Archive for the ‘Miles Davis’ Category
The Second Disc’s Record Store Day 2013 Essential Releases
Raise your hand if you’ll be joining 2013 Ambassador Jack White tomorrow to celebrate Record Store Day 2013! Yes, on Saturday, April 20, independent record stores everywhere will offer an eclectic roster of limited edition releases of all kinds – most on vinyl, but some on CD, too. As usual, the labels participating in RSD ’13 have a number of surprises on the way, previewing future releases, revisiting past titles and even curating completely new packages. As is our tradition here, we’re taking the occasion to count down the titles to which we’re most looking forward! I’ll take my turn first, and then after the jump, you’ll find Mike’s picks for some of the finest offerings you might find at your local independent retailer! Around these parts, of course, every day is Record Store Day – so, after you’ve picked up your share of the year’s collectible releases, don’t forget to browse the regular racks, too…you never know what you might find!
You’ll find more information and a link to a downloadable PDF of the complete Record Store Day list here, and please share your RSD 2013 experiences with us below. Happy Hunting!
1. Miles Davis, ‘Round About Midnight / Milestones / Someday My Prince Will Come (Columbia/Legacy)
Last year, the team at Legacy feted the famous trumpeter with Forever Miles, which collected rare sides recorded between 1956 and 1970. This year, Davis is the recipient of three 180-gram mono vinyl reissues from his classic early Columbia Records period. 1956’s ‘Round About Midnight, Davis’ label debut, showcases the artist at the epoch of his hard bop period. His Quintet includes John Coltrane on tenor sax, Red Garland on piano, Philly Joe Jones on drums and Paul Chambers on bass. Davis’ muted horn makes magic on Thelonious Monk’s “’Round Midnight,” which remained in his book for years, and breathes new life into “Bye Bye Blackbird.” For 1958’s Milestones, Davis foreshadowed the modal jazz breakthrough of the following year’s Kind of Blue with his title track as well as with another Monk composition, “Straight, No Chaser.” The sextet recording adds Cannonball Adderley to the lineup on alto saxophone. Milestones marked the final time Jones, Garland and Chambers would play on a Davis album. Lastly, 1961’s Someday My Prince Will Come blended Davis originals (tributes to producer Teo Macero, Columbia President Goddard Lieberson and wife Frances) with standards including a blazingly reworked title tune from Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Though credited to the Miles Davis Sextet, only “Someday” featured all six players – Davis, Chambers, Hank Mobley and John Coltrane on tenor sax, Wynton Kelly on piano, and Jimmy Cobb on drums. Coltrane made a cameo on tenor on “Teo” (dedicated to Macero) with Mobley playing the instrument on the album’s other songs.
These three LPs remain among Davis’ finest accomplishments. With crispness and clarity, they pack quite a punch in their original mono sound. Legacy has lovingly recreated the original artwork for each individually numbered release. There’s still quite a thrill in holding these objets d’art from a master at the top of his game, restlessly conquering each stylistic shift even as he planted the seeds for the next revolution in jazz. These small group records, which alternated with the big-band sessions teaming Davis with arranger Gil Evans, shouldn’t be missed.
2. Van Dyke Parks, Song Cycle (Reprise/Rhino)
Composer, arranger, producer, singer, musician, actor, author, historian, raconteur and bon vivant: Van Dyke Parks has carved out a niche in popular music truly unlike any other. The renaissance man comes to RSD 2013 both with a new release (Super Chief: Music for the Silver Screen) and a 180-gram mono vinyl reissue of his solo LP debut, 1968’s Song Cycle. As produced by the great record man Lenny Waronker, Song Cycle was a natural progression from the modular songwriting of Parks’ storied collaboration with Brian Wilson, SMiLE. Creative, offbeat, and altogether unencumbered by any notions of conventionality, Song Cycle took in Parks’ varied originals along with compositions from Randy Newman and Donovan. The cinematic, orchestral tour de force is played by a stellar cast of musicians including Wrecking Crew pros Hal Blaine, Tommy Tedesco, Lyle Ritz, Earl Palmer, Jim Gordon and Jay Migliori, plus Newman and The Beau Brummels’ Ron Elliott. A kaleidoscopic journey through California pop, Song Cycle retains its power to surprise and enchant, and those hearing it for the first time in mono will be in for a mind-expanding treat.
