Hot on the heels of his new studio album Tracks of My Years - a deluxe edition of which, with additional material, is due on October 27, Canadian rocker Bryan Adams is revisiting his past in another way. Tracks of My Years features Adams' recordings of classic songs from which he found inspiration as a songwriter; on November 24, he will release an expanded 2-CD/1-DVD/1-BD edition of his 1984 breakthrough album Reckless. Produced by Adams and Bob Clearmountain and originally released on the
Release Round-Up: Week of October 7
Stevie Nicks, 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault (Reprise) 2-LP Vinyl + Download Card: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Standard Edition CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. The Fleetwood Mac rock legend dips into her vault for a newly-recorded album of songs composed between 1969 and 1995. The album features co-production by Dave Stewart and guitar great Waddy Wachtel, and is also available in a deluxe edition exclusive to Nicks' website. Various Artists, The Classic Christmas Albums
Reviews: The Posies, "Failure" and Game Theory, "Blaze of Glory"
There’s something about power pop. In this era of EDM and songwriting-by-committee (not that there’s anything wrong with that – is there?), there’s still something about a couple of guys armed with little but guitars, harmonies, and their own imaginations, driven to create a joyful noise. In this era when radio is dominated by music that can’t be duplicated onstage without benefit of technology, there’s something about the thought of musicians just plugging in and getting
Head Over Heels for Tears for Fears' "Big Chair" Box Set
Following 2013’s deluxe box set reissue of Tears for Fears’ The Hurting, Universal U.K. has announced the November 3 release of a similarly-impressive box set dedicated to the group’s 1985 album Songs from the Big Chair. This 4-CD/2-DVD box brings together a remastered edition of the original album and its single B-sides, two discs of rare period remixes and edited single versions, a DVD-Audio containing high-resolution stereo and 5.1 surround mixes courtesy of ace engineer Steven Wilson, and a
Release Round-Up: Week of September 30
ABBA, Live at Wembley Arena (Polar/Universal) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) As part of ABBA's 40th anniversary celebration, the band unveils this 2-CD, hardcover book-style set preserving its 1979 concerts at Wembley Arena. The 25-track set features the first-ever release on record of Agnetha's "I'm Still Alive" along with perennials like "Dancing Queen," "Waterloo," "Knowing Me, Knowing You" and "Fernando." Live at Wembley is also available on vinyl. Oasis, (What's the Story) Morning
Magic in the Night: Springsteen's First Seven Albums Finally Remastered on CD, LP Box Set
Yesterday, Bruce Springsteen celebrated his 65th birthday. Here in New Jersey, the birth date of The Boss might as well be considered a state holiday; the occasion was marked by various events including a video presentation by Springsteen's longtime collaborator Thom Zimny at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey. (Springsteen was, of course, born in Long Branch and wrote "Born to Run" in a Long Branch cottage.) But today, Springsteen's fans are the ones receiving a gift for his
Let It Snow! Legacy Has Eight New "Classic Christmas" Titles Including Unheard Sinatra, Mathis Tracks
It's that time of the year again! Legacy Recordings' Classic Christmas Album series has become an annual tradition, and the label is once again drawing on the Sony Music vaults to offer new seasonal anthologies from a group of truly celebrated artists. This year, the bona fide legends include Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Perry Como, and Johnny Mathis, and their volumes will be joined by an entry for the classical crossover quartet Il Divo as well as by various-artists compilations
Thank You, Friends: Omnivore Readies Live Big Star, Complete Works of Queen's Roger Taylor
Omnivore Recordings is greeting autumn with projects from a couple of, well, big artists. By big, we mean perhaps the biggest cult band of all time – Big Star – and if that’s not big enough, how about the drummer from one of the biggest rock bands in the world? As in, Roger Taylor of Queen? On October 27, Omnivore will issue the first-ever retrospective of Taylor’s solo work in anticipation of the November 11 U.S. release of his complete, all-encompassing solo box set, The Lot. On November 4,
Everybody Out There: Paul McCartney Expands "New" In October As 2-CD/1-DVD Set
The week before hotly-anticipated Archive Collection releases arrive of Venus and Mars and Wings at the Speed of Sound, Paul McCartney is looking to a more recent title for a deluxe reissue. On October 28, McCartney will revisit New, first released in October 2013. The 2-CD/1-DVD set expands the album that entered both the U.K. and U.S. album charts at No. 3 and has since sold nearly a quarter of a million copies in the U.S. in addition to having earned platinum and gold certifications
Simply Deluxe: Edsel Expands and Remasters Simply Red In New Multi-Disc Sets
Edsel has gone red – Simply Red, that is – on its recent series of deluxe CD and DVD editions from the British pop-soul band. By the time of Simply Red’s breakup in 2010, founding member and lead vocalist Mick Hucknall was the last man standing, but the legacy left behind by the group - and its songs including “Holding Back the Years” and revivals of “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” and “You Make Me Feel Brand New” - remains strong. Edsel’s new Simply Red series encompasses three 2-CD/1-DVD sets
