These are your Notable Releases for December 12, 2020
Taylor Swift has done it again! She’s surprised dropped her second album of the year on Friday (Dec 11th). Evermore is the country-turned-pop-star’s ninth studio album and sister companion to her first surprise release of Folklore, which dropped in late July with eight different covers. Swift also dropped a video for the album’s opener “Willow.” The standard edition of Evermore features 15 tracks while the deluxe physical editions will contain two bonus tracks. All digital downloads of the album include an exclusive, digital booklet with 16 brand new photos. Physical configurations include CD, cassette and LP, all with staggered release dates of December 18th, February 12th and May 28th, respectively, due to manufacturing delays by the pandemic. Swift says Evermore is a gift to her fans as she turns 31 on December 13th.
In another surprise release, Chris Cornell’s family dropped a fully completed album of cover songs the rocker finished in 2016, a year before his untimely death in May 2017 at the age of 52, on December 11th. Vicky Cornell and her children, Toni and Christopher, on behalf of The Chris Cornell Estate, release No One Sings Like You Anymore, featuring a handpicked collection of 10 cover songs, which Chris personally selected and sequenced to celebrate artists and songs that inspired him. Covers include tracks recorded by Prince, Janis Joplin, John Lennon, Guns N Roses, and others. Physical configurations are due on March 13th.
Metallica is kicking off 2021 with a load (pun intended) of new colored vinyl exclusively through Walmart. Remastered versions of Kill ‘Em All, Ride The Lightning, Master of Puppets and … And Justice For All will be available alongside The Black Album and Hardwired… To Self Destruct in new and exclusive colors on January 29th. Exclusive colors include Fire Engine Red, Electric Blue, Battery Brick, Dyers Green, Some Blacker Marbled and Flame Orange. Fans can purchase each title individually or as a complete set via Walmart.com. Stock is limited.
Willie Nelson is set to release That’s Life, his second collection of songs made famous by jazz crooner Frank Sinatra. The 11 track project will be available on CD, LP and digitally on February 26th via Sony Legacy Recordings. A limited edition marbled blue color variant vinyl LP will be available exclusively at Barnes & Noble. The 11 track project was recorded at the world famous Capitol Studios in Hollywood, where Sinatra created a string of album masterpieces, with additional recording in Austin, Texas. That’s Life finds Nelson inhabiting 11 more of the most treasured songs in the Great American Songbook, including the title track, “Luck Be A Lady,” and a duet with Diana Krall on “I Won’t Dance,” among others. Buddy Cannon and Matt Rollings produced the album and its 2018 predecessor — My Way — which earned Nelson a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Solo Album. It was mixed by recording legend Al Schmitt — who’s recorded and mixed more than 150 gold and platinum albums and won more Grammy Awards than any other engineer or mixer in history.
The Rolling Stones are releasing an exclusive 3 LP of Honk in “Stones Red” featuring some of the biggest hits from every Stones studio album from 1971 – 2016. The LP is priced at $60 and is available to buy exclusively in the RS No. 9 Carnaby store at 9 Carnaby Street in London and at the exclusive flagship shop’s webstore.
Florida Georgia Line sets their fifth studio album, Life Rolls On for February 12th via BMLG Records. The much-anticipated project finds hitmakers Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley capturing a fresh spark of energy, and tapping a whole new well of creative passion. It’s their first full-length set as co-producers with Corey Crowder. Sixteen diverse tracks reflect the crossover duo’s vast influences.
Black Sabbath is set to release Vol 4: Super Deluxe Edition on 4 CD and 5 LP via Rhino Records on February 12th. The project marked the legendary group’s fourth album in two years. The set features a newly remastered version of the original album along with 20 unreleased studio outtakes, false starts and live recordings. It comes with extensive booklets featuring liner notes with quotes from the era from all four band members, rare photos, and a poster with previously unpublished early artwork of the album using the working title Snowblind.
A 68 track expansive soundtrack to Alex Winter’s highly acclaimed Frank Zappa documentary, Zappa, has been released to digital outlets with two deluxe formats coming next year. A 3 CD edition is slated for February 19th with a 5 LP box set — available on 180-gram black vinyl and limited edition 180-gram smoke vinyl — planned for May 7th. The deluxe physical and digital editions showcase Zappa’s unique sonic brilliance and nearly every song heard in the film, including 12 previously unreleased recordings from The Vault, which include performances from the Whisky A Go-Go in 1968, the Fillmore West in ’70 and Zappa’s famed performance of “Dancin’ Fool” on Saturday Night Live in ’78. Twenty-five additional songs not heard in the film stretch from his seminal 1966 debut double album to a live orchestral album performed by the Ensemble Modern in Europe in 1992 that was released in 1993, before he died.
Alice Cooper has announced Detroit Stories for February 26th via earMUSIC. Named for the city that launched the original Alice Cooper group on the road to success, Detroit Stories follows last year’s Breadcrumbs EP as a modern-day homage to the toughest and craziest rock n roll scene there ever was. Detroit Stories features the first single “Rock & Roll” and the newly released “Our Love Will Change The World.” Both are available digitally. The album will be released on CD and double 180-gram gatefold vinyl.
Sammy Hagar & The Circle have announced the release of their massively popular Lockdown Sessions as an album collection titled, Lockdown 2020, on January 8, 2021. Fans who pre-order the album will also receive a new instant grat track, a cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes.” Additionally, all proceeds from the song “Heroes” will be donated to food banks nationwide. The album includes the original “Funky Feng Shui,” The Who’s “Won‘t Get Fooled Again,” Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds,” AC/DC, “Whole Lotta Rosie” and more.
