Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. Today's focus is the least-remembered Christmas album on Motown Records, from a lean but not unlistenable time in the label's long history. One of the best things about the holiday season is the union of two of the greatest kinds of music: Christmas carols and Motown tunes. The definitive sound of the Detroit label, when paired with holiday standards, is
Archives for December 15, 2010
Review: Michael Jackson, "Michael"
Last winter, with Michael Jackson's sudden passing not even five months in the past, Motown and Universal Music Enterprises released I Want You Back! Unreleased Masters, a ten-track compilation that was certainly the first in a long salvo of cash-in, vault-clearing titles in honor of the King of Pop (it was wisely marketed as commemorating the 40th anniversary of the J5's first single, which was true enough). Surprisingly, after a great but ill-timed box set collecting Jackson's solo albums and
Eagle Rock is Still Twisted
Fans were hoping for a decent set of remasters for the '80s shock-rockers Twisted Sister at some point in the near future. (A previous set of reissues on the Spitfire label were of intensely dubious quality.) Unfortunately, Warner Music Group seems to have bestowed the remaster task not to Rhino but to Eagle Rock Entertainment, who've put out a steady stream of TS product in the past few months. Now, on January 25, Eagle Rock has another two reissues coming out: the band's sophomore album You
Back Tracks: The Christmas Sounds of the Beach Boys
There may be no group more associated with the sounds of summer than The Beach Boys, favorite sons of Hawthorne, California. Yet the boys of summer could also accurately be described as the boys of winter, based on their timeless, perennial music celebrating Christmas. While the entire official Beach Boys Christmas catalogue is based around just one released album and another shelved one, the group's contribution to seasonal music can't be underestimated. On the eve of the group's 50th