“Freddy, those songs killed me.” Jimmy Webb once confessed to longtime musical collaborator Fred Mollin that the songs on which he made his name – “Up, Up, and Away,” Didn’t We,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman,” among innumerable other classics – placed him at a personal crossroads. He yearned to be accepted as a singer-songwriter like his contemporaries, but the fact that he began his career writing songs for others (and massive hit songs, at that) made acceptance in that field an uphill battle. Over the years, the…
Review: Nick Drake, “The Making of ‘Five Leaves Left'”
Nick Drake’s legacy is primarily built around just three albums, originally released between 1969 and 1972. Before 1974 was out, the British singer-songwriter was gone at the age of 26. Over the years, esteem for his small discography has only grown. Partly, this is because the mystique has remained; the Drake estate has only sporadically gone back to the well of unreleased material. Their cautious and curated approach has yielded a new reward with a box set dedicated to his 1969 debut. The Making of ‘Five Leaves Left,’ available on 4 LPs…
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They Will Dare: The Replacements’ ‘Let It Be’ is Their Latest Deluxe Reissue
Rhino’s series of deluxe Replacements reissues is continuing on October 24 with 3CD and 4LP expanded editions of the Minneapolis band’s seminal 1984 Twin/Tone album cheekily titled Let It Be. Let It Be takes a different format than the previous reissues of Tim, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, Pleased to Meet Me, and Dead Man’s Pop (an alternative presentation of Don’t Tell a Soul), all of which included both vinyl and CD in one package. This time, the formats are split into individual releases. Both the CD and LP packages…
John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s New Live Box Set Showcases ‘Sometime in New York City’ and Elsewhere
One of the most incendiary periods of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s life together is about to be re-explored in a new 9CD/3Blu-ray box set coming on October 10 (one day after what would have been Lennon’s 85th birthday) from Capitol Records/UMe. Power to the People features 123 tracks (90 of which are previously unreleased) to tell the full story of Lennon and Ono’s political activism, spanning the prolific period between 1969’s anthem “Give Peace a Chance” and 1972’s controversial live album Sometime in New York City as well as that year’s…
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United: Ace Compiles Songs of Gamble and Huff on “Love Train” Collection
Ace Records is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary with special releases as well as concerts and a pop-up shop in London. Over the course of those decades, the label has established a number of long-running series including their Songwriters and Producers lines. A recent release in the Songwriters series celebrates two of the all-time greats in both categories: Philadelphia’s Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff. Love Train: The Gamble and Huff Songbook brings together 24 songs from the Philadelphia International Records duo who also formed two thirds of Mighty Three Publishing along with…
A SECOND DISC EXCLUSIVE! “Play On: A Raspberries Tribute” Welcomes Rick Springfield, Lou Gramm, Marshall Crenshaw, John Waite, More
Today would have been Eric Carmen’s 76th birthday. To mark the occasion, we’re thrilled to be first to break the news about an upcoming collection we know you’re not going to want to miss! The Raspberries blazed briefly but brightly. When Eric Carmen and Wally Bryson of Cyrus Eyrie teamed up with Jim Bonfanti and Dave Smalley of The Choir, the result was pure bliss. The Raspberries emerged from the ashes from the two bands, and over the course of four albums originally released between 1972 and 1974 – three with the…
Sunshine All The Time: Omnivore’s “Something There: Remembering Jeffrey Foskett” Is OUT NOW!
