The Second Disc

Some of you with long-term memories might recall our happily breaking the news about High Moon Records back in May 2011.  The New York-based independent label had recently held a release party to announce reissues of Love’s 1973 unreleased album Black Beauty and Gene Clark’s 1977 Two Sides to Every Story.  Both inaugural titles were slated to arrive on June 7.  Well, June came and went, as did 2011, with no sign of either of these much-anticipated releases.

So we’re happy to relate the news shared last month by High Moon’s owners George Wallace and J.D. Martignon.  As of December 9, High Moon was “finalizing the artwork for both releases on LP and CD” and offered new hints as to the talented names working on the albums.  Both albums were remastered by multi-Grammy Award nominee Dan Hersch; the lacquers were mastered and cut by Doug Sax, a name likely familiar to all collectors of audiophile vinyl.  The same care is being put into the albums’ booklets.  The essay for Black Beauty was written by Ben Edmonds (Rolling Stone, Mojo), and Edmonds’ notes will be joined by over fifty never-before-seen pictures of Arthur Lee and the band during the sessions, taken by Herbert Worthington (Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours).   As for Clark’s Two Sides, his biographer John Einarson has provided the new essay.  High Moon will include more never-seen photography, this time by Ed Caraeef from the original album photo session.

Both discs will be packaged in hardbound eco-books for the CDs, while the 180-gram LPs will be housed in tip-on jackets with full-color, 11″x 11″ magazine-style inserts.  For much more on High Moon Records, including track listings and discographical info for these two albums, hit the jump for the salient details! Read the rest of this entry »

On November 10, 1964, The Byrds inked a deal with Columbia Records.  Or more accurately, Jim (later Roger) McGuinn, Gene Clark and David Crosby signed to Columbia Records, with Michael Clarke and Chris Hillman officially joining the roster later.  But before that auspicious major label signing, The Byrds’ bags were packed, pre-flyte, it was zero hour…and after that day, they were destined to be high as a kite…eight miles high.  (Pardon the mixing of musical metaphors.)  The band’s pre-Columbia days have been anthologized over the years almost as extensively as their “official” catalogue, with the earliest release coming in 1969 on Together Records, simply titled Preflyte (Together ST-T-1001).  The recordings were compiled in 1988 for the CD era in an expanded version by Rhino Records as In the Beginning (Rhino CD 70244), also including some rare Elektra sides from the band’s days as The Beefeaters.  Other assorted tracks trickled out over the years, and in 2001, Sundazed issued a 2-CD, 40-track version, The Preflyte Sessions (SC 11116).  On February 27, the U.K.’s Floating World Records will assay these early Byrds tracks as Preflyte Plus, retaining the 40 tracks on The Preflyte Sessions but adding an additional eight songs.

The first 40 tracks on Preflyte Plus are identical to the 2001 Sundazed issue, compiled by Roger McGuinn and Bob Irwin.  You’ll hear embryonic versions of some familiar songs, produced by Jim Dickson at Los Angeles’ World Pacific Studios, including “You Showed Me” (the McGuinn/Clark composition later popularized by The Turtles) and “Mr. Tambourine Man,” the group’s first Columba hit.  Dino Valenti’s oft-recorded “Get Together” premiered on the Sundazed set in a solo rendition by the young David Crosby, the singer who first caught Dickson’s attention.  Four of Crosby’s early solo performances are included. It was at the famed Troubadour that Crosby first sang with McGuinn and Clark, and in short order he introduced them to Dickson.  They were christened The Jet Set, although a brief liaison with Elektra Records led to a British Invasion-leaning single (“Please Let Me Love You”/”Don’t Be Long”) under the name The Beefeaters.   David Fricke’s copious liner notes to the Sundazed edition indicate that there’s still confusion as to whether Michael Clarke or Chris Hillman joined the group next, but either way, The Beefeaters vanished and The Jet Set’s rank expanded to five.  The Byrds was soon born.

Columbia Records’ Terry Melcher re-cut six of the World Pacific tracks for the band’s first two major label albums: “It’s No Use,” “Here Without You,” I Knew I’d Want You,” “You Won’t Have to Cry,” “It Won’t Be Wrong (Don’t Be Long)” and “She Has a Way.”  The latter languished in the vaults for nearly thirty years.  All of the original versions of these songs are present on Preflyte Plus.

What new tracks have been added to Floating World’s reissue?  Hit the jump, and you’ll also find a full track listing with discographical info, and a pre-order link! Read the rest of this entry »

Spin Doctors, Pocket Full of Kryptonite: 20th Anniversary Edition (Epic/Legacy)

The “Two Princes” guys…hey, stop laughing…have their hit debut album remastered and expanded – cut that out! – with a bonus disc of demos and rarities. (Official site)

Aerosmith, Celine Dion, The Byrds and Carole King, The Essential 3.0 (Columbia/Epic/Legacy)

Four Essential compilations get the third-disc treatment. Note that the Celine Dion title is identical to 2008′s My Love: The Essential Collection and the Aerosmith set is identical to 2002′s O Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits. (Amazon: Aerosmith, Celine, Byrds, Carole)

Jill Scott, The Original Jill Scott: From the Vault – Volume 1 (Hidden Beach)

The R&B singer’s original label, having recently lost her after a nasty court battle, decides to raid its vaults and finds 14 good tracks. (Official site)

The Association, Renaissance: Deluxe Expanded Mono Edition (Now Sounds)

Another great Association LP, nearly doubled in length by bonus tracks! (Now Sounds)

Alberta Hunter, Downhearted Blues: Live at the Cookery (RockBeat)

The legendary blues singer with a great story (Hunter sang from the ’20s to the ’40s before leaving the music scene to become a nurse – and then made a surprise comeback after retiring from that career in the ’70s) is represented on CD with this hard-to-find performance from 1981. (Amazon)

Ice Cube, Kill at Will (RockBeat)

Cube’s beloved 1990 EP is now available on CD and vinyl from one of our new favorite reissue labels. (Amazon)

This morning, Sony’s Legacy division kicked off a new catalogue initiative that’s sure to raise a few eyebrows!  The Complete Album Collection box sets bring together an artist’s entire tenure at a label (in these cases, Columbia and RCA Victor) in one tidy box set, with albums in individual mini-LP sleeves.  The first four artists to receive this treatment are The Byrds, Sam Cooke, Stan Getz and Return to Forever, and the boxes are available for pre-order now exclusively through PopMarket.  While many of the titles included have been released on CD in the past, other albums will be making their U.S. CD debuts.  (The Cooke is the most exciting set in this respect, with six of the eight albums new to American CD.  The Getz set has a special surprise, too, in the form of a bonus disc with stray Getz selections.)

We’ll fill in the details later, but in the interest of passing this information to you as quickly as possible, hit the jump for the titles included in each box set and the label-supplied information for each title!  All titles can be pre-ordered now at PopMarket. Read the rest of this entry »