July 31 is sure to be a crate-digger's delight as Real Gone Music is set to release color vinyl reissues of two jazz and reggae classics: Airto's Seeds on the Ground: The Natural Sounds of Airto and Errol Dunkley's roots classic Darling Ooh! Seeds on the Ground was percussion master Airto's second album and his final release on Buddah. Following sessions with the likes of Miles Davis, Paul Desmond, Wayne Shorter, and Astrud Gilberto, Airto began a solo career that often found him
Review: Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, “Orange Crate Art: 25th Anniversary Edition”
Orange crate art was a place to start/Orange crate art was a world apart... Van Dyke Parks - composer, lyricist, arranger, producer, and all-around iconoclast - found inspiration in those familiar fruit crates painted with lovely, bucolic images of the fantasyland known as California. Having crafted a relaxed, loping melody, he was determined to set lyrics to it. The story goes that the first word he thought of was "orange." While it isn't easy to rhyme, it does stir at least four of the
Chase Down That Crown: A Special Bandcamp Friday Shopping List
Bandcamp Friday is fast becoming as exciting a time as any other music street date. On March 20, as the COVID-19 pandemic was putting the world on pause, the indie music service waived their revenue share on all music and merch sold, allowing indie artists and labels a chance for some steadier income as concert tours began to halt. The event was a resounding success, and has been repeated on the first Fridays of May and June, with another to follow on July 3. This Friday, June 19, in
Epistrophy: Unreleased Thelonious Monk “Palo Alto” Concert Arrives in July
"[It's] one of the best live recordings I've ever heard by Thelonious...I wasn't even aware of my dad playing a high school gig, but he and the band were on it." So says T.S. Monk, son of groundbreaking jazz pianist Thelonious Monk. "When I first heard the tape, from the first measure, I knew my father was feeling really good." The younger Monk is talking about Palo Alto, a newly unearthed concert recorded October 27, 1968 which will be released for the first time ever on July 31 through
Release Round-Up: Week of June 19
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, Orange Crate Art: 25th Anniversary Edition (Omnivore) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Omnivore 2LP Black Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Omnivore 2LP Colored Vinyl: Omnivore Omnivore celebrates 25 years of Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks' beautiful Orange Crate Art with a variety of reissues. The 2-CD version boasts three previously unreleased bonus tracks on the first
Review: Dr. John, “Ske-Dat-De-Dat: The Spirit of Satch” from The Last Music Company
What happens when you mix a bit of gris-gris with a touch of classic jazz? You get a party of an album such as Dr. John's Ske-Dat-Ske-Dat: The Spirit of Satch! The late Mac Rebennack, a.k.a. Dr. John, frequently drew on the classic sounds of New Orleans as he conjured his own musical voodoo. Most appropriately, his final studio album was a tribute to one of the most significant figures to ever emerge from the Crescent City. Louis Armstrong transformed the sounds of both jazz and popular music,
Zip! Stage Door Reissues, Expands London Cast Albums of “Zip Goes a Million” and “Happy Holiday”
Stage Door Records is heading back to the 1950s with a new CD presenting two U.K. musicals from the team of composer George Posford and librettist/lyricist Eric Maschwitz: Zip Goes a Million and Happy Holiday. It's due from the label on June 26. 1951's Zip Goes a Million was based on George Barr McCutcheon's 1902 novel Brewster's Millions about a young man left an inheritance by his grandfather with an unusual twist: he must spend the entirety of the inheritance within one year, resulting in
Split Enz’s ‘True Colours’ Shine Bright On New Reissue
The album that introduced most of the world to New Zealand pop band Split Enz, True Colours is getting a new mix and expanded reissue for its 40th anniversary. The album now features a brand-new mix of the record by Enz keyboardist Eddie Rayner, who's often overseen the sonic quality of the band's catalogue. "I have both the original stereo masters from the 1979 mixing sessions, and the versions currently held in repositories such as Spotify...and they are radically different, sonically,"
Go All the Way: Demon Reissues Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs’ “Under the Covers,” Compiles New “Best Of” Collection
