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Release Round-Up: Week of December 15

December 15, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

kinks anthology

The Kinks, Anthology 1964-1971 (BMG/InGrooves, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Producer Andrew Sandoval (the recent The Monkees: Super Deluxe Edition) helms this kink-sized 5-CD kollection of hits, demos, interviews, alternate mixes, session outtakes, 25 previously unavailable tracks, an exclusive 7-inch single and copious, new liner notes! Dionne Warwick, Finder of Lost Loves: Expanded Edition (Arista/Funky Town Grooves) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) This 2-CD edition of Warwick's

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Categories: News, Release Round-Up Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks Tags: Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Stephen Sondheim, Sting, The Kinks, The Manhattans, Trip Shakespeare

Big Break Is "On Fire" With Latest Quartet Of Releases From Anita Pointer, Silver Convention, More

December 12, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

5000 volts1

Anita Pointer’s solo debut might have seemed inevitable.  She had sung lead on many of The Pointer Sisters’ biggest hits including Allen Toussaint’s “Yes We Can Can” and co-wrote the Grammy-winning “Fairytale.”  By the time she released Love For What It Is on RCA in 1987, Anita was following in the footsteps of sisters Bonnie (who left the group in 1977 for a Motown solo contract) and June (with 1983’s Baby Sister).  The album arrived on the heels of the success of “Too Many Times,” a duet with

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Disco/Dance, R&B/Soul Tags: Anita Pointer, Rinder and Lewis, Silver Convention, The Pointer Sisters

Ace Is Twistin' the Night Away with Sam Cooke Tribute, Motown Rarities and More

December 11, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

satisfaction guaranteed1

When it comes to rare soul, Ace Records never sleeps!  The label has recently released a compilation celebrating the career of Sam Cooke not as a singer but as a songwriter, along with collections dedicated to excavating the vaults of two great Detroit labels: Westbound Records, and of course, Motown! Countless albums have anthologized the short but influential oeuvre of Sam Cooke, but Bring It on Home: Black America Sings Sam Cooke takes a different approach, featuring 24 versions of Cooke

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: R&B/Soul Tags: Sam Cooke, The Four Tops, The Spinners, The Temptations, Various Artists

Tony Joe White, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Ray Kennedy Highlight Real Gone's February

December 10, 2014 By Joe Marchese 11 Comments

george and tammy inspiration

From The Apollo to the swamps of Louisiana, Real Gone Music has a whirlwind musical tour planned for its February 3, 2015 slate! The centerpiece of the February batch just might be the first-ever complete collection of Louisiana man Tony Joe White's Warner Bros. recordings!  Singer-songwriter White ("Willie and Laura Mae Jones," "Polk Salad Annie") has one of the most distinctive voices in southern soul, and Real Gone's new collection celebrates a major period his career with a new 2-CD set

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock, Country, R&B/Soul Tags: George Jones, John Hall, Ray Kennedy, Tammy Wynette, The Grateful Dead, Tony Joe White

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Frank Sinatra, "London"

December 10, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

sinatra great songs

It was ambitious, even for Sinatra. His sixth studio album on his own Reprise label – and one of five full-length LPs released in 1962 alone – would be recorded in Great Britain with a British musical director, producer and personnel, and would feature only songs from British composers. For the quintessentially American singer, it must have been a formidable challenge. But Sinatra Sings Great Songs from Great Britain proved that The Voice was up to the task. Over time, it became a

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD, DVD Genre: Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Frank Sinatra

The Eno Assembly: Four Brian Eno Albums Go Deluxe With Previously Unheard Music

December 10, 2014 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

eno nerve net4

In a career spanning five decades, Brian Eno has refused to be pigeonholed. The ambient music pioneer and electronic explorer has produced albums for David Bowie, U2 and Paul Simon, played in Roxy Music, collaborated with everyone from Belinda Carlisle to David Byrne, composed film and television soundtracks, and maintained a solo career since 1974. His varied body of work as writer, musician, producer and artist has embraced experimentalism and pushed the limits of conventional rock. Now, four

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Everything Else Tags: Brian Eno

Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Monkees, "The Monkees: Super Deluxe Edition"

