Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up!
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Bobbie Gentry, The Girl from Chickasaw County: The Complete Capitol Masters (UMC U.K.) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The career of the enigmatic Bobbie Gentry is celebrated on a remarkable new box set. The hotly-anticipated 8-CD collection The Girl from Chickasaw County: The Complete Capitol Masters collects all seven of Gentry's 1967-1971 Capitol Records studio albums plus more than 75 previously unreleased recordings. This treasure trove of lost material includes a completed "jazz" album, outtakes, demos, and other rarities including the live performances from her BBC show of 1968-1969. (Some of these were issued on vinyl this year for Record Store Day; there are additional tracks here.) The box contains an 84-page book with an essay and rare and unpublished photos, as well as a replica of Gentry's handwritten lyrics to "Ode to Billie Joe," and four postcards. David Downton has provided the new cover art. Read more here!
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Ramones, Road to Ruin: 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Sire/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The 1978 fourth album from Ramones arrives in a deluxe 3CD/1LP box set featuring the remastered original album, a new remix, a disc of rough mixes and related bonus tracks, and the band's live December 31, 1979 show at New York's Palladium, plus the remix on LP. It's all housed in a book-style package limited to 7,500 units. Also available as a single CD remaster. Read more here!
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Electric Light Orchestra, The U.K. Singles Volume One 1972-1978 (Epic/Legacy)
Legacy has boxed up an impressive collection of ELO's complete U.K. singles between 1972 and 1978, totaling 16 vinyl discs - all of which are painstakingly replicated from the original U.K. singles as issued on labels including United Artists, Warner Bros., Harvest, and Jet. Songs include "Evil Woman," "Strange Magic," "Showdown," "Telephone Line," and "Mr. Blue Sky." This release is currently an exclusive to ELO's webstore. Read more here, and watch this space for our full review!
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Prince, Piano and a Microphone, 1983 (Warner Bros.)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
CD/LP Deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Digital: Amazon U.S.
The Prince vaults are open! Piano & A Microphone, 1983 - a nine-track, 35-minute album - features a previously unreleased home studio cassette recording of the solo Prince at his piano in that epochal year including renditions of "Purple Rain," Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You," the folk spiritual "Mary, Don't You Weep," and more! Available on CD, LP, digitally, and as a deluxe LP/CD set.
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MC5, Total Assault: 50th Anniversary Collection (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The MC5's thundering trio of Kick Out the Jams, Back in the USA, and High Time are collected on one deluxe slipcased 3-LP vinyl box! The albums are pressed on red, white and blue vinyl, and the box includes a booklet with new liner notes and rare photographs.
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Nat "King" Cole, The Christmas Song: Expanded Edition (Capitol/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The all-time perennial album from Nat "King" Cole gets a spruced-up CD reissue with five bonus tracks.
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Various Artists, A Motown Christmas (Motown/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The original 1973 two-record yuletide celebration featuring Diana Ross and The Supremes, The Temptations, The Jackson 5, The Miracles, and more returns to vinyl in a newly remastered edition.
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The Soulful Strings, The Magic of Christmas (Cadet/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The sizzling, funky 1968 Christmas album from Chicago's Soulful Strings (previously released on CD by Real Gone Music) comes back to vinyl in a new edition from UMe.
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The Chipmunks, Christmas with The Chipmunks Vol. 2 (Liberty/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The Chipmunks' beloved family Christmas classic returns on white vinyl. Tracks from Alvin, Simon and Theodore include "Hang Up Your Stockin'," "Jingle Bell Rock," and "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas."
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Kenny Rogers, Christmas (Capitol Nashville/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Kenny Rogers' 1981 Christmas album returns to vinyl. Features his smooth renditions of "White Christmas," "My Favorite Things," "Carol of the Bells," and numerous original compositions. Pressed on standard weight vinyl.
