Marianne Faithfull didn’t have to open her mouth to receive a recording contract. As the story goes, so vividly recounted in the liner notes to the new box set Cast Your Fate to the Wind: The U.K. Decca Recordings, the young woman was so striking in beauty and presence that impresario Andrew Loog Oldham didn’t hesitate to sign her on sight. (Even her name was made for stardom!) But it was just as clear that she was no ordinary pop starlet chasing dreams in Swingin’ London. Faithfull was remarkably clear-eyed, quipping to…
Walk Your Feet in the Sunshine: Cherry Red Collects Jimmy Webb’s 1970s Albums on “A Life in Words and Music”
“Freddy, those songs killed me.” Jimmy Webb once confessed to longtime musical collaborator Fred Mollin that the songs on which he made his name – “Up, Up, and Away,” Didn’t We,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman,” among innumerable other classics – placed him at a personal crossroads. He yearned to be accepted as a singer-songwriter like his contemporaries, but the fact that he began his career writing songs for others (and massive hit songs, at that) made acceptance in that field an uphill battle. Over the years, the…
Review: Nick Drake, “The Making of ‘Five Leaves Left'”
Nick Drake’s legacy is primarily built around just three albums, originally released between 1969 and 1972. Before 1974 was out, the British singer-songwriter was gone at the age of 26. Over the years, esteem for his small discography has only grown. Partly, this is because the mystique has remained; the Drake estate has only sporadically gone back to the well of unreleased material. Their cautious and curated approach has yielded a new reward with a box set dedicated to his 1969 debut. The Making of ‘Five Leaves Left,’ available on 4 LPs…
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Release Round-Up: Week of August 22
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. The Who, Live at The Oval 1971 (Polydor/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Initially available as part of the band’s revived Wholigan Fan Club, The Who’s Live At The Oval 1971 is coming to general release. The album finally canonizes the group’s celebrated performance at “Goodbye to Summer,” a British benefit concert for the people of Bangladesh. Featuring several songs from the band’s just-released Who’s Next, including “Behind Blue Eyes,” “Won’t Get…
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Strut – The Complete EMI Recordings Vol. II
Strut – The Complete EMI Recordings Vol. II picks up where its predecessor Modern Girl left off, following the same structure: most of the discs offer expanded and slightly altered programs covering the albums A Private Heaven (1984), Do You (1985), and No Sound But a Heart (1987). The inclusions of alternate versions or mixes in place of or beside some originals makes for even more unreleased tracks on this set: 40 unissued cuts to Modern Girl‘s 25, along with several tracks that have only been available on vinyl or digitally. Strut sweetens the deal by not only including a revised…
Let It Be: Deluxe Edition
3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Rhino.com 4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Rhino.com Rhino’s series of deluxe Replacements reissues has continued with 3CD and 4LP expanded editions of the Minneapolis band’s seminal 1984 Twin/Tone album cheekily titled Let It Be. The deluxe Let It Be takes a different format than the previous reissues of Tim, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, Pleased to Meet Me, and Dead Man’s Pop (an alternative presentation of Don’t Tell a Soul), all of which included both vinyl and CD in one package. This time, the formats are split into individual releases. Both the CD and LP packages feature a remastered…
Free As a Bird: The Beatles ‘Anthology’ Gets Remixed and Expanded in New Box Set
The next archival project from The Beatles is a celebration of their most major archival project, with a newly reissued and (slightly) expanded edition of their Anthology series coming to audio and video formats this fall. Anthology Collection will include remastered editions of the original three collections of rarities and outtakes compiled by George Martin and released through 1995 and 1996, available across six CDs or nine LPs. Martin’s son Giles, who remastered those albums, also curates a new collection, Anthology 4, across a further two CDs or three LPs. Anthology 4 is drawn mostly from…
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They Will Dare: The Replacements’ ‘Let It Be’ is Their Latest Deluxe Reissue
Rhino’s series of deluxe Replacements reissues is continuing on October 24 with 3CD and 4LP expanded editions of the Minneapolis band’s seminal 1984 Twin/Tone album cheekily titled Let It Be. Let It Be takes a different format than the previous reissues of Tim, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, Pleased to Meet Me, and Dead Man’s Pop (an alternative presentation of Don’t Tell a Soul), all of which included both vinyl and CD in one package. This time, the formats are split into individual releases. Both the CD and LP packages…
Come Spend the Night Inside a Second Sheena Easton Box Set
Cherry Red is wasting no time following its first anthology of Sheena Easton’s EMI recordings with its follow-up this fall. Strut – The Complete EMI Recordings Vol. II, due from Cherry Pop on October 31, picks up where its predecessor Modern Girl left off, following the same structure: most of the discs offer expanded and slightly altered programs covering the albums A Private Heaven (1984), Do You (1985) and No Sound But a Heart (1987). The inclusions of alternate versions or mixes in place of or beside some originals makes for even more unreleased tracks on this set:…