December 9, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

monkees sde2

For The Monkees, the third time's the charm. The 1966 debut album from Davy, Micky, Peter and Mike has been expanded twice before on CD - first in 1994 on one CD and then in 2006 as a two-CD set. Rhino Handmade has recently unveiled the third and most comprehensive release of this album yet, and with 45 previously unreleased bonus cuts among its 100 songs, The Monkees: Super Deluxe Edition (R2-543027) is not just Monkee mania, but Monkee manna. The story of this American fab four has been told

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: The Monkees

Holiday Gift Guide Review: A Classic Christmas With Rosemary Clooney, Frank DeVol

December 9, 2014 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

devol christmas

Welcome to Part One of a two-part series exploring the recent line-up of Christmas releases from Real Gone Music! 1954’s White Christmas, quite simply, remains one of the most beloved holiday musicals to ever hit the silver screen. Built around the songbook of Irving Berlin – who lived to the age of 101 in 1989 but was already a Grand Old Man of American music by 1954 – the film starred Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen. Such a quartet promised an evening’s

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Bing Crosby, Frank DeVol, Rosemary Clooney

Release Round-Up: Week of December 9

December 9, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

sinatra london contents

Frank Sinatra, London (UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) This 3-CD/1-DVD swingin’ affair spans 1953-1984 and features over 50 previously unreleased tracks on CD and DVD - all dedicated to Sinatra's performances in the great city.  At its centerpiece is an expanded and remastered edition of Sinatra Sings Great Songs from Great Britain, the Chairman's only studio album recorded outside of the United States!  Watch for Joe's full review soon! The Beatles, 1962-1966 / 1967-1970 / 1 /

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Categories: News, Release Round-Up Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock, Country, Popular Standards/Vocal, Rock Tags: Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Supertramp, The Beatles, The Jam

Cherry Red's él Label Spends Christmas In Nashville with Anita Kerr and Chet Atkins

December 8, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

atkins and kerr christmas

Cherry Red Records' él imprint is celebrating this Christmas in Nashville with the recent release of The Anita Kerr Singers and Chet Atkins at Christmas. This new two-for-one CD includes both Christmas with Chet Atkins (1961) and The Kerr Singers' On This Holy Night (1959) plus a smattering of related bonus tracks. It's nearly impossible to sum up the career of Chet Atkins in a mere few words. The fourteen-time Grammy winner (1924-2001) was a mainstay of the RCA Victor label between 1947 and

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Country Tags: Anita Kerr, Chet Atkins, The Anita Kerr Singers

Holiday Gift Guide Review: "The Classic Christmas Album" Series

December 5, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

bscc1

Johnny Mathis. Frank Sinatra. Perry Como. Steve Vai? Menudo? When it comes to Christmas music, Legacy Recordings doesn’t pull its punches. The label’s series of Classic Christmas Album releases has become a bit of an annual tradition, and this year’s batch of single- and various-artist anthologies once again draws on names both expected and unexpected. While the packages are bare-bones, with no liner notes (but happily with full credits and discographical annotation), the music most certainly is

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock, Country, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, Rock Tags: Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, Il Divo, Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, Various Artists

Let Them Show You: RPM Highlights 1960s' International Acts with Four New Releases

December 4, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

pussy cat1

RPM Records has recently released four CDs charting the history of three acts that might not have gained much international attention outside of their home countries, but are still worthy of attention.  From Sweden, RPM has an anthology for The Shanes and two expanded editions of The Mascots’ only two LPs; from France comes the complete recordings of the chanteuse known as Pussy Cat.  Each of these releases is designed to bring greater attention to these little-known artists. The Shanes

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: Mascots, Pussy Cat, The Shanes

Spend the Night in Bangkok: "Chess" Reissued for 30th Anniversary

December 3, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

chess

Tim Rice had been thinking about writing a musical about the Cold War for some time in the late 1970s.  Fascinated by the Soviet-U.S. chess rivalry of the time, the lyricist-librettist approached his longtime collaborator Andrew Lloyd Webber with the idea.  Lloyd Webber, however, was not available, as he was too busy developing a little show known as Cats.  A suggestion from a producer put Rice in touch with songwriters Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA.   Looking to pursue some projects

