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/ Joe Marchese

It's Time for Mistletoe and Holly: Capitol Releases Sinatra's "Ultimate Christmas"

September 14, 2017 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Sinatra Ultimate Christmas

Summer may still be in its final days, but when it comes to music, Christmas is just around the corner!  Today, Capitol/UMe announced a new collection from Frank Sinatra set for release on October 6.  Ultimate Christmas collects 20 of the Chairman's seasonal standards from both his Capitol and Reprise periods, spanning 1954 to 1991, including collaborations with his children Frank, Tina, and Nancy.  This collection will be available in CD, digital, and 180-gram 2-LP black vinyl editions, as well

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Holiday, Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra

Party Is a Groovy Thing: People's Choice Philly Soul and Funk Collected by BBR

September 14, 2017 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Peoples Choice Any Way You Wanna

Philadelphia International Records, home of The Sound of Philadelphia, wasn't always the most hospitable label for bands.  After all, the label's "house band" MFSB featured some of the finest musicians anywhere, so self-contained units such as Instant Funk, Force of Nature, or even the venerable Soul Survivors inevitably played second fiddle to the vocal groups supported so deftly by MFSB.  But of all the Philly International bands, one rose above the rest.  People's Choice scored an R&B

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Disco/Dance, Funk, R&B/Soul Tags: People's Choice

The World Goes On: Esoteric Reissues Barclay James Harvest's "Octoberon" In Deluxe Set

September 13, 2017 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Barclay James Harvest Octoberon

Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint has continued its harvest of releases from progressive rock's Barclay James Harvest.  The latest deluxe edition from the band, 1976's Octoberon, once again is in the expanded 2-CD/1-DVD format, and follows the recent reissue of 1978's XII as well as Everyone is Everybody Else (1974) and Gone to Earth (1977), the latter two of which were released by the label in 2016. Octoberon arrived immediately prior to Gone to Earth in a landmark year for the

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD, DVD Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Barclay James Harvest

Review: Jan and Dean, "Filet of Soul Redux: The Rejected Master Recordings"

September 12, 2017 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Jan and Dean Filet of Soul Redux

Jan and Dean were riding high in 1965.  The surf-rock duo was slated to star in a Hollywood film.  They had shot a television pilot for ABC, and were preparing to move on from their longtime home of Liberty Records for greener pastures.  Standing in the way of their split from Liberty, however, was one last contractually-required album.  Berry and Torrence had no intention of giving the label any new material, and didn't want to turn over any live recordings of their hit songs, either.  They

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download Genre: Pop Tags: Jan and Dean

Where The Soul Never Dies: Run Out Groove Expands Delaney and Bonnie's "Motel Shot" On Vinyl

September 12, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Delaney and Bonnie Motel Shot Vinyl

Run Out Groove has announced its next limited-edition vinyl release, and it's a star-studded classic rock affair.  Pre-orders are open now through October 4 at the label's website for the 2-LP vinyl debut of Delaney and Bonnie's Motel Shot: Expanded. Husband-and-wife musical duo Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett got their first recording contract for Stax Records in 1969.  The soulful pair then briefly moved to Elektra (and were offered a contract at The Beatles' Apple Records) before arriving at

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Categories: News Formats: Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Delaney and Bonnie

Knock on Wood: Stax 60 Box Sets Arrive On CD and Vinyl

September 11, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Soulsville USA 1

In less than two weeks, the Stax Records 60th anniversary celebration will continue with a new set jointly produced by Concord Bicycle Music and Rhino.  Soulsville U.S.A.: A Celebration of Stax is a 60-song, 3-CD journey through the heart of Memphis with some of the Stax label's brightest stars including Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers, Booker T. & the MG's, William Bell, Sam and Dave, and more.   It's due on September 22. Soulsville U.S.A. is a successor to the 2007 release

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD, Vinyl Genre: R&B/Soul Tags: Various Artists

Short Takes, Broadway Edition: "Barnum," "Half a Sixpence," "Annie Get Your Gun"

September 11, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Barnum Backers Audition

A trio of upcoming releases will be sure to raise the pulse of theatre and cast recording fans out there! Harbinger Records and the Musical Theatre Project have continued their Songwriter Showcase Series with another entry dedicated to the late composer Cy Coleman.  Barnum: Backer's Audition finds Coleman and lyricist/librettist Michael Stewart presenting the score to their potential Broadway musical to an enthusiastic audience of potential investors in an Upper East Side apartment.  With

