The 58th Annual Grammy awards were held a little over a week ago and there were numerous winners. The Grammys have so many categories that the majority are not given out on the actual television broadcast. Even though we're a little late, we'd like to give acknowledgment to the winners from reissue and catalogue labels who picked up an award, some for categories that aren't always exclusively associated with reissues. The biggest winner of the night for reissue labels was Sony's Legacy
Everything's Coming Up Roses: Masterworks Broadway's Winter Slate Highlighted by "Essential Sondheim," "Sweet Charity" and "Kismet"
While the months of January and February are usually down times on Broadway, Sony's Masterworks Broadway is keeping things going during the winter by announcing a quartet of musical theater titles to be released between now and March. The most expansive release, due February 26, is another entry in Sony's long-running Essential series: The Essential Stephen Sondheim. Sondheim, of course, needs no introduction to musical theater aficionados. Perhaps the most acclaimed theatrical
UPDATE: Lose That Long Face: "Judy Garland Sings Harold Arlen" Premieres New-to-CD Tracks, Unearths Lost Recording
UPDATE 2/10/16: Whether imploring those around her to "Get Happy" or dreaming of a place "Over the Rainbow," Judy Garland gave some of the most immortal performances of her career (and indeed, of the whole of popular music as well as film) with the songs of Harold Arlen. In Arlen's sophisticated yet blues-based melodies, Garland found the perfect expressions in which to bare her soul, alternately with vulnerability, tenderness, desperation and joy. Now, JSP Records, the label which has
Mint Audio, H&H, Voice Masters Offer New Stereo Recordings From Sinatra, Presley
Good news for those who enjoyed last year's releases from Mint Audio featuring Rosemary Clooney and Jim Reeves. The U.K.-based label, also responsible for a wonderful concert release from Matt Monro, has added Elvis Presley's The New Sessions to its release slate, while a companion title - Frank Sinatra's The New Recordings - has arrived courtesy of H&H Music. Like the Clooney and Reeves sets, both of these (produced in association with Voice Masters) marry the artists' original vocals to
Ooh Baby: Real Gone's March Slate Includes Unreleased Herbie Mann Together with Dave Mason and Mickey Gilley Anthologies Plus Limited Vinyl Reissues
Yesterday we brought you the news of the upcoming Second Disc Records title to be released in conjunction with Real Gone Music: Bobby Darin's Another Song on My Mind: The Motown Years anthology. Now we've got the rest of Real Gone's March slate to tell you about and it's as excitingly eclectic as ever! Kicking things off is a CD that should be of great interest to jazz enthusiasts. Herbie Mann is considered one of the greatest jazz flautists ever and was an early proponent of world music.
Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough: Michael Jackson's "Off the Wall" To Be Reissued with New Spike Lee Documentary
We're barely a week into 2016 and we're already seeing a lot of reissue news for this new year! The latest comes from Legacy Recordings, who yesterday announced a massive Elvis Presley box set. Now they've got a new reissue featuring another legendary performer: Michael Jackson. Due to be released on February 26 is a new edition of Jackson's landmark 1979 solo Epic Records debut Off the Wall. The album is being paired with Spike Lee's new documentary Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to
Hail to the King: RCA/Legacy Announces 60-Disc Elvis Presley Albums Box Set [UPDATED WITH TRACK LISTING]
This Friday marks what would have been Elvis Presley's 81st birthday. To coincide with this date, RCA/Legacy Recordings has just announced the first major box set of 2016: a 60-disc collection entitled Elvis Presley: The Album Collection due to be released on March 18, 2016. Presley, of course, needs no introduction. He is among a short list of performers who could be among the most influential performers of the 20th century and beyond. This new set follows similar sets Legacy has released
Santa Claus is Comin' To Town: Bruce Springsteen Gifts Free Unreleased Concert Tracks from 1980 Tempe, Arizona Show to Fans as Addition to Box Set
Bruce Springsteen is giving a Christmas gift to his fans. Earlier this month, Springsteen released The Ties That Bind: The River Collection box set which contained The River, an alternate version of the album and disc of outtakes. Also included in the box set was a filmed concert from Tempe, Arizona, recorded on November 5, 1980. However, not all of the concert was filmed, so the complete show was not in the box set. Fortunately, the entire audio from the concert was preserved. Now,
May the Force Be With You: Sony Re-Releases "Star Wars" Soundtracks in CD and LP Box Sets, "The Force Awakens" Soundtrack Out Today