Jeffrey Foskett surely embodied the California Dream. The San Jose native his dues gigging around the Golden State with such early bands as Reverie and The Pranks. A knock on Brian Wilson’s door in 1976 led to a long friendship with the Beach Boy, while Wilson’s cousin Mike Love became a Foskett fan three years later upon hearing Reverie live in a Santa Barbara bar. Love brought Foskett into the Beach Boys fold – first in The Endless Summer Beach Band, then in the Beach Boys themselves. Gifted with an ethereal falsetto,…
Only the Beginning: Rhino Expands ‘Chicago IX’ to Represent Their First Decade
Chicago IX, originally released in time for the Christmas shopping season in 1975, was the band’s first greatest hits album. Originally released on the Columbia label in both stereo and quadraphonic formats, the collection brought together 11 songs spanning 1969’s Chicago Transit Authority through 1974’s Chicago VII. On August 8, Rhino will revisit Chicago IX: Chicago’s Greatest Hits in a gold-hued edition to mark its 50th anniversary. It’s been expanded from 11 to 21 songs, and its purview has been expanded, too: it now goes all the way through 1980’s Chicago XIV,…
Can’t Afford No Shoes: Frank Zappa’s “One Size Fits All” Gets Expanded for 50th
Following last year’s deluxe expansion of 1974’s Apostrophe (‘) and the recent restoration of the same year’s concert film Cheaper Than Cheep, Frank Zappa’s archival team is turning the page to 1975 and expansively revisiting One Size Fits All in time for its 50th anniversary. The guitarist-songwriter-bandleader-producer’s twentieth album (and fourteenth with The Mothers of Invention), it featured the by-then-familiar lineup of keyboardist George Duke, drummer Chester Thompson, percussionist Ruth Underwood, bassist Tom Fowler, and saxophonist Napoleon Murphy Brock. One Size Fits All continued their jazz-rooted satirical explorations, and reached No. 26…
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Review: Frank Zappa, “Cheaper Than Cheep”
The latest archival release from the Frank Zappa camp may be called Cheaper Than Cheep, but rest assured, this concert program is actually an embarrassment of audiovisual riches. Available in a variety of formats including 2CD+Blu-ray, 3LP, and 2CD/3LP/1BD configurations, Cheaper Than Cheep preserves a long-lost concert recorded on June 21, 1974 at a rehearsal studio on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood in the wake of the Mothers of Inventions’ tenth anniversary tour. Zappa was joined by a Mothers line-up including Chester Thompson (drums), George Duke (keyboards, vocals), Jeff Simmons (guitar, vocals), Napoleon…
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Night Flight: Led Zeppelin’s “Live EP” Celebrates 50 Years of “Physical Graffiti”
Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti, originally released in February 1975, arrived almost two years after the band’s last album, Houses of the Holy. Unsurprisingly, it was Zeppelin’s most sprawling effort to date. The double-LP set showcased every side of Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham’s increasingly varied repertoire. It turned 50 earlier this year, and now Rhino is marking the occasion with a new Live EP due on 180-gram 12″ vinyl, CD, and digital/streaming services on September 12. On the same date, the label will reissue 2015’s Deluxe Edition on…
The Music Never Stopped: Grateful Dead’s “Blues for Allah” Is Expanded for 50th Anniversary
Grateful Dead’s 50th anniversary reissue program is truckin’ on with the September 12 reissue of the band’s Blues for Allah, originally released on September 1, 1975. A deluxe, expanded 3CD edition will arrive alongside a digital version and a 1LP remaster of the original album available in black vinyl, picture disc, and Dead.net-exclusive colored vinyl pressings. In addition, a Blu-ray will premiere surround, Dolby Atmos, stereo, and instrumental mixes by the prolific Steven Wilson. Blues for Allah came on the heels of the Dead’s self-imposed (and ultimately) brief hiatus which began in…
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Turning to Gold: Ronnie Wood Looks Back on “Fearless: The Anthology,” Features Rod Stewart, Faces, Rolling Stones
