Igor Gavrilov about the most anticipated albums of 2023

Until the end of 2023, music lovers will have to evaluate the reworked version of the most popular album of the 20th century, remember the former greatness of the art rock star and dance along with the most extravagant singer in England. All this is already on the schedule of music releases, but something else is sure to be added. Tells Igor Gavrilov.

The fact that former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters re-recorded the group’s most popular album “The Dark Side Of The Moon” (1973) became known back in the winter, and now there is finally an exact release date for the new version. The album, titled “The Dark Side Of The Moon Redux”, will be available on October 6th. If in the spring the listeners could get an impression of the sound of the reworked version only from fragments of recordings and from the comments of the author of The Telegraph newspaper, now there is a full-fledged single “Money”, which does not have an easily recognizable sample – the ringing of coins from the “one-armed bandit”. It will be possible to evaluate how this composition can exist without its main detail in the context of the entire album. So far, this sounds very strange and unusual. Instead of a scream – hoarse melodic declamation, additional instruments – Middle Eastern strings. And no exaltation in the code. Probably, the whole album will be an attempt not so much to improve the original as to rethink it in the spirit of a philosophical radio play with a lot of new lyrics.

Towards the end of the year, Peter Gabriel’s tenth album, i/o, is expected to be released. The former Genesis frontman and solo artist, who set the standard for “serious pop” in the 1980s, did not release new original material for 21 years. He was fascinated by working with cover versions and reworking his own masterpieces. And from the beginning of 2023, Peter Gabriel began to release singles for the new record. As befits an old art rocker, he came up with a special concept for this. New songs come out every full moon. He liked the idea so much that he has already stated that after the release “i / o” will stick to such a release schedule. Each song comes out in two versions, called by the author “light side” and “dark side”. The very name of the album “i / o” – “input / output” (“input / output”), that is, “on button” – also coincides with the name of Jupiter’s satellite with the largest number of active volcanoes in the solar system.

Seven songs have been released so far. For fans of Peter Gabriel, this is a real gift, by today’s industry standards, the released material already pulls on an album. The songs have all the singer’s calling cards: unaltered vocals, pulling out the highest choruses, funky bass from Tony Levin and generally filigree and strict arrangements, healthy pop melody, general adherence to style and a sense of the global significance of music. It turned out that radio stations are also interested in this, in any case, the title song “i / o” can be heard on the European air. The audience is waiting for the kind of music that no one, except for the 73-year-old Gabriel, knows how to make.

Hit Parade is the first collaboration between former Moloko singer Roshin Murphy and legendary electronic record label Ninja Tune on September 8. Roshin Murphy’s new studio partner is German DJ Stefan Kozalla (DJ Koze). According to the singer, the work has been completely remote over the past few years. The producer was in Hamburg, and the vocalist was in London. The lyrics came out “more intimate”, and the creator of the sound series “was not distracted by her presence.” As usual, Roshin Murphy paid a lot of attention to the visual side, just look at the cover, which depicts her as a transforming roly-poly. However, the black-and-white video for the new song “Fader” is made in the style of a street procession in a small town, familiar from many music videos. The sound of the composition is also not innovative at all. Apparently, the characteristic sign of the album “Hit Parade” will be a variety of styles – from lounge to techno.

In the midst of Guns N’ Roses’ summer European tour, a surprise shot of Slash and Axl Rose at Urban Sound recording studio in Oslo has surfaced online. The musicians presumably listened to new material there. For the fans, it’s like manna from heaven. Chinese Democracy, the last studio album under the Guns N’Roses brand, was released in 2008, and with the classic line-up they didn’t release anything new until last year. However, last year’s EP “Hard School” was based on old sketches. Since Guns N’ Roses’ reunion in 2016, there has been constant talk of a new album. The band’s long-time technician Tom Mayhew let slip to fans the other day that new Guns N’Roses music could be released as early as the end of this year, with a single likely even earlier. Other details are not reported.

In connection with the recent death of Sinead O’Connor, we should expect news about her album “No Veteran Dies Alone”, the release of which the singer announced back in 2021. It is known that the album included eight songs, and it was produced by David Holmes. They met in 2017, and Holmes immediately offered to collaborate, stating that he wanted to record an album about healing, as he also experienced mental health problems. O’Connor’s old friend and godfather of her youngest son, director Neil Jordan, was also lucky to listen to O’Connor’s new material: “The song “No Veteran Dies Alone” was about how any cry for pain, for help, for understanding can be so easily interpreted wrong. Sinead played me the last mix of this song and it hit me right in the heart again with a voice that came straight from the convent school in Dublin and continued to resonate, taking decades of pain with it.”

According to David Holmes, the terms and timing of the release of “No Veteran Dies Alone” depend on the decision of the singer’s family. “I will gladly do what I am told,” he says.