3. Paul McCartney and Wings, Maybe I’m Amazed (Hear Music)
Last year, Macca used the annual Record Store Day campaign to preview his deluxe Archive Collection release of 1971’s Ram with a vinyl replica single of “Another Day” b/w “Oh Woman, Oh Why.” This year, the RSD reissue of the 12” “Maybe I’m Amazed” live EP previews this year’s Archive presentation of Wings Over America. As on the original 12” release, Side One includes “Maybe” in full and edited versions in mono, and Side Two presents the full and edited versions in stereo. When “Maybe I’m Amazed” first appeared on 1970’s McCartney, a lush standout on a rather spare collection of homemade songs, it quickly gained popularity, but McCartney declined to officially release it as a single. It wasn’t until the 1976 live version from Wings Over America came along that McCartney relented. His ode to the lovely Linda then scaled the charts to No. 10 in the United States and No. 28 in the United Kingdom.
And Hear Music’s replica “Maybe I’m Amazed” isn’t the only offering this year to excite Beatlefans. Universal Music is collecting three vintage Ringo Starr singles in a lift-top box. Ringo’s Singles Collection includes 7-inch editions of “Photograph” b/w “Down and Out,” “It Don’t Come Easy” b/w “Early 1970,” and “(It’s All Down To) Goodnight Vienna” b/w “Oo-Wee.” All singles are packaged in replicas of their original artwork!
4. Old 97’s with Waylon Jennings (Omnivore)
Omnivore’s 2012 reissue of 1997’s Too Far To Care from Old 97’s added more than a disc’s worth of bonus tracks from the Rhett Miller-fronted alt-country band, and now the group returns to Omnivore with more previously unreleased goodies. And they’ve brought along a guest: the late, great Waylon Jennings. Way back in 1996, Jennings joined Ken Bethea, Murry Hammond, Rhett Miller and Philip Peeples in Nashville to cut two tracks. Yet “Iron Road” and “The Other Shoe,” the two songs completed by Jennings and the 97’s, never saw the light of day…until now. This RSD-exclusive release offers the Jennings/97’s collaborations plus the band’s demos of “Visiting Hours” (a live version of which appeared on 2011’s The Grand Theater Vol. 2) and “Fireflies” (re-recorded by Rhett Miller for his 2006 album The Believer). All four songs will be available as a double yellow vinyl 7-inch release, housed in a gatefold sleeve with art from Jon Langford and even liner notes from Rhett Miller! The package also includes a download card, offering digital files of the four tracks. For an opportunity to hear an iconic talent paired with some of his most authentic heirs, Old 97’s with Waylon Jennings is a rare pleasure, indeed.
5. Jimi Hendrix, Hey Joe b/w Stone Free (Experience Hendrix/Legacy)
Jimi Hendrix isn’t one to be left out – so he’s joined the “back to mono” revolution, as well, with Legacy’s individually numbered reissue of The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s debut U.K. single! This 45 features the explosive trio of Hendrix, Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, backed by the trio of British songbirds The Breakaways. Originally released in December 1966, “Hey Joe” rose to No. 6 on the U.K. chart; the U.S. release failed to chart, replacing “Stone Free” with B-side “51st Anniversary.” This single represents the ground floor of Hendrix’s blazing, all-too-short career, and makes a fine companion to Legacy’s recent mono LP reissues of the U.S. and U.K. editions of the 1967 debut LP Are You Experienced.
Honorable Mentions: Frank Zappa’s “I’m the Slime/Montana” 7-inch (Zappa Records/Universal) is newly remastered from the original 1973 analog source. “I’m the Slime” is presented in a single edit, and “Montana” is a 2013 edit with 25 additional seconds. Grateful Dead’s Rare Cuts and Oddities 1966 compiles, well, rare cuts and oddities from that year in early Dead history! Originally released on CD in 2005, it’s making its vinyl debut on two 180-gram platters for RSD!
After the jump: Mike has another five titles for ya!
The Legacy of Record Store Day: Upcoming Exclusives Revealed From Sly, Willie, Miles, Taj, Aerosmith and More
It’s not quite the summertime yet, but Legacy Recordings has some hot fun planned for Record Store Day thanks to a diverse slate of releases from A (Aerosmith) to, well, S (Sly and the Family Stone)! April 20 is the date when Legacy will join 2013 Record Store Day Ambassador Jack White to celebrate not only those beloved black vinyl discs, but also the brick-and-mortar retail record store experience which we hold very dear at The Second Disc.
