When Kiki Dee was signed in 1973 to Elton John's Rocket Records label, the 26-year old was already a veteran of the music business as an in-demand background singer and a solo artist for Fontana and Motown. The former Pauline Matthews of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England had proven herself a versatile vocalist at both of those labels, but at Rocket she would finally take flight as a top-tier blue-eyed soul singer. The Edsel label has long championed Kiki's work on various reissues; now, they've
In Memoriam: Doris Day (1922-2019)
Without a golden wand or mystic charms, fantastic things began when Doris Day lifted her voice in song. Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff of Cincinnati, Ohio intended to pursue a career as a dancer, but a car accident at age thirteen curtailed her plans. "I couldn't walk for almost three years," she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2011. She then added with characteristic spirit and optimism, "That was the greatest thing that happened. Instead of dancing, I sang. They carried me three times a week up a
Let's Have Some Fun: Cherry Red, Robinsongs Celebrate Bar-Kays with "The Definitive Collection"
Now in their sixth decade, The Bar-Kays' place in the R&B pantheon is assured. From the Memphis soul stew of their first single "Soul Finger" in 1967 through the funk-drenched workouts of the 1970s, the common factors have been the band's authenticity, grit, and musicianship. Now, the full story of the band has been told on Cherry Red and Robinsongs' recent release The Definitive Collection, a 3-CD, 46-song anthology spanning their 1967-1989 recordings on the Stax/Volt and Mercury
Review: Resonance Delivers Unreleased Jazz from Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery
Resonance Records marked this year's Record Store Day with two world premieres celebrating the artistry of two late jazz titans, Bill Evans and Wes Montgomery. Now, those titles have arrived on CD, and they're both worthy successors to the label's past releases from both artists. Evans in England, featuring bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell, captures the pianist's longest-running trio a little over a year into their lifespan and already showcasing their exquisite interplay.
DEVELOPING: Rhino Celebrates Woodstock 50th with Massive, Complete 38-CD Box Set (UPDATED WITH ORDER LINKS)
Rolling Stone has broken the news this morning that Rhino Records is getting back to the garden in a big (make that BIG) way. Woodstock 50 - Back to the Garden: The Definitive 50th Anniversary Archive, due August 2, will live up to its name as the last word on the legendary festival. This 38CD/1BD set, limited to 1,969 copies, will include every note performed onstage by every act at Yasgur's Farm over those three days of peace and music, save two tracks by Jimi Hendrix (omitted at the request
UPDATED: Different Drummer: Edsel Collects Michael Nesmith's RCA and Pacific Arts Years on New Box Set
And the Hits Just Keep On Comin'. Michael Nesmith titled his 1972 RCA album ironically - when it "bubbled under" the Billboard 200 at No. 208, it actually bested its predecessor by three slots - but the LP did feature the once and future Monkee's rendition of one major favorite, "Different Drum." The 1965 tune became an enduring hit for the Stone Poneys featuring Linda Ronstadt in 1967, establishing Nesmith outside of The Monkees. Since 1968, he's released 16 studio albums. Recently, 12 of
Like Someone in Love: Unreleased Stan Getz Concert Arrives from Verve in June
Tenor saxophone legend Stan Getz's career spanned six decades in which he played with everyone from Antonio Carlos Jobim and Dizzy Gillespie to Barry Manilow and Huey Lewis. On June 14, Verve Records and UMe will take fans back to the evening of November 26, 1961, when Getz and his quartet comprising pianist Steve Kuhn, bassist John Neves, and drummer Roy Haynes took the stage at New York's Village Gate. The show was professionally recorded, possibly for release, but for one reason or another,
Review: David Bowie, "Spying Through a Keyhole (Demos and Unreleased Songs)"
Can you hear me, Major Tom? In the late 1960s, David Bowie was an artist deeply hoping to be heard. A handful of singles and an album on Deram Records had failed to rocket him to the stars. But Bowie continued writing, recording, and shopping his songs around in hopes of the elusive next deal that would take him to the next level. As such, Bowie left a great many demo recordings behind. Due to current EU copyright laws, right holders have been required to release previously unissued
He's Got a Way: Billy Joel Celebrates His 70th Birthday With Live Rarities on Digital Collection
