Real Gone Music has just announced its December release slate, and the label is closing out 2015 with as dizzyingly eclectic a line-up as ever - from the proto-punk clamor of The Dictators to the velvet vocals of Nat "King" Cole.  Real Gone previews its December 4 offerings on Record Store Day - Black Friday, November 27, with a special 10" EP from The Dictators featuring previously unreleased tracks unavailable anywhere else!  Then, the following week comes an expanded edition of the band's The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! with nine previously unreleased bonus tracks!

The Dictators are joined by a treasure trove of never-before-released music from Nat "King" Cole.  Stardust - The Rare Television Performances culls 2 CDs from Cole's seminal TV appearances (including NBC's The Nat King Cole Show) including many songs not otherwise recorded by the classic crooner.  This deluxe set takes its place alongside another comprehensive collection.  King Curtis' The Complete Atco Singles features 66 tracks - over two dozen of which are making their CD debuts and all but one of which have been remastered from tape! - from the R&B saxophonist and instrumental titan.  An expanded reissue from Fleetwood Mac's Jeremy Spencer and an acclaimed volume of Grateful Dead's Dick's Picks round out the RGM line-up!

Just below, you'll find Real Gone's complete press release with more information, plus pre-order links for all titles due this December!

LOS ANGELES, CA - It's been 40 years since Andy "Adny" Shernoff, Scott "Top Ten" Kempner, Ross "The Boss" Friedman a.k.a. FUNichello, Stu Boy King, and Handsome Dick Manitoba released The Dictators' debut The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! Album and created the loud, fast, and rude template that thousands of punk bands to come slavishly followed. And now the boys are ready to celebrate their anniversary and the Black Friday retail event with a little help from a very special friend. Long-time fan, professional party animal and metal/punk singer-songwriter-producer Andrew W.K. took the original album session tapes to three of the songs and, as he puts it ever so modestly, "remixed, over-produced and totally ruined reimagined" them to create sonically stunning brand new versions of "The Next Big Thing," "Two Tub Man," and "Weekend" for this Black Friday exclusive release! But that's only half the treasure that awaits Dictators fans on this 10" EP entitled The Dictators: The Next Big Thing EP--Andrew W.K. Remixes & Studio Outtakes, which comes on beautiful opaque red vinyl; in the course of reviewing the tapes for this project, Sony producer Tim Smith also found unreleased session outtakes including a completely unreleased song, "Backseat Boogie," along with an alternate take of "The Next Big Thing" and an instrumental take of "Weekend." (PLEASE NOTE: the Andrew W.K. remix of "The Next Big Thing" and the instrumental outtake of "Weekend" will now and forever be exclusive to this Black Friday release). Back cover and label artwork boasting previously unseen photo contact sheets complete the package. Limited edition of 2,500!

That is only the beginning of our 40^th Anniversary celebration of The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! album. On December 4, we will be releasing on CD The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!--40^th Anniversary Remastered & Expanded Edition, which will include, for the first time since its original release on CD in 1990, a newly remastered version of the The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! album plus nine bonus tracks! And among those bonus tracks are four more newly discovered, previously unreleased The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! outtakes, two of the outtakes that premiered on the Next Big Thing EP, two of that release's Andrew W.K. remixes, and the unreleased single mix of "(I Live for) Cars and Girls." Dictators songwriter Andy Shernoff contributes liner notes, and we've dug some unseen images out of the Epic label vaults that show off the band's inimitable style (plus shots of the actual tape boxes)! The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! is an absolutely seminal proto-punk album, the key link between early-'70s outfits like the Stooges and New York Dolls and groups like The Ramones and Damned that came later in the decade. Real Gone Music is proud to celebrate the album's 40th anniversary with The Dictators and Andrew W.K.!

