"I have a bridge to write." Summer 2021: I had gently clasped Burt Bacharach's hands as I thanked him - not for the first time, but for the last - for composing the melodies which had long enriched my heart. He politely accepted the compliment, his voice barely above a whisper, and quickly excused himself, disappearing into the California sunset. The reason for his exit was simple: there was more music to write. It was announced this morning that Burt passed away at the age of 94. At the
Smokin' in the Boys Room: BMG Boxes Motley Crüe's First Five Albums on CD and LP
In fall 2022, Motley Crüe took to stages across North America for the band's first major concert tour in seven years. Co-headlining with Def Leppard, the group played to packed houses. Future dates have been mooted for both Europe and the U.S. in 2023-2024, and while frontman Vince Neil has insisted that they will remain a touring unit only, BMG is giving fans an opportunity to revisit past studio triumphs. Crücial Crüe: The Studio Albums 1981-1989 arrives February 17. The 5-LP limited
Goodness Gracious Me: Cherry Red Collects Early George Martin Productions on "A Painter in Sound"
Late producer Sir George Martin is described as A Painter in Sound on Cherry Red/El's new collection of his Pre-Beatles Productions and Classical Influences. While Martin has been anthologized in the past, most notably on the unparalleled 6-CD set Produced by George Martin in 2001, there's always room for another one - in this case, an eclectic 4-CD journey that's largely far-removed from the rock which made Martin famous. The title of the set is derived from a Martin quote repeated in its
She's a Rebel: Liberation Hall Brings Darlene Love's "Live 1982" to CD, DVD
When "He's a Rebel" skyrocketed to No. 1 in November 1962, America fell in love with the voice of Darlene Wright...but her name was nowhere to be found on the 45 which was instead credited to The Crystals. Ironically, it displaced Bobby "Boris" Pickett's "Monster Mash" from the top spot; Darlene and her group, The Blossoms, had provided the background vocals for that record, too. A second "Crystals" smash followed for Darlene, "He's Sure the Boy I Love," and she joined The Blossoms' Fanita
For The First Time: Real Gone's February Slate Includes Grateful Dead, Soul Searchers, Harem Scarem, and "One Fine Day" Soundtrack
Real Gone's line-up for February features music from the 1970s and 1990s, representing genres from funk to classic rock. Available today are vinyl reissues for The Soul Searchers' second album, Salt of the Earth, the One Fine Day soundtrack, and a CD reissue of Grateful Dead's Road Trips Vol.1 No.1: Fall '79. Coming out in two weeks, on February 17, is a vinyl reissue of the debut album from Canadian band Harem Scarem. Washington, D.C.-based group The Soul Searchers formed in the early
OUT TOMORROW! Iconoclassic Reissues Carole Bayer Sager's Star-Studded "Sometimes Late at Night," Featuring Burt Bacharach, Michael Jackson, Neil Diamond, More
Carole Bayer Sager was still a student at New York's High School of Music and Art when her song "A Groovy Kind of Love," co-written with Toni Wine, topped the U.S. Cash Box and Record World charts and reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966. Though some at the time thought it wouldn't last due to its prescient use of the word "groovy," Sager and Wine's youthful tune more than proved its endurance. 22 years later, Phil Collins took it to No. 1 Pop and AC in the U.S. - not to mention No.
