The Second Disc

Back on July 26, 2010, we reported on Sweets, Spice, Sugar, Pins and Needles, a 4-CD, 120-track boxed retrospective dedicated to The Searchers, the second-most famous band to emerge from Liverpool during the British Invasion!  We wrote:

One of the best and most successful bands to come out of Liverpool, The Searchers may have toiled in the shadow of that other band from Liverpool, but hits like “Sugar and Spice,” “Pins and Needles” and “When You Walk in the Room” remain some of the strongest recordings to come out of the mid-1960s. Now, Universal U.K.’s Sanctuary arm is bestowing the band with the lavish box set treatment. Entitled Sweets, Spice, Sugar, Pins and Needles, the box turns the spotlight on 120 tracks over four discs. Those tracks include rough demos, BBC recordings, solo turns by group members and material from the late-1970s power pop discs released here in the USA on the Sire label, not to mention all of those classic hit singles.

This box comes hot on the heels of a recent single-disc anthology which saw the band back in a Top 10 position on the British pop charts, but it should satisfy fans both abroad and stateside. The Searchers may have suffered for a lack of original songwriting, but the cover versions they chose were almost uniformly top-notch, whether emanating from the East or West Coasts of America. Sun-kissed songs like Jack Nitzsche and Sonny Bono’s “Needles and Pins” and Jackie DeShannon’s “When You Walk in the Room” both were reworked a la Merseyside, while the Brill Building catalogs of Pomus and Shuman (“Sweets for My Sweet”) and Leiber and Stoller (“Love Potion No. 9”) were likewise beneficiaries of the Searchers’ hitmaking prowess. Release date information and the track listing for Sweets, Spice, Sugar, Pins and Needles hasn’t been revealed to the public yet (although favorable reviews have shown up at both Record Collector and Mojo), but watch this space for such news when it arrives.

Well, it’s taken almost two years, but The Searchers’ box set has finally been confirmed with a release date of June 25 as well as a new title: Hearts in Their Eyes.  Hit the jump for the full specs including a track listing with discography! Read the rest of this entry »

Pantera, Vulgar Display of Power: 20th Anniversary Edition (ATCO/Rhino)

One of the heaviest albums of the ’90s, expanded with one bonus track from the vault and a bonus DVD of live material and music videos.

Diana Ross, Live in Central Park (Shout! Factory)

Both of Miss Ross’ iconic nights in Central Park in 1983 – one with rain, one without – on DVD for the first time anywhere.

The Tubes, Outside Inside: Expanded Edition (Iconoclassic)

Step inside another world with The Tubes’ most famous of pop/rock albums, newly remastered with bonus B-sides.

Various Artists, No Room for Rockstars: The VANS Warped Tour (Shout! Factory)

A documentary on the history of the influential punk rock concert tour, with a bonus CD of studio tracks by some of the tour’s most famous acts.

What defines country music?  The answer isn’t an easy one.  Dolly Parton is undoubtedly singing a country-and-western song when she reminisces about “My Tennessee Mountain Home,” but how about when she’s warbling “Here You Come Again” by the Brill Building team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil?  Are Shania Twain, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift country artists as pop stars, or pop stars as country artists?  Billboard recently described none other than Bruce Springsteen as “a symbolic fencepost in modern country.”  Clearly, country music comes in all varieties.  This hasn’t been lost on the fine folks at Real Gone Music, who have recently issued a group of country-themed collections that are about as different as different can be.  The artists are three late troubadours: Cowboy Copas (1913-1963), Eddie Rabbitt (1941-1998) and Mel McDaniel (1942-2011).  Real Gone’s three new compilations prove that these singers were able to carve out their own niches in the overall country-and-western landscape.

