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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.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Power to the People (Capitol/UMR)

9CD/3BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store
4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Links TBD / Official Store
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store
1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store

One of the most incendiary periods of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s life together is being explored anew in a new 9CD/3Blu-ray box set. Power to the People features 123 tracks (90 of which are previously unreleased) to chronicle the story of Lennon and Ono’s political activism, spanning the prolific period between 1969’s anthem “Give Peace a Chance” and 1972’s controversial live album Sometime in New York City as well as that year’s One to One concerts at Madison Square Garden.  Sadly, those shows would be John’s only full-length, post-Beatles concerts, and also the final concerts he and Yoko ever performed together.  The story is told via live tracks, demos, home recordings, jams, and much more, plus a thick hardcover book with copious liner notes and memorabilia images. (Note that Sometime in New York City‘s original opening track, “Woman is the Nigger of the World,” has been dropped, and does not appear in its live incarnations, either.)  Click here for the full track listing and watch this space for our review soon!

Patti Smith, Horses: 50th Anniversary Edition (Arista/Legacy)

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

Horses (50th Anniversary Edition), available through Legacy Recordings, pairs Patti Smith’s classic LP with a further nine alternate versions and outtakes from the album sessions, including two selections from Smith’s demo tape for RCA Records. (Arista, unaffiliated with RCA at the time, ended up signing her for about a quarter-century.) A demo version of standout “Redondo Beach” was released on a 2002 compilation, but the others here – including the preview track “Snowball” and a cover of The Marvelettes’ “The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game” – are heard here for the first time. The deluxe Horses, available on CD, vinyl and digitally, prefaces the publication of Smith’s new volume of memoirs, Bread of Angels, in November.  Read more here!

Michael Bublé, It’s Time: 20th Anniversary Edition (Reprise)

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

Two decades after Canadian crooner Michael Bublé enjoyed his first major chart breakthrough, the album that did so – 2005’s It’s Time – is being reissued for its anniversary.  It’s Time returns as a 2CD or 2LP set (the latter pressed on silver vinyl) with a dozen studio and live bonus tracks. Having come out at a time of considerable limited editions – some only available at certain American retailers from Target to Starbucks – this edition of It’s Time will offer all of those value-added bonus cuts in one place, alongside the radio version of unlikely hit single “Home” plus two unreleased outtakes: the original song “Just Like You” – which the then-29-year-old singer wrote when he was just 16 – and an interpretation of the Sammy Fain-Irving Kahal standard “I’ll Be Seeing You.” Get the track listing and more here!

Madonna, Veronica Electronica (Maverick/Warner) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Madonna’s eight-track Veronica Electronica, previously released on vinyl and digital music services on July 25, arrives on CD.  The EP offers new edits of previously released dance remixes to hits like “Frozen,” “Nothing Really Matters,” “The Power of Good-bye” and the rousing title track. It also features the long-unreleased demo “Gone, Gone, Gone,” written with songwriter Rick Nowels in the earliest sessions for what became the final Ray of Light album. Veronica Electronica – both a humorous alter ego Madonna considered while making Ray of Light and a potential title for her seventh studio effort – was planned for release in the late ’90s, but was seemingly a victim of the LP’s success, as singles kept spinning off well into the next year. (A whirlwind of personal and professional developments further mooted Veronica Electronica including a starring role in the 2000 film The Next Best Thing, her next album Music, a marriage to British director Guy Ritchie and the birth of their son, and the Drowned World Tour of 2001, her first live trek in nearly a decade.) Read more here.

Naked Eyes, Naked Eyes: Expanded Edition (Chrysalis)

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

One of the strangest phenomena of early ’80s pop is that U.K. pop duo Naked Eyes – who stormed the Top 10 in America in the summer of 1983 with a thunderous synth version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Always Something There to Remind Me” – completely missed the chart at home. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that a forthcoming expanded edition of their debut, featuring three unreleased demos and a fistful of non-album tracks, takes its cues from the American version of the album.  The newly deluxe edition of Naked Eyes, mastered by Phil Kinrade at AIR Mastering, offers the album as it was released by EMI America in 1983, not long after a slightly extended and resequenced edition, known overseas as Burning Bridges, was released to relative obscurity. This new CD pressing – available alongside a 2LP set – includes both songs exclusive to Burning Bridges that were also released as single B-sides stateside (“A Very Hard Act to Follow” and “The Time is Now”) plus U.K. B-sides “Pit Stop” and “Sweet Poison.” Two U.S. remixes of hits “Always Something There” and “Promises, Promises,” engineered by John “Jellybean” Benitez, are also included, as are demos of album tracks “Emotion in Motion” and “Voices in My Head” plus a demo of unreleased song “Waiting in the Wings.” Surviving vocalist Pete Byrne has also penned new liner notes for the accompanying 12-page booklet. Get more details here.

Sylvester, Step II: Expanded Edition (Fantasy/Craft) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Sylvester’s Step II – the gender-bending disco legend’s fourth overall album – returns to CD and vinyl today from Craft Recordings.  Featuring “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” “Dance (Disco Heat),” and a soulful cover of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “I Took My Strength from You,” the Harvey Fuqua-produced LP remains a cornerstone of Sylvester’s discography.  Step II adds seven bonus remixes (both original and new) plus new liner notes from biographer Joshua Gamson on CD, while the vinyl reissue is pressed on “disco ball” clear glitter vinyl.

