Rarities are the order of the day from Real Gone Music when it comes to the label’s just-announced slate of releases scheduled for late April and early May.

The label kicks things off on April 28 with its reissue of one of the most famous Grateful Dead shows of all time.  Dick’s Picks Volume 8 captures the epic May 2, 1970 show at Binghamton, New York’s Harpur College – a show even singled out by Jerry Garcia himself.  Then, on May 5, Real Gone has five more titles, all of which are packed with rare and “real gone” gems.  Brazilian pop great Jorge Ben’s eponymous 1972 album gets a U.S. release on Real Gone’s Dusty Groove imprint, expanded with seven bonus tracks.  Real Gone also revisits another self-titled album – Nils Lofgren’s solo debut from 1975, previously available via limited edition from Hip-o Select.  As a special bonus to this reissue, Nils has added brand-new liner notes!  Then there’s The Complete Federal/King Singles from Billy Ward and the Dominoes – with 58 rare single sides!

Last but not least, the Real Goners have two titles for which I have provided new liner notes.  First up is All the Love – The Lost Atlantic Recordings from the one and only Jackie DeShannon.  All the Love finally unveils Jackie’s long-lost second Atlantic Records album from 1973.  Only one song from the sessions with producer Tom Dowd was released at the time; more tracks from these album sessions were released by Rhino Handmade in 2003.  All the Love presents the complete album from the great singer-songwriter thanks to the inclusion of seven previously unreleased bonus tracks – and as a special bonus adds four tracks with Van Morrison previously only available on the Handmade edition!  New comments by Jackie round out this essential package.  I’ve also provided notes for the worldwide CD debut of Perry Como’s 1968 album Look to Your Heart, which has been expanded with an entire second album’s worth of material including six previously unreleased tracks and rare never-before-on-CD singles showcasing the legendary Perry’s takes on songs by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, and even Harry Nilsson!  Ray Charles, leader of The Ray Charles Singers, has contributed to my liner notes!

See below for Real Gone’s press release with more details on each release, plus pre-order links for the U.S.!  U.K. links will follow as soon as they become available!

LOS ANGELES, CA – After a sterling 1960s stint recording for Liberty Records with such era-defining hits as “What the World Needs Now Is Love” and “Put a Little Love In Your Heart,” singer-songwriter Jackie DeShannon was signed to Atlantic Records in 1972 by famed producer and DeShannon fan Jerry Wexler. That year, she recorded and released her first album (Jackie) for the label, and then cut sessions for a second album in early 1973 with producer Tom Dowd (Eric Clapton, Allman Bros., etc.). However, only one of the 14 tracks (“Speak Out to Me”) she recorded with Dowd came out on a single in 1973; the other 13 tracks remained in the vaults until 2003, when seven of the tracks from the sessions were added as bonus tunes on a limited edition Rhino Handmade reissue of the Jackie album. Later in 1973, DeShannon recorded four tracks for Atlantic that she wrote with Van Morrison. However, as was the case with the songs she recorded with Tom Dowd, only one of these tracks, “Sweet Sixteen,” was originally released as a single. Now, All the Love–The Lost Atlantic Recordings brings together DeShannon’s entire 1973 Atlantic Records material in one place for the first time, featuring seven previously unreleased tracks along with her rendition of “Drift Away” that was intended for a single before the Dobie Gray cover version. Liner notes by Joe Marchese feature quotes from Jackie, who is thrilled to have these songs finally heard together in full, proper context after forty years. Rare photos, too…a major addition to Grammy Award-winning, Songwriter Hall of Fame member Jackie DeShannon’s discography.

If there was one thing that all the movements that swept Brazilian popular music during the ’60s and ’70s–bossa nova, Jovem Guarda, Tropicalia, Música Popular Brasileira, samba soul, Black Rio–had in common, it was that they all revered Jorge Ben. That’s because Ben incorporated aspects of all their styles without compromising his own; as Caetano Veloso put it, “Jorge Ben, without attempting an artificial or homogenizing ‘fusion,’ came through with a strong, original sound, confronting a body of issues from the opposite end, that of the finished treatment, while we were groping and coming up with varied and incomplete solutions.” Now, Real Gone Music and Dusty Groove are embarking on a long-awaited tour through Ben’s catalog, starting with his 1972 masterpiece, Ben. This is the album that made Jorge Ben a superstar in Brazil, a lean marvel of rhythmic and melodic concision that contains some of his most indelible, durable songs, like the first version of “Taj Mahal” and his ode to his favorite soccer player, “Fio Maravilha.” Even better, we’ve added seven rare bonus tracks, including a fast-paced 1972 version of his first big hit “Mas Que Nada” and a super rare single with Gilberto Gil, “Jazz Potatoes.” Peter Margasak’s notes place Ben’s career and album in historical context. Peerless Brazilian pop, out on CD for the first time outside of Brazil.

As Nils Lofgren himself puts it in his notes for our Real Gone reissue of this classic record, “My first self-titled solo album, affectionately nicknamed the ‘Fat Man’ album [after the front cover photo], remains a colorful and dramatic chapter in my musical and personal life. And still, one of my best albums.” Indeed, this 1975 release spawned a couple of instant classics in “Back It Up” and the Keith Richards homage “Keith Don’t Go (Ode to the Glimmer Twin),” plus an exceptional cover of Carole King’s “Goin’ Back” among its many high points. And while some fans familiar with Nils’ work with Grin and Neil Young were expecting more guitar flash, the spare production by David Briggs and the funky, sympathetic rhythm section of Aynsley Dunbar and Wornell Jones put the focus where it belonged: on the songs. The reputation of Nils Lofgren has only grown over the years, but its only recent appearance on CD in this country was on a long out of print limited edition release; our Real Gone version features liner notes from Nils that take you behind the scenes in the studio and even on the album art photo shoot, and adds some rare pictures to boot. You gotta have this one if you’re a ’70s rocker.

