By 1975, Philadelphia soul had become too big even for the City of Brotherly Love. In the first half of the decade, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff had, along with the third member of their Mighty Three, Thom Bell, reinvented the sound of soul music. The Pennsylvania city had become synonymous with sweeping strings, punchy horns and the hi-hat cymbal of drummer Earl Young, offering up music that could be dramatic, sweet and funky, sometimes all within the same three-minute song! Bell had long
Review: Old 97's, "Too Far to Care: Expanded Edition"
Was it rock and roll? Was it country and western? By 1997, Rhett Miller and his Old 97’s were, well, Too Far to Care. As Miller recalls in his liner notes to Omnivore Recordings’ new 2-CD expanded edition of the band’s seminal third album (OVCD-45, 2012), his “little band from Texas…had only recently gotten folks to stop referring to their particular brand of music as ‘rockabilly.’” The Old 97’s were subject to a major label bidding war in which Elektra Records proved victorious, giving the
Review: The Beatles, "Magical Mystery Tour" on Blu-ray and DVD
“Paul said ‘Look I’ve got this idea’ and we said ‘great!’ and all he had was this circle and a little dot on the top – that’s where we started,” Ringo Starr recalls in one of the special features included on Apple’s new DVD and Blu-ray of The Beatles’ 1967 BBC television film Magical Mystery Tour. That McCartney-drawn circle, later transformed into a pie chart, is included in the accompanying booklet. It epitomizes the loose, freewheeling nature of this largely improvised musical journey
Review: Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb, "In Session"
What drew together the son of a sharecropper from Delight, Arkansas and the minister’s boy from Eld City, Oklahoma? They were separated by a decade; one conservative, one liberal; one singer, one songwriter; one an establishment country star, the other a long-haired pop wunderkind – the paths of Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb first crossed when Campbell chose to record Webb’s “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” in 1967. The Oklahoma kid had written the song as a young staff songwriter at Motown’s
Review: The Beach Boys Remasters, Part One: "50 Big Ones: Greatest Hits"
We’re continuing our series of in-depth features dedicated to America’s band, The Beach Boys, and the various projects that have kept the group occupied throughout 2012! Today, as the Boys launch a new series of album reissues and compilation titles, we explore Greatest Hits, 50 Big Ones and more! It was the headline heard the world (wide web) over: Mike Love Fires Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. Of course, it wasn’t true. No matter, though: suddenly, good, good, good vibrations were
Review: Steve Winwood, "Arc of a Diver: Deluxe Edition"
Steve Winwood turned 32 in 1980, a grand old man by rock and roll standards. He was already a veteran, having played with the Spencer Davis Group, Blind Faith and perhaps most notably, Traffic, but a 1977 solo debut failed to yield significant commercial gains. “I suppose I’ve always been a band leader, rather than a virtuoso like [Blind Faith bandmate] Eric Clapton,” Winwood once mused. So it might have come as a shock to many when the inner virtuoso emerged on New Year’s Eve, 1980, with the
It's The Falling In Love: Raven Reissues The Complete Carole Bayer Sager Albums; Bacharach, Jackson, Diamond, Midler Guest
Carole Bayer Sager knew "that's what friends are for" long before she wrote the song of the same name. The former Carole Bayer was already a hitmaking lyricist before graduating high school, thanks to the Mindbenders' No. 2 hit "A Groovy Kind of Love." The song was written by Bayer and Toni Wine before both women hit the ripe old age of 18. Following more hit tunes with the likes of the Monkees and Neil Sedaka, and even a Broadway musical (1970's Georgy, with music by George Fischoff), she
All the Love in the World: Dionne, Aretha Classics Are Remastered by BBR
The eighties aren't traditionally remembered as a halcyon period for classic soul. R&B eventually took on new meaning as it splintered into hip-hop, rap and urban genres that were as integral to their day as street-corner doo-wop and soul were to their own. Big Break Records, a Cherry Red imprint, has long been committed to rediscovering perhaps-neglected works by some of the biggest names in soul and R&B, and a particularly fascinating series of recent reissues has turned its
Review: The Jackson 5, "Come and Get It: The Rare Pearls"
Be honest: when Michael Jackson died, you probably expected a lazy river of material from the catalogue labels that govern his catalogue - both Legacy Recordings, which control Jackson's adult recordings on Epic, and Universal Music Enterprises, the executors of the Motown library. By and large, we've experienced just that. 2009 saw the expanded re-release of The Jackson 5's Christmas album; I Want You Back! Unreleased Masters, a 11-track compilation of outtakes; and Epic's This is
Review: Michael Jackson, "BAD 25"
