Playback Records’ second recent jazz-oriented release comes from Melbourne’s Judy Jacques. Whereas Sue Barker’s brand of jazz was a soulful one with strains of pop and rock, Jacques’ style was firmly in the “trad jazz” camp derived from New Orleans and Dixieland. The Sixties Sessions collects 24 tracks recorded between 1962 and 1966 from the solo artist (including some atypical pop sides) as well as The Yarra Yarra New Orleans Jazz Band, and Judy Jacques and Her Gospel Four. When she was joined the Yarra Yarra New Orleans Jazz Band in 1959,…
Inspiration
Real Gone Music dips back to the golden age of television for this reissue. The western Cheyenne ran from 1955-1963 and starred Clint Walker. He was also signed to Warner Bros. for a recording contract and, in 1959, released Inspiration, a country-gospel album. RGM’s new edition is expanded by one track and features notes from Todd Everett.
Groovin’ Down A Crowded Avenue: Real Gone March Slate Features The Rascals, Southside Johnny, Artful Dodger, Ann-Margret
Official word has just come out about Real Gone’s titles for March and, as usual, the line-up boasts an eclectic group of releases including a number of comprehensive double-CD sets! First up is a compilation featuring liner notes from our very own Joe Marchese. The Definitive Collection from Ann-Margret features 30 of the flame-haired singer/actress’s songs from her 1961-1966 tenure on RCA Records and includes standards, pop, soundtrack recordings and collaborations with Al Hirt and Elvis Presley. (This title was previously issued as a digital-only entry in Sony’s Essential series.) Next up are…
Categories:
Genres:
Release Round-Up: Week of December 2
Welcome to December, and this week’s Release Round-Up! The Rolling Stones, Blue and Lonesome (Interscope) Standard Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The Rolling Stones return with their first studio album since 2005’s A Bigger Bang. Recorded over just three days in London, Blue and Lonesome returns the legendary band to its blues roots. Available on CD, LP and DD, as well as in an SHM-CD Deluxe Edition with postcards,…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Wonderful Words of Life: The Inspirational Recordings
Pioneering African-American pop-jazz quartet The Mills Brothers has had a long and storied career, getting their professional start all the way back in 1928. They recorded over 2000 songs and had hits over several decades, including the #2 “Glow Worm” in 1952. While concentrating mostly on The Great American Songbook, the group did record some gospel numbers. The 16-track Wonderful Words of Life – The Inspirational Recordings anthologizes this aspect of their recording career. It features liner notes by Davin Seay and has been remastered by Mike Milchner at SonicVision. While all of…
Release Round-Up: Week of November 4
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a host of holiday offerings (including three new titles from Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music!) and much, much more! Jack Jones, The Jack Jones Christmas Album (Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music proudly bring Jack Jones’ 1964 Kapp Records classic to CD for the very first time! The Jack Jones Christmas Album features lush renditions of “White Christmas,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” and “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Atom Bomb: Expanded Edition
Omnivore continues its deluxe series dedicated to The Blind Boys of Alabama with an expanded edition of 2005’s Atom Bomb, featuring traditional gospel melodies along with surprises such as Eric Clapton’s “Presence of the Lord” and Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky,” all rendered in the group’s stirring style incorporating flourishes of R&B, jazz and even rap and rock. Billy Preston and David Hidalgo are among the guests on this sublime record, newly expanded with seven previously unreleased instrumental cuts of the album’s tracks.
Go Tell It On The Mountain: Expanded Edition
Omnivore expands Go Tell It on the Mountain, the 2003 Christmas album from gospel greats The Blind Boys of Alabama. The all-star LP blended the spiritual and the secular, featuring turns from Tom Waits, Mavis Staples, Aaron Neville, George Clinton, Shelby Lynne, Les McCann (one of the album’s inspirations) and Solomon Burke, gains three additional tracks: “My Lord What a Morning” (first issued in 2004) and previously unreleased 2003 live recordings of “Go Tell It on the Mountain” and “Amazing Grace.”
Can We Still Be Friends: Real Gone’s Black Friday Titles Feature Paul Butterfield, December Slate Includes Todd Rundgren, Mills Brothers
With Halloween coming on Monday, that means that the Christmas season is almost upon us. Stores have already begun to put out Christmas merchandise and Christmas CDs have begun to hit the shelves. Next week sees the release of Real Gone’s mega-Christmas slate, including three Second Disc Records titles featuring Jack Jones, Eddy Arnold and Mitch Miller. In addition, Real Gone has just announced its exclusives for the Black Friday November 25 Record Store Day event which is part of the kickoff to the holiday shopping season and the label’s December batch of titles….
