ACETONE TO RELEASE I’m still waiting. NOVEMBER 17 VIA NEW WEST RECORDS
COMPREHENSIVE 11-LP BOX SET FEATURES EXTENSIVE LINER NOTES WRITTEN BY J SPACEMAN OF SPIRITUALIZED/SPACEMEN 3 & DREW DANIEL OF MATMOS/THE SOFT PINK TRUTH
63-TRACK COLLECTION INCLUDES 8 PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED RECORDINGS
STANDALONE REISSUES OF STUDIO LPS CINDY (1993), IF YOU ONLY KNEW (1995), ACETONE (1997), AND YORK BLVD. (2000) TO BE AVAILABLE ON VINYL FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MORE THAN 2o YEARS
UNCUT MAGAZINE PREMIERES UNRELEASED SONG “SHAKER” TODAY
“Acetone made music with a deep affection for all that preceded it. Hui ‘Ohana, Kris Kristofferson, The Wailers (both sets), John Prine, Gram Parsons, The Velvet Underground, Brian Wilson... full of frailty, love, pain, satisfaction, and disquiet.” - J Spaceman (Spiritualized)
“Acetone’s music is like a film. You put it on and start to watch the beautiful cinematography that plays in your mind and listen to the lovely stories in their harmonies and lyrics. So glad to know this great music.” - Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star)
“Acetone is a great band, a timeless one, and a band whose records deserve to be out there for a new generation of fans to discover.” - Colin Meloy (The Decemberists)
Acetone Photograph by Chris Cuffaro
Acetone will release I’m still waiting. on November 17, 2023, via New West Records. The definitive, career-spanning, limited-edition 11-LP box set includes the Los Angeles band’s acclaimed full-length studio albums: Cindy (1993), If You Only Knew (1995), Acetone (1997), and York Blvd. (2000). The collection also includes their debut EP, Acetone (1993), available on vinyl in the US for the first time; the mini-LP, I Guess I Would (1995), available commercially on vinyl in the US for the first time; and the nine-song bonus LP, Prime Cuts. Spanning 63 total tracks, I’m still waiting. features 8 previously unreleased recordings.
The collection has been met with early critical acclaim with Uncut Magazine awarding it 9 out of 10 stars, calling Acetone “One of the 90s’ great lost bands.” Of their late frontman, Richie Lee, they said, “While he no doubt falls into the category of several talented, and perhaps a little fragile and troubled, singer and songwriters who died this way in the 2000s - from Elliott Smith and Mark Linkous to Vic Chesnutt - Lee has never had the same posthumous attention or adulation. This box set remedies that, not only highlighting his devastating and clearly underappreciated talent, but also showcasing the combined forces of a band that at their best can match Big Star, Yo La Tengo, Low and other outfits whose legacies feel enshrined in the history of alternative music. Perhaps now Acetone can finally join them."
Rising from the ashes of the short-lived Spinout (whose debut was issued by Delicious Vinyl), Acetone formed in 1991, rehearsing endlessly and recording frequently at drummer Steve Hadley’s ramshackle pool house in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. During the post-Nirvana major-label feeding frenzy of the early 1990s, the band signed with Vernon Yard Recordings, a new subsidiary of Virgin Records, yet they were singular among the new wave of alternative rock bands. On their eponymous EP and their full-length debut, Cindy (both released in 1993), Acetone showcased a dizzying range of influences: from the Everly Brothers to Isaac Hayes, the Velvet Underground to Martin Denny, Brian Eno to the Meat Puppets. The result was a sunbaked power-trio sound that left vast canyons of space in their songs.
Following the release in 1995 of a mini-LP of country covers called I Guess I Would and a new studio album called If You Only Knew, Acetone toured the world opening for Oasis, Mazzy Star, the Verve, Spiritualized, and Garbage. They signed to Neil Young’s Vapor Records and released their critically acclaimed self-titled album in 1997. Following the release of 2000’s York. Blvd., frontman Richie Lee tragically committed suicide in 2001. Their albums lapsed out of print and until recently, were largely never released on streaming platforms, yet Acetone developed an incredibly avid following. The band is the subject of Sam Sweet’s brilliant nonfiction novel Hadley Lee Lightcap, published by All Night Menu, as well as the rarities anthology Acetone 1992-2001, released by Light in the Attic.
