Just a bit more than a week after the arrival of autumn, Real Gone music will deliver a slate of releases that might put you in an appropriately reflective mood. On September 30, two late vocal legends, Patti Page and Perry Como, get the Real Gone treatment complete with numerous previously unissued performances. A bona fide rock and R&B legend, Billy Preston, sees an early classic reissued alongside another concert rescued from the Grateful Dead’s vault. And the batch is rounded out by not one, not two, but three albums from The…
Review: “The Muppet Movie: Original Soundtrack Recording”
I’m a pretty sensitive person, but there are few things that trigger my emotions easier than The Muppets. Searching through Muppet clips yields almost a 100% guarantee on being moved to tears; just finding the link to this ciip from the 1990 special The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson made me start tearing up, and my last trip to Walt Disney World began with me leaving the plane to Orlando, choking back my emotions over a screening of 2011’s The Muppets. (For the record, this is the scene that made me such a mess.) One…
She Will Survive: BBR Reissues, Expands Gloria Gaynor’s “Love Tracks” and “Park Avenue Sound”
The very first release on Big Break Records, early in 2010, was an expanded reissue of the very first solo album by Gloria Gaynor. Never Can Say Goodbye spun Clifton Davis’ title track into disco gold and pioneered the sidelong disco mix with a nearly 19-minute suite from Tom Moulton consisting of “Honey Bee,” “Never Can Say Goodbye,” and another Motown revival, “Reach Out I’ll Be There.” Big Break followed that landmark 1974 album with an expansion of Experience Gloria Gaynor, from 1975. It followed the template of her debut with a…
BBR Unveils Trio of “Winners” From The Jazz Crusaders, Inner Life and Kleeer
Odds and Ends Dept.: In the excitement over Big Break Records’ recent quartet of titles from Philadelphia’s Baker-Harris-Young production partnership, we temporarily overlooked three no-less-worthy, just-released reissues from the busy Cherry Red imprint: The Jazz Crusaders’ Give Peace a Chance, Kleeer’s Winners, and Inner Life’s self-titled album. Prior to reinventing themselves as The Crusaders in 1971 and emphasizing a funkier electric style, Joe Sample (piano), Wilton Felder (saxophone), Stix Hooper (drums) and Wayne Henderson (trombone) carved out a niche in the West Coast jazz scene with their blend of bop, soul and…
Review: Elvis Presley, “Elvis at Stax”
The distance from 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard , or Graceland, to Stax Records’ headquarters at 926 East McLemore Avenue is just a little over 5 miles. So when RCA Records came calling on the once and future King in mid-1973 to fulfill an obligation to record 24 songs (a 10-song album, four single sides, and a 10-song “religious album”), the studio founded by Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton seemed to be the perfect locale. Recording at home in Memphis had always brought something special to Presley’s music, anyway, from his very first…
Make Way For Dionne Warwick: 23 Scepter and Warner Bros. Albums To Be Remastered and Expanded [NOW WITH UPDATED TRACK LISTINGS]
UPDATE 8/6/13: WEA Japan’s deluxe mini-LP editions of Dionne Warwick’s Scepter and Warner catalogue have finally arrived, but many purchasers have been surprised to find numerous alterations in the albums’ bonus material. Originally-listed bonus tracks have been added, dropped, and reshuffled between albums. By the numbers, there are 5 more bonus tracks than originally listed, but some songs are absent with others taking their place. Below, in BOLD, we’ll let you know exactly what you’ll find on every CD in the series, what’s missing, and what’s new! ORIGINAL POST OF 5/20/13: What it’s all about? According to…
SoulMusic Records Is “Born to Love” With Reissues from Peabo and Roberta, Nancy Wilson and Tavares
With its latest batch of reissues, including titles from Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack, Tavares, and Nancy Wilson, Cherry Red’s SoulMusic Records imprint can truly be said to cover a wide swath of the soulful spectrum. Duets have long been staples of great R&B. Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway, James Ingram and Patti Austin, and Otis Redding and Carla Thomas – just to name a few in the pantheon – all proved that “it takes two.” (That title, in fact, gave Gaye and Kim Weston a hit.) …
Review: Nilsson, “The RCA Albums Collection”
A largess universal like the sun His liberal eye doth give to every one, Thawing cold fear, that mean and gentle all, Behold, as may unworthiness define, A little touch of Harry in the night. – William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act IV He’s a pretty nifty guy Always looks you in the eye Everybody passing by will sigh For Harry… – Eric Idle, “Harry” Harry Nilsson had the voice of an angel, and raised hell like the devil. A consummate songwriter, he had his biggest hits with two songs written by others:…
Darlene Love, Nino Tempo, The Sweet Inspirations Feature On Jeff Barry’s “The Idolmaker” Soundtrack
