Here they come…again! The Monkees have just released their first new album in twenty years, and all is right with the world. That much is evident from the opening track which gives the LP its title. “Good Times” was demoed by Harry Nilsson for The Monkees, never recorded by the group, and later released by Harry (and “The New Salvation Singers,” natch) on Capitol’s Tower imprint. Now, the late Nilsson’s happily un-ironic, churning pop nugget gains new life as a duet with his very-much-alive pal and fellow Hollywood Vampire Micky Dolenz, and…
Release Round-Up: Week of May 27
Hey! Hey! Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! The Monkees, Good Times (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Good Times sure lives up to its name, and then some! Here’s a new Monkees album featuring Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, Mike Nesmith and the late Davy Jones, produced by Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger and featuring a slew of exciting new songs by Schlesinger, Noel Gallagher, Rivers Cuomo, Ben Gibbard, and Andy Partridge alongside newly-completed recordings of tunes by Neil Diamond, Carole King, Jeff Barry and the late Harry Nilsson (who duets…
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La-La Means I Love You: The Delfonics, Survivor, Brook Benton and Sea Level Join Eddy Arnold On Real Gone’s July Slate
Yesterday we told you about Second Disc Records’ and Real Gone Music’s July 1 release of Eddy Arnold’s Chet Atkins and Lee Hazlewood albums from 1970 and now we’ve got the news of the rest of Real Gone’s line-up for right before Independence Day. First up is a compilation featuring notes by our very own Joe Marchese: 40 Classic Soul Sides from The Delfonics. When Stan Watson introduced a group (including brothers William and Wilbert Hart and Randy Cain) he was managing to a young Thom Bell at Cameo in the late 1960s, magic…
Blonder and Blonder
The Muffs’ 1995 Blonder and Blonder featured 14 Kim Shattuck-penned originals, including the hit single “Sad Tomorrow.” With Shattuck, Ronnie Barnett and new drummer Roy McDonald comprising the line-up, the Rob Cavallo-produced Blonder became the band’s biggest selling album. Omnivore adds seven bonus tracks (2 U.K. B-sides, and 5 previously unissued Shattuck demos) on CD and also presents the original LP on vinyl for the first time in over two decades (first pressing on baby blue vinyl, with black to follow). The reissue includes photos, drawings, memorabilia, and essays from Barnett and McDonald, as well as track-by-track…
Blitzkrieg Bop! Ramones’ Debut Expanded for 40th Anniversary
It was unlike anything audiences had heard or seen: four leather jacket-clad, shaggy-haired ne’er do wells from Forest Hills, Queens, offering loud bursts of sneering rock and roll as grimy as the streets they stumbled across. Almost no one knew it then, but this was a musical movement, as potent as Elvis Presley’s first swivel or the first haze over Woodstock. Four decades later, Rhino Records celebrates the incredible legacy of the self-titled debut album by the Ramones with a 3CD/1LP box set, due this summer. The Ramones–lead singer Joey, guitarist Johnny,…
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…
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This is My Happy Hour: Perth Punks The Scientists Anthologized in New Numero Box
Punk rock’s coming up from down under on the newest box set from The Numero Group, dedicated to Australian punk pioneers The Scientists. Born in Perth in 1978, The Scientists, fronted by teen singer/guitarist Kim Salmon, were Australia’s answer to The Stooges or The Velvet Underground, offering snotty rebellion and jagged, melodic riffs in their music. Moving from Oz to England, the group found several of their releases on Au Go Go Records, including the EP This Heart Doesn’t Run on Blood, This Heart Doesn’t Run on Love and subsequent album You…
It’s Too Late to Stop Now…Volume 1
Van Morrison’s classic 1974 live double album recorded in Los Angeles, Santa Monica and London gets the remastered treatment, while three CDs of additional material from the concerts is available as a stand-alone release.
