On May 12 of this year, Burt Bacharach turned 89 years young. Since 1952, when he began his career as a professional songwriter with Nat "King" Cole's recording of the instrumental "Once in a Blue Moon," hardly a year has gone by without a new Bacharach song. Throughout the seven decades in which he's been working, Bacharach has enjoyed fruitful collaborations with not only Hal David, but also Bob Hilliard, Carole Bayer Sager, Elvis Costello, and most recently, Steven Sater. Now, the
Soul and Inspiration: Ace Collects Righteous Brother Bobby Hatfield's Solo Recordings
There's only one word for Ace Records' superlative new collection of the solo recordings of the late Bobby Hatfield: righteous! The Other Brother: A Solo Anthology 1965-1970 brings together 24 sides from the tenor half of The Righteous Brothers including the entirety of his 1970 MGM Records album Messin' at Muscle Shoals, rare singles, all surviving previously unreleased tracks from both MGM and Verve (seven songs in total), and more. The story of The Righteous Brothers' 1964 hit "You've
Spicks and Specks: Ace Collects "Songs of The Bee Gees" From Lulu, Nina Simone, Percy Sledge, Others
With a recent Grammy Awards salute, a new catalogue deal, and the 40th anniversary of Saturday Night Fever, the music of the Bee Gees has been front and center in 2017. Ace Records has joined the celebration of the brothers Gibb with a new entry in the label's long-running Songwriters Series. To Love Somebody: The Songs of The Bee Gees 1966-1970 pulls into focus the early professional years of Barry, Robin, and Maurice, with 24 choice cover versions of songs both familiar and lesser-known.
Review: Van Morrison, "The Authorized Bang Collection"
The first sound that jumps out at you after inserting Van Morrison's The Authorized Bang Collection is that of the familiar "Brown Eyed Girl," but something about it is different. As presented in its original stereo mix as remastered from the original 1967 first-generation tape, it's more vibrant than ever, with pronounced instrumental separation and a crisp sheen - as if that misty morning fog has been lifted, and the green grass smells fresher than ever. It will have you singing sha la la la
Shell Shocked: The Turtles Come to Vinyl for Record Store Day U.K.
Demon Music Group is showing a display of Turtle Power for Record Store Day U.K. this Saturday! On that date, the label will unveil the 6-LP box set The Albums Collection, collecting all of The Turtles' original White Whale Records albums originally released between 1965 and 1970. Though The Turtles have long been recognized as top-flight purveyors of classic 45s, a journey through their compact yet potent six-album catalogue unearths numerous riches beyond the big hits. With a gleeful sense
With A "Z": Cherry Red Reissues Two Columbia Albums From Liza Minnelli, Plans "Results" Box
When Columbia Records released Liza Minnelli's The Singer in March 1973, the album's understated title wasn't nearly enough to encapsulate her many facets. The singer-dancer-actress had, in fact, already received two Academy Award nominations for Best Actress - the second one of which, for Cabaret, would result in a win that very same month. Just two months later, in May, her television variety special Liza with a Z would win multiple Emmy Awards. The Singer inaugurated the third major-label
Review: Fleetwood Mac, "Tango in the Night: Deluxe Edition"
The music of Fleetwood Mac could fairly be said to define the 1970s - in all its style, tumult, and excess. Where did that leave the union of Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, and Lindsey Buckingham once a new decade emerged? 1982's Mirage found Fleetwood Mac trying to recapture the magic of 1977's epochal Rumours, and succeeding in large part. Yet Mirage felt as if it firmly had one foot planted in the previous decade. With its belated follow-up, 1987's Tango in the
Somewhere In The World: Playback Collects Sixties Pop, Jazz and Gospel From Judy Jacques
Playback Records' second recent jazz-oriented release comes from Melbourne's Judy Jacques. Whereas Sue Barker's brand of jazz was a soulful one with strains of pop and rock, Jacques' style was firmly in the "trad jazz" camp derived from New Orleans and Dixieland. The Sixties Sessions collects 24 tracks recorded between 1962 and 1966 from the solo artist (including some atypical pop sides) as well as The Yarra Yarra New Orleans Jazz Band, and Judy Jacques and Her Gospel Four. When she was