Titles for the sixth annual Record Store Day have already been announced from artists including Paul McCartney, Duran Duran and Hüsker Dü; we know that plenty more news is on the way, so stay tuned for more RSD scoops as they come! In the meantime, hit the jump to find out just what goodies Legacy has in store for you! Read the rest of this entry »
Release Round-Up: Week of March 19
Duane Allman, Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective (Rounder)
A massive seven-disc box set celebrates the life and work of a guitar legend, gone far too soon. Read Joe’s review here! (Amazon U.S.)
Elvis Presley, Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite: Legacy Edition (RCA/Legacy)
The classic best-selling live album, taken from the famed TV special, is paired with a newly-remixed version of The Alternate Aloha (a rehearsal show recorded days earlier) and rare bonus performances. You’ll find Joe’s review here. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Bing Crosby, Bing in Dixieland / Seasons: The Closing Chapter – Deluxe Edition / Return to Paradise Islands: Deluxe Edition / On the Sentimental Side / Bing on Broadway / El Señor Bing: Deluxe Edition / So Rare: Treasures from the Crosby Archives / Bing Sings The Great American Songbook / Bing Sings The Sinatra Songbook / A Southern Memoir: Deluxe Edition / Bing & Rosie: The Crosby-Clooney Radio Sessions (Bing Crosby Enterprises/UMe)
Originally released as part of The Bing Crosby Archive on Collector’s Choice a few years ago, these discs are reprinted by UMe for you to enjoy.
Bing in Dixieland: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Seasons: The Closing Chapter: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Return to Paradise Islands: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
On the Sentimental Side: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Bing on Broadway: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
El Señor Bing: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
So Rare: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Bing Sings The Great American Songbook: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Bing Sings The Sinatra Songbook: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
A Southern Memoir: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Bing & Rosie: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Lee Hazlewood, Trouble is a Lonesome Town (Light in the Attic)
A mightily-expanded edition of Hazlewood’s solo debut LP features a load of non-LP material and unreleased gems!
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
LP: Amazon U.S.
Del Shannon, The Complete U.K. Singles (and More) 1961-1966 (Ace)
Shannon was perhaps even bigger in England than Stateside, so it’s nice to see Ace lovingly anthologize his single sides on two discs. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Miles Davis, Live at Montreux 1991 (Eagle Rock)
Miles’ last appearance at the famed jazz festival, with the help of Quincy Jones and the Gil Evans Orchestra.
DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Blu-Ray: Amazon U.S.
Nat “King” Cole, Welcome to the Club / Harry Belafonte, Calypso (Audio Fidelity)
The newest hybrid SACDs from Audio Fidelity.
Welcome to the Club: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Calypso: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Various Artists, ICON (UMe/Capitol)
Available at the link above, another batch of the painfully thin Universal (and now EMI) compilation line, featuring a lot of comps by artists nobody needs and one actually worthwhile one by Belinda Carlisle with a new track.
Review: The Miles Davis Quintet, “The Bootleg Series Volume 2: Live in Europe 1969″
“Directions in music by Miles Davis,” read the subtitle of the trumpeter’s late-1968 Columbia album Filles de Kilimanjaro. It was the first, but not the last, of his albums to bear those words. But listeners couldn’t have been expected to know which direction Davis would take with each album. Nefertiti, recorded in June-July 1967 but released in March 1968, turned out to be Davis’ last fully acoustic LP, with its follow-up Miles in the Sky (recorded January and May ’68 and released in September) introducing electric piano, electric bass and electric guitar into the mix. In addition to marking the beginning of Davis’ explorations with those textures, though, Miles in the Sky also marked the fifth and final album by his Second Great Quintet: Davis, Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone), Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums). While all five gentlemen played on Filles, Dave Holland replaced Carter on two tracks, and Chick Corea replaced Hancock on the same two. Those personnel changes would augur for the birth of a Third Great Quintet; this live unit would be established once Jack DeJohnette took over the drums from Williams. The impressive line-up of Davis, Shorter, Corea, Holland and DeJohnette, though, was a short-lived one (1968-1969) and was never documented on its own in the studio. These facts make Columbia and Legacy’s release of Miles Davis’ The Bootleg Series Volume 2: Live in Europe 1969 (88725 41853 2) all the more auspicious.
