Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, packed with box sets, reissues, special collections, and more! The Isley Brothers, The RCA Victor and T-Neck Album Masters (Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Legacy has boxed up 23 discs of The Isley Brothers - featuring every one of the group's RCA and T-Neck albums released between 1959 and 1983, including one previously unreleased album and a total of 84 previously unissued or new-to-CD bonus tracks! Every track has been newly-remastered
Release Round-Up: Week of July 24
Today's Release Round-Up features an array of high-resolution music, plus box sets, vintage reissues, live albums and more! Roger Waters, Amused to Death (Remixed Editions) (Columbia/Legacy) Roger Waters revisits his 1992 album Amused to Death, featuring contributions from Don Henley, Rita Coolidge, P.P. Arnold, Andy Fairweather Low and Michael Kamen, in a variety of formats featuring new stereo and 5.1 surround mixes. Read our full coverage here. CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon
Review: "The Sound of Music: Original Soundtrack Recording" on SACD
RCA Victor expected the soundtrack album to 1965's big-screen musical The Sound of Music to be a juggernaut. The label backed the release with a $100,000.00 promotional campaign, and arranged for tie-ins at locales including the New York World's Fair. The release was joined on the label's roster by other albums of the already-famous Rodgers and Hammerstein score in styles from jazz (Gary Burton's The Groovy Sound of Music) to "easy listening" (The Living Strings' Music from The Sound of
Release Round-Up: Week of July 17
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up featuring classic rock, soul and jazz box sets and more! Sly and the Family Stone, Live at the Fillmore East: October 4th and 5th, 1968 (Epic/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Dance to the music! On October 4th and 5th, 1968, shortly after the release of the band's third album Life, Sly & The Family Stone took the stage for a two-night, four-show engagement at Bill Graham's Fillmore East in New York City. Epic Records recorded all four of
Release Round-Up: Week of June 30
Welcome to our final Tuesday Release Round-Up - and it's a doozy! As many of you know, the record industry will next week adopt a universal Friday release day. No releases are scheduled for Tuesday, July 7; instead, Friday, July 10 is the date! DVDs and Blu-rays will, for the foreseeable future, remain released on Tuesdays. We'll resume with a new Release Round-Up on Friday, July 10! Ronny and the Daytonas, The Complete Recordings (2-CD Set) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / The
Release Round-Up: Week of May 26
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! We hope all of our U.S. readers enjoyed a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. And now, without further ado, onto the music! Yes, Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Finally, after a brief delay, Progeny is here! This whopping 14-CD box captures seven complete concerts from Yes circa 1972 - the same tour leading up to the performances preserved on Yessongs. For those who don't need 14 discs, 2-CD and 3-LP
Release Round-Up: Week of May 5
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Oddly, releases were split between yesterday and today, but both days add up to a wealth of titles in nearly every genre! Without a doubt, this is one of the most packed weeks yet this year! Jackie DeShannon, All the Love: The Lost Atlantic Recordings (Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) All the Love--The Lost Atlantic Recordings brings together DeShannon's entire 1973 Atlantic Records material in one place for the first time,
Release Round-Up: Week of April 21
Today's Release Round-Up features an array of titles including a box set from the one and only Chairman of the Board, a number of vintage albums in surround sound, a classic reissue from a new Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, and more! Frank Sinatra, Ultimate Sinatra (Capitol/UMe) 4-CD Box: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 1-CD Highlights: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2-CD Target Exclusive: Target.com 2-LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Standard Edition DD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. The 100th
Perfect Sense: Legacy to Revisit Roger Waters’ "Amused to Death" with New Stereo and 5.1 Remixes
While there has been no Pink Floyd reissue news for nearly a year now since the release of a deluxe edition of The Division Bell, fans can look forward to revisiting one of Rogers Waters’ solo projects with the newly announced reissue of Amused to Death. Death was released in 1992 and was Waters’ third solo outing after 1984’s The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking and 1987’s Radio K.A.O.S. As is common for Waters’ LPs, it is a concept album. The songwriter based it upon ideas from Neil
The Entertainers: Billy Joel, America, Labelle, Earth Wind and Fire Get Surround-Sound Treatment From Audio Fidelity
Audio Fidelity is continuing its well-received series of surround-sound releases on hybrid SACD with a trio of quadraphonic (4.0) titles from 1974 and one classic rock favorite from 1972 in 5.1. All of these titles feature the surround mix on the high resolution SACD layer with a newly-remastered version of the original stereo mix on both the SACD and standard CD layers. The '72 classic is America's Homecoming. The second album by the trio of Dewey Bunnell, Gerry Beckley and Dan Peek,
Release Round-Up: Week of March 10
This week brings a particularly impressive slate by any standard, but we're particularly proud to introduce the world to Second Disc Records with our first two releases, from Johnny Mathis and the late Bob Crewe! Johnny Mathis, Life is a Song Worth Singing: The Complete Thom Bell Sessions (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Here, on two CDs, we proudly present both of Johnny Mathis' album collaborations - including the never-on-CD Mathis Is... - with songwriter-producer
One Little Spark: New Label Launches With Kate Bush, Ben Folds, Laura Nyro, "The Sound of Music"
