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Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up!

Cream, Goodbye Tour Live 1968 (Polydor/UMC) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

This new 4-CD box set expands on Cream’s farewell album Goodbye Cream, but with a twist: it drops the three studio tracks and instead presents four complete concerts including the Los Angeles Forum show from which the original three live cuts on Goodbye were culled. Overall, the book-style package has 36 tracks, 29 of which are premiering on CD. 19 of the songs are previously unreleased in any format, and 10 more from the climactic Royal Albert Hall show have only been available on DVD. Historian David Fricke tells the story of the band’s final tour in his new liner notes.  Read more here!

Simple Minds, Street Fighting Years: Super Deluxe Edition (UMC) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

UMC revisits Simple Minds’ 1989 album Street Fighting Years as a 4-CD box set.  The cinematic Trevor Horn and Stephen Lipson-produced LP featured the band’s first U.K. No. 1, “Belfast Child,” even as the group underwent personnel changes.  This expanded edition is the latest in UMC’s ongoing Simple Minds reissue series and features a newly remastered version of the album (undertaken by Andrew Walters at Abbey Road Studios) alongside a disc of B-sides, edits and 12″ remixes.  The box is rounded out by a previously unreleased live show from Verona on September 15, 1989.   2-CD and 2-LP editions of Street Fighting Years will also be released.  The CD configuration features the first two discs of the big box set, while the double vinyl features just the core album remastered.  Out today in the U.K. and next Friday in North America.  Read more here!

The Horace Tapscott Quartet, The Giant Is Awakened (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Real Gone delivers the first-ever vinyl reissue of The Horace Tapscott Quintet’s 1969 album The Giant Is Awakened.  Originally released on the Flying Dutchman label,  the recording is a masterful mix of free jazz and pan-African influences.  Pianist Tapscott leads the band, which also features alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe, bassists David Bryant and Walter Savage, Jr., and drummer Everett Brown Jr.  The Giant Is Awakened was the debut album by Tapscott and his quintet and it would be nearly ten years before the industry-leery pianist would record another.  In the decades since its release, The Giant Is Awakened gained a cult-like following, with original pressings fetching triple-digit dollar amounts.  Now, the album returns to wax with a special neon-green vinyl pressing limited to 1,000 copies.  Read the track listing here!

a-ha, Greatest Hits: Japanese Singles Collection (Rhino/Warner Japan) (CD Japan / Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The Japanese market has seen singles collections for artists like Cheap Trick, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Young, and Boz Scaggs.  Now, a new addition is a-ha, collecting the band’s singles in that country.  This set has 19 audio tracks on CD (including “The Living Daylights,” “Take on Me,” “The Sun Always Shines on TV,” and more) plus an NTSC DVD featuring 17 music videos.

Rory Gallagher, Check Shirt Wizard: Live in ’77 (Polydor/UMC)

2-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3-LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Irish guitar hero Rory Gallagher is well known for his live albums, now UMC will add a new one to the Gallagher canon.  This 2-CD or 3-LP set features 20 previously unreleased recordings from his 1977 U.K. tour, with incendiary versions of his then-most-recent effort, Calling Card, material from his acclaimed Against The Grain, and more.  These multitrack recordings – newly mixed and mastered at Abbey Road – are packaged in a newly designed sleeve with art by Irish graffiti artist Vincent Zara.  Out today in the U.K. and next Friday in North America.

The Human League, Octopus: Special Edition (Rhino U.K.) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The Human League’s 1995 EastWest release is expanded with a second disc of demos, singles, and edits, including 7 previously unreleased tracks.

Ric Ocasek, Beatitude (Rubellan Remasters) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The 1982 solo debut from the late Cars frontman is expanded by Rubellan Remasters with a quartet of bonus tracks including the 1983 re-recording of “Jimmy Jimmy” in two mixes plus extended versions of “Prove” and “Connect Up to Me.”

Luke Haines and Peter Buck, Beat Poetry for Survivalists (Omnivore/Cherry Red) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Peter Buck of R.E.M. has teamed with Luke Haines of The Auteurs for this new release consisting of ten quirky new songs primarily written by the duo.  They’re joined by Scott McCaughey on bass and keyboards and Linda Pitmon on drums, as well as guests Joe Adragna on drums and congas and Fred Ph on backing vocals.  The U.S. release is on Omnivore, while the U.K. edition is on Cherry Red.  On CD, LP, and digital.

Brandy Clark, Your Life Is a Record (Warner) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Six-time Grammy nominee Brandy Clark reteams with producer Jay Joyce and a four-piece acoustic band for this new album which also features Randy Newman on the track “Bigger Boats” plus appearances by the Memphis Strings and Horns and guitarist John Osborne.

Will Sexton, Don’t Walk the Darkness (Fat Possum/Big Legal Mess Records) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The Texas songwriter/guitar-slinger releases his first album in over ten years with Don’t Walk the Darkness.  With producer Bruce Watson, Sexton has combined the sounds of Austin, New Orleans, and his new home of Memphis on this record featuring 10 new tracks.  Among them are two songs from Sexton’s unrecorded backlog including “Don’t Take It From Me,” co-written with Waylon Jennings shortly before the outlaw legend’s passing.  A bluesy strain of Americana comes to vivid life on this compelling new album.  Available on CD and vinyl.