Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up!

Various Artists, Motown: The Complete No. 1s (Motown/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

For its 60th anniversary year, UMe has begun reminding fans that "Motown Did It First"; now, Motown is revisiting an essential box set that was originally released in celebration of its 50th anniversary a decade ago.  Motown: The Complete No. 1s features more than 200 international chart-toppers, plus a handful of bonus masters that went to No. 1 through cover versions or samples. And the packaging is a delight: the discs are housed in five digipaks, all carried in an intricate replica of 2648 West Grand Boulevard - the Detroit building that served as the label's first office and studio space (and today is open to the public as The Motown Museum).  That package with its detailed 100-page book has been replicated for the 2019 edition, and a 6-song bonus disc adds a handful of extra Motown magic from The Miracles, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5, and recent remixes of Diana Ross classics, which have topped Billboard"s dance charts in the past two years.  Read more here, and watch this space for a full review!

Various Artists, Woodstock - Back to the Garden: 50th Anniversary Experience/Collection (Rhino)

10CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 
5LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

In anticipation of Rhino's massive 38-CD complete Woodstock box arriving in August, the label has a slimmed-down edition that's still the most comprehensive Woodstock anthology yet.  Woodstock - Back to the Garden - 50th Anniversary Experience features 162 tracks across 10 CDs and is the first Woodstock collection to feature live recordings of every performer at the festival.  This version will be also available via digital download.  And that's not all.  3CD and 5LP highlights versions, 50th Anniversary Collection, also arrive today!  Read more here, and watch for our full review of the 10CD box soon!

David Bowie, The Mercury Demos (Parlophone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Following the recent Spying Through A Keyhole and Clareville Grove Demos, David Bowie's The Mercury Demos presents ten early, one-take recordings from the future superstar, recorded on a Revox reel-to-reel tape machine in Bowie's flat in spring 1969, with accompaniment from his friend and collaborator John "Hutch" Hutchinson on guitar and vocals.  Songs include "Space Oddity," "Janine," "Conversation Piece," and a cover of Lesley Duncan's "Love Song."  It's housed in a replica of the original tape box, and includes the LP, a print, two photo contact sheets, and new liner notes by Mark Adams.  The LP's labels feature the same EMIDISC acetate style as Spying Through A Keyhole and Clareville Grove Demos, with the song titles in Bowie's own handwriting.   Read more here!

The B-52's, Cosmic Thing: 30th Anniversary Expanded Edition (Warner/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Cosmic Thing: 30th Anniversary Expanded Edition remasters The B-52's' original 1989 album alongside five bonus remixes of the album's biggest singles, including the smash hits "Love Shack" and "Roam," and adds a live disc drawn from two sets in Texas in 1990. The package also comes with new liner notes from writer T. Cole Rachel plus never-before-seen photos of the band from the time.  Read more here!

The Doobie Brothers, Live from The Beacon Theatre (Rhino)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2CD/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Links TBD

In November 2018, the Doobie Brothers, led by Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons, and John McFee, returned to New York City's historic Beacon Theatre for the first time in 25 years to perform two of the band's greatest albums, Toulouse Street and The Captain and Me. Both audio and video of that special performance are now set for release.  The Doobie Brothers: Live from The Beacon Theatre will be available in 2CD, 2CD/DVD, and Blu-ray iterations.  (The latter format still isn't available either from Amazon or directly from Rhino.)  Read more here!

Iggy Pop, Zombie Birdhouse [Various Formats] (Caroline)

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Orange vinyl: Rough Trade

Iggy Pop's lost classic Zombie Birdhouse arrives today on CD and LP. The album was Pop's sixth studio record and saw him combining Afrobeat influences, droning electronics, and free-association. The album was originally produced by Chris Stein of Blondie and released on Animal Records. Since then, the bizarre and compelling album has only been reissued twice. In 1991 it was remastered and expanded with an alternate version of "Pain and Suffering" featuring Debbie Harry on vocals. Twelve years later, that remaster was released again and expanded but with concert recordings from 1982. "Pain and Suffering" will also feature on Caroline International's new reissue.  All the tracks have been remastered by Paschal Byrne at The Audio Archive in London. The album package includes sleeve note by Irvine Welsh and photos by Esther Friedman, as well.