Ronnie Wood is celebrating 60+ years in music with a new anthology, comprising solo tracks as well as key cuts from his time playing with the illustrious likes of The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, and Jeff Beck as well as his earliest recordings with The Birds and The Creation. Fearless: The Anthology 1965-2025 is due from BMG on September 26 in 2CD and 2LP formats, with 38 tracks on the CD set including four all-new recordings exclusive to this collection. Fearless kicks off with a pair of recordings from the Middlesex native’s…
The Right Thing to Do: Rhino’s New Quadio Batch Features Carly Simon, Bread, Judy Collins, The New Seekers
We recently filled you in on Elektra’s 75th anniversary vinyl campaign which sees a variety of titles arriving this month. Now, the celebration is continuing with four new Quadio releases on Blu-ray Audio, all greatest-hits collections drawn from the Elektra catalogue. These four-channel surround titles from Carly Simon, Bread, Judy Collins, and The New Seekers are all available now, exclusively from Rhino.com. Every one of these titles boasts both the original quadraphonic mix with a high-resolution 192 kHz/24-bit stereo mix, both sourced from the original analog four-track quad master tapes. 1972’s Colors…
A Walk in the Sky: Cherry Red, Grapefruit Collect Flower Pot Men’s Psych-Pop on “Midsummer Dreaming”
Three years ago, Cherry Red’s Grapefruit imprint saluted the career of singer and songwriter John Carter (“Beach Baby,” “Little Bit o’ Soul,” “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat,” “Winchester Cathedral”) on the 4CD set My World Fell Down: The John Carter Story. Now, the label is turning to one of Carter’s studio outfits, The Flower Pot Men, for the comprehensive, new 3CD collection Midsummer Dreaming: An Anthology 1967-1970. Naturally, the set opens with “Let’s Go to San Francisco,” the Summer of Love homage written and produced by Carter and Ken Lewis which went…
Jump to the Beat: Edsel Reissues “Disco Ladies” and “Disco Boogie” Collections
Late in 2023, Demon Music Group revived its Disco Discharge series on the Edsel label. Two recent 2CD volumes, Disco Ladies and Disco Boogie, continue presenting the series in a deluxe, oversized seven-inch format. These titles, chockablock with disco deep cuts and hits alike, were originally issued on the Harmless label in 2009 and 2010, respectively, and have been tweaked (likely due to licensing restrictions) for this go-round. Disco Ladies offers a cross-section of the many women with varied styles who ruled the dancefloor. As original compiler/annotator Alan Jones notes in his…
Never Get Old: David Bowie’s Final Albums Boxed on “I Can’t Give Everything Away”
After a period of nearly four years, David Bowie’s series of “Eras” box sets is returning with a new, final volume. I Can’t Give Everything Away (2002-2016) arrives on September 12 from ISO Records and Parlophone, concluding the career-spanning chronicle of the shape-shifting superstar. The new 13-CD or 18-LP box picks up where 2021’s Brilliant Adventure (1992-2001) left off, capturing the final years of an artist who never stopped innovating. The set contains new pressings of: Heathen (2002); Reality (2003); A Reality Tour (recorded 2003, released 2010); The Next Day (2013); The…
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Review: Robin Trower, “For Earth Below: 50th Anniversary Edition”
1975’s For Earth Below proved a turning point for Robin Trower. The ex-Procol Harum guitarist’s third solo set, it introduced drummer Bill Lordan to Trower’s power trio which also included singer-bassist James Dewar. Building on the success of its predecessor, Bridge of Sighs, the album became Trower’s most successful in the United States and solidified his place in the guitar-hero pantheon. Now, Chrysalis Records has revisited the blues-rock classic in a new 4CD mediabook edition, mirroring the format of last year’s reissue of Bridge of Sighs. (It’s also available in digital and…
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Baby I’m-A Want You: Elektra Celebrates 75 Years with Monthlong Initiative
Jac Holzman was still in college when he and pal Paul Rickolt each chipped in three hundred bucks to start a record company. That label, Elektra Records – so named for Greek mythology’s daughter of Atlas and Pleione, but with the “c” swapped out for a “k” – inaugurated its catalogue with the simply-titled New Songs, an album of poetry settings by composer-pianist John Gruen. Elektra soon shifted its emphasis to folk music, growing its discography with recordings by Theodore Bikel, Josh White, Judy Collins, Oscar Brand, and Tom Paxton before branching…
Hey! Ho! Let’s Go! Rhino Boxes Ramones Albums in Atmos on “1-2-3-4!”
