Real Gone Music is looking ahead to August, and it's going to be one hot summer!  The label has just announced new titles from all around the pop/rock spectrum: Gary Lewis and the Playboys, David Cassidy, The Grateful Dead and Johnny Mathis!

Gary Lewis and the Playboys' Complete Liberty Singles first arrived in 2009 from the late Collectors' Choice Music label, with 45 tracks on 2 CDs.  This anthology definitely proved that there was much more to the group than just "This Diamond Ring," presenting the A- and B-sides of every single they issued on the Liberty label.  Most of the group's original mono mixes and B-sides hadn't been available on CD at all until this set came along, making it a particular must-have for collectors and fans alike.  Discovered at Disneyland and signed to Liberty Records by ace producer Snuff Garrett, Gary Lewis and the Playboys had a smash right out of the gate with that Al Kooper/Bob Brass/Irwin Levine song.  The next six singles for the young California band all went Top Ten, with "Count Me In" and "Save Your Heart for Me" stopping just short of pole position, "She's Just My Style" reaching No. 3 and "Everybody Loves a Clown" hitting No. 4.  Leon Russell was a prominent fixture as songwriter, arranger and musician on many of the Playboys' best tracks, and the pure pop craftsmanship of these classics still impresses today.  Real Gone's new edition brings this comprehensive collection back into print, and includes Ed Osborne's annotation, drawing on interviews with producers Bones Howe and Snuff Garrett, drummers Hal Blaine and Jim Keltner, singer Ron Hicklin (who frequently doubled Lewis' lead vocals) and Lewis himself.

After the jump: what's coming from David Cassidy, The Grateful Dead and Johnny Mathis?  Plus: full track listings and pre-order links!

It's a very good year to be a fan of David Cassidy!  The U.K.'s 7Ts label has just combined onto one CD the one-time teen idol's first two solo albums, 1971's Cherish and Rock Me Baby, both available in the U.S. on the Buddah label.  Now, here in the U.S., Real Gone is picking up the story with a new series of Cassidy reissues, and that series begins with an ultra-rare pair!  Recorded in Great Britain during his 1974 world tour, Cassidy Live! is a testament to the high voltage generated by the star in a live setting.  His repertoire is eclectic, eschewing his familiar hits in favor of songs by Stephen Stills ("For What It's Worth"), Lennon and McCartney ("Please Please Me"), Leon Russell ("Delta Lady"), Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield ("Breaking Up is Hard to Do") and even Rodgers and Hammerstein ("Bali Ha'i"), foreshadowing his later stardom on the Broadway stage.  Two years later, Cassidy released his third and final album on RCA, Gettin' It in the Street.  With co-production and songs by America's Gerry Beckley,   Mick Ronson on guitar and Brian Wilson even offering a song ("Cruise to Harlem"), it further displayed Cassidy's growing maturity as a vocalist.  Yet, with Cassidymania on the wane, the album wasn't even released in America at the time, and it's only been on CD in Japan.  Mike Ragogna contributes liner notes for both releases, and they've been remastered by Vic Anesini.

Real Gone is also, of course, continuing its reissue series of The Grateful Dead's Dick's Picks, so-named for the band's official archivist until 1999, Dick Latvala.  Real Gone has been bringing this 36-volume series to general retail, and the latest installment turns the clock back to 1973 and the band's jazz-fusion period.    Dick's Picks Vol. 28--2/26/73 Pershing Municipal Auditorium, Lincoln, NE 2/28/73 Salt Palace, Salt Lake City, UT is a four-CD set featuring two 1973 concerts.  Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter's "Eyes of the World" plays a central role in both shows excerpted on this volume.  It's merged with "Dark Star" and "Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo" in the first show, and then with "Truckin'," "The Other One" and "Morning Dew" in the second.  "Box of Rain," not frequently performed, also makes an appearance.  "We Bid You Goodnight," the set's final track, holds a special place in Dead lore as the final song performed by the band prior to the death of Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, the band's then-retired vocalist/keyboardist who passed away just one week after the performance at the age of 27.  As usual, this volume is encoded in the HDCD format, but is playable on all CD players.

Finally, Real Gone is turning its attention to Johnny Mathis, the legendary vocalist who has made his home at Columbia Records for over 50 years.  But for a three-year period in the 1960s, Mathis recorded not for Columbia, but for Mercury.  With the exception of a Christmas album reissued and rearranged by Columbia upon his return, not one of Mathis' Mercury albums has ever been on CD.  That's all about to change.  Real Gone's first wave of releases includes a never-before-released album of Broadway-themed songs recorded in 1964-1965, paired with his 1965 LP Love Is Everything.  That disc is paired with Tender Is the Night/Wonderful World of Make-Believe, combining Johnny's first two "secular" albums for Mercury.  We're so excited about this announcement that a special column has been devoted to the return of these seminal LPs to print!

All of the titles mentioned above will arrive in stores on August 28, and you can pre-order them below!

