Welcome to the first Release Round-Up of the last month of 2021!

The Doors, L.A. Woman: 50th Anniversary Edition (Elektra/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Rhino.com)

The sixth and final studio album from The Doors featuring Jim Morrison gets a 50th anniversary expansion from Rhino on 3 CDs and 1 LP.  The original stereo album (newly remastered by Bruce Botnick) is present on both CD and LP while the bonus discs have more than two hours of previously unreleased sessions.  The first CD also includes two bonus tracks, a previously unheard Sunset Sound recording of "Riders on the Storm" and the demo of "Hyacinth House."  David Fricke provides the new liner notes.  Read more here!

Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode 101 (Rhino)

2CD/2DVD/BD Box: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

The 1989 documentary film Depeche Mode 101 by directors D.A. Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus, and David Dawkins has been upgraded in HD using 4K scans of the original film reels.  The new Blu-ray adds additional performances of "A Question of Lust," "Sacred" and "Something to Do," plus the promotional video for "Everything Counts."  The box set encompasses:

• Restored and expanded Blu-ray presentation of the film;
• The 20-song concert on 2 CDs;
• 2 DVDs replicating the original 2003 DVD release (with bonus features not carried over onto the Blu-ray presentations, including commentary from Pennebaker, Hegedus, Dave Gahan, Martin L. Gore, and Andy Fletcher; plus solo interviews with the band, Mute Records founder Daniel Miller, manager Jonathan Kessler, and fans featured in the footage);
• Double CD of the original live album;
• A 48-page photo book;
• A 16-page Anton Corbijn Photo Mode book as featured in the original album release;
• A 20" x 30" replica of the original U.S. movie poster; and
• A download card providing access to 4K downloads of the film and bonus performances plus 24-bit audio files of the 101 live album.  Read more here.

Trini Lopez, The Rare Reprise Singles (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Omnivore)

Omnivore collects two dozen non-LP sides (many of which have never been on CD) from Trini Lopez, Texas singer-songwriter of Mexican descent, on a new CD collection, The Rare Reprise Singles.  The set is a trip back to the days when pop was all-encompassing, and as such, is a blast from start to finish.  It kicks off with the studio version of Lopez's rousing take on the Bernstein/Sondheim West Side Story classic "America" (stylized by the artist as "A-Mer-I-Ca") in which Lopez sings both parts of the musical dialogue himself.  With Stephen Sondheim's recent passing and Steven Spielberg's film remake about to open, the timing couldn't be better.  The set also features a Bob Gaudio-helmed single of Randy Newman's wry "Love Story," both sides of a Christmas 45 ("El Niño Del Tambor (The Little Drummer Boy)" b/w "Noche de Paz (Silent Night)"/"Let There Be Peace"), Trini's funky reinvention of The Vogues' "Five O'Clock World," and Paul Anka and Bobby Gosh's groovy "You Make My Day."  Other highlights include the movie theme "Made in Paris," one of the most rocking songs Burt Bacharach and Hal David ever wrote, and Frank DeVol and Mack David's "The Bramble Bush" from the 1967 war film The Dirty Dozen.  Lopez was one of the titular twelve (No. 10, to be precise) and he also recorded his own tie-in song to the movie.  That track, "The Ballad of The Dirty Dozen," is also here. Gene Sculatti has penned the new liner notes within the 12-page booklet, and Michael Graves has remastered.  The Rare Reprise Singles plays like a mini-history of '60s pop from a too-often unsung musical hero.  Read more here!

Calvin Keys, Proceed with Caution! (Real Gone Music)

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Real Gone has two Black Jazz album reissues this week!  Calvin Keys' Proceed with Caution! (1974) was Keys' second album for Black Jazz after 1971's Shawn-Neeq, his debut as a leader.  In the 1960s, Keys backed organists such as Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Jack McDuff, and Richard "Groove" Holmes.  Moving to Black Jazz gave him the opportunity to be the frontman.  For his sophomore LP, Keys offered up more complex music with increased instrumentation after studying at the Los Angeles School of Music.  The album featured six songs, three written by Keys.  The group for Proceed included drummer Leon 'Ndugu' Chancler, fellow Black Jazz mainstays Henry Franklin on bass and Kirk Lightsey on keyboards, and Charles Owens (Horace Tapscott, Buddy Rich, Terry Callier, John Mayall) on sax and flute.  Available on CD (out December 17) and vinyl (available today).