Filles de Kilimanjaro was a transitional album, innovative and avant-garde. As critics were quick to celebrate or decry at the time, almost all vestiges of bop were gone, while the musical forms and structures were even less conventional than on the adventurous outings of the Second Great Quintet. With Davis’ next statement, 1969’s In a Silent Way, he more fully embraced a new electric sound with lengthy musical tone poems, and plunged headfirst into proto-fusion with a cast of players including Shorter, Corea and Holland (plus John McLaughlin on guitar, Josef Zawinul on electric piano and organ, and Williams on drums). This style, of course, found full flower on Davis’ next LP. Whereas In a Silent Way was tender yet intense, Bitches Brew was sprawling, funky, noisy and aggressive. It earned the jazz legend a new rock audience and his first gold record. Columbia heralded the album’s triumph as “Miles Davis: the 15-year success story that happened overnight.”
Bootleg 2 is set against the dramatic backdrop of these landmark recordings. Of course, the style here is still very different from either Silent Way or Bitches Brew; John McLaughlin’s scorching guitar on those albums is absent from this quintet format. The first two CDs of Bootleg 2 find Davis, Shorter, Holland, Corea and DeJohnette in France at the Antibes Jazz Festival on July 25 and 26, 1969, just days before the release of In a Silent Way. The third disc fast-forwards to November 5 for a mostly-acoustic Stockholm gig as part of George Wein’s “Newport Jazz Festival in Europe.” Finally, the DVD ends up a couple of days later, on November 7, for a performance at the Berlin Philharmonie. (To put this in perspective, sessions for Bitches Brew would take place on August 19-21, 1969 in New York, and the earth-shattering album would see release the following April.)
We delve into The Bootleg Series Volume 2 after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »
Release Round-Up: Week of January 29
Fleetwood Mac, Rumours: Expanded/Deluxe Editions (Warner Bros.)
Ahead of the band’s forthcoming tour, a new 4CD/1DVD/LP deluxe box set edition of their most popular album, featuring the original album on CD and vinyl, two discs of studio outtakes (including the one from the 2004 reissue) and an unreleased documentary. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) A three-disc edition collects the album and the two new bonus CDs, so if you own the last expansion and can live sans DVD, you can pick the rest up for a reasonable fee. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Miles Davis Quintet, Live in Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Volume 2 (Columbia/Legacy)
This 3CD/1DVD set features Miles’ “lost” quintet lineup (featuring Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland, who never laid down studio tracks on their own) in four European shows from France, Stockholm and Berlin. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Texas Flood: 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition (Columbia/Legacy)
SRV’s searing debut LP, newly expanded with an unreleased live set from the period. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Destiny’s Child, Love Songs (Music World/Columbia/Legacy)
A new compilation of lesser-known, romantic album cuts, bolstered by – gasp! - the first new Destiny’s Child track since the mid-’00s! Place your bets as to whether Beyoncé will include the tune in her Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday… (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Deep Purple, Paris 1975 (Eagle Rock)
First in a series of upcoming live Deep Purple reissues, this set chronicles the band’s last Mark III-era show, before Ritchie Blackmore left to perform with his new band Rainbow. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Marianne Faithfull, Broken English: Deluxe Edition (Island/Universal U.K.)
Faithfull’s incendiary, signature 1979 album has been expanded in the U.K. with some great audiovisuals, including rare and unreleased mixes. (Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.)
Five Star, Five Star: Deluxe Edition / Shine: Expanded Edition (Cherry Pop)
Available in the U.K. today are two comparatively obscure albums by the British pop/R&B group, expanded with many remixes. (Five Star: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S., Shine: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.)
Various Artists, Playlist: The Very Best Of (Legacy)
Among the titles in this batch: neat mixes of hits and deep-ish cuts from Andy Williams, The Highwaymen and Harry Nilsson; Sun-era sets for Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins and a disc of Box Tops singles, all in glorious mono.
Miles Runs The Voodoo Down: “The Bootleg Series Volume 2″ Sheds Light on Third Great Quintet
Where was Miles Davis at in 1968?
In a June 1968 interview with Leonard Feather of Downbeat, the journalist observed of Davis’ hotel suite, “I found strewn around the room records or tape cartridges by James Brown, Dionne Warwick, Tony Bennett, The Byrds, Aretha Franklin and the Fifth Dimension. Not a single jazz instrumental.” Feather asked “Why?” but concluded that most likely, “when you have reached the aesthetic mountaintop, there is no place to look but down.” Feather’s summation was harsh, perhaps, but Davis was operating on a different plane than his pop contemporaries. Not necessarily a higher place, but a different place. But even atop a lofty perch, Davis wasn’t content to merely look down. So he picked himself up, dusted him off and started all over again. Likely he took in all of the disparate influences around him in not only jazz but pop, rock and soul, and then forgot everything, ready to develop a new form of music as only he could.