Presenting 58 tracks from the group that launched both Clyde McPhatter and Jackie Wilson to stardom, Billy Ward and His Dominoes: The Complete Federal/King Singles is the most comprehensive, legitimate collection of this all-time great vocal group ever assembled. The Dominoes–under the steely guidance of pianist, bandleader and ex-military man Billy Ward–were a hit-making machine during the early ’50s, probably the most popular R&B vocal group of the era, and this 2-CD set offers all 58 single sides (with a number of songs making their CD debut) that they recorded for the King and Federal labels, home to all but one of their R&B hits. The whole thing kicks off with their first smash, “Do Something for Me,” followed shortly by a contender for the first rock ‘n’ roll record ever made, the hilariously ribald “Sixty-Minute Man,” plus other smashes like “Have Mercy Baby,” “The Bells,” “Pedal Pushin’ Papa” and “Rags to Riches” before winding up with the four single sides the group recorded (with different personnel, but hey, we said complete!) during its brief 1965 reincarnation on the King label. Vocal group expert Bill Dahl pens a 5,000-word essay punctuated by photos, and the package is remastered by Mike Milchner at SonicVision. A hugely important retrospective of a hugely important act in the annals of R&B and rock.

Real Gone Music continues its tour of Perry Como‘s sorely neglected album catalog with the worldwide CD debut of his lushly orchestrated 1968 album of ballads and showtunes, Look to Your Heart. Named by Perry’s acclaimed arranger and orchestra leader Nick Perito as his favorite Como album, Look to Your Heart includes the top 10 AC hit “The Father of Girls” and an irresistible line-up of classic love songs. And our Expanded Edition offers a second album’s worth of bonus tracks consisting of non-album singles and five previously unreleased masters from 1968-1970, all mixed in glorious RCA Stereophonic Sound, capped by an alternate version of Perry’s 1970 smash top 10 Pop/#1 AC hit “It’s Impossible!” Other bonus cuts feature Perry’s interpretations of the songbooks of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, Harry Nilsson, and Teddy Randazzo, while insightful liner notes (with rare photos) from The Second Disc’s Joe Marchese include quotes from long-time Como collaborator and vocal group director Ray Charles. Look to Your Heart captures a warm and relaxed Mr. C at the top of his game…remastered by Maria Triana at Sony’s Battery Studios.

If there were a college course taught on Grateful Dead bootlegs (and if there isn’t one, there should be!), the concert preserved on Dick’s Picks Vol. 8–Harpur College, Binghamton, NY May 2, 1970 would occupy a prominent place on the syllabus. That’s because this evening at tiny Harpur College in upstate New York was for years probably the most highly touted and sought-after single show on the tapers’ circuit (Jerry Garcia himself later singled it out as a memorable performance); and it appears here, complete save for one song, on this 3-CD set. The first disc offers one of the most beguiling acoustic sets the Dead ever performed, full of gems (“Dire Wolf,” “Black Peter,” “Uncle John’s Band”) from the already-recorded-but-not-yet-released Workingman’s Dead, plus a passel of old folk and blues tunes highlighted by a beautiful, slow-burning version of “I Know You Rider;” it’s doubtful the band ever harmonized as beautifully as they do here, and the off-the-cuff atmosphere is simply charming. Discs two and three present the (very) electric Dead at their most probing, with a healthy dollop of greasy soul ‘n’ blues served up by Pigpen; highlighted by Garcia’s guitar and Phil Lesh’s bass spiraling ever upward in a lengthy solo section, the version of “The Other One” in the 40-minute medley that opens the second set is unsurpassed, and the third set’s “Viola Lee Blues” sports not one, not two, but three mind-warping crescendos, while their version of the rarely-performed James Brown tune “It’s a Man’s World” is as gritty and gutbucket as the band got. The closing “We Bid You Goodnight” is twice as long as usual because the delirious crowd wouldn’t let them go–out of print for years and a must for any self-respecting Dead library. (Note: Real Gone is also repressing Dick’s Picks Vol. 33–Oakland Coliseum Stadium, Oakland, CA 10/9 & 10/10/76, featuring the Dead’s long-awaited return to the Bay Area for Bill Graham’s historic Day on the Green concerts).

Real Gone Music April 28, 2015 Release

Grateful Dead, Dick’s Picks Vol. 8–Harpur College, Binghamton, NY May 2, 1970 (3-CD Set) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

Real Gone Music May 5, 2015 Releases

Jackie DeShannon, All the Love–The Lost Atlantic Recordings (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

Jorge Ben, Ben (Expanded Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

Nils Lofgren, Nils Lofgren (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

Billy Ward and His Dominoes, The Complete Federal/King Singles (2-CD Set) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

Perry Como, Look to Your Heart (Expanded Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

Limited Edition 300-Unit Repress

Grateful Dead, Dick’s Picks Vol. 33–Oakland Coliseum Stadium, Oakland, CA 10/9 & 10/10/76 (4-CD Set) (Real Gone)