Well, they say the sky's the limit and to me, that's really true...But, my friend, you have seen nothing! Just wait 'til I get through... Those words would likely have sounded like pure hubris had they emerged from any singer other than Michael Jackson. He threw the gauntlet down not just to his fellow musicians, but to himself, with the 1982 smash Thriller. Still recognized today as the best-selling album of all time, Thriller spawned seven Top 10 singles, received eight Grammy Awards, and
Review: Emerson, Lake and Palmer, "Emerson, Lake and Palmer" and "Tarkus" Expanded Editions
Ooh, what a lucky man I am! Chances are you will be, too, if you’ve been anticipating the just-launched series of deluxe reissues from Emerson, Lake & Palmer, available now from Razor and Tie in the U.S. and Sony Music internationally. It’s back to the very beginning for the progressive rock supergroup, with 1970’s eponymous debut and 1971’s Tarkus both having been revisited in 2-CD/1-DVD editions as you’ve never heard them before. Keith Emerson (organ/synthesizer/piano), Greg Lake
Review: The Knack, "Rock and Roll is Good for You: The Fieger/Averre Demos"
Before there was The Knack, there was Doug Fieger and Berton Averre. The former was a Detroit native and a member of the band Sky, the latter a working musician from the San Francisco Bay Area. They began collaborating in 1973, beginning an odyssey that would reach its first milestone six years later when the sensibly-titled Get the Knack on Capitol Records reportedly became the fastest-selling debut album since Meet the Beatles. But before “My Sharona” took Fieger, Averre, Bruce Gary and
Ace Offers Front Row Seat to a "Musical Revolution" with Vanguard Box; Unreleased Dylan Track Included
A vanguard is, by definition, a position at the forefront of new ideas or developments. And in the fertile musical stomping ground of the early 1960s, some of the newest, most avant-garde ideas were being espoused on the Vanguard Records label. Yet these so-called radical, even “dangerous” thoughts were being espoused in forms so traditional, they might have seemed as old as time. Vanguard dived headfirst into the flourishing folk music scene in 1956 with The Weavers at Carnegie Hall, bravely
Getting the Knack (No, Not That Knack!) From Now Sounds
When The Knack burst onto the scene in 1979 with the album Get the Knack, allegedly the fastest-selling debut LP since Meet the Beatles, was it a case of déjà vu for Dink Kaplan, Larry Gould, Pug Baker and Michael Chain? The "My Sharona" group was a quartet that came to prominence in Los Angeles, played the Sunset Strip, signed to Capitol Records, and was lauded for a Beatlesque pop style via a massive promotional campaign. But Kaplan, Gould, Baker and Chain had been through it all before.
Go Where You Wanna Go: The Mamas & The Papas' Farewell, "People Like Us," Expanded by Now Sounds
“I guess no matter what else we do, we’ll always be part of this thing called The Mamas & the Papas, with all its intense love-hate relationships.” So once admitted “Papa” John Phillips, and by all accounts, those familiar relationships flared up in 1971 when John, ex-wife Michelle Phillips, Denny Doherty and Cass Elliot reunited for what would turn out to be their final album together, People Like Us. Yet despite being a contractual obligation for the group, the LP turned out to be a work
Review: Art Garfunkel, "The Singer"
The first-ever 2-CD anthology of the collected works of Arthur Ira Garfunkel is titled The Singer (Columbia/Legacy 88725 45816 2, 2012). In a life and career that’s also seen Garfunkel as an actor, poet, author, athlete and student, “singer” seems the most apt appellation. Indeed, he is not just a singer, but The Singer, in longtime service to the art of the song. Garfunkel was an anomaly in the young world of 1960s rock, leaving the songwriting to his partner Paul Simon while still lending
Review: Taj Mahal, "The Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal: 1969-1973"
Perhaps Henry Saint Clair Fredericks Jr. just didn’t have the right ring to it? Whatever the reason, the former Fredericks took the name of Taj Mahal after the palatial Indian mausoleum, and never looked back. The singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and all-around renaissance bluesman had his first solo tenure with Columbia Records, from 1968 to 1976, and most of that period is addressed on the new 2-CD anthology The Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal 1969-1973 (Columbia/Legacy 82876 82294 2,
Déjà Vu: Expanded Reissue of Dionne Warwick's 1979 "Dionne," Produced by Barry Manilow, Arrives on CD
Dionne Warwick recently announced a new album, produced by Phil Ramone. Entitled Now, the projected October release will reflect on a storied career that’s lasted 50 years. But Warwick was in a very different place then, meaning in 1979. The sophisticated soul singer was at a crossroads. Her unprecedented string of pop and R&B hits written and produced by Burt Bacharach and Hal David at Scepter Records were far in the rearview mirror. Bacharach and David had bitterly split after just
The Spinners' Rare Motown Sides Can Be "Truly Yours" On New Compilation, Reviewed Here!