Today sees the release of the hotly-anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens in theaters (well, technically, yesterday at 7 PM). As the film seems poised to break several box office records, a deluge of Star Wars products has hit the shelves. Among these offerings released today is the soundtrack CD featuring John William's seventh score for the iconic franchise. To tie in with all of the Star Wars happenings, Sony Masterworks recently announced that the label will be releasing two box sets
Won't You Dance With Me: Real Gone Goes Country with Barbara Mandrell, Ralph Stanley, Marty Robbins and Doug Sahm with Bob Dylan and Others
Real Gone is in a country mood this February, with the majority of their slate devoted to the country and western genre. But that is not all you will find on the label's mix of CDs and vinyl for the month. Kicking things off is collection drawn from Barbara Mandrell's tenure at Columbia Records: This Time I Almost Made It - The Lost Columbia Masters. This CD features liner notes by our very own Joe Marchese based on a fresh interview with Mandrell, and is centered around Mandrell's final
Lose That Long Face: "Judy Garland Sings Harold Arlen" Premieres New-to-CD Tracks, Unearths Lost Recording
Whether imploring those around her to "Get Happy" or dreaming of a place "Over the Rainbow," Judy Garland gave some of the most immortal performances of her career (and indeed, of the whole of popular music as well as film) with the songs of Harold Arlen. In Arlen's sophisticated yet blues-based melodies, Garland found the perfect expressions in which to bare her soul, alternately with vulnerability, tenderness, desperation and joy. Now, JSP Records, the label which has recently released such
Fun, Fun, Fun: Two Unreleased Beach Boys Concerts from 1965 Released from the Vaults
Over the past several years since copyright laws were changed in the EU, it has become a tradition at the end of the year for record labels to release "copyright extension" releases featuring unreleased material from their biggest artists to protect their interests in said material. Hot off the heels of a compilation of Motown unreleased material from 1965 comes another release in this vein from a group who has made this a yearly tradition: The Beach Boys. This last Friday, Capitol put up
Real Gone Celebrates Christmas With The Soulful Strings, John Gary, Four Seasons
Real Gone Music is this year's source for classic Christmas reissues - including two from our own Second Disc Records imprint! Here, we're taking a look at three more titles from the label's Christmas feast! At first glance, The Soulful Strings might appear to be just another of those ubiquitous sixties instrumental studio outfits, delivering MOR versions of the day's popular hits. Yet, a closer look at Cadet Records' Soulful Strings - and most of its brethren, truth be told - reveals some
It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas: Legacy Adds Amazon Exclusive 3-CD Set to "Classic Christmas Album" Series
With Thanksgiving this Thursday and Black Friday the day after, the Christmas season is officially upon us (if it hasn't already arrived a couple of weeks ago!). There have been several Christmas reissues we've talked about so far this season, including the four new entries in Legacy's Classic Christmas Album series. And now we've got information on a fifth entry for this year: the simply-titled Classic Christmas Album. And we're also happy to say that this Amazon exclusive, 3-CD, 42-song
Dreams Will Not Be Thwarted: New Springsteen Live Archive Release Arrives From 2013 Wrecking Ball Tour
A little over a month since the last release, a new installment in Bruce Springsteen's live archive series has been released: Ippodromo Delle Capannelle, Rome, Italy, 2013. This concert from July 13, 2013 comes at the tail end of the Wrecking Ball Tour which had begun over a year earlier in March of 2012. A concert from right before this tour began, from March 9, 2012 at the Apollo Theater in New York, has been previously released by the Springsteen archive. Also previously released are
Review: Alanis Morissette, "Jagged Little Pill: Collector's Edition"
As time marches on, nostalgia of course goes along with it. So, with the passage of time, we've arrived at an era of nostalgia for the 1990s. Hard as it may be for some to believe, 20th and 25th anniversaries for major releases in the '90s keep occurring - and items are released in commemoration. Thus, Rhino has recently reissued Alanis Morissette's 1995 smash album Jagged Little Pill in a variety of iterations including a 2-CD version and a 4-CD Collector's Edition. When Morissette traveled
G-L-O-R-I-OUS: Legacy Announces New Set Featuring Van Morrison's Complete Recordings with Them
It has been a pretty big year for Van Morrison, both with new recordings and reissues. At the beginning of 2015, he released his latest studio effort, Duets- Re-Working the Catalogue. In August, it was announced that Sony/Legacy Recordings had acquired the rights to the majority of his catalogue. The label quickly released an Essential volume and put 33 albums up on digital services with the promise of more projects to come. Then, just last week, Rhino released expanded editions of two of
