Release Round-Up: Week of February 17
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores today!
Dionne Warwick, Sure Thing: The Warner Bros. Recordings (1972-1977) (Cherry Red/SoulMusic) (Cherry Red / Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Dionne Warwick’s new 6-CD box set Sure Thing: The Warner Bros. Recordings (1972-1977) anthologizes the superstar singer’s years for the famous label, including five full albums and over 40 additional recordings. This adds up to the most comprehensive chronicle of Warwick’s Warner Bros. period ever, including productions by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Jerry Ragovoy, Thom Bell, Randy Edelman, Ashford and Simpson, and more. All of the album outtakes which premiered on Real Gone Music’s 2013 compilation We Need to Go Back: The Unissued Warner Bros. Masters have been appended to their proper LPs, and all seven productions recorded by Dionne with Joe Porter in 1976, only two of which were released at the time, are also compiled together for the first time. Finally, numerous unique single edits/mixes (including the extended version of “Track of the Cat”) and “Just As Long as We Have Love,” the B-side of the chart-topping “Then Came You,” are part of this deluxe package. Sure Thing has been co-produced by SoulMusic Records founder David Nathan and TSD’s Joe Marchese, and the 40-page booklet features rare photographs as well as a nearly 10,000-word essay from Marchese and a full sessionography from Nathan. Out today in the U.K. and next Friday in North America. Read more here!
Robert Palmer, The Island Records Years (Edsel) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The Island Records Years is an in-depth look on 9 CDs at the first decade-plus of Robert Palmer’s solo work for Chris Blackwell’s legendary label cut between 1974 and 1985. In addition to all of Palmer’s studio and live albums from that time, six of the nine discs boast a total of 25 non-LP bonus tracks, remixes, demos and more. (The set is billed as “newly mastered by Phil Kinrade at AIR Mastering using digital sources provided by the Universal archive.) Full lyrics and credits will be included in the 12″ x 12” box set, along with annotations by writer Daryl Easlea, all in a 28-page booklet. Read more here!
Marshall Crenshaw, Marshall Crenshaw: 40th Anniversary Expanded Edition (Yep Roc) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Bandcamp)
After coming back into circulation last year courtesy of a new label home and a Record Store Day reissue, CD fans can rejoice at the news that Yep Roc’s new expanded edition of Marshall Crenshaw’s self-titled debut will get a wider release on disc. Seven bonus tracks have been appended, including previously unreleased tracks. Get more details here.
Motley Crüe, Crücial Crüe: The Studio Albums 1981-1989 (BMG)
5CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
5LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
This 5LP or 5CD box set collects Motley Crüe’s first five platinum-charting albums on CD and vinyl:
- Too Fast for Love (1981) White/Black Splatter)
- Shout at the Devil (1983) (Yellow/Black Splatter)
- Theatre of Pain (1985) (Hot Pink Magenta/Black Splatter)
- Girls, Girls, Girls (1987) (Cyan Blue / Black Splatter); and
- Feelgood (1989) (Coke Bottle Green / Oxblood Splatter).
The vinyl LPs will be housed in a solid black slipcase with foil imprint; these color variants will only be available in this box set. As Motley Crüe has only released nine studio albums – the most recent of which was 2008’s Saints of Los Angeles, their final release to date – the new box contains more than half of their discography and all of their platinum-certified albums. Read more here.
Various Artists, Birthright: A Black Roots Music Compendium (Craft Recordings) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
This 40-song, 2-CD (or digital) overview of black roots music features such artists as John Lee Hooker, Odetta, The Staple Singers, Sweet Honey in the Rock, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Lightnin’ Hopkins as well as annotation from co-producer Ted Olson and essays from Dom Flemons and Corey Harris.
Various Artists, Eddie Piller Presents British Mod Sounds Volume 2: The Freakbeat and Psych Years (Edsel) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Acid Jazz Records founder Eddie Piller has rounded up another 95 songs (on four discs) of U.K. mod sounds including tracks from David Bowie, The Yardbirds, The Spencer Davis Group, The Kinks, Small Faces, Scott Walker, and many more. Richard Norris provides the liner notes.
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An expensive week for me. It’s like a Whitman’s Sampler of releases arriving on my doorstep today:
Marshall Crenshaw : “Marshall Crenshaw – 40th Anniversary Expanded Edition”
Motley Crüe: “Crücial Crüe: The Studio Albums 1981-1989” Box Set
A Flock of Seagulls: “A Flock of Seagulls” Remastered / Expanded 3 CD Set
Orbital: “Optical Delusion” with limited edition bonus CD single
Orbital: “Optical Delusion” Blu-ray Audio