Analog Spark kicked off 2016 with a trio of cast recordings - Fiddler on the Roof, My Fair Lady, and West Side Story - on deluxe 180-gram vinyl LPs, and now, the label is welcoming this spring with another three landmark titles from the Sony vaults: Columbia Records' original Broadway cast recordings of South Pacific (1949), Gypsy (1959), and Company (1970) - each one representing a classic period of American musical theatre. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's South Pacific, the
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
Review: The Doors, "The Doors: 50th Anniversary Edition"
Suffice it to say that Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger, and John Densmore set the night on fire with their debut album, the 1967 Elektra release of The Doors. That amalgamation of blues, rock, pop, jazz, and pure poetry has recently turned 50 years old, and so it's received its first-ever box set expansion from Rhino as a limited, numbered 3-CD/1-LP hardcover book-style box set including both the original mono and stereo mixes of the original LP (with the mono version appearing on CD
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
The Sound of Old T. Rex: Edsel Loads "Bolan's Zip Gun" In New Deluxe Edition with "Futuristic Dragon"
This fall will mark 40 years since Marc Bolan's untimely death in a car crash in September 1977 at the age of 29, yet in that time, the music he left behind with T. Rex has only grown in stature. Hardly a year has gone by without posthumous compilations, deluxe reissues, and box sets, and 2017 is shaping up similarly. Edsel has recently followed its book-style box sets dedicated to Born to Boogie and the pairing of Tanx and Zinc Alloy with a new 3-CD Deluxe Edition bringing together Bolan's
Ooh Baby: Ace Collects Third Volume of Rare "Manhattan Soul"
Over the first two volumes of Manhattan Soul, Ace Records' Kent imprint has dug up some of the finest - and indeed, rarest - soul tracks to come out of the Big Apple in the 1960s. For the third installment of the series, the label has again tapped the vaults of Florence Greenberg's Scepter and Wand Records, plus rival label Musicor, for a definitive chronicle of some of the most urbane R&B of the decade. Though these outfits were based in New York, productions sometimes came from other
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
Review: Pink Floyd, "1970 DEVI/ATION"
For some fans, Pink Floyd begins with Dark Side of the Moon, the band's 1973 opus. But in reality, that classic was the culmination of roughly eight years of musical experimentation. Last year's massive box set The Early Years traced the evolution of the Floyd up through DSOTM through CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, vinyl singles, and printed memorabilia reproductions. Now, Pink Floyd Records and Sony have released six of that giant collection's seven components into individual book-style releases (one
Review: Bobby Darin and Johnny Mercer, "Two of a Kind: Expanded Edition"
Bobby Darin and Johnny Mercer were, indeed, two of a kind. Though Darin is known first and foremost as one of the most dynamic performers of all time, and Mercer as one of the most prodigiously talented songwriters of all time, Bobby was no slouch in the songwriting department, and Mercer was a remarkably engaging vocalist. Both men were entrepreneurs and keen talent spotters who added immeasurably to the fabric of American music and culture. They came together on record but once, for a 1961
Review: The Creation, "Action Painting"
With the release of the double-disc anthology Action Painting, Chicago's Numero Group has provided the most lavish collection yet for the little-known sixties British rockers The Creation. Surely this set will go a long way in cementing the legacy of the group. Though The Creation left behind roughly a couple dozen core songs - expanded to 46 tracks for this collection, via various mixes, alternates, backing tracks, and recordings by early outfit The Mark Four - the band epitomized the hard
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
Raining in Memphis: Analog Spark Unearths Southern Soul Classic From Dan Penn
2016 proved a very good year for fans of southern soul songwriter (and sometimes singer) extraordinaire Dan Penn. The U.K.'s Ace Records label released a generous second volume of Penn's rare and previously unreleased recordings for Fame Records as Close to Me: More Fame Recordings, and later in the year, Analog Spark delivered a surprising and very welcome release. Nobody's Fool was recorded by Penn for Bell Records in 1973, and remained his only solo album for more than two decades.
Ooh Baby You Move Me: Ace Collects Soulful Sounds of Linda Jones
Linda Jones' life was tragically curtailed at the age of 28 in March 1972, felled by a long battle with diabetes. Yet the passionately emotive vocalist left behind a catalogue so rich that it's still cherished by soul connoisseurs. In 2015, Real Gone Music collected Jones' complete sides for Atco, Loma, and Warner Bros. Records, spanning the period of 1964-1969. Now, Ace's Kent imprint has bookended the Linda Jones story with Precious: The Anthology 1963-72, culled from every one of her label
The Big D: Guitar Hero Dennis Coffey's Detroit Soul Released On "Hot Coffey In The D"
Dennis Coffey's credits are too numerous to mention. As a session guitarist, he brought a rock edge to numerous Motown hits including The Temptations' psychedelic soul favorites like "Cloud Nine" and "Ball of Confusion." As a producer, he helmed Gallery's soft-pop hit "Nice to Be with You" and "Sugar Man" Sixto Rodriguez's acclaimed debut album. As a solo artist, he charted with the instrumental "Scorpio," and crafted guitar-driven disco soul at Westbound Records. Now, the Resonance Records
Turn Them Loose! BBR Reissues Philly Classic From People's Choice
"Come on everybody, let's jam with The People's Choice!" goes the lyric to the funky title song which opens 1978's Turn Me Loose, the third album from Frankie Brunson's Philly outfit. People's Choice was a bit different from the other groups populating the roster at Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff's Philadelphia International Records, being a self-contained band rather than a vocal group. (Instant Funk was another such band, though that unit found greater success after migrating to Salsoul
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
Holiday Gift Guide Review: John Coltrane, "The Atlantic Years in Mono"
John Coltrane's tenure at Atlantic Records was a short one - from January 1959 to May 1961 - yielding just four albums in that period, and then another four through mid-1966. One year later, the saxophone great was gone; in the years since, Atlantic continued to mine his recordings for the label including on two posthumously-issued LPs from 1970 and 1975. Of Trane's original albums for Atlantic, most were first experienced in mono, and it's those releases that form the basis of Rhino's recent
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