TOM WAITS’ ASYLUM YEARS ON VINYL

Closing Time, The Heart Of Saturday Night, Nighthawks At The Diner
And Small Change Arrive On 180-Gram Vinyl December 21 From Rhino

Limited Edition Red Vinyl Versions Of Each
Available Exclusively At Tom Waits Official Website

LOS ANGELES – After signing with Asylum in the early 1970s, Tom Waits recorded a series of acclaimed albums whose noir tales about the after-midnight underworld transformed the seedy into the sublime in songs laced with both dark humor and profound longing. Nearly 40 years and several musical evolutions later, Waits’ Asylum years still hold a special place in the hearts of many fans.

Rhino will celebrate Waits this December by reissuing the singer-songwriter’s first four Asylum albums on vinyl. CLOSING TIME, THE HEART OF SATURDAY NIGHT, NIGHTHAWKS AT THE DINER and SMALL CHANGE will be presented on 180-gram heavy vinyl and packaged with their original artwork. The LPs are being pressed at RTI with mastering supervised by Gavin Lurssen. All four will be released December 21 at retail outlets, including www.rhino.com. Limited edition 180-gram red vinyl versions of each release will be sold exclusively at www.tomwaitsstore.com/northamerica and are available for pre-order now. Each of these red vinyl pressings will be limited to 1000 copies. NIGHTHAWKS AT THE DINER, a double-LP, will be available for a suggested list price of $34.98 ($37.99 for limited edition) while the other three will be available for $24.98 each ($26.99 for limited editions).

Waits’ debut CLOSING TIME arrived in 1973 when the singer-songwriter was 23 years old. A number of artists covered songs from the album, starting a trend that would continue throughout Waits’ career. “Martha” was recorded by Tim Buckley and frequently performed by Bette Midler, while the Eagles recorded a version of “Ol’ ‘55” for the band’s 1974 album On The Border.

After touring with several artists including Frank Zappa, Waits returned the following year with THE HEART OF SATURDAY NIGHT. Bones Howe produced the album and would go on to produce Waits’ next five albums with Asylum. The album was included in Rolling Stone‘s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”

For his third release, NIGHTHAWKS AT THE DINER (1975), Waits recorded a double album of new music live in front of an audience at the Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles. The album features Waits setting up many songs by telling the stories behind them, a practice that remains an integral part of his live show to this day. Waits recorded this record with a jazz combo consisting of Mike Melvoin (piano), Pete Christlieb (tenor sax), Jim Hughart (bass) and Bill Goodwin (drums).

Released in 1976, Waits recorded SMALL CHANGE at Wally Heider’s studio in Hollywood. The album opens with “Tom Traubert’s Blues,” one of the singer’s most enduring songs, and features memorable cuts such as “I Wish I Was In New Orleans,” “Bad Liver And A Broken Heart” and “The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me).”

CLOSING TIME
Side One
1. “Ol’ ’55”
2. “I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You”
3. “Virginia Avenue”
4. “Old Shoes (& Picture Postcards)”
5. “Midnight Lullaby”
6. “Martha”
Side Two
1. “Rosie”
2. “Lonely”
3. “Ice Cream Man”
4. “Little Trip To Heaven (On The Wings Of Your Love)”
5. “Grapefruit Moon”
6. “Closing Time”

THE HEART OF SATURDAY NIGHT
Side One
1. “A New Coat Of Paint”
2. “San Diego Serenade”
3. “Semi Suite”
4. “Shiver Me Timbers”
5. “Diamonds On My Windshield”
6. “(Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night”
Side Two
1. “Fumblin’ With The Blues”
2. “Please Call Me, Baby”
3. “Depot, Depot”
4. “Drunk On The Moon”
5. “The Ghosts Of Saturday Night (After Hours At Napoleone’s Pizza House)”

NIGHTHAWKS AT THE DINER
Side One
1. (Opening Intro)
2. “Emotional Weather Report”
3. (Intro)
4. “On A Foggy Night”
5. (Intro)
6. Eggs And Sausage (In A Cadillac With Susan Michelson)”
Side Two
1. (Intro)
2. “Better Off Without A Wife”
3. “Nighthawk Postcards (From Easy Street)”
Side Three
1. (Intro)
2. “Warm Beer And Cold Women”
3. (Intro)
4. “Putnam County”
5. “Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission)”
Side Four
1. “Nobody”
2. (Intro)
3. “Big Joe And Phantom 309”
4. “Spare Parts II And Closing”

