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…
This Is Your Death! “Spike Jones In Stereo: A Spooktacular in Screaming Sound” Returns From Omnivore
Dracula, Vampira, Frankenstein, and Dr. Jekyll walk into a room… When the late, great Spike Jones (1911-1965) set his sights on Halloween, a cult classic album was born. The fiendishly funny musical satirist had been unleashing insanity on unsuspecting record buyers since the early 1940s, turning car horns, belches, sneezes, gurgles, and gunshots into high art. In 1959, both rock-and-roll and the horror movie craze were in full swing, and the fiendishly funny, endlessly inventive purveyor of “musical depreciation” couldn’t let them pass by unnoticed. With a troupe of legendary voice actors,…
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…
Drums and Wires (Steven Wilson Dolby Atmos Mix)
CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada One of XTC’s great early albums is getting another facelift courtesy of remixer Steven Wilson. The Porcupine Tree musician and engineer counts the Swindon cult heroes among his earliest remix work, fashioning new stereo and surround mixes of Drums and Wires, Black Sea, The Big Express, Skylarking, Oranges & Lemons and Nonsuch between 2013 and 2023 (along with a compilation of the group’s psychedelic work under the alter ego The Dukes of Stratosphear). With multitrack tapes for additional Virgin-era XTC albums proving tough to come by, Wilson revisited Skylarking in Dolby Atmos last year, and…
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It’s Time: 20th Anniversary Edition
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Two decades after Canadian crooner Michael Bublé enjoyed his first major chart breakthrough, the album that did so – 2005’s It’s Time – is being reissued for its anniversary. It’s Time returns as a 2CD or 2LP set (the latter pressed on silver vinyl) with a dozen studio and live bonus tracks. Having come out at a time of considerable limited editions – some only available at certain American retailers from Target to Starbucks – this edition of It’s Time will offer all of those…
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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…
Rum Sodomy and The Lash: 40th Anniversary Edition
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The Pogues’ second album Rum Sodomy & the Lash will be reissued as a 2CD and 2LP set (following a similar package for 1984’s Red Roses for Me, released last year) that’ll feature the original album alongside a baker’s dozen tracks of non-album studio and live material. Extras include two non-album B-sides, six live cuts (including a complete live session recorded for Janice Long’s BBC Radio 1 program) and the 1986 EP Poguetry in Motion, alongside a then-unissued cover of The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Do You Believe in…
Play On: A Raspberries Tribute
Play On: A Raspberries Tribute, from Think Like a Key Records, is no ordinary tribute. Its roster is anchored by such all-time MVPs as Rick Springfield, John Waite, Foreigner’s Lou Gramm, The Bangles’ Debbi and Vicki Peterson, and Marshall Crenshaw, each paying tribute to Eric Carmen, Jim Bonfanti, Dave Smalley, Wally Bryson, Michael McBride, and Scott McCarl in his or her own inimitable style. Play On also features the illustrious likes of Cherie Currie of The Runaways, Kasim Sulton and Willie Wilcox of Utopia, ’70s TV stars and teen idols The Hudson Brothers,…
Seventy
Australian singer-songwriter-guitarist Paul Kelly (Paul Kelly and The Dots, Paul Kelly and The Coloured Girls/The Messengers) returns with Seventy, celebrating his landmark birthday this past January. Seventy is filled with Kelly’s trademark musical storytelling – it’s no coincidence that the opening track is entitled “Tell Us a Story” – including lead single “Rita Wrote a Letter” which serves as a sequel to his beloved 1996 tune “How to Make Gravy,” and even a full-band setting of a Yeats poem. On Seventy, Kelly deftly and elegantly addresses aging, mortality, art, and the matter…
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…
Always Something There: Naked Eyes’ Debut to Be Expanded with Rare Tracks and Demos
One of the strangest phenomena of early ’80s pop is that U.K. pop duo Naked Eyes – who stormed the Top 10 in America in the summer of 1983 with a thunderous synth version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Always Something There to Remind Me” – completely missed the chart at home. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that a forthcoming expanded edition of their debut, featuring three unreleased demos and a fistful of non-album tracks, takes its cues from the American version of the album. Available October 10, the newly deluxe…
United: Ace Compiles Songs of Gamble and Huff on “Love Train” Collection
