July 2020 New Music Releases
The list of July 2020 new music releases is tinged with nostalgia, as several huge acts take long looks back – but there are some notable new offerings too.
Paul McCartney highlights the month's slate of expanded reissues with a return to 1997's Flaming Pie. The seven-disc set will include demos, home recordings, studio outtakes, B-sides, highlights from 1995's Oobu Joobu radio series, an audio tour of his home, the In the World Tonight documentary, music videos and more.
Elsewhere, the Pretenders will be marking a couple of firsts. Hate for Sale is their first studio album since 2016's Alone – and the first with co-founding drummer Martin Chambers since 2002.
The Absence of Presence, the follow-up to Kansas' 2016 album The Prelude Implicit, will finally arrive after a manufacturing delay. Before this burst of activity, Kansas hadn't put out an album of new material since Somewhere to Elsewhere in 2000.
Two bands are celebrating 50th anniversaries: The Grateful Dead's reissue series continues with an update of Workingman's Dead that now features a complete Feb. 21, 1971, show at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, N.Y. The pushed-back release of an eight-disc box set titled Half Century will also mark America's golden jubilee with a book, replica posters and memorabilia, previously unreleased demos, album outtakes and home movies.
The month's concert offerings include Dee Snider's For the Love of Metal Live, which also boasts a previously unheard original studio song called "Prove Me Wrong."
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.
July 3
The Charlatans UK, Between 10th and 11th: Expanded Edition
Joe Ely, Love in the Midst of Mayhem
McStine & Minnemann, McStine & Minnemann
Sparks, A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip
July 10
America, Half Century (7CD/1DVD box set)
Flamin’ Groovies, Flamin’ Groovies Now
Grateful Dead, Workingman's Dead: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
Jayhawks, XOXO
Mark Lindsay [Paul Revere and the Raiders], The Complete Columbia Singles
Ray Wylie Hubbard, Co-Starring [Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh, Don Was, Chris Robinson, others]
July 17
Gang of Four, ANTI HERO
Kansas, The Absence of Presence
Pretenders, Hate for Sale
Various artists, Surrender to the Rhythm: The London Pub Rock Scene of the Seventies (3CD, with Thin Lizzy, Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, Squeeze, Mott the Hoople, Status Quo, Sensational Alex Harvey Band, others)
July 24
Andrew Gold, Lonely Boy: The Asylum Anthology (7CD)
Anthony Phillips [Genesis], The Living Room Concert (expanded and remastered)
Dave Mason, Alone Together ... Again
July 31
Dee Snider, For the Love of Metal Live
Glenn Hughes, The Official Bootleg Box Set Vol. 3 (1995-2010) (6CD remastered)
Jon Anderson [Yes], 1000 Hands, [Alan White, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Jean-Luc Ponty, Ian Anderson]
Paul McCartney: Flaming Pie: Deluxe Edition
Various artists, Musik Music Musique, 1980: The Dawn of Synth Pop [Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, the Buggles, Spandau Ballet, Philip Lynott, Human League, others[
Various artists, NWOBHM Thunder: The New Wave of British Heavy Metal 1978-86 [3CD set, featuring Saxon, Praying Mantis, Venom, Blitzkrieg, others]
August and Beyond
Deep Purple, Whoosh!
Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cosmo’s Factory: 50th Anniversary Edition
Record Store Day: RSD Drops
Mike Campbell's Dirty Knobs, Wreckless Abandon
Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets, Live at the Roundhouse