STACK #263 September 2026

PREVIEWS MUSIC

THIS MONTH?

THE PROCLAIMERS You May Oˆend MGM

EVANESCENCE Sanctuary SONY

ROGER TAYLOR Violence Insane in a Beautiful World SONY This is the seventh solo album for Queen

After travelling way more than 500 miles, the Reid twins, Craig and Charlie, are still making music. You May Offend is the 13th studio album for the great Scots. “Is it an instruction or an invitation?” Charlie ponders. “Or a warning?”

Every Evanescence album has hit the Top 10. In a crazy modern world, singer Amy Lee says they found their sanctuary, their “comfort and connection through the power of music”. These songs will sound great live, and Evanescence will be back in Australia in March next year.

D rummer/singer/songwriter Phil Collins began his career in 1967 in English band Genesis, whose lead singer Peter Gabriel left in 1975 to pursue a solo career, with the band taking 18 months to adjust. After auditioning more than 400 singers, they decided that Collins would take over. Dispensing with costumes and songs that grew into elaborate suites synonymous with the Gabriel era, Genesis reached a much bigger audience with more radio-friendly songs and Collins as lead singer. While still a member of Genesis, Collins released his first solo album, Face Value , in 1981. The album, recently re-released as a Limited Deluxe Expanded Vinyl Box Set, was an instant commercial success, selling more than eight million copies worldwide. Songs such as the international smash hit In the Air Tonight, I Missed Again, and If Leaving Me Is Easy related to a relationship breakdown that the singer was experiencing. Musically, Collins called on different genres, incorporating his love for R&B by hiring the Phenix Horns who played backup for Earth, Wind & Fire, as well as bassist Alphonso Johnson and violinist L. Shankar. In re-listening to Face Value , it’s not difficult to understand why this album has maintained its appeal. PHIL COLLINS Face Value (Deluxe Blu-ray Edition) INERTIA BIL Y’S PICK

drummer Roger Taylor. The opening track, A Beautiful World , features South Africa’s Ndlovu

Youth Choir. And the record includes a cover of John Lennon’s Jealous Guy .

AUSSIE RELEASES

KASABIAN Act III SONY

Act III is the ninth studio album for England’s Kasabian, who will celebrate their 30th anniversary next year. Speaking about the

AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS Truth or Consequence AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS Amyl and The Sniffers go

JULIA JACKLIN The Gem ROCKET

Julia Jacklin’s fourth album – her first since signing a global deal with indie label 4AD - takes its title from a great pub in Collingwood in Melbourne. The album was recorded in a little studio above the bar. Speaking about the contradictions at the heart of the record, Julia says: “I want to love and be loved, but I also want to be free. The tension between those two things has been the central question of my life. The Gem felt like a metaphor for the whole process, because a lot of it did feel like digging. I felt like I was doing it almost in the dark, just trusting I was going to find something.”

country. Yes, you read that right. Australia’s biggest punk band has done a country album. It’s

single, singer Serge Pizzorno said: “ Great Pretender is about imposter syndrome, not as a weakness but as a sign you’re on the edge of something real. It’s that feeling right before you step on stage, when the lights go down and it’s now or never.” LIZZY McALPINE Angel SONY Lizzy McAlpine’s dad died on March 13,

a live album, recorded at LA’s El Coyote in April last year. No, it was not April Fools’ Day. The band countrifies ten of their songs, unveils two previously unreleased tracks, and covers the Slim Dusty classic Lights on the Hill . It’s been recorded by Keith Urban, Mental As Anything, Troy Cassar-Daley & Adam Harvey, and now Amyl and The Sniffers. You have to hear it to believe it.

2020. Since then, she has dedicated track 13 on every album to him. The American artist

NATALIE IMBRUGLIA Algorithm ROCKET

Twenty-nine years after Torn tore up the charts, Natalia Imbruglia is releasing her seventh album, her first in five years. The Aussie artist co-wrote every track on the record, which followed a difficult period in her life. “This was by far the most fun I’ve ever had making a record,” she says. “It also happened to coincide with the most challenging time I’ve had with

says this record blends the ’70s Laurel Canyon sound with a modern indie feel. Angel follows Lizzy’s third album, Older , which was her first Top 40 entry in Australia.

my mental health. This is the beauty of music and artistic expression. You can take something dark and turn it into light. I really hope that people get as much joy from listening to this record as we did. And that they dance their arses off.”

LEON BRIDGES Happiness Anytime SONY

PAUL KELLY & THE MESSENGERS Gossip (40th Anniversary) INERTIA

UPS AND DOWNS Radio Is Dead MGM

“For me, happiness is not a feeling that you chase,” American soul star Leon Bridges says. “I want this album to be something that lingers

Gossip was the album that changed everything for Paul Kelly. His record company saw it as the last roll of the dice. Remarkably, Paul

The cover of the new Ups and Downs EP shows Geoff Atkinson behind the microphone. The father of the brothers in the band,

insisted that it be a double album – a pretty bold demand from an artist who’d yet to break through. Indeed, legend has it that the late, great music mogul Michael Gudinski replied, “You’ve got to be f-cking joking!” But he did release the double album. And when the first single, Before Too Long , was picked up by commercial radio, Paul Kelly was on his way. And he had plenty more great songs to back it up. Gossip is one of the greatest Aussie albums of all time.

Greg and Darren, Geoff was a radio announcer in the band’s hometown of Brisbane. Forty years after their breakthrough single The Living Kind led to a nomination for ‘Best New Artist’ at the first ARIA Awards (the trophy went to Crowded House), Ups and Downs are back with their first new music in ten years. Radio might be dead, but the band’s brand of jangle pop still sounds fresh. Fun fact: Ups and Downs are one of Rick Springfield’s favourite Aussie bands.

in people’s bones. There’s this feeling that we have to fix the problems of the world. My role is to be light. I hope that comes across with this album.”

Radio legend Billy Pinnell presents Billy Pinnell’s Musical Moments on YouTube.

51