Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! It's another big week for box sets from classic rock's heaviest hitters, and much, much more...
Bob Dylan, The 1966 Live Recordings (Columbia/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
36 discs of music from Bob Dylan's 1966 world tour - every recording of the tour known to exist - are brought together on this monumental new collection. Read our full review here!
Bob Dylan, The Real Royal Albert Hall Concert (Columbia/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K./ Amazon Canada)
This two-CD set culled from the box set presents Dylan's historic London concert of May 26, 1966 - the second-to-last concert of the tour! A vinyl edition follows on Record Store Day Black Friday.
Pink Floyd, The Early Years 1965-1972 (Pink Floyd Records/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Pink Floyd has announced a colossal box set containing 6 CD/DVD or Blu-ray book-style packages (which will be released separately in 2017) and a 7th "Extra" CD/DVD or Blu-ray package exclusive to the box. In total, the box contains 130 audio tracks running over 12 hours, and over 15 hours of video. There are 20 unreleased songs including 7 hours of unreleased live material. Five 7″ replica vinyl singles are also included. See our full article for all the specs!
Pink Floyd, The Early Years: CRE/ATION 1967-1972 (Pink Floyd Records/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Pink Floyd is distilling its massive 27-disc audiovisual box set The Early Years into a 2-CD "highlights" edition with 27 tracks, 19 of which are previously unreleased. These include freshly remastered rarities, early versions, BBC Radio sessions, singles, B-sides, remixes and live recordings. This affordable 2-CD collection, housed in a digipak, provides a fine appetizer to next year's rollout of the individual contents of the complete box (except for the bonus CONTINU/ATION CD/DVD/BD set which will remain a box set exclusive). A glossy 20-page booklet provides liner notes, credits and more.
David Bowie, Legacy (Legacy (U.S.)/Parlophone (U.K.))
2-CD Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1-CD Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
This new 2-CD retrospective dedicated to the late David Bowie features forty classic tracks from "Space Oddity" through the final song on Blackstar, "I Can't Give Everything Away." A single-CD, 20-track iteration will also be released. The 2-CD version is sequenced chronologically, while the single-disc version is not. Both editions feature one previously unreleased track: a 2016 remix of 1971's "Life on Mars?" by producer Ken Scott. A vinyl edition follows in January 2017. Read more here.
The Band, The Last Waltz: 40th [Various Editions] (Warner Bros./Rhino)
Rhino marks the landmark 40th anniversary of The Last Waltz with four new editions, including the first time the film has been paired with the soundtrack.
2-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
6-LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
4-CD/1-BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
4-CD/2-BD: Rhino.com
- 40th Anniversary Edition (2-CD) - Original soundtrack with newly remastered audio from the original master tapes on two CDs.
- 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (4-CD/1-BD) - Complete audio from the concert, including rehearsals and outtakes, plus The Last Waltz film on Blu-ray.
- 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Vinyl (6-LP) - Complete audio from the concert, including rehearsals and outtakes, pressed on 180-gram vinyl for the first time and presented in a lift-top box.
- 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition (4-CD/2-Blu-ray) - Limited to 2,500 copies and due on December 9, this version includes: Complete audio from the concert; The Last Waltz film on Blu-ray; Second Blu-ray disc including a rarely seen interview from the 1990s with Martin Scorsese and Robbie Robertson, photo gallery, and 5.1 audio mix of the original album; 300-page book, bound in red faux-leather with a full replication of Scorsese's shooting script; rare and previously unseen photos, set sketches, three foldout storyboards, and a foreword by Scorsese and an essay by screenwriter Mardik Martin.
Robbie Robertson and Various Artists, Testimony (Capitol/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
In conjunction with the November 15 release of his autobiography Testimony, Robbie Robertson offers an 18-track compilation of many of his finest moments. Testimony, the CD, features selections from The Band, Levon and The Hawks, Bob Dylan, Ronnie Hawkins, and Robbie's solo works.
Garth Brooks, The Ultimate Collection (Pearl Records) (Target.com)
The Ultimate Collection is a 10-CD, 121-track Target-exclusive box set that collects the country superstar's past and present works across more than 25 years of recording and touring. Seven themed discs feature a plethora of hits, fan favorites and covers (including the unreleased Randy Travis cover "1982"); two live discs feature five unreleased cuts including duets with wife Trisha Yearwood, Don McLean and Billy Joel; and the set closes with the new album Gunslinger, itself augmented by two bonus tracks (including an all-star "25th anniversary edition" of the hit "Friends in Low Places" featuring guest vocals by George Strait, Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line and Keith Urban). Brooks and Yearwood have also released a holiday duets album, Christmas Together. Both that album and The Ultimate Collection are available today. You can find the order link to the box set here, and the full box specs are right here!
