Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today!
Daft Punk, Random Access Memories: 10th Anniversary Edition (Columbia)
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Daft Punk's final album, 2013's disco-flavored, multiple Grammy-winning Random Access Memories, welcomed such all-time luminaries as Nile Rodgers, Paul Williams, Giorgio Moroder, Paul Jackson, Jr., Nathan East, John "J.R." Robinson, and Omar Hakim as well as contemporary greats Pharrell Williams, Julian Casablancas, and Animal Collective co-founder Panda Bear. Now, it's time to "Get Lucky" with a deluxe 10th anniversary edition on 2 CDs or 3 LPs, featuring an array of bonus material including outtakes, alternates, and demos. Read more here.
Rick Springfield, Springfield (Iconoclassic) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Rick Springfield's previously unreleased 1974 album for Columbia Records gets its first-ever release in a deluxe, expanded edition from Iconoclassic Records. Over the years, just three tracks from the gutsy, rock-and-roll-oriented Springfield have escaped the vault (including "American Girls"). Iconoclassic's world premiere of the complete album includes his previously unreleased 1974 performance at Post Falls, Idaho's Northwest Speedway as well as the "Streakin' Across the USA"/"Music to Streak By" single. Everything has been mastered by Vic Anesini at Battery Studios, and the package is adorned with striking artwork by John Sellards. Ken Sharp provides the liner notes in the 20-page booklet which is stuffed with photos and memorabilia from the era as well as track-by-track memories from Springfield and bandmates Katona and Leinheiser. Get more details here.
Moody Blues, To Our Children's Children's Children (UMC U.K.) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The Moody Blues' fifth album and first on their own Threshold label, 1969's To Our Children's Children's Children, returns today in a new 4CD/Blu-ray box set featuring a remaster of the original stereo album; new stereo and 5.1 surround remixes by Stephen W. Tayler of both the original album and the band's 1969 Royal Albert Hall concert; and a disc of B-sides and rarities. Available today in the U.K. and next Friday in North America.
Miles Davis, Workin' with The Miles Davis Quintet [Original Jazz Classics] (Craft Recordings) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Craft Recordings relaunches the venerable Original Jazz Classics series with two titles including 1960's Prestige Records release Workin' with The Miles Davis Quintet. The LP features Davis' First Great Quintet: Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, Philly Joe Jones on drums, and John Coltrane on tenor saxophone. It's out on 180-gram vinyl, cut from the original master tapes in an all-analog (AAA) chain by Kevin Gray at Cohearant Audio. The LP will also be reissued digitally in 192/24 HD Audio.
Michael Martin Murphey, Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir: 50th Anniversary Edition (A&M/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey's sophomore album, produced by Bob Johnston and originally released in 1973 on the A&M label, makes its domestic CD debut in this remastered 50th anniversary edition which features the original album sequence only. It follows the CD reissue earlier this year of Murphey's Geronimo's Cadillac.
APB, Three (Liberation Hall) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Liberation Hall has signed an exclusive worldwide deal with Scottish post-punk band APB to bring their catalogue back into print. Iain Slater (vocals/bass), Glenn Roberts (guitar), and George Cheyne (drums) were just teens when they formed in 1979; by the time of 2006's Three, they were considerable older but no less energetic. It's not hard to see why APB gained such a strong following on the New York City scene in the early 1980s despite hailing from across the pond; their funky, danceable sound is comparable to Gang of Four and anticipated the likes of Red Hot Chili Peppers. The reissue of Three contains a fold-out booklet with full lyrics. Also available digitally.
The Kingsnakes, Live at The Old Waldorf, June 5, 1981 (Liberation Hall) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
A live set from rockabilly revivalists The Kingsnakes is up next from Liberation Hall. Led by French-guitarist Daniel Jeanrenaud, the band made a wild noise in the varied Bay Area music scene of the early 1980s. This previously unreleased set captures them at San Francisco's Old Waldorf in June, 1981, tearing up both original songs ("Rock 'n' Roll House," "Good Rockin' City") and high-octane covers ("My Babe," "You Never Can Tell," "No Particular Place to Go"). A pair of studio bonus cuts - 1988's "Get Up!" and 2011's "More" - rounds out the disc. Randy Perry has mastered, and Jeanrenaud has penned a brief essay in the insert. Also available digitally.
Cal Tjader, Huracán (Liberation Hall) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Callen Radcliffe Tjader, Jr. (1925-1982) remains one of jazz's most beloved vibraphonists. His recording career spanned albums for the Savoy, Fantasy, Verve, and Concord labels, among others, most of which were in a Latin vein. Though he was not of Latin descent himself, he did much to popularize the sounds of Latin America in a jazz context. Huracán was recorded in March 1978 for the audiophile label Crystal Clear Records, and featured Tjader on vibes alongside future Prince collaborator Clare Fischer on electric piano, Willie Bobo on timbales, Robb Fisher on bass, ex-Frank Zappa sideman Gary Foster on winds, Ronald King on trumpet, Kurt McGettrick on baritone sax, Victor Pantoja on bongos and cowbell, Alex Rodriguez on trumpet, Frank Rosalino on trombone, Pancho Sanchez on congas, and Rick Zunigar on guitar. Following in the tradition of past CD releases of this material, there are six songs total, or two more than originally appeared in 1978. Four overhead microphones plus a direct input for the bass were employed to capture the immediacy and organic feel of the sessions; the material was arranged and primarily written by Fischer.
Rick Astley, Hold Me In Your Arms: Deluxe Edition (BMG) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
BMG revisits Rick Astley's 1988 sophomore album (including "She Wants to Dance with Me," "Take Me to Your Heart," and the title track) as a 2-CD Deluxe Edition with eighteen bonus tracks including B-sides, remixes, and "reimagined versions." The original album is also reissued on limited edition blue vinyl. Both iterations have been newly remastered at Abbey Road Studios.
Bryan Adams, Pretty Woman: The Musical (BMG) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Bryan Adams performs his score (co-written with Jim Vallance) to the 2018 Broadway musical Pretty Woman which is currently enjoying a run in the West End of London through June 23. Already available digitally, the album now makes its CD debut.
Celine Dion, Love Again: Soundtrack from the Motion Picture (Columbia) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The new romantic comedy Love Again starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Sam Heughan not only features a soundtrack by Celine Dion, but the chanteuse plays a major role in the film itself. Today, the soundtrack is released, featuring five new Dion songs as well as six of her classic recordings and three instrumental cues from composer Keegan DeWitt.
Joe Mac Pherson says
APB! Another Scottish band that deserves more attention and greater respect.
Now because of you, I'm buying Three, reissued and remastered on CD. THANK YOU!