SoulMusic Records, an imprint of the Cherry Red Group, continues its non-chronological tour through the catalogue of the late Phyllis Hyman with the release of The Buddah Years. Despite the compilation title, this 13-track CD is actually a straight reissue of Hyman’s very first solo album, recorded for Buddah Records, plus four bonus tracks. Though she had previously recorded a single for Private Stock Records, the statuesque soul singer’s first major splash came as guest vocalist for
Take the Midnight Train to Eight New Gladys Knight and the Pips Reissues from FTG
Funkytowngrooves is leaving on the midnight train to Georgia with a series of six expanded reissues from the catalogue of Gladys Knight, both solo and with the Pips. September 16 and 30 are the dates to mark for the label's reissues of four vintage albums originally released on Buddah (Imagination, I Feel a Song, 2nd Anniversary and The One and Only...), one on Bell (In the Beginning) and three on Columbia (Gladys Knight, Visions and Life). It's a good time to be a fan of Gladys' ouevre; the
Review: Dionne Warwick, "We Need to Go Back: The Unissued Warner Bros. Masters"
We need to go back to the songs we used to sing... - Nickolas Ashford and Valarie Simpson, “We Need to Go Back” What’s remarkable about the 19 outtakes on Dionne Warwick’s We Need to Go Back: The Unissued Warner Bros. Masters (Real Gone Music RGM-0170) is that they’re every bit as good as – and in many cases, superior to - the music actually released during Warwick’s stormy five-year stay at the label. Every one of the soulful stylist’s Warner albums is represented with outtakes save 1972’s
Review: Dionne Warwick, "The Complete Warner Bros. Singles"
Dionne Warwick’s 1972-1977 tenure at Warner Bros. Records has long been a subject of much confusion. Why couldn’t the Burbank giant yield any hit records with the superstar artist after signing her to a record-breaking deal? Sure, the “triangle marriage” of Warwick, Burt Bacharach and Hal David was breaking up, but Warner paired her with some of the most famed names in soul music: Holland-Dozier-Holland, Jerry Ragovoy, and Thom Bell among them. Bell scored a hit for Warwick with “Then Came
From Perry to Post-Punk: Real Gone Unearths Lords of the New Church, Perry Como, Patti Page, Grateful Dead, Billy Preston Rarities
Just a bit more than a week after the arrival of autumn, Real Gone music will deliver a slate of releases that might put you in an appropriately reflective mood. On September 30, two late vocal legends, Patti Page and Perry Como, get the Real Gone treatment complete with numerous previously unissued performances. A bona fide rock and R&B legend, Billy Preston, sees an early classic reissued alongside another concert rescued from the Grateful Dead's vault. And the batch is rounded out by
She Will Survive: BBR Reissues, Expands Gloria Gaynor's "Love Tracks" and "Park Avenue Sound"
The very first release on Big Break Records, early in 2010, was an expanded reissue of the very first solo album by Gloria Gaynor. Never Can Say Goodbye spun Clifton Davis' title track into disco gold and pioneered the sidelong disco mix with a nearly 19-minute suite from Tom Moulton consisting of "Honey Bee," "Never Can Say Goodbye," and another Motown revival, "Reach Out I'll Be There." Big Break followed that landmark 1974 album with an expansion of Experience Gloria Gaynor, from 1975. It
BBR Unveils Trio of "Winners" From The Jazz Crusaders, Inner Life and Kleeer
Odds and Ends Dept.: In the excitement over Big Break Records' recent quartet of titles from Philadelphia's Baker-Harris-Young production partnership, we temporarily overlooked three no-less-worthy, just-released reissues from the busy Cherry Red imprint: The Jazz Crusaders' Give Peace a Chance, Kleeer's Winners, and Inner Life's self-titled album. Prior to reinventing themselves as The Crusaders in 1971 and emphasizing a funkier electric style, Joe Sample (piano), Wilton Felder (saxophone),
Review: Elvis Presley, "Elvis at Stax"
The distance from 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard , or Graceland, to Stax Records' headquarters at 926 East McLemore Avenue is just a little over 5 miles. So when RCA Records came calling on the once and future King in mid-1973 to fulfill an obligation to record 24 songs (a 10-song album, four single sides, and a 10-song "religious album"), the studio founded by Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton seemed to be the perfect locale. Recording at home in Memphis had always brought something special to
Make Way For Dionne Warwick: 23 Scepter and Warner Bros. Albums To Be Remastered and Expanded [NOW WITH UPDATED TRACK LISTINGS]