Billy Joel turns 70 on Thursday, May 9, and is celebrating with a birthday concert at Madison Square Garden, where he's currently headlining an unprecedented years-long residency of monthly concerts. While the piano man hasn't released an album of original songs since 1993's River of Dreams, he's hardly been idle these past 26 years and remains a top concert draw. Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings are commemorating Joel the live performer with a new streaming playlist available
True Grit: Capitol Reissues, Updates "Glen Campbell: The Legacy" Box Set For June Release
Since going out of print, Capitol Records' 2003 box set Glen Campbell: The Legacy [1961-2002] has been regularly commanding three-figure sums on the secondhand market. Yesterday, the label delivered some great news to fans of the late superstar. On June 21, Capitol and UMe will issue a new, updated version of the box set in slimmer, digipak packaging, and with a completely new Disc Four bringing the story of Campbell's incredible career to its completion. The first three CDs of the original
In the Mood for Love: Cherry Red Collects Early Blossom Dearie in New Box Set
This past weekend - April 28, to be exact - would have marked the 95th birthday of Blossom Dearie. The singer-pianist-songwriter with the recognizably wispy, coquettish voice recorded over 30 albums for labels including Verve, Capitol, and Fontana, and collaborated with talents including Johnny Mercer, Michel Legrand, and Bob Dorough. Cherry Red's El label has just celebrated Dearie's early years with a new 3-CD set, The Adorable Blossom Dearie (superseding the label's previous single-disc
Changing My Tune: Kritzerland Reissues, Remasters Classic Gershwin, Coward Tributes
Kritzerland is continuing its long-running series of reissues drawn from Ben Bagley's Painted Smiles archives. The label has just announced new editions of the long out-of-print George Gershwin Revisited and Noel Coward Revisited. George Gershwin Revisited remains one of the starriest releases in the Revisited series, featuring Barbara Cook, Elaine Stritch, Bobby Short, and Anthony Perkins. Keeping with the focus of the series, producer Bagley and musical director-arranger Norman Paris
Nils Lofgren Celebrates Old Friend Reed with "Blue for Lou"
The pairing of Nils Lofgren and Lou Reed may have seemed an unlikely one; for one thing, neither gentleman needed much help from anyone else as a songwriter. But the pair's brief collaboration yielded a full album's worth of songs - 13 total - which would be doled out between the artists on Lofgren's A&M release Nils and Reed's Arista album The Bells (both from 1979). Much later, Lofgren tapped the song stash again for Damaged Goods (1995) and Breakaway Angel (2002), but five of their
It Shall Be Released: Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue Revived On New Box Set, Netflix Film
Fourteen years after his seminal documentary No Direction Home, director Martin Scorsese is returning to the life and music of Bob Dylan with a new concert film celebrating one of the Bard of Hibbing's most electrifying tours. Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese debuts June 12 on Netflix. The new film shines a spotlight on Dylan's unforgettable adventures with an amazing cast of characters on the road during his 1975-1976 tour. It will also screen in theaters in London,
Ground Control to Major Tom: David Bowie's "Mercury Demos" Arriving In June
Parlophone is continuing its series of David Bowie demo releases this June with a new volume, The Mercury Demos. Arriving on June 28, The Mercury Demos follows the recent Spying Through A Keyhole and upcoming Clareville Grove Demos (due on May 17). An LP rather than a collection of singles, it presents ten early, one-take recordings from the future superstar, recorded on a Revox reel-to-reel tape machine in Bowie's flat in spring 1969, with accompaniment from his friend and collaborator John
Soul and Inspiration: Dawn Eden Goldstein Pens Memoir "Sunday Will Never Be the Same"
The world of rock and roll has seen many amazing journeys, but few like Dawn Eden Goldstein's. Using the pen name of Dawn Eden, Goldstein carved out a niche in the 1990s as a rock historian. As the concept of the deluxe CD reissue took hold, she contributed essential liner notes to albums by artists including Harry Nilsson, The Hollies, and The Seekers, and wrote for publications such as Billboard and The Village Voice. But Goldstein was a seeker herself. Born into a Jewish family, she found
Step Inside Love: Cherry Red, SFE Expand Four More Cilla Black Albums in May
Cherry Red's Strike Force Entertainment imprint is continuing its series celebrating the life and legacy of Cilla Black with the May 10 arrival of another pair of remastered and expanded 2-CD, 2-album collections. First up is her debut album Cilla (1965) with In My Life (1974), the latter of which is making its premiere on CD in full; also released that day is Sher-oo! (1968) with another long-anticipated, new-to-CD title, Modern Priscilla (1978). All of the previously released digital bonus