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Kenny Rogers, The Best of Kenny Rogers: Through the Years (Capitol Nashville/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The Gambler's recent 80th birthday is celebrated with a new hits collection, too. Through the Years has the classic title song plus "Lady," "You Decorated My Life," "She Believes in Me," and of course, "The Gambler" plus duets with Dottie West and Kim Carnes, for a total of 20 tracks. (Alas, "Islands in the Stream" with Dolly Parton is missing.) The remastered set has been culled from Rogers' recordings for labels like United Artists, Liberty, RCA, and Capitol Nashville.
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The Isley Brothers featuring Ron Isley, I'll Be Home for Christmas (Def Jam/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The Isleys' Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis-produced Christmas album from 2007 comes to vinyl. Ron Isley lends his velvet pipes to such classic tunes as "I'll Be Home for Christmas" "Winter Wonderland," and "White Christmas" with a modern, urban touch.
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Various Artists, International Pop Overthrow Vol. 21 (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The renowned International Pop Overthrow Festival moves over to Omnivore Recordings for another 3-CD collection of the greatest bands you've never heard! On this latest annual entry, you'll find 69 tracks of pop in all its many forms, expertly curated for your listening pleasure by Festival founder David Bash.
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You have a link for the Bobbie Gentry set and when one clicks on the link, it says that it is “unavailable” and Amazon doesn’t know if it will ever be available.
Try purchasing through Amazon’s Canadian site (amazon.ca). They should have it in stock and if you’re buying from the United States, it may be cheaper for you because of the exchange rate.
Thank you. Amazon Canada only shows two that are offered through a third-party seller for CAN$ 132 plus and then $8 shipping. When I originally ordered this set (and then stupidly canceled my order) it was US$ 79. That’s not less through this third-party seller. Thank you again. My point was more about “Why a link to Amazon U.S. if it is not available and Amazon doesn’t know if it will ever be available?”
Hi Rich, in response to your point - We only have two options: include the link or don't include the link. When we first published the link, it was active. While it's inactive today, notifications are still offered to let potential purchasers know when the set comes back in stock. We feel this makes it worthwhile to still include the link. In addition, streaming and digital access is at the same link. Lastly, many readers will come back to this page in the coming months (it does happen) and so it's important to have the link here, as likely Amazon will resume orders soon. Our sincere apologies if it was an inconvenience to you to find the inactive link.
It was still available on Amazon Sunday 16 Sep 2018 but then started showing its current "unavailable"status early this week.
Any idea if the Chipmunks reissue features the original Liberty Records label art? And is the cover done in the "foil" style of the original pressing or the standard style of the later pressings?
Hi Scott, we don't have any more information from the label than that which we shared, but should we come across a copy, we'll be happy to let you know!
Cool, thanks! I have multiple copies of the album on CD, but since it was one of my absolute favorites as a child, it would be fun to pick up the new vinyl for nostalgic purposes if it's a close replica of the original.
On a related note, a complete David Seville/Ross Bagdasarian/Chipmunks singles (1958 - 1969) collection would be an awesome Real Gone or Second Disc Records release. Most of the non-LP, instrumental b-sides have never been released on CD. Their next to last album (1968's "The Chipmunks See Dr. Doolittle") has also never been released on CD.
Thanks, Scott! We're big fans of The Chipmunks, so...anything is possible! 🙂
Prince fans, get ready for a long pull on your wallets if this first vault release is only a nine-track, 35-minute album.
Great news about International Pop Overthrow! I'm glad the series has found a new home after the previous label closed up shop. Omnivore seems like a natural choice. Here's to the next 21 volumes!
I heard the Bobbie Gentry box's release date was pushed to October 12 due to unanticipated demand.
The Bobbie Gentry box is available on Amazon UK. Mine is due to arrive in the next day or two according to the tracking.
Lucky you! I wish I hadn't cancelled my UK order when the US price came down! I guess what they did is stagger the release dates so they could meet the UK demand and wait for more product to ship US orders next month.
It just arrived! I'm going to do an unboxing video on Youtube this afternoon!
It's an absolutely exquisite set, Robert. Enjoy it, and do share your video here!
Hey Joe I'll drop a link here early evening! 6-ish I'm guessing.
Sorry for the delay I had an issue with my WIFI or something. it took forever to process.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PUEwJIIXXU