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/ Joe Marchese

I’ve Been on the Pinball: Cherry Red Collects Brian Protheroe’s Chrysalis Albums on New 3-CD Set

October 20, 2020 By Joe Marchese 4 Comments

Brian Protheroe The Albums

This week, we're looking at two recent albums collections from Cherry Red's 7T's label from singer-songwriter Brian Protheroe and the band Pilot. Brian Protheroe's The Albums 1974-76 collects the three albums the English actor-singer (First Dates, the West End's Lord of the Rings) released on Chrysalis Records plus a smattering of bonus tracks.  In 1973, Protheroe was touring in a production of playwright William Fairchild's Death on Demand - described in The Oxford Magazine as "not so much a

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Pop Tags: Brian Protheroe

Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Posthumous Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings Covers Set Features Unreleased Tracks

October 19, 2020 By Joe Marchese 6 Comments

Sharon Jones Just Dropped In

The story of Sharon Jones proves that it's never too late to follow your dreams.  The late Georgia-born, New York City-raised singer spent many years as a corrections officer and an armored car guard before rising to fame in her forties when she was "discovered" by producers Gabriel Roth and Phillippe Lehman.  She recorded for their Pure Records and Desco Records labels, and her work for the latter caught the attention of soul collectors; the undated singles released by Desco led the

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: R&B/Soul, Rock Tags: Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings

Song Sung New: Neil Diamond Unveils Symphonic Album “Classic Diamonds”

October 16, 2020 By Joe Marchese 18 Comments

Neil Diamond Classic Diamonds

Classic Diamonds: That's how Neil Diamond is billing his new collection of recordings with The London Symphony Orchestra.  Due on November 20 from Capitol Records, Classic Diamonds features the singer-songwriter's new recordings of 13 beloved hits.  Unlike many previous artists' releases with symphony orchestras, Neil's collection features newly-recorded vocals as well as the orchestrations. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London as well as Diamond's own California studio, the album has

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Pop Tags: Neil Diamond

Everybody’s Smokin’: NRBQ Collect Rarities, Unreleased Material on “in-frequencies”

October 15, 2020 By Joe Marchese 6 Comments

NRBQ In Frequencies

Omnivore Recordings has enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with The New Rhythm and Blues Quartet (NRBQ), from 2016's High Noon - A 50-Year Retrospective through subsequent reissues, new music, and collections. The latest, in frequencies, brings together 16 rarities from the band's long and diverse discography spanning 1968-2018, with all but four tracks previously unreleased. NRBQ has flourished over the years even as the personnel has shifted numerous times, with only keyboardist Terry

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD, Digital Download, Vinyl Genre: Everything Else, Pop Tags: NRBQ

Just Like Cherry Cola: The Kinks Expand “Lola Vs. Powerman” to Box Set Proportions

October 14, 2020 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

kinks lola

The Kinks last revisited their 1970 album Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One back in 2014 as a 2-CD set incorporating the soundtrack to Percy.  The band's eighth album, Lola yielded the now-famous U.S. top 10 title track and the U.K. top 5 hit "Apeman" as well as earning to 40 status in America.  Now, on December 18, it's returning in a variety of formats from BMG: Limited Edition, Deluxe 10" Slipcased book pack (containing 60 page book, 3 CDs, 2 x 7" singles, 4 color

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: Dave Davies, Ray Davies, The Kinks

Let’s Take a Trip Down the Rhine: Cherry Red, Grapefruit Reissue Rare Psych-Pop of “An Apple a Day”

October 14, 2020 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Apple An Apple a Day

Cherry Red/Grapefruit Records' new release An Apple a Day isn't to be confused with a collection of music from The Beatles' Apple Records.  Instead, this Apple a Day is one of the rarest U.K. psych records of all time, with original vinyl copies fetching thousands of pounds.  The Page One LP from the band simply named Apple has seen numerous reissues on CD before in the U.K. and Japan, but this edition marks the first time the band's leader Jeff Harrad has contributed to the notes to tell the

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Pop Tags: Apple

Take a Giant Step: 7a Reissues and Expands Peter Tork’s Solo Album on CD, Vinyl

October 13, 2020 By Joe Marchese 8 Comments

Peter Tork Stranger Things Have Happened

7a Records has already delivered a treasure trove of releases from Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, and Michael Nesmith on CD and vinyl.  Is anyone missing from that list?  Now, 7a has just announced its first release from the late Peter Tork: the first-time reissue of his only solo album, 1994's Stranger Things Have Happened, in a deluxe, expanded edition.  It's due on December 4 in the U.K. and December 11 in the U.S., and will feature a generous nine bonus tracks on CD - including several seeing

