Author Archive / Randy Fairman

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Mariah Carey, “Merry Christmas: Deluxe Anniversary Edition”

December 19, 2019 by Randy Fairman | 1 Comment
Mariah Carey Merry Christmas Deluxe

Sitting atop the Billboard Hot 100 this week is a song which took a quarter-century to reach that peak: Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” The song achieved a couple of milestones with that ranking: it now holds the record for the longest time between a song’s debut and its reaching the top of the charts, and it’s the first Christmas song to reach the peak in 60 years since The Chipmunks did it in 1959. Before this new milestone for Carey’s tune, the song and the album of…

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He’ll Climb Any Mountain: Cherry Red Releases Billy Ocean’s ‘Remixes and Rarities’

November 18, 2019 by Randy Fairman | 2 Comments
Billy Ocean Remixes and Rarities

As colder temperatures begin to appear everywhere, we thought we might take a look at a collection where some of the material harkens back to the warmer, summer months: Cherry Red imprint Cherry Pop’s recent release of Remixes and Rarities by singer-songwriter Billy Ocean. This 2-CD set gathers up 23 tracks from the period of 1976-1993. The Trinidad and Tobago native Ocean was raised in Romford, London. He got his professional start in the late 1960s recording singles as part of bands such as Scorched Earth and as a solo artist (sometimes…

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Stay The Night: Cherry Red Expands La Toya Jackson’s Second Album “My Special Love”

October 28, 2019 by Randy Fairman | 4 Comments
LaToya Jackson My Special Love

Earlier this year, Cherry Red imprint Cherry Pop Records released an expanded edition of La Toya Jackson’s sophomore album My Special Love, bringing the LP to CD for the first time since a long out-of-print Japanese issue in the early 1990s. Being a part of such a famous musical family, it was almost inevitable that La Toya would join her brothers in performing, whether she wanted to or not. She has said over the years how her father, Joe Jackson, heavily discouraged her from following any other life pursuits. La Toya joined…

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It’s Witchcraft – Cherry Red’s Righteous Imprint Compiles 2-CD Set of Halloween Novelties

October 25, 2019 by Randy Fairman | 3 Comments

With Halloween less than a week away, we thought we’d take a look at a new compilation which was recently released from Cherry Red’s Righteous Records imprint: the 2-CD Trick or Treat: Music To Scare Your Neighbours – Vintage 45s from Lux and Ivy’s Haunted Basement. The Lux and Ivy in the title are the husband and wife mainstays of the punk/rockabilly group The Cramps, who debuted in the 1970s and were active until Lux’s death in 2009. Aside from being punk innovators, the pair also championed older music on their own…

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Look Around: Real Gone Announces Limited Vinyl Reissues Featuring Rain Parade and The Vulcans

September 9, 2019 by Randy Fairman | No Comments
Rain Parade Emergency Third Rail LP

Real Gone Music has recently announced two new vinyl reissues coming out this Friday, September 13. One is from the Paisley Underground genre and the other is an experimental effort combining reggae and electronic music. First up, is Rain Parade’s Emergency Third Rail Power Trip. The band was part of the Paisley Underground movement in 1980s California which combined psychedelia with vocal harmonies, owing a debt to artists like The Byrds and Love from the 1960s. The Bangles are the best-known group to be a part of this genre. Rain Parade was…

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Get Your Hands On It: La-La-Land Celebrates 500th Release with “Planet of the Apes” Box Set

July 17, 2019 by Randy Fairman | 2 Comments
Planet of the Apes Box

La-La Land Records has just announced its landmark 500th film score project.  In association with 20th Century Fox, Fox Music and Varèse Sarabande, the label is releasing at the end of this month a 5-CD box set of the scores to the original five Planet of the Apes films featuring music by Jerry Goldsmith, Leonard Rosenman, and Tom Scott. Planet of the Apes first hit cinemas in February 1968, based upon a book by French author Pierre Boulle.  Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, the movie starred Charlton Heston as astronaut George Taylor,…

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The Circle is Unbroken: Legacy To Release The Soundtrack to Ken Burns’ “Country Music” in Box Set, Other Editions

June 14, 2019 by Randy Fairman | 1 Comment
Ken Burns Country Music

Filmmaker Ken Burns has tackled many subjects over the years, from the Civil War to baseball.  His documentaries have garnered numerous awards over the years.  In 2001, he took an in-depth look at the genre of jazz.  Now, he is aiming to explore a different genre with Country Music, an eight-part, 16-1/2-hour documentary premiering September 15 on PBS.  And as with Jazz, there will be an accompanying soundtrack.  The most expansive of these is a 5-disc box set debuting on August 30 from Legacy Recordings.  Other configurations of the set including a…