Ace Records is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary with special releases as well as concerts and a pop-up shop in London. Over the course of those decades, the label has established a number of long-running series including their Songwriters and Producers lines. A recent release in the Songwriters series celebrates two of the all-time greats in both categories: Philadelphia’s Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff. Love Train: The Gamble and Huff Songbook brings together 24 songs from the Philadelphia International Records duo who also formed two thirds of Mighty Three Publishing along with…
A SECOND DISC EXCLUSIVE! “Play On: A Raspberries Tribute” Welcomes Rick Springfield, Lou Gramm, Marshall Crenshaw, John Waite, More
Today would have been Eric Carmen’s 76th birthday. To mark the occasion, we’re thrilled to be first to break the news about an upcoming collection we know you’re not going to want to miss! The Raspberries blazed briefly but brightly. When Eric Carmen and Wally Bryson of Cyrus Eyrie teamed up with Jim Bonfanti and Dave Smalley of The Choir, the result was pure bliss. The Raspberries emerged from the ashes from the two bands, and over the course of four albums originally released between 1972 and 1974 – three with the…
Release Round-Up: Week of August 8
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. America, Hearts: 50th Anniversary Edition (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Omnivore) Omnivore Recordings is reissuing, remastering, and expanding America’s Hearts, featuring “Sister Golden Hair,” “Daisy Jane,” and “Woman Tonight,” for its 50th anniversary. This new edition adds six bonus cuts to the original album’s dozen tracks. Five of these are unreleased alternate versions and mixes of songs from Hearts including a unique arrangement of Bunnell’s “People in the Valley,”…
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Poguetry in Motion: ‘Rum Sodomy & the Lash’ Gets Expanded on CD and Vinyl for 40th Anniversary
The Pogues’ sophomore album turned 40 this week, and Rhino will celebrate later this year with a new deluxe edition on CD and LP. Rum Sodomy & the Lash will be reissued as a 2CD and 2LP set (following a similar package for 1984’s Red Roses for Me, released last year) that’ll feature the original album alongside a baker’s dozen tracks of non-album studio and live material. Extras include two non-album B-sides, six live cuts (including a complete live session recorded for Janice Long’s BBC Radio 1 program) and the 1986 EP Poguetry in…
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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Sunshine All The Time: Omnivore’s “Something There: Remembering Jeffrey Foskett” Is OUT NOW!
Jeffrey Foskett surely embodied the California Dream. The San Jose native his dues gigging around the Golden State with such early bands as Reverie and The Pranks. A knock on Brian Wilson’s door in 1976 led to a long friendship with the Beach Boy, while Wilson’s cousin Mike Love became a Foskett fan three years later upon hearing Reverie live in a Santa Barbara bar. Love brought Foskett into the Beach Boys fold – first in The Endless Summer Beach Band, then in the Beach Boys themselves. Gifted with an ethereal falsetto,…
Life Begins (Again) At the Hop: XTC’s ‘Drums and Wires’ Gets New Atmos Mix on Slightly Expanded Reissue
One of XTC’s great early albums is getting another facelift courtesy of remixer Steven Wilson. The Porcupine Tree musician and engineer counts the Swindon cult heroes among his earliest remix work, fashioning new stereo and surround mixes of Drums and Wires, Black Sea, The Big Express, Skylarking, Oranges & Lemons and Nonsuch between 2013 and 2023 (along with a compilation of the group’s psychedelic work under the alter ego The Dukes of Stratosphear). With multitrack tapes for additional Virgin-era XTC albums proving tough to come by, Wilson revisited Skylarking in Dolby Atmos last year, and has now done the…
Only the Beginning: Rhino Expands ‘Chicago IX’ to Represent Their First Decade
Chicago IX, originally released in time for the Christmas shopping season in 1975, was the band’s first greatest hits album. Originally released on the Columbia label in both stereo and quadraphonic formats, the collection brought together 11 songs spanning 1969’s Chicago Transit Authority through 1974’s Chicago VII. On August 8, Rhino will revisit Chicago IX: Chicago’s Greatest Hits in a gold-hued edition to mark its 50th anniversary. It’s been expanded from 11 to 21 songs, and its purview has been expanded, too: it now goes all the way through 1980’s Chicago XIV,…
The Definitive Croce
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The Definitive Croce gathers both albums the late Jim Croce recorded and released for ABC Records during his lifetime (You Don’t Mess Around with Jim and Life and Times) plus the posthumous I Got a Name – all recently remixed by engineer Paul Hicks (whose mixing and mastering work includes projects by The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison). All three were previously released on vinyl in similar color schemes to the upcoming vinyl package – bone white for Mess Around, sky blue for Life and…
Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention
September 25, 2026
