The New Cue #270 March 17: Edgar Jones, Eels, Bar Italia, LA Priest, Gretel Hänlyn, Juan Wauters, Michael Shuman, Shana Cleveland, Tinariwen, Sofia Kourtesis

17 March, 2023

Good morning!

Before we kick-off another megawatt Recommender edition, an important announcement about a New Cue event. We’re extremely excited to announce we’ll be hosting a live performance by Edgar Jones and his band on Wednesday May 3rd at The Social in the heart of swinging London.

You may know Edgar ‘Summertyme’ Jones from his early ‘90s stoned garage-groovers The Stairs or by any of his work over the last three decades as among Liverpool’s most gifted ‘60s-obsessed underground songwriters and performers. We’re happy to announce that like another local hero Michael Head, who scored a late-career smash with Dear Scott, Edgar has made his own mid-life masterpiece, Reflections Of A Soul Dimension. It’s a brilliant collision of Northern soul, Bacharach melodies, a little bit of garage-pop and Edgar’s unmistakable voice. He’s never sounded better. It is without question his best album, out five days before this show and already Ted’s album of the year. Edgar will be selling and signing vinyl copies at The Social. Wanna hear a snatch? Here’s an exclusive first blast of the single, Torture, which is out on April 14th.

We’re also very happy to have lured Roy (not a poet) on to the bill to perform before Edgar. It’s a step-down for Roy after the success of his arena support a couple of years ago with Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott so we are grateful and honoured. His Algorithm Party is a word-of-mouth smash hit modern classic. Tickets for the event can be picked up here.

OK! Back to today’s show. We’ve got E from Eels serving up a triple Story Behind The Song, QOTSA’s Michael Shuman picks a mind-blower and in between your bestest buddies Ted, Niall and Chris do some hearty recommending. Before proceeding, a reminder that full access to our Friday editions is for paying subscribers only, but don’t cry if you don’t subscribe because you can rescue the whole situation by clicking Subscribe Now below. It costs £5 a month. Your subscriptions mean that we can carry on with our TNC shenanigans. You want us to keep doing our TNC shenanigans don’t you? Shenanigans is a funny word isn’t it? Here’s a playlist of today’s selections:

Enjoy the edition,

Ted, Niall and Chris

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The Story Behind The Songs

How we birthed a classic

A triple-headed SBTS as Eels frontman Mark “E” Oliver Everett chooses one track from each from his trilogy of albums Hombre Lobo (2009), End Times (2010) and Tomorrow Morning (2010), reissued today via E Works.