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/ Pop

Put On Your Red Shoes: Parlophone Releases a Demo of "Let's Dance," Bowie's Biggest Hit

January 8, 2018 By Mike Duquette 4 Comments

Bowie Rodgers 83

To commemorate what would have been David Bowie's 71st birthday, Parlophone has unveiled a previously unreleased gem from the vaults: the singer's original demo for "Let's Dance," recorded with guitarist/producer Nile Rodgers. As both devoted and casual fans know, "Let's Dance," from Bowie's 15th studio album of the same name in 1983, marked a sea change for the enigmatic performer. Having pushed the envelope dabbling in glam, disco and alternative rock during the late '60s and '70s, Bowie -

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Categories: News Formats: Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Classic Rock, Disco/Dance, Pop, Rock Tags: David Bowie, Nile Rodgers

Love Has Called: A Look At Cherry Red's Expanded B.A. Robertson Asylum Albums

January 5, 2018 By Randy Fairman Leave a Comment

BA Robertson Initial Success

Brian Alexander Robertson, a.k.a. B.A. Robertson, has just about done it all in a career spanning five decades.  The Scottish-born talent has written an international best-selling, Ivor Novello Award-winning hit ("The Living Years" for Mike + The Mechanics), scored hit singles under his own name ("Bang Bang," "Knocked It Off"), written with Burt Bacharach and Cliff Richard, and reinvented classic Disney songs with artists ranging from Billy Joel to LL Cool J.  Last year, Cherry Red brought

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Pop Tags: B.A. Robertson

Release Round-Up: Week of January 5

January 5, 2018 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Bowie Beauty and the Beast Single

Welcome to the first Release Round-Up of the new year! David Bowie, Beauty and the Beast [7-Inch Vinyl Single] (Parlophone/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) David Bowie's series of 40th anniversary series continues with the picture-disc release of "Beauty and the Beast" from Heroes, backed with a live version of "Blackout" from Berlin's Deutschlandhalle on May 16, 1978.  The A-side boasts a photo of Bowie from Japan 1977, while the flip has him in NYC in

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Categories: Release Round-Up Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Classical/Opera, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Daryl Hall and John Oates, David Bowie, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Meat Loaf, Michel Legrand, Natalie Dessay

Everything's Coming Up Posies: Power Pop Group Work with Omnivore, PledgeMusic on Expanded Reissues

January 3, 2018 By The Second Disc 2 Comments

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Power pop masterminds The Posies will celebrate their 30th anniversary this year by teaming up with Omnivore Recordings and PledgeMusic for reissues of three albums recorded for DGC Records in the mid-'90s. Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, the core members of the group, released the first Posies album, Failure, in 1988. (That self-released title was reissued by Omnivore in 2014.) Signing to Geffen's rock subsidiary in 1990 (where they'd count Nirvana and Weezer as labelmates), the group's

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Pop, Rock Tags: Big Star, The Posies

I Hear a Rhapsody: "Motown Unreleased: 1967" Features Marvin Gaye, Four Tops, Temptations, Mynah Birds

January 2, 2018 By Randy Fairman 8 Comments

Motown Unreleased 1967

As has become a yearly tradition for the past several years, Motown released a "copyright extension" compilation of previously unreleased tracks at the very end of 2017, only a couple of weeks after last year's similar set got a physical release.  Motown Unreleased: 1967 gathers 89 tracks across the equivalent of 4 CDs, all previously unheard treasures from the seemingly inexhaustible Motown vaults. Like the collections of the past couple of years, there is a wide range of Motown talent on

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Categories: News Formats: Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Billy Eckstine, Earl Van Dyke, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Jimmy Ruffin, Marvin Gaye, Neil Young, Rick James, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Valerie Simpson, Various Artists

Thief of Hearts: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

January 2, 2018 By

Thief of Hearts OST

Varese Vintage returns the long out-of-print soundtrack to the 1984 thriller Thief of Hearts to CD in a newly remastered and expanded edition!  In addition to the title track by Melissa Manchester and the original score by Harold Faltermeyer, the album also includes songs from E.G. Daily, Annabella Lewin of Bow Wow Wow, Darwun, and Beth Anderson & Joe "Bean" Esposito.  TSD's Joe Marchese supplies the new liner notes!  Bonus tracks include the rare 12-inch dance mix of Manchester's "Thief of

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Formats: CD Genre: Pop, Soundtracks

Live At Lafayette's Music Room

January 2, 2018 By

Big Star Live At Lafayettes

Live At Lafayette's Music Room showcases Big Star kicking off 1973 at the acclaimed Memphis venue. Co-founder Chris Bell had recently departed the group, leaving singer/guitarist Alex Chilton, bassist Andy Hummel and drummer Jody Stephens to continue as a trio. While the group would not yet commit to recording a follow-up to 1972's #1 Record until fall of the next year, this show at Lafayette's features tracks from both #1 Record and the album that would become 1974's Radio City, including

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Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Pop

The Year In Review - The 2017 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z