Get Back to the Woods: Elton John's 'Honky Château' Gets New Deluxe Edition in March
Though Elton John lavishly retired from touring with a run of shows at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last year - part of a tour that's set box-office records - you'd be right that it wouldn't be a long, long time before we heard from him in some way, shape, or form. Indeed: now comes word that his 1972 album Honky Château will be reissued just past its 50th anniversary with a trove of rare session demos and live tracks. If Madman Across the Water - reissued and expanded last year by UMe - was
Walking on the Chinese Wall: SoulMusic Records Collects Philip Bailey's First Three Solo Pop Albums
Band break-ups can be traumatizing, no matter how they happen. Philip Bailey, whose high falsetto vocals were a key part of Earth, Wind & Fire during their most commercial years in the '70s and '80s, has frequently described the band's (temporary) dissolution, brought up during a 1983 band meeting by founder Maurice White, as one of the lower points of his career. Bailey's next moves could shape his trajectory as an artist for better or worse. Of course, what happened over the rest of the
Turtles in Time: Waxwork Completes John Du Prez's "Ninja Turtles" Film Score Trilogy with Debut Release
While Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fever may have been cooling a bit by the release of the green gang's third film in 1993, the music to their motion pictures was still going strong. Waxwork Records, which debuted composer John Du Prez's scores to the first two films in 2018 and 2021, now offers the premiere release of his work for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III. For the third go-round, the space-time continuum goes wild when an enchanted scepter makes April O'Neil (Paige Turco, reprising
Got It Together: "Nancy and Lee Again" Debuts on CD in March
Following last year's reissue of 1968's Nancy and Lee, Light in the Attic is continuing its Nancy Sinatra Archival Series with the first-ever reissue of Sinatra's second duets LP with Lee Hazlewood, 1972's Nancy and Lee Again. On March 24, an expanded edition of the album will be available in CD, vinyl, four- and eight-track tape, and digital formats. Nancy and Lee Again inaugurated Sinatra's brief tenure at RCA Victor which additionally encompassed the solo album Woman (hopefully also on
Something's Gonna Happen: Marshall Crenshaw's Expanded Debut Coming Back to CD
After coming back into circulation last year courtesy of a new label home and a Record Store Day reissue, CD fans can rejoice at the news that Yep Roc's new expanded edition of Marshall Crenshaw's self-titled debut will get a wider release on disc on February 17. Back in September, Yep Roc announced a double LP expanded edition of Crenshaw's hook-filled debut album for Record Store Day Black Friday. In addition to the classic album, featuring the Top 40 hit "Someday, Someway" and a host of
Boom Boom: Craft Recordings Reissues, Expands John Lee Hooker's "Burnin'"
On February 24, Craft Recordings has a date with The King of the Boogie. That's the date the label will reissue John Lee Hooker's 1962 electric blues classic Burnin' in an expanded mono/stereo CD edition and in various vinyl pressings just in time for its 60th anniversary. Singer-guitarist Hooker recorded Burnin' for the Vee-Jay label in Chicago during one November 1961 session. He was supported by the personnel who would later comprise Motown's legendary Funk Brothers house band including
In Memoriam: David Crosby (1941-2023)
And it appears to be a long time, such a long, long, long, long time before the dawn... Few songs have captured the zeitgeist of the times as well as David Crosby's "Long Time Gone." First aired on Crosby, Stills, and Nash's eponymous debut, the ballad expressed the malaise, the anger, the disappointment, and the turbulence of the late 1960s with thunderous bass, furious guitar, and cascading harmonies. "Speak out, you got to speak out against the madness/You got to speak your mind, if you
Any Colour You Like: Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" Turns 50, New Box Set Is Coming
Over ten years after Pink Floyd celebrated Dark Side of the Moon in the expansive 3CD/2DVD/1BD Immersion Edition, the 1973 landmark album is returning for its 50th anniversary in a new box set. The Dark Side of the Moon: 50 Years, from Pink Floyd Records, carries over the original Dark Side (in various mixes) and a 1974 live concert from the previous Immersion box while adding a vinyl component and new Dolby Atmos mix. Due on March 24, the 2CD/2LP/2BD/1DVD set contains: Remastered
Commit to Love: SoulMusic's New Box "I'm for Real" Collects Howard Hewett's Elektra Albums
As we await the February 17 release of Dionne Warwick's Sure Thing: The Warner Bros. Recordings (1972-1977) box set from SoulMusic Records and Cherry Red, the time is right to revisit the label's two final packages of 2022. Today, a 4-CD package from soul man Howard Hewett takes the spotlight, with the next installment featuring a 6-CD box from the group Starpoint. Howard Hewett's I'm for Real: The Elektra Recordings (1986-1992) brings together the vocalist's four albums for the label, all
(Not So) Hard to Explain: 10 Singles by The Strokes Packed Into Vinyl, Digital Box Set
More than 20 years after The Strokes helped usher in a New York rock revival of sorts, the group will look back with a set of singles and rarities available on vinyl and digital. The Singles - Volume 01 chronicles the best of The Strokes' material from around their first three albums: breakthrough Is This It (2001) and follow-ups Room on Fire (2003) and First Impressions of Earth (2006). The set faithfully replicates a batch of 7" singles, complete with picture sleeves, that came out in the
Stolen Secrets: Quartet Expands Harold Faltermeyer's "Thief of Hearts," Includes Melissa Manchester Songs
Hot on the heels of such releases as Ron Goodwin and Henry Mancini's scores to Frenzy and John Barry's to Mary, Queen of Scots, the Quartet Records label is turning its attention to an eighties score from a modern master. Quartet is now shipping the first-ever complete, 2-CD edition of Harold Faltermeyer's score to 1984's thriller Thief of Hearts, featuring all the cues composed by Faltermeyer for the film as well as the remastered, original Casablanca Records soundtrack album complete with
King of Swing: Real Gone's January Slate Features Vinyl Reissues of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Fountains of Wayne
To kick off 2023, Real Gone Music is bringing two titles to vinyl for the first time from two bands from the 1990s: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's Americana Deluxe and Fountain of Wayne's compilation Out-of-State Plates. Both titles hit store shelves today, January 13, along with vinyl re-presses of Jack Kerouac and Steve Allen's Poetry for the Beat Generation and Kerouac's Blues and Haikus. Scotty Morris and Kurt Sodergren came together to form Big Bad Voodoo Daddy in 1989 in Ventura, California.
