Armed with nothing but his guitar and his familiar, reassuring voice, Dion DiMucci took the stage at the Bitter End, in New York’s Greenwich Village, in August 1971. The rock and roll survivor had successfully made the transition from teenaged doo-wopper to folk-rock troubadour, moving from independent Laurie Records to New York major Columbia and back again to Laurie, briefly reuniting with his old group The Belmonts at ABC, too. Then, in 1969, Dion made the shift to the West Coast-based
Release Round-Up: Week of April 7
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Who, The Brunswick Singles 1965-1966 (UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The Who box up replicas of seven early 7-inch singles plus an eighth with The High Numbers’ “Zoot Suit” b/w “I’m the Face” on this deluxe vinyl box set. Read more here. Herman's Hermits, The 50th Anniversary Anthology (Bear Family) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Bear Family gives the “I’m Into Something Good” and “There’s a Kind of Hush” pop stars the deluxe
Can't Forget: A Souvenir of the Grand Tour
Leonard Cohen offers ten selections - including two songs never previously recorded and a pair of covers - from his recent world tour.
Light As The Breeze: Leonard Cohen Returns With Live Rarities Set
Just a few months after the September 2014 release of Leonard Cohen’s new studio album Popular Problems and subsequent concert release Live in Dublin, the troubadour is back with a new offering drawn (like Live in Dublin) from his Old Ideas World Tour. Whereas Dublin presented an overview of Cohen’s extraordinary career, the upcoming Can’t Forget: A Souvenir of the Grand Tour presents rarities performed during the international trek. The May 12 release from Legacy Recordings features a pair of
English Folk Heroine Bridget St. John's Dandelion Albums and More Collected On New Box Set
Venerated BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel once called Bridget St. John “the best lady singer-songwriter in the country.” So when Peel formed Dandelion Records in 1969, the label’s first signing was St. John; in fact, Peel once commented that “the main reason why we started the label [was] ‘cos nobody else was going to record her stuff.” Cherry Red Records has just reissued all three of St. John’s moody, evocative Dandelion albums (individually released in 2005 on CD) recorded between 1969 and 1972,
Box Set Watch: Hawkwind, Fotheringay, Spooky Tooth Get Deluxe Collected Treatment
Formed in 1969, “space rock” group Hawkwind recorded its debut album in 1970. Forty-five years later, an iteration of the band is still performing, but Parlophone’s U.K. division is turning the clock back with a new box set to celebrate Hawkwind’s earliest years. This Is Your Captain Speaking…Your Captain Is Dead: The Albums and Singles 1970-1974 arrives on March 23 in the U.K. and one week later in the U.S., and brings together the band’s entire United Artists catalogue on 11 CDs in replica
The NOT Column: Anne McCue, "Blue Sky Thinkin'"
We'd like to kick off your weekend with some Frank on Friday, as we welcome back Ted to debut what he's deemed The NOT Column...as in, "NOT a reissue, but NOTeworthy nonetheless!" Today, he looks at the latest release from Australian alt-country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Anne McCue, who has tapped into a rich vein of blues, jazz and folk to craft Blue Sky Thinkin'. We have no doubt that the music being created by McCue will one day be reissued and covered by future catalogue
Recorded Live at the Bitter End - August 1971
Omnivore Recordings in the U.S. and Ace Records in the U.K. delivers a stunning, intimate and never-before-released concert performance from Dion recorded at New York's legendary Bitter End in August 1971.
Release Round-Up: Week of February 24
Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti various editions (Atlantic/Swan Song) 2-CD Original Album: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 3-CD Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2-LP Original Album: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 3-LP Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Super Deluxe Edition (3-CD/3-LP): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Digital Download: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Led Zeppelin's classic album turns 40 and gets the remastered treatment with never-before-heard content available in a plethora
From Belmont Ave. To Bleecker St.: Never-Before-Heard Dion Concert Arrives On CD In April
In a career spanning an astounding seven decades, Dion DiMucci has transitioned from doo wop to rock and roll to pop to folk to blues to contemporary Christian and back again, always bringing his stamp of originality and attitude to each endeavor. In August 1971, The King of the New York Streets took to one street in particular – Bleecker – to perform at the legendary Bitter End, today New York’s oldest rock club. Omnivore Recordings in the U.S. (and Ace Records in the U.K.) has captured Dion at
Seems Like Only Yesterday--Live in Montreal 1976
The singer-songwriter's 1976 Montreal radio concert comes to CD!
