Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up – the last of the major release weeks for 2016!

The Beatles, Eight Days a Week (DVD or BD) (Apple/Capitol)

2-Disc Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2-Disc DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Standard Edition Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Standard Edition DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Ron Howard’s acclaimed 2016 documentary chronicling Beatlemania, Eight Days a Week, hits DVD and Blu-ray.  The standard editions offer the film only, while the 2-disc Deluxe Editions add over 100 minutes of bonus features on the second disc, including five full-length, previously unavailable Fab performances.

The Who, My Generation: Super Deluxe Edition (Geffen/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

This 5-CD, 79-track box set celebrating The Who’s debut includes the original mono album (newly remastered), a disc of mono bonus tracks (newly remastered) and a disc of stereo bonus tracks.  It also includes a new stereo remix of the album originally released on iTunes in 2014 featuring new overdubs by Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey using the same guitars and amps and the same type of microphones used on the original album. (Generation was first mixed to stereo for the 2002 reissue, but dropped many of the overdubs from the mono album – this new stereo mix recreates them).  Finally, a disc of demos is included – which features three previously unheard songs: “The Girls I Could Have Had,” “As Children We Grew” and “My Own Love.”  An 80-page book and six inserts top off this lavish set!  The U.S. release for this box is set for December 9.  It is available today in the U.K.!  Read more here.

R.E.M., Out of Time: 25th Anniversary Edition (Concord Bicycle Music)

3-CD/1-BD Box Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2-CD Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1-CD Remaster: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3-LP Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1-LP Remaster: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

R.E.M.’s 1991 classic is revisited as a 3 CD/1 Blu-ray set, a 2-CD set, a 3-LP set, a single LP of the original album and as a digital download as part of the band’s new deal with Concord Bicycle Music.  The box includes the original album on Disc 1 followed by nineteen demo tracks on Disc 2.  The third disc contains a concert from Capitol Plaza Theater in Charleston, West Virginia performed on April 28, 1991 and aired on NPR as an installment of their Mountain Stage program.  The Blu-ray has the original album both in Hi-Resolution Stereo and Hi-Resolution 5.1 Surround.  It also contains 8 music videos and an 18-minute EPK which contains studio and performance footage.  The new liner notes by music journalist Annie Zaleski features interviews with the band members and producers of the album.  The 2-CD edition contains the first two discs of the deluxe edition and the 3-LP edition replicates those two discs as well.  Whew!  Read more here!

 

Jethro Tull, Stand Up: The Elevated Edition (Rhino/Parlophone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

For the past several years, Jethro Tull has been releasing expanded editions of their albums featuring new remixes by Steven Wilson.  Just under a year after the release of the last reissue in the series of 1976’s Too Old to Rock ‘n’ Roll: Too Young to Die!,  here is a 2CD/1DVD version of 1969’sStand Up, entitled Stand Up: The Elevated Edition.  Housed in a deluxe hardcover book-style package complete with a pop-up in the style of the original release, it includes:

• Original album and bonus tracks (including the previously unreleased “Bouree”) remixed in 5.1 surround and stereo by Steven Wilson
• 96/24 flat transfer of the original stereo master tapes
• 96/24 flat transfer of the original mono and stereo mixes of “Living In The Past” and
  “Driving Song”
• A live concert from Stockholm in 1969 where the band opened for Jimi Hendrix. Recorded only a few weeks after Barre joined the band, the concert includes songs from Tull’s debut album (“A Song For Jeffery” and “My Sunday Feeling”), as well as two songs destined for Stand Up: “Back To The Family” and “Nothing Is Easy.”
• Video of the band performing live in January 1969

Soundgarden, Badmotorfinger [Various Editions] (A&M/UMe)

Super Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

This seven disc set – four CDs, two DVDs and a Blu-ray – expanded the rockers’ third album to staggering proportions.  Astoundingly, much of Badmotorfinger‘s deluxe content has never been released before. You get the remastered album, a disc of studio outtakes (with just one released track, a version of “New Damage” with Queen guitarist Brian May), a 1992 live set at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre on two CDs and a DVD, an additional DVD of live footage and music videos (including the DVD premiere of the Motorvision VHS) and the entire album newly remixed in 5.1 surround for Blu-ray.  The battery-operated (!) box set edition also comes with a 52-page book, a 12″ x 12″ lenticular print, four 8″ x 10″ band member photo cards, stickers and an iron-on patch. More frugal fans can opt for a 2CD deluxe edition, 2LP 180-gram vinyl or just the original album remastered on CD.

