Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today.  As the next two Fridays will bring few, if any, new releases, this will be the final Release Round-Up of 2024, but we'll continue to have news and reviews all next week.  We'll be back with another Release Round-Up in 2024!  As an Amazon associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.  Happy Holidays to all!

Rosanne Cash, The Wheel: 30th Anniversary Edition (RumbleStrip Records)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1LP (Vinyl Me, Please Exclusive: Clear with Black Swirl): Vinyl Me, Please
2LP Marble Swirl and Other Exclusive/Signed Editions: Rosanne Cash Shop

The deluxe anniversary edition of Rosanne Cash's 1993 The Wheel has the remastered original album on the first CD, while the second disc contains Rosanne's performance from Austin City Limits on July 26, 1993 as well as six rare tracks originally from the Columbia Records Radio Hour program.  These include renditions of The Wheel's songs (the title track, "The Truth About You," "Roses in the Fire," and "Seventh Avenue"), the Interiors track "What We Really Want," and a reinterpretation of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" from My Fair Lady.  (Cash and Leventhal are currently co-writing a long-in-development musical adaptation of the film Norma Rae; they premiered some of its songs on a New York stage back in 2018.)  Also available in a variety of vinyl formats.  Read more here.

Willie Nelson and Friends, Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90 Live at The Hollywood Bowl (Legacy)

2CD/BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Earlier this year, on April 29 and 30, a variety of artists came together in the Hollywood hills to celebrate Willie Nelson's 90th birthday.  Now, those star-studded evenings have been captured on a 2CD/1BD set with audio as well as a concert film.  The 39 performances include appearances from Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Keith Richards, Tom Jones, Kris Kristofferson, George Straight, Dwight Yoakam, Rosanne Cash, Willie's son Lukas, Chris Stapleton, Sheryl Crow, Miranda Lambert, Dave Matthews, Norah Jones, Snoop Dogg, Booker T. Jones, Bob Weir, and others. Willie himself takes part on numerous duets including "We Had It All" with Richards, "Pancho and Lefty" with Strait, "Are There Any More Real Cowboys" with Stills and Young, and "Stardust" with Jones.  A 2-LP, 21-track highlights collection is also available on vinyl.

The Black Crowes, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion Deluxe (American Recordings)

3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

The Black Crowes are revisiting their 1992 sophomore set The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion - a record-breaking No. 1 album that yielded four Rock chart-toppers - in a variety of formats including 3CD, 2CD, and 2LP editions.  The Super Deluxe 3CD box adds 19 bonus tracks (14 previously unreleased) including studio outtakes and live tracks, plus B-sides.  The 2CD set samples 9 of those bonus tracks, while the 1LP vinyl edition has the remastered original album only. Album audio has been sourced from the original 1/4-inch production master and supervised for this reissue by Chris and Rich Robinson and original producer George Drakoulias.

Johnny Winter, The Johnny Winter Story (The GRT/Janus Recordings) (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Links TBD / Omnivore Webstore)

Prior to joining Columbia Records in 1969, blues guitar hero Johnny Winter recorded a number of singles and tracks with producers Ken Ritter and Roy C. Ames.  Once he hit it big with a major label contract, the material expectedly began appearing again: The Johnny Winter Story was released on GRT Records in 1969, followed by About Blues on Janus Records. In 1970, Janus issued Early Times. Now, Omnivore is collecting all of that early material on 2 CDs as The Johnny Winter Story (The GRT/Janus Recordings).  Pete Welding's original 1969 liner notes have been reprinted here, while Michael Graves has newly restored the audio.  Available on 2 CDs and digitally.

The Mighty Clouds of Joy, Kickin' (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Omnivore Webstore)

Here's one we missed last week that we don't want you to miss!  Here's the legendary gospel group's 1975 ABC Records album that found them with producer Dave Crawford at Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios for a smokin' hot R&B session that yielded the Disco chart-topper "Mighty High."  With original songs and powerful covers of Kiki Dee, Stevie Wonder, and Joe Cocker, the Mighty Clouds were spreading the good word on a universal level - aided and abetted by members of the illustrious Sigma house band including Dennis Harris on guitar, Larry Washington on congas, and Earl Young on drums.  Omnivore's reissue - available on CD and digitally - adds two bonus tracks: the single edits of "Mighty High" and "You Are So Beautiful."  Tim Dillinger-Curenton has provided the illuminating new liner notes, and Michael Graves has remastered the audio.

Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: 2023 Broadway Cast Recording (Reprise/Arts Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The new cast recording of Broadway's current smash hit revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street starring Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford - currently streaming - comes to 2 CDs on December 15 and to 3 LPs in March 2024 from Reprise/Arts Music.  Produced by musical director Alex Lacamoire and co-produced by director Thomas Kail, the album preserves the acclaimed cast's rendition of Sondheim's thrilling score with the original, 26-piece orchestrations of Jonathan Tunick.  Both the CD and LP versions will include a deluxe, 40-page booklet with liner notes by Peter Marks, the full libretto, and production photos.  Gaten Matarazzo, Jordan Fisher, Ruthie Ann Miles, Maria Bilbao, Jamie Jackson, John Rapson, and Nicholas Christopher round out the principal cast of this stunning revival.

Norah Jones and Laufey, Christmas with You (Blue Note) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Norah Jones and Icelandic-Chinese singer-songwriter Laufey team up for this 7-inch yuletide single comprising their original song "Better Than Snow" and the Hugh Martin/Ralph Blane standard "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."