Leave it to Noel Coward to sum it all up. In his introduction to Frank Sinatra's June 14, 1958 performance at the Sporting Club in Monte Carlo, the famous British playwright-actor-songwriter-raconteur observed of his American friend's on-screen performances, "I've never yet known him to strike a false note." As Coward undoubtedly knew, the same was true of Sinatra's musical recordings, sung with the emotional honesty and unvarnished directness of a great actor and communicator. From his
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Margaret Whiting, "Dream: The Lost Recordings"
Margaret Whiting was a singer's singer. Possessed of a clarion vocal instrument capable of both great exultation and deep longing, a performance by Whiting guaranteed a path to the heart of a song. It's no wonder that Johnny Mercer, a songwriter of no small stature, made sure that the 18-year old songbird was one of the first artists signed to his fledgling Capitol Records label. Mercer had known Whiting since her childhood as the daughter of his collaborator, composer Richard Whiting, and
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
Review: Bob Dylan, "The 1966 Live Recordings"
I. Play a song for me... Bob Dylan saw a very different future for folk music. His fifth studio album, Bringing It All Back Home, was released in March 1965, featuring one traditional acoustic side and one electric side. Underscoring the fact that his embrace of (gasp!) electric rock-and-roll was no fluke, Dylan plugged in at the Newport Folk Festival on July 25. From some appalled audience members came a chorus of boos. Others cheered. Dylan had electrified not only his own act, but
To Be Happy Is The Real Thing: BBR Reissues, Expands The Intruders' "Save the Children"
Before The O'Jays or Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes, The Intruders were the first stars in Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff's orbit. Founded in 1960, the group formed an association with the duo beginning in 1966 for the pre-Philadelphia International labels named Gamble and Excel. "(We'll Be) United," produced and penned by the label's namesake and his partner, earned The Intruders a No. 14 R&B/No. 78 Pop hit. In 1968, "Cowboys to Girls" earned them an R&B chart-topper and Top 10 Pop
Review: "Unsung Sherman Brothers: Song Scores from Three That Got Away"
How often does one get the opportunity to hear a never-before-released score from one of the most beloved songwriting teams of all time? How about three unreleased scores, then? And what if one of those scores featured seven never-before-heard performances from Sammy Davis, Jr.? Indeed, such opportunities are rare...making Kritzerland's new release of Unsung Sherman Brothers all the more special. This delectable and tuneful collection premieres rare demo recordings of three unproduced scores
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
Review: Keely Smith, "The Intimate Keely Smith: Expanded Edition"
Rarely has an album so lived up to its name as in the case of The Intimate Keely Smith. The 1965 Reprise record, just brought to CD for the first time in a top-notch expanded edition via Real Gone Music, puts the song stylist front and center onstage in a tiny club, backed by just a small combo. The listener has a stage-side table. Other than the happy lack of clinking glasses and billowing smoke, you are there for a romantic, sensual, and yes, intimate set of classic ballads by Harry Warren,
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
Turn Off The Lights: BBR Goes Philly with Teddy Pendergrass, Edwin Birdsong
Cherry Red’s Big Break Records imprint has turned back the clock to 1979 for a pair of titles from the legendary roster of Philadelphia International Records. BBR has continued its journey through the catalogue of the late Teddy Pendergrass with an expanded reissue of his third PIR solo platter, simply entitled Teddy. Overseen by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, the 1979 album followed in the footsteps of its predecessor, the previous year’s R&B chart-topper Life Is a Song Worth Singing, in
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
Review: David Bowie, "Who Can I Be Now? 1974-1976"
Who Can I Be Now? asks the title of Parlophone's second in a series of elegant, chronologically-assembled box sets dedicated to the late David Bowie's oeuvre. Indeed, Bowie might have made that query as he reinvented himself in fashion and music from album to album. The twelve discs comprising Who Can I Be Now? span the brief period of 1974-1976 during which time Bowie was riding high on both sides of the Atlantic with his genre- and gender-bending brand of theatrical rock. This set, every
He's No Ordinary Guy: Ace Celebrates Songs of Jerry Ross on "Some Kinda Magic"
Before Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff and Thom Bell created The Sound of Philadelphia, Jerry Ross created the sound of Philadelphia. The Philly-born producer-songwriter-entrepreneur penned hits for Diana Ross and the Supremes and The Temptations and produced chart-toppers by Bobby Hebb and Shocking Blue, but only now has his remarkable legacy in pop, rock-and-roll and soul been celebrated on disc. Ace has recently issued Some Kinda Magic: The Songs of Jerry Ross, a 24-track compendium of Ross'
Intervention Records Brings "Stealers Wheel" To Hybrid SACD/CD
Clowns to the left of me...jokers to the right...It must be Stealers Wheel! Earlier this year, Intervention Records released exquisite vinyl reissues of the first two albums from the Scottish folk-rock band. Now, the label has revisited the group's 1972 self-titled debut album (originally released on A&M Records) in the hybrid SACD format, playable on all CD players. Stealers Wheel - featuring lead guitarist Paul Pilnick, bassist Tony Williams and drummer Rod Coombes - boasts some