Miles Davis, The Complete Birth of the Cool [Various Formats] (Capitol/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Seventy years ago, The Miles Davis Nonet began the initial sessions for the landmark album Birth of the Cool. With Davis in a basement behind a Manhattan laundromat was a host of soon-to-be-legends: Gerry Mulligan, Max Roach, Lee Konitz, John Lewis, ad more. Davis led the group of groundbreaking musicians through a number of sessions in 1949 and 1950 that were eventually collected and released in 1957. Now, all 12 tracks they recorded and the ensemble's Royal Roost recordings will be presented in a new, deluxe package. The core album is mastered from the analog single masters for the first time since its original release.  The set also includes a booklet full of photos and an exhaustive new essay by jazz historian and Grammy winner Ashley Kahn. Gerry Mulligan and Phil Schapp provided liner notes in the original 1998 CD edition, and those recollections and commentary have been included in the new reissue, as well.  The Complete Birth of the Cool is available on 2-LP vinyl, digital, and CD.

Bay City Rollers, The Singles Collection (Cherry Red/7Ts) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Cherry Red's 7a imprint has rounded up all 47 of The Bay City Rollers' single sides on the Bell, Arista, and Epic labels released between 1971 and 1981 on a 3-CD clamshell box set.  Includes "Saturday Night," "Bye Bye Baby," "Give a Little Love," and all of the group's international smashes.  The set has been remastered by James Bragg and includes a 28-page booklet with single-by-single annotation.  Available today in the U.K., and next Friday in North America.

Kylie Minogue, Step Back in Time: The Definitive Collection (BMG) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

2CD Casebound Book Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2CD Standard Digipak Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP Black Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP Mint Green Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

This 2-CD anthology features 41 favorite tracks from the pop queen plus the bonus cut "New York City."  Available as a standard 2CD digipak, a 2CD version with casebound book, 2LP limited edition mint green gatefold vinyl, and 2LP standard black gatefold vinyl.

Dave Grusin, The Goonies: Original Motion Picture Score (Varese Sarabande) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Varese Sarabande is returning Dave Grusin's classic score to The Goonies to CD, this time in a wide release.  This edition, as assembled and remixed by album co-producer Mike Matessino in 2010, loses four alternate cues from the previous limited-edition CD release. Still, it offers 70 minutes of terrific music that fans of '80s adventure films shouldn't miss.  Read more here!

Chris Stamey and The ModRec Orchestra, New Songs for the 20th Century (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Writer-arranger-performer-musician-dBs founder Chris Stamey has found inspiration for his engrossing new album from the true titans of American popular music: Jerome Kern, the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Henry Mancini, Leonard Bernstein, Irving Berlin, and so on.  For this 2-CD collection of Stamey's brand new future classics, he's joined by talents including Bill Frisell, Nnenna Freelon, Branford Marsalis, Nels Cline, Peter Holsapple, Marshall Crenshaw, Brett Harris, and many others.  Available on CD and digital platforms.  Watch this space for our review!

Various Artists, Echo in the Canyon: Music From and Inspired by the Documentary Film (BMG) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Jakob Dylan and a group of friends including Beck, Cat Power, Fiona Apple, Norah Jones, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, and Regina Spektor revisit thirteen Laurel Canyon classics on this album inspired by director Andrew Slater's recent documentary film.  Songs include "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" by Dylan with Young, "Expecting to Fly" with Spektor, "Goin' Back" with Beck, "You Showed Me" with Cat Power, and more.  Available on CD and digital, with an LP to follow this summer.