It turns out the remixed, expanded Abbey Road isn’t the only piece of The Beatles’ catalogue getting reissued for the holidays. The group just announced the release of a box set gathering the band’s singles on vinyl, to be released November 22. The Singles Collection includes original singles and B-sides on 22 pieces of vinyl, plus a newly created 23rd single featuring “Free As a Bird” and “Real Love,” both single A-sides released to promote the multi-volume Anthology project in 1995 and 1996. The draw for collectors here is clearly the packaging: each…
We’ve Known Each Other For So Long: Rick Astley Preps Hits Collection
With all the surprise of a Rickroll, British singer Rick Astley went from pop star to Internet meme to solid entertainer over the past three decades. This fall, he’s got a new compilation celebrating that evolution. The Best Of Me, to be released October 25, collects his biggest international hit singles and beloved cuts throughout his career, including tracks from 50 (2016) and Beautiful Life (2018), which marked a return to original music after 15 years. 50 debuted atop the U.K. albums chart and Beautiful Life made the Top 10, and both…
What’s The 411? Mary J. Blige’s Early Years Anthologized On ‘HERstory’
Long established as one of the premiere female hip-hop/R&B artists of her generation, Mary J. Blige is telling her story – the one that earned her the title of Queen of Hip-Hop Soul – through HERstory, Vol. 1, a new multi-format compilation coming this December. Born in The Bronx and raised in both Savannah, Georgia and the projects of Yonkers, New York, Mary J. Blige’s three-decade-plus career has been supported by music that balances street sounds with feminine soul and the pen of a gifted, honest storyteller. As an 18-year-old high school…
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The Shape Returns: Last Year’s ‘Halloween’ Score To Be Expanded
Michael Myers is coming home again, thanks to an expanded edition of the soundtrack to last year’s Halloween sequel. John Carpenter helped kickstart the slasher genre with this low-budget classic he co-wrote and directed in 1978. Jamie Lee Curtis (daughter of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, making her film debut) starred as Laurie Strode, a babysitter in Haddonfield, Illinois who is targeted by Myers (“The Shape”), a masked killer who murdered his sister 15 years before. Donald Pleasance portrayed Sam Loomis, the psychiatrist hot on Michael’s trail. Filmed on a shoestring budget of…
Story To Story, Building To Building: INXS Remix ‘Live Baby Live’ For New Theatrical Reissue
When producer Giles Martin signed on as INXS’ executive music director in 2018 – not long after a 30th anniversary edition of Kick was issued – it was not immediately clear what that entailed. The latest fruits of the partnership have just been unveiled – but, frustratingly, don’t mean as much for the Australian band’s American fans. Next month, INXS will release a completely restored version of Live Baby Live, their 1991 concert film captured on their Summer XS date at London’s Wembley Stadium. Long cited as one of the key examples…
Soundtrack Watch: Varese’s Latest CD Club Batch Includes Goldsmith, ‘Trek’ and ‘Cogburn’
Last month, Varese Sarabande unveiled a killer trifecta of CD Club titles that featured their most requested expansion, a repress of one of their most beloved reissues of the decade, and the premiere of a classic Western score. The CD Club began some 30 years ago, but since its original soundtrack release in 1997, fans have yearned for a more complete presentation of Jerry Goldsmith’s score to Air Force One. The hit action film stars Harrison Ford as an American president fighting a band of airborne hijackers to save his family and…
Would You Like To Do a Number: Live Sets Dominate Legacy’s Record Store Day Black Friday Slate
And the hits just keep on comin’! Legacy Recordings has announced its extensive slate for Record Store Day’s Black Friday event on November 29, and it’s a doozy, with rock, jazz, country, R&B, and more! The label has brought out many of its heaviest hitters, including Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, and Miles Davis for an impressive array of vinyl releases. You’ll find Legacy’s full list below, with descriptions for each title provided by the label! Look for these at finer independent record retailers everywhere on Friday, November 29! Arcade Fire,…
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Release Round-Up: Week of October 11
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Steve Miller Band, Welcome to the Vault (Sailor/Capitol/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Welcome To The Vault is the first-ever Steve Miller Band rarities collection. The 3CD/DVD box set features 52 songs that span Miller’s career, including 38 previously unreleased recordings and 5 never-before-heard songs. With demos, rehearsal takes, newly unearthed compositions, classic concert recordings, and more, Miller has dived into the vaults with a celebratory collection that’s bound to please any fan. The DVD is also a treasure trove of rarities, featuring…
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COMING SOON! Second Disc Records, Real Gone Music Revisit “The Great Songs of Christmas,” Eugene Ormandy Classics
Last week, Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music announced our first release of the Christmas season: Chet Atkins’ The Complete RCA Victor and Columbia Christmas Recordings, due on November 8. Today, we’re excited to announce two more titles coming your way this holiday season! Between 1961 and 1970, households across America delighted in an annual series of Christmas releases available exclusively through Goodyear locations. 900,000 copies of the first volume of The Great Songs of Christmas were pressed – and proved so successful that, by December 1, 1961, Goodyear ordered all…
Stop Your Sobbing: Monkees, Aretha, Pretenders and More On Rhino’s Record Store Day Black Friday List
And what does Rhino have planned for this year’s Record Store Day Black Friday festivities? Warner’s catalog music arm has eight vinyl titles coming to indies on November 29. Expect a few vinyl debuts, some stalwarts of the label (The Monkees, Devo, The Doors) and some newly-available holiday material, appropriate for the end of the year! Learn all about it ahead. Alice Cooper, Billion Dollar Babies Live (Warner) Originally released on a deluxe edition of Alice Cooper’s bestselling 1973 album, this concert from Houston, Texas features live versions of “No More Mr….
