Diana Ross is well-known as the Queen of Motown, but for real record geeks and catalogue enthusiasts, it's her post-Motown works - released in the U.S. on RCA Records and on Capitol/EMI worldwide - that deserves a revisitation, thanks to its high energy dance grooves supplied by several very famous collaborators. This fall, Funkytowngrooves is doing what Diana's fans have wanted for years: remastering and expanding her six albums from 1981 to 1987 for the first time ever. After two decades
Mad About Her: Edsel Preps Next Wave of Belinda Carlisle Reissues
Edsel earned some deservedly high marks for last year's red carpet treatment of Belinda Carlisle's solo catalogue, remastering and expanding her albums for Virgin (in the U.K.)/MCA (in the U.S.) and issuing a career-spanning compilation as well. Now, they've announced expansions of three more albums Go-Go's frontwoman. The U.K. catalogue label will release a CD/DVD edition of solo debut Belinda (1986), which featured the Top 5 hit "Mad About You" and a cover of Freda Payne's "Band of Gold"
Release Round-Up: Week of July 22
The Beatles, The Japan Box (Apple/UMe) Stereo remasters, mono remasters, U.S. albums...and now, the first five albums from Japan on CD! What will they think of next? (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Herbie Hancock, The Warner Bros. Years: 1969-1972 (Rhino) UPDATE: This title has been delayed to August 5. Three Warner Bros. albums (released before Herbie prolifically joined Columbia), each expanded with rare and unreleased promo single versions. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Jim Croce, Lost Time
Masterworks Goes "On the Town" With Roslyn Kind's RCA Albums, Bernstein Musical's London Cast
Masterworks Broadway has announced the balance of its summer slate of CD-Rs/DD reissues from the Sony Music archives with both releases making their debut in the digital domain. Next week, the label will reissue for the very first time both RCA albums by vocalist and cabaret star Roslyn Kind – not only a talented artist in her own right but also the half-sister of one Barbra Streisand. Then, on August 19, Masterworks will bring to CD-R and DD the original 1963 London Cast Recording of Leonard
A Dream Goes On Forever: Vintage Todd Rundgren and Utopia Show Comes To CD
Todd Rundgren has been rather generous of late with his archive, treating fans to a number of live concert recordings on various labels including gigs from 2010 (Todd Rundgren's Johnson Live), 1990 (Live at the Warfield Theatre, San Francisco) and 1975 (Todd Rundgren's Utopia Live at Hammersmith Odeon). Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings label continues its Archive Series with the release of Todd Rundgren and Utopia's 2-CD set Live at the Electric Ballroom: Milwaukee, 23rd October 1978. As
Lovely Day: Aretha, Sly, Andy, Marvin and Billie Headline "The Brazil Connection"
Well, summer is officially upon us! Already there's talk about which songs will be anointed the perfect summer jams for 2014 - songs by artists like Ariana Grande, Iggy Azalea and the ubiquitous Pharrell Williams. If those names don't set your pulse racing, however, Legacy Recordings has an alternative that's bound to conjure up images of tropical sunsets, refreshing drinks and summer breeze. Studio Rio Presents The Brazil Connection makes over 12 pop classics from the Sony vaults by melding the
Real Gone's Sizzling Summer Features Cass Elliot, Peggy Lipton, Annette, The Shirelles, Dee Dee Warwick and More
Summer is finally here, and Real Gone Music has a bevy of offerings due on July 29 which should make your vacation even sunnier! The label is throwing a beach party, sixties-style, with the original stereo soundtrack to How to Stuff a Wild Bikini featuring screen legends Annette Funicello and Mickey Rooney and “Louie, Louie” rockers The Kingsmen; celebrating true California royalty with an expanded edition of “Mama” Cass Elliot’s Don’t Call Me Mama Anymore (sorry, Cass!) featuring previously
The Beatles Go Mono Once More - on Vinyl
It sure has been quite a year for Beatlemaniacs looking to fill their shelves with catalogue wares from The Fab Four. Last winter saw the CD release of a second volume of BBC recordings (coinciding with a remaster of the first from 1994) and a
Sign of the Times: "Look For A Star" Collects Early Songs of Tony Hatch
Encouraged by his publisher to pen a song for a Norman Wisdom film in pre-production, teenager Tony Hatch wrote "Follow a Star." Though the beloved British comedian passed on it, the tune found its way into a B-movie called Circus of Horrors with a new title: "Look for a Star." The same week in June 1960, four recordings of the pretty little tune entered the Billboard Hot 100 across the pond. Dean Hawley reached No. 29, Billy Vaughn made it to No. 19, Garry Miles hit No. 16, and the original
I Know A Place: Petula Clark, Scott Walker, Connie Francis Celebrate "The Songs of Tony Hatch"