Gary Lewis and the Playboys, The Complete Liberty Singles (Real Gone Music, 2012)

CD 1

1. This Diamond Ring
2. Hard to Find
3. Tijuana Wedding
4. Count Me In
5. Little Miss Go-Go
6. Doin' the Flake
7. Save Your Heart for Me
8. Without a Word of Warning
9. Everybody Loves a Clown
10. Time Stands Still
11. She's Just My Style
12. I Won't Make That Mistake Again
13. Sure Gonna Miss Her
14. I Don't Wanna Say Goodnight
15. Green Grass
16. I Can Read Between the Lines
17. My Heart's a Symphony
18. Tina (I Held You in My Arms)
19. (You Don't Have To) Paint Me a Picture
20. Looking for the Stars
21. Way Way Out
22. Down on the Sloop John B

CD 2

1. Where Will The Words Come From
2. May The Best Man Win
3. The Loser (with a Broken Heart)
4. Ice Melts in the Sun
5. Girls in Love
6. Let's Be More Than Friends
7. Jill
8. New In Town
9. Has She Got the Nicest Eyes
10. Happiness
11. Sealed with a Kiss
12. Sara Jane
13. Main Street
14. C.C. Rider
15. Mr. Memory
16. Every Day I Have to Cry Some
17. Rhythm of the Rain
18. Hayride
19. Gary's Groove
20. Something is Wrong
21. I Saw Elvis Presley Last Night
22. I'm on the Right Road Now
23. Great Balls of Fire

David Cassidy, Cassidy Live! (Bell LP 1312, 1974 - reissued Real Gone Music, 2012)

1. It's Preying on My Mind
2. Some Kind of a Summer
3. Breaking Up is Hard to Do
4. Bali Ha'i
5. Mae Time
6. I Am a Clown
7. Delta Lady
8. Please Please Me
9. Daydreamer
10. How Can I Be Sure
11. For What It's Worth
12. C.C. Rider Blues/Jenny Jenny
13. Rock Medley: Blue Suede Shoes/Rock Around the Clock/Jailhouse Rock/Rock and Roll Music/Rock Me Baby

David Cassidy, Gettin' It in the Street (RCA LP APL1-1852, 1976 - reissued Real Gone Music, 2012)

1. Gettin' It in the Street
2. Cruise to Harlem
3. I'll Have to Go Away (Saying Goodbye)
4. The Story of Rock and Roll
5. I Never Saw You Coming
6. Living a Lie
7. Rosa's Cantina
8. Love, Love the Lady
9. Junked Heart Blues

The Grateful Dead, Dick's Picks Volume 28 (Real Gone Music, 2012)

CD 1

1. "The Promised Land" (Chuck Berry) - 3:36
2. "Loser" (Robert Hunter, Jerry Garcia) - 6:58
3. "Jack Straw" (Hunter, Bob Weir) - 5:17
4. "Don't Ease Me In" (traditional, arr. Grateful Dead) - 4:01
5. "Looks Like Rain" (John Barlow, Weir) - 7:24
6. "Loose Lucy" (Hunter, Garcia) - 7:04
7. "Beer Barrel Polka" (Lew Brown, Wladimir Timm, Jaromir Vejvoda, Vaclav Zeman) - 1:07
8. "Big Railroad Blues" (Noah Lewis) - 4:00
9. "Playing in the Band" (Hunter, Mickey Hart, Weir) - 17:23
10. "They Love Each Other" (Hunter, Garcia) - 5:51
11. "Big River" (Johnny Cash) - 4:36
12. "Tennessee Jed" (Hunter, Garcia) - 8:03

CD 2

1. "Greatest Story Ever Told" (Hunter, Hart, Weir) - 5:26
2. "Dark Star" (Hunter, Garcia, Hart, Bill Kreutzman, Phil Lesh, Pigpen, Weir) - 25:23
3. "Eyes of the World" (Hunter, Garcia) - 19:09
4. "Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo" (Hunter, Garcia) - 8:00
5. "Me and My Uncle" (John Phillips) - 3:26
6. "Not Fade Away" (Buddy Holly, Norman Petty) - 6:34
7. "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" (trad., arr. Grateful Dead) - 7:52
8. "Not Fade Away" (Holly, Petty) - 3:02

CD 3

1. "Cold Rain and Snow" (trad., arr. Grateful Dead) - 6:30
2. "Beat it On Down the Line" (Jesse Fuller) - 3:23
3. "They Love Each Other" (Hunter, Garcia) - 5:54
4. "Mexicali Blues" (Barlow, Weir) - 4:03
5. "Sugaree" (Hunter, Garcia) - 8:03
6. "Box of Rain" (Hunter, Lesh) - 5:18
7. "El Paso" (Marty Robbins) - 4:42
8. "He's Gone" (Hunter, Garcia) - 12:06
9. "Jack Straw" (Hunter, Weir) - 4:48
10. "China Cat Sunflower" (Hunter, Garcia) - 7:20
11. "I Know You Rider" (trad., arr. Grateful Dead) - 5:46
12. "Big River" (Cash) - 4:26

CD 4

1. "Row Jimmy" (Hunter, Garcia) - 8:27
2. "Truckin'" (Hunter, Garcia, Lesh, Weir) - 12:02
3. "The Other One" (Kreutzman, Weir) - 15:07
4. "Eyes of the World" (Hunter, Garcia) - 17:02
5. "Morning Dew" (Bonnie Dobson, Tim Rose) - 12:40
6. "Sugar Magnolia / Sunshine Daydream" (Hunter, Weir) - 9:11
7. "And We Bid You Goodnight" (trad., arr. Grateful Dead) - 3:05

Discs 1 & 2 recorded on February 26, 1973 at Pershing Municipal Auditorium, Lincoln, NE
Discs 3 & 4 recorded on February 28, 1973 at Salt Palace, Salt Lake City, UT