Big Break Records has recently returned to the catalogues of Ashford and Simpson and Rose Royce for a trio of new, expanded and remastered reissues. Gimme Something Real (1973) and I Wanna Be Selfish (1974), Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson's first two albums for Warner Bros. Records, concludes BBR's survey of the duo's WB years. Gimme Something Real introduced all but the most diehard fans to the already-famous songwriters as singer-songwriters. As "Valerie and Nick," they had released
Strategy: Our Tribute to Philadelphia
SoulMusic Records and Cherry Red present The Three Degrees' thirteenth studio album, and first since 2009. Strategy: Our Tribute to Philadelphia brings the vocal trio (now consisting of Helen Scott, Valerie Holiday and Freddie Pool) full circle with a selection of their favorite songs from the golden age of Philly soul and disco including "Love Train," "Disco Inferno" and "Me and Mr. Jones."
They Are Family: BBR Reissues, Expands Sister Sledge's Debut "Circle of Love"
"We Are Family" catapulted Sister Sledge to stardom in 1979, but while the uplifting anthem was a breakthrough, it wasn't a beginning. Philadelphia-based Kathy Sledge and her three older sisters Debbie, Joni and Kim had been recording for Atlantic Records since 1973 when all four members were still teenagers. In 1975, Sister Sledge's first album, Circle of Love, was released. This lost gem has been previously released on CD in a bare-bones version, but Cherry Red's Big Break Records label has
Heat It Up: Groove Line Tells "The Salsoul Orchestra Story: 40th Anniversary Collection"
The title of The Salsoul Orchestra's second album said it all - Nice 'n' Naasty. The soul-disco orchestra, originally under the baton of MFSB alumnus Vincent Montana Jr., could serve up nice, shimmering and lushly elegant soundscapes...and naasty floor-filling grooves that practically demanded you hit the dancefloor! Happily, the group has recently received a lavish tribute in the form of a sizzling 3-CD collection from Groove Line Records (the label responsible for the recent, definitive
Release Round-Up: Week of January 29
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up featuring a host of deluxe reissues, box sets, and more! Phil Collins, Face Value: Deluxe Edition (Atlantic/Rhino) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Phil Collins' 1981 classic featuring "In the Air Tonight" gets expanded to two CDs or DD with the addition of eight live tracks and four demos (plus a new, modern cover photograph echoing the original). Ten of the twelve bonuses are new
Shoot Me (With Your Love): Tasha Thomas' Disco "Rendezvous" Is Expanded By SoulMusic Records
In recent weeks, SoulMusic Records has kept up its busy slate. Through the Caroline label, SMR has offered up reissues of The Dells' Charles Stepney-produced Cadet album Freedom Means (featuring classics like "One Less Bell to Answer," "If You Go Away" and "Make It with You"), The Dramatics' ABC release Shake It Well (featuring the hit R&B title track) and Evelyn "Champagne" King's 1988 RCA album Flirt. Through Cherry Red Group, SoulMusic has also reissued Tasha Thomas' 1979 Midnight
Big Break Records "Breaks Away" with Al Jarreau, Rose Royce
Accompanying the recent releases from The Spinners and Frantique, Big Break Records rounded out its 2015 slate with a pair of titles from Al Jarreau and Rose Royce. Renowned vocalist Al Jarreau made his album debut in 1975 with the Reprise Records release We Got By, a collection of original songs from the jazz-rooted singer. He followed that effort with Glow, incorporating tracks by a wide range of writers including Elton John, James Taylor and Antonio Carlos Jobim. Jarreau was slowly but
The Glow of Love: Groove Line Records Compiles The Music of Change, Featuring Luther Vandross, More
If ever a group lived up to its name, that group was Change. The brainchild of French-Italian music impresario and producer Jacques Fred Petrus, in collaboration with Italian-based producer/arranger Mauro Malavasi and bassist Davide Romani, Change released six albums between 1980 and 1985. Built on infectiously danceable rhythms, melodic hooks and sublimely soulful vocals, the sound of Change was primarily created by a rotating cast of Italian-based musicians and America-based vocalists.