Disco Nights: Big Break Gives GQ a "Standing Ovation" on New Anthology
"The feeling's right, and the music's tight, on the disco nights..." With the irresistible rhythms of 1979's "Disco Nights (Rock Freak)," the members of GQ established themselves as premier artists at Arista Records and indeed of the disco generation. Between 1979 and 1981, the band notched seven successes on the U.S. R&B chart, with three crossing over to the Pop survey. All of those hits, and more, are collected on Big Break Records' definitive new anthology Standing Ovation: The Story
Review: Fleetwood Mac, "Mirage: Deluxe Edition"
When Fleetwood Mac entered the Château d'Hérouville studio outside Paris at the dawn of the 1980s, the band had one goal in mind: to create a commercial pop success in the mold of their record-breaking Rumours. Not everyone in the quintet was sold on this goal, necessarily, especially after the quantum leap forward from Rumours into the beautiful madness that was Tusk. But while Tusk sold four million copies, it couldn't help but be viewed as a disappointment after the world domination of its
Review: Gerry Beckley, "Carousel"
Gerry Beckley celebrated his 64th birthday earlier this week, on Monday, September 12. We're marking the occasion with a look at his new studio album! One hardly expects the first verse of the first song on a new album from America's resident romantic troubadour, Gerry Beckley, to include the lines "Everything's turned to shit/No matter how I look at it/And I am running out of time..." But while Beckley is happily defying convention on "Tokyo" - the taut, rocking opening cut of his new album
Review: The Beatles, "Live at The Hollywood Bowl"
And now...here they are...The Beatles! The summers of 1964 and 1965 are now more than fifty years in the rearview mirror, yet the music made by four lads from Liverpool over three evenings at Los Angeles' famous Hollywood Bowl now sounds so fresh and so immediate, you could believe it was recorded yesterday. Such is the work of the sonic wizards on Capitol/Apple/UMe's first-time-on-CD, retitled, remixed and expanded reissue of The Beatles' Live at the Hollywood Bowl (B0025451-02,
Review: Judy Henske and Jerry Yester, "Farewell Aldebaran"
Hello, Aldebaran...or more accurately, welcome back! Farewell Aldebaran first arrived in 1969 on Frank Zappa's Straight Records label from the duo of Judy Henske and Jerry Yester. Henske was the onetime "Queen of the Beatniks" whose distinctive, bluesy and big voice earned her legions of fans on the folk circuit. In 1963, Henske married Jerry Yester, a member of The Modern Folk Quartet and veteran of The New Christy Minstrels. When the MFQ broke up, Yester busied himself as a producer,
Review: The Beach Boys, "Becoming The Beach Boys: The Complete Hite and Dorinda Morgan Sessions"
Just shy of fifty years after the release of the single of the same name, the good vibrations of The Beach Boys continue to resonate far outside of the band's native Southern California - in fact, they can be felt around the world. Mike Love, currently leading the group for another endless summer of touring with Bruce Johnston and longtime sideman Jeffrey Foskett, is about to release his autobiography on September 13. One month later, on October 11, I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir arrives in
Steppin' Out: Intervention Records Reissues Two From Joe Jackson
Look Sharp! Joe Jackson certainly did as nattily attired on his debut release of that name. Joined by Graham Maby on bass, Gary Sanford on guitar and Dave Houghton on drums, pianist-singer Jackson delivered a record for the ages. Both Look Sharp! and Night and Day, Jackson's fifth album for A&M Records, have recently been reissued as deluxe audiophile vinyl editions by the team at Intervention Records. Happily, they're sonically every bit the equal of the label's stellar reissue earlier
Where The Good Times Are: Ace Collects "Beat Girls"
We recently filled you in on the ninth volume of Ace Records' long-running series, Where the Girls Are. Today, we spotlight two companion volumes dedicated to Beat Girls of the 1960s! Pye Records, home of Petula Clark and The Kinks, practically defined the British "big beat" sound of girl-pop with its urbane, sophisticated productions. Scratch My Back! Pye Beat Girls 1963-1968 offers a cross section of the label's brashest sounds with 24 well-selected nuggets from artists both familiar and
Review: The Turtles, "Complete Original Album Collection" and "All the Singles"
Prepare to be shell-shocked! Manifesto Records and FloEdCo have, at long last, given fans of The Turtles deluxe sets befitting the band's happy (and happily subversive!) musical legacy. The 6-CD Complete Original Album Collection and 2-CD All the Singles round up, in truly definitive fashion, the original band's recordings between 1965 and 1970 as first released on White Whale Records. Though The Turtles have long been recognized as top-flight purveyors of classic 45s, a journey through their
You Keep Me Swinging: Parlophone Collects Matt Monro's "The George Martin Years"
Earlier this year, George Martin passed away at the age of 90. Among the great producer's most lasting associations was with vocalist Matt Monro. Martin and Monro's professional partnership endured for more than fifteen years, while their friendship survived until the singer's untimely death in 1985 at just 54 years old. Now, the joint Martin/Monro legacy has been celebrated on a wonderful new anthology. Matt Monro's The George Martin Years is available now from Rhino and Parlophone U.K.,
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