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/ Joe Marchese

The Last of the Romantics: Cherry Red Collects Rupert Holmes' "Complete Epic Recordings"

January 11, 2018 By Joe Marchese 4 Comments

Rupert Holmes Songs That Sound Like Movies

There are songs that sound like movies/There are themes that fill the screen/There are lines I say that sound as if they're written/There are looks I wear the theatre should have seen... With those words, Rupert Holmes welcomed listeners into his singular musical world - one in which the only limits were those of the singer-songwriter's boundless imagination.  In other words, there were no limits to Holmes' finely crafted, elaborately realized pop dramas.  His 1974 Epic Records debut,

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Pop Tags: Rupert Holmes

Everybody Needs Somebody to Love: Run Out Groove Preps New Solomon Burke Anthology

January 10, 2018 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Solomon Burke Best of Atlantic Soul

Run Out Groove is heating up 2018 with its first release of the year.  The label, which allows fans to vote every month on its next audiophile-quality deluxe vinyl title drawn from the Warner Music Group vaults, recently announced the rarities-packed collection Professor Bizarre's Funkology from New Orleans' one and only Dr. John, as well as unsung R&B great Lou Johnson's Sweet Southern Soul, and the first vinyl reissue of Ministry's Greatest Fits from the Industrial band.  Now, ROG will

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Categories: News Formats: Vinyl Genre: R&B/Soul Tags: Solomon Burke

This Time, Baby: BBR Reissues, Expands Jackie Moore's Philly Disco Classic "I'm On My Way"

January 9, 2018 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Jackie Moore Im on My Way

By the time Jackie Moore recorded the album entitled I'm On My Way, she certainly was.  After early singles on the Shout and Wand labels, the Florida-born R&B vocalist had scored a success on the larger Atlantic Records with "Precious, Precious."  The single, produced by southern soul veteran (and her cousin) Dave Crawford and co-written by the singer and producer, made it to No. 12 on the R&B chart and No. 30 Pop, and established Moore as a chart presence.  Working with Crawford and his

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Disco/Dance, R&B/Soul Tags: Jackie Moore

Rhino "Starts Your Ear Off Right" with Aretha Franklin, Dio, Alice Cooper, More

January 8, 2018 By Joe Marchese 6 Comments

Alice Cooper Welcome to My Nightmare

Rhino's "Start Your Ear Off Right" campaign is back for 2018, and this year's crop of titles is a happily eclectic one ranging from classic R&B to rock, metal, hip-hop, and beyond.  These limited edition vinyl reissues will be released every Tuesday beginning tomorrow, January 9, and continuing through the 23rd.  We can't think of a better way to start our year off right than visiting a local record store, and Rhino agrees - so all of these titles will be exclusively available at

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Categories: News Formats: Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Folk, R&B/Soul, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rock, Soundtracks Tags: Alice Cooper, Aretha Franklin, Dio, Golden Smog, John Prine, Richard and Linda Thompson, The Notorious B.I.G., Vangelis, ZZ Top

Release Round-Up: Week of January 5

January 5, 2018 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Bowie Beauty and the Beast Single

Welcome to the first Release Round-Up of the new year! David Bowie, Beauty and the Beast [7-Inch Vinyl Single] (Parlophone/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) David Bowie's series of 40th anniversary series continues with the picture-disc release of "Beauty and the Beast" from Heroes, backed with a live version of "Blackout" from Berlin's Deutschlandhalle on May 16, 1978.  The A-side boasts a photo of Bowie from Japan 1977, while the flip has him in NYC in

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Categories: Release Round-Up Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Classical/Opera, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Daryl Hall and John Oates, David Bowie, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Meat Loaf, Michel Legrand, Natalie Dessay

I'm an Old Cowhand: Sonny Rollins' "Way Out West" Arrives In Deluxe Edition with Unreleased Tracks

January 4, 2018 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Sonny Rollins Way Out West

For more than six decades, the legendary Sonny Rollins has epitomized style, skill, and musicianship as one of jazz's leading lights.  Though a diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis has led the 87-year old Kennedy Center Honoree to hang up his saxophone, he remains active.  In the last year alone, he's donated his personal archives to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and has endowed The Sonny Rollins Jazz Ensemble Fund at Oberlin College.  Touchingly, he revealed to an interviewer