Kings of the Wild Frontier [Various Editions]
Kings of the Wild Frontier remains a pivotal album in post-punk history, as well as a major turning point for Ant himself. Kings topped the British charts and became 1981’s biggest-selling album, thanks to the Top 5 hits “Dog Eat Dog” and “Antmusic.” (The title track, released as a single before either, would also go Top 5 upon re-release.) Adam Ant is in full control here, sharing mastering credits with engineer Walter Coelho, selecting the bonus audio content (including three B-sides, four unreleased demos and a full show recorded in Chicago in…
Mirage [Various Editions]
Fleetwood Mac’s 1982 chart-topping album featuring “Hold Me” and “Gypsy” arrives from Rhino/Warner Bros. in a variety of formats: Deluxe Edition (3 CD/1 DVD/1 LP): Original album remastered, plus a disc of B-sides and rarities; the original album on vinyl; a disc of live performances; and a new 5.1 mix on DVD Expanded Edition (2 CD): Original album remastered, plus a disc of B-sides and rarities Remastered Edition (1 CD): Original album, remastered 3-CD/1-DVD/1-LP Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2-CD Expanded Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K….
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It’s Not Just A “Mirage”: Fleetwood Mac Classic Gets Expanded To Box Set, More
On the heels of last year’s deluxe box set of Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk, Warner Bros. Records has just announced the legendary band’s Mirage will be next to get the lavish treatment. On July 29, the label will unveil the 1982 chart-topping smash in a variety of physical formats: Deluxe Edition (3 CD/1 DVD/1 LP): Original album remastered, plus B-sides and rarities; the original album on vinyl; a disc of live performances; and a 5.1 mix on DVD Expanded Edition (2 CD): Original album remastered, plus a disc of B-sides and rarities Remastered…
Joe Jackson’s “I’m the Man” Returns On Vinyl From Intervention Records
Joe Jackson appears on the cover of his 1979 sophomore album, I’m the Man, as a “spiv”: a British term for a peculiar kind of petty criminal “always trying to sell you a watch or something like that, real cheap,” in the artist’s words. But Jackson didn’t have to resort to any cheap come-ons to hawk I’m the Man, a solid follow-up to his impressive debut Look Sharp! which arrived just months after that seminal release. Despite the quick turnaround, I’m the Man hailed from the same inspired period of songwriting for…
Adam & The Ants’ “Kings of the Wild Frontier” to Invade Stores Once More
Unplug the jukebox! Adam & The Ants’ classic Kings of the Wild Frontier is coming back as an expansive deluxe edition, to initiate another Ants invasion. Kings of the Wild Frontier remains a pivotal album in post-punk history, as well as a major turning point for Ant himself. Having attained nominal success with his debut Dirk Wears White Sox in 1979, Adam Ant had to start from square one when producer Malcolm McLaren spirited away his original Ants to form Bow Wow Wow. Ant and producer Chris Hughes pressed on, forming a…
Let There Be More Light: Pink Floyd Launches New Vinyl Reissue Campaign
As one of the most iconic bands in rock history, Pink Floyd has a had a long and storied career from their 1967 debut The Piper at the Gates of Dawn all the way through to 2014’s The Endless River. Along the way they’ve also released live albums, compilations and, of course, reissues. The last major reissue campaign for the band came in 2011 with their Why Pink Floyd line which included three levels of releases from straight album reissues to deluxe album “Immersion” box set editions of The Dark Side of…
Release Round-Up: Week of May 6
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up featuring Second Disc Records’ very first title of 2016, plus more fantastic releases from our partners at Real Gone Music and titles from Brian Wilson, The Cars, and more! Bobby Darin, Another Song on My Mind: The Motown Years (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) We know that you all know about this one…it’s the ultimate celebration of Bobby Darin’s time at Motown Records on 2 CDs, newly remastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Reeves and featuring my liner notes based on new interviews…
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Glam Slam: Warner Bros. Plans Vinyl Bonanza for Prince
The world continues to reel from the passing of Prince on April 21, but fans have also taken to listening to his amazing catalogue however they can. And thanks to the folks at Prince’s former home at Warner Bros. Records, the entire year will see a spate of vinyl (and–believe it or not, cassette) reissues. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that 11 of Prince’s original Warner Bros. albums will be repressed on vinyl throughout 2016. In 2011, four of the artist’s most enduring albums from the ’80s–Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981), 1999…
Wild Nights: Legacy Expands Van Morrison’s “It’s Too Late to Stop Now”