Categories:
Genres:
Release Round-Up: Week of October 7
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up which just might be the biggest slate of the year to date! Lou Reed, The RCA and Arista Album Collection (RCA/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Legacy brings together 16 Lou Reed albums from his RCA and Arista years on 17 CDs, all remastered directly under Reed’s supervision before his untimely passing in 2013. An 80-page hardbound booklet with detailed liner notes, five art prints and a poster round out this limited edition package. Read more here! Prince, The Prince Movie Collection (Warner Home Video) (Amazon…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Mahalia Jackson Sings – The Great Television Performances
Mahalia Jackson remains one of the most, if not the most, influential gospel singers in history. She recorded many hugely successful albums for several labels, including a long tenure at Columbia and won several Grammy awards. She was also an important figure in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. She has received numerous reissues over the years. One part of her career which has been overlooked though are the recordings she made for television in the early 1960s. Hired after her performance at John F. Kennedy’s inaugural ball in 1961, she…
All Is Calm, All Is Bright/Love Shines
Friday Music brings to CD a pair of long-demanded, early 1980s gems from the great B.J. Thomas, just in time for the holiday season: 1985’s Christmas set All Is Calm, All Is Bright, and 1983’s contemporary Christian album Love Shines.
It Had To Be You: Real Gone’s October Slate Features Eddie Money, Keely Smith, Mahalia Jackson, John Hammond, Percy Faith and More
Real Gone Music has just announced their October slate of titles and while only one of them will get you into the Halloween spirit, there might well be something else among the eclectic choice of genres to pique your interest! First up, Real Gone is releasing three two-disc greatest hits collections. One of these features liner notes from our very own Joe Marchese: Percy Faith’s The Definitive Collection. Faith was hugely in demand at Columbia Records, arranging and conducting for a large number of artists during the 1950s. He also had a…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Release Round-Up: Week of May 13
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Linda Ronstadt, Frenesi (Remastered Edition) (Elektra/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Linda Ronstadt’s 1992 Spanish-language album Frenesi returns to CD in a newly-remastered edition with no additional content. Consider this an appetizer for the upcoming expanded remaster of Trio! Allen Toussaint, The Complete Warner Recordings (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Rhino has a reissue of its 2003 limited edition Rhino Handmade collection featuring the late New Orleans legend’s three 1970s Warner Bros. and Reprise albums (Life, Love and Faith;…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
People Get Ready: The Blind Boys of Alabama’s Soul-Gospel Returns From Omnivore
Since first coming together as children at the Alabama Institute for the Blind in 1939, The Blind Boys of Alabama have forged a singular musical path. Forming professionally in 1944, the group has recorded over 60 albums, won five Grammy Awards, appeared in a Broadway musical, played on the world’s stages and spread the joyful sound of gospel everywhere. Tomorrow, May 13, Omnivore Recordings has newly-expanded editions of two of the group’s Grammy-winning albums: 2001’s Spirit of the Century and 2002’s Higher Ground. Both of these sublimely soulful and spirited albums bring a…
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…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Dan Fogelberg, Johnny Paycheck, Beau Brummels, More Join Bobby Darin On Real Gone’s May Slate
Real Gone Music has just announced its May release slate, and with rock, jazz, gospel, country, pop and beyond, it’s one of the label’s most diverse months yet! Naturally, we’re partial to the May 6 release of Bobby Darin’s Another Song on My Mind: The Motown Years from Real Gone and our own Second Disc Records (get all of the details right here!), but there’s plenty more on offer, too! Bobby Darin was a remarkable singer-songwriter; another beloved titan of popular song is the late Dan Fogelberg. He’s celebrated on the 2-CD,…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
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 Soul and Oh Me Oh My: Aretha Live in Philly 1972. There are no…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
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 liner notes by Mavis Staples, James Miller, Opal Louis Nations, and compilation producer Joe McEwen, as well…
The Bad Seeds: “Nick Cave Heard Them Here First” Features Dylan, Cash, Pitney, More
Ace Records has an unusual name on its roster: that of Australian musical iconoclast Nick Cave. An artist who’s lived up to his description as rock’s “Prince of Darkness,” Cave has nonetheless drawn on a wide array of influences in crafting his own intense, personal and powerful songbook. Ace has rounded up the original versions of 25 songs recorded over the years by the artist on the collection entitled Nick Cave Heard Them Here First. This anthology follows the label’s similar sets for The Ramones, The New York Dolls, David Bowie, Elvis…
Joy In My Soul: The Complete SAR Recordings
This new 2-CD collection from ABKCO offers the complete recorded output of the legendary gospel group on the SAR Records label, which was co-owned by former Soul Stirrer Sam Cooke and former Pilgrim Traveler J.W. Alexander. The recordings span the period of 1959 to 1964, and cover the period after the group’s Specialty recordings and up until Sam Cooke’s tragic death.
Return To The “Freedom Highway”: Staple Singers Classic Is Reissued and Expanded
For almost 50 years, between 1948 and 1994, The Staple Singers stood at the crossroads of gospel and soul, preaching messages of peace and positivity through music. In April 1965, The Staples – “Pops,” Mavis, Yvonne and Pervis – were joined by drummer Al Duncan and bassist Phil Upchurch at Chicago’s New Nazareth Church to record the album that became Freedom Highway. The LP, originally released on Epic Records, recognized that year’s historic civil rights marches from Montgomery to Selma, Alabama. Now, some fifty years later, Legacy Recordings has remixed, remastered and…
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 Vol. 14—Boston Music Hall 11/30/73 & 12/2/73 (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Theodore Bikel, Theodore Bikel’s…
Categories:
Genres:
