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Today, we’re taking a look at three recent releases from Demon Music Group!

On their 1974 Atlantic debut and breakthrough LP AWB, Average White Band proclaimed that they had “Work to Do.”  The group’s confident stab at The Isley Brothers’ 1972 funk classic closed the first side of AWB; now, it’s one of ten tracks comprising the enjoyable new vinyl collection Cover to Cover, Soul to Soul out on Demon Records.

Cover to Cover, Soul to Soul offers a bounty of AWB’s most soulful tracks – not only covers per se, but also assorted tracks with soul pedigrees.  In the latter category, the set reprises AWB bassist Alan Gorrie’s smoking “Keepin’ It to Myself” featuring Atlantic legend Ben E. King on lead vocals; “Put It Where You Want It” (with Gorrie’s lyrics set to Joe Sample’s melody as first cut by Sample’s band The Crusaders); Ned Doheny’s lithe “Love’s a Heartache;” and “This World Has Music,” co-written by Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Ware.  Bramlett was an early champion of AWB, hiring them as her backing band for her solo 1973 Columbia long-player Sweet Bonnie Bramlett.

Motown veteran Ware recurs here, too, with AWB’s torrid, top 40-charting cover of his and Pam Sawyer’s “If I Ever Lose This Heaven.”  The urgent groover was originally recorded by Quincy Jones and later covered by Sergio Mendes, Nancy Wilson, G.C. Cameron, and others.  Two more Motown classics also get the AWB treatment here.  An edit of the epic nine-minute “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” is taken from 1976’s double live album Person to Person; here, it’s only slightly less epic at over six minutes’ length.  The Diana Ross and The Supremes/Temptations duet “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” (originally an R&B hit for Dee Dee Warwick) also got an above-Average makeover with this mellow live rendition released in 2009 as a bonus track on the expanded Person to Person.

Dee Dee’s sister Dionne introduced “Walk on By;” AWB’s slick, disco-meets-reggae version of the Bacharach/David standard was a moderate chart hit on both sides of the Atlantic.  The collection comes full circle with the inclusion of the band’s 2017 cover of The Isley Brothers’ “Harvest for the World” produced by, and featuring, Chris Jasper.  Between 1973 and 1983, Jasper was a member of the Isleys; he then formed Isley-Jasper-Isley with Ernie and Marvin Isley before striking out as a solo artist.  The ever-relevant “Harvest” debuts here on vinyl after having debuted on the AWB’s most recent album, Inside Out.

The LP remastered by Phil Kinrade is pressed on 180-gram clear vinyl and is housed within the jacket in an illustrated inner sleeve featuring the band’s logo on one side and credits with discography on the other side.  Cover to Cover, Soul to Soul is a potent reminder of Average White Band’s brash and brassy brand of soul power.

A new entry in Crimson Productions’ long-running Gold series of budget-priced, music-packed compilations is dedicated to The Rubettes.  The compendium chronicles the history of the group from 1974’s U.K. chart-topper “Sugar Baby Love” through 1992’s Shangri’ La over 52 key tracks.

The Rubettes began life a studio group masterminded by songwriters Wayne Bickerton and Tony Waddington.  But when the bright, bubblegum-esque “Sugar Baby Love” took off, the musicians sans lead singer John DaVinci were tapped to bring The Rubettes to life onstage.  While “Sugar Baby Love” was The Rubettes’ only U.K. No. 1 and only U.S. top 40 hit, the band led by singer/guitarist Alan Williams went on to record nine albums and notched a number of singles in the U.K. and throughout Europe.

The Rubettes’ retro rock-and-roll-with-harmonies sound served them well as they launched during the glam era.  In addition to “Sugar Baby Love,” Gold features every one of their U.K. hit singles: “Tonight” (No. 12, 1974), “Juke Box Jive” (No. 3, 1974), “I Can Do It” (No. 7, 1975), “Foe-Dee-Oh-Dee” (No. 15, 1975), “Little Darling” (No. 30, 1975), “You’re the Reason Why” (No. 28, 1976), “Under One Roof” (No. 40, 1976), and “Baby, I Know” (No. 10, 1977).