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Pop Tags: Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, The Monkees

Review: Frank Zappa, “Halloween 81”

October 12, 2020 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Frank Zappa Halloween 81 Highlights

"The finest night of the year..." Frank Zappa knew how to throw one hell of a Halloween party. The iconoclastic composer-bandleader counted Halloween as his favorite holiday, and his annual celebratory shows were among his most anticipated.  The 1981 stand at the late, lamented Palladium - a once-plush 1927 movie palace sadly demolished in 1998 to make room for dormitories at New York University - was particularly special to Zappa's fans as he had curtailed the 1980 shows earlier than

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock, Rock Tags: Frank Zappa, Steve Vai

Icky Thump: Third Man, Columbia Release The White Stripes’ “Greatest Hits” in December

October 12, 2020 By Joe Marchese 5 Comments

White Stripes Greatest Hits

The White Stripes, a.k.a. Jack and Meg White, were among the leading proponents of the garage rock revival of the late 1990s and early 2000s with their lo-fi brand of riff-rock.  They shot three LPs into the top 10 of the Billboard 200 and more than ten singles into the upper regions of the Alternative Rock chart in addition to picking up multiple Grammy Awards. On December 4, the duo will team with Columbia Records and Jack White's Third Man Records to release the first U.S. commercial

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Rock Tags: Jack White, Meg White, The White Stripes

Demon Reissues Thom Bell-Produced New York City’s “I’m Doin’ Fine Now”

October 12, 2020 By Joe Marchese 6 Comments

New York City Im Doin Fine Now

Doo-wop veterans John Brown, Tim McQueen, Edward Schell, and Claude Johnson came together as New York City, hoping that the name of their new vocal quartet would reflect the melting pot that inspired it.  "We feel personally that a group should be able to sing anything from the lowest, dirtiest blues," Brown wrote in the sleevenotes of New York City's 1973 debut LP, "through spirituals, right up through pop to the heaviest kind of music."  I'm Doin' Fine Now, originally issued on Chelsea Records

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Categories: News Formats: Vinyl Genre: Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: New York City, Thom Bell

Here They Come: Run Out Groove Reissues, Remasters, and Expands The Monkees’ Debut on Limited Edition Vinyl

October 9, 2020 By Joe Marchese 6 Comments

The Monkees The Monkees

The Monkees are coming back to vinyl with the next release from Run Out Groove!  Today, the label announced that its next fan-voted title will be the 1966 debut of Micky, Davy, Michael, and Peter.  It will arrive as a deluxe 2-LP set featuring an entire disc of new-to-vinyl bonus tracks (including two previously unissued tracks and four previously unissued mixes).  Kevin Gray and Andrew Sandoval have cut the lacquers directly from the original analog master tapes. Though The Monkees didn't

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Categories: News Formats: Vinyl Genre: Pop Tags: The Monkees

Review: Prince, “Sign ‘O’ The Times: Super Deluxe Edition”

October 8, 2020 By Joe Marchese 6 Comments

Prince Sign o the Times

Tell Me Who in This House Know About the Quake Would a look into Prince's Crystal Ball ever have predicted this? For the third of its deluxe album reissues - following a 3CD/DVD expansion of Purple Rain and a 5CD/DVD deluxe box of 1999 - Warner Records and NPG have unveiled the most lavish archival project yet to emerge from the Prince archive.  In terms of both physical size and its contents, the new Sign "O" The Times Super Deluxe Edition box set is larger in every sense than its

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, DVD, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock Tags: Miles Davis, Prince, Sheena Easton, Sheila E

Rhyme Pays: Rhino Announces RSD Black Friday Titles from Alanis, John Prine, Lou Reed, More

October 7, 2020 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

John Prine The Asylum Albums

Rhino has announced its releases for this year's Record Store Day Black Friday event, to be held at local record shops everywhere on November 27.  The label will continue its box set series for the late John Prine, premiere an Alanis Morissette concert on vinyl, revisit a classic album from Lou Reed, reissue and expanded Motörhead's first recorded album on vinyl as well as CD, and more. Alanis Morissette - Live at London's O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, 2020 (2 LPs) This acoustic concert from

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Folk, Pop, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rock Tags: Alanis Morissette, Ice-T, John Prine, Lou Reed, Motörhead, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Record Store Day, The Stranglers

In Memoriam: Eddie Van Halen (1955-2020) and Johnny Nash (1940-2020)

