December 2020 New Music Releases
December 2020 gets off to a fast start before settling in for the traditional long winter's nap.
Three major releases arrive within the first two release cycles, topped by Paul McCartney's third one-man-band release. Appropriately titled McCartney III, the album was recorded during the COVID-19 lockdown – which the former Beatles star has taken to calling his "rockdown." Steve Perry's Traces (Alternate Versions & Sketches) features stripped-down updates of seven songs found on his 2018 solo album. There are two takes on "Most of All," which serves as the advance single.
The New OK arrived just months after the resurgent Drive-By Truckers' most recent studio project, January's The Unravelling. Vinyl lovers can now get a listen. Elsewhere, Neil Young's Way Down in the Rust Bucket returns to a Crazy Horse show recorded 30 years ago at the Catalyst Club in Santa Cruz, Calif.
A new box set celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Kinks' Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One, adding B-sides, alternate mixes, outtakes and previously unheard instrumental and acoustic versions. Cat Stevens also takes a look back at two classic albums with expanded editions of Mona Bone Jakon and Tea for the Tillerman, both of which were also released in 1970.
More information on these and other new rock-related efforts can be found below. Remember to follow our continuously updated list of 2020 New Music Releases for details on projects issued throughout the year.
Dec. 4
Blackmore's Night [Ritchie Blackmore], Here We Come A-Caroling (four-song EP)
Bob Marley and the Wailers, The Complete Island Recordings (11CD set)
Cat Stevens, Tea for the Tillerman and Mona Bone Jakon (50th anniversary expanded box-set reissues)
George Thorogood and the Destroyers, Live in Boston 1982: The Complete Concert
Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders, GarciaLive Volume 15: May 21st, 1971 Keystone Korner (2CD set)
Little Richard, Southern Child (previously unreleased)
Mudhoney, Real Low Vibe: The Reprise Recordings 1992-1998 (4CD set)
Neil Young, Way Down in the Rust Bucket
Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers [with Spanish cover image], Time Waits For No One: Anthology 1971-1977, Made in the Shade, Sucking in the Seventies, Rewind (1971-1984)
Steve Perry, Traces (Alternate Versions & Sketches)
White Stripes, Greatest Hits
Dec. 11
Firefall, Comet
Neil Young, After the Gold Rush (50th anniversary expanded reissue)
Dec. 18
Drive-By Truckers, The New OK (vinyl version)
Kinks, Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One (expanded 50th anniversary reissue)
Paul McCartney, McCartney III
January and Beyond
Barry Gibb, Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers’ Songbook, Vol. 1
Dead Daisies with Glenn Hughes, Holy Ground
Steven Wilson, The Future Bites
Foo Fighters, Medicine at Midnight
Alice Cooper, Detroit Stories
Steve Lukather, I Found the Sun Again