Features / Release Round-Up

Welcome to our final Release Round-Up of January, with a selection of the new titles available today.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

The Monkees, The A’s, The B’s, and The Monkees (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The A’s, The B’s and The Monkees, at long last, brings together on 2 CDs all of the band’s commercial singles originally released between 1966 and 1970, from “Last Train to Clarksville” b/w “Take a Giant Step” through “Oh My My” b/w “I Love You Better.”  It’s arranged with its 15 A-sides on Disc One and 15 B-sides on Side Two.  The As from Messrs. Jones, Dolenz, Nesmith, and Tork include songs from Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, Neil Diamond, John Stewart, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, and Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller: the chart-topping “Last Train to Clarksville,” “I’m a Believer,” and “Daydream Believer,” along with the hits “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You” (No. 2), “Pleasant Valley Sunday” (No. 3), “Valleri” (No. 3), and “D.W. Washburn” (No. 19). The Bs are no less filled with fan favorites, with more compositions from Goffin and King (“Take a Giant Step”), Boyce and Hart (“(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone,” “I Wanna Be Free,” “Words”), Mike Nesmith (“The Girl I Knew Somewhere,” “Tapioca Tundra”), and Paul Williams and Roger Nichols (“Someday Man”).  All tracks are presented in their original single mixes.  Andrew Sandoval has written the new liner notes. Read more here.

Donna Summer, Summer Time: The Singles Collection 1974-2010 (Driven by the Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Summer Time: The Singles Collection 1974-2010 is set to be a staggering tribute to the late, great Donna Summer’s decades-long presence as a dancefloor filler. Timed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her breakthrough hit “Love to Love You, Baby,” this 40CD set highlights five decades’ worth of single sides she issued all over the world, from early Dutch single-only tracks to material from her tenures on Casablanca, Geffen, Mercury, Warner Bros., Atlantic and more. Amidst the familiar hits (“Love to Love You, Baby,” “I Feel Love,” “Last Dance,” “Heaven Knows,” “Hot Stuff,” “On the Radio,” “She Works Hard for the Money”) and fan favorites, there’s a cadre of late-period remixes of classic Casablanca and Geffen material, soundtrack and compilation appearances, and material released in at least a dozen countries. The box features a 64-page booklet with a comprehensive new essay by Christian John Wikane. He draws from new and archival interviews with Summer; her husband Bruce Sudano; collaborators like Pete Bellotte, Keith Forsey, Tom Moulton, Joe “Bean” Esposito, Harold Faltermeyer, Bruce Roberts, Michael Omartian and Pete Waterman; plus Debbie Harry of Blondie, Dionne Warwick, Jimmy Webb, Olivia Newton-John, Maurice White and actress Ariana DeBose, whose portrayal of the singer in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical earned her a Tony nomination. Get the track listing and more here.

Linda Ronstadt, The Early Years (Iconic Artists)

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

Following a 2025 Record Store Day Black Friday release, Linda Ronstadt’s The Early Years compilation comes to general retail on 2LP vinyl and single CD.  The set from Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists label brings together 15 songs from Ronstadt’s 1967-1974 Capitol Records period.  Selections include “Different Drum,” “Faithless Love,” “You’re No Good,” “Long, Long Time,” and “When Will I Be Loved.”

Miles Davis, The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965 (Columbia/Legacy)

8CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
10LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

The classic Miles Davis box set – first released in the U.S. in 1995 – is getting spruced up for the Davis centennial.  This prime document of The Second Great Quintet – featuring Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter, and Tony Williams – was recorded across seven sets on December 22 and 23, 1965 at the Chicago venue. This new 8CD edition mirrors the original release.  Each CD comes in its own newly-designed mini-gatefold jacket, with all discs housed in a gold foil-embossed slipcase. The 44-page booklet includes Bob Blumenthal’s original essay alongside new track-by-track liner notes and commentary by Syd Schwartz plus rare photography.  Also available on vinyl utilizing the original Mosaic release masters.  Read more here.