The Enz is Near! Split Enz Announce Start of Archival Series
Some time after Crowded House frontman Neil Finn indicated potential work being done with the catalogue of Split Enz – the cult-hero pop band co-founded by his older brother Tim – fans finally have some development on that front, with the first in a planned series of archival sets covering the group’s early, avant-garde years. Enzyclopedia Volumes One and Two will focus on the group’s early years, coalescing around the material leading up to 1975 debut Mental Notes, which celebrates a half-century this year. The 5CD set will feature remasters of Mental Notes…
Tell Me One More Time: New Vinyl Box Chronicles Austin Blues Haven Antone’s
New West Records brings some late-summer Texas heat this week, courtesy of a new vinyl box set celebrating the legendary Austin club Antone’s. Antone’s 50th Allstars: 50 Years of the Blues will feature four 140-gram, translucent color LPs and a 7″ single containing three special albums tracing Antone’s history on record. The Last Real Texas Blues Album (pressed on purple vinyl) offers new studio recordings from acts with deep roots in the Austin scene, from Jimmie Vaughan, Bobby Rush and The Fabulous Thunderbirds to Doyle Bramhall II, ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons…
The Jimmie Vaughan Years: Complete Studio Recordings
Blues band The Fabulous Thunderbirds – who had perhaps one of the least likely chart hits of the ’80s – will release a box set this year chronicling their most mainstream years and showcasing their original and best-known guitarist. The Jimmie Vaughan Years: Complete Studio Recordings presents seven complete albums over four CDs: the Chrysalis releases The Fabulous Thunderbirds (1979), What’s the Word (1980), Butt Rockin’ (1981) and T-Bird Rhythm (1982), and the CBS Associated albums Tuff Enuff (1986), Hot Number (1987) and Powerful Stuff (1989). As an additional treat, the set also includes 13 never-before-released tracks from a 1978 session, co-produced by rock legend Doc Pomus…
The Saints Are Coming: Edsel Plans Skids CD Box Set, Vinyl Compilation
The prime work of Scottish punk band Skids will be celebrated by Demon Music Group with a new CD box set and vinyl compilation, out this fall. Boy, Man & Soldier: Skids 1978-1981 will offer, on five CDs, expanded editions of the group’s Virgin Records discography: Scared to Dance (1979), two pressings/mixes of Days in Europa (1979), The Absolute Game (1980) and Joy (1981). The discs are packaged in a 7″ x 7″ box featuring original album and single art. A companion best-of, Land, Sea & Sky: Skids Singles 1978-1981, offers a dozen of the A-sides featured on the…
Release Round-Up: Week of August 15
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Doc Pomus, You Can’t Hip a Square: The Doc Pomus Songwriting Demos (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Omnivore) You Can’t Hip a Square: The Doc Pomus Songwriting Demos collects more than 160 tracks from the late, legendary songwriter, who died in 1991 at the age of 65 and was subsequently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Blues Hall of Fame. Over…
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John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s New Live Box Set Showcases ‘Sometime in New York City’ and Elsewhere
One of the most incendiary periods of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s life together is about to be re-explored in a new 9CD/3Blu-ray box set coming on October 10 (one day after what would have been Lennon’s 85th birthday) from Capitol Records/UMe. Power to the People features 123 tracks (90 of which are previously unreleased) to tell the full story of Lennon and Ono’s political activism, spanning the prolific period between 1969’s anthem “Give Peace a Chance” and 1972’s controversial live album Sometime in New York City as well as that year’s…
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What a Box Set, Charlie Brown! Rare ‘Peanuts’ Soundtracks Join Together in New CD Collection
Even this deep into the age of reissues and audio preservation, discoveries can happen that make you say “AUGH!” (in a good way). A few of those recent examples are about to get put into a box set, available exclusively at independent record stores. Six recently released soundtracks to animated Peanuts television specials – composed, as always, by jazz hero Vince Guaraldi, and not available until the last two years! – are getting compiled in The Peanuts Collection, Vol. 1, available soon at participating retailers from Lee Mendelson Film Productions. Limited to just 500…
Ain’t That Tuff Enuff: The Fabulous Thunderbirds’ Early Work Gets the Box Set Treatment
Blues band The Fabulous Thunderbirds – who had perhaps one of the least likely chart hits of the ’80s – will release a box set this year chronicling their most mainstream years and showcasing their original and best-known guitarist. The Jimmie Vaughan Years: Complete Studio Recordings presents seven complete albums over four CDs: the Chrysalis releases The Fabulous Thunderbirds (1979), What’s the Word (1980), Butt Rockin’ (1981) and T-Bird Rhythm (1982), and the CBS Associated albums Tuff Enuff (1986), Hot Number (1987) and Powerful Stuff (1989). As an additional treat, the set also includes 13 never-before-released tracks from a 1978 session, co-produced by rock legend Doc…
