Underground-Hum: Eleven years after.. Verve back with 'Forth'

Paul F. Agusta   |  Sun, 06/29/2008 10:56 AM  |  Entertainment

Hello, my dumplings, welcome back to the buffet of music tidbits that is Underground Hum. As always, thanks for the lovely emails. And now, on to this week's Reverb.

Reverb
International

UK shoegaze/dream rock behemoths Jesus and Mary Chain have followed up their reunion with the release of a long-awaited four-CD, 81-track box set for a Sept. 30 release. And apparently both Reid siblings, Jim and William, were involved in its creation.

It's called The Power of Negative Thinking: B-Sides & Rarities, and it'll be packaged in a fancy 6-by-10-inch gatefold shell packed with plenty of extra goodies, including interviews with both Jim and William Reid.

There are rare photos of the band throughout their storied history. And there's a double-sided poster sporting artwork from the band's singles on one side, and on the other, a hand-drawn family tree charting the band's ever-changing lineup. If you don't mind forgoing the dry goods, the set will also be available digitally.

Note to Jesus and Mary Chain obsessives: Yes, everything that was on the 1988 rarities compilation Barbed Wire Kisses is in this box set, except for the live cover of Can's "Mushroom".

The multiple-charity-benefiting Independents Day is fast approaching, and now, the U.S. and UK compilations associated with the international event have finalized track lists.

As previously reported, between the two compilations are tracks from Frank Black, Devendra Banhart, Jarvis Cocker with the Gossip's Beth Ditto, the Futureheads, Park, Jos*Prodigy, Editors, British Sea Power, Living Legends and Slipknot.

The single-disc U.S. compilation has a little bit of everything, while the two-disc UK offering devotes one half to covers, and the other to up-and-coming artists selected mostly by UK acts and labels.

Those acts include Jos* Gonz*lez, the Futureheads, Park, British Sea Power, the Cribs, the Charlatans and Editors' Tom Smith. Both compilations hit the web on U.S. Independence Day, July 4. They will be available for a limited time.

In other Independents Day news, a couple of items have been added to the U.S. charity eBay auction. Now folks can bid on both a Guitar Hero-playing session with Dragonforce and a day in Portland hanging out with Gang of Four former bassist Dave Allen. The U.S. auction opens July 4, while the UK auction is on now and concludes July 6. Go to www.independentsday08.com for info on the charities.

Eleven years after their last album, the mind-bendingly brilliant Urban Hymns, and a few moths after the announcement of their reunion, British rock masters The Verve will release their fourth album, titled Forth, and according to a Billboard.com report, it comes out internationally Aug. 18 via EMI and Aug. 19 in North America via the band's On Our Own imprint with distribution from MRI/Megaforce/RED.

As if an 11-year wait for the follow-up to Urban Hymns wasn't enough, the Verve will build more anticipation for Forth with a world tour of summer festivals.

After ... And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead acrimoniously parted ways with Interscope Records last year, Billboard.com reports that the band is launching its own imprint, Richter Scale Records, in conjunction with Justice Records.

Richter Scale will handle the release of the band's follow-up to 2006's So Divided, which they're working up now with producers Mike McCarthy and Chris "Frenchie" Smith for a plotted January 2009 release.

A representative for the band is quoted in the Billboard report (and a press release) as saying the band aims to create "a more anthemic record" this time out, which can only be an improvement.

And since we couldn't let a whole TOD news story go by without a little well-worded vitriol from Trail of Dead frontman Conrad Keely, there's this: When asked about Richter Scale, Keely told Billboard that the move would let TOD "seek the creative freedom envisioned by the founding fathers of our great nation, immune from the tyranny of the corporate ogre".

And on that happy note, it's time to end this week's Reverb.

See y'all next Sunday!

-- Paul F. Agusta

 

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