The Taylor Swifts of the world might be most indebted to Eddie Rabbitt, whose music practically defines “crossover country.”  Perhaps this was due to his upbringing; Rabbitt was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised across the Hudson in East Orange, New Jersey, a highly unlikely breeding ground for a country music superstar.  Rabbitt’s 13 Original # 1 Hits (Real Gone Music RGM-0047, 2012) is not one of Real Gone’s more comprehensive collections, but despite its brief running time, it nonetheless traces Rabbitt’s ascendancy from rising country star to pop crossover success.

Though Rabbitt made his debut on record in 1964, this collection of his thirteen No. 1s (on various charts) picks up in 1976.  That was six years after Elvis Presley made the world take notice of Rabbitt when he recorded the songwriter’s “Kentucky Rain,” still a perennial favorite of the late King’s fans.    Rabbitt remained a consistent hitmaker until 1986, and Real Gone has gone the extra mile in licensing these tracks from labels including Capitol, Warner Bros. and RCA.  Rabbitt was equally comfortable as a songwriter and interpreter of others’ material, and was quite adaptable in musical styles.

The earliest track here is pure honky-tonk country, musically and lyrically (“Drinkin’ My Baby (Off My Mind),” co-written with Even Stevens) but by the second song, from 1978, the change in Rabbitt’s style is pronounced.  The piano is no longer rollicking but plaintive for the Alan Ray/Jeff Raymond composition “You Don’t Love Me Anymore,” a big, sumptuous pop ballad with not a twangy guitar in sight.  Soon enough, strings and backing vocalists were added to the radio-ready equation (“I Just Want to Love You,” written by Rabbitt, Stevens and David Malloy) in a sound that was more AM pop than countrypolitan.  The change paid off, with both songs hitting pole position on the C&W chart.

Rabbitt continued his climb atop the charts, bringing a light country flavor to pop tunes (the movie theme “Every Which Way But Loose”) or abandoning the Nashville overtones altogether (the slick, blue-eyed soul song “Suspicions”).  His crossover gambits worked beautifully, as the endurance of smash hits like jukebox sing-along “I Love a Rainy Night” (No. 1 Pop, C&W and AC in 1980) and Crystal Gayle duet “You and I” (No. 1 C&W, No. 2 AC and No. 7 Pop) proves.   The collection concludes with the romantic “Both to Each Other (Friends and Lovers)” which found Rabbitt joining Juice Newton in an attempt to recapture some of the magic of his Crystal Gayle duet.  Bill Dahl offers a solid and informative essay to accompany 13 Original # 1 Hits, but unfortunately the booklet contains no discographical information to the original issue number of each single and chart positions.

The next release in Real Gone’s country trio comes from a contemporary of Rabbitt’s, Mel McDaniel.  Hit the jump where you’ll find baby with her blue jeans on! Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s some news fit for Page Three: ’80s pop tart Samantha Fox is expanding her first four albums on Cherry Pop Records this summer.

Touch Me (1986), Samantha Fox (1987), I Wanna Have Some Fun (1989) and Just One Night (1991) have all been digitally remastered and will be presented as double-disc sets featuring not only a heap of dance mixes, but a generous amount of rare and unreleased material from the vaults.

Fox gained immediate notoriety in 1983 when she became U.K. tabloid The Sun‘s youngest Page Three model at the tender age of 16. (Fox’s parents gave written consent for their daughter to pose topless, shocking the more conservative side of British culture.) Music was her first love, though; two years before, she formed her own band, S.F.X., and released a handful of singles on the Lamborghini label.

Several of those tracks are included on the expansion of Touch Me – among their first “official” releases on a Fox album. Hits including “Touch Me (I Want Your Body),” “Do Ya Do Ya (Wanna Please Me),” “Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)” and “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now” abound in various configurations on the sets, along with several vaulted tracks from Fox’s many collaborations with the production teams Stock Aitken Waterman and Full Force.

All four sets will be out in the U.K. on June 25, and you can order and preview them after the jump.

