We recently told you about Real Gone's line-up of limited edition vinyl soundtracks due in April and now we've got word of four more limited vinyl titles. All of these are due to be released on April 6.
First up is the 1982 dub album Scientist and Jammy Strike Back!. Scientist (Hopeton Overton Brown) and Prince Jammy (Lloyd James) were both proteges of King Tubby (Osbourne Ruddock), a sound engineer who was a pioneer in dub and remixing in Jamaica in the 1960s and 1970s. Both Scientist and Prince Jammy worked under King Tubby before branching out on their own in the mid-1970s. The pair had collaborated on a couple of albums prior to this one. Strike Back! was produced by Linval Thompson, who also composed some of the material. Thompson was an acolyte of Jamaican record producer Lee "Scratch Perry." The music was performed by Scientist's frequent collaborators, Roots Radic, a popular Jamaican studio band. The artwork and songs on the album reference popular science-fiction properties such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. The LP was originally issued on Trojan Records in the U.K. and reissued on CD in 1997. It has never been issued on vinyl in the United States. Real Gone's new edition comes in Yellow-Green "Lightsaber" vinyl and is limited to 700 copies.
Next up is Jack Kerouac's second album, Blues and Haikus, from 1959. Last April, Real Gone offered a limited vinyl reissue of Kerouac's first album, Poetry for the Beat Generation, also from 1959. The celebrated beat writer's sophomore LP was much in the same vein of his first effort with poetry recitations backed by musical accompaniment and again produced by Bob Thiele. The first album featured the piano playing of Steve Allen, but for Blue and Haikus, Kerouac teamed with jazz saxophonists Zoot Sims and Al Cohn, both veterans of Woody Herman's band. This time around, Kerouac's poetry focused more on his interest in eastern religion and philosophy as expressed in his novel The Dharma Bums from 1958. The album was reissued on standalone CD in 2008. Real Gone's new vinyl edition comes in blue and yellow "Starburst" vinyl and is limited to 1,000 copies.
Hailing from the late 1970s into the mid-1980s comes The Singles 1979-1984 from British hard-rock band Girlschool. The all-female group could be considered a British equivalent of The Runaways, although their career has lasted far longer than that band's. The group grew out of the covers band Painted Lady, founded by school friends in 1975. By 1978, through several personnel changes the band was named Girlschool and members included Kim McAuliffe (rhythm guitar, vocals), Dinah Enid Williams (bass, vocals), Kelly Johnson (lead guitar) and Denise Dufort (drums). Their first single, "Take It All Away," was released on independent label City Records in 1978. Doug Smith, manager of Hawkwind and Motorhead, saw the group and booked them as a support act for Motorhead. He eventually became the manager for Girlschool as well and got them signed to Bronze Records in 1979. They would remain on the label through 1984, releasing 4 albums. The most successful of these was 1981's Hit and Run, which reached #5 on the British charts. Real Gone's new vinyl compilation collects 12 single A-sides from the band's City and Bronze tenures including "Take It All Away," "Race With the Devil," "Hit and Run," "C'Mon Let's Go" and "Please Don't Touch" (performed with Motorhead). The set has been compiled, produced and annotated by Mark Brennan and the gatefold package shows rare picture sleeve. The orange vinyl is limited to 700 copies. The group is active up through today with original members McAuliffe, Williams and Dufort still part of the group. Their last album, Guilty as Sin, was released in 2015.
The final new release is the cult-classic God Bless Tiny Tim from 1968. Tim (Herbert Buckingham Khoury) performed in Greenwich Village in the early 1960s and sang a couple of songs in the 1968 film You Are What You Eat in his soon-to-be-famous falsetto. This lead to a booking on the television show Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and national exposure. On his third appearance on the show, he performed "Tip-Toe Thru' the Tulips with Me" accompanying himself on his signature ukulele. That song would become an unlikely top 20 Hit for Tiny Tim when it was featured on his Reprise debut album God Bless Tiny Tim. Produced by the up-and-coming Richard Perry, the album featured mostly material from decades before, sung as only Tiny Tim could in falsetto and baritone. The LP itself would hit the Top 10. You can find more about the album in Joe's review of Now Sounds' 2013 expanded mono CD reissue. Real Gone's new vinyl reissue celebrates the album's 50th anniversary and is the first time the album has been reissued on vinyl in the United States. It comes in pink vinyl and is limited to 900 copies.
If would like to give any of these titles a try, we've got the preorder links and tracklistings below!
Scientist and Prince Jammy, Scientist and Prince Jammy Strike Back! (Limited "Yellow-Green Lightsaber" Vinyl Edition) (Originally issued on Trojan Records LP TRLS 210, 1982 - reissued Real Gone Music, 2018) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Side One
- Storming the Death Star
- Mission Impossible
- The Alien Aborts
- Buck Rogers in the Black Hole
- The Death of Mr. Spock
Side 2
- The Princess Takes Her Revenge
- The Crushing of the Stormtroopers
- Flash Gordon Meets Luke Skywalker
- The Son of Darth Vader
- C-3PO + R2-D2 = The Force
Jack Kerouac, Blues and Haikus (Limited "Blues and Yellow Starburst" Vinyl Edition) (Originally issued on Hanover LP HM 5006, 1959 - reissued Real Gone Music, 2018) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Side 1
- American Haikus
- Hard Hearted Old Farmer
- a. The Last Hotel
- Some of Dharma
Side 2
- Poems from the Unpublished "Book of Blues"
Girlschool, The Singles 1979-1984 (Limited Orange Vinyl Edition) (Real Gone Music, 2018) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Side 1
- Take It All Away
- Emergency
- Nothing to Lose
- Race With the Devil
- Yeah Right
- Please Don't Touch (with Motorhead)
Side 2
- Hit and Run
- C'Mon Lets Go
- Wildfire
- 1 2 3 4 Rock and Roll
- 20th Century Boy
- Burning in the Heat of Love
Side 1, Track 1 from City Records single NIK 6, 1979
Side 1, Track 2 from Bronze Records single BRO 89, 1980
Side 1, Track 3 from Bronze Records single BRO 95, 1980
Side 1, Track 4 from Bronze Records single BRO 100, 1980
Side 1, Track 5 from Bronze Records single BRO 110, 1980
Side 1, Track 6 from Bronze Records EP BRO 116, 1981
Side 2, Track 1 from Bronze Records single BRO 118, 1981
Side 2, Track 2 from Bronze Records single BRO 126, 1981
Side 2, Track 3 from Bronze Records EP BRO 144, 1982
Side 2, Track 4 from Bronze Records single BRO 169, 1983
Side 2, Track 5 from Bronze Records single BRO 171, 1983
Side 2, Track 6 from Bronze Records single BRO 176, 1984
Tiny Tim, God Bless Tiny Tim (Limited Pink Vinyl Edition) (Originally Released on Reprise LP RS 6292, 1968 - reissued Real Gone Music, 2018) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Side 1
- Welcome to My Dream
- Tip-Toe Thru' the Tulips With Me
- Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moon Light
- On the Old Front Porch
- The Viper
- Stay Down Here Where You Belong
- Then I'd Be Satisfied With Life
- Strawberry Tea
Side 2
- The Other Side
- Ever Since You Told Me You Love Me (I'm a Nut)
- Daddy, Daddy, What Is Heaven Like?
- The Coming Home Party
- Fill Your Heart
- I Got You, Babe
- This Is All I Ask
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