SMALL CHANGE
Side One
1. “Tom Traubert’s Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen)”
2. “Step Right Up”
3. “Jitterbug Boy (Sharing a Curbstone with Chuck E. Weiss, Robert Marchese, Paul Body and the Mug and Artie)”
4. “I Wish I Was In New Orleans (In The Ninth Ward)”
5. “The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) (An Evening With Pete King)”
Side Two
1. “Invitation To The Blues”
2. “Pasties And A G-String (At The Two O’Clock Club)”
3. “Bad Liver And A Broken Heart (In Lowell)”
4. “The One That Got Away”
5. “Small Change (Got Rained On With His Own .38)”
6. “I Can’t Wait To Get Off Work (And See My Baby On Montgomery Avenue)”

JERRY GARCIA ELECTRIFIES UNPLUGGED

Newly Remastered Version Of The Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band’s Long Out-Of-Print Almost Acoustic And The Release Of Its Previously Unreleased Sequel Ragged But Right

Dead.net Exclusive Version Features Both Albums Bundled With A Deluxe Booklet That Details The Band’s History And Garcia’s Lifelong Love Of String-Band Music

Both Available On November 16

LOS ANGELES – Before the Grateful Dead, the Warlocks, and even Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions, Jerry Garcia played in the Black Mountain Boys, a band he formed in the early 1960s with the exceptionally talented Sandy Rothman and David Nelson. Together only a short time, they played the kind of bluegrass, country, gospel, and old-time music that swept through coffeehouses coast-to-coast in the post-Beat, pre-Beatles era that Garcia called: “the folk scare.”

The trio came together again in 1986 to form the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band with John Kahn (upright bass), Kenny Kosek (fiddle), and David Kemper (drums). The group’s brief but glorious arc spanned more than two dozen shows in 1987 and 1988, which mostly featured them opening for the Jerry Garcia (electric) Band.

The beloved group is spotlighted with a newly remastered version of 1988’s long out-of-print ALMOST ACOUSTIC, the sextet’s sole release, and the much awaited arrival of its sequel, RAGGED BUT RIGHT. Each will be available November 16 at all physical retail outlets for a suggested list price of $13.98. In an exclusive offer from Dead.net, the albums can be purchased together with a deluxe booklet that includes an essay by Steve Silberman that details Garcia’s lifelong love for traditional string-band music as well as a history of the JGAB for $23.98.

ALMOST ACOUSTIC presents a sprightly selection of performances recorded during shows at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles and The Warfield in San Francisco. The album’s 14 tracks include tunes popularized by the likes of Jimmie Rodgers (“Blue Yodel #9 (Standin’ On The Corner)”), Tex Logan (“Diamond Joe”), and Mississippi John Hurt (“Spike Driver Blues.”) Also featured is “Ripple,” which was written by Garcia and longtime Dead lyricist Robert Hunter.

Encouraged by the album’s warm reception, Rothman produced a successor titled RAGGED BUT RIGHT that has remained unreleased for more than 20 years—until now. Its 15 songs double the JGAB’s official canon with additional selections from the Warfield and Wiltern shows, but the bulk of the performances come from the band’s historic “Thirteen Magical Nights” run on Broadway at Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

Rothman recently tweaked the selections for RAGGED BUT RIGHT, which includes the band’s soaring harmonies and impeccable playing on Leadbelly’s “Goodnight Irene,” country music legend Charlie Monroe’s “Rosa Lee McFall,” and the country hit “I Ain’t Never” written by Webb Pierce and Mel Tillis. The set also showcases the group’s unique take on traditional songs such as “Two Soldiers,” “Bright Morning Star,” and “Deep Elem Blues,” a song that crept into the Dead’s set lists on occasion. While the title track’s history dates back to the early 1900s, the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band plays a version popularized by George Jones.