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Categories: News Formats: CD, DVD Genre: Cast Recordings Tags: Barbara Dickson, Elaine Paige, Murray Head

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Todd Rundgren, "At The BBC 1972-1982"

December 2, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

todd at bbc

Christmas has come early for Todd Rundgren fans this year with the release by Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings imprint of Todd Rundgren at the BBC: 1972-1982, a handsome new 3-CD/1-DVD box set of live performances drawn from Rundgren’s first decade of rock stardom. The latest release in Esoteric’s Todd Rundgren Archive Series, At the BBC captures the transformation of the ever-evolving artist from precocious pop chameleon to prog-rock adventurer and beyond. 1972’s sprawling Something/Anything

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, News, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD, DVD Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Todd Rundgren, Utopia

Release Round-Up: Week of December 2

December 2, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

bj home happy

B.J. Thomas, Home Where I Belong/Happy Man (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) B.J. Thomas, You Gave Me Love/Miracle (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Linda Jones, The Complete Atco-Loma-Warner Bros. Recordings (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) The Five Stairsteps, Our Family Portrait/Stairsteps (Expanded Twofer Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) The Unforgiven, The Unforgiven (Expanded Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) Cowboy, 5’ll Getcha Ten (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Grateful Dead, Dick’s Picks

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Categories: News, Release Round-Up Formats: Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, DVD Genre: Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Country, Folk, Gospel, Pop, R&B/Soul, Soundtracks Tags: Leonard Bernstein, Pixies, The Five Stairsteps, The Moody Blues, Three Dog Night, Todd Rundgren

Baby's Coming Back: Jellyfish Goes Deluxe In January

December 1, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

jellyfish bellybutton

This January is all about Jellyfish, thanks to the team at Omnivore Recordings. On January 20, 2015, the label will release the eagerly-anticipated 2-CD deluxe editions of both 1990's Bellybutton and 1993's Spilt Milk - in other words, the complete original album oeuvre of the power pop revivalists. In total, 51 bonus tracks will be spread across the two releases for the most complete account of the short-lived yet fondly-remembered Bay Area band. Formed by singer/drummer Andy Sturmer and

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download, Vinyl Genre: Pop, Rock Tags: Jellyfish

David Foster Makes Christmas "Merry and Bright" With Rod Stewart, Celine Dion, More

November 26, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

merry and bright

In a career spanning five decades, producer-musician-songwriter David Foster has virtually become a brand name in himself. After making his name in bands like Skylark and Airplay, the Canadian multi-hyphenate contributed as sideman, writer and arranger to albums by George Harrison, Diana Ross, Donna Summer and Earth Wind and Fire; he won one of his sixteen Grammy Awards for co-writing that band’s “After the Love is Gone.” Beginning in the 1980s, he launched a solo career and also established

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Pop Tags: Celine Dion, David Foster, Rod Stewart

Klaatu Rising: Bernard Herrmann's "The Day The Earth Stood Still" Returns To CD

November 26, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

day the earth stood still

Klaatu barada nikto. With those three words, Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) saved the world from certain destruction at the hands of the eight-foot robot Gort in the 1951 classic The Day the Earth Stood Still. Director Robert Wise’s film remains one of the most chilling and effective Cold War-era films, wrapping its plea for peace in a compelling, documentary-style sci-fi narrative. Chief among its assets was a score by maestro Bernard Herrmann (Psycho, Taxi Driver). Herrmann’s intense, exciting

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Soundtracks Tags: Bernard Herrmann

Better Be Fierce: Real Gone Reissues Two From Ronnie Dyson On "Phase 2/Brand New Day"

November 25, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

ronnie dyson brand new and phase

In the annals of underrated R&B vocalists, Ronnie Dyson (1950-1990) was among the greatest. A versatile singer equally comfortable with smooth soul, pure pop and showbiz pizzazz, Dyson left behind a small but rich catalogue for the Columbia and Cotillion labels. With the recent release of Phase 2 and Brand New Day from 1982 and 1983, respectively, Real Gone Music and SoulMusic Records have filled in two of the major holes in Dyson’s CD discography (RGM-0294). With the release of this stellar

