September 1 marks Labor Day, but Real Gone Music isn’t taking much time off! The very next day, the label launches a new crop of eight titles emphasizing soul, funk and R&B but also encompassing country, classic rock and a touch of prog! At Motown, Willie Hutch gifted The Jackson 5 with his song “I’ll Be There,” saw his songs recorded by the label’s elite including Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye, and penned funky soundtracks including The Mack. In 1977, he departed Berry Gordy’s empire
Ace's "Girls with Guitars 3" Features Guitar Rock From Jackie DeShannon, Brenda Lee, Goldie and the Gingerbreads, More
Ace Records began its Girls with Guitars CD series in 2004. That first volume took its inspiration from a 1989 LP issued by the label and featured 24 tracks from lesser-known American girl groups worthy of attention from garage-rock fans. The music of Girls with Guitars was diverse, encompassing a variety of sixties sounds from garage to pop and soul. A second volume, Destroy That Boy: More Girls with Guitars, followed in 2009 ramping up the star wattage with a couple of mind-blowing cuts by
Look Up To The Sun: Ruthann Friedman Goes Beyond "Windy" On Now Sounds' "Complete Constant Companion"
Roughly one year ago, Now Sounds released Windy: A Ruthann Friedman Songbook. Its colorful cover was adorned with a striking photograph of the artist, intense and beautiful, in a verdant setting. The label has now continued the Ruthann Friedman story with The Complete Constant Companion Sessions, and its cover is as to Windy’s as night is to day. Its stark black-and-white line art by Peter Kaukonen appears to depict an angel on a landscape of rolling hills, conjuring cryptic text and an
Sumpin Funky Going On: "Country Funk II" Features Willie, Dolly, Bobby, Jackie, Kenny and More
Almost two years ago, we reported on Light in the Attic’s Country Funk, an anthology celebrating the hybrid genre of the title. Back then, LITA described country funk as an “inherently defiant genre” encompassing “the elation of gospel with the sexual thrust of the blues, country hoedown harmony with inner city grit. It is alternately playful and melancholic, slow jammin’ and booty shakin’. It is both studio slick and barroom raw.” Well, if the 16 nuggets on that 2012 release weren’t enough
We Want "Muscles" and Other Diana Ross Albums for RCA, Expanded by Funkytown Grooves
Diana Ross is well-known as the Queen of Motown, but for real record geeks and catalogue enthusiasts, it's her post-Motown works - released in the U.S. on RCA Records and on Capitol/EMI worldwide - that deserves a revisitation, thanks to its high energy dance grooves supplied by several very famous collaborators. This fall, Funkytowngrooves is doing what Diana's fans have wanted for years: remastering and expanding her six albums from 1981 to 1987 for the first time ever. After two decades
Old School: Soul Man Willie Jones Has "Fire In My Soul" On Comeback Album, Welcomes Frank Black, Steve Cropper and Felix Cavaliere
We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming for a special news bulletin: Willie Jones, vocalist for The Five Jokers back in the early 1960s, has returned to recording for the first time in decades! His new solo album, Fire in My Soul, arrived this week in the U.K. from Cherry Red Records’ Shout! label, and we’re happy to report that it’s a treat for vintage soul enthusiasts! Much has been made of today’s crop of “neo-soul” artists, fusing organic elements of traditional R&B into more
Mad About Her: Edsel Preps Next Wave of Belinda Carlisle Reissues
Edsel earned some deservedly high marks for last year's red carpet treatment of Belinda Carlisle's solo catalogue, remastering and expanding her albums for Virgin (in the U.K.)/MCA (in the U.S.) and issuing a career-spanning compilation as well. Now, they've announced expansions of three more albums Go-Go's frontwoman. The U.K. catalogue label will release a CD/DVD edition of solo debut Belinda (1986), which featured the Top 5 hit "Mad About You" and a cover of Freda Payne's "Band of Gold"
Not Soon Forgotten: Deep Purple's Overlooked "Purpendicular" Gets Reissue From Hear No Evil
There’s rarely a lull in activity for the catalogue of Deep Purple, one of the most enduring bands to emerge from the British hard and progressive rock scenes of the late 1960s. Cherry Red’s Hear No Evil Records imprint has recently continued its reissue series for Deep Purple’s 1990s catalogue with an expanded edition of 1996’s Purpendicular [sic], chronologically following Slaves and Masters (1990) and The Battle Rages On… (1993). Hear No Evil’s raison d'être for this reissue is simple.
