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Cherry Red has proven once again that between all their subsidiary labels, they are a haven for diverse and excellent reissues.  In the past few months, their RPM label has announced an extensive, 3-CD collection of The Everly Brothers' genre-expanding mid-'60s recordings, while Esoteric is set to release a 4-CD reissue of Renaissance's Turn of the Cards and a 3-CD/DVD box of Jim Capaldi's solo work late of Traffic.

Out now in the U.K. and available this Friday in North America is the most recent installment in Esoteric's Renaissance reissue series: a deluxe edition of the 1974 album Turn of the Cards.  Housed in the familiar clamshell box are three CDs and a DVD.  Disc 1 features a new remaster of the album, which saw the progressive rock outfit supplementing their sound with symphonic arrangements on such classics as "Mother Russia" and "Things I Don't Understand."  The remaster was undertaken by Ben Wiseman using a 24-bit digital version of the original master tapes.  Though we didn't have another digital version to compare, Wiseman's work brings out all the detail of the sometimes dense arrangements.  The first disc also includes the hard-to-find single edit of "Mother Russia"; new stereo mixes of "Things I Don't Understand," "Black Flame," and "Mother Russia"; plus a newly unearthed song, "Everybody Needs a Friend," which has never been released before.

Meanwhile, CDs 2 and 3 present a complete concert from the tour Renaissance launched in support of Turn of the Cards.  Recorded at New York City's gone-but-not-forgotten Academy of Music on May 17, 1974, this newly remastered concert includes thrilling live versions of many of the album tracks, alongside earlier favorites such as "Carpet of the Sun," "Can You Understand," and an incendiary, 25-minute "Ashes Are Burning" with Wishbone Ash's Andy Powell guesting on lead guitar.

If that weren't enough, the final disc is a DVD featuring a high-res stereo mix of the album alongside a new 5.1 surround mix that immerses the listener in the music.  Rounding out the box is an illustrated booklet with notes drawing from new interviews with band members Terry Sullivan, Jon Camp, and Annie Haslam.  Their reflections on the songwriting and recording process and the fertile creative period of the band provide vital insight into this legendary example of symphonic rock.

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The following week, on March 27 (and April 3 in North America), Esoteric will release Open Your Heart: The Island Recordings, 1972-1976, a compendium of solo albums by Traffic's core lyricist and drummer, Jim Capaldi.  The 3-CD/DVD clamshell box set brings together the trio of albums recorded in the interim or wake of Traffic, each supplemented with an extra track or two.  Though the star-studded Oh How We Danced (listen for Kossoff, Winwood, Wood, and Mason) and the classic Whale Meat Again were previously issued with contemporaneous B-sides by Esoteric in 2012, the expanded Short Cut, Draw Blood and the DVD of BBC-TV appearances will be new to listeners.

Short Cut, Draw Blood in particular proved to be one of Capaldi's most successful efforts, featuring two U.K. hits: a cover of The Everly Brothers' "Love Hurts" and Capaldi's own "It's All Up to You."   The single B-side "Sugar Honey" and the non-album tracks "Talkin' About My Baby" and "Still Talkin'" round out the disc.

The real jewel of the set is the NTSC/Region 0 DVD (playable worldwide) of previously unreleased appearances on the BBC.  A November 1975 session with Steve Winwood on piano sees The Jim Capaldi Band performing the title track from Short Cut, Draw Blood and "Goodbye Love," while the rest of the disc is made up of a 50-minute concert with The Space Cadets in March 1976.  Add to it an informative booklet of liner notes and pictures, and you have a fitting tribute to an unsung hero of British rock.

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The same date (March 27 in the U.K., April 3 in North America), Cherry Red's RPM label will release a new 3-CD Everly Brothers set called Down in the Bottom: The Country Rock Sessions, 1966-1968.  After finding success over the previous decade with genre-defining pop hits like "Wake Up Little Susie" and "Bye Bye Love" and tender ballads like "All I Have to Do Is Dream" and "Let It Be Me," the brothers Phil and Don were eager to embrace a new, contemporary sound.  From November 1966 to November 1968, The Everly Brothers stationed themselves in Los Angeles and teamed up with different session players (among them The Wrecking Crew and Van Dyke Parks), groundbreaking songwriters, and new producers in a bid to find a refreshing musical blend that could stand out in the shifting musical landscape. The set isn't purely "country rock," though; the brothers also touched on chamber pop, light psychedelia, and their classic sound.

