Amoeba Music

The debut album from Paul McCartney's Wings, Wild Life was originally recorded in a week which gave the songs a famously fresh and raw feel. Now it's joining McCartney's Grammy-winning Archive Collection in remastered glory. This two-disc CD edition features newly remastered audio from Abbey Road Studios, plus unreleased tracks, singles, and b-sides.

Red Rose Speedway, with its classic No. 1 hit “My Love,” makes its entry into Paul McCartney's Archive Collection with a splash: a two-disc CD edition. Features newly remastered audio from Abbey Road Studios, plus unreleased tracks, singles, and b-sides.

LA trio Distant Cousins seem poised on the edge of something big, thanks to the release of their immensely enjoyable Next of Kin. Filled with infectious hooks and floor-stompin’ riffs, the album feels familiar, warm, and alive with excitement. It’s the sound of backroads and big dreams. It’s the sound of sing-a-long-ready choruses, the type of knees up indie-meets-country jamboree that keeps folks who love the Lumineers and Mumford & Sons coming back for more. Basically, it’s the sound of your new favorite band.

Jeff Tweedy gets vulnerable on his first proper solo LP, Warm. The melodies are immediately likable, the tone of the album confiding, open, and direct. Tweedy eschews Wilco’s more rollicking moments for an introspective, familiar tone; the album title is fitting. He approaches epic thematic elements — death, love, pain — with grace and intelligence. It’s a richly moving work of art that’ll give even longtime fans a new light in which to see the indie legend.

Don’t let that title fool you, this is the same ‘ol psychobilly freakout that you know and love. Whole New Life is the Reverend Horton Heat’s 12th studio album, and yet after all these years the good Reverend only knows one speed: frantic. He’s just as dependable as ever, to boot, as here’s 11 more tracks of double bass slappin’, Gretch guitar shreddin’, drenched-in-reverb rockabilly glory.

Dallas Green AKA City and Colour (and formerly of Alexisonfire) went on a stripped-down acoustic tour across Canada in 2017 and this double CD, Guide Me Back Home, is the recorded companion to those intimate shows. The album, which marks the debut of Green's new label Still Records, includes his interactions with the crowd between the emotional folk-rock songs and shows off his songwriting chops. Among the highlights are older numbers like “Comin' Home” and the soulful “If I Should Go Before You.”

Has a band of nerds ever been more successful than Rush? Rock ‘n roll heroes to some, a four letter word to others, Rush remain a remarkably contentious point of discussion for a band that has sold over 40 million albums. As a pillar of Rush’s patented prog rock sound, 1978’s Hemispheres is a key piece of their legacy and has been reissued in a deluxe edition CD (including live cuts from the era) to commemorate the album’s 40th anniversary.

Though the band’s true mainstream breakout would happen a few years later with Permanent Waves (which ingeniously melded new wave to their power-trio’d prog), Rush built up a rabid following in the mid to late ‘70s due to albums such as Hemispheres, despite being largely panned by critics and ignored by radio. By this point the band had perfected their concept-heavy formula: a handful of short, well-crafted rock tunes to complement one big epic to either open or close the record. Just like 2112, arguably the band’s most well-known release, Hemispheres puts the big ‘ol prog epic right in front. However, unlike the aforementioned 2112, there isn’t a moment of filler to be had here. Though it’s all of FOUR songs long, Hemispheres features two classic hard rockers from the band, “Circumstances” and “The Trees,” which might be the most enjoyable Neil Peart preach-along of their entire catalog. There’s also one of Rush’s best instrumentals, the Raymond Scott-quoting “La Villa Strangiato.” And then, of course, is the requisite 18 minute “Cygnus," the centerpiece of the album. Though it may not have quite the catchy peaks of other Rush sagas like “2112” or “Xanadu,” it is undoubtedly their least meandering, most musically taut prog creation up until this point, truly sounding like one complete song rather than a bunch of disparate parts glued together. All of Rush’s calling cards are present in its extended running time: dexterous lead bass, guitar playing that deftly switches from finesse to bombast, stop-on-a-dime tempo changes, and plenty of big ass drum fills.

It’s hard to describe any album with 4 songs that equal nearly 40 minutes as lean or stripped down, but Hemispheres is absolutely the best elements of '70s Rush condensed into one. Only the most self-consciously cool will deny the electricity in these grooves. Everyone else, feel free to geek out all over again.

Pop divas don’t get much larger-than-life than Mariah Carey. That’s a rarified stratum in pop culture that is accessed only through a combination of world class talent, coupled with peak MTV-era overexposure (as well as the resulting hangover), and having your very own immortal Christmas standard to boot. Caution is her fifteenth album overall, which is certainly indicative of a workaholic career, yet more importantly it’s only her second collection of all original material released this decade. No longer beholden to the insatiable pace of a meat grinder industry, Mariah Carey has time to create and release the albums she wants to make. As a result, there is an unmistakable quality to her recent works that had been missing in her mid-to-late '00s marathon. Caution is no different, however, unlike the statement-making length of The Elusive Chanteuse, it runs a brisk 38 minutes and is largely composed of Mariah embracing her role as the R&B slow jam queen. Songs such as “GTFO” and “With You” sound like a sultry, smoky update on her many '90s ballads, with only the production hinting that it's 2018. But when she does liven up the pace it just goes to show the depths of her pop acumen: Mariah can still crank out bangers with the best of ‘em. On what is undoubtedly the album’s highlight, “The Distance” manages to deftly combine a deep, deep groove with diva-sized vocal acrobatics. Skrillex, who produced the track, does his best impression of retro-futurist funk lords Benedek, Sasac, and Dam Funk, mixing '90s R&B synth flourishes with a comically fat bassline. It’s as groovy a production as you’ll hear all year, hell; it would even sound great as an instrumental. Add Mariah Carey (along with a well-timed Ty Dolla $ign verse) to the mix? You’re gonna need to cool off after this one.

With a musical resume influenced by his time in uber-successful bands Something Corporate and Jack's Mannequin, Andrew McMahon has been creating solo magic since 2013. Upside Down Flowers is the latest from his Andrew McMahon In the Wilderness project and it’s an intimate, well-crafted collection of songs, filled with the bravado of youth (“Teenage Rockstars”) and the hopefulness of rock ’n’ roll dreamers (“Ohio”). The songs are eclectic and eminently listenable. The melodies are introspective but bordering on anthemic with lyrics that are smart and sensitive. A must-have for fans that’s sure to win over listeners who appreciate thoughtful indie pop.

For Rick & Morty fans, the music in the show is an important part of the whole experience. With improvised and ridiculous lyrics, over the top score moments, the soundtrack on its own serves as a comedy album that parodies genres right and left. One such highlight is the Bowie-esque “Goodbye Moonmen” performed by Jemaine Clement from Flight of The Concords. Also included are the actual songs used in now web-famous moments of the show, such as Blonde Redhead's “For The Damaged Coda” from the episode, “Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind.”