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Today, London’s Dominion Theatre is home to We Will Rock You, a tongue-in-cheek “jukebox musical” featuring the music of Queen.  That show is currently celebrating its 10^th year at the Dominion, but even before the “Bohemian Rhapsody” chaps came to town, the Dominion was no stranger to mega-musicals from rock stars.  In 1986, Dave Clark of the Dave Clark Five put his name above the title of a lavish spectacle called Time.  Clark collaborated on the musical’s book and lyrics with David Soames; the music was provided by Jeff Daniels (not the actor of the same name).  Clark was also credited with “creating and devising” the elaborate stage production.  The April 1986 debut of the musical starred Cliff Richard as The Rock Star, and Sir Laurence Olivier, the latter appearing as a pre-filmed holographic giant head (!) named Akash.  Arlene Phillips (Starlight Express) contributed choreography along with director Larry Fuller (Evita, Merrily We Roll Along), and John Napier (Sunset Boulevard, Les Miserables) designed the massive production.

Time never received an original London Cast Recording, however, with Clark opting instead to release the show’s score as a star-filled, two-LP concept album prior to the London opening.  Cliff Richard, of course, was enlisted to perform on the album, along with a “Who’s Who” of pop, rock and soul including Freddie Mercury, Stevie Wonder, Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, Leo Sayer, Julian Lennon and the recently-reunited team of Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach.  Olivier appeared on the Time album, as well.  Close your eyes and picture the great actor intoning dialogue such as this:

Stand before me on the Sign of Infinity, all you of the Earth. With the granting of “The Law of Probenation” comes the application of change. I will give you the key. And with this knowledge, please realize, comes the responsibility of sharing it. I will show you the way: (It’s very simple). Throughout the Universe there is order: in the movement of the plane, in nature, and in the functioning of the human mind. A mind at is in its natural state of order is in harmony with the Universe, and such a mind is timeless. Your life is an expression of your mind. You are a creator of your own Universe, for as a human being you are “free to will” whatever state of being you desire through the use of your thoughts and words.  There is great Power there.  It can be a blessing or a curse…

Dave Clark has apparently never been comfortable with the compact disc, having refused nearly every offer to bring his storied DC5 catalogue to the format over the years.  A mere handful of official releases have materialized including Hollywood Records’ 1993 double-CD anthology The History of the Dave Clark Five, EMI U.K.’s shorter counterpart Glad All Over Again, and Universal’s 2010 The Hits.  He’s been more forthcoming with releases on iTunes, and now, the starry studio cast recording of Time is once more available.  For its belated 25^th anniversary, Time has joined the DC5 catalogue as available from that digital music provider.

There’s more in Time after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »

As crazy as it may sound, the debut album by pop-rock band Maroon 5 is turning 10 this year, and the band is picking a strange time to commemorate it.

The band and their label, A&M/Octone, are partnering to release a double-disc expanded edition of 2002′s Songs About Jane featuring “original demos, unreleased material and videos.” The set will be released to general retail on June 5; a deluxe bundle, available on the band’s website, also comes with a bonus lithograph “incorporating original art inspired by each song” in addition to the album’s distinctive cover art.

What makes the timing of the reissue odd is it’s due to arrive alongside the release of the band’s fourth album, Overexposed. It’s easy to question the marketing sense behind pitting a quadruple-platinum Top 10 smash against a more current album, whose debut single “Payphone” debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, setting a first-week digital sales record of 493,000 units sold.

But it’s also hard to deny the impact Songs About Jane had on the group, serving as one of the last great slow burns in pop history: the band was forged from the failure of power-pop group Kara’s Flowers, whose Rob Cavallo-produced debut stiffed in 1997, when the members were still in high school. Adding an extra guitarist and embracing R&B and soul stylings, Songs About Jane didn’t go anywhere for over a year, until fans began to notice the radio-friendly riffs and striking good looks of the band members (notably lead singer Adam Levine, who’s parlayed his singing career into a prime spot as a judge on NBC’s The Voice).

