On 21st and 22nd April, 1983, Brian May was joined at Record Plant Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. by his friends Eddie Van Halen (guitar), Alan Gratzer (drums), Phil Chen (bass), and Fred Mandel (keyboards). The output of the two days’ sessions was captured on a 3-track mini album and released on October 31st, 1983, titled Brian May + Friends: Star Fleet Project. Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, Star Fleet Project will be given the full reissue treatment as part of Brian’s ongoing Gold Series. Brian and his studio team, Justin Shirley-Smith and Kris Fredriksson, have created a completely new 2023 mix of the sessions from the original multi-track master tapes, and the artwork has been completely digitally recreated from the original 1983 source material, to give fans the very best experience at the highest possible quality.
The lead singer of beloved heartland-punk band The Gaslight Anthem, Brian Fallon steps away from that sound and into a stripped-down Americana space on his third solo album, Local Honey. Produced by Grammy-award winning producer Peter Katis (The National, Frightened Rabbit, Death Cab for Cutie), the album showcases Fallon's songwriting in small vignettes, from a loving devotional for his daughter to a vengeful murder ballad. "Every single song is about right now. There's nothing on this record that has to do with the past or even the future, it just has to do with the moments that are presented and things that I've learned and I'm finding in my day to day. This record is 100 percent about the day today. It's not about these glorious dreams or miserable failures, it's just about life and how I see it." - Brian Fallon
There is a strange but beautiful irony that occurs when an artist writes a great song upon the death of a loved one. Doubtful that Brian Culbertson was aiming for one of Somethin' Bout Love's (Atlantic) most emotionally rich tunes when he wrote the powerful gospel of "I'm Gonna Miss You" for his late manager Howard Lowe II, but he and co-writer/vocalist Lori Perry achieve just that. Unlike similar tunes in American culture that come across as generic, the poignant lyrics are specific to the artist-manager relationship, adding to the tune's uniqueness.