Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up!  We kick off with a quartet of releases drawing on never-before-released live material!

Leonard Cohen, Can’t Forget: A Souvenir of The Grand Tour (Columbia/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Leonard Cohen offers ten selections – including two songs never previously recorded and a pair of covers – from his recent world tour.

Andrew Gold, The Late Show – Live 1978 (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

You’ll say “thank you for being a friend” to Omnivore Recordings for this first-ever release of Andrew Gold’s 1978 concert at West Hollywood’s Roxy Theatre.  Songs include “Lonely Boy,” “Oh Urania (Take Me Away),” “Doctor Robert,” “Roll Over Beethoven,” and of course, “Thank You for Being a Friend.”

Buck Owens, When Buck Came Back: Live San Francisco 1989 (Rockbeat) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

This 2-CD set features the Country Music Hall of Famer and his Buckaroos in a previously unreleased complete live concert recorded at the Victoria Theater in San Francisco on January 15, 1989.  The set features Owens backed by Doyle Curtsinger on bass/vocals, Jim McCarty on drums, Jim Shaw on keyboards/accordion and Terry Kristofferson on steel guitar.

Wes Montgomery, In the Beginning (Resonance) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Resonance follows 2012’s Echoes of Indiana Avenue with this collection of 26 newly-discovered live and studio recordings from the jazz guitar virtuoso – including a Quincy Jones-produced session for Epic Records from 1955 previewed last year on Record Store Day.  The deluxe 2-CD set includes a 56-page booklet with liner notes by Quincy Jones, Pete Townshend, Ashley Kahn and others.

Drivin’ N’ Cryin’, Best of Songs (Plowboy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Indie southern rockers Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ return with a 10-track, 180-gram vinyl LP culled from the 32 songs on their four acclaimed EPs originally released between 2012 and 2014.  The band touches on hard n’ heavy rock, psychedelia, pop, blues and punk on this tight, diverse collection, packaged in the style of a 1970s K-tel compilation!

Roxette, The Roxbox: A Collection of Roxette’s Greatest Songs (Parlophone/Rhino U.K.) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

The updated Roxbox features 78 songs on four CDs, dropping the DVD from the original 2006 edition of the box set and substituting out five tracks  (“The Sweet Hello, the Sad Goodbye” (Original 1990 Version), “Better Off on Her Own,” “New World,”  “Cooper,” and “All I Ever Wanted”) for five new additions (“She’s got nothing on (But the Radio)”, “No One Makes It on Her Own,” “Speak to Me,” “It’s Possible,” and “The Sweet Hello, the Sad Goodbye” (Bassflow Radio Edit)).  The Roxbox is shipping now in the U.K., and next week in the U.S.!

Dionne Warwick, The ’80s (Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

This 12-track budget-priced compilation (currently available for under 6 bucks at Amazon) has many of Warwick’s familiar Arista-era hits – “I’ll Never Love This Way Again,” “No Night So Long,” “Heartbreaker” – but adds three tracks only otherwise available on Funky Town Grooves’ expanded No Night So Long as well as “Never Gonna Let You Get Away,” a previously unreleased Dionne outtake produced and written by Barry Manilow!  (The song was originally recorded by Lady Flash for the group’s long-unavailable album!)

Todd Rundgren, Global CD/DVD Edition (Esoteric Antenna) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The U.K. deluxe edition available now in the U.K. and next week in the U.S. adds the NTSC/Region Free DVD of The Unpredictable Todd Rundgren, a full 110-minute concert recorded at City Winery in New York City in March 2012.  Check out our full review of the album here!

Henry Mancini, This is Henry Mancini (Wounded Bird) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Wounded Bird reissues the 1970 double-LP compilation from composer/conductor Henry Mancini on one CD.

Michael Fennelly, Lane Changer (Wounded BIrd) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The 1973 solo album by Michael Fennelly of The Millennium and Crabby Appleton is reissued by Wounded Bird.

The Muscle Shoals Horns, Born to Get Down / Shine On / Doin’ It to the Bone (Funky Town Grooves)

Born to Get Down: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Shine On: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Doin’ It to the Bone: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Funky Town Grooves gets down with the smoking horn section from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with reissues of the house band’s three studio albums for the Bang, Ariola and Monument labels.  Note that Born to Get Down features two bonus tracks (the 7-inch single edits of “Bump de Bump Yo’ Boodie” and “Where I’m Coming From,” not four as indicated on Amazon.  The covers of Born to Get Down and Doin’ It to the Bone are also matched to the wrong title on Amazon.

J.D. Souther, Tenderness (Sony Masterworks) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

Southern California rock great J.D. Souther returns with a long-awaited new album of all-original material.  Tenderness has been produced by Larry Klein and features contributions from jazz pianist Billy Childs. However, this collection of moody, atmospheric music perfect for late night listening does not include any of Souther’s recent writing collaborations with Burt Bacharach as was previously indicated.

David Shire, Return to Oz: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Intrada)

Intrada has tapped into the Disney vaults for one of its most ambitious projects yet: a deluxe 2-CD presentation of David Shire’s complete score to the dark fantasy Return to Oz (1985).  This set includes the entire 84-minute film score, 17 minutes of bonus cues, and the complete original soundtrack recording first issued by Sonic Atmospheres.  This release will soon be available on Amazon; for now, it’s shipping directly from Intrada at the link above!