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Let’s Have a Party: Motown, James Brown, U2, Sinatra Part of UMe’s RSD Black Friday Festivities
With the lead-up to Record Store Day Black Friday in full swing, it’s time to take a look at what Universal Music Group has prepped for the semi-annual vinyl bonanza. The label’s eight major catalog vinyl releases are familiar to longtime RSD consumers. Some celebrate an iconic anniversary (as is the case for titles by U2, Frank Sinatra and Frank Zappa), one complements a general catalog title (an unreleased live James Brown album), and some just feature great music in rare presentations. Learn all about UMG’s Black Friday titles below. All will…
It Could Happen To You: Seven Black Friday Titles Coming From Craft
It’s that time of year again! On Friday, November 29, independent retailers everywhere will celebrate Record Store Day’s annual Black Friday event, featuring a wide array of exclusive, limited edition releases. Craft Recordings has announced its eclectic slate, encompassing classic folk, jazz, salsa, pop, shoegaze, and more. Without further ado, here’s Craft’s lineup, with descriptions and track listings provided by the label! Look for all of these fine titles at your favorite independent music retailer on Black Friday! Jazz Dispensary: The Dank D-Funk Blend (Prestige) 180-gram green-marbled vinyl): The newest installment in…
Winter Walkin’: Second Disc Records, Real Gone Music Collect Chet Atkins’ “Complete RCA Victor and Columbia Christmas Recordings”
It’s for good reason that Chet Atkins remains one of the most revered names not only in country music but in American music itself. A producer, A&R man, songwriter, sometimes-vocalist, and above all, a guitarist who influenced generations that followed him, Atkins defined the sound of the genre with his championing of RCA’s lush Nashville Sound. A Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Country Music Hall of Fame inductee and a 14-time Grammy winner (including a Lifetime Achievement Award), Atkins recorded two albums of Christmas music throughout his singular career. We’re…
With a Fire In His Heart: George Michael Classics Power ‘Last Christmas’ Soundtrack
An upcoming holiday film is taking its cues from a classic song from George Michael and Wham! On November 8 in the U.S. and November 15 in the U.K., Last Christmas will arrive in cinemas. Legacy Recordings will issue the soundtrack, featuring one previously unheard George Michael song and an array of his classics, on November 8 in CD, vinyl, and digital formats. In spring 2013, screenwriter-actress Emma Thompson visited Michael to earn his blessing for the film. Michael consented, leading to the romantic comedy starring Emilia Clarke, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh,…
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Release Round-Up: Week of October 4
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! It’s Such a Good Feeling: The Best of Mister Rogers (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Welcome back to the Neighborhood! This celebration of the music of Mister Rogers collects 23 songs recorded by the host, with accompaniment from longtime sideman Johnny Costa on piano, Carl McViker on bass, and Bobby Rawsthorne on percussion. Complementing the music is an illustrated booklet with photos, an introduction by the Won’t You Be My Neighbor? documentarian Morgan Neville, and an essay by TV critic Robert Bianco….
