The Rolling Stones aren’t the first band one might think of in connection with the Summer of Love and the blossoming sound of psychedelia. Yet the Stones spent much of 1967, on and off, recording the album that became Their Satanic Majesties Request. Wholly unique in the band’s catalogue, it fused the band’s gritty sensibility with psychedelic effects, more lavish instrumentation, and experimental sounds. Underscoring its nature as a conceptual work, it was also the first album by the Stones to feature identical track listings on both sides of the Atlantic. Now,…
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 for this show were finally brought together last November, and they have been newly mixed by Tony Visconti. Note that…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Ella Fitzgerald at 100: Analog Spark Reissues “The Cole Porter Song Book” On SACD and Vinyl
Today, Ella Fitzgerald would have turned 100 years old. While the First Lady of Song passed away in 1996 at the age of 79, her rich legacy of music has hardly waned. She recorded over a remarkable seven-decade span, from 1935 through the early 1990s, yet her most significant contribution to the canon of American song just might be her Songbook series. Between 1956 and 1964, Fitzgerald teamed with a variety of arrangers (including Buddy Bregman, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, Nelson Riddle, Billy May, and Paul Weston) to salute the body…
Hot Burrito No. 2: Intervention Reissues Flying Burrito Brothers’ “Gilded Palace of Sin” On Vinyl and SACD
Intervention Records will soon be giving the deluxe audiophile treatment on both hybrid stereo SACD (playable on all CD players) and 180-gram vinyl LP to a bona fide country-rock classic. The Flying Burrito Brothers’ 1969 A&M Records release The Gilded Palace of Sin remains a landmark album, fusing genres to create something wholly new – “Cosmic American Music,” as Gram Parsons memorably named it. It will arrive on LP in May and later in the year on SACD. Though the group’s original incarnation was short-lived, The Flying Burrito Brothers inspired generations to…
Release Round-Up: Week of January 27
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Chicago, Chicago II: Steven Wilson Remix (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Chicago’s second album gets a fully remixed edition from producer Steven Wilson, created from the original 16-track multitrack tapes and sure to highlight previously unheard or overlooked elements of this rock classic! Available on CD, with an LP edition to follow later in the year. Read more here! Cream, Fresh Cream: Super Deluxe Edition (Polydor/UMC) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The super deluxe edition of Cream’s debut album Fresh…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Release Round-Up: Week of December 9
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Randy Newman, The Randy Newman Songbook (Nonesuch) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The Randy Newman Songbook box set marks the first-ever combined release of all three of the legendary songwriter’s piano-and-voice Songbook albums (including the new Vol. 3) recorded in 2003 and 2010 with producers Mitchell Froom and Lenny Waronker. All songs have been resequenced as one cohesive, thematically-linked listening experience spread over 4 CDs. Additionally, the box boasts five exclusive, previously unreleased bonus tracks: the now-standard “Feels Like Home,” “A Wedding in Cherokee County,” “I’m…
Categories:
Formats:
Release Round-Up: Week of September 30
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! The Rolling Stones, The Rolling Stones in Mono (ABKCO) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The Rolling Stones in Mono captures, on 15 CDs or 16 LPs, the original mono albums released on both sides of the Atlantic between 1964 and 1969 including the exceptionally rare mono editions of Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967), Beggars Banquet (1968) and Let It Bleed (1969). Exclusive to the box is Stray Cats, a single-CD/double-LP collection of mono single-only material and odds and ends,…
Categories:
Genres:
Intervention Records Brings “Stealers Wheel” To Hybrid SACD/CD
Clowns to the left of me…jokers to the right…It must be Stealers Wheel! Earlier this year, Intervention Records released exquisite vinyl reissues of the first two albums from the Scottish folk-rock band. Now, the label has revisited the group’s 1972 self-titled debut album (originally released on A&M Records) in the hybrid SACD format, playable on all CD players. Stealers Wheel – featuring lead guitarist Paul Pilnick, bassist Tony Williams and drummer Rod Coombes – boasts some legendary behind-the-scenes names. It was produced by veterans Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, and beautifully recorded…
Release Round-Up: Week of September 9