Strut Your Funky Stuff: Philadelphia International's "Frantique" Comes to CD
Everything about Philadelphia International Records' 1979 release of the self-titled album from Frantique was unexpected. The cradle of Philly soul wasn't exactly a typical home for an LP of Eurodisco. Nor was Frantique's benefactor someone particularly associated with disco, Euro- or otherwise - the legendary maestro of elegant and silky soul, Thom Bell. But Bell had taken an interest in songwriter-producer Jack Robinson and his collaborator David Christie, enlisting them for projects by The
The Year In Review, Part 2 - More Of The Best Of 2015
The Second Disc is continuing its celebration of 2015's finest with today's column by Ted Frank! Stop, do not pass GO and do not collect 200 dollars if you haven't already read our Sixth Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards summation of the year's greatest releases. Here, Ted presents his very own, alternative year in review with titles new and old! I make records ... I really don't want to be about singles or anything. -Adele, The Tonight Show In recent years, the download/stream-heavy music
Raven Has Folk and Funk With Melanie and Mother's Finest
Raven Records' most recent pair of CDs certainly showcase the label's eclectic leanings! From singer-songwriter Melanie Safka, the label has a three-for-one release of her much-loved albums Candles in the Rain, Leftover Wine and Gather Me. The Melanie release is joined by a four-for-one title from pioneering funk-rockers Mother's Finest collecting the band's self-titled LP plus Mother's Finest Live, Another Mother Further and Mother Factor. Raven's release from Melanie follows the Morello
The Year in Review - The 2015 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z
Happy New Year, and welcome to The Second Disc's Sixth Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! As with every year's awards, our goals are simple: to recognize as many of the year's most essential reissues and catalogue titles as possible, and to celebrate as many of those labels, producers and artists who make these releases happen in an increasingly-challenging retail landscape. The labels you'll read about below have, by and large, bucked the trends to prove that there's still a demand for physical
Reads His Poetry
Charles Bukowski: Reads His Poetry captures the notorious author and libertine at a 1972 reading at which the topics included perversion, poverty, drunkenness, gambling and bodily functions. The ultimate non-PC record, Real Gone returns it to vinyl in this re-pressing: a "vomit"-colored edition limited to 1,000 copies.
Release Round-Up: Week of November 13
It may be Friday the 13th, but today's choice releases are hardly scary, with box sets, archival releases, new music from veteran artists, and much, much more! Aretha Franklin, The Atlantic Albums Collection (Atlantic/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) This 19-CD box set brings together 16 of the Queen of Soul's Atlantic albums as previously released on CD including the deluxe 2-CD Live at Fillmore East, the 2-CD Rare & Unreleased Recordings From The Golden Reign Of The Queen Of
Jump To The Beat! BBR Reissues Dancefloor Classics By Stacy Lattisaw, Karen Young
With a quartet of recent releases, Big Break Records continues to deliver to the highest standard in deluxe, remastered and generously expanded editions of R&B classics. Today, we turn the spotlight on two of those titles, from Stacy Lattisaw and Karen Young! Stacy Lattisaw was just 12 - yes, 12! - years old when she made her major label debut on Atlantic Records' Cotillion imprint with Young and in Love. One of the final projects produced by Van McCoy before his untimely death, the
Faith and Grace: A Family Journey 1953-1976
This limited edition 4-CD box set features The Staple Singers' hits alongside favorite studio and live recordings, plus a handful of never-before-released rarities, including a special bonus: the earliest known recordings of the group on a 7-inch vinyl record, marking the first time that these two tracks have been available in any format since the Staples' self-released edition of 500 in 1953. The box is packaged in a deluxe, old-school '45 folio' package, and also contains a book with new
Buck Owens, Bobby Rush Highlight Omnivore's November Slate
Releases from two legends of country and blues highlight Omnivore Recordings' November slate. On November 13, the label will drop the second 2-CD retrospective dedicated to the music of Bakersfield's favorite son Buck Owens, while two weeks later on the 27th, it will unveil a 4-CD box set spotlighting the singular career of Bobby Rush. Buck 'Em! Volume 2: The Music of Buck Owens (1967-1975) picks up where the first volume of the series, issued in 2013, left off. Its 50 tracks trace the many