Ace Records’ latest addition to its Songwriters Series, Colour My World: The Songs of Tony Hatch, should come with a warning label – CAUTION: THESE SONGS WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY. A composer, lyricist, producer, arranger and A&R man (whew!), Hatch was a hitmaker par excellence, and one of no small skill for imparting joy through his music. Petula Clark’s bright 1964 single “Downtown” alone would likely have assured Hatch a place in the Book of Pop, Swingin’ Sixties chapter. But listening to a
I Knew A Man, Bojangles: Raven Reissues Early Jerry Jeff Walker
"It's about a guy I met in a jail cell in New Orleans. We were both in the drunk tank over a long weekend. He told stories, and to me he was the 'eyes of age.' I never saw him again." From such inauspicious roots came Jerry Jeff Walker's unlikely but enduring standard "Mr. Bojangles." The song gave the title to the singer-songwriter's 1968 Atco Records debut which has just been reissued by Raven Records as a three-for-one edition also containing his two Atco follow-ups, Five Years Gone and Bein'
UPDATE 6/2: Meet The Beatles, Japan-Style: New Box Set Collects Fabs' Original Japanese Albums, U.S. Edition Coming In July
UPDATE 6/2: It now appears that Capitol Records will be releasing this box set in the U.S. on July 15! See below for updated Amazon links and more! ORIGINAL POST (5/5/14): Attn: Beatle collectors – you know who you are! On June 25, Universal Music Japan is extending an invitation to Meet the Beatles as you would have fifty years ago in that country. The new Meet the Beatles box set presents mini-LP CD replicas of five albums released by the Fab Four in Japan in 1964 and 1965. As with the
That's Amore: "Arrivederci Italy" Features Jerry Vale, Dean Martin, Rita Pavone, Nino Rota, Ennio Morricone
IN MEMORIAM: JERRY VALE (1930-2014) : While readying the following article for publication, we learned of the passing of Jerry Vale on May 18, 2014 at the age of 83. Jerry was one of the last great gentlemen of song, and a mainstay of the Columbia Records roster for many years. He notched 18 singles on the Hot 10o between 1953 and 1967, and 27 on the Adult Contemporary chart through 1971, including the AC chart-topper "Have You Looked Into Your Heart" in 1964. Though best-known for his
Review: Bee Gees, "The Warner Bros. Years: 1987-1991"
Tonight, Barry Gibb’s Mythology tour continues making its way through the United States, as the surviving member of The Bee Gees celebrates his family’s legacy in song. From humble beginnings in Australia (1965’s The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs) through international stardom and a final studio farewell (2001’s This is Where I Came In), Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb mastered an ever-shifting array of styles. Baroque, lightly psychedelic pop/rock ceded to tough funk-infused R&B,
Get It Up For Ned Doheny: Numero Sheds Light On Southern California Troubadour, Premieres Demos with Henley and Frey
Despite the history behind it, singer/songwriter Ned Doheny's last name might be the least interesting thing about him. Yes, Los Angeles native Doheny is descended from the family for whom Doheny Drive is named, a family marked by triumph (patriarch Edward L. Doheny was at one time the second richest oil tycoon in America, second only to John D. Rockefeller) and tragedy (Edward's son, the first Ned Doheny, died in a headline-making murder-suicide). But Ned Doheny, the musician, has blazed a
Ain't That The Shames! Now Sounds Reissues, Expands The Cryan' Shames' Psych-Pop LP "A Scratch In The Sky"
Put “California Girls” in a blender with “Cherish” and you might well wind up with something like “A Carol for Lorelei,” the bright, harmony-drenched pop nugget that opens The Cryan’ Shames’ sophomore album, 1968’s A Scratch in the Sky. Though the Chicago band recorded the LP in New York City, the good vibrations of the Summer of Love were clearly in the air back east for the Columbia Records artists. Whereas the band’s debut album Sugar and Spice was a blast of energetic rock and roll by way of
Still Here: Elaine Paige Celebrates Career On New "Ultimate Collection" With Previously Unreleased Songs and Rare Singles
Though her appearances on the Broadway stage have been rare, Elaine Paige remains one of the reigning first ladies of musical theatre around the world. Paige has been a fixture in London's West End since her debut there in the 1968 production of Hair, rising to fame as the first actress to portray Eva Peron onstage in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Evita in 1978. Paige went on to introduce the role of Grizabella and the song "Memory" in Cats, and subsequently starred in such musicals as
Isn't That The Look of Love: Ace Reissues and Expands Lesley Gore's "Girl Talk"
The inviting cover image of Lesley Gore’s 1964 LP features the teenage star on the telephone, poised for some Girl Talk with her best girlfriends. Ace Records, following its expanded version of Gore’s shelved album Magic Colors, has recently reissued Girl Talk in similarly lavish fashion, with thirteen bonus tracks (Ace CDCHD 1383). Ace’s disc spotlights one of the great, largely unheralded “triangle marriages” in pop music – artist Lesley Gore, producer Quincy Jones and arranger Claus
Hey Hey! They're Boyce and Hart - And You Can Help Complete Their Documentary!