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: R&B/Soul Tags: Ronnie Dyson

Don’t Walk Away: Hear No Evil Label Expands Terraplane’s Debut "Black and White"

November 24, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

terraplane black and white

Before Thunder, there was Terraplane.  Thunder, the British hard-rock act that notched a No.2 record on the UK charts in 1992 with Laughing On Judgment Day had previously existed as Terraplane.  Under that incarnation, the band released two albums in the 1980s.  Cherry Red imprint HNE Recordings recently released an expanded edition of Terraplane’s debut effort, Black and White. Hailing from South London, Terraplane’s membership was initially made up of Danny Bowes (vocals), Luke Morley

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Terraplane

Release Round-Up: Week of November 24

November 24, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

simon and garfunkel albums cover

Simon and Garfunkel, The Complete Albums Collection (Columbia/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) This 12-CD box includes all five of Simon & Garfunkel's stereo studio albums released between 1964 and 1970, newly remastered from first-generation analog sources plus first-time remasters of The Graduate soundtrack and 1981's The Concert in Central Park; 1972's Greatest Hits album (which contained some unique performances unavailable elsewhere); and the live concert albums from 1967, 1969

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Categories: News, Release Round-Up Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, Soundtracks Tags: Bing Crosby, Bryan Adams, Neil Diamond, Simon and Garfunkel, The Velvet Underground

Step by Step, Heart By Heart: Martika's Debut Expanded by Cherry Pop

November 21, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

martika1

For decades, The Disney Channel has served as a launching pad for the pop stars of tomorrow, from Justin Timberlake to Britney Spears to Selena Gomez and many more.  One of the earliest shows to have stars emerge was Kids Incorporated which aired on The Disney Channel from 1986-1994 (after having moved there from syndication).  Kids introduced audiences to, among others, Fergie and Jennifer Love Hewitt.   But it was another cast member from the show who had early success stemming from her time

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Pop Tags: Martika

Bring the Noise! Public Enemy's Landmark "It Takes a Nation of Millions" to Be Expanded

November 20, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

public

Last year, UMe demanded that listeners “Respect the Classics” with a new series of multi-format reissues dedicated to landmark hip-hop albums from the vaults of labels including Def Jam, Interscope, Priority and Virgin.  One of last year’s releases was an LP reissue of Public Enemy’s 1988 release It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.  On November 24, Def Jam will revisit that title once again with a 2-CD/1-DVD expanded reissue. The second album by hip hop group Public Enemy, It Takes

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Categories: News Formats: CD, DVD Genre: Rap/Hip-Hop Tags: Public Enemy

Ace Super Soul Round-Up, Part Two: The "One in a Million" Songs of Sam Dees, The New Orleans Sound of Cosimo Matassa

November 19, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

sam dees one in a million

Welcome to Part 2 of our two-part series exploring a recent crop of amazing soul and R&B from the Ace and Kent labels! Birmingham, Alabama native Sam Dees has worn many hats in a long and illustrious career – producer, singer, songwriter, among them.  But it’s a songwriter that Dees has received his greatest acclaim.  He’s gifted music to George Benson and Aretha Franklin (“Love All the Hurt Away”), Atlantic Starr (“Am I Dreaming”), Gladys Knight and the Pips (“Save the Overtime (For Me)”

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: R&B/Soul Tags: Allen Toussaint, Sam Dees

It's A Happy New Year with Real Gone Music's January Slate

November 18, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

jackie moore complete

Real Gone Music is saying “Happy New Year!” a couple of months early with the announcement of the label’s January 6 slate of releases. This customarily eclectic batch is highlighted by the classic soul of The Main Ingredient and Jackie Moore, blue comedy from Redd Foxx, two otherworldly soundtracks from the films of cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky (on both LP and CD!), and more live jam-band greatness from Grateful Dead. Real Gone’s press release, with full details on each title,

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock, R&B/Soul, Soundtracks Tags: Jackie Moore, Redd Foxx, The Grateful Dead, The Main Ingredient

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