Fans of singer-songwriter Jeff Larson have long known that he's carved out his own niche in the realm of "California music," whether as a solo artist or with collaborators including America's Gerry Beckley and The Beach Boys' Jeffrey Foskett. Now, Larson is looking back with a 20th anniversary reissue of his proper debut album, Watercolor Sky, available on both vinyl and CD from Feral Cat Records and Vivid Sound Japan, respectively. With summer in the rearview mirror, now is the perfect time
Give Me All Night: Hot Shot Reissues, Expands Carly Simon's "Coming Around Again"
"I know nothing stays the same/But if you're willing to play the game, it's coming around again..." With the release of 1987's Coming Around Again, Carly Simon proved she was not only willing to play, but still most definitely in the game. After the diminishing commercial (though not artistic) returns of her Warner Bros. and Epic releases of earlier in the decade, Simon's debut album for Clive Davis' Arista Records was a return to form. It yielded four major hits, all in her intensely
Review: The Smiths, "The Queen Is Dead: Deluxe Edition"
The Smiths have been apart far longer than they were together in the mid-1980s, making the Manchester quartet today less of a band and more of an idea. It's interesting to see how a new deluxe edition of The Queen Is Dead (Warner Bros. 0190295783372), the group's most lauded album, interprets that thesis through its content and packaging. While the band may have made for a mere cult sensation in America, but in their native England (where success was fleeting but far more consistent), they
Review: David Bowie, "A New Career in a New Town: 1977-1982"
I. Art Decade Keep Up with David's Changes, read an insert from the David Bowie Fan Club packaged in original pressings of the artist's 1977 album Low and painstakingly replicated on the edition included in the new 11-CD (or 13-LP) box set A New Career in a New Town 1977-1982. Indeed, it was no small feat to follow the restless artist's many transformations. 1975's Station to Station saw the formal introduction of The Thin White Duke, a nattily-dressed but rather unpleasant fellow; who
Hungry for Fun: Samantha Fox Receives 4 Disc CD/DVD "Fox Box" from Cherry Pop
Last year marked the 30th anniversary of Samantha Fox's debut on Jive Records. Recently, Cherry Red imprint Cherry Pop Records released a box set chronicling her career. The 2CD/2DVD set Play It Again, Sam: The Fox Box traces Fox's musical journey from 1986 all the way up through the present day. While initially gaining fame in the U.K. as a model, Samantha Fox began a career in music at nearly the same time. In her early teens, she formed the band SFX, which also included Ringo Starr's
Review: Alex Chilton, "A Man Called Destruction" and Chris Bell, "I Am The Cosmos"
Omnivore Recordings has kept the flame for Big Star burning brightly in recent years as the label continues to plumb the depths of the cult band's story from various angles. Two recent releases shed light on the solo works of Big Star's late musical heroes Alex Chilton and Chris Bell: an expanded reissue of Chilton's 1995 solo album A Man Called Destruction; and an updated, expanded version of Bell's I Am the Cosmos. The second album since Chilton's 1993 solo "comeback" Clichés, A Man Called
Intervention Reissues Murray Head's Ambitious Rock Concept Album "Nigel Lived"
Few artists have bridged the worlds of rock and theatre as successfully as Murray Head. Singing the music of others, actor-singer Head scored two major hits on both sides of the Atlantic with 1973's "Superstar" from Jesus Christ Superstar and 1984's "One Night in Bangkok" from Chess. Far lesser known, however, is his discography as a singer-songwriter. Head imbued his own compositions with the same vibrant life as those famous songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny
Review: Brian Wilson, "Playback: The Brian Wilson Anthology"
There have been many great second acts in rock, but perhaps none so momentous as Brian Wilson's. The Beach Boys' leader's triumphant return to health and happiness after a lifetime of tragedy was captivatingly portrayed in the recent biopic Love and Mercy, but the real legacy of the reinvigorated Brian Wilson remains with his music. With Wilson near the conclusion of his acclaimed, sold-out Pet Sounds: The Final Performances world tour, the time has never been better to revisit his solo
Review: The Doors, "The Singles"
The Doors have had no shortage of collections in the CD era, whether the 10x-platinum The Best of The Doors, Legacy: The Absolute Best, The Very Best of The Doors, or The Future Starts Here: The Essential Doors Hits - just to name a few. Happily, the latest such release from Messrs. Morrison, Manzarek, Krieger, and Densmore distinguishes itself with a true raison d'etre. Rhino's simply-titled The Singles lives up to its name with 44 A-and B-sides on two CDs, originally released between 1967
Smiling Faces: Ace Brings Three Motown Classics From Undisputed Truth to CD
Had you crossed The 5th Dimension with Sly and the Family and Stone, the result might well have sounded like The Undisputed Truth. Assembled in 1971 by Motown veteran and "psychedelic soul" pioneer Norman Whitfield, The Undisputed Truth (a.k.a. Joe Harris, Billy Rae Calvin and Brenda Joyce Evans) scored a hit off their first LP with the hauntingly ominous "Smiling Faces Sometimes." Enduring personnel changes, the group went on to record six LPs in all for Motown's Gordy imprint before moving
Party Is a Groovy Thing: People's Choice Philly Soul and Funk Collected by BBR
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
The World Goes On: Esoteric Reissues Barclay James Harvest's "Octoberon" In Deluxe Set
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
Review: Liza Minnelli, "Results: Expanded 4-Disc Edition"
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.
