R.I.P. guitarist/songwriter Steve Cropper 1941-2025

Sadly, influential guitarist Steve Cropper – co-founder of Booker T and the MGs – has passed away at 84. He'll be greatly missed.

Robert Plant selects his fave Nonesuch records and talks about 'em

Robert Plant paid a visit to the Nonesuch Music Library to talk about a few of the records he found inspiring. 

Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant – a self-described "nerdy collector," constantly exploring new sounds – recently spent some time rooting around the Nonesuch Music Library and pulled a few albums off the shelves he found to be inspiring. Check out his discussion of the records he selected right here. Watch Robert discuss record collecting while on tour with guitar player JD McPherson right here.    

Watch a recent Neba Solo performance below. 

Remembering Jean-Luc Godard on his birthday

Remembering influential filmmaker/journalist Jean-Luc Godard on his birthday with a 1980 Dick Cavett interview and more.

Rob Younger curates New Christs retrospective The Burning Of Rome 2LP

To coincide with the New Christs' recent European tour, Rob Younger put together a 2LP 'best-of' comp, The Burning Of Rome. 

NEW CHRISTS – THE BURNING OF ROME: SELECTED WORKS

To celebrate the 2025 European tour Rob Younger personally curated career-spanning double vinyl titled The Burning of Rome: Selected Works. Now comes the local Australian version with alternate cover art, available in a super limited (100 copies) white vinyl as well as standard black vinyl pressed locally at Suitcase Records in Brisbane.

Rob Younger, best known as the voice of Radio Birdman and a defining figure of the Australian underground, formed The New Christs in the early 1980s as an outlet for his darker, more intense musical visions. Over the years, the band has become an essential part of the global rock'n'roll landscape, blending raw garage energy with post-punk menace, sophisticated songwriting and a ferocious live presence. Despite frequent changes in the lineup (featuring some of the finest musicians from bands like the Celibate Rifles, Lime Spiders, The Barracudas and Hoodoo Gurus), the band has maintained an unmistakable identity, one defined by urgency, grit and uncompromising quality.

The Burning of Rome: Selected Works doesn’t settle for the easy picks. Instead, it offers a deeper, more comprehensive look at The New Christs sonic universe, drawing from every corner of their discography, from their feral 1981 debut single Face a New God to highlights from their later studio albums, Distemper (1989), Lower Yourself (1997), We Got This! (2002), Gloria (2009) and Incantations(2014). The twenty tracks compiled here paint a vivid portrait of a band that, while never prolific, has never missed a beat.

The collection opens with the thunderous distortion of We Have Landed taken from the 1997 album Lower Yourself, an album that showcases the band at their most focused and dangerous. From there, the listener is plunged into a world of tense guitars, pounding rhythms and Younger’s unmistakable vocal presence. There’s the propulsive energy of Another Sin, featuring blistering guitar work by Charlie Owen, the haunting, late-night feel of Golden Street, the sunlit drive of Spit It Out, and the fiery swagger of On Top of Me. And of course, the epic title track, The Burning of Rome, is a standout moment, embodying the band’s signature mix of intensity and elegance.

Crucially, this isn’t just a nostalgic retrospective of their 1980s classics, although gems like Born Out of Time and Coming Apart are included, it’s a celebration of the full arc of The New Christs career. It shines a light on lesser-known tracks that deserve far more recognition and proves, once again, that this band has been producing vital, hard-hitting rock music for over four decades.

Releases December 12th 2025. Limited White Vinyl (100 Copies) / Standard Black Vinyl.

New Christs – The Burning Of Rome

1. We Have Landed

2. Another Sin

3. The Golden Street

4. No Way On Earth 

5. Jenny 

6. Coming Apart 

7. This Is A Party

8. Spit It Out 

9. My Existence 

10. Asphalt 

11. These Reasons

12. From On High 

13. The Wheel 

14. We Got This

15. Born Out Of Time

16. Waves Form

17. The Burning Of Rome

18. Love's Underground

19. On Top Of Me

20. Bonsoir A Vous 

PRE ORDER - https://musicfarmers.com/products/the-burning-of-rome-selected-works

Selected independent stores in Australia will have copies of the black vinyl available in-store from Friday December 12th including Clarity Records (Adelaide), Hiss & Crackle Records (Newcastle), Music Farmers (Wollongong), Rocksteady Records (Melbourne), Tommy Gun Records(Hobart) and a few more to be added soon. 

