Listeners experiencing 2018 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Nina Simone's debut recordings for the first time might be taken aback at the ferocity and determination which mark these fourteen sides, compiled for the first time in complete form on CD as Mood Indigo: The Complete Bethlehem Singles (BMG 538320282). Those qualities distinguished this remarkable artist throughout a long and fiery career, but were thrillingly present at her very first sessions. Pianist-singer Simone began her
Quiet Nights: Cherry Red Celebrates Bossa Nova On Two Collections
The beguiling Brazilian sounds of the bossa nova have long been a part of the repertoire from Cherry Red's El Records imprint. In the second half of 2017, the label released two more slipcased double-disc collections celebrating the music that - much like that girl from Ipanema - makes you go, "Aaaaah." João Gilberto and the Stylists of Bossa Nova Sing Antonio Carlos Jobim pairs the most famous vocalist and most famous composer of the genre in one package, while The Women of Bossa Nova Volume
Release Round-Up: Week of February 9
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Various Artists, Stax Singles Vol. 4: Rarities and Best of the Rest (Stax/Craft) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Craft Recordings boxes up a fourth volume of rare singles from the Stax vaults. Volume Four lives up to its subtitle, collecting odds and ends from Stax and its various imprints by artists including not just the label's usual heavy hitters but also Big Star, Billy Eckstine, Delaney and Bonnie, and others. 80 pages of
Summon the Heroes: John Williams Box to Celebrate More Than 25 Years of Pops and More
This past Sunday, John Williams received a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Capella, for a track on his latest studio album. It's his 24th Grammy and joins his five Oscars, four Golden Globes, three Emmys and numerous other awards. At 85, Williams has hardly slowed down. Of course, aside from his film composing work, he has also been an orchestra conductor for many years. Sony Classical is celebrating that aspect of Williams' career with the 20-disc John Williams:
The Colpix Singles
Nina Simone's 1959-1964 time at the Colpix label is collected on the 2-CD, 27-track The Colpix Singles (also available in a 14-track highlights edition on vinyl). At Colpix, Simone recorded some of the most sly, sultry, and incendiary music of her career, touching on folk, blues, jazz, and soul - all of which are reflected on this compendium of original single versions.
Mood Indigo: The Complete Bethlehem Singles
Mood Indigo: The Complete Bethlehem Singles collects the earliest recordings of Nina Simone. The 14-track CD version follows the chronology of the original mono singles, while the vinyl LP version has "Porgy (I Loves You Porgy)" and "Love Me or Leave Me," Simone's debut single, on a bonus 7-inch replica 45 rather than on the LP. Additionally, Barnes & Noble will have an exclusive blue vinyl version. Ashley Kahn's new liner notes draw on a fresh interview with drummer Al "Tootie" Heath,
Release Round-Up: Week of January 26
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! ABBA: The Album - 40th Anniversary Edition (Polar/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) ABBA revisits its fifth studio album (released in December 1977 in Scandinavia and January 1978 in the U.K.) - a tie-in to ABBA: The Movie - as a deluxe 2-LP, 45 RPM, half-speed mastered set. Featuring "The Name of the Game," "Take a Chance on Me," and "Thank You for the Music," the chart-topping LP has been a favorite of the band's discography.
Sugar In My Bowl: Bethlehem, Rhino Plan Singles Collections Honoring Nina Simone
Few artists have had the impact on pop, soul, rock and jazz as the iconoclastic Nina Simone. Simone (1933-2003) played by her own rules in life and art, recording some of the most electric and eclectic music imaginable in any genre. It wasn't uncommon on a Simone album to find politically charged protest music alongside popular Broadway hits and reworkings of contemporary rock songs. This April, she will enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, though she preferred to call her singular fusion of
Way Out West: Deluxe Edition
Craft Recordings celebrates the 60th anniversary of Sonny Rollins' 1957 classic Way Out West with a 2-LP slipcased box set adding an entire second album of bonus material. Past CD releases have included three alternate takes ("I'm an Old Cowhand," "Way Out West," and "Come, Gone") as bonus tracks. This new vinyl reissue ups the ante by including those as well as four more previously unreleased tracks on a second vinyl LP: two fly-on-the-wall spoken word bits from the studio; an alternate
I'm an Old Cowhand: Sonny Rollins' "Way Out West" Arrives In Deluxe Edition with Unreleased Tracks
For more than six decades, the legendary Sonny Rollins has epitomized style, skill, and musicianship as one of jazz's leading lights. Though a diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis has led the 87-year old Kennedy Center Honoree to hang up his saxophone, he remains active. In the last year alone, he's donated his personal archives to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and has endowed The Sonny Rollins Jazz Ensemble Fund at Oberlin College. Touchingly, he revealed to an interviewer
The Year In Review - The 2017 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z
Happy New Year, and welcome to The Second Disc's Eighth 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 the current 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 catalogue
The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6
4CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Copenhagen LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada (TBD) This latest volume of Miles Davis' Bootleg Series brings together five performances by Davis and John Coltrane recorded during the Spring 1960 Jazz at the Philharmonic European Tour, Coltrane's final such outing as a sideman: two shows from Paris's L'Olympia Theater on Monday, March 21; two shows from the next night at Stockholm's Konserthuset; and one from Copenhagen's Tivolis
No Time To Lose: Music Pioneer Ralph Peer Celebrated with Box Featuring Bing, Desi, Buddy, Ray, Elvis, Bob, Nat and Others
The history of commercial recorded music stretches back over 100 years and has encompasses the stories of many artists and talents. One of the biggest figures in this early history was Ralph S. Peer. The A&R (Artists and Repertoire) and publishing pioneer might not be a household name today, but he made major contributions to many varied musical genres including blues, country and Latin. Sony Music Latin has recently released a wide-ranging, eclectic 3-CD box set entitled The Roots of