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up…one of the most packed in recent memory! Beatles, Live at the Hollywood Bowl (Apple/Capitol/UMe) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Since the advent of the compact disc era, The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl has been the forgotten stepchild of the Fab Four’s legendary catalogue. That changes today with the first-ever commercial CD/DD release of the 1977 album on September 9 via Apple/UMe. The newly-retitled, remixed, remastered and expanded Live at the Hollywood Bowl will arrive one week in…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Machine Gun: The Fillmore East First Show 12/31/69
On December 31, 1969 and January 1, 1970, Jimi Hendrix, Billy Cox and Buddy Miles took New York’s Fillmore East by storm with four exhilarating, adventurous performances fusing R&B, soul and hard rock with an improvisatory sensibility. Machine Gun: The Fillmore East First Show 12/31/69 presents the first of the group’s four sets, complete and in sequence for the very first time. Newly mixed from the original one-inch 8-track master tapes by Eddie Kramer, this landmark release, produced by Janie Hendrix, John McDermott and Kramer, will arrive on CD, 180-gram vinyl, SACD…
Power of Soul: Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys Revisited On “Machine Gun: The Fillmore East First Show”
On December 31, 1969 and January 1, 1970, Jimi Hendrix, Billy Cox and Buddy Miles took New York’s Fillmore East by storm with four exhilarating, adventurous performances fusing R&B, soul and hard rock with an improvisatory sensibility. On September 30, Legacy Recordings and Experience Hendrix will release the first of the Band of Gypsys’ four sets for the very first time as Machine Gun: The Fillmore East First Show 12/31/69. Newly mixed from the original one-inch 8-track master tapes by Eddie Kramer, this landmark release, produced by Janie Hendrix, John McDermott and Kramer,…
Release Round-Up: Week of July 29
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! The Archies, Sugar, Sugar: The Complete Albums Collection (Cleopatra) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) At long last! The complete albums of The Archies are being assembled in one 5-CD box set by Cleopatra Records. You’ll find The Archies, Everything’s Archie, Jingle Jangle, Sunshine and This Is Love each in a mini-LP replica sleeve, along with a booklet containing new liner notes. Bubblegum never tasted so good as in these top-notch AM radio productions by Jeff Barry and co., featuring Ron Dante, Toni Wine…
Full Sail (Quadraphonic Hybrid SACD)
Loggins and Messina’s 1973 Columbia album featuring “My Music” and “Watching the River Run” makes its multichannel SACD debut. Full Sail will play in stereo on all CD players but will play in 4.0 (quad) on SACD players equipped with a multichannel system.
Greatest Hits (Stereo Hybrid SACD)
Blood Sweat & Tears’ original 1972 Greatest Hits collection, featuring 11 songs including “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” “Spinning Wheel,” “And When I Die,” “I Can’t Quit Her,” “Lucretia MacEvil” and more, arrives on hybrid stereo SACD from Audio Fidelity. This disc from the jazz-rock pioneers can be played on any CD player but will play in high-resolution on SACD players.
Release Round-Up: Week of July 8
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! John Coltrane, The Atlantic Years in Mono (Atlantic/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Rhino’s new box set, available on both CD and LP, includes original mono mixes of Trane’s Giant Steps; Bags & Trane (with Milt Jackson); Ole Coltrane; Coltrane Plays The Blues and The Avant Garde (with Don Cherry) plus one disc of outtakes. All of these remastered albums are housed in replica jackets and a 32-page booklet is also included with new liner notes by Ashley Kahn and photos by Lee Friedlander. The CD version has…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Release Round-Up: Week of June 23
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! The Bangles, Ladies and Gentlemen…The Bangles! (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Ladies and Gentlemen…The Bangles!, first released digitally in 2014, features all of the band’s pre-Columbia studio material, plus four unreleased demos, two live tracks and other odds and ends! It arrives in stores from Omnivore just before Susanna Hoffs, Vicki Peterson and Debbi Peterson hit the road again! Read more here! Laura Nyro, Eli and the Thirteenth Confession Hybrid Quadraphonic SACD (Audio Fidelity) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The classic 1968 album…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (Hybrid Quad SACD)
The classic 1968 album from Laura Nyro featuring “Stoned Soul Picnic,” “Sweet Blindness” and “Eli’s Comin’” comes to hybrid SACD (playable on all CD players) from Audio Fidelity, with the original stereo mix newly remastered by Steve Hoffman in high-resolution stereo and standard CD formats, and the rare 4.0 quad surround mix in high resolution.