While tracks such as “My Buddy Holly Days” mined nostalgia and pastiche, The Rubettes gently nudged their sound into more adventurous directions with Alan Williams and drummer John Richardson’s “Under One Roof,” a story song about the murder of a gay man by his own father.  It was notable for its sympathetic depiction of young Billy’s same-sex relationship and represented the blossoming of the songwriting team.  They would perform together in The Rubettes until 2019.  The duo’s “Baby, I Know” (with a lead by guitarist Tony Thorpe) was The Rubettes’ final U.K. hit; its soft-rock/country sound was another departure for the group.  Even when the chart successes dried up at home, The Rubettes persevered with a handful of records popular in Germany including “Ooh La La,” “Cherie Amour,” and “Little 69,” all of which are featured here.  Phil Kinrade has handled the mastering for the collection.

Fans of melodic, original pop will find a lot to like in this anthology compiled by Mark Brennan.  As there are no liner notes here, the story of The Rubettes’ breakup and reformation – with Alan Williams and another founding member, Bill Hurd, at one point leading rival versions of the group – will have to wait for another day.  But maybe that’s for the best; the ebullient music is what remains.

Barry Blue‘s songs have been recorded by artists including Diana Ross (“Who”), Lynsey de Paul (“Sugar Me”), Matt Monro (“The Little Things”), Sandie Shaw (“Just a Disillusion”), Cheryl Lynn (“Love Bomb”), and even Dame Vera Lynn (“Don’t You Remember When”).  He’s produced Heatwave, Dana, Dead End Kids, and Bananarama, and as a solo artist notched hit singles including “Dancin’ (On a Saturday Night),” “Do You Wanna Dance,” “School Love,” “Miss Hit and Run,” and “Hot Shot.”  Now, the singer-songwriter has looked back on his career with a new 4-CD box set, Out of the Blue: 50 Years of Discovery.

Out of the Blue features four themed discs.  Disc One, Stellar Hits, collects 20 tracks from Blue’s days as a U.K. pop idol including the 1973 No. 2 smash “Dancin’ (On a Saturday Night)” and those aforementioned solo hits, almost all of which were co-written with Lynsey de Paul.  The hook-laden melodies of his hits were more often than not supported by big Wall of Sound-style productions and lush harmonies, but Blue was no one-trick pony.  Among the gems on the first disc is the funky “Devil’s Gun;” C.J. & Co.’s 1977 recording would become the first-ever record played at Studio 54 on its opening night of April 26, 1977.  Blue has also included his moody disco revival of Hank Hunter and Jack Keller’s “One Way Ticket (To the Blues),” a 1959 B-side by Neil Sedaka that became a disco favorite when Eruption covered it in 1979.

Disc 2, Black Holes and Supernovas, boasts an array of previously unreleased tracks and rarities spanning 1971 – when Blue debuted on record under his real name of Barry Green with the moody ballad “Together” – to 1990.  Here, you’ll find Blue’s own recordings of “Sugar Me” (circa 1985-86) and another Lynsey de Paul favorite, “Sleeping Blue Nights” (c. 1973), a 1989 re-recording of “Dancin’ (On a Saturday Night”), and his cabaret-esque take on “I Eat Cannibals,” the 1982 hit he co-wrote and produced for new wave group Toto Coelo.  Blue as pop chameleon emerges most fully on this disc as it spans decades, technologies, and production styles.

The third CD, Boy in the Moon, is Barry Blue’s new studio LP in which he reinterprets his songs recorded by and/or written for other artists.  Though it features a small band of musicians, the sound is stripped down and relatively intimate when compared to the radio-friendly productions he’d devised over the years for so many artists.  The reinvented tunes here (all produced and arranged by Blue) include the title track (recorded by girl group Asia Blue) and “Escaping” (a chart hit for Asia Blue as well as Kiwi artist Margaret Ulrich and singer Dina Carroll), emphasizing the melodies and lyrics of Blue and his collaborators.  The box is rounded out by an interview disc, Sonic Spaces: Barry Blue In Conversation with Paul O’Reilly.  Phil Kinrade has mastered all discs.

Out of the Blue: 50 Years of Discovery sheds welcome light on the onetime teen idol and longtime behind-the-scenes maestro.  The discs are housed in an eight-panel digipak within a slipcase; a 28-page booklet has photos, images of Blue’s early singles, lyrics for Boy in the Moon, and introductions to each disc.  A signed print of the album artwork is also included.

All three of these Demon Music Group releases are available now at the links below.