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Avengers Assemble: Mondo To Release Limited-Edition Vinyl LPs of All 22 Marvel Cinematic Universe Scores Starting with “Ant-Man and The Wasp”

April 29, 2019 by Randy Fairman | 2 Comments
Ant Man and the Wasp OST Mondo

This past weekend, Avengers: Endgame broke numerous box office records by taking in $1.2 billion at the global box office.  The release became an event as millions of people flocked to movie theaters to see the culmination of the previous 21 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  As with any film release this large, there are numerous product tie-ins.  Last week, Mondo announced that they were teaming with Marvel Studios, Disney, and Hollywood Records to reissue all 22 of the MCU soundtracks on limited-edition vinyl.  The first, available now for pre-order with…

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Go While We Can: Real Gone Reissuing Grateful Dead’s Fillmore East 1970 Concert

April 25, 2019 by Randy Fairman | No Comments
Grateful Dead Road Trips Vol 3 No 3

Real Gone Music is continuing its trip through the Grateful Dead’s Road Trips series, bringing each volume to general retail for the first time in reverse order.  Next up is Road Trips Vol. 3 No. 3 – Fillmore East 5-15-70, due on June 14.  That date is the 49th anniversary of Workingman’s Dead, the classic album that this volume of Road Trips is meant to commemorate. Originally released in 2010 in honor of Workingman’s Dead’s 40th anniversary, this 3-CD release features material from the early and late shows performed at the gone-but-not-forgotten…

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Never Give Up, Never Surrender: Real Gone To Debut the Soundtracks to “Galaxy Quest” and “American Beauty” on Vinyl in May

April 10, 2019 by Randy Fairman | No Comments
Galaxy Quest OST

Next month, Real Gone is debuting two films scores on vinyl.  Both hail from 1999 and feature the work of brothers David and Thomas Newman.  The siblings are also famously the sons of noted film composer Alfred Newman and cousins to Randy Newman. First up, coming out on May 3, is David Newman’s score to Galaxy Quest.  Directed by Dean Parisot, the film is an affectionate send-up of the original Star Trek series (both on and off-screen).  Starring Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, and Sam Rockwell, the movie centers…

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Take It On The Run: HNE Compiles REO Speedwagon’s Hit Era On Extras-Laden Box Set

March 20, 2019 by Randy Fairman | 1 Comment
REO Speedwagon Classic Years

Last October, Cherry Red/Hear No Evil released the 8-CD The Early Years 1971-1977, chronicling REO Speedwagon’s beginning on Epic Records.  And now they’re back with the follow-up set: The Classic Years 1978-1990, containing the group’s seven remaining Epic albums and a bonus live disc across 9 CDs, highlighting the period when REO Speedwagon became a household name. The first album in the box, 1978’s You Can Tune A Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish, found REO Speedwagon at a time of change.  Bassist Gregg Philbin, who had been with the group since…

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Alone Together: Real Gone To Reissue Dorothy Ashby, Frank Wess and “Cleopatra Jones” on Vinyl in April

March 19, 2019 by Randy Fairman | No Comments
Cleopatra Jones OST

Real Gone has announced a pair of vinyl reissues due on April 26, and we’ve got the detail for you right here. First up is a new edition of Dorothy Ashby and Frank Wess’ Minor Groove album from 1958.  Ashby was a jazz harpist who made her first headlining album the year before on the Regent label.  For her third album (now on the New Jazz label), she was joined by flautist Wess who was a member of Count Basie’s band and who had made several solo recordings himself.  Here is how…

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Review: Elvis Presley, “The Best of The ’68 Comeback Special”

February 15, 2019 by Randy Fairman | 5 Comments
Elvis Best of the 68 Comeback Special

This coming Sunday at 9 PM, NBC will air the 2-hour Elvis All-Star Tribute featuring performances by Yolanda Adams, Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Alessia Cara, Mac Davis, John Fogerty, Josh Groban, Adam Lambert, John Legend, Little Big Town, Jennifer Lopez, Post Malone, Shawn Mendes, Pistol Annies, Darius Rucker, Ed Sheeran, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban.  These primarily present-day music stars will be commemorating Presley’s famous 1968 television special which also aired on NBC on December 3, 1968.  To tie-in with this new special, Sony’s Legacy Recordings has issued a 1-CD…