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Rag, Mama Rag: The Band’s Self-Titled Album To Be Given 50th Anniversary Box Set Treatment
It’s been fifty years since The Band released their self-title album, lovingly referred to by fans as “The Brown Album.” To celebrate the anniversary of the pioneering release, The Band will be reissued in a variety of expanded editions on November 15. These follow last year’s similar reissues of the group’s debut, Music from Big Pink. While The Band was primarily recorded in Hollywood – in Sammy Davis, Jr.’s pool house, no less! – the feel was decidedly rustic. The sessions took on a Basement Tapes-like quality, with Robbie Robertson as inspired…
Release Round-Up: Week of September 27
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! The Beatles, Abbey Road: Anniversary Edition [Various Formats] (Apple/UMe) Super Deluxe 3CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Deluxe 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Abbey Road celebrates 50 with a variety of editions built around a new 2019 stereo mix by Giles Martin and Sam Okell. The centerpiece of the campaign, a 3CD/1BD box,…
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Put On The Red Light: New Box Collects The Police’s Studio Recordings (UPDATED WITH CD INFO)
UPDATE (9/26/2019): Just short of a year after this vinyl box set was issued, A&M/UMe will issue a CD version with the same contents on November 8. Amazon links are below! ORIGINAL POST (11/12/2018): Over the course of just five albums released between 1978 and 1983, The Police synthesized pop, rock, New Wave, and world music sounds including, most notably, reggae into a style all their own. Incorporating influences of punk and jazz into the mix, their sound still reverberates today. Vocalist-bassist Sting, guitarist Andy Summers, and drummer Stewart Copeland called it…
Soundtrack Watch: Intrada Delivers Two John Barry Classics, La-La Land Lights Fuse on “Mission: Impossible”
Fans of John Barry have double the delight coming their way this week, with two hugely expanded scores from the late British composer. First up is one of the weirdest films Barry’s got his name on: the critically-maligned, George Lucas-produced adaptation of Marvel Comics’ Howard The Duck. The film, co-starring Lea Thompson as Howard’s…uh…human love interest, was scored by Barry and re-scored in part by composer Sylvester LeVay. Part of Barry’s score ended up on the second side of a soundtrack album featuring rock songs written for Thompson’s in-film band, Cherry Bomb,…
United ‘Nation’: Nine Digital Remix EPs Celebrate 30th Anniversary of Janet Jackson Classic
After putting much of Janet Jackson’s classic catalogue on vinyl out this year, UMe keeps the party going with a whopping nine new digital EPs to celebrate this week’s 30th anniversary of Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814. The label is premiering nearly 100 rare and digitally unavailable edits, instrumentals and remixes spanning Rhythm Nation‘s incredible run of hit singles for more than a year. Seven tracks – “Miss You Much,” “Rhythm Nation,” “Escapade,” “Alright,” “Come Back To Me,” “Black Cat” and “Love Will Never Do Without You” – all reached the Top…
Release Round-Up: Week of September 20
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Judy Collins, The Elektra Albums: Volume Two (1970-1984) (Edsel) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Demon Music Group’s Edsel label is following up its July release of Judy Collins’ The Elektra Albums Volume One (1961-1968) with a second volume out today. The Elektra Albums Volume Two (1970-1984) finishes up the artist’s Elektra Records tenure, comprising these nine releases on CD in their original sequences: Whales and Nightingales (1970), Living (1971), True Stories and Other Dreams (1973), Judith (1975), Bread and Roses (1976), Hard Times…
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Curse You Red Barrel: XTC’s Dukes Of Stratosphear Years Remixed by Steven Wilson For New Collection
XTC’s next Steven Wilson remix project is coming soon…only it’s not really XTC at all. The beloved surround engineer and Porcupine Tree frontman has worked his magic on several albums by the British rockers (Drums and Wires, Black Sea, Skylarking, Oranges and Lemons and Nonsuch) – and this year, he now turns his attention to The Dukes Of Stratosphear, the group’s beloved psychedelic project. The band’s core group (Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory), along with Dave’s brother Ian, suited up as Sir John Johns, Lord Cornelius Plum, The Red Curtain…
Get On Up: James Brown’s 1969 Homecoming Show Remixed and Expanded For October Release
Are you ready for Star Time? A new James Brown release, chronicling a 50-year-old homecoming show released in full for the first time, will surely do the trick. Live At Home With His Bad Self was in fact intended to be released not long after its recording. In the fall of 1969, Brown came to Augusta, Georgia’s Bell Auditorium, hours from where Brown first sang gospel as a young man in Toccoa. He was backed by a stellar band that featured the talents of horn players Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley, and…
Walk Through The Fire: Peter Gabriel Rarities Collected Digitally As ‘Flotsam and Jetsam’
Having brought his catalogue into the digital and streaming age on his own timeframe, Peter Gabriel is now offering more than 60 rare tracks in a new compilation. Flotsam and Jetsam, announced today as a digital album, offers B-sides, remixes and non-album tracks spanning Gabriel’s extensive solo career from 1976 (a cover of The Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever” from the All This and World War II soundtrack) to 2016 (“The Veil,” penned for the dramatic biopic Snowden). In between, there’s versions of many favorites, including “Solsbury Hill,” “Biko,” “Shock The Monkey,” “Sledgehammer,”…
Release Round-Up: Week of September 13
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Johnny Mathis, Different Kinda Different: Expanded Edition (Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Johnny Mathis’ first album of the 1980s, Different Kinda Different, arrives today in an expanded edition from TSD & Real Gone Music. Mathis ushered in the decade with one of the most romantic and sensual albums in his extensive discography. Different Kinda Different teamed him once more with Jack Gold and Gene Page for a set that lived up to its title as it spotlighted numerous…
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