Jump ahead one year. Davis’ In a Silent Way was released on July 30, 1969, a mysterious tone poem of an album (well, two tone poems, one to each side of the LP) and a signature early work of Davis’ electric period. Among the players on that album were Wayne Shorter (tenor and soprano sax), Chick Corea (electric piano), Dave Holland (bass) and Jack DeJohnette (drums). Together with Davis, they formed the “third great Miles Davis Quintet,” but this relatively short-lived aggregation (1969-1970) was never documented on its own in the recording studio. The players contributed to In a Silent Way and Filles De Kilimanjaro, and of course joined Davis among the musicians on his electric breakthrough Bitches Brew. Now, the curtain rises on the first-ever official release by this line-up: The Miles Davis Quintet’s Live in Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Volume Two. Set for January 29 release, it follows 2011’s acclaimed first Bootleg volume which chronicled the Second Great Quintet in Europe, 1967. Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings’ Live in Europe 1969, a 3-CD/1-DVD box set, presents the Third Quintet in four concerts: three on CD and one on DVD. By the time of these shows in July and November, 1969, only Davis and Shorter remained from that seminal line-up.
What will you find on the new set? Hit the jump! Plus: the full track listing and pre-order link! Read the rest of this entry »
Black Friday 2012: Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Frank Zappa Lead Off Packed Slate of RSD Exclusives
Here in the U. S. of A., Black Friday is almost upon us: that unusual date following the prior day of giving thanks, in which consumers make a mad dash to the local big-box store, mall or shopping center to procure bargains for the holiday season ahead. Retailers are controversially beginning Black Friday “festivities” even earlier than usual this year, with many sales starting on Thanksgiving Day itself and not even at midnight but in the early part of the evening. For a number of recent years, music buyers have had our own Black Friday, that day in April known as Record Store Day in which the aisles of our independent retailers are filled with hunters of collectible vinyl and CD releases. Record Store Day has in the past sponsored a mini-RSD event on Black Friday, but this year, the titles on offer are as enticing and nearly as plentiful as those on the main RSD itself. For some, this will be a source of frustration, for others, excitement.
This year’s line-up for Record Store Day – Black Friday brings titles from some of the biggest names in rock including The Beach Boys, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and Nirvana, plus cult favorites like Leonard Cohen, Lee Hazlewood and Frank Zappa, and country-and-western legends such as Wanda Jackson and Buck Owens.
After the jump and without further ado, we’ll fill you in on the crème of the reissued crop come this Black Friday! Just click for your full list of the catalogue releases to watch! Read the rest of this entry »
“The Very Best Of” Jazz: Concord Launches New Series With Davis, Rollins, Coltrane and More
If you’ve ever felt it might be a daunting task to “get into” jazz, Concord Music Group just might have the perfect releases for you. Concord is home to many of the genre’s greatest labels, including Prestige, Contemporary, Riverside, Milestone, Fantasy and Pablo. With the new series simply titled The Very Best Of, the Concord team has offered an affordable, entry-level look into five of the most influential musicians of all time: Miles Davis (trumpet), John Coltrane (tenor saxophone), Sonny Rollins (tenor saxophone), Chet Baker (trumpet) and Wes Montgomery (guitar). All five titles in the series are in stores now, and offer a selection of their most enduring music, primarily dating from the 1950s and early 1960s. They capture these artists in the early portion of their careers, i.e. Davis before Columbia, Coltrane before Atlantic, Montgomery before Verve, when they were all breaking new ground and honing a personal style. Each title – effective as either an introduction or a sampler – offers uniform design, remastered sound and new liner notes from authors including Neil Tesser, Ashley Kahn and Doug Ramsey.
