Rocking out to Delaware’s George Thorogood
With most shows on hold due to the pandemic, here’s a look at seven of the best albums being released Dec. 11.
Welcome to Seven in Seven, where each Thursday in this space we would typically take a look at concerts coming to the region over the next week. With most shows on hold due to the pandemic, here’s a look at seven of the best albums being released Dec. 11:
1George Thorogood and The Destroyers — “Live in Boston 1982”
George Thorogood and The Destroyers were hometown heroes when they played to a packed audience at Boston’s Bradford Ballroom on Nov. 23, 1982. Hailing from Wilmington, Del., the singer and guitarist — along with his band — had settled in Beantown in the late ’70s, where they became mainstays on the scene, releasing their 1977 self-titled debut and 1978 follow-up, “Move It on Over,” with the then-locally based Rounder Records. By the fall of 1982, the blues rockers were fastrising stars on a national level. Full of energy, power and focus on that cold November night, they played a blistering set that included original material, blues classics, early rock ’n’ roll and R&B covers and a few country tunes The Destroyers had already made their own, such as Hank Williams’ “Move It on Over.”
2The Kills — “Little Bastards”
Indie rock duo The Kills have compiled an extraordinary career spanning B-sides and rarities with “Little Bastards,” featuring songs that date back to the band’s
first 7-inch singles in 2002 through 2009. The material has been newly remastered for release, and is often raw, intimate and zero-budget spontaneous. The LP’s title is a wry comment on the recordings’ neglectful fate, in many cases birthed on the fly to fill bonus-track space on CD singles. They songs effectively vanished together with the release format that necessitated their creation. Also, “Little Bastard” was the affectionate nickname that the pair gave to the drum machine which enabled their initial existence as a band of only two members for the first half of their career.
3Des Rocs — “This is Our Life”
New York City-based Des Rocs has quite the sound and background; he’s a fourth-generation pizza maker who holds a law degree but currently is making incredible, deep-reaching music with eclectic influences
ranging from Elvis and Roy Orbison to Brittany Howard, Nine Inch Nails and My Chemical Romance. “This Is Our Life” is early rock ’n’ roll redone with a 2020 sheen and meets his mission of bringing that kind of music back to the people … with a bit of a dark edge. You see, Des Rocs has a makeshift studio next to Brooklyn’s Greenwood Cemetery, where he walks to come up with new ideas. It makes the new EP scary good.
4Silent Skies — “Satellites”
The music of Silent Skies, the collaborative project of Tom S. Englund, vocalist of Swedish progressive group Evergrey, and virtuoso classical pianist Vikram Shankar, feels at once lushly cinematic, warmly intimate, darkly melancholic and incandescently beautiful. It’s making is a story of a deep musical kinship between two seemingly divergent talents. Despite being based principally on just piano and voice, there’s a sense of grandiosity to the compositions, yet they also feel intensely personal and intimate, never more evident than on their cover of cover of Eurythmics’ 1983 hit “Here Comes the Rain Again.”
5Pop- O-Pies — “Get Outta My Way”
Pop-O-Pies started out in 1981 as San Franciscobased rock band founded by Joe Pop-O-Pie. The “White” EP, their first vinyl effort, was released in 1982 on 415/Columbia and was never re-released on CD
— until now. What the PopO-Pies turned into was not so much a band with steady members, but an ensemble composed of Joe and a rotating tribe of very talented musicians. “Get Outta My Way” contains the original six-song EP, including the college radio hit “The Catholics Are Attacking,” plus seven bonus tracks featuring future members of Mr. Bungle and Faith No More and Ozzy Osbourne’s band.
6Alia Lene — “Christmas Miracle”
The soulful voice and sharp production of Alia Lene’s music truly makes her stand out from the pack. The creations are all her own, too; she’s a multi-instrumentalist as well as a producer and engineer. That all stems from a childhood where she was raised a preacher’s kid in a small Baptist church, joining the church band and, due the small size of the congregation, she and her family doubled as the church band and choir and found themselves also tackling the task of audio engineer. That early education served as the foundation for Lene to learn to produce, mix and create the beats for her own music in addition to learning piano, guitar, bass and cello. Her “Christmas Miracle” EP sees a modern take on holiday classics like “Santa Baby” and “Drummer Boy,” full of beats and seasonal joy.
7Guided by Voices — “Styles We Paid For”
Despite the global pandemic, Guided by Voices has remained as prolific as ever, finding ways to create no matter the distance. “Styles We Paid For” was recorded by the members of the legendary indie rock band in five different states. The record is their third of 2020 — you read that right — proving the tremendous pace and stamina of GBV has no signs of slowing down.