Black Sabbath, Paranoid: Super Deluxe Edition (Warner Bros./Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
This 4-CD Super Deluxe Edition of the 1970 Black Sabbath classic brings together the 2012 remastered version of the original album, plus the alternate 1974 mix of the album originally issued in quadraphonic but here folded down to standard 2.0 stereo. (This mix was released in its original surround on DVD by Sanctuary/UMC as part of the 2009 Deluxe Edition.) The remaining two discs each feature a concert from 1970 making its official CD debut. (None of the bonus outtakes and alternates from the recently-reissued Deluxe Edition of Paranoid are included here.) Read more here!
The Rolling Stones, Havana Moon (Eagle Rock/Universal)
Blu-ray/DVD/2 CDs Book-Style Box: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Blu-ray/2-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
DVD/2-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
DVD/3-LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Blu-ray: Amazon U.K.
DVD: Amazon U.K.
The Rolling Stones' historic Cuba concert from March 25 earlier this year is released in a variety of audiovisual formats!
Yoko Ono, Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins / Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions / Plastic Ono Band (Secretly Canadian/Chimera)
Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions:
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Plastic Ono Band
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Yoko Ono's first three albums - including two Unfinished Music collaborations with John Lennon, and her Plastic Ono Band complement to John's featuring John, Ringo Starr and Klaus Voormann - are reissued, remastered and expanded on CD. The original albums are also being remastered and reissued on LP. See here for more details!
NRBQ, High Noon: A 50-Year Retrospective (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The New Rhythm and Blues Quartet (NRBQ) is turning 50 this year, and Omnivore Recordings is throwing the party! High Noon: A 50-Year Retrospective features 106 eclectic songs over 5 CDs including fan favorites such as the 1974 hit "Get That Gasoline Blues," plus rarities, concert tracks, and previously unreleased recordings from the band's varied line-ups over the years. Every track on High Noon: A 50-Year Retrospective has been freshly remastered, while the deluxe package boasts extensive booklet notes and previously unseen photos. While Omnivore is unable to release the box set digitally due to licensing restrictions, the label has curated High Noon: Highlights and Rarities from 50 Years, which contains six tracks not on the physical box. Read more here, and watch for our review as part of our upcoming Holiday Gift Guide series!
Original Broadway Cast Recording, Spoon River Anthology (Masterworks Broadway) (Amazon U.S.)
Masterworks Broadway is reissuing the original cast recording of 1963's Spoon River Anthology. The show was a not a full musical but rather a play with music based upon the poems of Edgar Lee Masters. Charles Aidman conceived, starred, directed and wrote the lyrics for the show. The music was by Naomi Caryl Hirshhorn, who also performed as a singer in the show. Spoon River opened in September 1963 at the Booth Theater and eventually transferred to the Belasco Theater where it closed in January 1964 after 111 total performances. This reissue will mark the album's first appearance in the digital era as a MOD CD-R and DD.
Hart Valley Drifters featuring Jerry Garcia, Folk Time (ATO) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Three years before the formation of the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia was a member of The Hart Valley Drifters. The folk-styled band also included Robert Hunter, later to become Garcia's songwriting partner for the Dead, and David Nelson of the New Riders of the Purple Sage. Garcia is featured on banjo on this collection of his earliest studio recordings, from 1962, with the group. Recorded at Stanford University's KZSU Radio studio, the band's set included tunes such as "Cripple Creek, " "Pig in a Pen," and "Nine Pound Hammer" as well as "Sitting On Top Of The World," famously covered by the Grateful Dead on their eponymous debut album.
Sting, 57th and 9th (A&M) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Sting returns to the rock/pop world with 57th and 9th, a collection of all-new songs featuring his longtime collaborators Dominic Miller (guitar) and Vinnie Colaiuta (drums) plus drummer Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails, Guns n Roses), guitarist Lyle Workman and the San Antonio-based Tex-Mex band The Last Bandoleros. Available on deluxe and standard CD, DD and LP. A "super deluxe" edition adds a bonus DVD.
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