Sundazed Music has announced a trio of limited edition releases for Black Friday’s Record Store Day event, and they’re sure to be a crate-digger’s delight.

Scepter Records may today be best remembered as the home of Dionne Warwick’s classic recordings, but the New York label founded by pioneering executive Florence Greenberg also gave a home to The Shirelles, B.J. Thomas, Chuck Jackson, Maxine Brown, and numerous other stars of soul and pop.  In addition, Greenberg nurtured a stable of some of the finest songwriters and producers in modern popular music, including Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Luther Dixon, Van McCoy, and Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson.  Sundazed celebrates the remarkable, and oft-overlooked, legacy of Scepter on a new vinyl collection.  Out in the Streets Again: The Soul Sounds of Scepter Records collects 15 tracks of the label at its best, with vintage soulful stylings from The Shirelles, B.J. Thomas, Tommy Hunt, Candy and The Kisses, Johnny Maestro, Ronnie Milsap, and more.  All of these rare floor-filling tracks are presented in their original mono mixes, and the whole shebang is presented on red vinyl, with beautiful period detail.

Next up is a true rarity which Sundazed and its Modern Harmonic imprint are re-presenting on both vinyl and CD.  Love is a Drag was, upon its release in 1962, subtitled For Adult Listeners Only: Sultry Stylings by a Most Unusual Vocalist.  What was so scandalous about an album featuring straightforward, beautifully sung renditions of some of the most timeless standards of all time, including “The Boy Next Door,” “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” “The Man I Love,” “Stranger in Paradise,” and “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man”?  Love is a Drag was sung by big-band vocalist Gene Howard backed by an elite group of jazz’s best musicians…with no pronoun changes to the lyrics.  In 1962, a mainstream release would have caused a stir, which was most definitely a drag.  So the album was issued on the hush-hush by Edison International Records on a specially-made label called Lace.  Happily, things have changed, and the veil of mystery that once shrouded this taboo, underground LP has been lifted.  Frank Sinatra, Liberace, and Bob Hope were all reportedly fans of this heartfelt and “most unusual” record – and now you can hear this lost classic for yourself.  Sundazed will reissue Love is a Drag, a fascinating piece of LGBT music history, on both gold vinyl pressed at RTI and on compact disc.

Last but not least, Sundazed and Modern Harmonic are offering up a cosmic treat: Sun Ra and His Arkestra’s Live at Inter-Media Arts, April 1991 on three LPs or two CDs.  Recorded at New York’s Inter-Media Arts Center, this live release captures the experimental composer-pianist-bandleader and his Arkestra just two years before he passed away.  Sun Ra was joined by June Tyson, Michael Ray, T.C. Carney, James Jacson, and John Gilmore for this performance, which was captured in pristine fashion by WNYC Radio. Both the 2-CD and 3-LP, RTI-pressed vinyl configurations are packaged in tri-fold chipboard jackets, with new and extensive liner notes penned by jazz writer Howard Mandel and artwork designed by Jim Flora.

All three titles will be available wherever finer records are sold on Friday, November 25 as part of Record Store Day’s annual Black Friday event!  You can peruse the track listings below!

Various Artists, Out in the Streets Again: The Soul Sounds of Scepter Records (Sundazed, 2016)

1. Dearly Beloved – Jack Montgomery
2. Work Song – Tommy Hunt
3. Tonight’s the Night – Candy and The Kisses
4. Just One More Time – J.J. Barnes
5. The Change – Ernestine Eady
6. A Groovy Guy – The Shirelles
7. Marching – The Camp
8. Lost Love – Irma and the Fascinators
9. Out in the Streets Again – Candy and the Kisses
10. Do You Believe It – Jack Montgomery
11. Ain’t No Soul Left in These Old Shoes – Ronnie Milsap
12. I’m Stepping Out of the Picture – Johnny Maestro
13. I Don’t Have a Mind of My Own – B.J. Thomas
14. Hey Watcha Doin’ – Jerry Tiffe

Love is a Drag – For Adult Listeners Only: Sultry Stylings by a Most Unusual Vocalist (Sundzed/Modern Harmonic, 2016)

1. Lover Man
2. He’s Funny That Way
3. My Man
4. Bewitched
5. Bill
6. The Boy Next Door
7. The Man I Love
8. Mad About the Boy
9. He’s My Guy
10. Jim
11. Stranger in Paradise
12. Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man

Sun Ra and His Arkestra, Live at Inter-Media Arts, April 1991 (Sundazed/Modern Harmonic, 2016)

1. Intro/Springtime Again
2. Advice to Medics/Friendly Galaxy
3. Love in Outer Space
4. Hocus Pocus
5. The Mayan Temples
6. Yeah Man
7. Prelude to a Kiss
8. Space is the Place/We Travel the Spaceways
9. Intro/Early Autumn
10. Opus in Springtime
11. Retrospect/East of the Sun
12. Carefree
13. Cocktails for Two
14. Planet Earth Day
15. Space Loneliness
16. We Travel the Spaceways