More Tomorrow: Esoteric Reissues Two From Unicorn, David Gilmour-Produced Band
What would it have sounded like if Pink Floyd's David Gilmour had produced the Eagles? One possible answer comes via his work with the British band Unicorn. Despite the patronage of the psychedelic rocker, Unicorn took many of its cues from the American West Coast. Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint is remastering and expanding two albums from Unicorn, 1976's Too Many Crooks, and 1977's One More Tomorrow. Both titles are due this Friday, March 31, in the United Kingdom, and one week
Seasons In The Sun: Frank, Dusty, Petula, More Salute Rod McKuen On New Anthology
In the case of Rod McKuen, "prolific" might well have been an understatement. Before he turned 35, McKuen had already lived many lives - from farm hand, lumberjack, rodeo cowboy, disk jockey, and U.S. Army veteran to singer, songwriter, actor, and the most commercially successful poet of his time - or any other. Despite an enviable career that saw him receive two Academy Award nominations and Frank Sinatra dedicate an entire album to him, the songs of Rod McKuen frequently haven't received
Intervention Reissues Erasure's Debut "Wonderland" On Deluxe LP
Intervention Records has continued its (Re)Discover series of pristine vinyl recreations of classic LPs with an album of eighties vintage that just might send you down the rabbit hole. It's possible to get lost in Erasure's Wonderland thanks to Intervention's recent 30th anniversary presentation of songwriter-keyboardist Vince Clarke and singer-songwriter Andy Bell's collection of crystalline synth-pop. Clarke was known for his work with Depeche Mode and as one-half with Alison Moyet of
He's Only Just Begun: "Roger Nichols Treasury" Collects Demos, Jingles, Paul Williams Collaborations
If you don't know the name of Roger Nichols, you know the man's songs. His compositions have been sung by the Carpenters, Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Petula Clark, Jackie DeShannon, Bobby Darin, Paul Anka, The Monkees, and Nichols' most frequent lyrical collaborator, Paul Williams - just to name a few. Many of those songs have become bona fide American standards, among them "We've Only Just Begun," "Rainy Days and Mondays," "I Won't Last a Day Without You," and "Times of Your Life." He and
How Happy I Can Be: 7a Records Releases Rare Davy Jones On New Live Single
Attention all daydream believers! The diehard Monkeephiles at 7a Records have an upcoming release that's sure to cheer up sleepy Jean. Oh what can it mean? On February 24, the 7a team will unveil the label's latest limited-edition vinyl single, and its first from the late, great Davy Jones. Daydream Believer/I Wanna Be Free captures Jones' performances of the two all-time Monkees classics recorded on his 1981 tour of Japan. This 7-inch single, strictly limited to 500 copies pressed on
Message From The Country: Esoteric Collects "Best of The Move" On CD and DVD
Can you hear the grass grow? Continuing its series of reissues dedicated to the Birmingham rockers The Move, Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint has just issued a CD/DVD collection that chronicles the band's many facets and iterations between 1966 and 1972. Magnetic Waves of Sound: The Best of The Move, featuring 21 tracks on CD and a further 21 live performances and promotional films on DVD, is certainly not the group's first anthology, but it's doubtless among the finest. Over the
Time and Love: Analog Spark Reissues Two Laura Nyro Classics On Vinyl
Laura Nyro's 1966 debut album on Verve Records proclaimed the young singer-songwriter to be More Than a New Discovery, and the title wasn't mere hyperbole. After all, the album introduced one chart-topper for The 5th Dimension, a Top 5 smash for Blood, Sweat and Tears, and a Top 10 hit for Barbra Streisand among its twelve songs. How to top New Discovery? Nyro's major-label debut at Columbia Records, 1968's Eli and the Thirteenth Confession, did just that, as one of the most strikingly
"IPO Volume 19": POP into The New Year!