It’s a shame the way The Spinners’ Motown catalogue has been overlooked in the CD era, and quite frankly, for all time. The group exploded in popularity under the aegis of producer/arranger/composer Thom Bell at Atlantic Records in 1972, with their first three singles all hitting No. 1 R&B and Top 20 Pop (two went Top 10 Pop). But The Spinners had been making sweet music since 1954 and recording since at least 1961, and made Motown their home since the folding of Harvey Fuqua’s Tri-Phi
Reviews: Real, Real Gone with Sanford and Townsend, Jimmy Griffin and Jackie Gleason
Long before Barry White, a rather different music maker was providing the soundtrack for a romantic rendezvous in the moonlight, but his name might be surprising to some: Jackie Gleason. Even if one can’t readily picture Ralph Kramden seducing Alice with its lush accompaniment, the American record buying public had no such reservations. The Great One’s 1952 Music for Lovers Only sold over half a million copies, and spent a still-unbeaten record of 153 (!) weeks in the U.S. Top 10 album chart.
He'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony): RPM Reissues Famed Songwriter Roger Cook's "Study"
Even if you don't know the name of Roger Cook, chances are you do know his songs: "You've Got Your Troubles," "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing," "My Baby Loves Lovin'," "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress," just to name a few. But like so many of his contemporaries, the songwriter harbored aspirations of a solo career, too. This wasn't so far-fetched; as half of the duo David and Jonathan (with Roger Greenaway, co-writer of all those aforementioned songs), Cook was already a bona fide
Review: Booker T. & The M.G.s, "Green Onions: 50th Anniversary Edition"
Stax Records and Concord Music Group have brought the cool to this hot summer. Music simply doesn't come much cooler than the hip Green Onions, from Booker T. & the M.G.s. The landmark album is being celebrated for its fiftieth anniversary in an expanded edition (STX-33960-02, 2012) as part of the ongoing Stax Remasters series that last delivered a new edition of Albert King's I'll Play the Blues for You. The main attraction is doubtless the title song, a favorite of the Blues Brothers
Review: "Follies: Original 1971 Broadway Cast Recording" (Remixed and Remastered Edition)
Though the former showgirls and stage-door Johnnies of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s Follies reunited in the 1971 musical for “one last look at where it all began,” it’s been rather difficult for those under the musical’s spell to take one last look (or listen, as it were) at the original production of Follies. Those who saw it routinely recall it as the grandest of all musicals; those who didn’t have had to make do with still photographs, grainy YouTube footage, talk show appearances,
Review: Elvis Presley, "I Am An Elvis Fan"
RCA Victor famously trumpeted back in 1959 that 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong in compiling the singer's hit singles from 1958-1959. Well, can 250,000 Elvis fans be wrong? Earlier this year, Elvis Presley Enterprises and Legacy Recordings gave today's crop of fans a chance to vote on their favorites from the King's rich catalogue. Over a quarter million votes were tabulated; do you agree with the final picks? The results are now on display via I Am an Elvis Fan (RCA/Legacy 88725 42334
Reviews: Three From Real Gone - The Electric Prunes, Timi Yuro, The New Christy Minstrels
It might be tough to find three artists as different as Timi Yuro, The Electric Prunes and The New Christy Minstrels, but all three have been treated with similar care on recent projects from Real Gone Music! The Electric Prunes, The Complete Reprise Singles (Real Gone Music OPCD-8574, 2012) In the annals of the One-Hit Wonder, one might stumble upon the name of The Electric Prunes. The group achieved notoriety (and a No. 11 pop hit!) with the original Nugget “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last
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