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Categories: News Formats: Vinyl Genre: Jazz Tags: Sonny Rollins

Living Inside Your Love: SoulMusic Anthologizes Phyllis Hyman, Ruby Turner

January 3, 2018 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Phyllis Hyman Deliver the Love

Cherry Red's SoulMusic Records imprint has recently delivered two more titles in its ongoing series of artist anthologies - this time dedicated to two "sophisticated ladies": Phyllis Hyman and Ruby Turner. When Phyllis Hyman took her own life on June 30, 1995, one of the era's most potent, poignant voices was silenced.  A singer as well as a Tony Award-nominated actress, Hyman left behind a small but significant discography of eight studio albums, which has since been bolstered by posthumous

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: R&B/Soul Tags: Phyllis Hyman, Ruby Turner

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Various Artists, "Stax Country"

December 22, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Stax Country

We're continuing to look at the 60th anniversary releases from legendary R&B powerhouse label Stax Records with a single-CD or LP collection that just might make a perfect stocking stuffer! Stax Country (CR 00009), from Craft Recordings, takes a fresh look at some of the other, non-R&B music emanating from the corridors of Stax's studios on East McLemore Avenue - in particular some "Sweet Country Music."  That's the title of the twangy ditty recorded in 1975 by Becki Bluefield which

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Country Tags: Various Artists

Shake Your Body: "The John Luongo Disco Mixes" Features Jacksons, Mathis, Labelle, Sly Stone, and More

December 22, 2017 By Joe Marchese 4 Comments

John Luongo Can You Feel the Force

Can You Feel the Force? asks the title of Groove Line Records' new compilation of The John Luongo Disco Mixes.  The force is undeniable on this 2-CD, 21-track selection of some of the finest floor-fillers crafted by the Boston DJ-turned-pioneering disco mix master.  Luongo had a vision for disco that extended beyond the expected; hence, this dynamite set mostly drawn from the Sony vaults features an eclectic array of artists from the realms of R&B (The Jacksons. Gladys Knight and the Pips,

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Disco/Dance, R&B/Soul Tags: Johnny Mathis, Melba Moore, Patti Labelle, Santana, Sly and the Family Stone, The Jacksons, Various Artists

Release Round-Up: Weeks of December 22 and 29

December 22, 2017 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Monkees More of The Monkees

Welcome to this end-of-year Release Round-Up! The Monkees, More of The Monkees: Super Deluxe Edition (Rhino) Rhino delivers a 3-CD Super Deluxe Edition of The Monkees' 1967 sophomore album with mono and stereo versions of the album and a plethora of alternate takes, never-before-heard rarities, and a recently-discovered live recording!  With 91 tracks (55 previously unreleased!), this set greatly expands upon the 2-CD iteration from 2006.  Read all about it here! Herbie Mann,

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Categories: Release Round-Up Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Cast Recordings, Holiday, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, Rock Tags: Andy Williams, Herbie Mann, Marshall Crenshaw, Marvin Hamlisch, The Monkees

Holiday Gift Guide Review: "The Stax Vinyl 7s Box"

December 21, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Stax 7s

When it comes to Stax Records' 60th anniversary celebration, why should CDs have all the fun? The vinyl release of The Stax Vinyl 7s Box from Concord and UMC (STX 00252) brings fourteen rare tracks from across the Stax family of labels to seven 45 RPM singles, all emblazoned with the familiar yellow, finger-snapping logo.  Compiler Richard Searling's raison d'etre is a simple one, as he sets forth in the liner notes: "I've selected the content based on my experience of featuring these songs in

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, Vinyl Genre: R&B/Soul Tags: Barbara Lewis, Carla Thomas, Margie Joseph, Roz Ryan, Various Artists, William Bell

Joy Ride: Cherry Red Boxes Up Albums From Rick Derringer, Mungo Jerry

December 21, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Rick Derringer Joy Ride

Cherry Red has recently collected up the albums of two very different artists from the 1970s as compact clamshell box sets.  The label's Hear No Evil Recordings imprint is taking listeners on a Joy Ride with four Epic solo albums from guitar great Rick Derringer, while 7Ts Records has expanded editions of five Dawn albums from the group Mungo Jerry as The Dawn Albums Collection. Joy Ride: Solo Albums 1973-1980 follows the release earlier this year of The Blue Sky Albums from Rick's band