Oh, Honey: Big Break Celebrates 40 Years of Delegation with Two New Releases
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
Can't Hold the Feeling Back: Brenda Holloway's Lost Motown Sessions Arrive On "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
Find Out What's Happening! Ace Celebrates "Marylebone Beat Girls" with Cilla Black, Julie Driscoll, More
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
Catch a Wave: Jeffrey Foskett Captures Sounds of Summer on "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
Review: Echo and the Bunnymen, "It's 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
Review: Howard Jones, "Best 1983-2017"
Howard Jones is more than his synths. The British keyboardist dominated his home country's charts in the '80s (and flirted with success on American shores more than a few times in the same period) with fascinatingly busy, seriously catchy slices of synthpop with more than a little R&B influence. But peel back the hooks and riffs and you'll find the work of a man who is searching--for what, it's not always clear, but the search is there. Best 1983-2017 (Cherry Red Records PCDTRED 707), an
Review: The 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
The Monkees, Yardbirds, Andy Williams, 5th Dimension Featured On "Songs of Harry Nilsson"
Randy Newman once observed of his friend Harry Nilsson, "The records Harry made, and the first records I made, it was like The Rolling Stones never existed." Indeed, before his famously chronicled lifestyle as a Hollywood hellraiser threatened to overshadow his reputation as a talent nonpareil (and left his once-angelic voice in tatters), Nilsson had carved out an artful niche of wit and whimsy. He expressed his musical muse in gentle psychedelia, baroque pop, folk rock, vaudeville
Review: Keely Smith, "Little Girl Blue/Little Girl New (Expanded Edition)"
In spring 1963, Keely Smith entered the studio to cut her first full-length effort for Reprise Records, the label recently founded by her friend Frank Sinatra. Little Girl Blue/Little Girl New, recorded with arranger-conductor Nelson Riddle, exemplified Smith's classy vocal art and Riddle's peerless gift for orchestration. After far too long an absence from the shelves, this seminal release is back in print from Real Gone Music as the second entry in the label's Keely Smith series, with two
I Want Action: Playback Collects Lost Soul Recordings of Jeanette Jones
Even a diehard R&B connoisseur could be forgiven for not recognizing the name of Jeanette Jones. She only had one solo single to her name: 1969's "The Thought of You" b/w "Darling I'm Standing by You," released on the small Golden Soul label out of San Francisco. But in the 21st century, the musical archaeologists at Ace Records began issuing lost masters from this lost singer, building up a small but powerfully vivid catalog from the mystery-shrouded vocalist. Now, in association with
Is He Groovin' You? Big Break Collects Harvey Mason's Funky Arista Years
Harvey Mason may be best known for his session credits on countless classic records by artists from Carole King to Quincy Jones. But the drummer/percussionist has also led a solo career since 1975, most often fusing his jazz sensibility with R&B textures. His first stint as a solo artist came at Clive Davis' Arista Records, where he recorded five well-received, self-produced albums between 1975 and 1981. Big Break's recent anthology Sho Nuff Groovin' You: The Arista Records Anthology
Hard-Hitting "Sweet Sweetback" Returns To Vinyl For Stax 60th Campaign
Upon its release in 1971, there was nothing quite like Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. The low- budget, independently-made film - written, directed, edited, composed by and starring Melvin Van Peebles, and rated X "by an all-white jury" as its tagline proclaimed, ushered in the blaxploitation genre in shocking and often graphic fashion. Prior to the film's release, the multi-hyphenate Van Peebles realized that the best way to spread the word about his groundbreaking work was via music. And
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