You Can Do Magic: America's Capitol Years Collected on New Box Set
After seven albums in as many years, Dan Peek departed America, leaving Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell to carry on in the band the trio formed. The first release from the new duo line-up was 1977's Live, but it also marked the end of an era as America's final album on Warner Bros. Records. Following that LP, Beckley and Bunnell briefly retreated from the studio; the pair didn't return with a new studio album for almost two years. When they did, it was at a new label: Hollywood's venerable
Many a New Day: Decca Broadway Relaunches Label with "Oklahoma!," "Tootsie"
If any single album could be said to have given birth to the concept of the original Broadway cast recording as we know it, that album would be Decca Records' 1943 preservation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! with its original stars Alfred Drake, Joan Roberts, and Celeste Holm. Decca's Jack Kapp envisioned a release that would allow listeners across the nation to take Oklahoma! to their own homes, a true souvenir album that captured the energy and excitement of the smash production and
Shower the People: James Taylor's "One Man Band" Comes to Vinyl in June
For more than 50 years, the voice of James Taylor has been that of an old friend, offering warmth, comfort, and reassurance in song. While the singer-songwriter hasn't released a new album in four years, he's been a welcome presence on the road. Now, the recording of one of his most beloved tours is coming to vinyl for the first time from Craft Recordings. On June 7, the label will bring Taylor's 2007 One Man Band to a 2-LP set. Housed in a gatefold jacket, it's been mastered by Ryan Smith
A Song For You: Leon Russell's "Live at Gilley's" Returns to CD, Vinyl For Record Store Day Weekend
Leon Russell may have been The Master of Time and Space, but he wasn't averse to being down to earth, either. Between 1979 and 1981, Russell teamed with the bluegrass band New Grass Revival for what he deemed "rhythm and bluegrass." 1981's The Live Album, recorded at Pasadena, California's Perkins Palace, preserved their collaboration. Some 19 years later, another live album emerged: Live at Gilley's. Recorded in Mickey Gilley's honky-tonk (as memorably immortalized in Urban Cowboy) in
The Whole Town's Talking: SoulMusic Anthologizes Best of Billy Paul On New 2-CD Set
The late Billy Paul was one of the first and brightest stars in the Philadelphia International Records firmament. His very first studio album - 1968's rather misleadingly titled Feelin' Good at the Cadillac Club - was the second ever release on the Gamble label, a precursor to PIR, while Going East was the very first ever LP released on PIR. The husky-voiced baritone remained with the label through the 1970s, and then recorded just a couple of albums for independent labels in the 1980s. Billy
And I Never Knew: Ace Collects Rare, Unreleased Tommy Hunt on "The Complete Man"
One of the brightest stars in the uptown soul firmament, Tommy Hunt, has just been celebrated by Ace's Kent Records on a new collection filled with rare and previously unheard material. The Complete Man: 60s NYC Soul Songs follows up the label's The Biggest Man with a second dip into his recordings for New York indie Scepter Records as well as Capitol, Atlantic, and Dynamo. Born in 1933 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Tommy Hunt's family settled in Chicago during his formative years. But
Short Takes, Broadway Edition: Stage Door Celebrates Alfred Drake, Kritzerland Reissues "Streets of New York" and More
With his rich baritone and intense looks, Alfred Drake (1914-1992) defined the classic Broadway leading man. Originating roles in such landmark musicals as Oklahoma!, Kiss Me Kate, and Kismet, Drake won Tony and Drama Critics Awards, and was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame. But despite his many appearances on cast recordings, Drake has never headlined a solo CD...until now. The U.K.'s Stage Door label has announced the April 26 release (May 3 in North America) of Lucky to Be Me: A Life
It's A Good Thing: Cherry Red Collects The Complete Plastic Penny with Future Elton John Drummer Nigel Olsson
Nowadays, drummer extraordinaire Nigel Olsson can be found behind the kit for Elton John's Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, supporting the same superstar artist with whom he's been associated for nearly fifty years. Before his association with Elton, however, Nigel was plying his trade as one-fifth of Plastic Penny, a group which briefly straddled the worlds of pop, R&B, and underground psychedelia. The band also boasted future members of UFO, Cochise, and The Troggs. Cherry Red's
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