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
Try To See It Her Way: Ace Spotlights Rare Pop Gems From Peggy March
Trivia time: Who was the youngest female artist ever to top the Billboard Hot 100? If you answered "Little" Peggy March, we will follow you! The Pennsylvania-born singer was just fifteen years old when "I Will Follow Him" resided at the chart's top spot for three weeks in April-May 1963. The teenager's sweet ode of devotion ensured Peggy's place in the annals of popular culture, referenced in films, commercials, and hip-hop samples. But "I Will Follow Him" was just the tip of the iceberg for
DeShannon, Ronstadt, Baez, Nyro Featured on "Milk of the Tree: Anthology of Female Folk and Singer-Songwriters"
The new anthology Milk of the Tree, from Cherry Red's Grapefruit label, sets forth its mission statement clearly in its subtitle: An Anthology of Female Vocal Folk and Singer-Songwriters 1966-1973. Still, how to anthologize such a broad and powerful group of artists during one of the most creatively fertile periods in popular music history? Grapefruit does a fine job in distilling the essence of the period - and charting the growth of artists from a pure pop framework to one in which they
Review: Santana and The Isley Brothers, "Power of Peace"
In 1965, Hal David first made the observation, "What the world needs now is love, sweet love...it's the only thing that there's just too little of." Over fifty-two years later, there's still just too little love, and it's a situation which Carlos Santana has aimed to remedy. The guitar hero was inspired by seeing the velvet-voiced Ron Isley, longtime lead singer of The Isley Brothers, performing with Burt Bacharach in a 2004 television special promoting their collaborative album Here I Am.
Review: Arthur Alexander, "Arthur Alexander [Expanded Edition]"
If the influence of Arthur Alexander on rock-and-roll is ever in doubt, one need only look at the list of artists who have recorded his songs - a list that includes The Beatles and The Rolling Stones just for starters. Though the R&B singer-songwriter ("You Better Move On," "Anna (Go to Him)") never became a household name in the vein of Otis or Sam or The Wicked Pickett, he nonetheless left behind a treasure trove of varied recordings. Now, the Alabama native's 1972 self-titled Warner
Review: Ramones, "Leave Home: 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition"
The sophomore album from Forest Hills, Queens, New York's Ramones, Leave Home, arrived in January 1977 on Sire Records, just months after the April 1976 release of the band's self-titled debut. Despite the title, however, Leave Home didn't mark a large stylistic leap or departure for the young punks out of their comfort zone. On closer inspection, however, it continued the growth of the band. Forty years later, it's easier to hear that progression than ever, thanks to a new, 3-CD/1-LP set
Review: Elvis Presley, "A Boy From Tupelo: The Complete 1953-1955 Recordings"
It's hard to believe - impossible, even - but Elvis Aron Presley once was just A Boy from Tupelo. The once and future King's transformation from modest beginnings to international superstar has never been more vividly traced than on the new 3-CD box set from RCA and Legacy. A Boy from Tupelo: The Complete 1953-1955 Recordings is a trip back in time to the birth of rock-and-roll (destination: Memphis) featuring every one of Elvis' known Sun Records masters and outtakes, as well as his four
Party, Party: Big Break Reissues, Expands "The Best of Eruption"
Following last year's expanded reissues of the group's first two albums, Big Break Records has returned to the catalogue of Eruption with another title from the soulful disco group. The Best of Eruption was originally released on the Hansa label in 1981, but BBR's new iteration has happily upped the track listing from 14 to 19 selections to provide a fuller overview of Eruption's positively volcanic legacy in disco, pop, soul, funk, and R&B. Founded in the United Kingdom in 1969 by
Say Hello to Yesterday: Mark Wynter Anthology Traces Career From Pop Hits to Rare Showtunes
Mark Wynter scored his first hit pop single at the age of seventeen in 1960 with "Image of a Girl" on the Decca label, paving the way for future U.K. smashes like "Venus in Blue Jeans" and "Go Away Little Girl." By the end of the decade, he had taken his first steps towards an enduring theatrical career with a lead role in the musical Phil the Fluter. Flash-forward to 2016, and after decades onstage in such diverse musicals as Robert and Elizabeth, Cats, On the Twentieth Century, and Phantom
Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere: Ace Collects Shel Talmy Productions From The Who, David Bowie, More
An advertisement reprinted in Ace Records' splendid new collection Making Time: A Shel Talmy Production reads, "Artistes Shel Talmy Has Recorded: The Kinks, The Bachelors, The Who, Chad and Jeremy" and so on. Add to that list Manfred Mann, The Creation, The Fortunes, Trini Lopez, Lee Hazlewood, and a certain David Bowie, and you have an idea of the scope of this first-of-its-kind collection dedicated to the work of the producer-engineer-impresario. Though born in Chicago, Talmy made his name
Up, Up and Away: Cherry Red Collects Charlie Byrd's Sixties Pop-Jazz Recordings
Today, the name of Charlie Byrd (1925-1999) remains synonymous with jazz guitar and moreover, with the soft sounds of Brazil's bossa nova, which he helped bring into the mainstream of American popular culture. Cherry Red's El Records imprint has recently celebrated a key decade in Byrd's career with a fun new compilation. Sixties Byrd draws on eight albums from the prolific artist originally released on Columbia Records between 1965 and 1969, all produced by Teo Macero (Bitches Brew, Time
Review: The Beach Boys, "1967: Sunshine Tomorrow" and "Wild Honey" (Stereo LP)
There's nothing quite nice as a kiss of wild honey... Carl Wilson - the angelic voice from on high of "God Only Knows" - unleashed his inner soul man with a fury on "Wild Honey," the title track of The Beach Boys' second album of 1967. The funky, Theremin-driven ode to a "girl with the sweetness of a honey bee" opened the LP which turned out to be one of the most singular in the band's storied catalogue. Its fusion of pulsating R&B and raw rock-and-roll, anchored by nine Brian
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