Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Rolling Stones, Their Satanic Majesties Request: 50th Anniversary Special Edition (ABKCO) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The Rolling Stones' controversial 1967 immersion into psychedelia, Their Satanic Majesties Request, gets a 50th anniversary box set from ABKCO containing the original album in mono and stereo on both 180-gram vinyl and hybrid SACD (playable on all CD players) as newly remastered by Bob Ludwig, plus restored
Hallelujah: Johnny Mathis Releases New Album of Current Songs, Confirms Date of Career-Spanning Box Set
For more than sixty years, the voice of Johnny Mathis has been synonymous with romance, class, and sophistication. He's performed songs by everyone from Richard Rodgers to Burt Bacharach, and worked with world-class musicians like Percy Faith, Ray Conniff, Henry Mancini, Thom Bell, Nelson Riddle, and Don Costa. Now, the eternally youthful singer is turning to a new repertoire for his latest studio album. On September 29, Columbia Records will release Johnny Mathis Sings the Great New American
Release Round-Up: Week of September 15
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Doors, The Singles (Elektra/Rhino) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. 2CD/1BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. Vinyl box set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. Singles compiles all 20 of the singles from The Doors' official discography. This not only includes every A and B-side from their core studio albums, but several albums recorded and released after the passing of frontman Jim Morrison, including
You'll Be Doin' All Right: New Compilation Features Elvis Presley Christmas Classics with New Orchestral Backing
Even though the fall season has yet to officially begin, kids are back at school and we are already looking ahead to winter. Of course, that also means Christmas and it is time to start kicking off the announcements of Christmas recordings for this year. RCA and Legacy Recordings have just announced a new Elvis Presley project for this yuletide season: Christmas with Elvis and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, due on October 6. As you may have guessed from the title, this new project
It's Time for Mistletoe and Holly: Capitol Releases Sinatra's "Ultimate Christmas"
Summer may still be in its final days, but when it comes to music, Christmas is just around the corner! Today, Capitol/UMe announced a new collection from Frank Sinatra set for release on October 6. Ultimate Christmas collects 20 of the Chairman's seasonal standards from both his Capitol and Reprise periods, spanning 1954 to 1991, including collaborations with his children Frank, Tina, and Nancy. This collection will be available in CD, digital, and 180-gram 2-LP black vinyl editions, as well
Release Round-Up: Week of September 8
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Melissa Manchester, Through the Eyes of Love: The Complete Arista 7" Singles (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The timeless songs of Melissa Manchester are collected on a new, comprehensive anthology from Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music. Through the Eyes of Love: The Complete Arista 7″ Singles brings together 43 songs and 157 minutes of beautiful music on two CDs, including such all-time hits and
Release Round-Up: Week of September 1
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Carole King, Tapestry: Live at Hyde Park (CD/DVD) (Legacy/Rockingale) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) This new CD/DVD release features Carole King's 45th anniversary performance of her seminal 1971 classic Tapestry, performed live in front of 65,000 fans in London's Hyde Park on July 3, 2016. The setlist, preserved on both CD and DVD, includes the entire original album plus numerous highlights from King's illustrious songbook both
Release Round-Up: Week of August 25
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Alex Chilton, A Man Called Destruction: Expanded Edition (Omnivore) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2-LP Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada In 1995, the late Big Star and Box Tops frontman Alex Chilton returned to Memphis' Ardent Studios, the site of his classic work with Big Star, to record A Man Called Destruction. Blending original songs with a host of eclectic covers from the likes of Chris Kenner ("Sick and
Review: Howard Jones, "Best 1983-2017"
Howard Jones is more than his synths. The British keyboardist dominated his home country's charts in the '80s (and flirted with success on American shores more than a few times in the same period) with fascinatingly busy, seriously catchy slices of synthpop with more than a little R&B influence. But peel back the hooks and riffs and you'll find the work of a man who is searching--for what, it's not always clear, but the search is there. Best 1983-2017 (Cherry Red Records PCDTRED 707), an
Release Round-Up: Week of August 11
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Jo Stafford, It Had to Be You: Lost Radio Recordings (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Jo Stafford's It Had To Be You: Lost Radio Recordings features 24 performances from the legendary vocalist's stint as co-host (with crooner Tony Martin) of The Carnation Contented Hour on CBS Radio from 1950-1951. With songs by mainstays of the Great American Songbook like Harold Arlen ("I've Got the World on a String"), Rodgers
Short Takes: Barbara Cook, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones and Marshall Crenshaw
Farewell, Barbara Cook: The legendary original star of Broadway's The Music Man, Candide, and She Loves Me has passed away at the age of 89. Cook's enchantingly pure soprano made her a favorite ingénue of the Broadway stage, and her indelible performances in the above musicals as well as Flahooley, Plain and Fancy, The Gay Life, The Grass Harp, Follies in Concert, and others - including her final Broadway appearance in 2010's Sondheim on Sondheim - are happily preserved on original cast
Review: Santana and The Isley Brothers, "Power of Peace"
In 1965, Hal David first made the observation, "What the world needs now is love, sweet love...it's the only thing that there's just too little of." Over fifty-two years later, there's still just too little love, and it's a situation which Carlos Santana has aimed to remedy. The guitar hero was inspired by seeing the velvet-voiced Ron Isley, longtime lead singer of The Isley Brothers, performing with Burt Bacharach in a 2004 television special promoting their collaborative album Here I Am.
