Over the weekend, the remaining members of the Grateful Dead kicked off their reunion “Fare Thee Well” concerts in Santa Clara, California. These concerts are billed as the last time that Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart and Bob Weir will perform under the name of the Grateful Dead. The final three highly-anticipated shows begin on July 3 at Soldier Field in Chicago. Rhino Records has just announced that these final shows will all be recorded and available in a variety of formats on November 20. The original line-up of the Grateful…
The Muffs
Omnivore resurrects the Warner Bros. debut of nineties power-pop/punk favorites The Muffs, produced by David Katznelson and Rob Cavallo. This expanded reissue contains the original album, and adds 10 bonus tracks: a radio remix of “Lucky Guy,” a version of “Everywhere I Go” which was only available on the cassette of The Muffs album, and 8 previously unissued demos from the band’s vocalist and lead guitarist Kim Shattuck, who stepped into the shoes of Kim Deal on the Pixies’ 2013 tour! Shattuck and bassist Ronnie Barnett provide new liner notes, and they have also opened…
Release Round-Up: Week of June 30
Welcome to our final Tuesday Release Round-Up – and it’s a doozy! As many of you know, the record industry will next week adopt a universal Friday release day. No releases are scheduled for Tuesday, July 7; instead, Friday, July 10 is the date! DVDs and Blu-rays will, for the foreseeable future, remain released on Tuesdays. We’ll resume with a new Release Round-Up on Friday, July 10! Ronny and the Daytonas, The Complete Recordings (2-CD Set) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / The Viscounts, Harlem Nocturne (Limited Mini LP Sleeve Edition) (Amazon U.S….
The Pieces Fit: Omnivore Reissues Three From Peter Frampton
Following the label’s deluxe, expanded box set edition of Humble Pie’s legendary Rockin’ the Fillmore, Peter Frampton is returning to Omnivore Recordings – this time as a solo artist. Frampton is coming alive once again via remastered reissues of 1986’s Premonition, 1989’s When All the Pieces Fit, and 2003’s Now. All three titles are due from Omnivore between August 28 and September 11. Premonition returned Frampton to the Billboard charts and the airwaves after the disappointment of his final A&M album, 1982’s The Art of Control. Produced by Frampton and Pete Solley…
The Studio Albums 1979-2008
This 10-CD box set rounds up all of Chicago’s studio albums released between 1979 and 2008, adding bonus tracks from past reissues including those previously released only in Japan.
You’re The Inspiration: Rhino to Release 10-CD Box Collecting Chicago’s Studio Albums From 1979-2008
Rhino is following up its box set news of last week from America and Alice Cooper with even more news this week. They have just announced a new box set celebrating the second half of Chicago’s career: The Studio Albums 1979-2008 to be released on July 10th. This set follows 2012’s The Studio Albums 1969-1978 which collected the first ten studio albums from the band. That set is being re-pressed in conjunction with the new box. The end of the 1970s saw Chicago in a time of transition. The band had enjoyed massive…
Hang On To Yourself: David Bowie’s “Five Years 1969-1973” Box Collects Albums, Bonus Discs
Forty-four years to the day after David Bowie first performed at Glastonbury (then known as the Glastonbury Fair rather than today’s Festival), Parlophone Records has announced the first in a new series of box sets which will eventually span his entire career. Five Years: 1969-1973, named of course after the opening track of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, will be available on September 25 in 12-CD or 13-LP configurations, containing all of the core material (ten albums’ worth!) officially released by Bowie during the first…
No Time To Cry: Rhino Celebrates The Sisters of Mercy With Vinyl Box
Among the many titles celebrating a 30th anniversary this year is the album debut from the British rock band The Sisters of Mercy. To commemorate that milestone, Rhino Records has just announced a new 4-LP box set due for release on July 24: the First and Last and Always Vinyl Collection. Coming out of the independent U.K. rock scene of the early 1980s, The Sisters of Mercy signed their record deal with WEA in 1983 and their first album was released two years later: First and Last and Always. However, behind the scenes problems…
The Monsanto Years
Neil Young teams with Promise of the Real (Lukas Nelson (vocals/guitar), Micah Nelson (guitar, vocals), Anthony Logerfo (drums), Corey McCormick (bass) and Tato Melgar (percussion)) for this hard-rocking album drawing on environmental and ecological themes. Available as a CD/DVD edition and on digital platforms including, of course, Young’s Pono.