Smashing Pumpkins Give Fans Something to "Adore"
The next installment in The Smashing Pumpkins' ongoing catalogue campaign has been announced - and in traditional Smashing Pumpkins fashion, it's accompanied by a typically Billy Corgan moment. Released in 1998, the follow-up to the band's acclaimed double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Adore found the Pumpkins enduring some structural and personal changes: drummer Jimmy Chamberlain was out, and frontman Corgan endured a divorce, the death of his mother, and a shift in musical
From Muscle Shoals to Music City, Ace Mines Lost R&B Gold On New Collections
Ace Records continues to mine the rich legacy of American R&B with recent releases dedicated to a trio of the finest independent labels in soul music: Fame, Music City, and Doré. Late in 2011, Ace curated the definitive chronicle of Rick Hall’s Fame Studios with The Fame Studios Story, a 3-CD box set including performances recorded at the storied Muscle Shoals, Alabama studio by artists including Wilson Pickett, Etta James, Otis Redding, Irma Thomas and Aretha Franklin. The label has also
Kritzerland Celebrates "Summer" With Jerome Kern and Alfred Newman, Goes "Hollywood" With Neal Hefti
At first blush, Kritzerland’s two new releases don’t have much in common - though one celebrates the Golden Age of Hollywood and one is actually from The Golden Age of Hollywood. But both titles hail from celebrated and influential composers, and both of these scores are making their first-ever appearances on soundtrack albums. The composers are the legendary Jerome Kern and the big band great-turned-swinging sixties theme titan Neal Hefti, and the films are Centennial Summer and Won Ton Ton:
Call Him The Breeze: Clapton and Friends Celebrate Music of J.J. Cale On New Album, Exclusive Box Set
In 2006, Eric Clapton teamed with singer-songwriter J.J. Cale for the collaborative album The Road to Escondido. The guitar god had long been a fan and patron of Cale's; he included "After Midnight" on his 1970 solo debut and took "Cocaine" to the Top 30 in 1977. Escondido earned both men a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album, and it would prove to be among Cale's final recordings. He released the album Roll On in 2009, featuring Clapton on its title track. Then, in 2013, Cale passed
Masterworks Goes "On the Town" With Roslyn Kind's RCA Albums, Bernstein Musical's London Cast
Masterworks Broadway has announced the balance of its summer slate of CD-Rs/DD reissues from the Sony Music archives with both releases making their debut in the digital domain. Next week, the label will reissue for the very first time both RCA albums by vocalist and cabaret star Roslyn Kind – not only a talented artist in her own right but also the half-sister of one Barbra Streisand. Then, on August 19, Masterworks will bring to CD-R and DD the original 1963 London Cast Recording of Leonard
Relight Their Fire: BBR Compiles Hits, Rarities For Loleatta Holloway, Skyy and Evelyn "Champagne" King
It’s no secret that Big Break Records, an imprint of Cherry Red Group, has mastered the art of the reissue when it comes to vintage R&B, soul and disco. But the label has expanded its horizons recently with a new series of deluxe 2-CD artist anthologies combining hits, rarities, remixes and key album tracks into one package. Three such titles are available now from the label, dedicated to the sensational Loleatta Holloway, “Shame” diva Evelyn “Champagne” King and the band Skyy. Though
The Allman Brothers Band's "Fillmore East" Goes Super Deluxe In New Box Set
2014 has been a year of upheaval for The Allman Brothers Band. Following word that Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks would be departing the venerable group at year's end, Gregg Allman confirmed that he, too, would stop touring after 2014 - effectively ending the band that bears his name. Despite his claims that "this is the end of it," Allman has left the door open to reunions down the road. "Who's to say?," he pondered in the pages of Relix. "We may get together every five years and just do one
Soundtrack? Yes, I Know: La-La Land Preps "Naked Gun" Reissue
You've read the ad, you've seen the movies - now for the first time, La-La Land Records will release the complete scores to all three of the hilarious films in The Naked Gun trilogy, as composed by Ira Newborn. Detective Lieutenant Frank Drebin of Police Squad made a small but dedicated group of people laugh in Police Squad, the short-lived (six brilliant episodes!) ABC television series created by Airplane! masterminds Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrams and David Zucker. Leslie Nielsen's unflappable
Oh! Oh! Here He Comes: Herbie Hancock's "Warner Bros. Years" Revisited On Expanded New Set