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: Mungo Jerry, Rick Derringer

Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Beatles, "The Christmas Records"

December 20, 2017 By Joe Marchese 5 Comments

Beatles Christmas Records

Dear Beatle People... When the future Sir George Martin first encountered John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, he famously wasn't impressed by their music.  "They weren't hit material, I didn't think, anyway," he reflected to CBS News.  "But they had tremendous charisma, those guys.  I fell in love with them, really.  They were cheeky and they had this sparkle..."  That charisma and most definitely that sparkle shines through on a surprise new release just in time

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, Vinyl Genre: Holiday Tags: The Beatles

Charmed and Dangerous: Blind Pig Records Celebrates 40 Years on Anthology

December 20, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Blind Pig 40th

Since 1977, Blind Pig Records has been a leading light for the blues in all its many forms.  The label, originally formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan and named for that city's Blind Pig Café (welcoming musical artists since 1971), has just celebrated its fortieth anniversary with a new 2-CD, 34-track compendium.  Blind Pig Records: 40th Anniversary Collection boasts selections from each decade of the Blind Pig story, featuring many recognizable artists and some lesser-known lights that might just

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Blues Tags: Muddy Waters, Otis Clay, Otis Rush, Taj Mahal, Various Artists

Holiday Gift Guide Review: America, "Heritage: Home Recordings/Demos 1970-1973"

December 19, 2017 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

America Heritage

It must have taken a great deal of gumption, not to mention youthful hubris, for Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek to name their band America - as if three teenaged army brats abroad in England could have possibly captured the spirit of their home country in all its complexities.  Yet, capture that spirit the trio did, and today, some 47 years after they first entered the studio, America is still making music.  Yet Beckley and Bunnell have happily been looking back on recent releases

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Categories: Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: America

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Joe Jackson, "Summer in the City: Live in New York"

December 15, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Joe Jackson Summer in the City

Intervention Records has been looking sharp with deluxe vinyl reissues of some of Joe Jackson's most treasured albums, including I'm the Man, Night and Day, and yes, Look Sharp!  Now, the label has returned to the singer-songwriter-piano man's oeuvre with one of his lesser-known, latter-day efforts:  Summer in the City: Live in New York.  The album was recorded in August 1999 in the intimate environs of Joe's Pub at the Public Theater, and released on Sony Classical.  It came as a surprise - and

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, News, Reviews Formats: Vinyl Genre: Pop, Rock Tags: Joe Jackson

Release Round-Up: Week of December 15

December 15, 2017 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Beatles Christmas Records

Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Beatles, The Christmas Records (Capitol/Apple/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Happy Christmas, Beatle people!  The Christmas Records, a seven-disc vinyl box set from the Fab Four, features colored 45 RPM recreations of the Beatles' original Christmas fan club flexi-discs (all single-sided except for the last two in 1968 and 1969). The original sleeve artwork has been recreated for each title, and an enclosed 16-page booklet

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Categories: Release Round-Up Formats: Box Sets, CD, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Holiday, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, Reggae Tags: Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Ethiopian and His All-Stars, Gladiators, Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell, Otis Redding, Stan Getz, The Beatles, The Guess Who

Full Time: Omnivore Acquires Nighthawk Reggae Catalogue, Celebrates Ru-Jac R&B

December 14, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Gladiators Full Time

Omnivore Recordings continues to grow with news of the acquisition of the Nighthawk Records label, joining Ru-Jac Records as part of the Omnivore family.  Omnivore has acquired rights to the master catalogues of both labels, as well as the respective publishing catalogues of each.  Upcoming releases include Full Time by Gladiators and Ethiopian & His All Stars' previously unissued album The Return of Jack Sparrow, both via Nighthawk, due this Friday, December 15, 2017, and Something Got a

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: R&B/Soul, Reggae Tags: Ethiopian and His All-Stars, Gladiators

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Isaac Hayes, "The Spirit of Memphis 1962-1976"

December 14, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Isaac Hayes Spirit of Memphis

From its humble beginnings in a Memphis garage sixty years ago to its present-day role as part of the Concord Music Group, Stax Records has persevered through numerous ups and downs to be rightfully recognized as one of the most important labels of the 20th century.  After early records concentrated on pop, country, and rockabilly, Stax (so named for founders Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton) found its niche in R&B, launching the careers of soul legends like Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, Sam &

