Duran Duran “Burning the Ground” 1989. I don’t remember that many people’s birthdays, but Simon LeBon’s is permanently embedded in my brain — today, October 27th is Simon’s 68th birthday (b. 1958). This is the 12″ single of their stand-alone single released to promote Duran Duran’s comp LP Decade (also released in 1989). “Burning the Ground” is itself a compilation/mashup of their biggest hit singles up to that point; the song was not included on Decade however. It actually charted (well, I’m not surprised as it is a dance floor banger), going to #31 in the UK and making the US Dance/Club chart at #23. It did even better in Italy for some reason, hitting #2 over there. Side A of the 12″ has the aforementioned “Burning the Ground” plus a couple versions of “Decadence” – the regular version and the Extended Mix. That song is also a mashup of their old hits but is even more sampled (heavy on “Save a Prayer,” “The Reflex” and “Notorious”) and instrumental than “Burning the Ground.”

Siouxsie and the Banshees “All Souls” 2022. It’s Siouxsie season! This comp of Siouxsie and the Banshees’ releases was put together by Siouxsie herself as a “seasonal celebration” of some classic Banshees spookiness, remastered, like “Halloween” and “Spellbound” plus other macabre-themed album tracks and b-sides from over the years. The aforementioned tracks are both from the 1981 album Juju, and the album opener “Fireworks” is a single-only release from 1982 in between Juju and 1982’s A Kiss in the Dreamhouse. And one of my favorite Siouxsie songs of all-time, the single “Peek-A-Boo.” There are a couple of non-singles: “We Hunger” comes from 1984’s Hyæna, “The Sweetest Chill” is from 1986’s Tinderbox, and “Rawhead and Bloodybones” from 1988’s Peepshow. A cover of Ben E. King’s 1975 hit “Supernatural Thing” was the b-side to the 1988 single “The Last Beat of My Heart” and “Something Wicked (This Way Comes),” was the b-side to “The Killing Jar,” both also on Peepshow. We have all of the albums mentioned above so most of the tracks but not some of the b-sides so this is a really great Halloween/All Souls Day/Day of the Dead collection.

Wine Lips “Stressor” 2019. Not on a label/self-released. Canadian garage-psych-punk, their debut LP. We saw Wine Lips perform for the first time 3 years ago (opening for Frankie and the Witch Fingers at the Miramar in November 2023) and saw them about this time a year ago at Cactus Club (November 2025). They’re on tour now and playing Chicago in about 2 weeks, not sure if we will get down there or not but it would be absolutely worth it: they have killer energy with mullets that are epic even by Canadian standards (though cannot confirm they still have that style this year). Shreds, ass-shaking, high high high voltage energy and their debut album is no different. 

Wine Lips at the Miramar 2023

Wine Lips at Cactus Club 2025

My top tracks on Stressor are the highly danceable “Fly Swatter, ” the grooving (and 90’s vibey garage punky) “Electric Lady,” and the head-banging meets booty shaking shredding ‘Weak Knees” Also great is the exotically hypnotic “Fried II” (which evolves into an all-out rocking freakfest) and the funky garage psycher “She Said.”  Their latest album TV Dinner came out just a couple months ago, in August 2026. It is possible we have a copy somewhere around here that I’m not aware of (or maybe it’s an upcoming holiday present!) but I don’t remember picking it up. Of course it could be a stupid tariff trade war casualty and just not available for a reasonable price here in the States.