You Can’t Kill the Boogeyman: John Carpenter’s Latter-Day ‘Halloween’ Scores Get Expanded Box Set
“The night HE came home” is about to have a whole new meaning, thanks to a new box set from Sacred Bones Records containing expanded presentations of the scores to the late ’10s/early ’20s Halloween trilogy of horror films. Halloween: The Complete Expanded Collection will offer, on three CDs or six LPs, a previously-released expanded presentation of the score to the 2018 sequel/reboot, along with new expansions of the music to sequels Halloween Kills (2021) and Halloween Ends (2022) – all composed by original series composer/creator/director John Carpenter with his son Cody and godson Daniel Davies…
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Release Round-Up: Week of August 1
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores this week. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Dionne Warwick, Make It Easy on Yourself: The Scepter Recordings 1962-1971 (SoulMusic/Second Disc/Cherry Red) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Cherry Red) Naturally, we’re bursting at the seams that today is finally Release Day (*) for this massive labor of love. SoulMusic Records and Second Disc Records are proud to present Dionne Warwick’s Make It Easy on Yourself: The Scepter Recordings 1962-1971, a 12CD box set with 280 tracks encompassing every one of…
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Can’t Afford No Shoes: Frank Zappa’s “One Size Fits All” Gets Expanded for 50th
Following last year’s deluxe expansion of 1974’s Apostrophe (‘) and the recent restoration of the same year’s concert film Cheaper Than Cheep, Frank Zappa’s archival team is turning the page to 1975 and expansively revisiting One Size Fits All in time for its 50th anniversary. The guitarist-songwriter-bandleader-producer’s twentieth album (and fourteenth with The Mothers of Invention), it featured the by-then-familiar lineup of keyboardist George Duke, drummer Chester Thompson, percussionist Ruth Underwood, bassist Tom Fowler, and saxophonist Napoleon Murphy Brock. One Size Fits All continued their jazz-rooted satirical explorations, and reached No. 26…
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OUT TOMORROW! Dionne Warwick’s “Make It Easy on Yourself: The Scepter Recordings 1962-1971” Arrives from SoulMusic, Second Disc
Today’s the day when we can finally share Dionne Warwick’s Make It Easy on Yourself: The Scepter Recordings 1962-1971 with our readers! Though today is the official release date and copies should be shipping within the U.K., Amazon U.S. currently shows August 15 as the release date stateside. To our American friends, we hope you will find this set worth the wait! Here are the full details on this release. “I am so very thrilled about this wonderful collection of my recordings! It is truly something that I myself would buy.” –…
Cast Your Fate to the Wind
This stunning new 6-CD box set brings together the late, great Marianne Faithfull’s Decca repertoire including the complete albums Marianne Faithfull; Come My Way; North Country Maid; and Loveinamist plus two discs of singles, non-LP B-sides, and rarities including previously unreleased tracks. Everything has been newly remastered from the original tapes, and the liner notes feature exclusive commentary from the singer. Andrew Batt has produced, compiled, and remastered the set, while Eric Terino has designed it, utilizing original images for the covers and artwork elements. Marianne gave her stamp of approval prior…
Sunset Boulevard
5CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Sunset Boulevard is a 5CD set showcasing Elvis Presley’s work at RCA Records’ Studio C in Hollywood – one of the more important studios he’d record in through his final recording years in the 1970s. Like Memphis before it, the set will feature new remixes by acclaimed engineer Matt Ross-Spang that will offer fresh remixes of familiar studio masters and rare outtakes. (A curation of those mixes will be pressed as a 2LP set.) The other half of the set finds Elvis and…
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Release Round-Up: Week of July 25
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Talking Heads, More Songs About Buildings and Food: Deluxe Edition (Rhino) 3CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Rough Trade (Red) / D2C Exclusive (2LP/4×7″) 4LP: D2C Exclusive (and 4LP/2×7″) Rhino is taking Talking Heads fans to the river with a new deluxe edition: a 3CD/Blu-ray edition of the group’s 1978 sophomore album More Songs About Buildings and Food. The box includes the remastered original album alongside a bonus disc of rare studio material…
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Hi, How Are You: Daniel Johnston Box Set Coming to Cassette in October
One of the most striking figures in 20th century alternative rock will be the subject of a new box set in the fall, featuring replicas of the cassettes he used to distribute featuring his one-of-a-kind tunes. Daniel Johnston’s In the 20th Century, due from Joyful Noise Recordings October 31, offers 16 of those original tapes made between 1981 and 1998. They’ve all been newly remastered by longtime Johnston associate Mark Kramer, using sources provided by Stress Records founder and Johnston’s then-manager Jeff Tartakov. (A mix of home recordings, some studio sessions and the…