October 7, 2020 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

Eddie Van Halen

Yesterday, the world lost two titans of popular song, Eddie Van Halen and Johnny Nash.  We salute them both. Eddie Van Halen, who died of cancer at the age of 65, was born in Amsterdam and rose to fame in southern California, but his music belonged to the world.  Guitarist Eddie and brother-drummer Alex formed the band that became Van Halen in 1972 and paid their dues in the ensuing years, earning fans such as Gene Simmons and Kim Fowley.  Once Warner Bros. Records took notice of them in

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Categories: News Genre: Classic Rock, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock Tags: Eddie Van Halen, Johnny Nash, Van Halen

Wild Mountain Honey: Ace’s “76 in the Shade” Features Steve Miller Band, Jefferson Starship, Smokey Robinson, Gilbert O’Sullivan, More

October 6, 2020 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

76 in the Shade

Producer-compiler Bob Stanley's last couple of compilations for Ace have placed him squarely within the 1970s.  Earlier this year, Saint Etienne Present Songs for the Fountain Coffee Room (compiled by Stanley, Sarah Cracknell, and Pete Wiggs) conjured "the soundtrack for a bar in mid-'70s Los Angeles," or a St. Etienne-style spin on "yacht rock" with Stephen Bishop, Ned Doheny, Boz Scaggs, and Seals and Crofts among those featured.  Stanley has followed Fountain Coffee Room up with a trip to a

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Barclay James Harvest, Cliff Richard, David Ruffin, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Jefferson Starship, Smokey Robinson, The Emotions, The Steve Miller Band, Various Artists

Marshmallow World: Legacy Reissues Christmas Classics from Andy, Perry, Dean, Elvis, Johnny, Kenny and Dolly, and More

October 5, 2020 By Joe Marchese 8 Comments

johnny mathis merry christmas

October is upon us, and while 2020 hasn't given us much to rejoice about, the holiday season is almost here.  Before the month is out, radio stations will begin switching to seasonal formats, and television will begin showing yuletide movies.  With a never-ending barrage of bad news, "we need a little Christmas right this very minute" has hardly seemed more apt.  Sony's Legacy Recordings is getting a head start on Christmas this year with the release on vinyl of 10 favorite albums from the

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Categories: News Formats: Vinyl Genre: Country, Holiday, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul Tags: Alabama, Andy Williams, Darlene Love, Dean Martin, Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, Gene Autry, Johnny Mathis, Kenny G, Kenny Rogers, Perry Como, Phil Spector, The Crystals, The Ronettes

Are You Ready to Rock: Esoteric Reissues, Expands Two from Roy Wood and Wizzard

October 5, 2020 By Joe Marchese 4 Comments

Roy Wood and Wizzard Main Street

One of Birmingham's most renowned musical exports, Roy Wood trained listeners to expect the unexpected.  The founder or co-founder of The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, and Wizzard, Wood hasn't been among the most prolific artists of the rock era - with just four proper solo albums to his name - but he's surely one of the most inventive.  Late last year, Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint reissued Wood's second solo LP, Mustard, as an expanded edition.  Now, the label has returned to the

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: Roy Wood, Wizzard

What’s So Funny: Elvis Costello Announces “Armed Forces” Box Set Coming in November

October 2, 2020 By Joe Marchese 25 Comments

Elvis Costello Armed Forces

Elvis Costello is hardly resting on his laurels this fall. He's prepping for the October 30 release of his latest studio album, Hey Clockface, and is in the middle of a 50 Songs for 50 Days online campaign in which he showcases a different - and often politically relevant - song each day until the U.S. election. Now, he's announced his biggest project yet for 2020: a deluxe 9-disc vinyl Super Deluxe Edition of Armed Forces with three 12-inch LPs, three 10-inch LPs, and three 7-inch singles

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Pop, Rock Tags: Elvis Costello, Elvis Costello and The Attractions, Nick Lowe

Short Takes: Grateful Dead Offer “American Beauty: The Angel’s Share,” Paul McCartney Celebrates Rupert Bear’s 100th with Single Reissue

October 1, 2020 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Paul McCartney We All Stand Together

Back in July, the Grateful Dead released a collection of never-before-heard outtakes and session material from the band's 1970 classic Workingman's Dead.  The digital release was entitled The Angel's Share, after a whiskey distillation term, and offered the most comprehensive glimpse yet into the Dead's creative process.  Today, Rhino announced that there's more of The Angel's Share - this time, a digital release with over two hours of never-before-heard outtakes, demos, and alternate takes from

