Reflecting on Miles Davis’ so-called Second Great Quintet to director Mark Obenhaus, Herbie Hancock recalled that “when people were hearing us, they were hearing the avant-garde on one hand, and they were hearing the history of jazz that led up to it on the other hand - because Miles was that history. He was that link. We were sort of walking a tightrope with the kind of experimenting we were doing in music, not total experimentation, but we used to call it ‘controlled freedom.’” What exactly
The Second Disc Interview: Talking with Ben Folds
Leave it to Todd Rundgren to spot The Difference. Hosting a 1995 episode of the late Philadelphia-based radio program of that name, Rundgren interviewed Ben Folds, “fronting his trio, The Ben Folds Five. Go figure,” the pop icon dryly noted. Reflecting on the experience sixteen years later, Folds recalled with typical candor the moment when Rundgren spotted the difference in the young musician. It was “fucking surreal…He said ‘you have a distinct voice.’ And I thought, ‘really? I think I
Review: Frank Sinatra and Count Basie, "The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings"
When Frank Sinatra met Count Basie, it was far from a clash of the titans. No, the "historic musical first" that occurred between the grooves of Reprise 1008 in 1962 was more like a perfect union. Both were Jersey boys, with Basie's formative years spent south of Hoboken, in Red Bank, New Jersey. The men were unusually simpatico, similar in their enormous respect for musicians. Though Basie titled a 1959 album Chairman of the Board, the title was later bestowed upon Sinatra. When Basie put
Ode To A Kudu: CTI Masterworks Series Continues In October With Kudu Titles
Tuesday, August 9 brought the most recent quartet of CTI jazz titles to CD from Sony's Masterworks Jazz division. For the next batch, due October 4, the label has turned its attention to CTI's offshoot label, Kudu. Named after the long-horned African mammal, Kudu was launched by CTI's Creed Taylor in 1971. Taylor described his new endeavor as "a black awareness label, more commercial oriented than CTI and indigenous to the black popular music of the United States." Even the logo's familiar
Review: John Barry, "The Black Hole: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack"
When John Barry won two 1967 Academy Awards for his work on Born Free, the trophies were a vindication. Over the initial objections of his director, Barry envisioned his score to reflect a "Disneyesque kind of movie, lovely family entertainment" and fought for the dramatic integrity of that sound. Twelve years later, Barry actually got his chance to score a Walt Disney Productions motion picture. One of many science-fiction epics produced in the wake of Star Wars, Disney's The Black Hole was
Listen To The Music: Doobie Brothers Catalogue Expanded In The U.K.
Are you ready to listen to the music? If you are, you're in for quite a treat. The U.K.'s Edsel label has just launched a series of expanded Doobie Brothers remasters, encompassing the band's first eight studio albums (1971-1978) as four 2-CD packages. Doobie Brothers/Toulouse Street and The Captain and Me/What Once Were Vices were just released this past Monday, while Stampede/Takin' It to the Streets and Livin' On The Fault Line/Minute by Minute follow on September 26. These eight albums
BREAKING NEWS! Good, Good, Good Vibrations: The Beach Boys' "SMiLE" Arrives November 1
Surf's up. At long last, we can finally announce that SMiLE is coming to a shop near you. On November 1, Capitol Records will release The Beach Boys' 1967 lost masterwork as The SMiLE Sessions in three editions: a 5-CD/2-LP/2 7-inch single box (yes, 9 discs!), a slimmer 2-CD version and a 2-LP set. Where to start? First, I recommend digging that artwork at your left. Has it settled in that this set is becoming a reality? Good. Read on, friends. The saga of SMiLE, 2011, was becoming
Review: Original Cast, "Half-Past Wednesday"
Anyone have a little love for Rumpelstiltskin? The Brothers Grimm popularized the story of the mischievous imp in the early part of the 19th century, but he has never received the same kind of commercial fame as many of the Grimms’ other creations. No wonder, then, that Rumpelstiltskin was so ornery when he appeared as the villain of Shrek Forever After. And how many indignities did he survive as the titular character of a 1996 grade B horror film! Rumpelstiltskin has had a few moments in
Review: Three From Dave Grusin, Cy Coleman and Henry Mancini
