Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the many titles hitting stores today as the countdown to the holidays continues!

Michael Jackson, Thriller 40 (MJJ/Epic/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The best-selling album of all time returns in a 2CD edition for its 40th anniversary.  The second disc features 10 bonus tracks including the previously issued outtake "Sunset Driver," "Got the Hots" (making its U.S. release debut), non-LP B-side "Can't Get Outta the Rain," the Michael Sembello-penned "Carousel," and the previously unreleased "Who Do You Know," "What a Lovely Way to Go," "The Toy," "Starlight," "Behind the Mask" demo, and Terry Britten-written "She's Trouble."  The digital edition adds another 15 bonus cuts.  What were some of our picks that didn't make the cut for this long-anticipated release?  See here!

KISS, Creatures of the Night: Super Deluxe Edition (Casablanca/UMe)

5CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Official KISS Store
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP - Half-Speed Master: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

KISS delivers another Super Deluxe mega-box - this time for 1982's Creatures of the Night. Creatures will be reissued for its 40th anniversary in a variety of formats: chiefly a 5CD/Blu-ray box packed with the remastered album and 67 (!) live and studio bonus tracks, nearly all of them unreleased. An 80-page hardcover book includes liner notes by Ken Sharp, archival photos, ephemera, and memorabilia. A separate folder includes replicas of the original Creatures-era press kit, promo posters and glossy photos, bumper stickers, backstage passes, iron-on transfers, buttons, guitar picks, fan newsletters and much more. A smaller deluxe edition will be available on 2-CD and 3-LP vinyl, along with the new album remaster on standalone CD and half-speed mastered vinyl. Read more here!

Queen, The Miracle: Collector's Edition (EMI (U.K.)/Hollywood (U.S.)

5CD/BD/DVD/LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Cassette / Picture Disc LP / All Bundles: Queen Online Store

Queen's thirteenth studio album, 1989's The Miracle, is getting the super deluxe treatment from EMI/Hollywood as a 5CD/BD/DVD/LP box set adding alternate takes, demos, rough mixes, backing tracks, B-sides, and more to the original album (heard in Bob Ludwig's 2011 remaster).  Previously unreleased songs include the lead single "Face It Alone," featuring a Freddie Mercury vocal.  A 2CD "highlights" version pairs the 2011 Ludwig remaster with the 16-track disc of previously unreleased session material.  Queen's online store is offering an exclusive cassette and limited, numbered picture disc LP of the Ludwig remaster (note that "Too Much Love Will Kill You" is not on this LP) as well as various bundles.  A 7-inch single of "Face It Alone" is also available, with an exclusive instrumental "Karaoke Version" on the B-side. Read more here!

Dolly Parton, Diamonds and Rhinestones: The Greatest Hits Collection (Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Dolly Parton's Diamonds and Rhinestones: The Greatest Hits Collection offers 23 tracks from the country superstar, originally released between 1971 and 2020, on CD, 2LP, and digital formats.  The collection draws on Parton's recordings for RCA Victor, Columbia Records, and her own Dolly Records label, including her biggest crossover hits such as "9 to 5," "Here You Come Again," "Two Doors Down," "Heartbreaker," and the Kenny Rogers duet "Islands in the Stream." The 2020 digital single "When Life Is Good Again," an uplifting anthem for the age of COVID-19, makes its CD debut as does "Faith" with electronic music duo Galantis.  Get more info here.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Los Angeles Forum: April 26, 1969 (Experience Hendrix/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

On April 26, 1969, Jimi Hendrix took the stage at the Los Angeles Forum with the original lineup of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding. While songs from the show have been released in the past on Lifelines (1990) and The Jimi Hendrix Concerts (1989), the entire concert has never been officially issued in its entirety...until now!  Experience Hendrix/Legacy's release of Los Angeles Forum: April 26, 1969 will be available on CD, 2LP, and digital formats, and features songs including "Foxey Lady," "Purple Haze," and a pre-Woodstock "Star-Spangled Banner."  Read more here.

Peggy Lee, Norma Deloris Egstrom from Jamestown, North Dakota (Capitol/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Capitol Records revisits supreme song stylist Peggy Lee's remarkable final album for the label, 1972's Norma Deloris Egstrom from Jamestown, North Dakota, in a remastered and expanded edition adding seven bonus tracks including a non-LP single, session outtake, and alternate takes.  Read all about it here.

Peter Green, In the Skies: Expanded Edition (Iconoclassic) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Iconoclassic Records revisits Fleetwood Mac co-founder Peter Green's In the Skies, the album which ignited a comeback and a period of relatively prolific recording for the songwriter/guitar hero.  Its first-ever expanded edition has been freshly remastered by Vic Anesini and adds four bonus tracks including the single "Apostle" b/w "Tribal Dance" that preceded the album.  The single version of "Tribal Dance" makes its debut here on CD.  The bonus selections are rounded out by rehearsal takes of "Slabo Day" and "In the Skies."  A 16-page booklet features liner notes by Ralph Chapman drawing on new interviews with Peter Vernon-Kell and surviving musicians Snowy White and Kuma Harada. Get the track listing and more info here!

