George Duke (1946-2013) wore many hats throughout his career: keyboardist, composer, producer, arranger, singer. His solo discography encompassed 40 albums while his collaborations included LPs with such jazz luminaries as Jean-Luc Ponty, Billy Cobham, Stanley Clarke, and Dexter Gordon. He produced records for A Taste of Honey, Sister Sledge, Barry Manilow, Melissa Manchester, Miles Davis, Al Jarreau, and Smokey Robinson. Jazz was only part of the George Duke story, as his music fused the
Review: The Beach Boys, "Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys"
We'll be havin' fun all summer long... For nearly sixty years, the sun-drenched harmonies of The Beach Boys have provided the soundtrack for summer - from those welcome first days and first rays through the season's bittersweet final moments as autumn's chill approaches. They're the rare band whose compilations, beginning with 1974's chart-topping Endless Summer, have become nearly as key to their legacy as the core studio albums. 2003's Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach
Release Round-Up: Week of July 1
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up featuring a selection of the new titles in stores today! Liza Minnelli, Live in New York 1979 (Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music) 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Real Gone Music 3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Real Gone Music Liza Minnelli's remarkable album of her record-breaking 1979 Carnegie Hall stand receives its first-ever release to wide retail in two distinctive editions from Second Disc Records and
Liza Minnelli's "Live in New York 1979" Hits Stores TOMORROW from Real Gone Music, Second Disc Records on CD and Vinyl
Tomorrow, July 1, Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records revisit a landmark album recorded in the heart of New York, New York by one of the most extraordinary entertainers of all time. It's perhaps our most expansive release ever: the very first reissue - not to mention first-ever wide release - of Liza Minnelli's electrifying Live in New York 1979. This remarkable "lost" concert album will be released as a deluxe vinyl set on 2 LPs and an Ultimate Edition on 3 CDs. When the Oscar, Emmy,
Pigs on the Wing: Pink Floyd Reissue "Animals" with Long-Awaited Surround Remix
Pink Floyd's Animals arrived in January 1977, after 1975's Wish You Were Here and before 1979's The Wall. Coming between those two epochal works, Animals was initially dismissed by some critics. Consisting of just five tracks (two short bookends and three lengthy compositions), no singles were released and Animals became somewhat of a hidden gem - despite having peaked at No. 2 in the United Kingdom and No. 3 in the United States. This fall, fans will have a chance to rediscover Animals as
Let's Go to the Hop: Liberation Hall Releases Sha Na Na's Woodstock Anniversary Concert
Between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. on the morning of Monday, August 18, 1969, Sha Na Na took the stage at Yasgur's farm as the penultimate act of the Woodstock Music and Art Festival. The '50s rock-and-roll revivalists followed The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and preceded Jimi Hendrix who brought the festival to a majestic close. Twenty years later, Sha Na Na reprised their act at the Woodstock: 20 Years After concert held across the country at Cal-State Dominguez Hills in Carson, California. They
Intrada's Spell is Cast with New Expansion of James Horner's 'Willow' Score
Intrada's newest archival soundtrack release is an exciting one for fans of the late, great James Horner: the label has remastered and expanded his heroic and timeless work for the 1988 fantasy epic Willow. Sort of a Lord of the Rings for beginners (parts were even shot in New Zealand), Willow takes place in a lush fantasy world ruled by the merciless sorceress Bavmorda. She seeks to stop a prophecy that promises her defeat at the hands of Elora Danaan, the infant Princess of Tir Asleen. The
New Four Seasons Mega-Box Will Have You Swearin' to God
The Four Seasons are one of America's most resonant and enduring pop/rock outfits. Between the group and its distinctive frontman Frankie Valli, they've scored around a dozen Top 10 hits - seven of which went to No. 1. Their early output in the '60s held its own against the British Invasion. They maintained hits into the disco era, and a cover of one of their songs hit the upper reaches of the Billboard Hot 100 last year. The original quartet was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and
Field of Opportunity: Neil Young and Promise of the Real Release Live "Noise and Flowers"