Herbie Hancock began his career as a leader with the appropriately-titled 1962 release Takin’ Off on the Blue Note label. Supported by Dexter Gordon on tenor saxophone, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Butch Warren on bass and Billy Higgins on drums, it was – and is – an electrifying debut for the pianist. Though rooted firmly in the hard bop idiom, Takin’ Off spawned a pop hit with “Watermelon Man,” first in Hancock’s Top 100 rendition and then in Mongo Santamaria’s Top 10 version. Hancock
Average White Band Line Up "All the Pieces" for New Box Set
From their million-selling U.S. No. 1 hit "Pick Up the Pieces" to a slew of soulful albums that have served as the backbone for countless hip-hop greats, Scottish funk outfit Average White Band have been long overdue for a proper catalogue rediscovery - something the fine folks at Edsel are doing with an exhaustive 19-disc box set, All the Pieces: The Complete Studio Recordings 1971-2003. The AWB - first comprised on record of bassist/guitarist/vocalists Alan Gorrie and Hamish Stuart, "Dundee
Release Round-Up: Week of July 15
Average White Band, All the Pieces: The Complete Studio Recordings 1971-2003 (Edsel) Nineteen discs of AWB goodness, including two discs of rarities? Now that's something to blow your horn over. Full specs will be posted later today. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) John Coltrane and Friends, Sideman: Trane’s Blue Note Sessions (Blue Note) Three discs of 'Trane's time as a sideman, with performances by Miles and Monk, all in glorious mono. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The Jerry Garcia Band, Garcia
Review: Real Gone Goes Soulful With Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, Irma Thomas
During its mid- to late-sixties heyday, Atlantic had two “girl groups” on its roster: The Sweet Inspirations and Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. It’s appropriate, then, that SoulMusic and Real Gone has a companion release to The Sweet Inspirations’ singles anthology with Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles’ 2-CD set The Complete Atlantic Sides Plus (RGM-0237/OPCD-8839) featuring Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx, Sarah Dash and Cindy Birdsong. Like The Sweet Inspirations and Irma Thomas collections,
Gentle On His Mind: Raven Collects John Hartford's First Five Albums
It's knowin' that your door is always open/And the path is free to walk/That makes me tend to leave my sleeping bag/Rolled up and stashed behind your couch... John Hartford's "Gentle on My Mind" picked up two 1968 Grammy Awards - one for Hartford himself as Best Folk Performance, and one for Glen Campbell as Best Country and Western Solo Vocal Performance - Male. The song, a charting single for Campbell, Patti Page, Aretha Franklin and Dean Martin, announced Hartford as a songwriter to watch.
Omnivore Relights Billy Steinberg's Eternal Flame with "Billy Thermal"
Billy Steinberg might not be a household name – but if you don’t know the name, you certainly know the songs: “Like a Virgin,” “True Colors,” “So Emotional,” and “Eternal Flame,” among them. But before Steinberg teamed up with Tom Kelly for those hits and more, he was signed to producer Richard Perry’s Planet Records as part of the band Billy Thermal. Though the band recorded an entire album for Planet in 1980, only a handful of tracks ever saw release. Omnivore Recordings has stepped up to
Pass The Chicken and Listen: Morello Reissues Everly Brothers, Janie Fricke
When The Everly Brothers joined RCA Victor in 1972, their place in the popular music firmament was already all but assured. Their string of hits for the Cadence label beautifully fused tight, ethereal country harmonies with a rock and roll spirit, from 1957’s “Bye Bye Love” (U.S. No. 2) onward. When Don and Phil joined the Warner Bros. roster in 1960, they scored another smash right out of the gate with the chart-topping “Cathy’s Clown,” but by the late sixties, the hit singles had dried up.
Give It to Us, Baby: Rick James' Motown Masters (and More) Are Digitally Reissued
Singer, songwriter, bassist, producer, partier, punk-funk pioneer - however you know him, one thing's clear: he's Rick James. (You'll have to imagine the word that usually follows.) Though the world lost the "Super Freak" hitmaker 10 years ago this summer, his legend continues: this week sees the release of his authorized biography Glow, written with David Ritz, and to celebrate, two labels are joining forces to update his killer catalogue in the digital domain. From the earliest moments
Top of the Pops: The Kinks (Finally) Announce Deluxe "Lola" Reissue
This summer, you'll have good reason to be kinda krazy about the Kinks. U.K. magazine Uncut is reporting that the band is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a deluxe reissue series beginning on August 18. That's the date when the long-awaited 2-CD edition of 1970's Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One will arrive in stores from BMG Rights Management (current owner of Sanctuary Records).The expanded edition of Lola is being shepherded by the noted producer, historian and Kinks
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