Spring has sprung – at least in the aisles of your local record shop. The list of April 2021 new music releases is overstuffed with fresh sounds to help us all forget a long, quiet winter.

Cheap Trick are set to release the follow-up to 2017's holiday-themed Christmas Christmas. Peter Frampton's new studio project, the impishly titled Frampton Forgets the Words, is all instrumental with covers of songs by David Bowie, George Harrison, Roxy Music and others.

Elsewhere, Greta Van Fleet have completed their second album, The Battle at Garden's Gate, and The Living: 1982 showcases previously unheard sessions from a pre-Guns N' Roses band featuring Duff McKagan.

The slate of concert recordings includes a live set from classic-era Lynyrd Skynyrd, captured during a 1976 festival appearance in England. Fleetwood Mac's Live: Super Deluxe Edition will include more than an hour of unreleased music recorded between 1977 and 1982. Pink Floyd will release a stand-alone version of Live at Knebworth 1990, featuring a performance previously found only on 2019's Later Years box set.

Paul McCartney's McCartney III Imagined, a reinterpreted version of his most recent solo album, is likely this month's most offbeat reissue. The new set features covers and remixes from Beck, St. Vincent, Josh Homme, Phoebe Bridgers and others. Plastic Ono Band, the first proper solo release by McCartney's former bandmate John Lennon, also returns as an eight-disc super-deluxe box set.

The Who's new expanded reissue of The Who Sell Out balloons to a whopping 112 tracks, 46 of which are previously unreleased. Jethro Tull's six-disc return to A, their first album of the '80s, is titled A (A La Mode) 40th Anniversary Edition.

More information on these and other new rock-related efforts can be found below. Remember to follow our continuously updated list of 2021 New Music Releases for details on projects issued throughout the year.

April 2
Al Stewart, Year of the Cat (3CD/1DVD 45th-anniversary deluxe reissue)
Beat Farmers, Tales of the New West (deluxe edition reissue)
Damned, Punk Oddities & Rare Tracks 1977-1982
Mark Bryan [Hootie and the Blowfish], Midlife Priceless
Richie Furay [Buffalo Springfield/Poco], 50th Anniversary Return to the Troubadour (2CD live set)
Tony Joe White, … Continued (reissue)
Various artists, The Best of Bond … James Bond [2CD reissue with Paul McCartney, Tina Turner, Duran Duran and others]

April 9
Cheap Trick, In Another World
Fleetwood Mac, Live: Super Deluxe Edition
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Live at Knebworth '76
Sweet Oblivion feat. Geoff Tate [Queensryche], Relentless

April 16
Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Armed Forces (Vinyl)
Greta Van Fleet, The Battle at Garden's Gate
Jethro Tull, A (A La Mode): 40th Anniversary Edition
John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band: The Ultimate Collection
Living [Duff McKagan], The Living: 1982
Michael Nesmith [Monkees], Different Drum: The Lost RCA Victor Recordings
Paul McCartney, McCartney III Imagined [Digital release, with St. Vincent, Beck, Phoebe Bridgers, Josh Homme, others]
Robin Trower, Maxi Priest and Livingstone Brown, United State of Mind
Tom Petty, Finding Wildflowers: Limited Edition

April 23
Bad Brains, Bad Brains (vinyl reissue)
Dr. Hook, Pleasure & Pain / Sometimes You Win (single-disc reissue)
Motorhead, Louder Than Noise … Live in Berlin
Peter Frampton, Frampton Forgets the Words
Steve Cropper, Fire It Up
The Who, The Who Sell Out: Super Deluxe Edition
38 Special, Strength In Numbers / Rock & Roll Strategy (single-disc reissue)
Various artists, Riding the Rock Machine: British '70s Classic Rock [3CD clamshell box with the Who, Rainbow, Jethro Tull, Mott the Hoople, Electric Light Orchestra, the Faces, Uriah Heep and others]

April 30
Dickey Betts & Great Southern, Official Bootleg Vol. 1 (2CD live set)
Gary Moore, How Blue Can You Get
Howard Jones, In the Running (3CD/1DVD expanded reissue)
Jon Anderson, Animation (expanded reissue)
Marianne Faithfull, She Walks in Beauty [Nick Cave, Brian Eno]
Pink Floyd, Live at Knebworth 1990
Renaissance, Ashes Are Burning: An Anthology Live in Concert (2CD/1DVD/Blu-ray)
Saga, The Best of Saga (2CD set)
Teenage Fanclub, Endless Arcade (vinyl release)

May and Beyond
Nancy Wilson [Heart], You and Me
Van Morrison, Latest Record Project: Volume 1
Micky Dolenz [Monkees], Dolenz Sings Nesmith
Mike Tramp [White Lion], Everything Is Alright
Blackberry Smoke, You Hear Georgia
Peter Cetera, Love, Glory Honor and Heart: The Complete Full Moon and Warner Bros. Recordings (1981-1992)
Crowded House, Dreamers Are Waiting
Paul Gilbert [Mr. Big], Werewolves of Portland
Mammoth WVH, Mammoth WVH

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