For a musician who has influenced every guitarist from George Benson to Jimi Hendrix, Wes Montgomery is remembered for a body of work that lasted just over ten years. Montgomery didn’t enter a recording studio until 25 years of age, didn’t record as a leader until another ten years had elapsed, and was dead ten years after that, felled by a heart attack at age 45. The guitarist’s work can be divided into three distinct periods at different labels: Riverside (1959-1964), Verve (1964-1966) and A&M (1967-1968). The latter two stints were spent under the aegis of producer Creed Taylor, who shaped Montgomery into a pioneer of the crossover jazz market, sweetening his recordings with strings and encouraging him to record the latest pop/rock hits. Concord’s The Very Best of Wes Montgomery is drawn from the pure jazz recorded at Riverside. Montgomery’s sound was, even in his earliest days, instantly identifiable. He made radical use of octaves (playing the same note on two strings, one octave apart) and chord melodies, and was inclined to play with his thumb rather than a pick, making his sound one of the most recognizable in all jazz. The new set’s eleven tracks are drawn from eight of Montgomery’s Riverside albums, bookended by 1959’s The Wes Montgomery Trio and 1963’s Boss Guitar. As you’ll find with all of these albums, a number of other luminaries appear as sidemen, here including Wynton Kelly (piano), Philly Joe Jones (drums), Milt Jackson (vibes) and Ron Carter (bass). A number of Montgomery originals have been selected (“Four on Six,” “West Coast Blues,” “Cariba”) as well as covers of standards and pop songs (“Gone with the Wind,” “Canadian Sunset”) and jazz classics by Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. For those only familiar with Montgomery’s hit Verve and A&M albums, these eleven tracks will likely be a revelation. In any event, they’re a solid starting point to explore the sadly-truncated career of a true great.
Among the artists chosen to inaugurate this series, Chet Baker stands out as the only one to have a career as both instrumentalist and vocalist. Both sides of Baker are on display in The Very Best of Chet Baker, which consists of 14 tracks recorded between 1953 and 1965 from the Riverside, Prestige and Fantasy catalogues. The collection’s earliest song, Rodgers and Hart’s “My Funny Valentine,” hails from Baker’s 1953 debut as part of The Gerry Mulligan Quartet. It quickly became a signature song for the young trumpeter, whose tone was one of restraint, intimacy and smoothness. A major player in the West Coast school of jazz, the handsome young Baker was courted for motion pictures and groomed for stardom, but a drug problem kept him running from the law and the court of public opinion throughout his entire life. Other than drugs, the one constant was his great musicianship, whether playing or singing. Four of his vocals are represented here, including three from Chet Baker Sings: It Could Happen to You (1958) and one from Chet Baker with Fifty Italian Strings (1959). Baker’s cool, relaxed take on “Do It the Hard Way” from Rodgers and Hart’s Pal Joey is a particular standout. Many of Broadway’s finest songwriters received sympathetic treatment from Baker. In addition to four songs from the Rodgers and Hart songbook, two come from Lerner and Loewe, and two more from Jerome Kern (with Oscar Hammerstein II and B.G. DeSylva). Pianist Bill Evans joins Baker on two selections from 1959’s Chet, and Herbie Mann’s tenor sax enlivens “Almost Like Being in Love” and “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face,” both from 1959’s The Best of Lerner and Loewe. Baker continued to record until his untimely, mysterious death from a hotel window in 1988 (Was it suicide? Was it an accident? Was it something else?), but this collection preserves the musician in his prime.
After the jump, we explore sets from John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins and the Miles Davis Quintet, plus we’ve got full track listings with discographical annotation, and pre-order links! Read the rest of this entry »
The Second Disc’s Record Store Day 2012 Essential Releases
Well, Record Store Day is finally upon us! Tomorrow, Saturday, April 21, music fans and collectors will descend upon their local independent record stores to celebrate both the sounds on those black platters and the cherished physical shopping environments alike. As Record Store Day 2012 will offer a typically eclectic array of limited edition releases (primarily on vinyl but also some on CD, too!) from many of our favorite artists here at Second Disc HQ, we thought we would take a moment to count down the titles to which we’re most looking forward! I’ll take my turn first, and then after the jump, you’ll find Mike’s picks for some of the finest offerings you might find at your local retailer! And after you’ve picked up your share of these special collectibles, don’t hesitate to browse the regular racks, too…you never know what you might find!
You’ll find more information and a link to a downloadable PDF of the complete Record Store Day list here, and please share your RSD 2012 experiences with us below. Happy Hunting!