With hyperbole the norm, it's questionable just how many buyers took notice of a 1957 album on the Liberty label entitled The Versatile Henry Mancini. Yet fewer record titles have proven as apt. As frequent collaborator Blake Edwards noted, "Whether the situation is romantic, humorous, tragic, ironic or full of action, Mancini creates exactly the right musical mood." Mancini's breakthrough came two years after that LP's release, when Edwards enlisted him to provide the cool jazz-inflected
Reach Out For Them: New 2-CD Comps Coming In September For Dionne, Chicago
Following collections devoted to Foreigner, Christopher Cross, Otis Redding and Yes, the U.K.’s Music Club Deluxe label (a member of the Demon Music Group family) continues its exploration of the Warner Music Group catalogue with new compilations focusing on the long, diverse careers of Dionne Warwick and Chicago. Either of these esteemed acts would be solid candidates for our Greater Hits feature, in which we compare an artist’s “greatest hits” output. Both certainly have been the subjects of
Miles Ahead: Legacy Launches "Bootleg Series" For Davis
Move over, Bob Dylan. Another legendary Columbia Records artist just a couple of spaces over on the CD shelf is receiving the Bootleg Series treatment with the September 20 release of The Miles Davis Quintet – Live in Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series Volume 1. And this release looks every inch as lavish and essential as the releases in Dylan’s similarly titled, long-running series. It’s drawn from original state-owned television and radio sources in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, and
Big Break's Full Summer Slate Includes Isleys, Pointers, Prince Partners
The fine folks at Big Break Records have got another large batch of new titles for release in the U.K. on July 25, and we figured now was a good time to share not only the track lists and details with you, but look ahead at some of the huge titles they're prepping for next month. There are a few really great, underrated titles from some big-name acts in next week's batch, including expansions of The Isley Brothers' Between the Sheets (1983) and I Can See Clearly Now (1972) by Johnny Nash. But
July 4 Special Reissue Theory: "1776: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack"
Happy 4th of July! Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we take a look back at notable albums and the reissues they could someday see. In 1969, a Broadway musical about a most unlikely subject became the toast of New York. Three years later, a movie mogul in the twilight of his years shepherded it to the big screen, and while the film has lived on, its soundtrack album has all but disappeared. Today's Reissue Theory, pulled from The Second Disc archives, imagines a
Review: The Left Banke, "Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina" and "The Left Banke Too"
After listening to The Left Banke's two original albums, just reissued by Sundazed, I have only one question: what took so long? The group's recorded output was collected back in 1992 by Mercury on There's Gonna Be A Storm: The Complete Recordings 1966-1969. Besides getting my vote for Best Rhino Album Not Actually Produced By Rhino (Bill Inglot produced and Andrew Sandoval annotated...'nuff said!), the single disc compilation offers a remarkable view of the group that soared with 1966's
Gentle On His Mind: Two Early Glen Campbell Classics Reissued By BGO
It’s knowing that your door is always open and your path is free to walk/That makes me tend to leave my sleepin’ bag rolled up and stashed behind your couch… For nearly fifty years, many of us have opened our doors to Glen Campbell on record and on television. So it came as a shock that, just two months before the release of what’s being billed as his final studio recording, Campbell announced that he has been diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. The beloved singer and
Review: "Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love: Motown's Mowest Story 1971-1973"
The sound is familiar but different. The harmony is spellbinding if a bit woozy. You've only given me a flower/I wish I had the whole bouquet... The track, led by acoustic guitar and gently funky percussion, is spare and raw. If I should ask you for an hour/Is there a chance that you would stay/And maybe spend the day? The falsetto is recognizable but eerily haunting. The song is "You're A Song (That I Can't Sing)" performed by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons for the album Chameleon, the
Ipanema, Again: "Getz/Gilberto" Restored To Original Mix For New SACD and Vinyl LP
