Features / Release Round-Up

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

America, Hearts: 50th Anniversary Edition (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada /  Omnivore)

Omnivore Recordings is reissuing, remastering, and expanding America’s Hearts, featuring “Sister Golden Hair,” “Daisy Jane,” and “Woman Tonight,” for its 50th anniversary. This new edition adds six bonus cuts to the original album’s dozen tracks.  Five of these are unreleased alternate versions and mixes of songs from Hearts including a unique arrangement of Bunnell’s “People in the Valley,” a stunning vocal-and-strings-only mix of “Daisy Jane” (spotlight both George Martin’s rich string charts and the band’s shimmering harmonies), an acoustic “Old Virginia,” and vocals-and-orchestra mixes of the evocative “Midnight” and the reflective “Seasons.”   The sixth bonus track is the rare Spanish-language single version of “Sister Golden Hair.”  TSD’s Joe Marchese has written notes for the release based on new interviews with band co-founders Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell (both of whom are heard on Something There, Omnivore’s splendid tribute to the late Jeffrey Foskett – get all of the details here!).  Michael Graves has beautifully remastered the audio.  Read more here!

Dwight Twilley and Bill Pitcock IV, Old Time Rock & Roll (Iconoclassic) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Iconoclassic delivers its fifth catalogue title from the late, great rocker Dwight Twilley. Old Time Rock & Roll, billed as a collaborative title with Twilley’s longtime guitarist Bill Pitcock IV, features the locked-in pair leading a small ensemble through a killer assortment of classic rock covers, from songs made famous by Elvis Presley (“Little Sister,” “(You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care”), Little Richard (“Good Golly, Miss Molly”), and Bob Seger (the title track) to tunes by Sonny Curtis (“I Fought the Law”), Marc Bolan of T. Rex (“Bang a Gong (Get It On)”) and Wayne Cochran (“Last Kiss”). These tracks (and a few more Beatles covers) were issued under the name Out of the Box in 2009 for the Gigatone label, but this Estate-blessed presentation brings the sessions into the Twilley discography done right: resequenced, remastered by engineer Maria Triana, and pressed onto professional compact disc for the first time, with a new black and white cover and liner notes drawn solely from quotes by Twilley and Pitcock about their professional collaboration.   Read more here!

Chicago, Chicago IX: Chicago’s Greatest Hits (50th Anniversary Expanded Edition) (Rhino)

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

Chicago IX, originally released in time for the Christmas shopping season in 1975, was the band’s first greatest hits album.  Originally released on the Columbia label in both stereo and quadraphonic formats, the collection brought together 11 songs spanning 1969’s Chicago Transit Authority through 1974’s Chicago VII.  Rhino now revisits Chicago IX: Chicago’s Greatest Hits in a gold-hued edition to mark its 50th anniversary.  It’s been expanded from 11 to 21 songs, and its purview has been expanded, too: it now goes all the way through 1980’s Chicago XIV, and even stretches back to fill in some missed tracks from the period covered by the original compilation.  Get the new track listing and more info here!

Fleetwood Mac, Fleetwood Mac [Various Formats] (Rhino)

Blu-ray Audio (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Rhino.com) / Rhino High Fidelity LP / Rhino High Fidelity LP + two 45 RPM singles

Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled 1975 album which introduced Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to the band has been reissued over the years in various formats.  Now, Rhino has brought a new dimension to the classic, 9x Platinum-certified LP with its premiere on Blu-ray Audio in the immersive Dolby Atmos format.  Additionally, a remastered edition is now available as part of the label’s High Fidelity series of audiophile-quality vinyl reissues. The Blu-ray Audio premiere of Fleetwood Mac features a new Dolby Atmos mix by Chris James.  It also includes the 5.1 surround mix by original producer Ken Caillat and Claus Trelby which was first issued in 2017.  The Rhino High Fidelity vinyl reissue of Fleetwood Mac has been remastered by Kevin Gray, cut from the original analog master tapes, and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Optimal. This LP is limited to 5,000 individually numbered copies, and an exclusive bundle (limited to 2,000 copies) adds two replica 7-inch singles featuring the single mixes of “Over My Head” b/w “Rhiannon” and “Say You Love Me” b/w “Blue Letter.”  Both are Rhino.com exclusives, while the Blu-ray Audio is available at general retailer.  Anthony DeCurtis provides new liner notes for the High Fidelity release. Consider this an appetizer for the upcoming first-time reissue of Buckingham Nicks, due in September from Rhino.  Read more here.