Release Round-Up: Week of October 30
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Packed with over 30 titles including highly-anticipated reissues, a slew of box sets, collections and more, it just may be the mightiest of the year! The Velvet Underground, Loaded: Re-Loaded 45th Anniversary Edition (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The Velvet Underground's 1970 album - and Lou Reed's swansong with the band - gets the deluxe expanded treatment from Rhino in this new box set featuring the original stereo and mono
When The Crypt Doors Creak: Disneyland's "Haunted House" Returns On Vinyl
Walt Disney's Haunted Mansion didn't open in Disneyland until 1969, but five years earlier, Disneyland Records invited listeners to visit an equally mysterious property with the release of Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House. Now, the original 1964 LP is back in print on vinyl for the first time in over 30 years - just in time for Halloween. Though exterior construction of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion was completed in 1963, and the attraction was previewed on a 1965 episode of
Release Round-Up: Week of October 9
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up highlighted by the first course of a Christmas feast, plus a trio of deluxe box sets, new albums from veteran artists, and more! The Three Suns, A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas / George Melachrino and His Orchestra, Christmas Joy / John Gary, The John Gary Christmas Album / The Soulful Strings, The Magic of Christmas (Real Gone Music) The Three Suns: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. George Melachrino: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. John Gary: Amazon U.S. /
Singles...Driven By The Music
Complementing last year's albums box set, Driven by the Music releases a new 24-CD singles box set from the late, great Donna Summer featuring all of the singles originally released on Geffen Records and Atlantic Records from the albums 'The Wanderer', 'Donna Summer', 'Cats Without Claws', 'All Systems Go', 'Another Place and Time' and 'Mistaken Identity'. Also included is a Bonus 4-track CD featuring remixes, which although were on the Club/DJ circuit, have not been previously available
Anthony Phillips' "Private Parts and Pieces" Revealed On New Box Set
The Genesis celebration at Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint continues with the release of Anthony Phillips' Private Parts and Pieces I - IV, a new 5-CD box set collecting and expanding his four albums of the same name released between 1978 and 1984. Private Parts follows Esoteric's recent deluxe expansion of Phillips' The Geese and the Ghost as well as a number of other projects from members of his famous band including a reissue of the 1986 album by Steve Hackett's band GTR and Tony
Do You Hear What I Hear?: Legacy Adds Four New Entries to "Classic Christmas Album" Series
Legacy Recordings is getting into the Christmas spirit this year by continuing its Classic Christmas Album series. On October 2, four new entries will be released featuring artists who had their biggest successes in the '70s (Earth, Wind & Fire), '80s (a various artists compilation), '90s (Sarah McLachlan) and 2000s (Celtic Thunder). The majority of the material on these compilations is of a relatively recent vintage. The exception is The Classic Christmas '80s Album which obviously
I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times): Ted's Big Summer '15 Wrap-Up!
The summer's winding down and so Ted Frank, our resident maven of all things eclectic, is looking back on his favorites from the past few months, from reissues to future classics of all genres! We hope you make some new discoveries as you enjoy the Labor Day weekend! As the boys of summer's mettle is currently being put to the test, here are some favorite releases - new and old - from the past couple of summer months that have staying power and could perfectly score those few remaining
Genesis' Tony Banks Goes "A Chord Too Far" On Career-Spanning Box Set
It's been a pretty great year for fans of Genesis. This morning, the news broke of upcoming reissues from Phil Collins. Earlier this year, reissues arrived from Mike Rutherford and Anthony Phillips, and Steve Hackett released his latest solo album. (A reissue of the 1986 album by Hackett's band GTR is on the way, and a box set of Hackett's Charisma recordings is due later this year, too.) All has been fairly quiet on the Peter Gabriel front, but even Gabriel has some vinyl remasters on the
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