Deep in the Motherlode: Genesis Detail 'BBC Broadcasts' Box
Though the exhaustive archival work that accompanied Genesis' 2007 touring did not extend to the group's latest (and likely last) outing in 2021 and 2022, this year brings a new box set for fans of the prog-turned-pop/rock icons: a collection of their live material as recorded by the BBC. BBC Broadcasts, curated by founding keyboardist Tony Banks and longtime engineer Nick Davis, offers a trove of concert audio from all the major eras of Genesis from 1970 to 1998. The earliest material, taken
Four Hearts Beat As One: U2 Revisit Tracks on 'Songs of Surrender'
With 40 years, countless honors, some of the highest-grossing tours of all time, one album that irrationally annoyed a lot of people and - perhaps - less and less to prove, what is left for U2 to do? The Irish legends - fresh from Kennedy Center Honors last year, end a five-year gap between albums by revisiting their vast discography for a new project. Songs of Surrender takes its name from the speaking tour undertaken last year by frontman Bono, tied to his memoirs. While writing those, he -
In Memoriam: Jeff Beck (1944-2023)
Almost two months ago to the day, on November 12, 2022, Jeff Beck took the stage at Reno, Nevada's Grand Sierra Resort. Performing with his friend Johnny Depp, Beck ran through a setlist of fan favorites and covers. The guitar virtuoso made every song his own, with razor-sharp precision, an elegant tone, and a spellbinding touch. Little did anyone in attendance know that the concert would be Beck's last. After a short battle with bacterial meningitis, Jeff Beck has passed away at the age of
Keep It Greasy: "Zappa '80" Premieres Concerts from New York City, Munich
Following in the footsteps of last year's Zappa '75: Zagreb/Ljubljana, Zappa Records and UMe have rescued another two concerts from the late artist's storied Vault. On March 3, the labels will release the 3-CD set Zappa '80: Mudd Club/Munich, boasting two very different shows: one from New York's tiny, 240-capacity Mudd Club, and other from Munich's 12,000-seat Olympiahalle arena. Both shows feature the short-lived lineup of Zappa, vocalist Ike Willis and Ray White, bassist Arthur Barrow,
Vinyl Box Watch: Clapton, a-ha, Neutral Milk Hotel All Prep Big Sets on LP
For nearly no other occasion would you see these three bands in the same sentence, but it's true: vinyl box sets are all forthcoming from blues-rock legend Eric Clapton, Norwegian popsmiths a-ha, and '90s indie-folk darlings Neutral Milk Hotel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdl2I1spS8M This week, on January 13, Clapton readies The Complete Reprise Studio Albums - Volume II from Rhino Records. This 10LP set picks up where last year's first set left off, offering new remasters of Clapton's
The Sweetest Punch: "The Songs of Bacharach and Costello" Box Celebrates "Painted from Memory," More
Elvis Costello has sung jazz with The Charles Mingus Orchestra and pianist Marian McParland, explored hip-hop textures with The Roots, recorded with classical artists The Brodsky Quartet and Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, penned an album with R&B titan Allen Toussaint, and written and recorded with Paul McCartney. Yet of his many rich, felicitous collaborations, the most celebrated may well be with legendary composer Burt Bacharach. Now, that partnership which has spanned over
Give It Up: Rhino Announces This Year's "Start Your Ear Off Right" Releases
We're into the second week of January, and it wouldn't be a new year without Rhino's annual Start Your Ear Off Right campaign. This year's slate encompasses eighteen vinyl reissues across the rock, soul, and jazz spectrum, the majority of which were released on Friday at independent record stores and most Barnes and Noble locations (and online). The following titles are in stores now: Billy Cobham, Spectrum [Clear Vinyl, remastered by Kevin Gray] John Coltrane, Ole Coltrane [Clear
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