Release Round-Up: Week of July 28
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Elvis Presley, A Boy From Tupelo - The Complete 1953-55 Recordings (RCA/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K.) A Boy From Tupelo: The Complete Recordings 1953-1955 journeys back to the birth of rock-and-roll to feature, on three CDs and digitally, every known Elvis Presley Sun Records master and outtake. In addition, the collection also contains Elvis' four earliest, privately-pressed sides, and vintage radio and concert
Release Round-Up: Week of July 21
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Ramones, Leave Home: 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Sire/Rhino) 3CD/1LP box set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. 1CD remaster: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. A new 3CD/1LP edition of Ramones' 1977 sophomore album boasts the album in original and newly-remixed form, as well as a 33-track disc loaded with previously unreleased session material and a 1977 CBGBs concert recording! In addition to the above material on CD,
Release Round-Up: Week of July 14
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Dusty Springfield, A Brand New Me: The Complete Philadelphia Sessions (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Dusty Springfield's 1970 A Brand New Me LP (her follow-up Atlantic effort to the landmark Dusty in Memphis) found Dusty traveling to Sigma Sound in Philadelphia to work with Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Thom Bell, architects of the orchestrated soul known as "The Philadelphia Sound." Springfield would have a #3 AC
I'm Goin' Back Someday: Linda Ronstadt's "Simple Dreams" Gets Expanded In September
Trivia: What album replaced Fleetwood Mac's Rumours on top of the Billboard Album Chart after its 29-week stay? The answer: Linda Ronstadt's Simple Dreams. Ronstadt's eighth studio album, it became one of her most successful and most beloved. Now, on the occasion of its 40th anniversary, the Grammy Award-winning Simple Dreams is receiving an expanded edition from Rhino Records. It's due on CD, vinyl LP, DD, and streaming platforms on September 22. The multi-platinum smash was Ronstadt's
Release Round-Up: Week of July 7
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up featuring our latest Second Disc Records title and much, much more! Laura Nyro, A Little Magic, A Little Kindness: The Complete Mono Albums Collection (Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music are proud to present, for the first time on CD, the ultra-rare, original mono mixes of Laura Nyro's first two albums: More Than a New Discovery (Verve Folkways, 1967) and Eli
Review: The Beach Boys, "1967: Sunshine Tomorrow" and "Wild Honey" (Stereo LP)
There's nothing quite nice as a kiss of wild honey... Carl Wilson - the angelic voice from on high of "God Only Knows" - unleashed his inner soul man with a fury on "Wild Honey," the title track of The Beach Boys' second album of 1967. The funky, Theremin-driven ode to a "girl with the sweetness of a honey bee" opened the LP which turned out to be one of the most singular in the band's storied catalogue. Its fusion of pulsating R&B and raw rock-and-roll, anchored by nine Brian
Release Round-Up: Week of June 30
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Beach Boys, 1967: Sunshine Tomorrow (Capitol/Brother/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The Beach Boys' Sunshine Tomorrow, a new 2-CD and digital collection, not only premieres the first-ever true stereo mix of 1967's Wild Honey, but also premieres a whopping 54 rarities recorded that year including the live album Lei'd in Hawaii, session material from both Wild Honey and Smiley Smile, and further live recordings (spanning
Release Round-Up: Week of June 23
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Prince, Purple Rain: Music from the Motion Picture (various formats) (Warner Bros.) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. 3CD/1DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. At long, long last - a deluxe, expanded Purple Rain arrives in various formats, including a 2-CD iteration with 11 previously unreleased outtakes and a 3-CD/1-DVD version adding a third CD of 15 single edits and
Love and Mercy: Rhino Collects Solo Brian Wilson For New Anthology, Premieres Two Songs
Brian Wilson turns 75 years young today - and hot on the heels of a well-received biopic and a record-breaking concert tour that continues through this fall, the legendary artist is looking back on his solo career for a new compendium arriving on September 22 from Rhino Records. Playback: The Brian Wilson Anthology captures, via 18 tracks, the Beach Boy's extraordinary journey from his 1988 Sire Records solo LP debut through 2015's No Pier Pressure. Two never-before-released tracks will also
Review: "Singles: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Deluxe Edition"
A Tribute Told in Vignettes... Well, I don't like to reduce us to just being part of the "Seattle Sound." I'd like to think of us as expanding more. Like, we're huge in Europe right now. I mean, we've got records... uh, a big record just broke in Belgium. -Cliff Poncier, Singles A Cameron Crowe film tends to have a "killer" soundtrack. Listening to a Crowe soundtrack is an intriguing adventure filled with carefully curated juxtapositions. In fact, the experience is a lot like the
Still the Same: Classic Bob Seger Albums Make Streaming Debut
As the music business increasingly adopts streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music into their strategies for success, it becomes painfully clear when albums (or whole catalogues, even) are missing from the digital realm. This year, we've already seen the triumphant return of Prince's Warner Bros.-era masters beyond the Tidal platform, ahead of next week's Purple Rain reissue. On Friday, one of the most famous holdouts finally relented. Bob Seger, the iconic Detroit rocker, and Capitol
Release Round-Up: Week of June 16
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! David Bowie, Cracked Actor: Live in Los Angeles 1974 (Parlophone/Rhino) (Amazon U.S./ Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Cracked Actor: Live in Los Angeles 1974 is the first authorized release of Bowie's Philly Dogs Tour show at Los Angeles' Universal Amphitheatre, from September 1974. First released earlier this year on vinyl only, some of this performance was featured in Alan Yentob's BBC documentary also known as Cracked Actor. The original tapes
Release Round-Up: Week of June 9
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Glen Campbell, Adios (UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Glen Campbell's final recordings, produced by his longtime band member Carl Jackson, comprise this release. Selections include the lead-off single "Everybody's Talkin'," and four songs by Jimmy Webb (including the touching title track as well as "Postcard from Paris," "Just Like Always" and "It Won't Bring Her Back"), plus compositions from Bob Dylan, Jerry Reed, Dickey Lee,