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Categories: News Formats: Blu-Ray, CD, Digital Download, DVD Genre: Cast Recordings Tags: Cy Coleman, David Heneker, Irving Berlin, John Raitt, Mary Martin, Tommy Steele

Review: Liza Minnelli, "Results: Expanded 4-Disc Edition"

September 8, 2017 By Joe Marchese 8 Comments

Liza Minnelli Results Expanded

The list of Liza Minnelli's musical partners reads like a "Who's Who" of popular culture: Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Charles Aznavour, Donna Summer, Joel Grey, Chita Rivera, and of course, her mother Judy Garland, to name a few.  Yet one of Minnelli's most cherished collaborations was also one of her most unexpected. 1989's Results was the superstar's first studio album in over a decade, and teamed her with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, a.k.a. the British dance-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. 

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD, DVD Genre: Disco/Dance, Everything Else, Pop Tags: Liza Minnelli, Pet Shop Boys, Stephen Sondheim

Release Round-Up: Week of September 8

September 8, 2017 By Joe Marchese 4 Comments

Neil Young Hitchhiker

Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Melissa Manchester, Through the Eyes of Love: The Complete Arista 7" Singles (Second Disc/Real Gone)  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The timeless songs of Melissa Manchester are collected on a new, comprehensive anthology from Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music. Through the Eyes of Love: The Complete Arista 7″ Singles brings together 43 songs and 157 minutes of beautiful music on two CDs, including such all-time hits and

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Categories: Release Round-Up Formats: Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rock Tags: Bash and Pop, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Duane Eddy, Godley & Creme, Gregg Allman, Hanson, Melissa Manchester, Neil Young, Ornette Coleman

TOMORROW Is Melissa Manchester Day! "Complete Arista Singles" Arrives Alongside Melissa's New Album

September 7, 2017 By Joe Marchese 5 Comments

Melissa Manchester Through the Eyes of Love

"Please, don't let this feeling end..." The sentiment of that famous lyric is one shared by listeners every time Melissa Manchester begins to sing. From her earliest pop hits through her recent triumphs on the jazz charts, Manchester's voice has always resonated with warmth and power. In 1975, she was one of a handful of select talents chosen by Clive Davis to inaugurate his Arista Records label, and during her near-decade on the label, the fiercely independent artist established herself as

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Melissa Manchester

Super Strut: Cherry Red Collects Best of Creed Taylor's CTI Label on "Cool Heat"

September 6, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Cool Heat CTI

Cherry Red's Robinsongs imprint is turning up the Cool Heat with a new 2-CD, 25-track collection celebrating The Best of CTI Records and featuring many of the classic jazz label's most renowned artists including instrumentalists George Benson, Freddie Hubbard, Hubert Laws, and Stanley Turrentine, and vocalists Nina Simone, Patti Austin, and Esther Phillips. Chances are, if you think of a jazz artist, it wouldn't take many degrees of separation to reach Creed Taylor. The esteemed producer

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Disco/Dance, Jazz, R&B/Soul Tags: Bob James, Esther Phillips, Eumir Deodato, Freddie Hubbard, George Benson, Nina Simone, Stanley Turrentine, Various Artists

'Cause This Is Thriller Night: Michael Jackson's "Scream" Arrives In October

September 6, 2017 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

MJ Scream

On Monday evening, an animated teaser featuring black cats, a spider web, and other spooky imagery arrived on Michael Jackson's official social media platforms, teasing the release of a project entitled Scream.  Today, the details have been confirmed for this new 14-track collection.  Scream, bringing together some of the late King of Pop's darkest songs, will arrive from Epic and Legacy on September 29, giving listeners a month-plus to savor it in the build-up to one of Jackson's favorite

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Disco/Dance, Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, The Jacksons

WIN! WIN! WIN! Varese Says "Welcome Back" to "The Very Best of John Sebastian"

September 1, 2017 By Joe Marchese 5 Comments

John Sebastian Stories We Could Tell

Welcome back!  Today, Varese Vintage celebrates the early solo discography of singer-songwriter, Woodstock folk hero, and Lovin' Spoonful founder John Sebastian with the release of Stories We Could Tell: The Very Best of John Sebastian, a new 16-track anthology drawing on the troubadour's Reprise albums originally released between 1971 and 1976. A New York native and the son of classical harmonica player John Sebastian Sr. and his wife Jane, a writer, young John fused pop and folk when he