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What A Tale My Thoughts Could Tell: Real Gone Collects Gordon Lightfoot’s Complete 1970-1980 Singles in March

January 16, 2019 by Randy Fairman | 1 Comment
Gordon Lightfoot Complete Singles

Next month, Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown” celebrates the 45th anniversary of its single release.  The tune marked the first Hot 100 No. 1 hit for the Canadian folk, folk-rock, and country singer-songwriter.  On March 1, Real Gone Music will anthologize this period of Lightfoot’s career with the release of the 2-CD The Complete Singles 1970-1980. Gordon Lightfoot began his recording career in Canada, releasing his first singles in 1962.  He signed with United Artists in 1965 and released his first album, Lightfoot!, in 1966.  Three more studio albums would follow by 1968.  But…

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A Long Night Spent With You: Taking Back Sunday Celebrates 20th Anniversary on New Compilation “Twenty”

January 11, 2019 by Randy Fairman | 2 Comments
Taking Back Sunday Twenty

Taking Back Sunday is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year and to mark the occasion, they have embarked on a tour and are releasing a career retrospective collection.  Out today from Craft Recordings, the simply-titled Twenty gathers nineteen songs from the band’s career and adds in two new studio recordings. The alternative rock band was formed in Long Island, New York by guitarist Eddie Reyes in 1999.  The line-up has fluctuated a bit over the years but the main members over the past two decades have been Reyes (who actually just departed…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: “In The Heights” and “Be More Chill” Original Cast Albums [Vinyl Editions]

December 17, 2018 by Randy Fairman | No Comments
Be More Chill Vinyl

For the Broadway fan on your holiday list this year we thought we would take a look at a couple of vinyl cast albums recently released by Ghostlight Records: In The Heights and Be More Chill. Seven years before he rose to superstardom with Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda premiered his first musical on Broadway with In The Heights in 2008.  Miranda, who also starred, wrote the music and lyrics with the book written by Quiara Alegría Hudes.  The production was directed by Thomas Kail and choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler – both of whom…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: R.E.M., “R.E.M. At The BBC”

December 10, 2018 by Randy Fairman | 2 Comments
REM at the BBC

“We were a fun party band who somewhere along the way learnt how to write songs,” Michael Stipe is quoted as saying in the notes to Craft’s Recordings new boxset R.E.M. At The BBC.  Of course, R.E.M. was much more than that over the course of their nearly 30-year career, going from college underground band to alternative pioneers to global superstars.  And with Craft Recordings’ new 8-CD/1-DVD box, you can trace that career as seen and heard by UK audiences over the years. The quartet of Stipe (lead vocals), Bill Berry (drums),…

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Walk Through The Sand: Morello Reissues Tanya Tucker’s Columbia Albums On A 2-CD Set

November 21, 2018 by Randy Fairman | 2 Comments
Tanya Tucker Delta Dawn Four Fer

Cherry Red’s Morello imprint has been reissuing the discographies of country artists for years, and the label has recently taken a look at the beginning of country superstar Tanya Tucker’s career.  The new 2-CD compilation collects all of the singer’s four original 1970s studio albums for Columbia as she began her ascendancy to country royalty: Delta Dawn, What’s Your Mama’s Name, Would You Lay With Me (In A Field Of Stone) and You Are So Beautiful. Tucker’s debut recording on Columbia was released when she was just thirteen in 1972.  But she…

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Around and Around: Real Gone’s November Vinyl Includes Christmas New Kids On the Block, Hanson and Grateful Dead Box

November 8, 2018 by Randy Fairman | No Comments
Grateful Dead Dicks Picks Rochester

Tomorrow’s the date for Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music’s annual slate of Christmas releases, but those titles aren’t the only holiday releases due to arrive in stores.  Our friends at Real Gone also have a couple of yuletide vinyl titles while, on the other end of the spectrum, the label will bring a Grateful Dead concert to vinyl on November 30. First up from RGM is Merry, Merry Christmas from New Kids On The Block.  Released in 1989 at the height of the group’s fame between their No. 1 platinum…

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Take Me Home: Semisonic’s Breakthrough ‘Feeling Strangely Fine’ Gets Expanded