Bossa nova, translated, literally means "new trend." And as 1964 began, with the British Invasion taking flight, America was also experiencing a Brazilian Invasion thanks to this new trend in popular music and jazz. Identified by gentle acoustic guitar and sometimes piano, and often adorned with subtle string or horn accents, bossa nova was based on the rhythms of the samba. It soon was adapted on stages from the concert hall to Broadway, spawned the "lounge" genre and influenced countless
Review: Frank Sinatra, "Ring-a-Ding Ding!: Expanded Edition"
Ring-a-ding ding! It can be used as an adjective or an interjection. But when Frank Sinatra chose the expression to title his very first album for his very own label, it was simply an ecstatic expression of pure joy. Sinatra was no longer tethered to Capitol Records, the label at which he'd made history with a series of "concept" albums. He had the freedom to make some new history, his way, when he launched Reprise. And Ring-a-Ding Ding!, now reissued and remastered for its 50th anniversary
Jethro Tull's "Aqualung" Turns 40, Gets Deluxe Edition From EMI
First Quadrophenia, now Aqualung! Yes, in advance of an official announcement, remix producer Steven Wilson has spilled the beans on an upcoming deluxe reissue of Jethro Tull’s Aqualung! (Big thanks to our friends at MusicTAP for passing the news on!) The British band’s fourth album, Aqualung remains Jethro Tull’s all-time biggest seller, not to mention one of the most beloved rock albums of all time. It’s tentatively scheduled for September release from struggling juggernaut EMI, and like
Another British Invasion From RPM: Ian and the Zodiacs, Katch-22 Reissued
The RPM arm of the U.K.'s mighty Cherry Red empire has had a busy 2011, recently highlighted by the first-ever collection of the young Dusty Springfield's recordings with The Lana Sisters. The label's latest titles shed light on two largely-overlooked bands to come out of England in the 1960s, Ian and the Zodiacs and Katch 22. The Best of Ian and the Zodiacs: Wade in the Water and Major Catastrophe: The Katch 22 Story are both in stores now, and have much to offer fans of Merseybeat, mod,
Carly Simon Goes For The Gold: "No Secrets" Coming In 24K
Only yesterday, we shared the speculation of our good buddies at MusicTAP that big things might be in store for the catalogue of Carly Simon. Well, we've got a start, just one day later! On June 21, Audio Fidelity will drop a remastered, limited 24K Gold edition of the songstress' third - and some say, best - album, No Secrets. 1971's Carly Simon announced a major new talent, offerings songs like the epic and hauntingly personal "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be," the folk-rock
Review: Chicago, "Live in '75"
When they took the stage at Largo, Maryland’s Capital Centre in June, 1975, nostalgia was foremost on the minds of the members of Chicago. Early in the set so immaculately preserved by Rhino on the new Live in ’75 (Rhino Handmade RHM2 526436, 2011), comments are made from the stage with a great deal of surprise: “[Here’s] another blast from the past!” “Nostalgia is in nowadays.” “We would like to be nostalgic.” Would the Robert Lamm, Walter Parazaider, Lee Loughnane and James Pankow of 1975
Where Are All The "Magic Colors": Lesley Gore's Lost Album Arrives on CD
Lesley Gore epitomized the sound of American pop in the early-to-mid 1960s with hits like "It's My Party" and its answer/follow-up, "Judy's Turn to Cry." For my money, there may never have been a greater one-two punch in pop than that pair, produced by Quincy Jones and arranged by Claus Ogerman. But where was the teen pop queen by the Summer of Love? The U.K.'s Ace label answers that question with the June release of Magic Colors: The Lost Album with Bonus Tracks 1967-1969, unearthing a lost
Six John Barry Scores Boxed Digitally By Silva Screen
John Barry may have passed away in January, but the film score titan has hardly been forgotten. Kritzerland just scored a quick sell-out on its new edition of Barry's score to Until September, while Quartet Records has reissued The Knack...and How to Get It on CD. The Classic Brit Awards has announced that Barry will be the first-ever posthumous recipient of an award, while a June 20 concert at London's Royal Albert Hall will celebrate his legacy with performances and remembrances from Sir
Dusty Springfield's Lana Sisters Years Compiled By RPM
At last, the remaining piece of the Dusty Springfield puzzle hits CD. On May 23, Cherry Red label RPM will reissue the complete recordings of The Lana Sisters, the late-fifties girl group formed by Ris Chantelle, Lynne Abrams and Mary Catherine O'Brien, later to find fame as soul queen Dusty Springfield. Between 1958 and 1960, The Lana Sisters released seven singles on the U.K.'s Fontana label, all of which are included on RPM's Chantelly Lace: Complete Singles Plus Bonus Tracks. Despite