La-La Land's latest releases celebrate the ongoing legacy of the music of Warner Bros. Pictures, from modern Westerns to ultramodern action flicks - not to mention another landmark in the label's own discography. For its 250th release, La-La Land has greatly expanded James Newton Howard's score to Wyatt Earp, Lawrence Kasdan's 1994 drama about the real-life lawman starred Kevin Costner as the titular Earp and co-starred Gene Hackman and Dennis Quaid. Despite its star power, it was considerably
Archives for August 27, 2013
"The Bells Ring," Again: New Wave Outfit Swimming Pool Q's Reissue A&M Works on Deluxe Compilation
Here's a surprising treat from earlier in the summer: New Wave outfit The Swimming Pool Q's recently re-released their two albums for A&M Records with a host of bonus content. The Atlanta-based quintet - anchored by multi-instrumentalist Jeff Calder and guitarist Bob Elsey (the band's principal songwriters) and singer/keyboardist Anne Richmond Boston - enjoyed local success on the DB Records label (alongside acts like Pylon and Love Tractor) before making the jump to the majors with their
Review: The Beach Boys, "Made in California"
If everybody had an ocean... Rarely have five simple words in pop music held such promise. The message at the time was an invitation squarely aimed at teens: “If everybody had an ocean, across the USA/Then everybody’d be surfin’ like Califor-ni-a...” But ultimately, the promise and California dream embodied by Hawthorne, CA’s native sons came to mean so much more than mere surfin’. The sound of The Beach Boys – Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Al Jardine, David Marks,
Let Him Sing and We're Happy: Parlophone Readies The "Alternate" Matt Monro
Matt Monro (1930-1985) made one of his first major splashes under the pseudonym of “Fred Flange,” adding the requisite touch of Sinatra to Peter Sellers’ 1959 comedy LP Songs for Swingin’ Sellers. Good as he was at being Sinatra, however, he was even better at being Matt Monro. Producer George Martin picked up on this, and the rest is history. Monro began his tenure at EMI signed (like Sellers) to Parlophone, later became an artist for EMI’s famous U.S. Capitol label, and still later saw
Release Round-Up: Week of August 27
The Beach Boys, Made in California (Capitol/UMe) Six discs of career-spanning tunes - hits and rarities aplenty - from the best band to come out of Hawthorne, California. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Bob Dylan, Another Self Portrait (1969-1971): The Bootleg Series Vol. 10 (Columbia) Revisit one of the most polarizing periods of Dylan's career with the latest Bootleg Series entry, featuring outtakes from Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait and New Morning. A deluxe version includes Dylan and The