Golden Years: "Nothing Has Changed" Compiles 50 Years of David Bowie's Best, Plus New Song
Less than a month ago, we reported on the upcoming reissue of David Bowie's Sound and Vision, the box set covering the artist's career from 1969 to 1997. Today, Bowie's official website has confirmed the November 18 release of NOTHING HAS CHANGED, an all-new career-spanning retrospective which for the first time collects music from the entirety of his 50-year career: 1964 to 2014. In the U.K., this package - available in 2-CD, 3-CD and 2-LP configurations - will arrive from Parlophone; in the
It's Gotta Be Rock and Roll Music: Bear Family Unveils Ultimate 16-CD Chuck Berry Box Set
This fall, Bear Family Records is releasing the ultimate tribute to perhaps the ultimate rock and roll artist. On October 17, the label will unveil Chuck Berry's Rock and Roll Music - Any Old Way You Choose It - The Complete Studio Recordings Plus! -and its title isn't the only mammoth thing about it. The 16-CD box set is even lavish by Bear Family's gold standard, containing within its 28 x 28 x 6 cm clothbound box every single and LP track recorded in the studio by Chuck Berry, starting with a
Turn It On Again: New Genesis Anthology Features Greatest Hits, Solo Tracks From Collins, Gabriel, More
Earlier this year, the BBC confirmed plans for the feature-length documentary film Genesis – Together and Apart, chronicling the ups and downs of the 2010 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees. On the heels of that project which featured the cooperation of Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Steve Hackett, Rhino (for North America) and Universal (for the rest of the world) have announced the September release of R-Kive, a 3-CD collection continuing the “together and
Ziggy Played Guitar: David Bowie's "Sound + Vision" to Be Reissued
Ground control to Major Tom: Sound and Vision is back for a third go-round. As part of the breakup of EMI that left most – but not all - of the former monolith controlled by Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group acquired the venerable Parlophone label, founded in 1896 and onetime home to The Beatles. Though Universal kept the Fab Four, Warner obtained current artists like Coldplay and the back catalogues of classic ones like The Hollies and Matt Monro…and a certain David Bowie. Parlophone
Review: Omnivore Goes New Wave with Lost Songs of "Billy Thermal"
“Eternal Flame,” “So Emotional,” “Like a Virgin,” “True Colors” – the songs of Billy Steinberg not only nearly defined the sound of eighties pop, but have endured to the present day. Yet before Steinberg joined with Tom Kelly to pen those songs and so many others, he was fronting a power pop/new wave quartet with the unlikely name of Billy Thermal – Billy for Steinberg, Thermal for the city in which his father’s vineyards were located. The group, consisting of Steinberg, guitarist Craig Hull,
The American Metaphysical Circus: Esoteric Label Mines Art Rock From The USA, John Cale
Under the auspices of its new president, Clive Davis, Columbia Records aggressively courted the rock revolution in the late 1960s. The classy home to Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis and Andy Williams built upon its successes with Paul Revere and the Raiders, Simon and Garfunkel and Bob Dylan to tap into the youth market with a wide variety of rock artists. Two outré albums from the venerable Columbia catalogue have recently been reissued by Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings imprint, and they both
Release Round-Up: Week of July 29
The Allman Brothers Band, The 1971 Fillmore East Recordings (Mercury/UMe) The four shows in March 1971 that made up the band's legendary breakthrough album are presented in full for the first time, along with the group's closing set at the Fillmore East that following June. The Blu-ray version features the material in both stereo and 5.1 surround sound. 6CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 3-BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 4LP Highlights: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Peggy Lipton, The Complete Ode
Ace's "Girls with Guitars 3" Features Guitar Rock From Jackie DeShannon, Brenda Lee, Goldie and the Gingerbreads, More
Ace Records began its Girls with Guitars CD series in 2004. That first volume took its inspiration from a 1989 LP issued by the label and featured 24 tracks from lesser-known American girl groups worthy of attention from garage-rock fans. The music of Girls with Guitars was diverse, encompassing a variety of sixties sounds from garage to pop and soul. A second volume, Destroy That Boy: More Girls with Guitars, followed in 2009 ramping up the star wattage with a couple of mind-blowing cuts by
Not Soon Forgotten: Deep Purple's Overlooked "Purpendicular" Gets Reissue From Hear No Evil
There’s rarely a lull in activity for the catalogue of Deep Purple, one of the most enduring bands to emerge from the British hard and progressive rock scenes of the late 1960s. Cherry Red’s Hear No Evil Records imprint has recently continued its reissue series for Deep Purple’s 1990s catalogue with an expanded edition of 1996’s Purpendicular [sic], chronologically following Slaves and Masters (1990) and The Battle Rages On… (1993). Hear No Evil’s raison d'être for this reissue is simple.