"In the real world, Sid 'n Susie are Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs - two navigators in the pop musical current, current tense vocally and as tunesmiths with prime craft of their own write. They've bagged the best of the '60s with uncanny insight. I know. I was there but can remember," asserted Van Dyke Parks in his introduction to 2006's Under the Covers Vol. 1. On that volume, Sid 'n Susie revisited some of their favorite songs of the 1960s, largely staying faithful to the original
People, Let’s Freak Out: Cherry Red Reissues, Expands “Belfast Gypsies” from The Other Them
There are many peculiar stories in the annals of rock and roll, but surely one of the most peculiar is the tale of Them and The Other Them - and it's just been chronicled anew in Cherry Red/Grapefruit's release of Them: Belfast Gypsies. The Northern Irish band Them always had a fluid lineup; frontman Van Morrison wrote candidly in 2015 that "Them was intended as a vehicle, a way for me to sing and play the blues." The first line-up, featuring Eric Wrixon on keyboards, only ever recorded
Go Ahead, Have A Vision: Paul McCartney Prepares “Flaming Pie” Archive Edition Sets for July
Today, Paul McCartney fans everywhere have much to celebrate as the inimitable musician has announced the July 31st release of the latest volume in his ongoing Archives series - this one's a look back on Flaming Pie, an album that marked a sort of return to form upon its release in 1997. Inspired by the simpler, more immediate recording style that The Beatles used decades before, Paul McCartney returned to Abbey Road with some of his favorite collaborators, including Ringo Starr, George Martin,
Release Round-Up: Week of June 12
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Peter Gabriel, Rated PG (Real World) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Last year, Peter Gabriel issued Rated PG, a collection of one-off songs he'd performed for motion pictures across his solo career. This year, that album gets a wider release beyond its picture disc pressing for Record Store Day; it'll now be available on CD and vinyl on Friday, June 12. The 10-track compendium
UPDATE: Bob Dylan Confirms “Rough and Rowdy Ways” Tracks
UPDATED 6/11/20: Last month, Bob Dylan announced the upcoming release of Rough and Rowdy Ways, his first album of original music in 8 years. Due out next Friday, June 19, on Columbia Records, Rough and Rowdy Ways will be a ten-song, two-CD affair. The album opens with "I Contain Multitudes," followed by "False Prophet," and it closes with the epic "Murder Most Foul." In typical Dylan fashion, much of the details about the new album have remained under lock and key. But earlier today,
Have You Heard: Omnivore Celebrates Doo-Wop Era with The Duprees, The Crests, The Rivieras, Adam Wade
Omnivore Recordings is celebrating the era of street-corner symphonies with five upcoming CD/digital collections from the golden age of doo-wop. The remastered titles arriving throughout July and August are drawn from the vaults of Coed Records and celebrate the sounds of The Rivieras (The Coed Singles), The Duprees (over two volumes, The Coed Singles and The Coed Albums: You Belong to Me/Have You Heard), The Crests (The Best of The Crests featuring Johnny Mastro: 16 Fabulous Hits), and Adam
A Second Disc Interview: Chatting with America’s Audio Archivist Jeff Larson as Band Preps “Half Century” Box
Chewing on a piece of grass/Walking down the road/Tell me, how long you gonna stay here, Joe? Happily, the music of America has stayed with us for 50 years. Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek met in London where their fathers were stationed with the United States Air Force; their coming together at the dawn of the 1970s has led to 16 studio albums and 47 singles including three U.S. chart-toppers and eleven Top 40 hits. That's in addition to a Grammy Award, a spot in the Vocal Group
Don’t Refuse To Believe It: Dave Mason, Yusuf Revisit Legendary Recordings 50 Years On
There was something special going on in the music scene in 1970, a certain alchemy that resulted in countless perfect albums that continue to stop listeners in their tracks. Two such albums - Cat Stevens' Tea For the Tillerman and Dave Mason's Alone Together - are among those that remain fresh all these years later. So imagine the surprise when Mason and the artist now known as Yusuf each announced they'd be revisiting their classics with Tea For the Tillerman 2 and Alone Together Again,
Down To Earth: Peter Gabriel’s Collection of Movie Songs Gets Wide Release In June
Last year, Peter Gabriel issued Rated PG, a collection of one-off songs he'd written and performed for motion pictures across his solo career. This year, that album gets a wider release beyond its picture disc pressing for Record Store Day; it'll now be available on CD and vinyl this Friday, June 12. A longtime film fan who once nearly enrolled at a London film school before his work in Genesis became noticed by the British music press, Gabriel has been no stranger to writing music for