By bringing together three such efforts - The Hit Sound of..., Sing, and Roots - plus 15 demos, session recordings and a half-dozen non-album singles (all previously issued), Down in the Bottom: The Country Rock Sessions 1966-1968 delivers the definitive collection of the Everly Brothers in transition as guided by producers Dick Glasser and Lenny Waronker.  Along the way, you'll hear their tight harmonies on interpretations of Bacharach and David, Goffin and King, Jimmy Webb, Glen Campbell, Randy Newman, and even Neil Young.  All 58 tracks in the collection have been remastered by Simon Murphy at Another Planet Music and it's supplemented by a comprehensive essay by Austin Powell.

All told, it'll be an exciting few weeks for fans of The Everlys, Renaissance, and Jim Capaldi.  So place your orders direct from the label and get your copies delivered to your door!

Renaissance,Turn of the Cards: Remastered and Expanded Boxset Edition [3-CD/DVD] (Cherry Red Records/Esoteric Antenna, 2020) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

* denotes previously unreleased track

CD 1: Turn of the Cards: Remastered (originally released as Sire LP 7502-M, 1974)

1. Running Hard
2. I Think of You
3. Things I Don't Understand
4. Black Flame
5. Cold Is Being
6. Mother Russia
   Bonus tracks:
7. Everybody Needs a Friend (recorded at De Lan Lea Studios, 23 March 1974) *
8. Mother Russia (single edit)
9. Things I Don't Understand (new stereo mix) *
10. Black Flame (new stereo mix) *
11. Mother Russia (new stereo mix) *

CD 2: Live at the Academy of Music, New York, NY, 17 May 1974

1. Can You Understand
2. Black Flame
3. Carpet of the Sun
4. Cold Is Being
5. Things I Don't Understand
6. Running Hard

CD 3: Live at the Academy of Music, New York, NY, 17 May 1974, continued

1. Ashes Are Burning
2. Mother Russia
3. Prologue

DVD: 5.1 Surround Sound and High-Resolution Stereo Mixes of Turn of the Cards

1. Running Hard (5.1 surround sound mix)
2. I Think of You (5.1 surround sound mix)
3. Things I Don't Understand (5.1 surround sound mix)
4. Black Flame (5.1 surround sound mix)
5. Cold Is Being (5.1 surround sound mix)
6. Mother Russia (high-resolution stereo mix)
7. Running Hard (high-resolution stereo mix)
8. I Think of You (high-resolution stereo mix)
9. Things I Don't Understand (high-resolution stereo mix)
10. Black Flame (high-resolution stereo mix)
11. Cold Is Being (high-resolution stereo mix)
12. Mother Russia (high-resolution stereo mix)

Disc 1, track 8 originally released on Sire single SAA-714, 1974.
Disc 2, tracks 1-6 and CD 3, tracks 1-3 originally released on Academy of Music 1974, Purple Pyramid CD CLP-2116, 2015.

Jim Capaldi, Open Your Heart: The Island Recordings, 1972-1976 (Cherry Red Records/Esoteric Recordings, 2020) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

* denotes previously unavailable on CD
** denotes previously unreleased

CD 1: Oh How We Danced remastered (originally Island LP ILPS-9187, 1972 -- reissued with same bonus track on Esoteric Recordings CD ECLEC2317, 2012)

1. Eve
2. Big Thirst
3. Love is All You Can Try
4. Last Day of Dawn
5. Don't Be a Hero
6. Open Your Heart
7. How Much Can a Man Really Take
8. Oh How We Danced
   Bonus track:
9. Going Down Slow All the Way

CD 2: Whale Meat Again remastered (originally Island LP ILPS-9254, 1974 -- reissued with same bonus track on Esoteric Recordings CD ECLEC2318, 2012)

1. It's Alright
2. Whale Meat Again
3. Yellow Sun
4. I've Got So Much Lovin'
5. Low Rider
6. My Brother
7. Summer Is Fading/We'll Meet Again
   Bonus track:
8. Tricky Dicky Rides Again

CD 3: Short Cut Draw Blood remastered (originally Island LP ILPS-9336, 1975)

1. Goodbye Love
2. It's All Up to You
3. Love Hurts
4. Johnny Too Bad
5. Short Cut Draw Blood
6. Living on a Marble
7. Boy With a Problem
8. Keep on Trying
9. Seagull
   Bonus tracks:
10. Sugar Honey *
11. Talkin' About My Baby *
12. Still Talkin' *