Perhaps the time just wasn’t right for The Idolmaker. Director Taylor Hackford (An Officer and a Gentleman, Ray) made his feature-length motion picture debut with the 1980 film based on the life of Philadelphia impresario Bob Marcucci, enlisting Ray Sharkey to play the fictionalized manager Vincent Vacari. In reality, Marcucci had discovered Frankie Avalon and Fabian; in the film, the teen idols were Tommy Dee (Paul Land) and Caesare (Peter Gallagher). The United Artists picture received some plaudits for its tale of a rock-and-roll Svengali, including from Roger Ebert. The future At…
The Anita Kerr Singers Step Out of the Background On Reissue of “The Genius in Harmony”
The release of director Morgan Neville’s documentary 20 Feet from Stardom has rightfully placed the spotlight on those dynamite vocalists who toil in the shadows on record and onstage, often without credit. Background singers are part and parcel of the story of popular music, and Neville’s film has given richly-deserved attention to Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Claudia Lennear, Judith Hill, and other greats of the field. The story of background groups like The Breakaways, The Jordanaires, The Andantes and The Sweet Inspirations could fill an entire motion picture, too. And one of…
Release Round-Up Special: James Taylor, CSN, “Blade Runner” Released by Audio Fidelity
In lieu of a standard Release Round-Up this week, here’s a look at the major three titles that are out today: the latest gold discs and SACDs from Audio Fidelity. The titles released today are Crosby, Stills & Nash’s CSN, James Taylor’s Gorilla and Vangelis’ soundtrack album to Blade Runner. The third studio album by the folk-rock supergroup Crosby, Stills and Nash, released in 1977, is crucially different from the ones before – this time, there’s no contribution from Neil Young. (Young had sat in on 1970’s Déjà Vu and 1971’s live 4 Way Street, all the while making…
Wherever He Lays His Hat: Cherry Pop Collects Paul Young’s “Remixes and Rarities”
For Daryl Hall, “Every Time You Go Away” might have been “the one that got away.” Hall recorded his song on Hall and Oates’ 1980 album Voices, where it languished as an album track in the shadow of hit singles “Kiss on My List,” “You Make My Dreams,” “How Does It Feel to Be Back,” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.” But you can’t keep a great blue-eyed soul ballad down. In 1985, Hall’s composition became the centerpiece of British-born Paul Young’s sophomore album The Secret of Association, reaching No. 1 in…
Heart and Salsoul: BBR Reissues First Choice, Loleatta Holloway, Baker-Harris-Young and Love Committee
One could call bassist Ronnie Baker, guitarist Norman Harris and drummer Earl Young unsung heroes, but it’s not quite accurate to describe the triumvirate of musicians, songwriters, producers and arrangers as unsung. Individually or collectively, Baker, Harris and Young helmed productions by Blue Magic, The Trammps, First Choice, Ben E. King, Eddie Kendricks, The Whispers, The Persuaders, and so many more. As part of its ongoing series restoring the Salsoul Records catalogue to R&B supremacy, Big Break Records has recently reissued four albums that, in part or in full, boast the Baker-Harris-Young imprimatur. …
It’s Good For The Soul! The Salsoul Orchestra’s “Nice ‘n’ Naasty” Arrives In Expanded Edition
The third song on the first side of The Salsoul Orchestra’s second album proclaims “It Don’t Have to Be Funky (To Be a Groove).” But under the leadership of vibraphonist Vince Montana, Jr., the grooves were most certainly funky…as well as soulful, jazzy, and above all, danceable. 1976’s Nice ‘n’ Naasty, just reissued in an expanded edition by Big Break Records, is an even more eclectic collection than its predecessor. It continues Big Break’s top-flight program celebrating all aspects of the Salsoul Records legacy in high style, and also serves as a…
Ring Ring! ABBA’s Debut Album Gets the CD/DVD Treatment This Fall
It’s been four decades since Agnetha Fälksog, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad came together to change the face of pop music. This fall, the first album by the group the world now knows as ABBA is getting an expanded CD/DVD treatment – and those who are interested as to how the quartet came together will have a lot of bonus tracks to discover and enjoy. When the single “People Need Love” was released in 1972, it was intended as a one-off collaboration between three successful Swedish pop entities: female singers Fälksog and Lyngstad…
Jerry Lee Lewis, The Ronettes, Del Shannon, Louis Armstrong Feature On “The London American Label 1964”
1964 will forever be remembered on American shores as the year of Beatlemania, when those four moptops from Liverpool led the British Invasion to the top of the pop charts. That tale has been chronicled many times, but one of the most recent releases from U.K.-based label Ace tells the story of the year’s American Invasion – via the American records imported to London on the London American label. This latest volume in the long-running series (which now features an entry for each year between 1956 and 1964) may be the most…
Gene Pitney Is “Looking Through the Eyes of Love” On New RPM Two-Fers
After a long hiatus, Cherry Red’s RPM label is continuing its series of reissues dedicated to the late Gene Pitney (“Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa,” “Town Without Pity,” “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”). The singer’s long out-of-print albums for Aaron Schroeder’s Musicor label were reissued on CD in a series of two-fers by Sequel Records in the late 1990s, but upon their deletion from the catalogue, they began commanding high prices on the second-hand market. Since then, the Pitney discography has been marked by an inordinate number of budget releases, making…