5. Miles Davis, Forever Miles (Columbia/Legacy)
This five-track collection spotlights various eras of the legendary trumpeter via alternate takes and rare mixes new to vinyl plus a previously unreleased live recording. It adds up to a sonic journey through the many iterations of jazz itself. From the fifties comes a 1956 take of “Dear Old Stockholm” with John Coltrane and the first take of 1957’s “Blues for Pablo” with Gil Evans. “Hand Jive” is an alternate from the Miles Davis Quintet box chronicling Davis’ “Second Great Quintet” of 1965-1968. A new mix of “Early Minor” from the In a Silent Way box (1969) rounds out the set along with a previously unreleased “Directions” from 1970 at The Fillmore East.
4. David Bowie, Starman (Virgin)
Remember the picture disc? Virgin Records brings it back with this 45 RPM single containing two versions of David Bowie’s “Starman,” off The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, soon to be celebrating its 40th anniversary with a new CD/DVD edition. Bowie, in his most far-out garb, adorns the vinyl, on which you’ll hear both the original song and a live Top of the Pops performance!
3. The Mynah Birds, It’s My Time/Go On and Cry (Motown)
It might be difficult to resist an offering from Neil Young or Rick James, but how about a 45 RPM single from a band which counted both gentlemen among its members? The single “It’s My Time” b/w “Go On and Cry” was slated for 1966 release on Motown’s V.I.P. imprint, but was shelved until 2006’s Complete Motown Singles Volume 6 box set arrived. Now, six years later, the single comes full circle and finally gets its intended vinyl pressing. Get it while you can!
2. Various Artists, Never To Be Forgotten – The Flip Side of Stax 1968-1974 (Light in the Attic)
Light in the Attic has pulled out all of the stops for this Record Store Day crown jewel: a 7” vinyl box set containing ten singles from the Stax library circa 1968-1974! Artists include Rufus Thomas, Johnnie Taylor, Mable John, Melvin Van Peebles and the Mad Lads, and their singles are housed in a stunning 10 x 7” magnetic flip-top box which also contains an 84-page book. Though a digital edition was released last week, no CD version has been announced, so vinyl is truly the best option to experience these seldom-heard Stax sides. And who could resist that book? You might also want to check out LITA’s new Lee Hazlewood compilation, The LHI Years! It arrives soon on CD, but is making an early appearance on vinyl as part of the RSD festivities!
1. Buck Owens, Coloring Book and Flexi Disc (Omnivore)
Were there prizes awarded for Most Creative and Most Fun Releases this year at Record Store Day, the top honors would surely go to the team at Omnivore Recordings! They’ve given nostalgia a new meaning with the release of the Buck Owens Coloring Book and Flexi Disc. The country star and Hee Haw host planned to release his official coloring book in 1970, but instead, the books languished in a warehouse. Omnivore to the rescue! The clever label has bundled one of these original Owens treasures with a newly-pressed flexi-disc (available in red, white or blue, natch). The coloring book tells the story of Buck and his Buckaroos, with the grand finale a concert performance that can be heard on the flexi-disc. “Act Naturally,” “Together Again,” “I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail” and “Crying Time” are all mentioned in the coloring book and can be played by you, the reader! All four songs come from Owens’ White House performance on September 9, 1968 before President Lyndon B. Johnson. A digital download card also contains all four songs, and the full concert will be released later this year on CD from Omnivore. In the meantime, this unique offering just might make you join me in shouting, “Hee haw!”
Hit the jump for Mike’s top picks! Read the rest of this entry »
First Name Basis: Ozzy, Willie, Janis, Iggy Among Legacy’s Offerings For Record Store Day
Here at Second Disc HQ, we’re eagerly anticipating April 21, or Record Store Day, the industry-wide celebration of all things vinyl (and a few CDs, too!). Record Store Day, now in its fifth year, gives shoppers the chance to interact with big crowds of fellow music enthusiasts in the brick-and-mortar retail environment cherished by so many of us. Legacy Recordings has announced its impressive line-up of limited edition releases that will line the shelves of your favorite independent music store on that Saturday, including titles from the 2012 Record Store Day Ambassador, Iggy Pop, and the 2011 Ambassador, Ozzy Osbourne! Joining those two rock heroes on the Legacy slate are familiar faces such as Paul Simon, Willie Nelson and Lou Reed, and gone-but-not-forgotten legends like Miles Davis and Janis Joplin!
Hit the jump for the full list of Legacy’s diverse offerings, and don’t forget to visit our full (and ongoing) round-up of the reissue-related Record Store Day limited editions for 2012! Read the rest of this entry »