For a few years in the halcyon days of the sixties, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart were on top of the world. Singers, songwriters and producers, Boyce and Hart - individually or collectively - were behind some of the most enduring hits of that era or any other: "Last Train to Clarksville," "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone," "Come a Little Bit Closer," "Hurt So Bad," "I Wanna Be Free," "Valleri," "Pretty Little Angel Eyes," and of course, the immortal "Theme from The Monkees." As if turning out hits
Review: Linda Ronstadt, "Duets"
Tonight, Linda Ronstadt receives her long-overdue recognition into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But rock and roll, of course, played only a small - if key - role in Ronstadt's career. The breadth of that career is revealed on Rhino's new release of Linda Ronstadt - Duets (Rhino R2 542161), containing fourteen tracks originally released between 1974 and 2006 plus one previously unreleased performance. While there are no duets here from Ronstadt's Tony-nominated turn in Gilbert and Sullivan's
Review: Elvis Presley, "Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis"
Lord a-mighty, do you feel your temperature rising? Okay, "Burning Love" isn't among the songs on the new 2-CD Legacy Edition of Elvis Presley's 1974 Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis, but there's nonetheless plenty to get the pulse pounding and the pelvis swiveling. The original Memphis LP preserved The King's hometown show of March 20, 1974, and this reissue adds a live concert from two nights earlier in Richmond, Virginia plus five bonus tracks from an in-studio rehearsal session. Memphis
Review: Eric Carmen, "The Essential Eric Carmen"
The first track on Legacy Recordings' new double-disc anthology The Essential Eric Carmen (Arista/Legacy 88883745522) is titled, appropriately enough, "Get the Message." And the message relayed by its 30 nuggets comes through loud and clear: whether as power pop prince, classically-inspired MOR balladeer or nostalgic yet contemporary eighties rocker, Eric Carmen had the goods. Young lust never sounded as thrilling, as exuberant, or as pretty as it did in the hands of The Raspberries. Over
Welcome Back: Edsel Reissues John Sebastian's Reprise Catalogue, Adds Previously Unreleased Live Concert DVD
Edsel is saying "welcome back" to John Sebastian with the recent release of a quartet of albums in one deluxe package: John B. Sebastian, The Four of Us, Tarzana Kid and Welcome Back. Edsel has bundled these releases, representing the Lovin' Spoonful founder's complete Reprise studio recordings, with a live concert DVD making its very first appearance anywhere. In Concert: John Sebastian Sings John Sebastian was broadcast by the BBC in October 1970, months following the release of John B.
Brotherhood's "Complete Recordings" Show Another Side of Former Paul Revere and the Raiders Members
Rock's back pages are littered with "creative differences." Such differences split Paul Revere and the Raiders into two warring factions - Paul Revere and Mark Lindsay on one side; Phil "Fang" Volk, Mike "Smitty" Smith and Drake "The Kid" Levin on the other. The Volk-Smith-Levin triumvirate bristled at the more pop direction that the onetime garage band had been taking, and were none too pleased with the studio musicians being enlisted to beef up the Raiders' recordings. In early 1967, the
Hot Shots: Big Break Relights Dan Hartman's "Fire," Expands Sheryl Lee Ralph's Solo Debut
Talk about fusion! For "Hands Down," the opening cut of his 1979 album Relight My Fire, Dan Hartman enlisted rock and roll great Edgar Winter to weave his alto saxophone licks throughout the Latin-flavored disco track, and Stevie Wonder to provide his instantly recognizable harmonica. Hartman wasn't just a dilettante, but a regular musical renaissance man. A veteran of the Johnny Winter Band and the Edgar Winter Group, he wrote the latter's smash hit "Free Ride," and successfully completed
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