Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores today!
Madonna, Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones (Warner/Rhino)
1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP (silver): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
6LP: Official Store
The first in a planned series of catalogue reissues through Warner Music Group, the new compilation Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones tracks every one of Madonna's record-setting singles to reach the top of Billboard's dance charts, from 1982 debut "Everybody" to "I Don't Search I Find," one of four tracks off latest album Madame X (2019) to have reached the peak. In a considerable boon to collectors, this multi-format set doesn't merely replicate the familiar versions heard on her albums: every track is presented in a rare remix or edit, with nearly half making their debut on a commercial and/or physical release and a handful released for the first time anywhere. (Mike Dean, producer of Madame X and Madonna's 2015 effort Rebel Heart, has remastered this new set.) The collection has rolled out in several formats across the summer. On June 24, a 16-track abridged edition was made available to stream. Today, that 16-track version comes out on CD and double vinyl alongside the complete 50-track set, on three CDs or six red and black vinyl LPs. (The vinyl will be available exclusively through Madonna's official store or Rhino's storefront.) Read more here.
Neil Young, Eldorado (Reprise) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
After including it in his Official Release Series Volume 4 box set, Neil Young is breaking out his 1989 EP Eldorado on standalone CD and LP. Recorded primarily with bassist Rick Rosas and drummer Chad Cromwell, who'd played in The Bluenotes and here were dubbed The Restless, these five tracks laid the groundwork to Young's next album Freedom, released later that year and featuring the rock radio hit "Rockin' in the Free World." But only three of the five tracks here actually ended up on Freedom, and in remixed form: "Eldorado" (editing some formidable guitar work by Frank "Pancho" Sampedro), a cover of the Mann-Weil-Lieber-Stoller hit "On Broadway," and "Don't Cry." The other two tracks, "Cocaine Eyes" and "Heavy Love," remain only available on this mini-album, which never came out beyond Australia and Japan.
R.E.M., Chronic Town (IRS/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
UMe releases a 40th Anniversary edition of the debut EP from R.E.M. which contains "Gardening at Night," "Wolves, Lower," and more. Chronic Town is available for the first time on a standalone CD, and this new edition offers new liner notes by the original producer Mitch Easter and recent interviews with the band members.
Sheena Easton, Live at The Palace, Hollywood: Deluxe Edition (Cherry Pop) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Sheena Easton's 1982 concert featuring "For Your Eyes Only," "Morning Train (9 to 5)," "Wind Beneath My Wings," and more arrives on CD and DVD from Cherry Pop in a newly remastered, expanded edition. Get all of the info here!
Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers, Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The 1976 Beserkley Records debut from Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers gets a new reissue from Omnivore today on both CD and LP, kicking off the label's reissue series for the seminal proto-punk band.
David Paich, Forgotten Toys (Players Club) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Following recent releases from Toto's Steve Lukather and Joseph Williams, the band's founding keyboardist-singer-songwriter David Paich delivers his first solo album. On Forgotten Toys, he's joined by co-producer/vocalist Williams as well as Lukather, Michael McDonald, Brian Eno, Ray Parker Jr., Don Felder, and Steve Jordan.
Paul says
Swing Out Sister boxset released today, too
Larry Davis says
Just in the UK...in the US it's being released on 8/26...I got the Madonna 3CD and it's interesting...I have her stuff through Madam X but haven't heard it all in a while...listening to the new set, it starts off familiar but gets more obscure as it goes along, with some cool versions like the video version of "Open Your Heart" & the almost powerpop cover of American Pie...the newest stuff is most unfamiliar but that means I need to listen more & refamiliarize myself with the final 3 albums again...I dug em when I heard em & Madam X was a real grower...hated it at first but love it now...