Howard Jones, Live at The Marquee (Cherry Red)

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

Recorded only two days before Howard Jones’ debut appearance on the BBC’s Top of the Pops – which helped propel his debut single “New Song” into the Top 5 – this lively, solo, synth-laden club gig was unearthed during reconnaissance for Jones’ expanded reissues on Cherry Red in 2018. The singer/songwriter/keyboardist has remixed the tapes himself for this release. Read more here.

Freddie and The Dreamers, You Were Made for Me: The Complete Recordings 1963-1970 (Cherry Red/Strawberry) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

I’m tellin’ you now: this 5CD box rounds up the complete recordings of Manchester beat group Freddie and The Dreamers made for EMI in the 1960s as compiled and annotated by Bob Stanley of St. Etienne.  Two of the albums contained here, Sing-Along Party (1965) and Oliver in the Overworld (1970) are issued on CD for the first time plus another makes its debut on CD in the U.K., King Freddie and His Dreaming Knights (1967).

Various Artists, CBGB: A New York City Soundtrack 1975-1986 (Cherry Red) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The dive bar turned club at 314 Bowery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan opened in 1973 with a vision to showcase “Country, Bluegrass, Blues”; instead, it became one of the most influential spots for the city’s punk explosion and subsequent New Wave movement of the late ’70s and early ’80s. This 4CD collection offers a holistic overview of that first stunning decade, when acts like Patti Smith, Ramones, Television, Talking Heads, Blondie and others – from cult favorites to true obscurities (including just over a dozen new to CD or unreleased cuts) – were fixtures of the stage, long before it became a fucking John Varvatos.

Cream, Royal Albert Hall: London, May 2, 3, 5, 6, 2005 (Surfdog)

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

Eric Clapton is bringing Cream’s reunion concerts back to CD and vinyl on his current label home of Surfdog for their 20th anniversary; this 2CD set was previously issued on Reprise in 2005. No additional material has been included.

Various Artists, Highway of Diamonds: Black America Sings Bob Dylan (Ace)

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

Highway of Diamonds: Black America Sings Bob Dylan, available today in Ace’s native U.K. (and a week later in America), is the label’s second such volume dedicated to Dylan’s songs.  It offers 20 compositions from the Nobel Prize-winning songwriter recast for soul, blues and gospel acts including The Staple Singers, Nina Simone, Harry Belafonte, Billy Preston, Natalie Cole, Solomon Burke, Merry Clayton, Sarah Vaughan, Aaron Neville and more. The collection, available on CD or two LPs, includes informative song/track liner notes from Tony Rounce. Get more details here!

Prince, HITnRUN Phase One and Phase Two (NPG/Legacy)

Phase One CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Phase One LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Phase Two CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Phase Two LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

The world didn’t know it then, but 2015 saw the release of the last albums in Prince’s lifetime – now back in physical print (and available for the first time on vinyl) after more than 10 years. HITnRUN Phase One was marked by a more modern/electronic R&B style, with guest appearances by Rita Ora, Judith Hill and Lianne La Havas and co-production by Joshua Welton (who did the same for 2014’s Art Official Age – one of the only times Prince shared production duties). It’s Phase Two that makes the more fitting capstone for his living body of work; much of it was recorded and released digitally before Art Official Age (like “Stare,” a song he gave to Spotify after pulling the rest of his catalogue from the service). One track, “Xtralovable,” had been worked on since the sessions for 1999. But it’s “Baltimore,” a gentle but righteous rebuke to a growing wave of gun violence against Black teenagers by law enforcement, that remains the standout – a reminder of all Prince could do and, ideally, would still be doing today.

Various Artists, Stranger Things 5: Soundtrack from the Netflix Series (Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Legacy brings the fifth season soundtrack to Stranger Things to CD, vinyl, and (of course!) cassette today, featuring songs from Michael Jackson (“Rockin’ Robin”), The Chords (“Sh-boom”), The Chordettes (“Mr. Sandman”), David Bowie (“Heroes”), Tiffany (“I Think We’re Alone Now”), The Psychedelic Furs (“Pretty in Pink”), and others. Colored vinyl formats include standard black, Amazon’s exclusive red smoke, Target’s exclusive blue smoke, and Walmart’s exclusive orange marble.