Tim Buckley, Wings The Complete Singles 1966-1974 (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The music of the late Tim Buckley takes flight again on Wings – The Complete Singles 1966-1974.  Wings presents the A- and B-sides of all ten singles issued from the singer-songwriter’s nine albums, plus one previously unreleased track originally slated for an unissued 45.  In short, this 21-track anthology promises to provide a powerful introduction to the genre-bending, envelope-pushing artist.

Donna Summer, The Ultimate Collection (Driven By The Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Driven By The Music continues to celebrate the late, legendary Donna Summer, this time with a 3-CD Ultimate Collection.  This mini-box set features over 50 tracks from 1968-2010, including major hits (“MacArthur Park,” “Hot Stuff,” “Bad Girls,” “She Works Hard for the Money,” “Last Dance”), rarities (German recordings from Godspell and Hair!), remixes, single versions, and more!  Pete Bellotte and Harold Faltermeyer provide recollections of working with Donna for the new liner notes!  Also available in a 19-track, single-disc “highlights” edition.

Tori Amos, Boys For Pele: 20th Anniversary Edition (Atlantic/Rhino)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

This expanded edition of Tori Amos’ third album, Boys for Pele, will feature new liner notes penned by Amos and a 21-track bonus disc of demos, B-sides and alternate versions, four of which (“To the Fair Motormaids of Japan,” “Sucker,” a remix of “Talula” and an alternate take of “In the Springtime of His Voodoo”) are previously unreleased. A double vinyl reissue of the original album will also be available.  Read more here!

Various Artists, City Heat: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Varese Vintage) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Varese brings the soundtrack to the 1984 Burt Reynolds/Clint Eastwood film to CD!  City Heat features cues from composer Lennie Niehaus and a title track sung by Joe Williams, as well as performances of classic standards by Al Jarreau, Eloise Laws, and Irene Cara.  Clint Eastwood also appears on piano for “Montage Blues.”  Watch this space for a chance to win a copy!

Gene Autry, A Melody Ranch Christmas (Varese Vintage) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

This new release, culled from Gene Autry’s personal archive of radio show transcription lacquers, includes classic and rare Christmas songs performed live on the singing cowboy’s popular Melody Ranch radio show between 1942 and 1955.  Performers include not just Gene, but also The Cass County Boys, The Pinafores, The Gene Autry Blue Jeans, Rosemary Clooney, and Carl Cotner’s Orchestra.  This CD, sequenced in the style of a vintage radio broadcast, also includes Pat Buttram’s comedy routines, and Johnny Bond’s spoken reflections on the season.

Various Artists, Big City Christmas (Bear Family) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Bear Family is getting into the holiday spirit with Big City Christmas, a new collection of 30 Christmas favorites in the pop, R&B, doo-wop and rockabilly styles!  These rare and previously unreleased tracks from 1948-1968 include performances by Frankie Valli and the Four Lovers, Eartha Kitt, Ricky Nelson, Frankie Lymon, and Bill Haley and His Comets!  Familiar favorites are provided by Doris Day, Connie Francis, Dean Martin, Rosemary Clooney, and Chuck Berry, and a 1966 Christmas greeting by Ann-Margret tops it all off!

Roy Acuff and the Smoky Mountain Boys, The Complete Foundational Recordings 1936-1951 (Bear Family) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Bear Family celebrates the early days of Roy Acuff on this new 9-CD/1-DVD box set collecting the pioneering country artist’s complete recordings for Vocalion, Arc and Columbia between 1936 and 1951.  The LP-sized set includes a 184-page hardcover book with a total playing time of nearly 11 hours over 228 tracks.  The DVD features a 1940 film of the Grand Ole Opry.