Billboard Bits: McCarren Park, Prefab Sprout, Animal Collective

The initial lineup has been announced for a slate of free shows at McCarren Park Pool in Brooklyn, N.Y., which began hosting concerts last summer after two decades of inactivity. Sponsored by JELLYNYC, the slate will begin June 24 with a rare performance from Superchunk with special guest Oakley Hall.

Man Man, Dengue Fever and Illinois will play July 1, followed by Octopus Project, Erase Errata and Dan Deacon on July 8. Blonde Redhead and I’m From Barcelona are set for Aug. 5, while Ted Leo & the Pharmacists and the Thermals will play Aug. 12 and Ghostland Observatory will close out the series Aug. 19. Lineups have yet to be announced for three shows in July.

McCarren Park will also play host to a number of ticketed shows, including Cat Power with Built To Spill and Bob Mould (July 7), Sonic Youth playing its “Daydream Nation” album in its entirety (July 28) and Erasure (Aug. 3).

— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

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U.K. pop/rock outfit Prefab Sprout’s revered 1985 album “Steve McQueen” will be reissued in a deluxe edition Aug. 7 via Legacy. The original album will be augmented by a second disc of acoustic reinterpretations of eight of its 11 songs, recorded last summer by frontman Paddy McAloon.

Although it barely dented The Billboard 200 in the United State (where it was released as “Two Wheels Good”), the set was a hit in the United Kingdom, reaching No. 21 on the country’s album chart. The single “When Love Breaks Down” became Prefab Sprout’s first top 25 hit.

Here is the bonus disc track list for “Steve McQueen — Legacy Edition”:

“Appetite”
“Bonny”
“Desire As”
“When Love Breaks Down”
“Goodbye Lucille #1”
“Moving the River”
“Faron Young”
“When the Angels”

— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

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Animal Collective has christened its next album “Strawberry Jam,” and, as previously reported, will release the set in September via Domino. The nine-track set will include “Cuckoo Cuckoo,” which has been road-tested live as of late.

“Our only influence was to move forward from where we came from, or at least go somewhere new,” group member Josh Dibb told Billboard.com last month. “Most of the album is made up of jams we’ve been playing live already. There are, nonetheless, a few new ones that we’ve never played live.”

Animal Collective visits Chicago tonight (May 17) and will be on the road through late July internationally.

— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.