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Categories: Giveaways!, News Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock, Folk, Pop Tags: John Sebastian, The Lovin' Spoonful

Release Round-Up: Week of September 1

September 1, 2017 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Carole King Tapestry Live at Hyde Park

Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Carole King, Tapestry: Live at Hyde Park (CD/DVD) (Legacy/Rockingale) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) This new CD/DVD release features Carole King's 45th anniversary performance of her seminal 1971 classic Tapestry, performed live in front of 65,000 fans in London's Hyde Park on July 3, 2016.  The setlist, preserved on both CD and DVD, includes the entire original album plus numerous highlights from King's illustrious songbook both

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Categories: Release Round-Up Formats: Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, DVD, Vinyl Genre: Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Jazz, Pop, Rock Tags: Bill Evans, Carole King, Cy Coleman, Grateful Dead, Huey Lewis and The News, Jan and Dean, John Sebastian, Motörhead, Pete Townshend, Sheila E, Steve Winwood, The Verve, Tori Amos

Rhino Serves Bread and Gumbo In New Album Box Sets

August 31, 2017 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

Dr. John Atco Albums

Rhino's international arm is boxing up remastered albums by two very different artists of the late '60s and early '70s: New Orleans R&B master Dr. John and definitive soft rock combo Bread. For six decades, Dr. John has been spreading the funky gospel with his singular brand of psychedelic soul.  On September 22, many of the good doctor's most acclaimed albums will feature in The Atco Albums Collection. This set brings together the former Mac Rebennack's first seven classic albums,

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Blues, Everything Else, Jazz, Pop, Rock Tags: Bread, Dr. John

Oh, Honey: Big Break Celebrates 40 Years of Delegation with Two New Releases

August 31, 2017 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Delegation In Loves Time

Over the course of just four albums released between 1977 and 1982, Delegation established a reputation and a following that continues to this very day based on the group's sleek brand of soulful, dance-infused R&B.  The trio, still active today as led by founding member Ricky Bailey, has long been a mainstay of Cherry Red's Big Break Records label.  That association which has recently culminated in a pair of potent releases: the definitive, double-disc anthology In Love's Time: The

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

Can't Hold the Feeling Back: Brenda Holloway's Lost Motown Sessions Arrive On "Spellbound"

August 29, 2017 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Brenda Holloway Spellbound

A new anthology from Cherry Red's SoulMusic Records imprint is bound to leave listeners so very happy.  Why?  It's a 2-CD, 33-track collection of (mostly) unheard music from one of Motown's most underrated stars, the incandescent Brenda Holloway.  While Brenda may be best known for co-writing "You've Made Me So Very Happy," there was much more to the artist, and Spellbound: Rare and Unreleased Motown Gems makes that abundantly clear.  Many of the tracks on this collection

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: R&B/Soul Tags: Brenda Holloway

Find Out What's Happening! Ace Celebrates "Marylebone Beat Girls" with Cilla Black, Julie Driscoll, More

August 29, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Marylebone Beat Girls

Around this time last summer, we filled you in on two volumes of Ace's Beat Girls series focusing on sixties starlets from the Pye and Decca labels.  Now, Ace has recently released another volume in the series.  Marylebone Beat Girls looks at the big-city acts recording out of London's Marylebone district, home of EMI's headquarters and its labels like Parlophone, His Master's Voice, and Columbia.  This 25-track collection of uptempo nuggets brings the Swingin' London fusion of pop, rock, and

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Pop Tags: Alma Cogan, Beryl Marsden, Billie Davis, Cilla Black, Helen Shapiro, Julie Driscoll, Various Artists

Catch a Wave: Jeffrey Foskett Captures Sounds of Summer on "You Remind Me of the Sun"

August 28, 2017 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Jeffrey Foskett You Remind Me of the Sun

Summer is inching to its inevitable conclusion (sorry, readers!) but for Jeffrey Foskett, the season is year-long.  The longtime associate of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys and current touring member of the band led by Mike Love and Bruce Johnston not only brings the sounds of summer to stages worldwide, but keeps them alive on his own solo recordings.  Following last year's release by Vivid Sound Japan of The Best of Jeffrey Foskett, the vocalist-musician has dipped once more into his solo