Donovan, Mick Softley, More Featured On "The Eve Folk Recordings"
In 1965, Geoff Stephens and Peter Eden entered into an agreement with EMI’s Columbia label to capitalize on the folk boom Britain was then experiencing. The deal between Stephens and Eden and EMI was to produce four LPs. Though the fourth never materialized, the three albums released under the banner of The Eve Folk Recordings have been collected, along with bonus tracks, on RPM’s 2014 two-CD set of the same name. Stephens and Eden’s early managerial client, Donovan, is featured, along with
Nothing More: The Collected Fotheringay
This 3 CD/1 DVD box set promises to be "the most comprehensive compilation yet of the group's recordings," including original album tracks, demos, alternate takes, previously unreleased live recordings and, for the first time, the official release of the seven existing tracks which Fotheringay recorded in session for BBC radio. The final disc, a DVD, has the four songs recorded by the group for German TV show Beat Club, effectively doubling the existing footage of Sandy Denny in performance. Two
Unicorn
Tyrannosaurus Rex's third album Unicorn, from 1969, continued the duo's association with producer Tony Visconti, and introduced such favorites as "Iscariot," "Cat Black (The Wizard's Hat)" and "The Misty Coast Of Albany." This new 2-CD gatefold Deluxe Edition contains the mono 2014 remaster of the original album on CD 1, plus copious bonus material including non-album single A and B-sides; 5 songs recorded for John Peel's Top Gear; and 3 songs previously only available on the 20th Century
Midnight Special: Folkways Celebrates Lead Belly With New Box Set
Happy Birthday to Huddie Ledbetter, a.k.a. "Lead Belly," born today in 1888! How many songwriters could say that their songs have been recorded by The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra and Nirvana? Had he lived longer, Huddie William Ledbetter (1888-1949) could have. Ledbetter, known as Lead Belly, endured a difficult life – including various stays in jail – to introduce or adapt to the Great American Songbook tunes that are still well-known today such as “The Midnight Special,” “Goodnight, Irene,”
Souvenirs: Raven Compiles Best of Foghat, Four Albums from John Prine
The Raven Records label closed out its 2014 with a pair of double-CD sets reliving the seventies – one, a retrospective of Foghat’s first decade, and another, a complete collection of John Prine’s first four albums. Foghat’s Drivin’ Wheels: Best of 1972-1982 brings together 32 tracks from the FM radio titans, spanning the period of 1972-1982 and culled from ten studio and live albums. The blues-rock band was founded in Manchester, England in 1971 by three Savoy Brown expatriates –
Prophets, Seers and Sages: The Angels Of The Ages
Joining the Deluxe Edition of Tyrannosaurus Rex's debut My People Were Fair... is this similarly-expanded version of the duo's sophomore effort. Alsoreleased in 1968 and produced by Tony Visconti, Prophets, Seers & Sages: The Angels Of The Ages established Marc Bolan and Steve Peregrin Took as a creative musical force with which to be reckoned. This Deluxe Edition contains the 2014 mono remaster of the original album plus bonus material including one non-album single, a whopping 31 (!)
My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair...
Before Marc Bolan and T Rex went glam, there was My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... This 1968 album marked the debut of Bolan and Steve Peregrin Took as the fantastical underground-folk duo Tyrannosaurus Rex, This new 2-CD Deluxe Edition contains a 2014 remaster by original producer Tony Visconti and Sean Magee plus a host of bonus material. It includes both the stereo and mono versions of the album plus 12 tracks recorded for John Peel's Top Gear show in 1967 and 1968, all
Sunshine Special: Now Sounds Collects "The Best of The GoldeBriars"
Late in 1963, The GoldeBriars recorded “Sunshine Special,” the group’s adaptation of the traditional train song. Curt Boettcher – the male vocalist in the line-up and also its major creative leader – would later make sunshine a specialty; his shimmering California-pop productions for the likes of The Millennium, The Ballroom and Sagittarius have all gone on to attain cult status. There’s not much of that baroque psych-pop sound on Now Sounds’ Walkin’ Down the Line: The Best of The GoldeBriars
The Smithsonian Folkways Collection
Smithsonian Folkways has a definitive 5-CD chronicle of legendary folksinger Huddie Ledbetter, a.k.a. Lead Belly, packaged in a deluxe hardbound book format.
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Joni Mitchell, "Love Has Many Faces"
Joni Mitchell wasn't yet 25 when she first gifted the world her song "Both Sides Now." Judy Collins made its first commercially-released recording; soon artists were lining up to record it, including Frank Sinatra. The 25-year old Mitchell herself released it in 1969. In what might be her most famous song, she asserted, "I really don't know love at all." Flash-forward to the present day, and the 71-year old singer-songwriter-artist seems well-acquainted with the vagaries of that most universal
Holiday Gift Guide Review: A Folk and Country Christmas with The Kingston Trio, The Brothers Four and the Statler Brothers
The cover of The Kingston Trio’s 1960 Capitol release The Last Month of the Year depicts the three young folksingers in suits and ties, each loaded with a bundle of Christmas gifts. With a cover like that, one could be forgiven for having expected the group to deliver a jovial set of holiday favorites. Instead, The Trio created an album of rare beauty but considerable darkness. As such, it’s hardly your typical holiday fare but Real Gone Music’s reissue (RGM-0312) is a worthwhile inclusion on
Release Round-Up: Week of December 2
B.J. Thomas, Home Where I Belong/Happy Man (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) B.J. Thomas, You Gave Me Love/Miracle (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Linda Jones, The Complete Atco-Loma-Warner Bros. Recordings (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) The Five Stairsteps, Our Family Portrait/Stairsteps (Expanded Twofer Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) The Unforgiven, The Unforgiven (Expanded Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) Cowboy, 5’ll Getcha Ten (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Grateful Dead, Dick’s Picks
Release Round-Up: Week of November 17
Henry Mancini, The Classic Soundtrack Collection (RCA/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The Classic Soundtrack Collection features 18 of Mancini's most memorable soundtrack albums for RCA, Columbia and Epic Records on nine CDs, spanning the period between 1960's High Time and 1978's Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?, and adds bonus material from vocalists including Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams and, on a previously unreleased track, Julie Andrews. Johnny Mathis,
Review: John Denver, "All of My Memories: The John Denver Collection"
“Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy,” goes one of John Denver’s most well-known songs. In a little over five minutes – and even less in its single version – “Sunshine” touches on many of the themes most important to the singer-songwriter: nature, love, beauty. Throughout the course of a career sadly cut short when he perished in a plane crash in 1997 aged just 53, Denver revisited these themes over and over again, using his pure, crystalline tone to bring comfort and spread a message of