January 2, 2018 By The Second Disc 4 Comments

gold cd

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

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Blues, Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Disco/Dance, Folk, Gospel, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks Tags: Gold Bonus Disc Awards

Release Round-Up: Weeks of December 22 and 29

December 22, 2017 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Monkees More of The Monkees

Welcome to this end-of-year Release Round-Up! The Monkees, More of The Monkees: Super Deluxe Edition (Rhino) Rhino delivers a 3-CD Super Deluxe Edition of The Monkees' 1967 sophomore album with mono and stereo versions of the album and a plethora of alternate takes, never-before-heard rarities, and a recently-discovered live recording!  With 91 tracks (55 previously unreleased!), this set greatly expands upon the 2-CD iteration from 2006.  Read all about it here! Herbie Mann,

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Categories: Release Round-Up Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Cast Recordings, Holiday, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, Rock Tags: Andy Williams, Herbie Mann, Marshall Crenshaw, Marvin Hamlisch, The Monkees

Joy Ride: Cherry Red Boxes Up Albums From Rick Derringer, Mungo Jerry

December 21, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Rick Derringer Joy Ride

Cherry Red has recently collected up the albums of two very different artists from the 1970s as compact clamshell box sets.  The label's Hear No Evil Recordings imprint is taking listeners on a Joy Ride with four Epic solo albums from guitar great Rick Derringer, while 7Ts Records has expanded editions of five Dawn albums from the group Mungo Jerry as The Dawn Albums Collection. Joy Ride: Solo Albums 1973-1980 follows the release earlier this year of The Blue Sky Albums from Rick's band

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: Mungo Jerry, Rick Derringer

Living For Today

December 20, 2017 By

Petula Clark Living for Today

The legendary Petula Clark's 2016 album From Now On gets its first U.S. release with two new tracks on the heels of Petula's acclaimed American tour!  Living for Today premieres both the upbeat title song penned by Petula and Grant Sturiale, and the infectious "The Rainbow," the first collaboration between Petula and "Downtown" hitmaker Tony Hatch in recent years!

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Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Pop

Holiday Gift Guide Review: INXS, 'Kick 30'

December 20, 2017 By Mike Duquette 4 Comments

INXS Kick

"All we've got is this moment," INXS frontman Michael Hutchence implores in the band's biggest American hit, "Need You Tonight." But in the case of the band's landmark sixth studio album Kick (1987), nothing could be further from the truth. The album, which sold more than nine million copies around the world and spun off five hit singles, has received no less than four expanded reissues in the last 15 years. In 2002, Atlantic Records and Rhino (who oversee the band's catalogue in North America)

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews Formats: Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop, Rock Tags: INXS

Holiday Gift Guide Review: America, "Heritage: Home Recordings/Demos 1970-1973"

December 19, 2017 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

America Heritage

It must have taken a great deal of gumption, not to mention youthful hubris, for Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek to name their band America - as if three teenaged army brats abroad in England could have possibly captured the spirit of their home country in all its complexities.  Yet, capture that spirit the trio did, and today, some 47 years after they first entered the studio, America is still making music.  Yet Beckley and Bunnell have happily been looking back on recent releases

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Categories: Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: America

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Elton John, 'Diamonds'

December 19, 2017 By Mike Duquette 2 Comments

Elton Diamonds box

It's not untoward to ask exactly who the intended audience of an Elton John compilation is in 2017. The British piano pop legend has been releasing music for more than 50 years now, and has enjoyed a run of success that began early in the '70s and has yet to entirely let up. And in that time, there have been plenty of collections for fans of all stripes. His very first greatest hits album topped both the U.S. and U.K. charts in 1974 and prompted a sequel only three years later (and a third a

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop, Rock, Soundtracks Tags: Elton John

No Time To Lose: Music Pioneer Ralph Peer Celebrated with Box Featuring Bing, Desi, Buddy, Ray, Elvis, Bob, Nat and Others

December 18, 2017 By Randy Fairman Leave a Comment

Roots of Popular Music Box

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

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Blues, Country, Folk, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Bing Crosby, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Ralph S. Peer, Ray Charles, Various Artists

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Joe Jackson, "Summer in the City: Live in New York"

December 15, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Joe Jackson Summer in the City

Intervention Records has been looking sharp with deluxe vinyl reissues of some of Joe Jackson's most treasured albums, including I'm the Man, Night and Day, and yes, Look Sharp!  Now, the label has returned to the singer-songwriter-piano man's oeuvre with one of his lesser-known, latter-day efforts:  Summer in the City: Live in New York.  The album was recorded in August 1999 in the intimate environs of Joe's Pub at the Public Theater, and released on Sony Classical.  It came as a surprise - and

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, News, Reviews Formats: Vinyl Genre: Pop, Rock Tags: Joe Jackson

Release Round-Up: Week of December 15

December 15, 2017 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Beatles Christmas Records

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

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Categories: Release Round-Up Formats: Box Sets, CD, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Holiday, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, Reggae Tags: Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Ethiopian and His All-Stars, Gladiators, Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell, Otis Redding, Stan Getz, The Beatles, The Guess Who

