Release Round-Up: Week of July 21

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up!

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Ramones, Leave Home: 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Sire/Rhino)

3CD/1LP box set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K.
1CD remaster: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. 

A new  3CD/1LP edition of Ramones’ 1977 sophomore album boasts the album in original and newly-remixed form, as well as a 33-track disc loaded with previously unreleased session material and a 1977 CBGBs concert recording! In addition to the above material on CD, the new album mix by original engineer Ed Stasium is included on vinyl.  Read more here, and watch for our review soon!

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The Beach Boys, Wild Honey Stereo Vinyl LP (Capitol/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The Beach Boys’ 1967 R&B-inflected album Wild Honey got its first-ever presentation in stereo on the new CD collection Sunshine Tomorrow as well as on this new 180-gram vinyl issue!  Read our review of both titles here!

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Billy Ocean, Here You Are: The Music of My Life (Jive/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Billy Ocean is back in action with Here You Are, a collection featuring 10 new recordings and 5 classic hits from the pop-soul great.  Influence and Inspiration – The New Recordings premieres Ocean’s new “Here You Are” as well as soulful interpretations of “It Was a Very Good Year,” “These Foolish Things,” “A Change is Gonna Come,” and “Love Train,” among others.  The second part of the release, Classic Hits, has the original recordings of “Caribbean Queen,” “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car,” and more.  It adds up to a look at where Ocean’s been, where he is now, and where he’s going!  (Note that Here You Are was released in the U.K. in 2016 in a more expansive form with 12 new songs and an entire “Best Of” disc, for those interested in even more Ocean!)

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Johnny Rivers, Help Me Rhonda (BGO) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Johnny Rivers’ 1975 Epic album finally arrives on CD from BGO.  Help Me Rhonda includes Rivers’ hit rendition of the Beach Boys classic as well as “Dancin’ in the Moonlight,” “It’s the Same Old Song,” and more!

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The Stylistics, 5 Classic Albums / You Are Everything: The Essential Stylistics (Spectrum U.K.)

5 Classic Albums: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
You Are Everything: The Essential Stylistics: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Universal U.K.’s Spectrum division has two new releases from the legendary Philly soul group.  5 Classic Albums features their first two Thom Bell-produced classics The Stylistics and Stylistics 2 (released in the U.S. as Round 2) and the hard-to-find, Hugo and Luigi/Van McCoy-helmed LPs Let’s Put It All Together, From the Mountain (released in the U.S. as Heavy), and Thank You Baby.  This mini-box set (with each album in an individual paper sleeve) is a great way to pick up some of soul music’s finest albums at a budget price.  You Are Everything: The Essential Stylistics has 55 cuts on 3 CDs, boasting songs from those five albums and more.

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Eric Stewart & 10cc, Anthology (Cherry Red/Lemon) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Cherry Red’s Lemon imprint is assembling a 2CD set devoted mostly to the solo work of 10cc frontman Eric Stewart. This 2CD Anthology includes six tracks from the latter half of 10cc’s career with Stewart and Gouldman at the helm (mostly drawn from their final album, 1995’s MirrorMirror) plus material from Stewart’s four solo albums recorded between 1980 and 2009, including tracks from 1980’s Girls and 1982’s Frooty Rooties making their debuts on CD.  Read more details here, and read Eric Stewart’s own take on this release in the comments.

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Marillion, Misplaced Childhood: Deluxe Edition (Parlophone/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Marillion’s third album (featuring “Kayleigh” and “Lavender”) is expanded into a 4-CD/1-BD book-style box set featuring the remastered original album on Disc 1, Live at Utrecht 1985 on Discs 2 & 3, singles, B-sides, and demos on Disc 4, and new stereo and surround mixes by Steven Wilson on the Blu-ray along with music videos and a documentary.  Whew!

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.

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4 thoughts on “Release Round-Up: Week of July 21”

  1. Glad to see the Johnny Rivers’ re-release. It’s a shame BGO didn’t two-fer it with the under-rated “Outside Help.” album. The new release does contain one of Rivers’ best overlooked cuts from the ’70s, Ned Doheny’s magnificent “Postcards from Hollywood,” a superior song with a dynamic Rivers recording. Bravo!

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