The Ghouls, Dracula’s Deuce (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

This 1964 Halloween reissue from Real Gone comes from producer Gary Usher and is much in the vein of the vein of his surf and hot rod instrumental albums of the same period.  The Ghouls were actually members of the Wrecking Crew and this album also features vocalists such as Ritchie Burns.  Familiar songs are made over with Halloween trappings like “The Little Old Lady From Transylvania,” “Bela Be Good,” and “Be True To Your Ghoul.”  The album also features some original tunes such as “Dracula’s Theme” and “Monsterbilly Heaven.”  This is the album’s first reissue and it comes on Orange “Pumpkin Burnout” Smoke vinyl and is limited to 2,000 copies.

Don Hinson and his Rigamoritcians, Monster Dance Party (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Another Halloween reissue from Real Gone also hails from 1964.  Two years earlier, Gary Paxton had produced “Monster Mash” for Bobby “Boris” Pickett.  The smash success of that song lead to this monster-theme effort.  Hinson was a Las Vegas DJ who did impressions of characters and people such as Bela Lugosi.  “Monster Mash” is reprised here in a more R&B style and is joined by such songs as “Monster Surf Stomp,” “Werewolf Watusi” and “The Little Old Graverobber Me.”  This is the album’s first reissue outside of a budget-priced cassette in the 1980s.  It comes on Black Pumpkin Splatter vinyl and is limited to 2,000 copies.

The Deadly Ones, It’s Monster Surfing Time (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Real Gone continues its 1964 Halloween reissues with this album from the Vee-Jay label.  It is not known who exactly The Deadly Ones were but “Games People Play” guitarist and songwriter Joe South (“The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor”) is a likely member as five of his songs are featured on the album.  This reissue is all-analog, having been cut straight from the original master tapes.  It comes on “Bloody Pumpkin” vinyl and is limited to 900 copies.

Various Artists, Freddy vs. Jason Original Soundtrack (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Real Gone has another reissue out that is appropriate for Halloween.  2003’s Freddy vs. Jason saw the two horror icons from Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th meet for the first time for a battle fans had debated about for years.  The soundtrack to the film was made of metal music in many forms from death metal to industrial to metalcore, drawn from the Roadrunner Records roster.  Artists featured include Sepultura, Slipknot, Type O Negative, Sevendust, Lamb of God, and more.  The majority of the songs on the album were previously unreleased at the time.  Real Gone’s reissue comes in a 2-LP set with a gatefold featuring production stills.  It comes on “Red Smoke” vinyl and is limited to 1,500 copies.

Dimitri Tiomkin, It’s A Wonderful Life Original Soundtrack (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Real Gone moves decidedly away from Halloween with their other soundtrack out today.  1946’s It’s A Wonderful Life is considered by many to be the greatest holiday film ever made.  Frank Capra’s timeless story about someone coming to value their life starred Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed.  Dimitri Tiomkin provided the score but Capra rearranged and cut up the music for the final movie.  Around a decade ago, film scholars began to reassemble the complete original score from acetates contained in Tiomkin’s archives.  The result was first released on CD by Kritzerland.  Real Gone is now bringing it to vinyl.  The package includes a two-page insert with photos and credits.  It comes on “Zuzu’s Petals” vinyl and is limited to 1,500 copies.

Sparks, 1975-1976 (Edsel) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Continuing its series of Sparks reissues in 7-inch packaging, Edsel brings together two very different albums from the Mael brothers: 1975’s Indiscreet (produced by Tony Visconti) and 1976’s Big Beat (helmed by Rupert Holmes) – and adds a third disc of rarities.  Watch this space for full coverage very soon!

Luciano Pavarotti, Novanta (Decca)

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

Decca celebrates what would have been Luciano Pavarotti’s 90th birthday on October 12, 2025 – he died in 2007 at the age of 71 – with a new collection.  Novanta (that’s “ninety” in Italian!) is available in 4CD, 2CD, and 2LP iterations touching on his recordings of not only opera classics but sacred songs, Italian music, and even duets with pop and rock stars; the 4CD box features three discs of the late tenor’s “hits” and favorites plus one disc of rarities and previously unreleased tracks. The 2CD and 2LP formats offer 20 and 25 tracks, respectively.

Spandau Ballet, Everything Is New: The Early Years 1978-1982 (Parlophone/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store (signed))

A new box set traces the early years of U.K. New Wave icons Spandau Ballet – offering three formats in one package.  Everything is Now – Vol. 1: 1978-1982 collects albums, singles, live material, demos and videos from the group’s earliest period as a 6CD/Blu-ray/2LP set. The box offers new vinyl pressings of the band’s first two LPs, Journeys to Glory (1981) and Diamond (1982); collections of 7″ and 12″ material from each album on CD; a rare full remix of Diamond issued on a 12″ box set edition of the album and available for the first time on CD in full; two discs of BBC sessions and concert recordings (including an unissued 1982 set at the Paris Theatre in London); seven unissued demos; music videos; new Dolby Atmos, stereo and instrumental remixes of select tracks by Steven Wilson; video of their first live set in America and more. All five original members of the group have participated in the set’s creation, offering quoted insights in the 44-page booklet accompanied by original images and artwork from photographer Graham Smith. (A limited number of copies available at the official store will be signed by the band, too.) Read more here.