Features / Release Round-Up

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

Alice Cooper, The Studio Albums 1975-1978 (Warner/Rhino)

5LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
5CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Rhino celebrates the early years of shock rock legend Alice Cooper with a new 5CD or 5LP box set.  The Studio Albums 1975-1978 begins with 1975’s Welcome to My Nightmare, his first proper solo album, and continues with Alice Cooper Goes to Hell (1976), Lace and Whiskey (1977), and From the Inside (1978).  The collection is rounded out with a 7-track collection of bonus material encompassing rarities and five unique single versions.  In the vinyl set, this bonus album is cut at 45 RPM.  Read more here.

Fleetwood Mac, Greatest Hits: Deluxe Edition (Warner/Rhino)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Rhino.com (clear vinyl)

Rhino is revisiting the first compilation of Fleetwood Mac’s “classic” quintet era ahead of a long-awaited, as-yet unreleased documentary on the band.  1988’s Greatest Hits is expanded in a new double-disc edition on CD and vinyl. In addition to the plethora of smash hits like “Rhiannon,” “Go Your Own Way,” “Dreams,” “Don’t Stop,” “Tusk,” “Gypsy,” “Little Lies” and “Everywhere” – as well as the then-new tracks “As Long As You Follow” and “No Questions Asked” – the set now includes a bonus disc of 10 songs from the same era/line-up; three were on certain CD pressings of the original set, and the rest include “Landslide,” “The Chain” and the sole chronological outlier, the live version of “Silver Springs” from 1997 live album The Dance.  Get the track listing and more here.

WAR, Greatest Hits (Avenue/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Rhino is revisiting the 1976 collection which reaffirmed WAR’s status as reliable hitmakers.  WAR’s Greatest Hits returns on both CD and vinyl.  Whereas the 2021 edition entitled Greatest Hits 2.0 added an entire disc’s worth of favorites, this release is more compact.  The CD version adds four cuts (including “Spill the Wine”) to the original collection while the LP, part of Rhino’s Spirit of ’76 summer vinyl campaign, replicates the original album track listing. Get more details here.

Wang Chung, To Live and Die in L.A.: Deluxe Edition (Interscope)

Available exclusively through Interscope Records’ online store, Wang Chung’s soundtrack to William Friedkin’s 1985 neo-noir will be pressed on two opaque orange “L.A. sunset” LPs. The first offers a chronological sequence of the music from the film, with two additional tracks: the hit single “Dance Hall Days” and the unreleased “This One’s for You, White Boy.” The second LP offers eight bonus remixes and edits, five of which are previously unreleased. (A futher expanded digital edition is promised, but the long-discussed CD edition seems to be off the table.)  Read more here.

Neil Sedaka, The Definitive Collection (Primary Wave) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The late singer-songwriter’s 2007 collection makes its debut on vinyl and returns to CD.  The set includes re-recordings of Sedaka’s RCA classics (“Calendar Girl,” “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” “Next Door to An Angel,” “Oh! Carol”) alongside the original versions of his ’70s hits (“Laughter in the Rain,” “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do (Slow Version),” “The Hungry Years,” “Bad Blood”).  Bonus tracks retained from the original release include Sedaka’s original demo of the Gene Pitney hit “It Hurts to Be in Love.”

Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, Bad Reputation: 45th Anniversary (Blackheart) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Joan Jett is refreshing her 1981 debut (originally titled Joan Jett) with new artwork; the CD audio reprises the same extended program (with five bonus tracks) first issued on CD in 2019.  The vinyl version has the original 12-track sequence only.

Eric Clapton and B.B. King, Riding with The King (Surfdog) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Eric Clapton continues the migration of much of his catalogue to Surfdog with this reissue of his 2000 B.B. King collaboration Riding with The King.  This edition reprises the same bonus tracks (“Rollin’ and Tumblin'” and “Let Me Love You Baby”) as the 2020 reissue.  Available on CD and vinyl.

Yes, The Yes Album / Fragile / Close to the Edge Blu-ray Audio Discs (Atlantic/Rhino)

The Yes Album: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Fragile: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Close to the Edge: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

These three standalone Blu-ray Audio releases culled from recent box sets feature Steven Wilson’s new stereo and surround mixes alongside Bernie Grundman’s remasters of the original albums.

The Kinks, Low Budget / Give The People What They Want (BMG)

Low Budget: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Give The People What They Want: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

BMG brings two Arista-era Kinks albums back in new editions on CD and LP remastered from the original tapes.  The CD of Low Budget adds the single edit of “A Gallon of Gas.”

Green Day, Nimrods (The Soundtrack) (Reprise) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Reprise unveils a 30-song soundtrack to the new film comedy Nimrods, available on 2 CDs, 2 LPs, or digitally.  The album boasts 22 Green Day songs plus soundtrack exclusives “I’m Never Gonna R.I.P” and four previously unreleased live tracks recorded at the Palladium in Los Angeles and featured in the movie. The soundtrack also offers songs from The Paradox, Ultra Q and Mckenna Grace plus four tracks from Analog Dogs, the fictitious band at the center of the movie.  A 16-track highlights edition is available on cassette, too.