Remember When The Music: Bottom Line Presents Unheard Harry Chapin, Reissues Janis Ian and More
The new Bottom Line Archive Series, which launched earlier this year with volumes from The Brecker Brothers, Willie Nile, and Kenny Rankin, continues on June 30 with a new wave of titles all recorded at the late, great New York venue once located on West 4th Street in Greenwich Village. Concerts from Harry Chapin and Janis Ian, plus two various-artists compilations, will be released on Bottom Line Records on that date. Legendary singer-songwriter Harry Chapin’s January 1981 set at The Bottom Line was released as a 2-CD set in 1998 as part…
Jim Peterik, Don Dixon, Jules Shear, Justin Currie, Julian Velard Fight Cancer on “You Can’t Live on Love Alone”
Many of you reading this might know Popdose as one of your favorite pop-culture hangouts on the Internet. Recently, our good friends at Popdose have curated a special digital-only release that not only features an array of remarkable artists, but helps a great cause, too. You Can’t Live on Love Alone: Songs for the Fight Against Multiple Myeloma arrived on Amazon last week, on June 2. This 19-track compendium is headlined by artists ranging from veterans (Jim Peterik of The Ides of March and Survivor; Justin Currie of Del Amitri; Kenny Loggins,…
Drifted: In the Beginning and Beyond
Omnivore collects two discs’ worth of music from the Los Angeles-to-New-Orleans musical collective The Continental Drifters, whose roster has included Vicki Peterson (Bangles), Susan Cowsill (The Cowsills), Peter Holsapple (The dBs, R.E.M.), and many more–including the only member who has been with them from the beginning, Mark Walton (Giant Sand, The Dream Syndicate). This definitive anthology presents, per the label, rarities and previously unreleased music which add up to an “inspiring blend of both original and seminal cover songs with a southern fried blue-eyed soul approach that couldn’t be beat.”
Days of Wine and Roses
1982’s album debut from Paisley Underground rockers The Dream Syndicate arrives in remastered and expanded form via Omnivore, with six previously unreleased rehearsal recordings!
Release Round-Up: Week of June 9
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, headlined by the long-awaited return of The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers in a variety of formats and editions! The Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers (UMe) 3-CD/1-DVD Super Deluxe Edition Box Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2-CD/1-DVD Deluxe Edition Box Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2-CD Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 1-CD Standard Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2-LP Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Digital Download: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. The Rolling Stones revisit their 1971 classic featuring “Wild Horses,” “Brown…
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…
You Can’t Ever Come Down: Esoteric Revisits “The American Metaphysical Circus”
“We were firmly in the American tradition of artistic and political radicalism intermixed with patriotism, and to thus establish a psychic ‘distance’ from The Beatles.” So stated Joseph Byrd in a 2004 interview excerpted in the liner notes to Esoteric Recordings’ new reissue of 1969’s The American Metaphysical Circus. The album, credited to Joe Byrd and the Hippies, exemplified the adventuresome spirit of the era which led the venerable Columbia Records label to sign a number of experimental artists to the home of Simon and Garfunkel and Barbra Streisand. Byrd’s previous effort for…
Release Round-Up: Week of May 26
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! We hope all of our U.S. readers enjoyed a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. And now, without further ado, onto the music! Yes, Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Finally, after a brief delay, Progeny is here! This whopping 14-CD box captures seven complete concerts from Yes circa 1972 – the same tour leading up to the performances preserved on Yessongs. For those who don’t need 14 discs, 2-CD and 3-LP Highlights distillations are also available (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) !…
Midnight Mission: Expanded Edition
The Textones’ 1984 debut album, featuring appearances by Gene Clark, Ry Cooder, Don Henley, and co-producer Barry Goldberg, is expanded by Omnivore in a new edition with 5 bonus tracks – including 2 previously unissued live cuts!
Cedar Creek: Expanded Edition
The second album by Carla Olson’s band The Textones (featuring guest appearances by Ian McLagan, Howie Epstein and The Waters) gets expanded by Omnivore with an eight-song concert from Santa Cruz, CA recorded on November 20, 1987.
Classic Quadrophenia
Pete Townshend and Billy Idol join opera and Les Miserables star Alfie Boe in a new symphonic version of The Who’s seminal rock opera Quadrophenia, with orchestrations by Townshend’s partner Rachel Fuller. The deluxe CD/DVD edition includes the complete CD and a 44- minute DVD featuring an exclusive on-camera interview with Pete Townshend, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the album, and the new music video for “Love Reign O’er Me” shot on location at Brighton Beach Pier in England, site of the Mods and Rockers riots of 1964. Also available…
Let’s See Action: Pete Townshend Collects Solo Work, Introduces New Songs on “Truancy”
Pete Townshend recently confessed to Rolling Stone, “I just hope that on my deathbed I don’t embarrass myself by asking someone, ‘Can you pass me my guitar? And will you run the backing tape of ‘Baba O’Riley’? I just want to do it one more time.” Yet Townshend still finds himself looking to the past even as he embraces the present and future. While on the road celebrating (for the final time?) the legacy of The Who with creative partner Roger Daltrey, Townshend will issue a new solo anthology as part of…
Release Round-Up: Week of May 19
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up featuring a number of rock legends! Yes, Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) This whopping 14-CD box captures seven complete concerts from Yes circa 1972 – the same tour leading up to the performances preserved on Yessongs. For those who don’t need 14 discs, 2-CD and 3-LP Highlights distillations are also available (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) ! Jeff Beck, Live+ (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Guitar hero Jeff Beck returns with a new live album culled from his 2014…
The Ides of March Celebrate 50 Years with “Last Band Standing” Box Set
“Beware the ides of March,” goes the famous admonition. Thankfully, Jim Peterik, Larry Millas, Bob Bergland and Mike Borch didn’t heed the warning. Formed in Berwyn, Illinois in 1965 as the Shon-Dels, The Ides of March are still going strong 50 years later with their brassy blend of good-time rock and roll, R&B, pop and soul epitomized on the 1970 hit single “Vehicle.” These rock and roll survivors and local legends around the Chicago scene have recently assembled a definitive box set tracing their career from the spring of 1965 to the…

