Average White Band, Cover to Cover, Soul to Soul (Demon DEMREC903, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Side One

1. This World Has Music
2. Work to Do
3. Keepin’ It to Myself – with Ben E. King
4. If I Ever Lost This Heaven
5. I Heard It Through the Grapevine (Live – Edit)

Side Two

1. Put It Where You Want It
2. I’m Gonna Make You Love Me (Live)
3. Walk on By
4. Harvest for the World – feat. Chris Jasper
5. Love’s a Heartache

Side One, Track 1 & Side Two, Track 1 from Show Your Hand, 1973
Side One, Track 2 from AWB, 1974
Side One, Track 3 from Benny and Us, 1977
Side One, Track 4 from Cut the Cake, 1975
Side One, Track 5 from Person to Person, 1976
Side Two, Track 2 from Person to Person [expanded edition], 2009
Side Two, Track 3 from Feel No Fret, 1979
Side Two, Track 4 from Inside Out, 2017
Side Two, Track 5 from Cupid’s in Fashion, 1982

The Rubettes, Gold (Crimson CRIMCD693, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1

1. Sugar Baby Love
2. Way Back in the Fifties
3. Rock Is Dead
4. Tonight
5. Rumours
6. For Ever
7. Rock and Roll Survival
8. Saturday Night
9. Juke Box Jive
10. The Sha Na Na Song
11. Something’s Coming Over Me
12. I Can Do It
13. Don’t Do It Baby
14. At the High School Hop Tonight
15. When You’re Falling in Love
16. If You’ve Got the Time
17. Beggarman
18. Run, Judy, Run

CD 2

1. Foe-Dee-Oh-Dee
2. My Buddy Holly Days
3. Put a Back Beat to That Music
4. Play the Game
5. Little Darling
6. I’m Just Dreaming
7. Out in the Cold
8. Dark Side of the World
9. Sign of the Times
10. Dancing in the Rain
11. The Way You Live
12. You’re the Reason Why
13. Julia
14. Summertime Rock ‘n’ Roll
15. Under One Roof
16. Ooh La La
17. Ladies of Laredo (Radio Version)
18. Allez-Oop

CD 3

1. Baby I Know
2. Rock ‘n’ Roll Queen
3. Come On Over
4. Cherie Amour
5. Sometime in Oldchurch
6. Goodbye Dolly Gray
7. Little 69
8. No No Cherie
9. When Hays Was Young
10. Movin’
11. Lola
12. Stay with Me
13. Kid Runaway
14. Shangri’ La
15. Misbehavin’
16. One Way Traffic

Barry Blue, Out of the Blue: 50 Years of Discovery (Edsel EDSL0089, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Stellar Hits

1. Dancin’ (On a Saturday Night)
2. Ooh I Do
3. Do You Wanna Dance?
4. Tip of My Tongue
5. School Love
6. Rosetta Stone
7. Miss Hit and Run
8. Hi-Cool Woman
9. Hot Shot
10. Behind My Eyes
11. Don’t Wanna Be Blue
12. Devil’s Gun
13. You Make Me Happy (When I’m Blue)
14. Mona
15. Hobo Man
16. Kalamazoo!
17. When Winter Kept Us Warm
18. Pay the Gate
19. Queen of Hearts
20. One Way Ticket (To the Blues)

CD 2: Black Holes and Supernovas

1. Sugar Me
2. A Trick of the Light
3. Together
4. Love Sick
5. I Eat Cannibals
6. Action Man
7. Bring Out the Woman
8. Seriously
9. Nights Are Colder
10. Sleeping Blue Nights
11. Makin’ It
12. Daddy’s Arms
13. Cool-de-Jack
14. Eye to Eye
15. Lifejacket Round My Heart
16. Don’t Ever Love a Stranger
17. Ex-Rated
18. Back to the Wall
19. Magic Tonight
20. Dancin’ (On a Saturday Night) ’89

CD 3: Boy in the Moon

1. Crying Over Nothing
2. Boy in the Moon
3. Crime to Be Cool
4. Escaping
5. Call My Name
6. No Time to Be Hurt
7. Lost for Words
8. Delicate Beauty
9. Don’t Think We’re in Kansas (Anymore)
10. Worlds Apart

CD 4: Sonic Spaces – Barry Blue in Conversation with Paul O’Reilly