Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up!

The Rolling Stones, Their Satanic Majesties Request: 50th Anniversary Special Edition (ABKCO) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The Rolling Stones’ controversial 1967 immersion into psychedelia, Their Satanic Majesties Request, gets a 50th anniversary box set from ABKCO containing the original album in mono and stereo on both 180-gram vinyl and hybrid SACD (playable on all CD players) as newly remastered by Bob Ludwig, plus restored lenticular artwork and a 20-page booklet with new liner notes by Rob Bowman.  Read more here!

Brian Wilson, Playback: The Brian Wilson Anthology (Rhino)

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

Coinciding with the legendary Beach Boy’s 75th birthday year and current, sold-out tour, Rhino offers the first-ever anthology of Brian Wilson’s solo recordings from 1988 through the present day, including two previously unreleased tracks, “Some Sweet Day” and “Run, James, Run.”  Available on CD, double vinyl LP, and digital platforms.  Read more here!

Isaac Hayes, The Spirit of Memphis (1962-1976) (Craft Recordings) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K.)

Craft Recordings celebrates the life and legacy of Isaac Hayes on a new 4-CD box set.  The first disc includes 26 of Hayes’ great early Stax classics as a songwriter and producer. Disc 2 moves on to his solo singles for the Enterprise label, including many non-LP rarities like a Volt single from 1965, a double-sided holiday platter from 1969, duets with songwriting partner David Porter and even two radio spots.  The final two discs are also themed. One focuses on Hayes’ covers, divided between studio tracks (including an unreleased version of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David standard “Windows of the World”) and a live set at the Operation PUSH Black Expo in Chicago in 1972. (Two of these six tracks appeared on a greatest-hits package in 2005, while the others are heard here for the first time.) The final disc, “Jam Master,” covers Hayes’ larger-than-life extended studio experiences, almost all of which are heard here for the first time (plus the CD debut of a 33-minute-long version collaboration with The Bar-Kays on Shaft cut “Do Your Thing,” released on a Record Store Day 12″ last year.) The box then goes back to the beginning with a bonus 7″ single replicating Hayes’ very first commercial recording from 1962.  Read more here!

Van Morrison, Roll with the Punches (Caroline) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Van Morrison’s 37th studio album, Roll with the Punches finds the Caledonia soul man covering some of his favorite R&B classics (by the likes of Bo Diddley, Mose Allison, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Lightnin’ Hopkins among others) alongside five new, original songs.  Chris Farlowe, Georgie Fame, Jeff Beck, Paul Jones and Jason Rebello join Van for this new release.  Available on CD, LP, and DD.

Leon Russell, On a Distant Shore (Palmetto) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Before his death last fall at the age of 74, Leon Russell had spent much of his final year writing and recording a new album inspired by the sounds of the Great American Songbook.  The result is this legend’s final studio album.  On a Distant Shore features reworkings of three Russell classics (“This Masquerade,” “A Song for You,” “Hummingbird”) as well as nine new songs, making for a fitting farewell from a remarkable artist.

Stephen Stills and Judy Collins, Everybody Knows (Wildflower/Cleopatra) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Stephen Stills teams up with Sweet Judy Blue Eyes herself for their first-ever full-length collaborative album.  Stills and Collins’ Everybody Knows features these two titans of song performing such classics as “Who Knows Where the Time Goes,” “Reason to Believe,” and “Girl from the North Country.”

Chris Hillman, Bidin’ My Time (Rounder) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Chris Hillman (The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Manassas, Desert Rose Band) returns with an all-new album produced by Tom Petty and executive produced by Herb Pedersen.  In addition to Petty, guest appearances are made by artists including Hillman’s Byrds bandmates David Crosby and Roger McGuinn; The Heartbreakers’ Benmont Tench, Mike Campbell, and Steve Ferrone; and Desert Rose Band’s John Jorgenson, Pedersen, and Jay Dee Maness.  The strains of Hillman’s past run through this celebratory record.  He revisits Pete Seeger and Welsh poet Idris Davies’ “The Bells of Rhymney,” which The Byrds recorded for their debut.  “Here She Comes Again” was co-written by Hillman and McGuinn and, until now, had only been released on a live Byrds album in Australia.  “She Don’t Care About Time” was written by Byrds co-founder Gene Clark, and was the B-side of “Turn! Turn! Turn!”  Covers of the Everly Brothers’ ‘Walk Right Back’ and Tom Petty’s “Wildflowers” are among the tracks fusing rock and roll, bluegrass and country in classic Hillman style.  Available on CD, LP, and DD.