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Pop Tags: Jeff Larson, Jeffrey Foskett

Release Round-Up: Week of August 25

August 25, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Alex Chilton A Man Called Destruction

Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Alex Chilton, A Man Called Destruction: Expanded Edition (Omnivore) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2-LP Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada  In 1995, the late Big Star and Box Tops frontman Alex Chilton returned to Memphis' Ardent Studios, the site of his classic work with Big Star, to record A Man Called Destruction.  Blending original songs with a host of eclectic covers from the likes of Chris Kenner ("Sick and

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Categories: Release Round-Up Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Disco/Dance, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock Tags: Alex Chilton, Andy Williams, Big Star, Bob Dylan, Delegation, Exposé, Jack Tempchin, Judee Sill, Liza Minnelli, Nick Lowe, Pet Shop Boys, Rita Coolidge, The Undisputed Truth

Review: Echo and the Bunnymen, "It's All Live Now"

August 25, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Echo and the Bunnymen Its All Live Now

Run Out Groove, the new vinyl arm of Rhino and Warner Music Group, has continued its winning streak with another top-notch presentation - this time from the Liverpool-bred post-punk band Echo and the Bunnymen.  The limited edition It's All Live Now is a newly-curated title with ten tracks - mostly cover versions, from Bob Dylan to The Velvet Underground - performed in concert between 1983 and 1985, as originally released on singles and/or the band's 2001 retrospective CD box set Crystal Days

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: Vinyl Genre: Rock Tags: Echo and the Bunnymen

Hot Fun: Cherry Red's Robinsongs Collects Stanley Clarke's Epic Years

August 24, 2017 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Stanley Clarke Definitive

Bassist Stanley Clarke has long been one of jazz's leading lights.  The Philadelphia-born musician and composer's career, which flourishes to the present day, has recently been anthologized by Cherry Red's Robinsongs label.  The Definitive Collection concentrates on the period of 1975-1990 during which time he was recording for the Nemperor and Epic labels as a solo artist. Philadelphia-born Clarke first rose to prominence showcasing his bass wizardry as part of Chick Corea's fusion jazz

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Funk, Jazz, R&B/Soul Tags: George Duke, Stanley Clarke

UPDATE 8/22: Harry Nilsson's "Popeye" Soundtrack, Complete with Demos, To Be Released In September

August 22, 2017 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Popeye Complete OST

ORIGINAL POST OF MAY 8: UPDATED AUGUST 22: Well, blow me down!  Varese Sarabande will be bringing the soundtrack to composer-lyricist Harry Nilsson and director Robert Altman's loopy film musical version of Popeye to compact disc in an authorized edition for the very first time on September 29 - but that's not all.  This 2-CD deluxe edition will not only feature all of Nilsson's memorable songs as performed by the perfectly-cast likes of Robin Williams, Shelley Duvall, and Paul Dooley, but will

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Pop, Soundtracks Tags: Harry Nilsson, Van Dyke Parks

Shades of (Deep) Purple: Cherry Red Reissues Two From Hard Stuff

August 17, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Hard Stuff

Cherry Red is bringing out the Hard Stuff.  The label has just issued Hard Stuff: The Complete Purple Records Anthology for the British hard rockers, bringing together their only two albums and assorted bonus tracks to tell the story of the band's time on Deep Purple's own record label. The seeds of Hard Stuff were planted by guitarist John DuCann and drummer Paul Hammond when both departed Atomic Rooster over the ever-popular "creative differences."  The duo attempted to keep the Atomic

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Deep Purple, Hard Stuff

Review: The Creation, "Creation Theory"

August 16, 2017 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Creation Creation Theory

Though The Creation only left behind roughly a couple dozen songs during their mid-'60s heyday, the story of the hard-rocking mods actually goes back further, and extends to decades later.  Earlier this year, the U.S. label Numero Group presented 46 masters, alternates and remixes on a double-disc collection entitled Action Painting.  Shortly thereafter, U.K. label Edsel unveiled an even more thorough presentation of the complete Creation story containing those 46 tracks and 33

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD, DVD Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Shel Talmy, The Creation

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