Willie Nelson, Live at Budokan (Columbia/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Columbia/Legacy releases Willie Nelson's 1984 Live at Budokan concert, previously available only on Laserdisc, as a 2CD/DVD set as well as digitally.  Willie and his band - including sister Bobbie Nelson on piano, Paul English on drums, Grady Martin on guitar, Jody Payne on vocals and guitar, Bee Spears on bass, and Mickey Raphael (who also produced this new set) on harmonica - romp through such classics as "On the Road Again," "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," "Mammas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys," and "Always on My Mind."  The audio is available on vinyl for Record Store Day Black Friday, November 25.

David Bowie, Moonage Daydream - A Film by Brett Morgen: Original Soundtrack (Parlophone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Parlophone brings the soundtrack to director Brett Morgen's surreal fantasia on the life of David Bowie to 2CDs today.  (The album has already been streaming.) The album boasts 43 tracks: new mixes of familiar material and deep cuts alike, fragments of Bowie's narration, and even a handful of unreleased tracks. Among the centerpieces being heard for the first time is a live medley of "The Jean Genie" and The Beatles' "Love Me Do," performed with Jeff Beck on guitar during the incendiary set that saw Bowie announce the retirement of his Ziggy Stardust persona.  Get the track listing and more here.

The Vince Guaraldi Trio, Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus: Deluxe Edition (Fantasy/Craft Recordings)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1LP Small Batch: Official Store

Craft Recordings revisits Vince Guaraldi's 1962 breakthrough featuring "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" in a a new deluxe edition featuring sixteen session outtakes, all but three of which are previously unreleased.  Everything has been remastered by engineer Paul Blakemore from the original analogue tapes transferred by the Plangent Process. They'll be available on two CDs or three 180-gram LPs, with new lacquers cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and pressed at RTI. Jazz critic Andrew Gilbert pens new liner notes for the deluxe packages. The original album will also be repressed as part of Craft Recordings' "Small Batch" series, featuring lacquers cut by Bernie Grundman and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI using an all-analogue, one-step process. That pressing will feature new liner notes by Guaraldi historian Derrick Bang.  The 2CD edition is out November 18 with the vinyl versions coming on February 24, 2023.  Read all about it here.

Los Fantastikos: Original Mexico City Cast Recording (Stage Door Records) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Stage Door Records)

Stage Door Records brings this "holy grail" of international cast albums to CD with a clutch of rare bonus tracks.  The 1961 Mexico City cast recording of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt's record-breaking musical arrives with eight additional tracks. These include both sides of the single recorded in Swedish by Christian Bratt, star of the 1961 Stockholm production; three additional Swedish cover recordings; and four pop covers from Harry Belafonte, James Shigeta, Don Rondo, and Gerrit van Triest.   This release is limited to just 500 units. Read more here.

APB, Something to Believe In (Liberation Hall) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Scottish post-punk dance band APB has inked a new deal with Liberation Hall which bears fruit today with the label's reissue of the 1985 singles collection Something to Believe In on both CD and LP.  Whereas the original Link Records release offered just 10 songs, the new LP offers 11 with the addition of APB's 1981 debut single "Chain Reaction."  The expanded CD offers 16 tracks ("Chain Reaction" and five others).  "Danceability" appears in its original mix on the LP while the CD boasts the extended "Danceability Parts 1 & 2" mix.  Overall, the CD presents all of APB's singles originally issued between 1981 and 1985 on three independent labels in the United Kingdom.  The CD's eight-page foldout booklet has new commentary from both guitarist Glenn Roberts and drummer George Cheyne as well as photos and credits.  Randy Perry has remastered this release.  Roberts writes in his essay, "Let me try again to describe our music.  Here are a few words you might relate to: tunes, bass, dance, scratchy, punk, energy, verse, chorus, uplifting."  We couldn't have said it better!

Nastyfacts, Drive My Car + 2 (Left for Dead Records) (Bandcamp)

Left for Dead Records reissues the one and only studio recording from eighties teen-punk band Nastyfacts (recorded at New York's Media Sound in 1980) on CD, LP, cassette, and digital download.  John Peel championed the primal punk-pop group led by Cherl Boyze (bass/lead vocals) and featuring Brad Craig (guitar), Jeff "Range" Tischler (guitar), and Genji "Searizak" Siraisi (drums).  Steve Gardner provides new liner notes for this three-song EP featuring "Drive My Car," "Gotta Get to You," and "Crazy 'Bout You."

Neil Young with Crazy Horse, World Record (Reprise) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Neil Young's latest album with longtime band Crazy Horse is co-produced by Young and Rick Rubin and features 10 new Young compositions.  It was mixed to analog tape at Rubin's studio, and will be released on 2 CDs, 2 LPs (with one of the four sides bearing an etching), cassette, and digitally.