Gabba gabba hey! Today, Rhino has unveiled a new box set bringing Ramones into a new frontier: that of immersive audio. 1!2!3!4! The Ramones Atmos Collection brings Queens’ favorite band into the realm of Dolby Atmos with new immersive mixes of their first four albums on Blu-ray Audio: 1976’s Ramones; 1977’s Leave Home and Rocket to Russia; and 1978’s Road to Ruin. Limited to just 2,000 copies, this set is available exclusively at Rhino.com and Warner Music’s international storefronts. The four-disc set features new Atmos remixes from original producer Craig Leon (Ramones)…
Disco Connection: Ace Releases Isaac Hayes’ “Hot Buttered Singles Volume 2”
Last year, Ace released the first of a two-volume series collecting Isaac Hayes’ single sides for the Stax label and his own Hot Buttered Soul imprint of ABC Records. As Hayes was known for his epic productions, the shorter single edits offered a very different listening experience than the full album tracks. Earlier this year, the second volume arrived, and though Hot Buttered Singles Volume 2: 1972-1976 chronicles a period in which Hayes had less crossover success, it’s nonetheless filled with the kind of grooves that only the writer-composer-singer-producer could have created….
Impossible Dreamer: Joni Mitchell Collects “Joni’s Jazz” on New Box Set
What is jazz? The question has been debated often, but now we know how Joni Mitchell might answer. On September 5, the legendary singer-songwriter’s Archives series continues with its first themed compilation, appropriately entitled Joni’s Jazz. These 61 selections – available on 4 CDs or 8 LPs – draw from nearly every core album in the Mitchell discography with just a couple of exceptions (Clouds, Ladies of the Canyon) and reflect the breadth of the artist’s immersion into the jazz idiom in all its many varied forms. Last year, in her liner…
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Just Squeeze Me: Craft Collects Miles Davis’ 1955 Prestige Sessions on “Miles ’55”
Following last year’s release of Miles ’54: The Prestige Recordings, collecting the legendary trumpeter’s 1954 sessions, Craft Recordings is turning the clock forward to Miles Davis’ 1955 with – what else? – Miles ’55. Due on August 22 in various formats including 3 LPs, 2 CDs, and both standard and high-resolution digital, Miles ’55 will bring together sixteen recordings cut by Davis at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in Hackensack, New Jersey for the Prestige label. Ashley Kahn (author of Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece) observes in the…
Love Will Keep Us Alive: Cherry Red, Esoteric Reissue Jim Capaldi Tribute with Steve Winwood, Pete Townshend, Cat Stevens, Joe Walsh, More
Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings has revisited the 2007 concert release Dear Mr. Fantasy: A Celebration for Jim Capaldi in a new 2CD/1Blu-ray edition. Following the singer-songwriter-drummer’s death on January 28, 2005 at the age of 60 from stomach cancer, many of his friends came together on January 21, 2007 at the Roundhouse in London’s Camden Town to pay tribute and support one of his favorite charities, The Jubilee Action Street Children Appeal. This release preserves that extraordinary evening with Capaldi’s former Traffic bandmate Steve Winwood, Yusuf Islam a.k.a. Cat Stevens, Pete Townshend,…
Laughter in the Rain: “Sedaka’s Back” Returns on CD, LP, Digital Formats
Near the end of their Grammy-winning, chart-topping 1975 rendition of Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield’s “Love Will Keep Us Together,” Toni Tennille threw in an ad-lib not written by lyricist Greenfield: Sedaka is back…! Indeed, the singer-songwriter who had begun his career in 1957 was enjoying a new string of successes including his own No. 1 that same year, “Laughter in the Rain.” Tomorrow, Friday, June 13, Sedaka’s own label will reissue the Rocket Records album which relaunched his career in America. An expanded edition of Sedaka’s Back will arrive on CD,…