UPDATE 8/6/13: WEA Japan's deluxe mini-LP editions of Dionne Warwick's Scepter and Warner catalogue have finally arrived, but many purchasers have been surprised to find numerous alterations in the albums' bonus material. Originally-listed bonus tracks have been added, dropped, and reshuffled between albums. By the numbers, there are 5 more bonus tracks than originally listed, but some songs are absent with others taking their place. Below, in BOLD, we'll let you know exactly what you'll
SoulMusic Records Is "Born to Love" With Reissues from Peabo and Roberta, Nancy Wilson and Tavares
With its latest batch of reissues, including titles from Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack, Tavares, and Nancy Wilson, Cherry Red's SoulMusic Records imprint can truly be said to cover a wide swath of the soulful spectrum. Duets have long been staples of great R&B. Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway, James Ingram and Patti Austin, and Otis Redding and Carla Thomas - just to name a few in the pantheon - all proved that "it takes two." (That title, in fact, gave
Heart and Salsoul: BBR Reissues First Choice, Loleatta Holloway, Baker-Harris-Young and Love Committee
One could call bassist Ronnie Baker, guitarist Norman Harris and drummer Earl Young unsung heroes, but it’s not quite accurate to describe the triumvirate of musicians, songwriters, producers and arrangers as unsung. Individually or collectively, Baker, Harris and Young helmed productions by Blue Magic, The Trammps, First Choice, Ben E. King, Eddie Kendricks, The Whispers, The Persuaders, and so many more. As part of its ongoing series restoring the Salsoul Records catalogue to R&B
It's Good For The Soul! The Salsoul Orchestra's "Nice 'n' Naasty" Arrives In Expanded Edition
The third song on the first side of The Salsoul Orchestra's second album proclaims "It Don't Have to Be Funky (To Be a Groove)." But under the leadership of vibraphonist Vince Montana, Jr., the grooves were most certainly funky...as well as soulful, jazzy, and above all, danceable. 1976's Nice 'n' Naasty, just reissued in an expanded edition by Big Break Records, is an even more eclectic collection than its predecessor. It continues Big Break's top-flight program celebrating all aspects of
Jerry Lee Lewis, The Ronettes, Del Shannon, Louis Armstrong Feature On "The London American Label 1964"
1964 will forever be remembered on American shores as the year of Beatlemania, when those four moptops from Liverpool led the British Invasion to the top of the pop charts. That tale has been chronicled many times, but one of the most recent releases from U.K.-based label Ace tells the story of the year's American Invasion - via the American records imported to London on the London American label. This latest volume in the long-running series (which now features an entry for each year between
Don't Walk On By: Dionne Warwick's "Unissued Warner Bros. Masters" Joins "The Complete Warner Bros. Singles" On CD
When Dionne Warwick signed on the dotted line with Warner Bros. Records, the possibilities must have seemed endless. The singer had embraced change, after all. A new decade was in its infancy. She had traded a feisty New York independent (Scepter) for a Burbank giant. She had even added an "e" to her surname on the advice of an astrologer. And although the exact amount wasn't disclosed, Warwick had reportedly signed the biggest deal ever for a female vocalist. What didn't change, at least
What's It All About: Burt Bacharach Celebrated On PBS, Lost Song Included on "Dionne Warwick Sings Burt Bacharach"
The first voice you’ll hear on My Music: Burt Bacharach’s Best, now airing on PBS stations nationwide, is that of The Maestro himself. “What’s it all about, Alfie?,” he sings in his familiar, quavering tone, finding the fragility in the Hal David lyric that he calls his favorite. Then comes “What the World Needs Now is Love,” sung by its composer with an assist from that International Man of Mystery, Austin Powers (Mike Myers). It’s appropriate that the solo Bacharach introduces this
BBR Goes For The Total Experience with Gap Band, Billy Paul Reissues
Today we're taking a look at two recent reissues from Big Break Records. Both Billy Paul's Lately and Gap Band VII were originally released by Total Experience Records, and both were the production work of Jonah Ellis. Big Break has expanded and remastered both albums. Billy Paul, Lately (Total Experience, 1985 - reissued Big Break CDBBR 0224, 2013) Could anyone among us have an inkling or a clue, what magic feats of wizardry and voodoo you can do? And who would ever guess what powers
Good Love: SoulMusic Expands Two From Nancy Wilson and Meli'sa Morgan
Following its 2012 reissue of R&B songstress Meli'sa Morgan's Capitol Records debut Do Me Baby, Cherry Red's SoulMusic Records imprint has turned its attention to Morgan's second long-player for the label. Good Love built on the success of Do Me Baby. Besides boasting a No. 1 R&B title track, the album established the Queens-born Morgan as a top R&B talent in her own right. She had previously sung on background vocals for the likes of Whitney Houston and Kashif, and fronted the
