Real Gone Music has a full slate for the rest of the year, including a host of Christmas titles arriving tomorrow, and here are two more entries: a rare record from the group The Brief Encounter also due tomorrow, November 5, and a reissue bringing the Grateful Dead's Road Trips Vol. 2, No. 1 to stores for the first time on December 17.

First up is a hard-to-find LP receiving its first US reissue.  The Brief Encounter are a soul/funk band hailing from North Wilkesboro, North Carolina whose members included lead vocalist Maurice Whittington (lead vocals), Gary Bernard Bailey (vocals, bass, guitar, keyboards), Montie Bailey (vocals, keyboard), Larry "Tony" Bailey (saxophone), Velmar Bailey and Barth Strempek (keyboards), Charles Graham (trumpet), Michael Carter (guitar), Rufus Wilborn (drums, flute), and Fredrick Alexander (drums, percussion).  Signed to Nashville deejay John Richbourg's Seventy-Seven Records, the group began releasing singles in 1973.  Their first releases did not chart but "What About Love" hit the R&B survey at No. 82 in 1976.  The next year, the band's first LP was released: Introducing Brief Encounter.  All tracks were written by the group, and the music's style fits comfortably alongside other R&B artists of the era including Funkadelic, The Isley Brothers, The O'Jays, or Kool & the Gang.  A single was released in July of 1977 from the LP: "In A Very Special Way" (re-titled from the album's "In A Special Kind of Way") b/w "Get A Good Feeling" (in an edit) which peaked at No. 78 R&B.  (Both of the group's charting singles were on Capitol and the circumstances of how that deal that came to be are a bit unclear).  Another non-LP single would follow later in the year and another album in 1981.  The public then saw no new released music from the band until 2010 when they began to release singles again, with the last single coming out last year.

The original pressing of the Introducing Brief Encounter album has been a collector's item for years.  The album was reissued in Japan and the U.K. on CD and LP in 2010 but this vinyl reissue from Real Gone is the first U.S. reissue of the LP.  To honor the band's roots, it has been pressed in North Carolina and comes on smoky (mountain)-colored vinyl.

Next up is another entry in Real Gone's continuing series of Road Trips reissues from the Grateful Dead: Road Trips Vol. 2 No. 1--MSG September '90.  This 2-CD set is primarily drawn from the September 19 & 2, 1990  performances from the New York venue with an encore of "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" included from the September 18 show.  Material from this set of concerts was also included Dick's Picks Vol. 9.

These shows were performed two months after the death of keyboardist Brent Mydland who had been with the group since 1979.  The MSG concerts also came the same month as the release of the album Without A Net, which was a live effort with performances from October 1989 to April 1990 and was the Dead's last original Arista album.  However, that live album featured Mydland.  After he passed away, ex-Tubes member Vince Welnick (on electric keyboards) and Bruce Hornsby (on grand piano) joined the band and gave the Dead a fresh, new live sound.  That is the line-up heard on this Road Trips release which features a '90s "Dark Star," and a second set performance of "Let It Grow" that veers off in new directions even for the famously improvisational band.

Road Trips Vol. 2, No. 1 was first released December 10, 2008 through the Grateful Dead's website.  Real Gone is bringing it to general retail for the first time. (Do note that the third disc of additional performances from September 18 that only shipped with initial orders of the album in 2008 is not included in this re-release).

If you would like to give either of these titles a try, we've got the full tracklistings and pre-order links below.  The Brief Encounter LP is due out tomorrow and the Grateful Dead CD is due on December 17.

The Brief Encounter, Introducing Brief Encounter (Originally released on Seventy-Seven Records LP 77-102, 1977 - reissued Real Gone Music, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Side 1

1. The Brief Encounter (Introduction)
2. Visions
3. Smile
4. Just One Moment
5. Loving and Caring

Side 2

1. In a Special Kind of Way
2. Good Thing, Bad Thing
3. Time Is Moving
4. Get a Good Feeling
5. We're Gonna Have a Good Time

 

Grateful Dead, Road Trips Vol. 2 No. 1--MSG September '90 (Originally released on Grateful Dead Records CD GRA2-6005 - reissued Real Gone Music, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1

1. Truckin' (9-20-90)
2. China Cat Sunflower (9-20-90)
3. I Know You Rider (9-20-90)
4. Playing in the Band (9-19-90)
5. Ship of Fools (9-19-90)
6. Playing in the Band (9-19-90)
7. Uncle John's Band (9-19-90)
8. Let it Grow (9-19-90)
9. Jam (9-19-90)

CD 2

1. Jam (9-20-90)
2. Dark Star (9-20-90)
3. Playing in the Band (9-20-90)
4. Dark Star (9-20-90)
5. Throwing Stones (9-20-90)
6. Touch of Grey (9-20-90)
7. Turn On Your Love Light (9-20-90)
8. Knockin' on Heaven's Door (9-18-90)