ALMOST ACOUSTIC
Track Listing

1. “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”
2. “Deep Elem Blues”
3. “Blue Yodel #9 (Standin’ On The Corner)”
4. “Spike Driver Blues”
5. “I’ve Been All Around This World”
6. “I’m Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail”
7. “I’m Troubled”
8. “Oh, The Wind And Rain”
9. “The Girl At The Crossroads Bar”
10. “Oh Babe, It Ain’t No Lie”
11. “The Ballad Of Casey Jones”
12. “Diamond Joe”
13. “Gone Home”
14. “Ripple”

RAGGED BUT RIGHT
Track Listing

1. “Ragged But Right”
2. “Short Life Of Trouble”
3. “I Ain’t Never”
4. “Trouble In Mind”
5. “Drifting With The Tide”
6. Introductions
7. “Deep Elem Blues”
8. “Rosa Lee McFall”
9. “Two Soldiers”
10. “If I Lose”
11. “Bright Morning Star”
12. “Goodnight Irene”
13. “It’s A Long, Long Way To The Top Of The World”
14. “Drifting Too Far From The Shore”
15. “Turtle Dove”

# # #

SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS RELOADS

Rhino Handmade Expands Richard And Linda Thompson’s Legendary Swan Song With Unreleased Live Performances From Their Emotionally Charged Final Tour

Pre-Order Now Exclusively From Rhino.com, Out October 12

LOS ANGELES – Shoot Out The Lights is Richard and Linda Thompson’s final album together and, ironically, the folk-rock couple’s most artistically acclaimed and commercially successful. The album was recorded, scrapped, and rerecorded before finally emerging in 1982, arriving just around the time that the couple split up. Despite the separation, they embarked upon a U.S. tour to promote the album, delivering emotionally charged performances at every turn.

Rhino Handmade reissues the couple’s legendary swan song as a two-disc deluxe edition that includes the original album along with a bonus disc of 11 unreleased live performances from the tour. Due out October 12, SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS (DELUXE EDITION) is available for pre-order now exclusively at www.rhino.com for a suggested list price of $39.98.

SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS’ circuitous path began in 1980 when Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty—who’d toured with the Thompsons that year—produced and financed the album, hoping it would earn the unsigned couple a new record contract. Failing to secure a record deal, the album was eventually shelved.

The Thompsons persevered, signing with producer Joe Boyd’s independent Hannibal Records the following year. They quickly returned to the studio with several musicians from the Rafferty sessions—guitarist Simon Nicol, drummer Dave Mattacks, and bassist Pete Zorn—and rerecorded six songs from the previous sessions plus two new songs. In contrast to the drawn-out sessions with Rafferty, Boyd recorded the album live in just three days, an approach that highlighted the band’s spontaneity and gave the songs a palpable edge. In the reissue’s liner notes Zorn quips: “The album’s so good, we did it twice!”

The release of SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS and a planned U.S. tour were put on hold until 1982 to give Linda time to recover from the birth of the couple’s third child. Sadly, when the tour finally began that spring, the Thompsons’ marriage was over.

The bonus disc documents the tumultuous tour with 11 unreleased live performances, all but one taken from shows in San Francisco and Santa Cruz, California. The songs draw from the Thompsons’ records together, including three from SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS, “Back Street Slide,” “Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed?” and the title track; “Borrowed Time” from Sunnyvista (1979); “Pavanne” from First Light (1978); and “For Shame Of Doing Wrong,” “Dargai,” and “Dimming Of The Day” from Pour Down Like Silver (1975). Several covers are also featured: Hank Williams’ “Honky Tonk Blues,” “I’m A Dreamer” by Fairport Convention singer Sandy Denny, and Bob Dylan’s “I’ll Keep It With Mine,” a song Richard covered with Fairport Convention on 1969’s What We Did On Our Holidays.

The set’s accompanying 40-page booklet includes details about the album and tour from Richard, Linda, the band, and Boyd, who recalls the fraught tour: “Linda kicked Richard in the shins during a guitar solo in Providence and threw a bottle at him in the Buffalo airport, but sang with an intensity I’d never heard before. Gone was the hesitant tone; the heartbreaking ballads poured out of her and mesmerized audiences. The band, meanwhile, kept their heads down and amazed the Yanks with their precision and power. Richard was his usual genius self, only more so.”

SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS (DELUXE EDITION)
Track Listing

Disc 1
1. “Don’t Renege On Our Love”
2. “Walking On A Wire”
3. “A Man In Need”
4. “Just The Motion”
5. “Shoot Out The Lights”
6. “Back Street Slide”
7. “Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed?”
8. “Wall Of Death”

Disc 2 – Live
1. “Dargai”*
2. “Back Street Slide”*
3. “Pavanne”*
4. “I’ll Keep It With Mine”*
5. “Borrowed Time”*
6. “Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed?”*
7. “I’m A Dreamer”*
8. “Honky Tonk Blues”*
9. “Shoot Out The Lights”*
10. “For Shame Of Doing Wrong”*
11. “Dimming Of The Day”*

*Previously Unissued

For more information about SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS (DELUXE EDITION), please contact Jason Elzy in the Rhino Media Relations Department at jason.elzy@rhino.com or 818-238-6220.

# # #

THE DOORS SHINE IN VANCOUVER

The Band Rocks The Great White North With This Unreleased 1970
Concert Featuring Guest Appearance By Blues Legend Albert King

Available November 22 From Rhino And Bright Midnight Archives

LOS ANGELES – Four months into the band’s 1970 Roadhouse Blues Tour, The Doors lit up Vancouver like the Northern Lights with an incandescent performance ignited by a rollicking set list, and blues legend Albert King, who sat in for four songs. Rhino and Bright Midnight Archives capture every shining moment with THE DOORS – LIVE IN VANCOUVER 1970. The two-disc set of unreleased music will be available November 22 at all retail outlets, including www.rhino.com, for a suggested list price of $19.98 (CD) and $13.99 (digital).

Recorded June 6, 1970, at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Robby Krieger, and Ray Manzarek opened the show in high gear, barreling through 15 minutes of raunchy, stomping blues with “Roadhouse Blues,” “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar),” “Back Door Man,” and “Five To One.” Next the group briefly shifted gears, taking a hard left turn into psychedelic territory for a nearly 14-minute take on “When The Music’s Over.”

Midway through the two-hour show, King joined The Doors on stage, lending his trademark stinging guitar licks to covers of Willie Dixon’s “Little Red Rooster,” the Motown classic “Money,” and the blues standards “Rock Me” and “Who Do You Love.”

On the second disc, The Doors head for the homestretch with “Petition The Lord With Prayer,” a spoken word piece often featured live, but not officially released until a few weeks after the Vancouver show, when it appeared on Absolutely Live. Nearly 18-minute versions of “Light My Fire” and “The End,” two legendary tracks from the band’s groundbreaking 1967 self-titled debut, close out the show in epic fashion.

“What a funky night,” recalls Manzarek in the set’s liner notes. “Jim singing his ass off with the prod in the butt by a legendary old blues man (King).”

“Jim lit Albert King's cigar, and we were off!” remembers Densmore.

“The Vancouver show was so much fun for me because one of my heroes (King) was our second act,” says Krieger. “Not only did we get to hang with the man, but we convinced him to come up and jam with us.”

Vince Treanor, The Doors’ tour manager, recorded the show for the band on a Sony reel-to-reel using two microphones placed on the stage. While not a multitrack high fidelity recording, it is clean, quiet, and clear, allowing the unbridled energy of the performances to shine through.

THE DOORS – LIVE IN VANCOUVER 1970
Track Listing

Disc 1
1. Start Of Show
2. “Roadhouse Blues”
3. “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)”
4. “Back Door Man”
5. “Five To One”
6. “When The Music’s Over”
7. Applause – Jim Talks
8. “Love Me Two Times”
9. Applause – Jim Talks
10. “Little Red Rooster” – with Albert King
11. Tuning
12. “Money” – with Albert King
13. Tuning
14. “Rock Me” – with Albert King
15. Tuning
16. “Who Do You Love” – with Albert King

Disc 2
1. Tuning
2. “Petition The Lord With Prayer”
3. “Light My Fire”
4. Tuning
5. “The End”
6. Thank You & Good Night

###