Ultimately, Jane spun off four Top 40 hits, including the Top 5 smashes “This Love” and “She Will Be Loved.” Constant touring in support of Jane – not to mention a Grammy Award for Best New Artist – led 2007′s sophomore album It Won’t Be Soon Before Long to the top of the charts, and the group’s foray into dance music with 2011′s “Moves Like Jagger” was a solid No. 1 hit for weeks.

UPDATE (5/11): The full specs of the reissue have been announced, and bonus content is plentiful. The 17-track bonus disc includes demos of every song on the album, a non-LP B-side, “Rag Doll”; demos of three rare or unreleased tunes (“Woman,” heard on 2004′s Spider-Man 2 soundtrack, and the unissued “Take What You Want” and “Chilly Winter”) and an alternate mix of album track “The Sun.” The disc will also unlock video content including footage of the band recording Jane and the original EPK for the album. Hit the jump to check the full track list!

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It’s once again time to go back to mono.  Sundazed has just announced the vinyl reissue of four classic albums from Phil Spector’s Philles label.  On July 31, The Ronettes’ Presenting The Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica by the Ronettes; Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah by Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans; and The Crystals’ Uptown and He’s A Rebel will all receive the Sundazed treatment.  All four albums were reissued on CD last year from Phil Spector Records and Legacy Recordings as part of The Philles Album Collection box set, but this Sundazed campaign marks their return to their original vinyl format.

These four LPs tell the early Spector story and in doing so, the story of a shift in American popular music as the music business took notice of the buying power of the teenager.  The then-21 year old Spector’s earliest hits, The Crystals’ “There’s No Other (Like My Baby)” and “Uptown,” are both heard here, as well as the breakthroughs “Be My Baby,” “Baby, I Love You” and “Walking in the Rain” for the Ronettes.  The development of the “Wall of Sound” is traced from the early New York sessions, many with arranger Arnold Goland, to the famous Hollywood recordings on which Spector was aided by the power of the Wrecking Crew and arranger Jack Nitzsche.

After the jump, we’ll take an in-depth look at all four albums!   Plus: track listings and a pre-order link! Read the rest of this entry »

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRQljAZ9xlA]

Following a successful reissue of five Ventures titles on LP and CD earlier this year, Sundazed has four more in the pipeline for June.

The guitar-rock pioneers recorded with a frequent intensity that earned them the moniker of “The Band That Launched a Thousand Bands.” These four albums, the live The Ventures on Stage, Wild Things!, Super Psychedelics and Hawaii Five-O, released between 1965 and 1969, feature a fantastic cluster of six-stringed covers of some of the best pop and rock songs of the time, including “Wild Thing,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “Happy Together,” “Theme from ‘A Summer Place,’” “The Letter,” “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” and, most famously, the theme to the hit television show Hawaii Five-O. The Ventures’ version of Morton Stevens’ classic tune was a Top 5 hit for the group, and stands with “Walk, Don’t Run” (which is captured in a spirited rendition on The Ventures on Stage) as the band’s signature tunes.

Sundazed is now taking orders for the reissues of these albums, presented from the original stereo masters and with the artwork from the original Dolton and Liberty sleeves restored, on both CD and colored vinyl (red for Stage, yellow for Wild Things!, blue for Super Psychedelics and green for Hawaii Five-O). They will ship to arrive on their in-store date of June 19.

Hit the jump to order your copies now!

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Whether you’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name, found some Rhythm in Atlanta or visited the gilded palace of sin, the United Kingdom’s BGO label just might have a reissue for you.  On June 4, the label will introduce bring long-out-of-print titles from The Flying Burrito Brothers and Atlanta Rhythm Section to CD, and bring back a pair of hard-to-find albums from America.

