Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up!
Grateful Dead, Cornell 5/8/77 (Grateful Dead/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Rhino teams with the Grateful Dead for the first authorized release of one of the band's most famous concert bootlegs: the Cornell 5/8/77 show. The bootleg recording of this show was so significant that it was added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2011. This 3-CD set ties in with a new book about the oft-discussed concert; both the book and CDs were also available as part of a sold-out box set exclusive to the Dead's website. (A no-frills edition was subsequently also made available at dead.net.) The show will also be available on DD and vinyl LP. Read more here!
Nick Cave, Lovely Creatures: The Best of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 1984-2014 (Mute)
Standard 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Standard 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
3CD/1DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Super Deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
A new multi-format compilation curated by Nick Cave and Mick Harvey serves as an introduction to the group's output over a thirty-year period. Read full details here!
Lovely Creatures will be available in several formats:
- A 2CD and 3LP set features 21 tracks from the group's discography in non-chronological order;
- A deluxe set includes 45 chronologically arranged tracks (including a handful of non-album B-sides) on three CDs, plus a DVD featuring more than three dozen live performances and interviews. A limited super deluxe variant includes those discs in a hardcover book package featuring new original essays and rare and unseen images from the archives of past and present members of the group.
The Creation, Creation Theory (Edsel) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
This 4-CD/1-DVD collection from 1960s British rockers The Creation includes, on four CDs, include all eight single sides by pre-Creation band The Mark Four (and three live reunion recordings from 1985), all of the core recordings produced by Shel Talmy, in both mono and Talmy's new stereo mixes, the band's 1987 album and a subsequent reunion album for Creation Records (the label founded by Alan McGee and named after the band), plus Phillips' solo recordings from 1990 and 2011. The DVD features a lengthy new interview with Eddie, filmed in October 2016, five songs from The Creation's two live appearances on the legendary German 60s TV show Beat Beat Beat (from the original tapes, with three songs appearing on DVD for the first time), and 21 songs from the band's two reunion concerts at the Mean Fiddler in the 1990s.
Rare Earth, Dreams - Answers / Willie Remembers (Culture Factory)
Dreams - Answers: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Willie Remembers: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
"Get ready" for two more Culture Factory mini-LP reissues from Motown's premiere rockers, Rare Earth. Dreams - Answers is Rare Earth's long out of print 1968 psych/pop/rock debut on Verve Records. The band's move to Motown is anticipated with the opening, Supreme medley "Stop/Where Did Our Love Go" and with an embryonic version of their hit version of Smokey Robinson's "Get Ready." Willie Remembers is the group's fifth album, from late 1972, featuring all original material.
Seals and Crofts, The Singles A's and B's 1970-1976 (Wounded Bird) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Wounded Bird issues an original compilation with this collection of Seals and Crofts' Warner Bros. singles over a six-year period. Its 31 tracks on 2 CDs include "Summer Breeze," "We May Never Pass This Way Again," and "Get Closer." True to Wounded Bird fashion, this is a bare-bones package with no liner notes, credits (beyond songwriters) or discographical annotation. Note that reports have already emerged that this collection does not use the unique single versions of songs such as "Diamond Girl," but rather the familiar album versions.
Diana Krall, Turn Up the Quiet (Verve) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Jazz chanteuse/pianist Diana Krall returns to The Great American Songbook with her smoky renditions of such standards as "Let's Fall in Love," "L-O-V-E," "Night and Day," and "Moonglow." Turn Up the Quiet was produced by Grammy winner Tommy LiPuma, and was his final project before his death earlier this year. Available on CD, DD and vinyl.
Patti LaBelle, Bel Hommage (GPE) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The soulful diva returns with a set of classic melodies, LaBelle-style, including "Peel Me a Grape," "Softly As I Leave You," and "Here's to Life."
Julie's Greenroom: Music from the Netflix Original Series (Varese Sarabande) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Julie Andrews' new, acclaimed children's television program receives a soundtrack, featuring the legendary star alongside such famous friends as Carol Burnett, Alec Baldwin, David Hyde Pierce, and Ellie Kemper!
The Turtles, It Ain't Me Babe / You Baby / Happy Together / Present the Battle of the Bands / Turtle Soup / Wooden Head (Edsel)
It Ain't Me Babe (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
You Baby (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Happy Together (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Present the Battle of the Bands (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Turtle Soup (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Wooden Head (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
The Turtles' six classic 1965-1970 White Whale albums - having previously been collected in box set form on CD by Manifesto Records and LP by Demon Music Group - arrive now as standalone editions, as remastered by Bill Inglot and featuring liner notes by Andrew Sandoval!
ISH says
An incredible Japanese 3-CD reissue of Santana's Lotus/Live in Japan came out this week. Beautiful package, restoration of missing songs from the original concert, great sound.
Shaun says
Only in Japan? Figures. I would love to hear that.
Eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Grateful Dead May 1977 box (That includes the famous Cornell show) though. I decided to take today off to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, and break out the music when the box arrives (UPS has it slated for delivery sometime this afternoon)!
I know very little about Nick Cave, but I am curious to check him out. That standard, 2CD release may be worth checking out.
Ian Horst says
I got mine from Amazon US; it wasn't cheap but if you're a Santana fan, well you know. Package has a bunch of fluffy but beautiful paper extras and foldouts. It has a lot more Leon Thomas on it than the former 2-disk edition, and the songs are sequenced more accurately which definitely documents the energy of the concert better.
Shaun says
May be worth it. The original Lotus is indeed a fine album. Thank you!
Mark B. Hanson says
I got the Seals & Crofts package a few days early. The songs there are not the true single versions (where they differ from the album tracks). "Diamond Girl" is the prime example. Sigh.
And the typical "nothing" for liner notes from Wounded Bird. Double sigh. What's worse, this package will prevent another American firm from doing it the right way, at least for a few years.
Joe Marchese says
We haven't had a chance to listen to the Wounded Bird set yet, so thank you for the info on the versions used, Mark. I will amend our blurb accordingly.
Zubb says
Disappointing.
Joe Marchese says
One Amazon reviewer commented on this release:
Many of the songs are the shortened single versions such as: "When I Meet Them", "East of the Ginger Trees", "Diamond Girl", "King of Nothing", and "Castles in the Sand".
Are certain tracks the single edits and others not? (Though he claims "Diamond Girl" is the edited version.) Thanks for any insight!
Galley says
It's a shame the Rare Earth albums are being reissued by Culture Factory, who has a reputation for brickwalling their releases.