On Friday, Neil Young and Promise of the Real announced a new live album that will takes its place as No. 21 in the artist's Neil Young Archives Performance Series of releases. Noise and Flowers is due on August 5 from Reprise Records in a variety of formats including CD, LP, and digitally; concurrently, a concert film of the same material will be issued on standalone Blu-ray and as part of a 2LP/1CD/1BD Deluxe Edition box set. Young has been playing with Promise of the Real since 2015, and
Wowie Zowie: "Zappa/Erie" Box Set Captures Three Different Mothers Line-Ups
The Frank Zappa archive has opened wide in recent years; the past twelve months alone have seen such diverse releases as The Mothers 1971, the 50th anniversary edition of 200 Motels, and Zappa '88: The Last U.S. Show. The latest addition to the canon (or Official Release Series No. 122, for those keeping count) has recently arrived from Zappa Records and UMe. Zappa/Erie premieres three full shows from the Erie, Pennsylvania area (including Edinboro, some eighteen miles outside of Erie) plus a
Release Round-Up: Week of June 24
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the week's new titles! Christine McVie, Songbird: A Solo Collection (Rhino) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada "Sea Foam" Green LP: Rhino.com Christine McVie releases her first-ever solo compendium. Songbird (A Solo Collection), available in CD, 180-gram vinyl, and digitally, is a lean 10-track anthology remastered by producer Glyn Johns who worked in tandem
Let's Face the Music and Dance: Ella Fitzgerald's Live Irving Berlin Songbook Arrives Tomorrow
When Ella Fitzgerald selected the songs of Irving Berlin for the fourth volume in her acclaimed Songbook series, it turned out to be a match made in heaven. Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook, recorded over one week in March 1958, featured more than 30 selections from the legendary songwriter including "Puttin' on the Ritz," "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Cheek to Cheek," "How Deep Is the Ocean," "Always," and "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm." Berlin's extraordinary body of work
Never Enough: 7a Reissues, Expands Micky Dolenz's "Demoiselle"
7a Records' debut release in 2015 was Micky Dolenz's The MGM Singles Collection, a lavish package (first on vinyl and then on expanded CD) collecting the singer and forever Monkee's early '70s output for the MGM family of labels. 7a has released a number of Dolenz titles over the years including his acclaimed new studio album Dolenz Sings Nesmith; on August 5, the label will return to his discography with an expanded reissue of 1998's Demoiselle. The private-press CD was offered via mail order
Everlasting: Edsel Collects Steve Ellis, Love Affair on "Finchley Boy" Box Set
The voice of Steve Ellis first burst out of radios on The Love Affair's 1967 recording of "Everlasting Love." A chart-topper in the U.K. and a hit throughout Europe, it failed to chart in the U.S. but set Ellis on a path of music-making that continues to this day. Edsel has taken a deep dive into his extensive career for an impressive new box set. Over 10 discs, Finchley Boy chronicles the Steve Ellis story both as a solo artist and with the groups Love Affair, Ellis, and Widowmaker. In
That Would Be Something: Paul McCartney Boxes Three Self-Titled Albums on CD, LP
Though Paul McCartney turned 80 on Saturday, June 19, he's hardly slowed down. He wrapped his acclaimed, sold-out Got Back tour of North America on Thursday evening in East Rutherford, New Jersey - joined by a couple of the state's favorite sons, Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi - and will soon headline the Glastonbury Festival. On Friday, the legendary artist announced an upcoming box set collecting his three influential self-titled albums. McCartney (1970), McCartney II (1980), and
Celestial Blues: Miles Davis' Bootleg Series Vol. 7 Draws on His 1981-1985 Columbia Years
Tomorrow, Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings premiere Miles Davis' What It Is: Montreal 7/7/83 on vinyl as part of the Record Store Day Drop 2 event. While a significant release in its own right, What It Is serves as a preview to the just-announced next volume of the late jazz great's Bootleg Series. On September 16, That's What Happened 1982-1985 will arrive in stores as Davis' seventh Bootleg volume. The 3-CD box set (also available digitally) focuses on Davis' final years at the
Release Round-Up: Week of June 17
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up featuring a selection of the week's new titles! The Beach Boys, Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys - Expanded Edition (Capitol/UMe) 3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 6LP Standard: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1CD (contains CD 1 only): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP Standard: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada All Formats (including 2LP and 6LP exclusives): The Beach Boys Official