Limited copies on both white and black will be available from Citadel Mailorder here. 

You can also try Bandcamp for any remaining copies of the initial EU tour release from back in August right here. Check out a couple of the New Christs early singles and watch a recent performance of "We Have Landed" below. 

Dollar Bin Delights: Anita Carter Sings Folk Songs Old and New

Anita Carter's solo debut from '62 is best remembered for kicking off with the first recorded version of "Ring Of Fire" 

A sharp-cornered near mint copy of the solo debut recorded circa 1962 by The Carter Family's Anita Carter – daughter of Maybelle Carter and younger sister of June and Helen Carter – probably shouldn't be in any sort of  discount bin but who am I to argue with a second-hand vinyl vendor's decision to unload it cheap. 

Like the title spells out, the then 29 year-old Anita Carter sings a selection of folk songs with spare instrumentation which marke-savvy recording supervisor Shelby Singleton likely saw as a way to cash-in on the coffee house folk trend sweeping the nation during the late 50s and early 60s. 

As you might expect, it's largely a Carter Family affair so along with a couple of Anita's own compositions ("All My Trials," "Johnny I Hardly Knew You,") you get one from Mother Maybelle ("Fair and Tender Ladies"), and a few from sisters Helen and June. 

The most noteworthy of the bunch is the album opener "Love's Ring Of Fire" which is credited to June Carter and Merle Kilgore although June later claimed that the song was actually written by Johnny Cash while on a fishing trip with Merle Kilgore and western swing fiddler Curly Lewis. Anita's version of the song is backed by autoharp and guitar and carries the familiar melody with an odd echo on the word "fire" presumably to add an eerie vibe to the performance. A laudable effort but it doesn't have anywhere near the oomph of Johnny's recut, the most notable add-on is the signature Mariachi horn riff that opens the recording and repeats throughout. It's an inspired hook which seemed to fall from out of the blue – using Mariachi horns in country songs wasn't a popular trend in the early 60s – but it works remarkably well. Although he liked to tell anyone who asked that the novel arrangement idea came to him in a dream although it's much more likely that he had the familiar sound of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass stuck in his head because "The Lonely Bull" was all over radio in 1962.  

The timing is interesting since Johnny was estranged from first wife Vivian Liberto – though very much still married – at the time of Anita's recording as Vivian didn't file for divorce until 1966. Johnny waited a few months before releasing his own rousing version, retitled simply :"Ring Of Fire," on April 19, 1963 with Mother Maybelle Carter and the Carter Sisters singing backing vocals. It proved to be just the career boost Johnny needed. at the time  The updated version – with a few adjustments to the lyrics and phrasing– rocketed to the top of the charts and stayed there for seven weeks, racking up huge sales effectively wiping away any public knowledge of Anita Carter's original version in the process. Today, many folks who consider themselves to be serious country music fans would be surprised to learn that someone else recorded the tune before Johnny hit big with it. That's probably why I found a clean original Mercury copy of Anita's album Sings Folk Songs Old And New in the dollar bin. Those interested can sometimes turn up Bear Family's German reissue from 1981 although you're more likely to see the original in these parts. 

My own personal favourite version of "Ring Of Fire" is the inspired Tex-Mex overhaul "Rueda de Fuego" by Tejano accordion ace Mingo Saldivar y Los Cuarto Espadas originally issued as a self-released single on the Espada Records label in 1978 and then re-cut for his Rounder album "I Love My Freedom, I Love My Texas." Always a show-stopper, Mingo wowed audiences across North America and beyond with his impassioned reworking of "Ring Of Fire" delivered with gusto and some fancy footwork which earned him a standing ovation at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre circa 1992. That was when Harbourfront would regularly feature exciting international artists on a weekly basis during the summer months.  