October 26, 2018 by Randy Fairman | No Comments
Semisonic Feeling Strangely Fine

Out today is a new 20th anniversary edition of Semisonic’s breakthrough album Feeling Strangely Fine from UMe/Geffen Records which adds four bonus tracks to the original tracklisting. Hailing from Minnesota, Dan Wilson and John Munson were members of the band Trip Shakespeare.  When that group broke up, the joined with drummer Jacob Slichter in 1995 to form Semisonic.  The trio recorded an EP, Pleasure, released on an indie label.  They were then signed to Elektra, but dropped when the label switched presidents.  The band then hopped over to MCA and their debut…

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The Count Returns: Varese Expands John Williams’ Score to 1979’s “Dracula”

October 23, 2018 by Randy Fairman | No Comments
Dracula OST

Just in time for Halloween, Varese Sarabande has announced a new CD featuring arguably the greatest fictional horror character of all time: Dracula.  Varese’s latest entry in their CD Club is an expanded presentation of John Williams’ score to the 1979 film version of Dracula.  The 2-CD set Dracula: The Deluxe Edition is available for preorder now and due to start shipping the week of November 5. Dracula, the character, of course needs little introduction.  Created by Bram Stoker in 1897 for the novel Dracula, the titular vampire has gone on to…

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Dream A Little Dream: Real Gone’s Black Friday RSD Slate Includes The Mamas and the Papas, Cheap Trick and Roy Buchanan

October 16, 2018 by Randy Fairman | No Comments
Mamas and the Papas Complete Singles Vinyl

Our continuing look at this year’s Black Friday Record Store Day offering now brings us to Real Gone Music’s three selections which will be available the day after Thanksgiving, November 23.  You may purchase these at any participating independent record shop.  (See the full list of shops here!) Roy Buchanan – Live at Town Hall 1974 Blues-rock guitarist Buchanan was famous for playing the Fender Telecaster with an effects-free technique and influencing many other musicians despite never having great solo success of his own. (Jeff Beck dedicated “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers”…

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Faster Than The Speeding Light: Rhino’s Black Friday RSD Slate Features Madonna, The Doors, Grateful Dead, Todd Rundgren and More

October 11, 2018 by Randy Fairman | No Comments
Madonna Ray of Light

As we continue to look at the offerings for this Black Friday Record Store Day on November 23, here is a peek at the twelve titles Rhino will be releasing.  As always, these will be available exclusively at all finer independent music shops on Black Friday! The B-52’s – Cosmic Thing The group’s fifth album from 1989, featuring the hits “Love Shack” and “Roam.”  Limited edition of 4,500 copies on 140-gram rainbow colored vinyl. Devo – Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! Devo’s debut album, celebrating its 30th anniversary…

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Make A List and Check It Twice: Real Gone Announces Christmas Reissues From The McGuire Sisters, John Klein, Rod McKuen

September 28, 2018 by Randy Fairman | 5 Comments
Rod McKuen Christmas

Even though Fall has just begun, we are already looking ahead to Christmas as several artists have already announced yuletide albums for this year.  And, continuing their annual tradition, our friends at Real Gone Music are releasing selection of classic Christmas CDs this year, the first three of which they have just announced.  All three of these are due on November 2. First up is Season’s Greetings From the McGuire Sisters – The Complete Coral Christmas Recordings.  The singing trio of real-life sisters (Christine, Dorothy and Phyllis) got their big break on…

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Big Love: Fleetwood Mac Celebrates 50 Years With New Collection “Don’t Stop”

September 27, 2018 by Randy Fairman | 5 Comments
Fleetwood Mac Dont Stop

Fleetwood Mac hasn’t stopped thinking about tomorrow.  The venerable group takes off in October on a new tour featuring the band debuts of Mike Campbell and Neil Finn, following the shock departure of Lindsey Buckingham earlier in the year.  To coincide with the tour, however, the Mac is taking a look back on 50 years of music with a new 50-song collection on 3 CDs or 5 LPs.  50 Years: Don’t Stop arrives from Warner Bros. Records and Rhino on November 16, along with a single-CD distillation.  All tracks will also be…

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Upcoming Releases
Wheels of Fire box
Wheels of Fire (Super Deluxe Edition)
Cream
June 12, 2026
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Yes Roosevelt Stadium
 Live at Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, 17 June 1976 
Yes
June 12, 2026
US UK CA
5th Dimension Let the Sunshine In
Let the Sunshine In: The Soul City & Bell Albums 1967-1974
The 5th Dimension
June 12, 2026
US UK CA
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