King Curtis was the greatest R&B instrumentalist of all time, period. And it's not much of a contest. Born Curtis Ousley in Fort Worth, Texas in 1934, the saxophonist played on hundreds of the most hallowed recording sessions of all time, everything from the Coasters' "Yakety Yak" to John Lennon'sImagine album. But Curtis wasn't just a superstar sideman; he also was responsible for some of the greatest Pop/R&B instrumental albums of all time, including such Atco label classics as Live at Small's Paradise, King Curtis Plays the Great Memphis Hits, Instant Groove, and, of course, Live at Fillmore West. Often overshadowed by the brilliance of his session work and his long players, however, is the fact that Curtis was actually quite a successful singles artist, notching 25 Pop and 10 R&B hits during his storied career. And, though it was during his tenure(s) at Atco that he recorded the most popular albums of his career, he also cut a mind-boggling 66 single sides (including two that were never released until now) for the label. It is this hitherto-untapped treasure trove that Real Gone Music's King Curtis: The Complete Atco Singles presents on three CDs in this unprecedented collection. Not only is this the first time on CD for virtually all of these original mono single mixes, but among these 66 tracks are over two dozen sides that never appeared on LP! That's right...even if you own every Atco album King Curtis put out, you have never heard over a third of this set unless you bought all of the original 45s back in the day. And the caliber of the musicianship? Well, as the most in-demand session man in America, Curtis got to know a lot of folks, so appearing on these sessions are the great Muscle Shoals and Memphis studio cats like Cornell Dupree, Jimmy Johnson, Spooner Oldham, Roger Hawkins, Tommy Cogbill, and Reggie Young, plus a few other folks you might have heard of, like Duane Allman, Eric Clapton, and Delaney Bramlett! Not to mention the alternately tender, searing, and soaring sax lines of Mr. Curtis himself, heard on such classic tracks as "Memphis Soul Stew," "Ode to Billie Joe," and "Whole Lotta Love" (yes, the Led Zeppelin song) cheek-by-jowl with a host of smokin' rare B-sides. Leiber & Stoller Music Publishing head honcho Randy Poe supplies the liner notes (Leiber and Stoller, of course, had a long relationship with Curtis), which we've put inside a gleaming 8-panel digipak sporting some great photos and Atco single labels. All but one of the 66 tracks have been transferred from tape in the Warner/Atlantic archives, and Mike Milchner of SonicVision provides the meticulous remastering. The R&B retrospective of the year!

Was there ever a performer in the history of American popular music who produced such a diverse body of work, over such an extended period of time, as Nat King Cole? In a career that spanned nearly 30 years--despite his untimely death in 1965 at age 45--Nat sang and played just about everything at one time or another, from jazz and pop to country and spirituals and all else in between. To this day, his music--all of it--endures. In late 1956, at a time when Cole was arguably the most successful entertainer on the planet, he began a 13-month run as host of his own NBC television show, The Nat King Cole Show. Over the years, bits and pieces of music and footage from the show have surfaced, mostly on unauthorized bootlegs. This new collection, Nat King Cole: Stardust--The Rare Television Performances, includes more than two dozen of the rarest and choicest performances from The Nat King Cole Show, coupled with nearly 30 minutes of additional music from a 1963 appearance on Australian television being released for the very first time in America. On display, particularly in the material from his own show, is Nat's willingness to tackle a variety of material and genres rather than simply trotting out renditions of his most familiar and successful records. Appearing in this 2-disc set are many songs that Cole never recorded commercially or even sang again in public, with arrangements by such giants as Nelson Riddle, Billy May and Gordon Jenkins. And when he does sing one of his hits, they often scarcely resemble the studio recordings. Remastered by Mike Milchner--who engineered Real Gone's acclaimed set of Peggy Lee radio performances--and offering liner notes by Cole expert Jordan Taylor festooned with photos taken from the Nat King Cole estate archives, Stardust--The Rare Television Performances represents a major addition to the Nat King Cole discography. It also reminds us what a fantastic entertainer and visionary artist he truly was.

With Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Danny Kirwan and Peter Green all playing on the record, it would be easy to label Jeremy Spencer's 1970 self-titled solo release "The Great Lost Early Fleetwood Mac Album." And you'd be right--up to a point. For while Spencer's bandmates are all unmistakably there--perhaps making up for Spencer's absence on Then Play On--this record is very much a product of Spencer's own unique take on blues and pop music. Spencer was always a bit of a wildcard in Fleetwood Mac; on record, he was the most tradition-minded bluesman in the band, but on stage he was a real live wire, notable not just for his scorching (and sometimes suggestive) renditions of old blues tunes but also for his gifted mimicry of such performers as Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and John Mayall. That penchant for parody definitely carries over to Jeremy Spencer; Presley ("If I Could Swim the Mountain"), Holly ("Linda"), and Mayall ("Mean Blues") all get their comeuppance, with nods to surf pop ("Surfin' Girl") and rockabilly ("You Made a Hit," previously recorded by Charlie Rich and Ray Smith) along the way. But perhaps the best tunes on the album are two flat-out rockers: "Here Comes Charlie (with His Dancing Shoes On)" is a Yardbirds-style rave-up, while "Take a Look Around Mrs. Brown" could easily have been a Small Faces track from circa 1967 (though it's preceded by the sound of somebody throwing up--nobody would ever, and we mean ever, accuse Spencer of catering to commercial interests). Our Expanded Edition of this charmingly eccentric cult classic includes liner notes by Richie Unterberger and a non-LP bonus track, "Teenage Darling," that Spencer used to perform on stage dressed as Elvis Presley!

Grateful Dead archivist Dick Latvala considered the show on Dick's Picks Vol. 3--Pembroke Pines, Florida 5/22/77 to be the finest outing on the entire Spring 1977 tour, and, as any Dead Head knows, that is high praise indeed! At the time, the Dead weren't sure a market existed (ha!) for three and four-CD packages, so this two-CD set leaves off eight songs from the show, but consider what songs are here: a phenomenal "Help on the Way"/"Slipknot!"/"Franklin's Tower" concludes disc one after one of the definitive renditions of "Sugaree" and a terrific "The Music Never Stopped," with Phil Lesh's slithering bass leading the way in recording engineer's Betty Cantor-Jackson's mix. But disc two offers one of those sublime, seamless (and, in this case, never to be repeated) sequences of songs that only the Dead could pull off in concert; after the rarely-performed "Sunrise," a medley of "Estimated Prophet"/"Eyes of the World"/"Wharf Rat"/"Terrapin Station" (a truncated version two months before its official release)/"Morning Dew" brings the show home, as Jerry Garcia's soloing on "Morning Dew" reaches heights seldom attained even by him. A knockout release, long out of print. (Please note: Real Gone is also reissuing, in a limited, 300-unit re-press, Dick's Picks Vol. 26--4/26/69 Electric Theater, Chicago, IL 4/27/69 Labor Temple Minneapolis, MN, a 2-CD set that stands as a worthy counterpoint to the legendary Live Dead album).

You can pre-order all titles below from Amazon U.S.!  Amazon U.K. links will be added as soon as they become active!

BLACK FRIDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2015 RELEASE FROM REAL GONE MUSIC 

The Dictators: The Next Big Thing EP--Andrew W.K. Remixes & Studio Outtakes (10" EP, opaque red vinyl, limited edition of 2,500) (Record Store Day exclusive)

DECEMBER 4, 2015 RELEASES FROM REAL GONE MUSIC

The Dictators: The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! 40th Anniversary Remastered & Expanded Edition (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

King Curtis: The Complete Atco Singles (3-CD Set) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

Nat King Cole: Stardust--The Rare Television Performances (2-CD Set) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

Jeremy Spencer: Jeremy Spencer (Expanded Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

Grateful Dead: Dick's Picks Vol. 3--Pembroke Pines, Florida 5/22/77 (2-CD Set) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

LIMITED EDITION 300-UNIT REPRESS

Grateful Dead: Dick's Picks Vol. 26--4/26/69 Electric Theater, Chicago, IL 4/27/69 Labor Temple Minneapolis, MN (Real Gone Music)