I’m still waiting. celebrates the 30th anniversary of Acetone’s debut. All of the full-length albums have been expanded to double LPs housed in gatefold jackets, and If You Only Knew is available on vinyl for the first time ever. Additionally, the Acetone LP features the band’s original mix, previously available only on rare first pressings. Pressed on crystal clear vinyl, the recordings were remastered by John Baldwin at the historic RCA Studio A in Nashville, with lacquers cut at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London. The set also includes a 60-page, full-color book featuring never-before-seen photos and extensive liner notes written by J Spaceman of Spiritualized and Spacemen 3 & Drew Daniel of Matmos and the Soft Pink Truth.
Mark Lightcap offers, “It’s amazing to me how much love there is for Acetone out in the world, especially considering how few records we actually sold at the time. That love, unrequited as the catalog moldered in record company vaults, has now been fully consummated in the form of this box set. Infinite gratitude to New West for pulling out all the stops on this project. Records that were squeezed onto one disc in the vinyl-as-an-afterthought 90s have all mushroomed into doubles, and I can truthfully say that it’s like hearing them for the first time. With really beautiful liner notes by our pals Drew Daniel and Jason Pierce, and a bonus LP of personal favorite, unreleased recordings from the band’s own vault, this thing is the mother lode for Acetone fans. Salut!”
PREVIEW ACETONE’S I’M STILL WAITING. BOX SET
Today, Uncut Magazine premiered the previously unreleased song “Shaker,” which is included on the bonus LP Prime Cuts. Mark Lightcap said, “For better and for worse, the producer on York Blvd. was extremely averse to wasting studio time. Thus, the final track selection for the album was made before mixing, and no ‘bonus tracks’ were mixed. In retrospect, it’s hard to imagine how this one didn’t make the cut; it’s one of the best songs we ever wrote. We were all excited by the horn part, but a little freaked out, like maybe it was a step too far into Steely Dan territory? I guess there’s worse things to be afraid of.”
SHARE ACETONE’S PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED “SHAKER”
Acetone previously shared the unreleased demo version of the Cindy highlight “No Need Swim” (also included on the bonus LP Prime Cuts). The song was recorded at the band’s practice space—drummer Steve Hadley’s rented pool house—in 1991 before Acetone had even settled on a band name. Lightcap says, “This was one of the first batch of recordings we sent out in search of a record deal. This track is a direct transfer from the actual cassette that got us signed to Vernon Yard. It was graciously returned by (label head) Keith Wood in 2022, and it also happens to be the best surviving version of these recordings.”
Acetone’s full-length studio albums—Cindy, If You Only Knew, Acetone, and York Blvd.—will also be available individually on limited-edition black vinyl. The standalone albums as well as the I’m still waiting. limited-edition box set are available for pre-order NOW via NEW WEST RECORDS.
Acetone EP Track Listing:
1. I’m Gone
2. For A Few Dollars More
3. D.F.B
4. Cindy
Cindy Track Listing:
1. Come On
2. Pinch
3. Sundown
4. Chills
5. Endless Summer
6. Louise
7. Don’t Cry
8. No Need Swim
9. Barefoot On Sunday
I Guess I Would Track Listing:
1. Juanita
2. The Late John Garfield Blues
3. I Guess I Would
4. Sometimes You Just Can’t Win
5. All For The Love Of A Girl
6. How Sweet I Roamed
7. Border Lord
If You Only Knew Track Listing:
1. If You Only Knew
2. I Don’t Really Care
3. In The Light
4. I’ve Enjoyed As Much Of This As I Can Stand
5. The Final Say
6. When You’re Gone
7. Hound Dog
8. 99
9. What I See
10. Nothing At All
11. Esque
12. Always Late
Acetone Track Listing:
1. Every Kiss
2. All The Time
3. Germs
4. Might As Well
5. Shobud
6. All You Know
7. Good Life
8. Dee
9. Waltz
10. Another Minute
11. So Slow
12. Chew
York Blvd. Track Listing:
1. Things Are Gonna Be Alright
2. Wonderful World
3. 19
4. Vibrato
5. Like I Told You
6. It’s A Lie
7. Bonds
8. One Drop
9. Vaccination
10. Stray
Prime Cuts Track Listing:
1. O.I.E (If You Only Knew outtake)
2. Shaker (York Blvd. outtake) *
3. Nobody Home (demo) *
4. Vibrato (demo) *
5. Nothing At All (live on CJAM 99.1 FM) *
6. No Need Swim (demo) *
7. Cindy (live at the Lizard Lounge, Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 30, 1998) *
8. York Blvd. (rehearsal tape) *
9. She Belongs To Me (rehearsal tape) *
* previously unreleased
AcetoneBand.com
NewWestRecords.com
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