STACK #254 December 2025

MUSIC FEATURE

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WHAT’S OUT

Whether it’s a voyage of musical discovery or a sonic reacquaintance with a favourite band or artist, check out these fresh releases heading to JB this month.

HAPPY MONDAYS Factory Singles: Best Of ROCKET Forty years after their first

release comes this beautifully packaged collection gathering the singles that the Happy Mondays released on Tony

Wilson’s Factory Records. Led by Shaun Ryder, the group was at the forefront of the “Madchester” scene, with Paul McCartney famously telling the music press: “I saw the Happy Mondays on TV, and they reminded me of The Beatles in their Strawberry Fields phase.” IDLES Caught Stealing UNIVERSAL UK post-punk band Idles have had four Top 10 albums

EDITOR’S PICK JEREMY ALLEN WHITE SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE SONY Jeremy Allen White delivers an Oscar-worthy performance in Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere , the biopic that focuses on the making of Bruce Springsteen’s brilliantly bleak Nebraska . The soundtrack showcases the actor singing seven Nebraska songs, as well as two tracks that would turn up on Springsteen’s blockbuster follow-up – I’m on Fire and Born in the U.S.A. The album also sees White joining cast members Jake and Sam Kiszka from American rock band Greta Van Fleet for raucous versions of Lucille and Boom Boom . And the album climaxes with a cover of I Put a Spell on You .

AUSTIN MEADE Almost Famous INERTIA

DANKO JONES Leo Rising ROCKET

America’s Austin Meade learned to sing in church. His dad was a Baptist preacher, but he also liked to take his son to rock

Leo Rising is the 12th studio album for Canadian rockers Danko Jones, who will celebrate their 30th anniversary

in the UK, including the chart-toppers Tangk and Ultra Mono . This album is

the soundtrack to the new film by Darren Aronofsky ( Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler ), starring Austin Butler and Zoë Kravitz. “I built Caught Stealing to be a rollercoaster of fun,” the director says, “and wanted to supercharge the film by mainlining a punk sensibility.”

concerts, including AC/DC and Journey. All of that has inspired Almost Famous , Austin’s fourth album. “I’m just a white trash dive bar, local favourite,” he sings. But when you check out the classic clip for the title track, you sense he could easily break big. BILLY MORRISON & OZZY OSBOURNE Gods of Rock n Roll INERTIA

next year. The band made their approach pretty clear in the album’s first single, What You Need : “If you want it, you got it, we’re gonna give you what you need... If you wanna get beat up by the big old drums, we’re gonna give you what you need.” THE DURUTTI COLUMN The Return of The Durutti Column MGM

IRON MAIDEN Live After Death INERTIA

The Durutti Column were one of the first bands to sign to the legendary UK label Factory Records. They called their 1980 debut The Return

In 1985, Iron Maiden released their first live album, which captured the band in full flight on their World Slavery tour. Metal

The late, great Ozzy Osbourne joined Billy Idol’s guitarists Billy Morrison and Steve Stevens for Gods of

of The Durutti Column . It was a groundbreaking mix of post-punk electronic sounds, and the original album was issued in a sandpaper cover. Though it was a Top 10 hit on the UK indie charts, The Durutti Column probably remain the influential Manchester band that you’ve never heard of. HALEY HEYNDERICKX & MAX GARCÍA CONOVER What of Our Nature ROCKET What of Our Nature is

bible Kerrang! called Live After Death “possibly the greatest live album of all time”, while Classic Rock labelled it “the last great live album of the vinyl era”. It includes the band’s classic cuts Aces High, Run to the Hills, Hallowed Be Thy Name and The Number of the Beast . JACOB COLLIER The Light for Days UNIVERSAL English jazz artist Jacob Collier is just 31 but he’s already won seven Grammy Awards. He set himself a challenge for his sixth studio album – writing it all in four days, using just his voice and his unique five-string guitar. He says, “The results are warm, scrappy, imperfect, and close to my heart.”

Rock n Roll and Crack Cocaine , which are reproduced here on this stunning picture disc. A fitting farewell to the Prince of Darkness.

BLUR The Great Escape INERTIA

Oasis might have won the war, but this album – which was released at the height of hostilities in 1995 – shows why Blur

the third album for American indie folk artist Haley Heynderickx. A

were leaders of the Britpop movement, with songs such as Country House, The Universal, and Charmless Man . The original album hit number one in the UK, 10 in Australia and 150 in the US. This 30th anniversary edition includes a disc of B-sides.

collaboration with Max García Conover, it follows their 2018 EP, Among Horses III . They made the album in a barn in Vermont after studying the work of Woody Guthrie.

56 DECEMBER 2025

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