Following last year’s releases of The Essential Van Morrison and The Complete Them 1964-1967, Legacy Recordings continues to mine the Van Morrison back catalogue with the June 10 releases of the remastered 2-CD or 2-LP It’s Too Late to Stop Now and the 3-CD/1-DVD box set It’s Too Late to Stop Now…Volumes II, III, IV & DVD. It’s Too Late to Stop Now, of course, is Morrison’s 1974 double album with his Caledonia Soul Orchestra, capturing concert recordings from his May to July 1973 tour at Los Angeles’ famed Troubadour, the Santa…
Oh, Good Grief! “Peanuts Greatest Hits” Gets a Picture Disc with Charlie Brown and Lucy
How many children over the years had their first introduction to jazz via Vince Guaraldi? The late composer/piano man established the definitive sound of Charlie Brown via his scores to some seventeen of Charles Schulz’s Peanuts television specials (plus a feature film and other projects. When The Peanuts Movie arrived on the big screen in 2015 with songs from contemporary artists like Meghan Trainor and Flo Rida, Vince Guaraldi’s compositions were still front and center. Last year, Concord/Fantasy collected 12 of Guaraldi’s most beloved Peanuts tunes on one CD. Now, Peanuts Greatest…
Even The Nights Are Better: Real Gone’s June Slate Features Petula Clark, Air Supply, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Fairport Convention, More
With spring having just begun, it might be hard to believe that summer is going to be here before we know it. But the year marches on and Real Gone Music is kicking off the summer with its June 3rd slate of titles. As per usual with the label, there are a wide variety of genres being represented, including one that Real Gone has never dipped into before. We’ll begin with the two titles that feature liner notes by our very own Joe Marchese. The first is a collection from sixties British hit-maker…
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The Traveling Wilburys [Various Formats]
Concord Bicycle has a straight reissue of The Traveling Wilburys Collection, a multi-disc audiovisual box set that gathers expansions of both Wilburys albums, Vol. 1 (1988) and Vol. 3 (1990) with bonus video content. As with the original Rhino Records release in 2007, the box will be available as a standard 2CD/1DVD set; a deluxe, numbered edition; a vinyl box set (including three extended versions that were otherwise unavailable) and hi-res download options. Amazon U.S.: 2CD/1DVD Standard Edition; 2CD/1DVD Deluxe Edition; 3LP Amazon U.K.: 2CD/1 DVD Standard Edition; 2CD/1DVD Deluxe Edition; 3LP
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…
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Hang In Long Enough: “…But Seriously,” Revised “Going Back” Complete Phil Collins Reissue Campaign
The Take a Look At Me Now campaign has featured reissues of all of Collins’ solo albums, each with a disc of bonus material personally selected by Collins, featuring mostly unreleased demos and live material. While Collins’ participation has added some panache to the whole proceedings, with his creative album cover reshoots only recently going viral, some fans have been rightly perplexed as to what was left off from the campaign. To wit, the voluminous B-sides and demos released through various singles over the years remain unaccounted for, as well as a…
American Tunes
The final album by the late, great Allen Toussaint, American Tunes was recorded at two sets of sessions with producer Joe Henry: solo piano at Toussaint’s New Orleans home studio in 2013, and with a rhythm section and guest artists in Los Angeles in 2015. On his solo performances including “Mardi Gras in New Orleans,” “Hey Little Girl” and “Big Chief,” Toussaint pays tribute to his hero at the keys, New Orleans’ Professor Longhair. The album also features band arrangements of songs written and/or popularized by Toussaint (“Delores’ Boyfriend,” “Southern Nights”), Duke Ellington…
Everybody’s In Show-Biz: Legacy Edition
Legacy expands The Kinks’ 1972 classic Everybody’s In Show-Biz to a 2-CD Legacy Edition. The studio/live hybrid album gains a full disc’s worth of previously unissued studio outtakes (recorded at London’s Morgan Studios) and concert material (recorded March 2-3, 1972 during The Kinks’ Carnegie Hall concert stand). The Legacy Edition will also be released on vinyl with an abridged selection of bonus tracks.
Handle with Care: Traveling Wilburys Box to Be Reissued in June
A new business agreement will bring rock supergroup The Traveling Wilburys past the end of the line. The all-star quintet, consisting of George Harrison, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne, is now represented by Concord Bicycle Music in a worldwide agreement that will include physical and digital reissues of the band’s complete back catalogue–including, for the first time, streaming rights across Apple Music, Spotify and others–on June 3, as exclusively reported by Billboard. That same day, Concord will physically reissue The Traveling Wilburys Collection, a multi-disc audiovisual box set…