Check out Anita Carter's "Love's Ring Of Fire" along with Johnny Cash's spin on it followed by Mingo Saldivar's clever ranchera rework for his 1978 single along with a kick-ass performance of the tune. 

Cardiff's James and The Cold Gun, Tumble rock the Monarch Tavern, Tuesday

James and The Cold Gun – the heaviest Welsh band named after a Kate Bush tune – revel in the sound of the 90s! Tumble opens at 7 pm.

Just in time for Christmas... Matt Berry's Witchazel vinyl repress

Matt Berry's 2011 debut recording Witchazel – prized by Laszlo Cravensworth fans – will be recirculated by Acid Jazz Records on December 12th.

Here's the scoop...

A coal-black vinyl repressing of Matt Berry's 'Witchazel' is being released on December 12th via Acid Jazz Records.

Matt Berry’s debut album on Acid Jazz and the start of his now-15 year relationship with the label. It is of course the home of the fantastic 'Take My Hand’ - known the world over at the theme to the BAFTA Award winning TV show Toast Of London.

Last year the track became a surprise internet sensation, and all remaining physical copies of the album were hoovered up. Which is a shame, because the album’s Wicker Man-inspired folk funk is a marvel, and gives us the roadmap for Matt’s continued success.

Acid Jazz will start shipping a new black vinyl edition of the album on December 12th. This will not be available to general distribution until early 2026. 

Pre-order it directly from Acid Jazz right here. Listen to "Take My Hand" below. 

John Showman & Chris Coole launch December residency @ The Cameron, Tuesday

Lonesome Ace's John Showman & Chris Coole kick off their Cameron House residency Tuesday from 6 pm to 8 pm.

Catch the Lonesome Ace Stringband at the Newmarket Legion (707 Shrigley St) on December 6 at 8 pm. Get tickets here.

Happy Birthday Billy Childish!

Celebrating the birthday of painter/poet and musician Billy Childish with a chat with Ian Svenonius, "Troubled Mind" and more.

Grown Up Wrong issues blazing '79 live performance by Oz punks Lipstick Killers

The Lipstick Killers show at Adelaide's Marryatville Hotel from 1979 is now available for Oz punk fans to enjoy.   

Here's the scoop...

Sydney's Lipstick Killers released just one single in their lifetime – the perfect ’79 pairing of “Hindu Gods of Love” and ”Shakedown USA”, released on both their own Lost in Space Records and Greg Shaw’s Voxx Records and produced by Deniz Tek of the band's heroes Radio Birdman - but a posthumous live album and a couple of archival releases followed. 

It was all incredible. and it was all put together a few years ago on Grown Up Wrong!'s 2CD set Strange Flash! And while the 2LP version of that release included all the studio stuff and the live in LA 1981 set, there was no room for this brain-burning, chaotic live set from '79.

Tour De Force, which was recorded for local radio station 5UV – Radio Adelaide, captures the band as they were still emerging from the cocoon that was the Psycho Surgeons. 

The Nuggets influences are there, but it's a Stooges influences which dominate proceedings, and definitive readings of both sides of the Psycho Surgeons classic 45 "Wild Weekend"/"Horizontal Action" are included alongside early Killers killers like "Teen Police" and "Sockman" and later faves like "Hindu Gods of Love', "Shakedown USA" and "Dying Boy's Crawl". The band's hot take on the Thirteenth Floor Elevators' "I've Got Levitation" is also featured. There's also plenty of tunes that were only ever captured on tape on this wild night, including "Human Crash", "Crush On You", "Head Off" and "Bully"! 

Get a copy of the Lipstick Killers' "Tour De Force" album via Bandcamp right here or in North America, via Midheaven Mailorder right here. While you're at it, pick up a copy of the excellent Lipstick Killers anthology "Strange Flash: Studio & Live '78-'81 (also released by Grown Up Wrong) right here. Read more about the group in a feature article written by Ian McFarlane by following the link below. And check out the 45 version of their classic "Hindu Gods Of Love" single. 

LINKS
Third Stone Press Lipstick Killers: Hindu Gods Are Calling You!