Various Artists, Stax Revue Live in ’65! (Stax/Craft Recordings)

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

The 2CD or 2LP Stax Revue: Live in ’65! expands a pivotal pair of concerts undertaken at the 5-4 Ballroom in Los Angeles 60 summers ago when the Memphis label – newly bolstered by a distribution deal with Atlantic Records – took several of its marquee acts to the West Coast (many for the first time) for a spirited club set packed with favorites by William Bell (“You Don’t Miss Your Water”), Rufus Thomas (“Walking the Dog”), his daughter Carla (“Every Ounce of Strength”) plus bands like Booker T. & The MG’s and Stax house band The Mar-Keys. What made the set’s timing truly striking was that, days after the shows went on from August 7 to 8, the L.A. neighborhood of Watts saw its population rise up to protest the racism and discrimination from the city towards its Black residents. (The uprising, quashed by the National Guard, resulted in 34 deaths; those five days of rebellion were commemorated in a label-sponsored music festival held in the city seven years later, called Wattstax.) The shows were first issued in truncated form in 1992; this set adds previously unreleased tracks (with three more songs on CD than on vinyl). Get the track listing and more here.

Odyssey, Odyssey (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Real Gone Music brings a Mowest hidden gem from Odyssey – a band with no relation to the disco hitmakers of “Native New Yorker” – back to vinyl.  Donnie Dacus, later a member of Chicago, played guitar alongside Don Peake for the multi-ethnic band fronted by lead vocalist Royce Jones and singer/multi-instrumentalist Kathleen Warren.  Odyssey’s lone album is melodic and soulful, with a unique sound acheived thanks to Warren’s vibraphone, C.L. Robert James’ flute, and the male/female vocal blend.  Real Gone’s pressing has been remastered by Mike Milchner, pressed at Gotta Groove Records, and comes on “ocean spray” vinyl.  The LP contains a lyric insert.

Lou Bond, Lou Bond (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Another soulful treasure comes from Real Gone this week, this time from Stax’s Lou Bond.  This oft-sampled album, originally released on Stax’s We Produce imprint, offers reinterpretations of songs by Bill Withers (“Let Me in Your Life”) and Carly Simon (“That’s the Way I Always Heard It Should Be”) as well as politically-minded originals (“Why Must Our Heads Always Be Turned Backwards,” “To the Establishment”).  This vinyl reissue has been all-analog cut by Well Made Music at Gotta Groove Records and is available on black or clear yellow vinyl.

Better Than Ezra, Deluxe (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Deluxe was the ’90s rockers’ major label debut, originally released on Swell Records and reissued by Elektra.  It remains their best-known album with their biggest single, “Good,” as well as the Alternative hit singles “In the Blood” and “Rosealia.”  This 2-LP version is housed in a gatefold jacket on emerald vinyl and reissued with the full support of the band.

Traci Lords, 1000 Fires (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

1,000 Fires is porn superstar Traci Lords’ only full-length album.  Lords collaborated with producers Juno Reactor, Mike Edwards, and Babble and executive producer Gary Kurfirst on this set of electronic music with elements of techno, trance, and trip hop.  Real Gone’s reissue is expanded to include The Overlords’ House Mix of “Control” and the Muzik Club Vocal of “Fallen Angel.”  This 2-LP set is pressed on red vinyl.