Voice of America: Little Steven’s Discography Returns to CD, Some Titles Expanded with DVDs
Last year, Steven Van Zandt looked back on his solo discography with an impressive 6LP/4CD box set. Rock 'n Roll Rebel: The Early Work collected six albums on vinyl and added four CDs of bonus material, adding up to a definitive look at a powerful and politically-charged body of work. Now, the versatile E Street Band guitarist/Sopranos and Lilyhammer actor/Disciples of Soul bandleader is issuing Bob Ludwig's remastered versions of all six original albums on CD, and three of them will come with a
It’s Cold Outside: Omnivore Releases Live Album from Cleveland’s The Choir
Back in 2018, Omnivore Recordings released a never-before-heard recording from The Choir. Artifact: The Lost Album was a delightful trip back in time with the Cleveland garage-rock outfit. The rock 'n' rollers made their first splash with a 1966 single ("It's Cold Outside"). The regional hit on the Canadian-American label earned them national attention when it was re-released on Roulette and charted on the Billboard Hot 100. The band released a couple more 45s on Roulette through early 1968; a
Never Want It Badly Enough: The Second Disc’s Top Tracks For Bandcamp Friday
Despite the challenges facing the music business amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there are some bright spots. On March 20, indie music service Bandcamp waived their share of revenue on all sales for 24 hours, allowing artists and labels to support themselves even more robustly. Thanks to impressive results ($4.3 million spent on music and merch, 15 times an average Friday's revenue), Bandcamp repeated the strategy not once, but thrice: the first Fridays of each month (May 1, which raised $7.1
Release Round-Up: Week of June 5
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Frank Sinatra, Nice 'n' Easy: 60th Anniversary Edition (Capitol/UMe) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP (Remixed Album Only): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Capitol Records, Frank Sinatra Enterprises, and UMe have a 60th anniversary edition of Frank Sinatra's classic 1960 album arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle. For the occasion, the album has been completely remixed and features three bonus tracks: the
Needle In The Hay: Elliott Smith’s Sophomore Album To Be Expanded With Live Set
Seventeen years after Elliott Smith's tragic death at the age of 34, his spare, haunting music continues to resonate. On August 28, the Kill Rock Stars label will reissue his 1995 self-titled sophomore album in a 2-CD deluxe edition to commemorate its 25th anniversary. Elliott Smith continued in the acoustic singer-songwriter vein of its predecessor, Roman Candle, with the solo artist's guitar backed up only by an occasional other instrument such as harmonica or drums. Darkness pervaded the
Endless Flight: New Andrew Gold Box Set From Esoteric Offers Albums, Unreleased Live Material
He was born on a summer day, 1951 - and through the '70s, Andrew Gold issued a handful of killer pop singles around the world while serving as an in-demand session musician. This summer, U.K. label Esoteric Recordings will collect his complete discography for Asylum Records along with some choice studio and live bonus material - a portion of which is being released for the first time! Lonely Boy: The Asylum Years Anthology illustrates how Gold - the son of film composer Ernest and Hollywood
Cherry Red’s “A Slight Disturbance in My Mind” Collects The Psych-Pop Sounds of 1966
By any estimation, 1966 was a pivotal year in rock. On one side of the Atlantic: Pet Sounds, Blonde on Blonde, Sounds of Silence. On the other: Revolver, Fresh Cream, Aftermath. Those albums merely represent the tip of the iceberg, however. 1966 was a year in which psychedelia emerged from the fringes and onto the charts via such artists as The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, and yes, The Beatles with "Tomorrow Never Knows." The underground scene continued to grow and increasingly attract the
Mornin’ Glory: Bobbie Gentry’s “The Delta Sweete” Gets Remixed, Remastered, and Expanded Treatment
It was the third of June/Another sleepy, dusty Delta day... With a new announcement, this June 3 has gotten a lot less sleepy. Bobbie Gentry's 1967 debut album Ode to Billie Joe established the Mississippi native as a crossover country superstar. Boasting the Grammy-winning, chart-topping title track, the LP made it to No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Pop and Country charts and even reached the top five of the R&B survey. One year later, Gentry delivered her second album on Capitol. While The
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- …
- 117
- Next Page »