Today, our very own Ted Frank takes a look at the annual CD series shining a spotlight on the best voices in pop you might not know! Although 2016 may be remembered for a number of losses in the artistic community, it has also been a reinvigorating one for the music industry. With the likes of David Bowie and Leonard Cohen tragically releasing some of their finest work in their final hours, to other legends such as William Bell, Nick Cave, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Iggy Pop, The Rolling
Love You 'Til the Day I Die: Crowded House, 2016's Reissues of the Year
Yesterday, we announced the recipients of the Seventh Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! Unsurprisingly, the deluxe reissues from Crowded House were among them! Today, Mike takes an in-depth look at these stellar reissues! Depending on how you look at it, there are anywhere from seven (albums) to 14 (discs) to more than 200 (songs) reasons why Universal Music's Crowded House reissues stand tall in this writer's mind as the best catalog music campaign of 2016. But in the end, all it took was
Jeff Larson Returns To "Heart of the Valley" On New Reissue
When singer-songwriter Jeff Larson premiered his album Heart of the Valley in 2009, the album was rightly lauded as an immaculately produced collection of laid-back, polished pop. It conjured a time when rich emotions and real instruments ruled pop radio. Today, it's just as relevant, as proven by a newly-expanded reissue on Japan's Vivid Sound label (VSCD 3944, 2016). The artist indicates in his new liner notes that "the concept for Heart of the Valley was loosely based on the Nilsson Sings
Now Sounds Reissues Paul Revere and The Raiders' "Spirit of '67" In Mono/Stereo Edition
Last year, Now Sounds brought Paul Revere and the Raiders' 1967 Revolution! to CD in a deluxe, expanded mono/stereo edition. Now, the Cherry Red imprint has turned the clock back to 1966 just in time to deliver a 50th anniversary edition of that album's immediate predecessor, The Spirit of '67. This sparkling remastered reissue does full justice to the LP which marked the final collective work of the classic band line-up of Paul Revere, Mark Lindsay, Phil "Fang" Volk, Drake "The Kid" Levin and
Holiday Gift Guide Review: A Vinyl Christmas From Presley, Cash and More
As the vinyl revolution continues, it's no surprise that numerous classic Christmas albums have been reissued in the format, while newer holiday recordings have gotten the 33-1/3 treatment as well. Legacy Recordings, rather than continuing its Classic Christmas Album series in CD form this year, has brought a number of titles to vinyl including new collections from Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, and a Classic Christmas volume dedicated to the big band sound. Of course, Elvis Presley has been
Review: "Prince 4Ever"
Prince 4Ever (NPG Records/Warner Bros. 558509-2) is not the Prince compilation I imagined. I've had plenty of time to think about it, from the day Prince and Warner Bros. announced the end of their decades-long war with a new catalogue agreement that honest-to-God made me cry, to the day almost exactly two years later where we cried over Prince for a different reason. But even in my wildest dreams, something about a Prince catalogue campaign seemed ephemeral, not entirely knowable--just like
Livin' Proof: Cherry Red Follows Dusty Springfield's "Reputation" with "Very Fine Love" Deluxe Reissue
Earlier this year, Cherry Red's Strike Force Entertainment label reissued Dusty Springfield's Reputation, the legendary vocalist's 1990 "comeback" album featuring productions by The Pet Shop Boys, Dan Hartman, and others. That expanded reissue took the form of a 2-CD/1-DVD set, adding nineteen bonus tracks and five music videos within its slipcase. More recently, SFE has turned its attention to Dusty's follow-up, A Very Fine Love, as a CD/DVD combo. The 1995 Columbia album, recorded in
Ace Collects Classic Beatles Covers On "Let It Be: Black America Sings Lennon, McCartney and Harrison"
If there was ever any doubt as to the versatility, adaptability and endurance of the songs of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, it would certainly be dispelled by Ace’s new release of Let It Be: Black America Sings Lennon, McCartney and Harrison. The latest volume in the label’s Black America Sings series (also encompassing volumes dedicated to Sam Cooke, Bob Dylan, Otis Redding, and the team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David) and the second dedicated to the music of The Beatles,
Review: Big Star, "Complete Third"
Will the real Big Star’s Third please stand up? That’s a loaded question, for it’s possible that there never, in fact, was a “real” version of the album recorded at Memphis’ Ardent Studios in 1974 by Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens with producer-engineer Jim Dickinson, studio owner John Fry and engineer Richard Rosebrough. Chilton even asserted numerous times that the sessions were never intended to yield a Big Star album at all. (One potential name for the duo of Chilton and Stephens was
Special Book Review: Thomas Dolby's Memoir "The Speed of Sound"
When a music fan thinks of Thomas Dolby, the first thing that springs to mind is probably "She Blinded Me With Science," his classic 1982 new wave hit. He has been labeled as a "one-hit wonder" by several music trade publications and programs. (He actually charted three Hot 100 hits in the United States and sixteen Pop hits in the United Kingdom.) However, as is usually the case in real life, there is much more to his story...and that story is told in Dolby's just-released autobiography, The
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