Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores today!
Alice Cooper, Killer: Deluxe Edition (Warner/Rhino)
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Killer, released in November 1971, was the fourth album from the original Alice Cooper band line-up of singer Alice Cooper, lead guitarist Glen Buxton, rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal Smith. But it was the group's second album to crystallize the hard rock sound for which Cooper would become known. This newly remastered Deluxe Edition features the original album on CD 1, including the chart entries "Under My Wheels" (No. 59 on the Hot 100) and "Be My Lover" (No. 49), plus alternate takes of "You Drive Me Nervous," "Under My Wheels," and "Dead Babies." The second CD has the previously unreleased live set at Puerto Rico's Mar y Sol Pop Festival recorded on April 2, 1972. Captured before the band re-entered the studio to record School's Out, the show features that album's "Public Animal # 9" as well as most of Killer and selections from Love It to Death including "I'm Eighteen." Also available on 3 LPs.
Alice Cooper, School's Out: Deluxe Edition (Warner/Rhino)
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Alice Cooper's School's Out (1972) was previewed by the instantly memorable title track on 45 RPM; by the time the album (and school) was out, the song had already hit the U.S. top ten and No. 1 on the U.K. Singles Chart. As a result, the LP shot to No. 2 on the Billboard 200; today, the title track is still the most-performed song in Alice's live shows. Cooper's influences for the LP were broad, and School's Out twice incorporated the Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim score to West Side Story - both on "Gutter Cat vs. The Jets" and "Grande Finale." This remastered and expanded edition, available on 2 CDs or 3 LPs, adds the single versions of "School's Out" and "Gutter Cat vs. The Jets" as well as two previously unreleased tracks: an alternate version of "Alma Mater" and an early demo for "Elected." The latter would turn up in 1973 on the chart-topping Billion Dollar Babies. A previously unissued Miami show from May 27, 1972 - just weeks after the Mar y Sol gig - completes the release. The vinyl version will replicate the original release, opening up the school desk to reveal the album wrapped in a pair of panties. Read more on both Alice Cooper titles here.
Harry Chapin, Live at the Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey - October 21, 1978 (Renaissance) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The late singer-songwriter's Capitol Theatre concert in support of the successful Senate campaign of Bill Bradley comes to this 2CD set. The concert includes an appearance from Chevy Chase as well as performances of "Taxi," "W.O.L.D.," "Cat's in the Cradle," and "I Wanna Learn a Love Song." It's unclear as of this writing whether this release is authorized or not; the concert has circulated on Wolfgang's Vault and elsewhere.
Ratt, The Atlantic Years 1984-1990 (BMG) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
BMG, in association with Atlantic/Rhino, releases this new albums box set from glam metal titans Ratt on 5 CDs or 5 LPs; the LP box also includes a 7-inch single of "Nobody Rides for Free" and a replica tour book.
Various Artists, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: Music from Season Five (Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The fifth and final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel arrives on CD June 9 (and LP on September 22) - and marvelous it is! The album features both classics (Tony Bennett's "I Wanna Be Around," Barbra Streisand's "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" and "I Stayed Too Long at the Fair," Richard Burton's Camelot ballad "How to Handle a Woman," Doris Day's "I Love the Way You Say Goodnight," and Bobby Short's "I Happen to Like New York") and some unexpected surprises (Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer as Carol Burnett doing Once Upon a Mattress' "Shy," Hank Azaria's "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)," and Mrs. Maisel herself - Rachel Brosnahan - performing her final standup routine).
Shucked: Original Broadway Cast Recording (Masterworks Broadway) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
The multiple Tony Award-nominated, cornpone musical comedy by Robert Horn (Tootsie, Disney's Hercules) and Nashville songwriters Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally comes to CD this week; the album has previously been available digitally. Shucked is currently playing at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre with stars Alex Newell, Caroline Innerbichler, John Behlmann, Kevin Cahoon, Grey Henson, and Andrew Durand.
Tracy Nelson, Life Don't Miss Nobody (BMG) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Old friends Willie Nelson, Mickey Raphael, Irma Thomas, Charlie Musselwhite, and Marcia Ball are among the guest stars on this new album from country-blues great Tracy Nelson (Mother Earth).
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