Release Round-Up: Week of December 15
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Beatles, The Christmas Records (Capitol/Apple/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Happy Christmas, Beatle people! The Christmas Records, a seven-disc vinyl box set from the Fab Four, features colored 45 RPM recreations of the Beatles' original Christmas fan club flexi-discs (all single-sided except for the last two in 1968 and 1969). The original sleeve artwork has been recreated for each title, and an enclosed 16-page booklet
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Johnny Mathis, "The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection"
I. Wonderful, Wonderful "A new sound in popular music," heralded the back cover of Johnny Mathis' 1956 debut album. That self-titled release on Columbia Records introduced a voice that's now instantly familiar: expressive, rich, creamy, seductive, and tender, with a clarion, controlled vibrato that set it apart from any other tone in the golden age of American song. As Columbia's George Avakian realized, Mathis' natural instrument was perfect for jazz - capable of navigating the form's
A Case of You: Herbie Hancock's 'River: The Joni Letters' Celebrates 10 Years with Expanded Reissue
A decade ago, Herbie Hancock's latest surprised both jazz enthusiasts and mainstream audiences - and now, it's available in a new expanded edition. Verve and UMe will reissue Hancock's River: The Joni Letters for its 10th anniversary this Friday, December 15. The original album, mostly featuring songs of Joni Mitchell, will be paired with a bonus EP of four additional recordings from the sessions. Two of them - covers of "A Case of You" and "All I Want" - were previously only available on an
'Round Midnight: Miles Davis' New "Bootleg Series" Volume Offers Concerts with Coltrane
The Miles Davis Bootleg Series is returning with a vengeance in 2018. On March 23, Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings will journey back to one of the legendary musician's most cherished collaborations with the release of Miles Davis & John Coltrane - The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6. This landmark set brings together five performances recorded during the Spring 1960 Jazz at the Philharmonic European Tour, Coltrane's final such outing as a sideman: two shows from Paris's
Release Round-Up: Week of December 8
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Debby Boone, You Light Up My Life: 40th Anniversary Expanded Edition (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Finally, the platinum LP containing the biggest hit of the 1970s arrives on CD! Real Gone's new edition expands Debby Boone's original You Light Up My Life album by a whopping thirteen tracks, tracing Debby's career back to her earliest recordings with her sisters as The Boone Girls. You'll hear their effervescent
Release Round-Up: Week of December 1
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Alan Parsons Project, Eye in the Sky: 35th Anniversary Edition (Arista/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The eye in the sky is still looking at you...Legacy Recordings has a 35th anniversary box set celebrating The Alan Parsons Project's 1982 best-seller Eye in the Sky. The album, which yielded the APP's biggest hit single with its title track as well as the classic instrumental "Sirius," will be enhanced for this lavish
Ella at Zardi's
Two previously unreleased live sets from Ella Fitzgerald, recorded at Zardi's Jazzland in Hollywood on February 2, 1956, arrive on CD featuring both familiar classics and songs she never recorded in the studio!
Big Break Big Round-Up: Spotlight on Spyder Turner, Randy Crawford and Enchantment
Today, we're taking a look at three recent releases from Big Break Records that you just might have missed! Spyder Turner may be best remembered today for a novelty single. His 1967 reworking of Ben E. King's classic "Stand by Me" found him channeling his inner Rich Little or Sammy Davis, Jr. to impersonate such famous voices as James Brown, Sam Cooke, and Smokey Robinson. Love it or loathe it, Turner's "Stand by Me" made it all the way to No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. But the West
A Fine Romance: Verve To Release Unheard Ella Fitzgerald Live Gig
A previously unreleased pair of Ella Fitzgerald live sets are coming to CD next month, as part of a celebration of the iconic singer's centennial year! 1956 was a pivotal year for Ella Fitzgerald. She had recently become the first artist on her manager Norman Granz's brand-new label Verve Records. That year, she'd record and release Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Cole Porter Song Book, her first of eight albums over the next decade that would spotlight and celebrate various composers of what we
Release Round-Up: Week of November 3
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Supremes, The Ultimate Merry Christmas (Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music are joining Motown Records to unwrap a celebration of The Supremes' 1965 perennial Merry Christmas. The Ultimate Merry Christmas features the album in three distinctive versions: the original 1965 mono and stereo mixes, as well as a brand new, never-before-heard 2017 mix premiering
Reservations for Two: SoulMusic Adds Kashif, Tom Browne to "Anthology" Series
Earlier this year, Cherry Red's SoulMusic Records imprint continued its series of artist anthologies with another two titles in the series, this time spotlighting the late singer-songwriter-musician-producer Kashif, and jazz fusion artist-trumpeter Tom Browne. Help Yourself to My Love: The Arista Anthology collects 30 tracks on 2 CDs from Kashif, the artist born Michael Jones, whose smooth grooves helped define the sound of eighties R&B. A native New Yorker, Kashif first rose to fame as
Yeh Yeh! Matt Bianco Expands Sophomore Album On Cherry Pop
Cherry Pop will reissue an expanded edition of Matt Bianco's self-titled sophomore album this week, with a dazzling array of bonus tracks. Released in 1986, Matt Bianco introduced a new line-up of the U.K.-based continental jazz-pop group; vocalist Basia and keyboardist Danny White had both left the group (the duo would collaborate on every Basia solo album afterward); vocalist Mark Reilly subsequently recruited Mark Fisher, who'd played keyboards for Wham!, to share creative responsibilities
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- …
- 42
- Next Page »