I'm So Glad You're Back: Stax Plans Fourth Volume of Singles Box Set Series

December 14, 2017 By Mike Duquette 2 Comments

Stax Singles 4 packshot

Craft Recordings has been doing great things with the Stax Records catalogue in honor of its 60th anniversary (check out our most recent review of the new Isaac Hayes box set for proof!) - and now, they're continuing a beloved box set series with a new collection of the label's singles. Continuing the trend established by The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968 (released in 1991 and reissued by Rhino in 2016), The Complete Stax-Volt Soul Singles, Vol. 2: 1968-1971 (1993, reissued 2014) and

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock, Everything Else, Funk, Gospel, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock Tags: Big Star, Booker T. and the MG's, Carla Thomas, Delaney and Bonnie, Isaac Hayes, Sam & Dave, The Staple Singers

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Johnny Mathis, "The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection"

December 13, 2017 By Joe Marchese 4 Comments

Johnny Mathis Voice of Romance Cover Art

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

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Disco/Dance, Holiday, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul Tags: Johnny Mathis

Holding On Forever: Bonnie Tyler Rarities Collected on 2-CD Set from Cherry Red

December 12, 2017 By Randy Fairman 1 Comment

Bonnie Tyler Remixes

If you look at Bonnie Tyler's discography online, you will discover that the Welsh-born, husky-voiced singer has over 150 compilations chronicling her music.  Cherry Red imprint Cherry Pop has recently added to this number with the 2-CD Remixes and Rarities, covering her recording career from 1979-1994.  What makes this one different from most of the other compilations is that it focuses on hard-to-find tracks which were only released on foreign issues, are non-LP sides, or have been long

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Pop, Rock Tags: Bonnie Tyler, Todd Rundgren

More "Sunshine Tomorrow": Beach Boys Release Digital Compilations Celebrating 1967 Featuring 7 Concerts, Studio Rarities Including Unreleased Songs

December 8, 2017 By Randy Fairman 3 Comments

Beach Boys Sunshine Tomorrow 2 Studio

Back in June, Capitol/UMe released 1967 - Sunshine Tomorrow, a 2-CD set looking at that year in Beach Boys history - a year in which they gave up on SMiLE, released two very different albums, and recorded a third.  Sunshine Tomorrow featured the first true stereo mix of the album Wild Honey, studio tracks recorded for the abandoned "live" album Lei'd In Hawaii, and session outtakes from the Smiley Smile recording dates.  In total, it premiered 54 previously unreleased tracks.  But, as has often

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Categories: News Formats: Digital Download Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys

The Lovelight Starts Shining: Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life" 40th Anniversary Expanded Edition OUT TODAY!

December 8, 2017 By Randy Fairman 5 Comments

Debby Boone You Light Up My Life

What single sat atop the Billboard Hot 100 forty years ago this week?  You might first guess it was perhaps something by the Bee Gees, who were in their own historical chart-run at this moment.  But it was actually "You Light Up My Life" by Debby Boone, which was well on its way to becoming the No. 1 single of the entire 1970s.  The record-smashing hit was also featured on an album of the same name, which became a platinum smash in its own right.  Despite this success, the album has never

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Pop Tags: Debby Boone, The Boone Girls

Release Round-Up: Week of December 8

December 8, 2017 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Johnny Mathis Voice of Romance Cover Art

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

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Categories: Release Round-Up Formats: Box Sets, CD, Vinyl Genre: Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks Tags: Barbra Streisand, Bert Berns, Bing Crosby, Chip Taylor, Debby Boone, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Henry Mancini, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Webb, John Fogerty, Johnny Mathis, Julie Andrews, The Searchers, William Tabbert

Back to the Garden: Jimi Hendrix's "Both Sides of the Sky" Premieres Unreleased Tracks, Features Stills, Winter

December 7, 2017 By Joe Marchese 7 Comments

Both Sides of the Sky

Experience Hendrix and Legacy Recordings are opening the Jimi Hendrix vaults once again for a new release intended as the third installment in the trilogy that began with Valleys of Neptune in 2010 and continued with People, Hell and Angels in 2013.  Both Sides of the Sky will arrive in stores on March 9 in CD, vinyl, and digital formats, featuring 13 songs recorded between January 1968 and February 1970 - ten of which are previously unreleased. The recordings on Both Sides of the Sky evince

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Blues, Classic Rock, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock Tags: Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Stephen Stills

Opportunities: Pet Shop Boys Go Back to the Beginning with Remasters of Original Reissue Campaign

December 6, 2017 By Mike Duquette 1 Comment

Please expanded

Almost a year after the Pet Shop Boys announced their Catalogue 1985-2012 reissue series - which, over the course of 2017, saw the expansion of the remaining un-reissued albums from the duo's Parlophone years - they will restart things with new remasters of the first three entries in the series. The band's debut album Please (1986) and follow-ups Actually (1987) and Introspective (1988) will all be remastered and reissued March 2. These 2CD sets faithfully replicate the Further Listening

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Disco/Dance, Pop Tags: Pet Shop Boys

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