Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up!

ABBA, Live at Wembley Arena (Polar/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

ABBA brings its 2014 release of Live at Wembley Arena – preserving the group’s November 10, 1979 performance at the storied venue – back to vinyl.  This edition on 3 LPs has been half-speed mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios.

Ella Fitzgerald, The Complete Piano Duets (Verve/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

This first-of-its-kind 2-CD package collects all of the voice-and-piano duets recorded by the legendary Ella Fitzgerald for the Decca, Verve, and Pablo labels including the complete albums Ella Sings Gershwin with Ellis Larkins (1950), Songs in a Mellow Mood with Larkins (1954), and Let No Man Write My Epitaph with Paul Smith (1956).

Matt Monro, Stranger in Paradise: The Lost New York Sessions (UMC) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

After a brief delay, UMC/Virgin at last releases this special 2-CD package celebrating the late, great Matt Monro.  Disc One presents a 1966 album of Broadway tunes recorded in New York with a small band; some of these recordings were later overdubbed with strings and brass for the Capitol LP Invitation to Broadway, but this release marks their first-ever appearance in their original form as the artist intended.  The second disc has 27 of Monro’s finest tracks in optimum sound as mastered by Richard Moore.  Read our original post here.

The Idle Race, The Birthday Party (Cherry Red/Grapefruit) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

This deluxe 2-CD edition from Jeff Lynne’s pre-Move, pre-ELO band makes its first standalone CD appearance outside of Japan as a 2-disc set boasting the original mono and stereo versions plus ten bonus singles and alternate takes.  Read all about it here.  Out today in the U.K. and next Friday in North America!

Sister Sledge, Thinking of You: The Atco/Cotillion/Atlantic Recordings (1973-1985) (Cherry Red/SoulMusic) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Following its recent Dionne Warwick Arista years collection, SoulMusic turns its attention to the catalogue of Sister Sledge at the Warner-affiliated labels Atco, Cotillion, and Atlantic.  This 6-CD, 97-song box has eight full albums plus a host of bonus tracks from the “We Are Family” group.  Watch this space for a more in-depth review soon!

Maria McKee, La Vita Nuova (Afar) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Singer-songwriter Maria McKee of Lone Justice returns with her first new studio album since 2007.  Taking cues from such influences as Scott Walker, David Bowie, Sandy Denny, Kate Bush, and Joni Mitchell as well as the poets William Blake, Ralph Vaughn Williams, John Keats, and Algernon Charles Swinburne, McKee has crafted a suite of deeply personal lyrics and sweeping, orchestrally-accompanied melodies.

Al Di Meola, Across the Universe (Ear Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The acclaimed guitarist reinvents classic Beatles melodies including “Here, There, and Everywhere,” “Julia,” “Your Mother Should Know,” “I’ll Follow the Sun,” “Hey Jude,” and even Meredith Willson’s “Till There Was You” on this new album.