Stoned Soul Picnic: Audio Fidelity Reissues Laura Nyro’s “Eli” In Quadraphonic Mix
Audio Fidelity has recently become a home for rare quadraphonic recordings on SACD, and among the label’s future offerings is a true classic from Laura Nyro in its immersive quad mix: 1968’s Eli and the Thirteenth Confession. Later this month, on June 24, the label will offer Eli on hybrid SACD (playable on all CD players) with the original stereo mix newly remastered by Steve Hoffman in high-resolution stereo and standard CD formats, and the rare 4.0 quad surround mix in high resolution. Nyro’s Verve debut More Than a New Discovery had…
Release Round-Up: Week of May 20
Welcome to this week’s packed Release Round-Up! David Bowie, ChangesOneBowie (Parlophone/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) ChangesOneBowie returns from Parlophone in a 40th anniversary edition available on vinyl, CD and digital formats. Originally issued on RCA in May 20, 1976, ChangesOneBowie was the first key compilation album from superstar David Bowie. Collecting songs dating back to 1969, the 11-track album introduced the single “John, I’m Only Dancing” on LP alongside highlights from his remarkable string of releases: David Bowie(“Space Oddity”), Hunky Dory (“Changes”), The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Release Round-Up: Week of April 29
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Various Artists, Here Today: The Songs of Brian Wilson (Vinyl) (Ace) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Ace brings its acclaimed 2015 Here Today: The Songs of Brian Wilson compilation to 180-gram white vinyl in a slimmed-down form (12 tracks vs. 25 on the CD) with all of Ace’s deluxe hallmarks of packaging and annotation! The album features Darian Sahanaja of The Brian Wilson Band and The Wondermints along with Kirsty MacColl, Carmen McRae, The Tokens, The Castells, Nick DeCaro, Betty Everett, Bobby Vee and…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Release Round-Up: Week of April 22
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! The Impressions, The Best of The Impressions: The Curtom Years (Varese Vintage) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Varese Vintage has an impressive line-up of releases this week! First up, the label has brought together 18 prime cuts from the premier purveyors of Chicago soul, Curtis Mayfield and the legendary Impressions. This set features singles released on the Curtom label between 1968 and 1976 including the R&B hits “Fool for You,” “Choice of Colors,” “Say You Love Me,” “Finally Got Myself Together (I’m a Changed…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Release Round-Up: Week of April 1
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! The Go-Go’s, Beauty and the Beat / Vacation / Talk Show: Deluxe Editions (Edsel) Beauty and the Beat: Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Vacation: Expanded Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Talk Show: Expanded Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Edsel has expanded editions of the three classic albums by The Go-Go’s originally released between 1982 and 1984. While none of the bonus material here is unreleased, these reissues do serve to pair the respective material from Return to the Valley of The Go-Go’s up with their original albums. Beyond that,…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Release Round-Up: Week of March 25
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Bob Dylan, The Bootleg Series Vol. 6 – Live 1964: Concert at Philharmonic Hall (Audio Fidelity) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Bob Dylan’s The Bootleg Series Vol. 6 – Live 1964: Concert at Philharmonic Hall comes to hybrid 5.0 multichannel SACD for the first time. Audio Fidelity’s release will boast a full booklet (as on the original standard CD release) and is playable in stereo on all CD players. Read more here! Various Artists, Kinked! Kinks Songs and Sessions 1964-1971 (Ace) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
The Bootleg Series Vol. 6 – Live 1964: Concert at Philharmonic Hall
Bob Dylan’s The Bootleg Series Vol. 6 – Live 1964: Concert at Philharmonic Hall comes to hybrid 5.0 multichannel SACD for the first time. Audio Fidelity’s release will boast a full booklet (as on the original standard CD release) and is playable in stereo on all CD players.
Head to the Sky (Hybrid Quadraphonic SACD)
Earth, Wind & Fire’s sophomore album for Columbia Records, 1973’s Head to the Sky, comes to hybrid SACD in its original 4.0 quadraphonic surround mix (with a 2.0 stereo layer playable on all CD players). Features the singles “Evil” and “Keep Your Head to the Sky.” Mastered by Steve Hoffman and Stephen Marsh.
