Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up!
Wilson Pickett, Land of 1000 Dances: The Complete Atlantic Singles Vol. 1 (Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Real Gone Music has the first release in a three-volume collection chronicling Wilson Pickett's tenure at Atlantic Records. The Wicked Pickett released a total of 66 single sides at the label and The Complete Atlantic Singles Vol. 1 collects the first 22 of these in their original mono single mixes. You'll find some of his biggest and most indelible hits on here like "In The Midnight Hour" and "Land of 1000 Dances." This new collection features my brand-new liner notes. When all three of these volumes are released, they will lead right into last year's Second Disc Records/Real Gone compilation of Pickett's RCA recordings.
Dusty Springfield, Faithful (Limited Edition Orange Vinyl) (Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. TBD / Amazon Canada)
Real Gone has the first-ever vinyl issue of Dusty Springfield's Faithful album. In 1971, Springfield went into the studio with hitmaker Jeff Barry for what was planned to be her third Atlantic album. Alas, it was not meant to be at the time and the album was shelved. Last year, Real Gone collected up all of the songs from those sessions and compiled them on one CD. Now, you will be able to listen to this unreleased album on the format it would have been heard on in the early 1970s. This orange vinyl edition is limited to 1,000 copies. (Please note that the track "Nothing Is Forever" from the CD is not on the vinyl version as it was not intended for the album originally and this vinyl is meant to replicate the album as it would have existed at the time.) In addition, I've supplied the liner notes!
Elvis Presley, Way Down in the Jungle Room (RCA/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Way Down in the Jungle Room is the first anthology dedicated to the master recordings and outtakes recorded at Graceland's famous Jungle Room by Elvis Presley and longtime producer Felton Jarvis during two now-legendary periods: February 2-8, 1976 and October 28-30, 1976. The outtakes have been newly mixed by Grammy Award-winning engineer Matt Ross-Spang at Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis, Tennessee. For these intimate and raw, heartfelt sessions, Elvis was backed by many members of his longtime touring band including James Burton (guitar), Ronnie Tutt (drums), David Briggs (keyboards), Glen D. Hardin (keyboards), Jerry Scheff (bass), Norbert Putnam (bass) and J.D. Sumner and The Stamps (vocals). Also available on DD and vinyl LP.
The B-52's, Live! 8.24.1979 (Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The B-52's Live! 8.24.79 was recorded just one month after the band's debut album dropped on the Warner Bros. label. It features 9 songs (including the hit "Rock Lobster") taken from that first album and also from their second album, Wild Planet, released nearly a year to the day later in August of 1980. This concert was released last year digitally and on limited-edition vinyl on Black Friday Record Store Day by Rhino and it makes its CD debut here from Real Gone Music.
Mitch Miller, The Definitive Collection (Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Mitch Miller is probably most famous today for his tenure as the head of A&R at Columbia Records from 1950 through 1965 where he guided the careers of Dinah Shore, Jo Stafford, Ray Conniff, Johnny Mathis and Tony Bennett among others and discovered Aretha Franklin. (Also infamously known for his distaste for rock-n-roll, he reportedly passed on signing Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley and The Beatles!) Yet Miller was a popular recording artist in his own right, with most of his records begin credited to "Mitch Miller and the Gang." This new collection, previously released digitally as an Essential volume, gathers up 38 of his finest sing-along tracks from the period 1950-1962.
Diamond Rio, The Definitive Hits Collection (Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Diamond Rio's The Definitive Hits Collection I(previously issued in digital-only format) rounds up 40 tracks from the country group's Arista Nashville tenure. One of the few bands to come out of performing out of an amusement park, they made their debut as The Grizzly River Boys (and later the Tennessee River Boys) at Opryland in Nashville in 1982. They stopped performing at the park in 1985 and began to record demos and perform in hopes of landing a record deal. It would take until 1990 when they signed with the newly-created Arista Nashville label. By that point, there were no founding members remaining, although their line-up has remained consistent in the years since. Changing their name to Diamond Rio, the band became stars right out of the gate when their debut single "Meet In the Middle" climbed to the top of the Billboard Country chart, the first country group to accomplish this feat. The group recorded seven studio albums on Arista Nashville through 2002, notching over 30 hits on the Country charts.
The New Christy Minstrels, Ramblin': Expanded Edition (Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Real Gone has an expanded reissue of Ramblin' by The New Christy Minstrels from 1963. The large vocal folk group got its start in 1961, founded by Randy Sparks. They have had many members over the years including Kim Carnes, Kenny Rogers, Gene Clark and Barry McGuire. It is McGuire who got his shot at solo fame after singing "Green, Green" from the Ramblin' album. It was the group's first major hit and it went gold in 1963. It also assured that the album itself would stay on the charts for a quite a long time. This new edition expands the original 12-track album with an additional 13 songs including several versions of "Green, Green."
Fanny, Mother's Pride: Expanded Edition (Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Real Gone has an expanded edition of 1973's Mother's Pride from the all-female rock group Fanny. Produced by Todd Rundgren, this would be their final album for Reprise Records. After the record's release, founding members June Millington and Alice de Buhr quit the band. A reconstituted group would record one album for Casablanca Records in 1974 before dissolving for good in 1975 (ironically after "Butter Boy" became their highest-charting single). Real Gone's expanded edition adds 8 bonus tracks and completes the label's reissues of Fanny's Reprise catalogue.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Emerson, Lake & Palmer / Tarkus / Pictures at an Exhibition (BMG)
Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Tarkus: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Pictures at an Exhibition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
In case you missed these last week...BMG has a new round of ELP reissues on CD, DD and vinyl LP in anticipation of the August 12 release of The Anthology. You can read full specs for all three titles right here!
Black Sabbath vinyl reissues (Warner Bros./Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Rhino has eight classic Black Sabbath titles out on limited edition 180-gram colored vinyl: Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master of Reality, Vol. 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage, Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die!
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