Presumed Excellent: Two Underrated John Williams Scores Get Expanded
For fans of John Williams, the legendary composer's 90th birthday has marked a fruitful year. A live concert from Berlin recorded in 2021 was released to considerable acclaim, and two studio albums have since followed: A Gathering of Friends, reuniting the composer with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the New York Philharmonic; and the new Violin Concerto No. 2 and Selected Film Themes, a concert hall collaboration with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter. He'll next be heard on screen scoring The Fabelmans, a
It's a New Release, Charlie Brown! "Great Pumpkin" Arrives on CD, LP From Original Session Masters
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! The Emmy-nominated 1966 television special was the third overall for Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts series and the second to be holiday-themed, after A Charlie Brown Christmas. Upon its October 27, 1966 premiere, it earned a whopping 49 share in the ratings and was so successful that CBS re-aired it every year through 2000, with ABC picking up the tradition after that. Yet despite a beloved score by Vince Guaraldi (who else?), a soundtrack album to Great
The Search Is Over: Jimi Jamison's Previously Unreleased Debut Album "Rock Hard" Arrives on Iconoclassic
As the voice of Survivor between 1984 and 1989, Jimi Jamison (1951-2014) introduced such powerful rock staples as "I Can't Hold Back," "Is This Love," and "The Search is Over." Formerly of the bands Target and Cobra, Jamison melded a fiery, powerful tone with raw emotion to become one of the defining voices of his generation. With Survivor having gone on hiatus following the release of 1988's Too Hot to Sleep, Jamison pursued a solo career which bore fruit on the 1991 Scotti Bros. release When
Here They Go Again: Whitesnake Remix Greatest Hits for New Collection
Over the past few years, Whitesnake has taken to remixing its classic tracks on such releases as the 35th anniversary edition of Slide It In (2019), Love Songs (2020), and the 25th anniversary edition of Restless Heart (2021), among other titles. Now, the band has retooled its familiar 1994 Greatest Hits collection in "Revisited, Remixed, and Remastered" form. Its release will be staggered, with the currently-available digital version to be followed this Friday, June 17, with CD and black
Powder Keg: Iconoclassic Remasters, Expands The Fall's "The Light User Syndrome"
Since relaunching this year, the Iconoclassic label has brought a Graham Parker gem to CD in an expanded edition and delivered a definitive reissue of B.T. Express' debut album. On July 1, the label will add another feather to its cap with a 2-CD deluxe edition of The Fall's lone album for Jet Records, 1996's The Light User Syndrome. The Light User Syndrome was the 18th studio album from the Manchester band founded by singer-songwriter Mark E. Smith in 1976. He would be the one constant in
Release Round-Up: Week of June 10
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the titles hitting stores today! Elton John, Madman Across the Water: 50th Anniversary Edition (Rocket/UMe) 3CD/BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Elton John's 1971 Madman Across the Water receives a new 50th anniversary reissue. Available in three different formats, its most expansive is a 3CD/Blu-ray collection
Can't You Hear My Heartbeat: Cherry Red, Grapefruit Anthologize Songwriter John Carter's Career on "My World Fell Down"
Though John Carter isn't a household name, many of his songs are. "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat," "Beach Baby," and "Little Bit O' Soul" are just a handful of Carter's timeless pop confections. His is also the familiar voice of The New Vaudeville Band's chart-topping "Winchester Cathedral." Sunshine pop aficionados might know him best for "My World Fell Down," the spellbinding song he wrote for The Ivy League which was covered by Sagittarius (featuring Glen Campbell, Bruce Johnston, Gary
Not Too Late: LITA Debuts Lou Reed Archive Series with "Words and Music - May 1965"
"I was working for a record company as a songwriter," Lou Reed remembered in 1972, "where they'd lock me in a room and they'd say, 'Write ten surfing songs,' ya know, and I wrote 'Heroin' and I said, 'Hey, I've got something for ya.' They said, 'Never gonna happen, never gonna happen.'" Reed wasn't able to introduce "Heroin" to the world until March 1967 when the Verve label released The Velvet Underground & Nico. The VU's debut album disappointed commercially but became greatly