The Bright Side of Life: Harry Nilsson’s “Flash Harry” (Finally!) Comes To CD In Expanded Form
What should have been a new beginning became a rather inauspicious end to a remarkable career. Harry Nilsson’s final studio album, 1980’s amusingly-titled Flash Harry, was his first on the Mercury label. It followed a decade-plus stint at RCA and signaled a fresh start. But despite its starry array of musicians, and typically solid songwriting, the album produced by Stax guitar legend Steve Cropper with engineer Bruce Robb was withheld from release in North America. Flash Harry only was issued in Europe and Japan, and soon after, it was gone without a…
What Goes Up: Blood, Sweat & Tears’ “Rare, Rarer & Rarest” Tracks Come To CD
What goes up must come down. So sang David Clayton-Thomas in the opening line of his Grammy-winning song “Spinning Wheel,” which became a No. 2 Pop/No. 1 AC in 1969 for Blood, Sweat & Tears. And so went the fortunes of the jazz-rock band itself. The band’s signature rock-with-horns style was soon eclipsed by that of Chicago (Transit Authority), who shared a producer in James William Guercio. But when BS&T was hot, few bands were hotter. Wounded Bird Records is revisiting the group’s peak era with the July 2 release of Rare,…
Don’t Walk On By: Dionne Warwick’s “Unissued Warner Bros. Masters” Joins “The Complete Warner Bros. Singles” On CD
When Dionne Warwick signed on the dotted line with Warner Bros. Records, the possibilities must have seemed endless. The singer had embraced change, after all. A new decade was in its infancy. She had traded a feisty New York independent (Scepter) for a Burbank giant. She had even added an “e” to her surname on the advice of an astrologer. And although the exact amount wasn’t disclosed, Warwick had reportedly signed the biggest deal ever for a female vocalist. What didn’t change, at least initially, was the commitment of producers/songwriters Burt Bacharach…
She’s Got The Beat: Belinda Carlisle’s Deluxe 2-CD/1-DVD Reissues Due in August (UPDATED WITH TRACK LISTINGS)
The Tabu catalogue isn’t the only major acquisition of late for the Demon Music Group. Back in March, Demon – home to labels including Edsel, Harmless and Music Club Deluxe – announced that a deal had been struck for much of the solo catalogue of onetime Go-Go Belinda Carlisle. Ooh, baby, do you know what that’s worth? Demon picked up rights to four of Carlisle’s studio albums, the rights to which had previously resided with Virgin (part of the former EMI). Demon’s agreement covers the world, except for the U.S. and Canada, and includes physical…
What’s It All About: Burt Bacharach Celebrated On PBS, Lost Song Included on “Dionne Warwick Sings Burt Bacharach”
The first voice you’ll hear on My Music: Burt Bacharach’s Best, now airing on PBS stations nationwide, is that of The Maestro himself. “What’s it all about, Alfie?,” he sings in his familiar, quavering tone, finding the fragility in the Hal David lyric that he calls his favorite. Then comes “What the World Needs Now is Love,” sung by its composer with an assist from that International Man of Mystery, Austin Powers (Mike Myers). It’s appropriate that the solo Bacharach introduces this first-ever collection of complete archival performances drawn from the heyday of his…
Review: Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck, “Bennett/Brubeck: The White House Sessions, Live 1962”
It was a Tuesday afternoon in Camelot when giants met. These giants weren’t the types who resided in the clouds atop beanstalks, of course. These were giants of a decidedly more earthy variety. It was at the behest of John F. Kennedy’s White House that Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck came together. On August 28, 1962, they shared a bill at the base of the Washington Monument as a parting gift to an audience of college-age interns who had served that summer in the nation’s capital. Following two individual sets – Brubeck’s…
BBR Goes For The Total Experience with Gap Band, Billy Paul Reissues
Today we’re taking a look at two recent reissues from Big Break Records. Both Billy Paul’s Lately and Gap Band VII were originally released by Total Experience Records, and both were the production work of Jonah Ellis. Big Break has expanded and remastered both albums. Billy Paul, Lately (Total Experience, 1985 – reissued Big Break CDBBR 0224, 2013) Could anyone among us have an inkling or a clue, what magic feats of wizardry and voodoo you can do? And who would ever guess what powers you possess? Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff…
Good Love: SoulMusic Expands Two From Nancy Wilson and Meli’sa Morgan
Following its 2012 reissue of R&B songstress Meli’sa Morgan‘s Capitol Records debut Do Me Baby, Cherry Red’s SoulMusic Records imprint has turned its attention to Morgan’s second long-player for the label. Good Love built on the success of Do Me Baby. Besides boasting a No. 1 R&B title track, the album established the Queens-born Morgan as a top R&B talent in her own right. She had previously sung on background vocals for the likes of Whitney Houston and Kashif, and fronted the groups Shades of Love and High Fashion, but her rendition…
Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention
September 25, 2026