Real Gone Music’s November 25 release slate is so packed that the label has decided to roll it out a few titles at a time.  The label is kicking things off for the pre-Thanksgiving rush with some soulful Southern rock, a hidden gem from one of the stars of 20 Feet from Stardom, a slab of metal, a previously unissued live concert from the soulful horn band Tower of Power, and a 5-CD box set from the pride of Newcastle upon Tyne, The Animals!

Real Gone is going wild with perhaps its most ambitious title yet – a deluxe box set!  A project of ABKCO Records through Real Gone, The Animals’ 5-CD The Mickie Most Years and More celebrates the music of Eric Burdon, Alan Price, Chas Chandler, Hilton Valentine and John Steel, plus later additions Dave Rowberry and Barry Jenkins.  The Mickie Most Years contains the soulful rockers’ first four U.S. albums plus bonus tracks and an original 4-track EP.  Three of these were produced by Most (1938-2003), also known for his work with artists such as Donovan, Lulu and Herman’s Hermits.  Each one of these four original albums - The Animals (1964), The Animals on Tour (1965), Animal Tracks (1965) and Animalization (1966) – has been transferred by remastering engineer Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering from the original first generation mono tapes.  In addition, each album contains an assortment of bonus tracks including four tracks never before released in the U.S., unique single versions of “We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” “Don’t Bring Me Down” and “I’m Gonna Change The World,” and “Roadrunner,” a UK-only track.  Another bonus is the complete 4-track EP I Just Wanna Make Love to You, originally issued in 1963 on the Graphic Sound label.  This EP was later reissued by Decca in the U.K. as In the Beginning There Was Early Animals.  Rolling Stone Senior Editor and music historian David Fricke contributes new liner notes to each CD, and the box set also includes an Animals T-shirt (size XL, 100% cotton).

Oakland, California’s Tower of Power has more than lived up to its name over the past 40+ years.  The horn band’s soulful and funky R&B grooves have enlivened over 20 studio and live albums plus countless appearances with other artists from Elton John to the Grateful Dead and everybody in between.  Tower of Power scored its commercial breakthrough with its third, self-titled album, originally released in May 1973.  The album spawned three hit singles, “So Very Hard to Go,” “What is Hip?” and “This Time It’s Real.”  Of course, the band wasn’t going anywhere, and was unquestionably hip – for real.  In May 1974, T.O.P. entered the studios of Long Island’s progressive-minded WLIR-FM for a live, in-studio set.  Now, nearly forty years later, Real Gone Music is issuing that blazing concert on 2 CDs.  The performance on Hipper Than Hip came on the heels of the band’s fourth album Back to Oakland, and includes such favorites as “So Very Hard to Go,” “You’re Still a Young Man,” “Time Will Tell” and of course, “What is Hip?” with Lenny Williams on vocals.  Real Gone’s package includes a booklet with photographs and new liner notes from R&B historian Leo Sacks.

In recent months, we’ve seen reissued music from a number of the top-tier background vocalists featured in Morgan Neville’s acclaimed documentary 20 Feet from Stardom – Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, and Claudia Lennear (the latter on Real Gone).  Now, Lisa Fischer can be added to that list.  Fischer won a Grammy Award for her R&B chart-topping 1991 single “How Can I Ease the Pain,” but soon retreated from the solo spotlight in favor of her stellar background singing career.  Fischer has performed and toured with artists as diverse as The Rolling Stones, Sting, Tina Turner, and Nine Inch Nails, but fans haven’t forgotten her sole 1991 solo album on the Elektra label, So Intense.  Real Gone is revisiting So Intense, with productions by an A-list including Narada Michael Walden and Luther Vandross, in a deluxe edition expanded with five bonus tracks.  So Intense: Deluxe Edition, from one of Mick Jagger’s most frequent and favorite duet partners, includes new liner notes by Pat Thomas.

After the jump: head down to Muscle Shoals and beyond!  Plus: pre-order links and track listings for all titles!

Under the direction of Elektra head Jac Holzman and Memphis musician/arranger/songwriter Don Nix, The Alabama State Troupers (note the spelling!) were assembled as a traveling show spotlighting Elektra artists such as Nix, singer Jeanie Greene and guitarist Lonnie Mack. When Mack dropped out of the tour before it commenced, bluesman Furry Lewis stepped in as a Trouper.  The 1972 double album, appropriately entitled The Alabama State Troupers Road Show, was recorded at the Long Beach and Pasadena Civic Auditoriums in late 1971, and preserves this smoking line-up.  The first side of the LP was dedicated to Lewis’ solo set, while the remainder of the record showcases Nix and Greene supported by the group dubbed the Mt. Zion Band and Choir.  Among its members: guitarists Wayne Perkins and Tippy Armstrong, vocalists Marlin Greene and Brenda Patterson, keyboardist Clayton Ivey, bassist Bob Wray and musicians hand-picked from Muscle Shoals.  Road Show’s blend of rock, R&B and gospel has been ripe for reinvestigation on CD, and this 2-CD presentation includes new liner notes by Chris Morris drawn from a new interview with Don Nix, plus added photos.  It also makes a great companion to Real Gone’s reissue of Nix’s 1971 solo set Living by the Days, released earlier this year.

Last (for now) is The Church Within, a 1994 Columbia release from metal band The Obsessed.  Fronted by Scott “Wino” Weinrich (also of Saint Vitus, Spirit Caravan, Place of Skulls, The Hidden Hand and W.I.N.O.), The Obsessed recorded three albums between 1990 and 1994 of which major label debut The Church Within was the last.  Real Gone promises that “The Church Within features the dark vision and crushing, slow-motion riffs beloved by fans of Black Sabbath, but the driving intensity and atonal guitar solos recall Motorhead and Black Flag, respectively.”   Fans of this nineties metal classic will be pleased to see its first-ever reissue on both CD and double 180-gram gatefold vinyl with two bonus tracks (the single "Mental Kingdom" and the unreleased track "Melancholy Grey").  The deluxe package also includes added photos, the original album art with lyrics, and a new note from Weinrich.