Though the group’s original incarnation was short-lived, The Flying Burrito Brothers remain a cornerstone of country-rock.  The band had its roots in The Byrds, formed by Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons of that band with Chris Ethridge and “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow in 1968.  This line-up recorded just one album, The Gilded Palace of Sin, before the departure of bassist Ethridge.  Hillman moved over to bass, future Eagle Bernie Leadon joined on guitar, and another ex-Byrd, Michael Clarke, joined on drums.  This group recorded 1970’s Burrito Deluxe, but internal strife led founder Parsons to decamp for a solo career which would be cut short by his untimely death.  Rick Roberts joined the remaining four members for 1971’s self-titled album, but after 1972’s Last of the Red Hot Burritos live album, the band would break up.  By the time of Red Hot, Leadon and Kleinow had also jumped ship, with Hillman, Roberts and Clarke joined by Al Perkins and Kenny Wertz on guitars.  A group that once held so much promise had crashed and burned.  Of course, the Burritos would be Flying Again in 1975, with yet more personnel changes, but that’s a tale for another day.

Following Gram Parsons’ death in 1973 of a drug overdose, interest in his back catalogue naturally grew, and A&M Records issued a double-LP, 23-song compilation, Close Up the Honky Tonks, to meet the growing demand.  It contained one LP of tracks from the Burritos’ first two records, adding the non-LP single “The Train Song.” The second LP introduced 11 previously unreleased tracks including covers of The Bee Gees’ “To Love Somebody,” Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over, Beethoven” and the Everly Brothers’ “Wake Up, Little Susie.”  It’s somewhat surprising that it’s taken this long for Honky Tonks to receive a CD reissue, but it’s now here, courtesy of BGO.  Most of these tracks have been reissued in various places over the years, but Close Up the Honky Tonks offers one-stop shopping as a combined best-of and rarities set.

Hit the jump for the scoop on reissues from America and Atlanta Rhythm Section! Read the rest of this entry »

Ooh-wah, ooh-wah, cool, cool kitty!  Tell us about the boy from New York City…

And indeed, much of America listened to the Ad Libs tell of that kinda tall, really fine guy in his mohair suit.  The Top 10 hit turned radio’s attention from Swinging London back to New York City for a brief moment, but the group was never able to repeat the song’s success.  It wasn’t for lack of trying, though, as Real Gone Music’s The Complete Blue Cat Recordings (Real Gone RGM-0500, 2012) proves.  Though the Ad Libs’ released output at Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller and George Goldner’s Blue Cat Records consisted of just four singles (eight sides), the Real Goners have added a wealth of unreleased material to create the definitive portrait of the vocal group.

Blue Cat, an imprint of Leiber, Stoller and Goldner’s Red Bird label, boasted its own cool kitty, a blue, horn-playing feline on each of its records.  “The Boy From New York City” was the group’s first A-side for Blue Cat.  And how could the song, written by John Taylor, have gone wrong, with Leiber and Stoller producing, future Philly soul legend Leon Huff on piano, Artie Butler arranging, and Phil Ramone engineering the session at New York’s Mira Sound studio?  In his introduction to the liner notes here, Tim Hauser of The Manhattan Transfer states most accurately and succinctly that the 1964 song was a “’60s Brill Building version of classic street-corner doo-wop,” and that mix, indeed, marks the small but enjoyable crop of music recorded at Blue Cat by the Ad Libs.  The group was born from the remains of Bayonne, New Jersey’s The Arabians and The Creators, and initially signed by Red Bird/Blue Cat as The Cheerios!  Taylor, too, was residing in Bayonne when he wrote “The Boy From New York City.”

Like contemporaries The Essex (“Easier Said Than Done”) and Ruby and the Romantics (“Our Day Will Come”), The Ad Libs were distinguished by the presence of a female vocalist, Mary Ann Thomas.  Spotted in Hoboken, Thomas filled out the quintet also including Hughie Harris, Danny Austin, Dave Watt and Norman Donegan.  John Taylor had been providing them with material since 1962, but George Goldner knew that “The Boy From New York City” was the song with the most hit potential when The Ad Libs offered an a cappella performance of it at an audition.

Hit the jump for more! Read the rest of this entry »