With its upcoming roster boasting titles from Kate Bush, Ben Folds Five, The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Laura Nyro and Julie Andrews, the new audiophile label Analog Spark is pulling out all the stops for its debut this spring. Yesterday, Razor & Tie announced the launch of Analog Spark, a new imprint which will focus on reissued releases on both 180-gram vinyl and SACD. Razor & Tie co-owners Cliff Chenfeld and Craig Balsam commented, “We’re very excited about the launch of Analog Spark
Release Round-Up: Week of February 10
Mike + The Mechanics, Living Years: Deluxe Edition (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) This Deluxe Edition of Mike + The Mechanics’ 1988 album arrives in the U.S. with a second disc featuring “The Living Years 2014″ and live tracks culled from the band’s 1989 tour. Read our full coverage here. Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Complete Columbia Singles (Friday Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Friday Music has repackaged Collectors’ Choice Music’s 2010 three-disc collection of the
Make Me Smile: Mobile Fidelity Brings "Chicago Transit Authority," "Chicago II" To SACD
Does anybody really know what time it is? Happily, it’s time for Mobile Fidelity to continue its series of limited edition hybrid stereo SACDs for the Chicago catalogue. MoFi has previously issued 1973’s Chicago VI on SACD and 1984’s Chicago 17 on 24k Gold CD, but now the label has turned back the clock to the very beginning. And when the very beginning is the one-two punch of 1969’s Chicago Transit Authority and 1970’s Chicago II on SACD, it’s a very good place to start, indeed. Long
Something Good: Legacy Expands "The Sound of Music," Classic Soundtrack Also Comes to SACD and Vinyl
The hills are alive again! On March 10, Legacy Recordings will reissue RCA Victor’s chart-topping 1965 soundtrack to Rodgers and Hammerstein’s five-time Academy Award-winning The Sound of Music in a new 50th anniversary edition to coincide with the golden anniversary release on Blu-ray. Collectors will note that expanded CD reissues of the classic musical soundtrack starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer are as inevitable as raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens; editions have
Release Round-Up: Weeks of December 23 and December 30
Well, these are incredibly light weeks for new releases! Thankfully, the Kritzerland and Audio Fidelity labels have stepped up with a quartet of titles to close out 2014 on a high note! Cy Coleman, John Kander, Harvey Schmidt and Charles Strouse, Classical Broadway (Kritzerland) (available for pre-order now) Kritzerland remasters this 1992 album (originally released on the Bay Cities label) featuring classical compositions from four of Broadway's most legendary composers including Cy
Release Round-Up: Week of October 7
Stevie Nicks, 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault (Reprise) 2-LP Vinyl + Download Card: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Standard Edition CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. The Fleetwood Mac rock legend dips into her vault for a newly-recorded album of songs composed between 1969 and 1995. The album features co-production by Dave Stewart and guitar great Waddy Wachtel, and is also available in a deluxe edition exclusive to Nicks' website. Various Artists, The Classic Christmas Albums
Release Round-Up: Week of September 2
Willie Hutch, In Tune (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / Willie Hutch, Midnight Dancer (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / Esther Phillips, Alone Again, Naturally (Expanded Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) /Ullanda McCullough, Ullanda McCullough/Watching You, Watching Me (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / Ray Griff, The Entertainer – Greatest U.S. & Canadian Hits (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / Rick Wakeman, Rick Wakeman’s Criminal Record (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / The Ides of March, Vehicle (Expanded
Anyone Who Had a Heart: Shelby Lynne's Dusty Springfield Tribute, Reissued
When I Am Shelby Lynne appeared on the Mercury label in 2000, its eponymous singer finally hit on an approach that synthesized her varied influences (country, soul, R&B, rock-and-roll) into a relevant and contemporary whole. Lynne picked up the Best New Artist Grammy, despite having released her first album in 1989, and the album’s title indicated that, finally, the artist knew who she was, and was ready to share her music with the world. Fast-forward eight years, and a number of albums
Ipanema, Again: "Getz/Gilberto" Restored To Original Mix For New SACD and Vinyl LP
Bossa nova, translated, literally means "new trend." And as 1964 began, with the British Invasion taking flight, America was also experiencing a Brazilian Invasion thanks to this new trend in popular music and jazz. Identified by gentle acoustic guitar and sometimes piano, and often adorned with subtle string or horn accents, bossa nova was based on the rhythms of the samba. It soon was adapted on stages from the concert hall to Broadway, spawned the "lounge" genre and influenced countless
Wouldn't It Be Nice? "Pet Sounds" Coming to SACD
“I figure no one is educated musically ‘til they’ve heard [Pet Sounds],” Paul McCartney once said of The Beach Boys’ classic, released 45 years and one week ago on May 16, 1966. George Martin concurred: “Without Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper wouldn’t have happened.” Brian Wilson poured his musical heart into the album’s thirteen tracks; in less than thirty-five minutes, he delivered an entire spectrum of emotions in a song cycle of striking beauty and sensitivity. Pet Sounds may initially have been
Review: Nat "King" Cole, "Love is the Thing" and "The Very Thought of You"
The time is 1957. The place is the corner of Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles, California – the Capitol Tower. And you are there. Such is the magic of Analogue Productions’ pair of hybrid Super Audio CDs, part of the label’s Nat “King” Cole reissue program. Thanks to the gorgeous remastering and improved quality afforded by the format, you’ll hear every breath, as if you were in the studio alongside Cole himself during a recording session. The versatile artist is today remembered for many