Featured New Releases

Various Artists

Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved

1994

Alternative Pop/Rock

In 1994, Kiss was in a weird place. The glam and metal of the 80's had given way to grunge and alternative and most of the groups associated with these now-passé styles fell by the wayside. The funny thing was many of these new groups grew up listening to Kiss, and so nearly 20 years after their fame peaked this quirky album full of modern acts covering classic Kiss songs was released. This record has straight up covers, like Garth Brooks' interpretation of Hard Luck Woman, but the best moments are when this album gets weird, like Lenny Kravitz's funky duet with Stevie Wonder on Deuce or Toad the Wet Sprocket's plodding cover of Rock and Roll all Nite. Long out of print, this release has recently resurfaced on streaming services and is worth checking out.

- John Vernier

Alex Chilton

Like Flies on Sherbert

1979

Rock & Roll

After the lovely nervous breakdown of the third Big Star album failed to find an audience, Alex Chilton said to hell with it, dove headfirst into chaos, and bobbed to the surface with 1979's Like Flies on Sherbert. Aggressively sloppy, shot through with random noise, and suggesting everyone involved was on a serious bender, it was a final shout of manic defiance before he reemerged in 1985 with the low-budget soul of Feudalist Tarts.

- Mark Deming