Doug Carn, Adam's Apple (Real Gone Music)

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Also from 1974 is Doug Carn's Adam's Apple.  Keyboardist Carn was the most prolific artist on Black Jazz, recording four albums for the label.  This would be his final one and the first not to feature Jean Carn, his former wife and vocalist.  Here the vocals were provided by Carn himself joined by John Conner and Joyce Green.  The band included Gerald Brown (acoustic bass), Darrel Clayborn (bass), Dan "Big Black" Ray (percussion), Harold Mason (drums), Ronnie Laws (saxophone), Thurman Green (trombone), and guitarists Nathan Page and Calvin Keys.  Apple found Carn going in a direction featuring more electronic instrumentation and included original songs with the exceptions being the opening "Chant" and a cover of Earth, Wind, and Fire's "Mighty Mighty."  Available on CD (out December 17) and vinyl (available today).

 

Doc Watson, Life's Work: A Retrospective (Craft Recordings) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Craft Recordings salutes the remarkable legacy of Americana titan Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson (1923-2012) with Life's Work: A Retrospective.  The anthology features 101 key tracks from the guitarist's discography including collaborations with Flatt and Scruggs, Chet Atkins, Ricky Skaggs, Alison Krauss, Bill Monroe, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and Watson's son Merle.  The 4-CD set (also available digitally) features an 88-page book with new liner notes by author and compilation co-producer Ted Olson plus previously unpublished photos.​ Read more here.

Nina Simone, Chris Connor, and Carmen McRae,Nina Simone and Her Friends (BMG)

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Your Local Record Shop

Nina Simone's discography for Bethlehem Records is famously small - just her galvanizing debut, Little Girl Blue, and three leftovers.  Eager to cash in on the young star, however, the label put together this 1959 album.  Its 12 tracks comprised those three outtakes plus a reprise of Simone's chart hit "I Loves You, Porgy" and four songs apiece from two other jazz vocal greats who had also left Bethlehem for greener pastures: Chris Connor and Carmen McRae.  For its patchwork-quilt origins, though, Nina Simone and Her Friends is a classy set of top-drawer performances from all three women.  The LP cover promises "an intimate variety of vocal charm," which is as good a description as any for these dozen examples of jazz singing at its best.  Michael Graves has remastered and Daphne A. Brooks has provided the new liner notes in the eight-page booklet.  Available on CD as well as on "RSD Essentials" emerald green vinyl at independent record stores. Read more here.

Tom Jones, Surrounded by Time: The Hourglass Edition (EMI) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Tom Jones revisits his new studio album Surrounded by Time, a U.K. chart-topper earlier this year, in a deluxe edition adding a bonus disc.  The additional CD contains two new tracks - the original composition "One Hell of a Life" and a cover of Bob Dylan's "Not Dark Yet" - plus four live versions of album cuts recorded in London, and a conversation with Jones.  Out today in the U.K. and as an import next Friday, while a domestic U.S. edition is coming via BMG in February.

Travis, The Invisible Band: 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Craft Recordings) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Travis' 2001 album produced by Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Paul McCartney) returns in a 2-CD deluxe edition featuring the original album remastered by Emily Lazar plus B-sides and previously unreleased demos, live tracks, and alternates.  The original album will be reissued on vinyl in January.

Garbage, beautifulgarbage: 20th Anniversary Edition (Geffen) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Garbage's 2001 studio album, the band's third, is remastered and expanded as a 3-CD set featuring the original album, demos, remixes, and B-sides in a clamshell case.  Butch Vig and Billy Bush have remastered.  The 3-LP edition has the original album on two 180-gram black vinyl LPs plus a third LP of selected bonuses.

The Black Keys, El Camino: 10th Anniversary (Nonesuch)

5LP Black Vinyl Super Deluxe:  The Black Keys Store
3LP Black Vinyl Deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / The Black Keys Store
3LP White Vinyl Deluxe: The Black Keys Store
5CD Super Deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / The Black Keys Store

The Black Keys are revisiting their seventh album, El Camino, in a variety of formats.  The 10th anniversary Super Deluxe Edition on 5 LPs or 4 CDs (or digitally) features a remastered version of the original album, the previously unreleased Live in Portland, ME concert recording, a BBC Radio 1 Zane Lowe session from 2012, a 2011 Electro-Vox session, a photo book, poster and lithograph, and a "new car scent" air freshener. The 3LP Deluxe Edition includes the remastered album and the live recording.