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Categories: News Formats: Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Pop, Soundtracks Tags: Grateful Dead, Paul McCartney

In Memoriam: Mac Davis (1942-2020)

September 30, 2020 By Joe Marchese 4 Comments

Mac Davis I Believe in Music

On one of his most famous compositions, Scott "Mac" Davis sang, "I could just sit around making music all day long/As long as I'm making my music, ain't gonna do nobody no harm/And who knows, maybe I'll come up with a song..."  The singer-songwriter-actor never had difficulty coming up with a song, including that memorable one.  Davis, who died yesterday at the age of 78, recorded "I Believe in Music" on his second Columbia album in 1970, and the group Gallery took it up the charts in 1972. 

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Categories: News Genre: Country, Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Mac Davis

Jump to It! Rhino Collects Aretha Franklin’s Hits, Rarities, Never-Before-Released Tracks on New Box Set

September 30, 2020 By Joe Marchese 10 Comments

Aretha 4CD Cover

It was late in 2015 when audiences across the country watched Aretha Franklin take the stage at The Kennedy Center Honors to salute honoree Carole King.  The undisputed Queen of Soul tore into King, Gerry Goffin, and Jerry Wexler's "(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman" with blazing intensity and thrilling authenticity.  She had not just sung these lyrics but lived them.  Nearing the song's finale, she simply but defiantly dropped her fur coat to the floor, creating an instant viral moment

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Categories: News Formats: Books, CD, Vinyl Genre: Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Eurythmics, George Michael, Lou Rawls, Mavis Staples, Ray Charles, Ronald Isley, Smokey Robinson, Tom Jones

In Memoriam: Helen Reddy (1941-2020)

September 30, 2020 By Joe Marchese 19 Comments

Helen Reddy No Way to Treat a Lady

Helen Reddy shocked audiences in 1973 as she accepted her Grammy Award for Best Female Vocal Pop Performance and thanked God "because She makes everything possible."  The trophy, of course, was for "I Am Woman," and it was the acceptance speech heard 'round the world.  Helen Reddy had roared.  News broke last evening that the Australian-born singer died at the age of 78, but not before she witnessed her classic anthem take on renewed meaning in modern-day America and around the

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Categories: News Genre: Pop Tags: Helen Reddy

The Walrus and Me: “Looking Through a Glass Onion” Collects Pop-Psych Beatles Covers

September 29, 2020 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

Looking Through a Glass Onion

Let me take you down... The Beatles' songs were so sturdy and well-crafted that artists such as Matt Monro and Ella Fitzgerald became early adopters.  But from the start, John, Paul, George, and Ringo's contemporaries had been just as likely as the older generation to mine their songbook.  As the sixties continued and the Beatles ushered in the shift from pop to rock (minus the "and roll"), similarly youthful artists brought their own increasingly adventurous spins to the lads' material. 

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Pop Tags: Big Jim Sullivan, Camel, Deep Purple, Duffy Power, Kippington Lodge, Orange Bicycle, Plastic Penny, Spooky Tooth, The Beatles, The Hollies, The Spectrum, Various Artists, Vera Lynn, Yes

Illusions: Kim David Smith Channels Dietrich, Lenya, Minogue, and More on “Live at Joe’s Pub”

September 28, 2020 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Kim David Smith Live at Joes Pub

The decadent culture of Weimar Germany - itself inspired by the American Jazz Age - has long proved a fertile source of inspiration for artists everywhere.  David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Klaus Nomi, Ute Lemper, and Alan Cumming are just a few of the performers that have mined and reinvented the Weimar era in their music.  Based on his new release Live at Joe's Pub, cabaret vocalist Kim David Smith deserves to be added to that esteemed list.  Captured in March 2019 at a midnight show in that intimate

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Everything Else, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Kim David Smith

They’ll Take You There: Craft Recordings Releases Staple Singers’ “Come Go with Me: The Stax Collection” on CD

September 25, 2020 By Joe Marchese 5 Comments

Staple Stax CD packshot

Earlier this year, Craft Recordings released The Staple Singers' Come Go with Me: The Stax Collection in vinyl and digital editions. The set compiled all of The Staple Singers' 1968-1974 albums for the Stax label plus a volume of rarities, non-LP single sides, and live recordings. On November 13, that box will come to CD as remastered from the original analog tapes by Jeff Powell at Take Out Vinyl. Come Go with Me: The Stax Collection features the following original studio albums: Soul

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD, Vinyl Genre: Gospel, Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Mavis Staples, The Staple Singers

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