Our Big Record Store Day Black Friday Round-Up Featuring McCartney, Bowie, Wilson, Queen, Ronstadt, More
Over the past couple of weeks, we've told you about the 2015 Black Friday Record Store Day offerings from Legacy, Omnivore and Real Gone Music. Well, the full list of releases which are coming out on November 27 has been announced and we've got the details below including new titles from Rhino, Varese Sarabande, Hear Music and more! The entire list is over 125 items long, so we've just highlighted some entries below in which you might be interested. The full listing can be seen at
Don't Fear the Reaper: "Now!" Series Releases a Halloween Volume
We've reported on several Christmas reissues being released in the lead-up the yuletide season. And when it comes to holidays throughout the year, Christmas certainly reigns supreme in terms of the quantity of music devoted to it. However, some other holidays and occasions throughout the year have music devoted to them. One of the more popular ones is Halloween which is coming up this weekend. To provide a soundtrack to your Halloween parties or trick-or-treating, Legacy Recordings, in
You've Got the Touch: Legacy's 2015 Black Friday RSD Slate includes Presley, Cash, Hendrix, Isley Brothers and "Transformers" Soundtrack
Announcements about this year's Black Friday Record Store Day event have been trickling out. A couple of days ago we brought you news of Omnivore's titles and before that, of Real Gone's Dictators release! Now we can tell you about Legacy's slate for the day after Thanksgiving. The titles run the gamut in size from 7" singles to 12" 2-LP sets, and also range in genre from rock to country to hip-hop. Several soundtracks are being released including a single from the 1960s Batman TV show,
Long Time Comin': Next Bruce Springsteen Live Archive Release Highlights 2005 "Devils & Dust" Tour
The next installment in Bruce Springsteen's live archive series has been revealed: Schottenstein Center, Columbus, Ohio 2005. The show for this release is from July 31, 2005 and falls in the middle of Springsteen's Devils & Dust Tour. Devils & Dust was released in April of that year, debuting at Number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. It was his first album following 2002's The Rising which had reunited Springsteen with the E Street Band for the first time on a new studio record in
It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas: Real Gone Unwraps Seven Christmas Titles in November From Johnny Mathis, Glen Campbell and More
Real Gone Music's October slate kicked off the label's yearly celebration of the music of Christmas including classic albums by George Melachrino, The Soulful Strings and The Three Suns - and that continues into November when the label releases a whopping seven titles for the holiday season! We've already told you this morning about our two Second Disc Records releases: Jim Nabors - The Complete Columbia Christmas Recordings and an expanded edition of Lynn Anderson's The Christmas Album.
Do You Hear What I Hear?: Legacy Adds Four New Entries to "Classic Christmas Album" Series
Legacy Recordings is getting into the Christmas spirit this year by continuing its Classic Christmas Album series. On October 2, four new entries will be released featuring artists who had their biggest successes in the '70s (Earth, Wind & Fire), '80s (a various artists compilation), '90s (Sarah McLachlan) and 2000s (Celtic Thunder). The majority of the material on these compilations is of a relatively recent vintage. The exception is The Classic Christmas '80s Album which obviously
You Oughta Know: Rhino Celebrates 20th Anniversary of Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill" with 4-CD Box
This October, Rhino is celebrating one of the biggest albums of the 1990s: Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill. To commemorate the album's 20th anniversary, a newly remastered 4-CD Collector's Edition and 2-CD Deluxe edition will be released on October 30. Alanis Morissette's first two albums did not indicate the direction her music would take for her biggest smash record. Released on MCA in her native Canada, 1991's Alanis and 1992's Now is the Time had critics comparing her to Debbie
Turn It Up: Cherry Red Reissues Ted Nugent's "Free-For-All" Featuring Meat Loaf
Cherry Red imprint Hear No Evil Recordings has recently released a new reissue from a classic 1970's hard-rocker: Ted Nugent's second solo album for Epic Records, Free-For-All. This also follows in HNE's line of Meat Loaf reissues as the Bat Out of Hell superstar is a prominent guest on the album singing over half of the songs. Ted Nugent, hailing from Detroit, got his start in music at a young age. After performing in several bands, he formed the Amboy Dukes when his family moved to