DVD: Live At the BBC **

Jim Capaldi Band on The Old Grey Whistle Test, 18 November 1975

1. Short Cut Draw Blood
2. Goodbye Love

Jim Capaldi and the Space Cadets on The Old Grey Whistle Test, 30 March 1976

1. Low Rider
2. Love Hurts
3. Goodbye Love
4. Elixir of Love
5. Bow With a Problem
6. Short Ends
7.  Talkin' About My Baby
8. Keep on Trying

Disc 1, track 9 originally released on Island Records single WIP-6127, 1972.
Disc 2, track 8 originally released on Island Records single WIP-6165, 1973.
Disc 3, track 10 originally released on Island Records single WIP-6246, 1975.
Disc 3, tracks 11-12 originally released as Island Records single WIP-6299, 1976.

The Everly Brothers, Down in the Bottom: The Country Rock Sessions, 1966-1968 - Albums (Hit Sound/Sing/Roots), Singles & Demos (Cherry Red/RPM, 2020) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: The Hit Sounds of The Everly Brothers (originally Warner Bros. Records LP WS-1676, 1967)

1. Blueberry Hill
2. Movin' On
3. Devil's Child
4. Trains and Boats and Planes
5. Sea of Heartbreak
6. Oh, Boy!
7. (I'd Be a) Legend in My Time
8. Let's Go Get Stoned
9. Sticks and Stones
10. The House of the Rising Sun
11. She Never Smiles Anymore
12. Good Golly, Miss Molly
    Bonus tracks:
13. Even If I Hold it In My Hand (Hard Luck Story) (take 2)
14. When Eddie Comes Home (outtake)
15. Nothing But the Best (outtake)
16. A Little Bit of Crazy (outtake)
17. Bowling Green (demo)

CD 2: Sing (originally Warner Brothers Records LP WLS-1708, 1967)

1.  Bowling Green
2. A Voice Within
3. I Don't Want to Love You
4. It's All Over
5. Deliver Me
6. Talking to the Flowers
7. Mary Jane
8. I'm Finding It Rough
9. Do You
10. Somebody Help Me
11. A Whiter Shade of Pale
12. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
    Bonus tracks:
13. Love of the Common People (single version)
14. You're Just What I Was Looking For Today (single version)
15. My Elusive Dreams (outtake)
16. Lord of the Manor (single version)
17. Love With Your Heart (outtake)
18. Love With Your Heart (version 2) (outtake)
19. It's My Time (single version)
20. Empty Boxes (single version)
21. Milk Train (single version)

CD 3: Roots (originally Warner Brothers Records LP WS-1752, 1968)

1. The Everly Family (1952)
2. Mama Tried
3. Less of Me
4. T for Texas
5. I Wonder if I Care As Much
6. Ventura Boulevard
7. Shady Grove
8. Illinois
9. Living Too Close to the Ground
10. You Done Me Wrong
11. Turn Around
12. Sing Me Back Home
13. Montage: The Everly Family (1952)/Shady Grove/Kentucky
    Bonus tracks:
14. Lady Anne (version 2) (outtake)
15. Shop Girl (outtake)
16. Human Race (mix 1) (outtake)
17. Omaha (outtake)
18. Mr. Soul (mix 1) (outtake)
19. Down in the Bottom [Meet Me in the Bottom] (mix 1) (outtake)
20. In the Good Old Days (mix 1) (outtake)

CD 1, track 13 originally released on Heartaches & Harmonies, Rhino Record box set R2-71779, 1994.
CD1, track 15; CD 2, track 17 originally released on Susie Q, Magnum Force LP MFLP-052, 1987.
CD 1, tracks 14, 16-17; CD 2, tracks 15 and 18; CD 3, tracks 14-16, 18-20 originally released on Chained To A Memory, Bear Family Records box set BCD-16791-IM, 2006.
CD 2 track 13 originally released on Warner Bros. Records single WB-7088, 1967.
CD 2, track 14 originally released on Old Gold single BONUS 01, bonus disc from the box set The Everly Brothers Singles Set, Old Gold, no cat. #, 1980.
CD 2, tracks 16 and 21 originally released on Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Records promo single 7226, 1968.
CD 2, tracks 19 and 20 originally released as Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Records promo single 7192, 1968.
CD 3, track 17 originally released on The New Album, Warner Bros. Records LP K-54615, 1977.