Return to "The Promised Land": Elvis Presley's Stax Sessions Collected In New Box Set
On August 6, 2013, RCA and Legacy Recordings will release a box set fit for a King. Elvis at Stax: Deluxe Edition compiles three CDs of master takes and alternates all drawn from Presley's July and December 1973 sessions at Stax Recording Studios on McLemore Avenue in Memphis. Elvis was right at home; he could even take Elvis Presley Boulevard to "Soulsville USA" on McLemore. These final major studio sessions of Presley's storied career yielded tracks for three albums: Raised On Rock/For Ol'
Let's Celebrate: Big Break Goes Deep Into The Salsoul Groove with Candido, Skyy
Following last year's releases from The Salsoul Orchestra, First Choice, Instant Funk and Double Exposure, Big Break Records continues its exploration of the Salsoul Records catalogue with two new reissues from Skyy and Candido. These discs can be said to offer another side of the Salsoul legacy as neither are locked into the Philly grooves of Vince Montana or Baker-Harris-Young. Instead, they show just how far the New York label could push the dance/R&B envelope in the waning days of
Losers Weepers! Ace Unveils Rare and Unreleased Songs on "Finders Keepers: Motown Girls 1961-67"
Thanks to the dedication of labels like Ace Records, it would be impossible to "forget the Motor City." Along with the U.S.' flagship Hip-O/UMG Select imprint, Ace has led the charge in issuing vintage 1960s-era Motown material, much of it unreleased. The recent release of Finders Keepers: Motown Girls 1961-1967 compiles 24 tracks from girls both famous (The Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, Mary Wells) and all-too-unknown (LaBrenda Ben, Thelma Brown, Anita Knorl) for a potent overview of
Nancy Wilson Goes Pop and Philly Soul With New Two-For-One CD Reissue
By 1970, Nancy Wilson had already been a marquee recording artist for Capitol Records for a decade. The supreme song stylist never allowed herself to be pigeonholed into one musical style, having made her successful debut single with a Broadway showtune ("Guess Who I Saw Today"), dabbled in R&B ("Save Your Love for Me") and collaborated with jazz greats such as Cannonball Adderley and George Shearing. All in all, Wilson was a leading light of adult pop, selling out nightclubs and even
BBR Keeps A Light In Its Window For The Lost Motown Classic "Caston and Majors"
Like a fine meal, Caston and Majors begins with an appetizer. "Child of Love," on cursory listening, is "just" a bright pop song with a funky groove, employing booming drums, surging strings and a catchy chorus ("Rise now, child of love/No time for wastin'/Rise now, child of love/Stop hesitatin'...") along with a "Hey, hey" cheer that invites singing along. But a closer listen to the lyrics finds songwriters Leonard Caston and Kathy Wakefield giving voice to a higher power: "You must be a
Dance A Little Bit Closer: Gold Legion Uncovers "The Salsoul Records Story"
Just in case you didn’t already know, there’s plenty of gold to be found from the Gold Legion label. Since its inception, Gold Legion has reissued and remastered classic disco records from master tape sources, adding copious annotation and bonus tracks to flesh out the stories behind the music. Some of Gold Legion’s previous releases have been dedicated to iconic singer-actress-model Grace Jones, “Turn the Beat Around” diva Vicki Sue Robinson, The Emotions as produced by Maurice White and
Review: Dick Jensen, "Dick Jensen" - A Lost Philadelphia Soul Classic
When Dick Jensen was signed to ABC’s Probe Records label in 1969, only one album title seemed appropriate: White Hot Soul. The Hawaiian-born entertainer’s stage moves earned him comparisons to James Brown and Jackie Wilson, while his voice recalled the booming sonorities of Tom Jones or Engelbert Humperdinck. Tucked away on Side Two of that Don Costa-produced LP, Jensen included The Soul Survivors’ “Expressway to Your Heart” as part of a medley. That 1967 Top 5 hit, of course, was written by
Big Break Serves Up Soul, Jazz and Funk from Carmen McRae, Billy Paul, Azteca and More
Timeless soul music knows no regional boundaries, at least based on the latest quintet of releases from Cherry Red's Big Break Records imprint. With this group of reissues, you'll travel to Philadelphia by way of Hawaii, Oakland, Harlem and Chicago. All of the titles previewed below are available now in the U.K. and next Tuesday, February 5, in the U.S.! Two new titles hail from the Philadelphia International Records catalogue. Perhaps most exciting is the first CD release outside of Japan