Sundazed’s Black Friday Line-Up Boasts Scepter Soul, Spacey Jazz From Sun Ra, and an “Adult” Classic

November 14, 2016 By Joe Marchese — 1 Comment

record-store-day-black-friday.jpg

soul-sound-of-scepterSundazed 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.

love-is-a-dragNext 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.

sun-ra-live-at-intermediaLast 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
Categories:
Formats:
,
Genres:
, ,
Tags:
, , , , ,
Joe Marchese
Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song and beyond, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with labels including Real Gone Music and Cherry Red Records, has released newly-curated collections produced and annotated by Joe from iconic artists such as Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Spinners, Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Meat Loaf, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Liza Minnelli, Darlene Love, Al Stewart, Michael Nesmith, and many others.

Joe has written liner notes, produced, or contributed to over 200 reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them America, JD Souther, Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, BJ Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, Petula Clark, Robert Goulet, and Andy Williams.

Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray.

Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

You Might Also Like

Barry Manilow What a Time
Release Round-Up: Week of June 5
Prince Timeless
Nothing Left But Stone: ‘Timeless’ Collects 10 Unreleased Prince Recordings
Peabo Bryson Stand for Love
In Memoriam: Peabo Bryson (1951-2026)
Four Tops Live deluxe
Reach Out: ‘Four Tops Live!’ Set for New Remix, Expansion

1 thought on “Sundazed’s Black Friday Line-Up Boasts Scepter Soul, Spacey Jazz From Sun Ra, and an “Adult” Classic”

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.