All three of these releases are due from Real Gone Music on November 25.  Watch this space as we’ll update with the rest of Real Gone’s slate once the remaining titles are officially announced!

The Animals, The Mickie Most Years and More (ABKCO/Real Gone Music, 2013) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

CD 1: I Just Wanna Make Love to You (originally issued as Graphic Sound EP ALO 10867, 1963)

1. I Just Wanna Make Love to You
2. Big Boss Man
3. Boom Boom
4. Pretty Thing

CD 2: The Animals (originally issued as MGM LP E-4264, 1964)

1. House of the Rising Sun
2. The Girl Can’t Help It
3. Blue Feeling
4. Baby Let Me Take You Home
5. The Right Time
6. Talkin’ ‘Bout You
7. Around and Around
8. I’m in Love Again
9. Gonna Send You Back to Walker
10. Memphis, Tennessee
11. I’m Mad Again
12. I’ve Been Around
13. Talkin’ ‘Bout You (Full Seven Minute Version)

Tracks 1-12: Original Album, Track 13: Bonus Track

CD 3: The Animals on Tour (originally issued as MGM LP E-4281, 1965)

1. Boom Boom
2. How You’ve Changed
3. Mess Around
4. Bright Lights, Big City
5. I Believe to My Soul
6. Worried Life Blues
7. Let the Good Times Roll
8. Ain’t Got You
9. Hallelujah, I Love Her So
10. I’m Crying
11. Dimples
12. She Said Yeah
13. Baby What’s Wrong
14. F-E-E-L
15. New Year’s Radio Spot (recorded December, 1964)

Tracks 1-12: Original Album, Tracks 13-15: Bonus Tracks

CD 4: Animal Tracks (originally issued as MGM LP E-4305, 1965)

1. We Gotta Get Out of This Place
2. Take It Easy Baby
3. Bring It on Home to Me
4. The Story of Bo Diddley
5. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
6. I Can’t Believe It
7. Club A-Go-Go
8. Roberta
9. Bury My Body
10. For Miss Caulker
11. Roadrunner (previously unreleased in the U.S.)
12. Don’t Want Much (previously unreleased in the U.S.)
13. We Gotta Get Out of This Place (U.K. single version)
14. It’s My Life (single only)
15. I’m Gonna Change the World

Tracks 1-10: Original Album, Tracks 11-15: Bonus Tracks

CD 5: Animalization (originally issued as MGM LP E-4384, 1966 - produced by Tom Wilson)

1. Don’t Bring Me Down
2. One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show
3. You’re on My Mind
4. Cheating
5. She’ll Return It
6. Inside-Looking Out
7. See See Rider
8. Gin House Blues
9. Maudie
10. What Am I Living For
11. Sweet Little Sixteen
12. I Put a Spell on You
13. Don’t Bring Me Down (stereo)
14. Cheating (stereo)
15. See See Rider (stereo)

Tracks 1-12: Original Album, Tracks 13-15: Bonus Tracks

Tower of Power, Hipper Than Hip: Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow - Live on the Air & in the Studio 1974 (Real Gone Music, 2013) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

CD 1

1. Intro
2. Oakland Stroke
3. Squib Cakes
4. This Time It’s Real
5. Soul Vaccination
6. You’re Still a Young Man
7. Clean Slate
8. So Very Hard to Go
9. Get Your Feet Back on the Ground

CD 2

1. Intro
2. Time Will Tell
3. Man from the Past
4. Down to the Nightclub
5. Just When We Start Makin’ It
6. Knock Yourself Out
7. What is Hip?

All tracks previously unissued commercially.

Lisa Fischer, So Intense (Elektra CD 60889, 1991 – reissued Real Gone Music, 2013) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

1. Save Me
2. Get Back to Love
3. How Can I Ease the Pain
4. So Intense
5. Wildflower
6. Some Girls
7. So Tender
8. Send the Message of Love
9. Chain of Broken Hearts
10. Last Goodbye
11. Reachin' 4 U (B-Side)
12. How Can I Ease the Pain (Edit)
13. So Intense (Radio Remix)
14. Save Me (Radio Mix)
15. Save Me (Extended Mix)

The Alabama State Troupers, Road Show (Elektra LP EKS-75022, 1972) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

CD 1

1. Furry’s Blues
2. Brownsville
3. I’m Black
4. A Chicken Ain’t Nothin’ But a Bird
5. Will the Circle Be Unbroken
6. Amos Burke
7. Mighty Time
8. Jesus on the Mainline
9. Mary Louise
10. Yes , I Do Understand

CD 2

1. Opening
2. Living in the Country
3. Joa-Bim
4. Dixie
5. Heavy Makes You Happy
6. Iuka
7. Asphalt Outlaw Hero
8. Olena
9. My Father’s House
10. Going Down

The Obsessed, The Church Within (Columbia CD CK 57342 – reissued Real Gone Music, 2013) (CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) (Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

1. To Protect and to Serve
2. Field of Hours
3. Streamlined
4. Blind Lightning
5. Neatz Brigade
6. World Apart
7. Skybone
8. Streetside
9. Climate of Despair
10. Mourning
11. Touch of Everything
12. Decimation
13. Living Rain
14. Mental Kingdom (from Columbia single CSK 6077, 1994)
15. Melancholy Grey (previously unreleased)