Release Round-Up: Week of January 5

Welcome to the first Release Round-Up of the new year!

David Bowie, Beauty and the Beast [7-Inch Vinyl Single] (Parlophone/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

David Bowie’s series of 40th anniversary series continues with the picture-disc release of “Beauty and the Beast” from Heroes, backed with a live version of “Blackout” from Berlin’s Deutschlandhalle on May 16, 1978. The A-side boasts a photo of Bowie from Japan 1977, while the flip has him in NYC in 1978.

Natalie Dessay and Michel Legrand, Between Yesterday and Tomorrow (Sony Classical)

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

Back in 1973, Barbra Streisand began work on an ambitious concept album by composer Michel Legrand and lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Colloquially referred to as The Life Cycle of a Woman (and alternately, The Life and Death of a Young Woman), the song cycle was to trace a woman’s journey from birth to death. Though Streisand never completed the project, her recordings of four of its songs have seen the light of day. Last year, Legrand completed a version of the album with French vocalist Natalie Dessay as Between Yesterday and Tomorrow – one of the titles previously referred to by Streisand in interviews about her abortive release. It’s available today as an import on both vinyl and CD (as well as digital platforms), and should be of interest to Streisand fans and collectors as a tantalizing look at what might have been.

Meat Loaf, Bat Out of Hell: 40th Anniversary Translucent Vinyl Edition (Friday Music) (Amazon U.S.)

Friday Music re-presses Meat Loaf’s Jim Steinman-penned, Todd Rundgren-produced classic on translucent red 180-gram vinyl.

Daryl Hall and John Oates, Livetime (Friday Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada)

The famed duo’s 1978 live album is re-reissued on CD by Friday Music in time for its 40th anniversary. Includes “Sara Smile,” “Rich Girl,” “Abandoned Luncheonette,” “Do What You Want, Be What You Are,” and more.

Heitor Villa-Lobos, Choros No. 6/Bachianas Brasileiras No. 7 (Kritzerland)

Kritzerland has been making quite a splash lately with a number of classical releases with crossover appeal to fans of the label’s soundtrack and cast recording fare. This release, from Braziilan composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, contains two of his classic compositions described by Kritzerland as “filled with Villa-Lobos’ trademark exotic instrumentation and orchestral color…both pieces have stunningly gorgeous melodies and are profoundly beautiful.” The two mono recordings with Villa-Lobos leading the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra were made by Remington Records in 1954; the recording of “Choros No. 6” is the only time he conducted the piece on records. Though these have previously been released on CD in 1986, Kritzerland has given them a substantial sonic upgrade. Limited to 500 copies, Choros No. 6/Bachianas Brasileiras is available now for pre-order. CDs will ship by the second week of February, but pre-orders frequently arrive 3-5 weeks early.

Look for the schedule to pick up steam next week with many more releases!

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.

1 thought on “Release Round-Up: Week of January 5”

Bruce Padgett
January 5, 2018 at 12:26 pm

I wonder if the Hall and Oates has been remastered again since Friday first re-issued it in 2009?

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Release Round-Up: Week of January 5

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