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: R&B/Soul Tags: Isaac Hayes

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Johnny Mathis, "The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection"

December 13, 2017 By Joe Marchese 4 Comments

Johnny Mathis Voice of Romance Cover Art

I. Wonderful, Wonderful "A new sound in popular music," heralded the back cover of Johnny Mathis' 1956 debut album.  That self-titled release on Columbia Records introduced a voice that's now instantly familiar: expressive, rich, creamy, seductive, and tender, with a clarion, controlled vibrato that set it apart from any other tone in the golden age of American song.  As Columbia's George Avakian realized, Mathis' natural instrument was perfect for jazz - capable of navigating the form's

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Disco/Dance, Holiday, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul Tags: Johnny Mathis

A SECOND DISC INTERVIEW! Have No Fear, Bond Is Here: "Casino Royale: 50th Anniversary" Reissue Announced, Chris Malone Explains Restoration

December 11, 2017 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Casino Royale 50th

Seven James Bonds at Casino Royale/They came to save the world and win the gal at Casino Royale!  Six of them went to a heavenly spot, the seventh one is going to a place where it's terribly hot... Hal David's lyric captures just a small fraction of the insanity of Charles K. Feldman's 1967 Casino Royale, the big-budget comic extravaganza and cult favorite that was "too much...for one James Bond!"  And so, David Niven as James Bond was joined by 007s of all shapes and sizes (and genders!),

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Categories: Interviews, News Formats: CD Genre: Soundtracks Tags: Burt Bacharach, Dusty Springfield, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Ramones, "Rocket to Russia" [40th Anniversary Edition]

December 11, 2017 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Ramones Rocket to Russia

Johnny, Joey, Dee Dee, and Tommy Ramone introduced their fast and furious style of bubblegum punk on 1976's Ramones, then followed it up the next year with the even more potent Leave Home.  Just months later, the band dropped its third major salvo.  With Rocket to Russia, the sound and feel of the band's first two albums was taken to the next level - and now, forty years later, it's often recognized as the finest Ramones set.  Happily, Rhino has continued its series of LP-sized, hardcover

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Rock Tags: Ramones

'Round Midnight: Miles Davis' New "Bootleg Series" Volume Offers Concerts with Coltrane

December 8, 2017 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

Miles Davis John Coltrane 1960

The Miles Davis Bootleg Series is returning with a vengeance in 2018.  On March 23, Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings will journey back to one of the legendary musician's most cherished collaborations with the release of Miles Davis & John Coltrane - The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6.  This landmark set brings together five performances recorded during the Spring 1960 Jazz at the Philharmonic European Tour, Coltrane's final such outing as a sideman: two shows from Paris's

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Jazz Tags: John Coltrane, Miles Davis

Release Round-Up: Week of December 8

December 8, 2017 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Johnny Mathis Voice of Romance Cover Art

Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Debby Boone, You Light Up My Life: 40th Anniversary Expanded Edition (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Finally, the platinum LP containing the biggest hit of the 1970s arrives on CD!  Real Gone's new edition expands Debby Boone's original You Light Up My Life album by a whopping thirteen tracks, tracing Debby's career back to her earliest recordings with her sisters as The Boone Girls.  You'll hear their effervescent

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Categories: Release Round-Up Formats: Box Sets, CD, Vinyl Genre: Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks Tags: Barbra Streisand, Bert Berns, Bing Crosby, Chip Taylor, Debby Boone, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Henry Mancini, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Webb, John Fogerty, Johnny Mathis, Julie Andrews, The Searchers, William Tabbert

Back to the Garden: Jimi Hendrix's "Both Sides of the Sky" Premieres Unreleased Tracks, Features Stills, Winter

December 7, 2017 By Joe Marchese 7 Comments

Both Sides of the Sky

Experience Hendrix and Legacy Recordings are opening the Jimi Hendrix vaults once again for a new release intended as the third installment in the trilogy that began with Valleys of Neptune in 2010 and continued with People, Hell and Angels in 2013.  Both Sides of the Sky will arrive in stores on March 9 in CD, vinyl, and digital formats, featuring 13 songs recorded between January 1968 and February 1970 - ten of which are previously unreleased. The recordings on Both Sides of the Sky evince

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Blues, Classic Rock, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock Tags: Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Stephen Stills

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