The Party's Interests Come First

The Jackson 5 burst on the music scene like a ray of sunshine in late 1969, reeling off four consecutive No. 1 hits and inspiring worldwide Jacksonmania. They also recorded constantly, and a treasure trove of newly discovered, previously unreleased recordings by Michael, Jermaine, Jackie, Marlon and Tito are being released for the first time on Come And Get It: The Rare Pearls. Produced by Deke Richards, leader of The Corporation, the Jackson 5's original hit songwriting-production team, the extraordinary 32-track, 2-CD set enough songs to fill three Jackson 5 albums.

After nearly over a decade and four albums, Beta Radio’s Ben Mabry and Brent Holloman decided to see other people. The duo’s new album Waiting for the End to Come marks the first time they’ve worked with other songwriters. During a writing retreat in Nashville the two friends shared a creative experience that bordered on the spiritual. If 2021’s Year of Love is about searching for language, answers and love – Waiting for the End to Come is about finding it. The songs are grounded in a physicality that’s gorgeously set against the sonic wall of acoustic guitars, strings, and the harmonies for which Beta Radio has become so well known.Over the years, American Songwriter has claimed the band is “evoking serenity” and “emit an incandescent optimism.” The praise is both heady and ethereal, much like the band’s previous albums, many of which are dominated by gorgeous, yet restless musical energy. But on this album, that energy is underpinned and supported by the broad shoulders of narrative-driven songwriting that feels urgent, tactile, and resonant. Every song on Waiting for the End to Come feels like a radio song, no small feat for a band with such an expansive sound, a band that routinely reaches emotional heights while soaring on mystical themes.On Waiting for the End to Come, Beta Radio is not on the verge of something new. They are in the midst of it, and it is wonderful to be there with them.

“Gospel goes deeper than entertainment,” Pops Staples said in 1968, shortly after his group, the Staple Singers, signed with Stax Records. “It is the word of god. But you can’t push that down anybody’s throat. All we can do is get as many people to hear us as we can.” A new box set, Come Go With Me: The Stax Collection, which gathers together the band’s Stax discography on vinyl for the first time in ages, traces the Staple Singers’ eternal relationship with this central tension–how to expand their Chicago gospel roots for a popular audience–over the course of their six-album tenure with the Memphis-based R&B powerhouse label from 1968 until 1974.

I've grown up. I feel like that's the main thing." The Nina Nesbitt of 2017 is not like the Nina Nesbitt of 2013, the one who arrived as if from nowhere in 2012 and scored a UK top 15 album with Peroxide in early 2014. The heartfelt, easily relatable lyrics remain, as evidenced on the multi-layered, story-telling pop of new single, The Moments I'm Missing, which was written and produced solely by Nesbitt. That character-filled voice remains, as does the razor-sharp eye for acute lyrical observations and nagging, ear-worm melodies. What's new is a desire to inject her music with more obvious pop influences, an area she dived headlong into last year on the excellent, one-off single Chewing Gum.