an album version of Springsteen on Broadway. The two-discs set debuts just in time for his Netflix special. It remains amazing to see the total saturation approach for Springsteen fans, who will consume anything by their hero.
Meanwhile, Paul McCartney is releasing the two first Wings albums, Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway. These are of course expanded editions, including a TV movie that has never been shown The Bruce McMouse Show. This oddity will be a must-see. It is apart-animated concert movie that has been hidden for decades, with only a few still shots leaking over the years. The plot apparently involves the band interacting with Bruce McMouse, an animated, pipe-smoking mouse who lived under the stage with his family. Sounds high!
Van Morrison is in the midst of a creative output streak that would give Joyce Carol Oates a run for her money. It continues withThe Prophet Speaks. Morrison’s last album, You’re Driving Me Crazy, was just released in April.
John Mellencamp, recent newlywed to Meg Ryan, will release his 24th studio album, Other People’s Stuff. The album contains – you guessed it – cover songs, many recorded for earlier studio projects and sessions.
Everyone’s favorite Problematic Person, Morrissey, will also release a prestige project, the deluxe edition of Low in High School. This expanded edition of the 2017 album also includes a cover of The Pretenders’ “Back On The Chain Gang,” five live b-sides from the recording session, three unreleased tracks, a limited edition lithographed photograph of Morrissey, and a rare version of a photo booth portrait taken when the legendary frontman was a student.
New Music
For everyone who is sick of Christmas albums and old artists re-releasing old material, the music industry does have some new music coming out in December. Pale Mara have a new self-titled album out in December. The duo craft easy-going pop music that seems tailor-made for 1970’s AM radio. The band’s pop-infused Americana seems inspired in part by The Carpenters, with smooth vocals that recall songstress K.D. Lang. The album is due December 14.
At the other end of the spectrum, British metal band Venom returns for a new studio album, Storm the Gates. The band started in 1979 and is now fractured so there are two bands calling themselves Venom with original members. As for this version of Venom, the record promises more Satan-infused extreme thrash metal. The album arrives December 14.
7 Horse releases its fourth studio album on December 7. The rock and blues duo scored a hit in 2013 with “Meth Lab Zoso Sticker” which was featured in Martin Scorsese’s film The Wolf of Wall Street. For this album, Superfecta, they enlist an outside producer (Dave Way) for the first time. The music, embodied by its first single, “What Is America?” still contains the raucous energy the band is known for but with a poppier edge.
Gucci Mane has been busy lately, dropping three EPs in 2017. However, his 13th album, Evil Genius, is intended to be his magnum opus. The project features plenty of star collaborators, including Quavo, Kevin Gates, Lil Skies, 21 Savage, Kodak Black and Bruno Mars.
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