Smashing Pumpkins Give Fans Something to "Adore"
The next installment in The Smashing Pumpkins' ongoing catalogue campaign has been announced - and in traditional Smashing Pumpkins fashion, it's accompanied by a typically Billy Corgan moment. Released in 1998, the follow-up to the band's acclaimed double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Adore found the Pumpkins enduring some structural and personal changes: drummer Jimmy Chamberlain was out, and frontman Corgan endured a divorce, the death of his mother, and a shift in musical
Call Him The Breeze: Clapton and Friends Celebrate Music of J.J. Cale On New Album, Exclusive Box Set
In 2006, Eric Clapton teamed with singer-songwriter J.J. Cale for the collaborative album The Road to Escondido. The guitar god had long been a fan and patron of Cale's; he included "After Midnight" on his 1970 solo debut and took "Cocaine" to the Top 30 in 1977. Escondido earned both men a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album, and it would prove to be among Cale's final recordings. He released the album Roll On in 2009, featuring Clapton on its title track. Then, in 2013, Cale passed
Hank Williams, Jaco Pastorius Lead Off Omnivore's RSD Slate
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUKPRPWCDHg] That change in the air pressure you're probably feeling around your favorite indie record store can only mean one thing: Record Store Day 2014 is coming your way. April 19 will see a host of beloved major and independent labels celebrating the good old resilient brick-and-mortar store with various titles sold exclusively at participating stores. And the beloved cratediggers at Omnivore Recordings have four exciting titles prepared for the big
Back to Black: Legacy Unveils Record Store Day Black Friday Exclusives From Simon, Dylan, Davis, Nilsson, Hendrix & More
It's that time of year again! Though Black Friday has taken a backseat in recent years to the once-unheard-of Thanksgiving Day sales, the folks at Record Store Day still hold the day after Thanksgiving in high esteem. News has begun to trickle out about this year's RSD Back to Black Friday exclusives, and the team at Legacy has certainly put together a collection of special vinyl releases - and a handful of CDs, too - that look back to recent releases from the label and forward to future
Omnivore Re-Joins Jellyfish Fan Club with Unreleased Radio Performances
Fans of eternally underrated power-pop outfit Jellyfish have had nothing but friends over at Omnivore Recordings. The label first released the band's two studio albums, Bellybutton and Spilt Milk, on vinyl. Then there was the unreleased Live At Bogart's and the Stack-a-Tracks compilation, which featured mostly-instrumental mixes of the two albums uncovered from the vaults. Now, Omnivore prepares Radio Jellyfish, a ten-track compilation of radio broadcasts recorded two decades ago. All but one
Special Review: Joe Grushecky, "Somewhere East of Eden"
As these words are being published, we're in Day 10 of the U.S. government shutdown, with no end apparently in sight. Could Joe Grushecky have picked a better time to release his seventeenth and latest solo album, the poltiically-charged and socially-conscious Somewhere East of Eden (Schoolhouse/Warner Nashville 2-535518, 2013)? Grushecky has always evinced that he cares deeply for America, and for its citizens - particularly the blue-collar, working class. On Eden, the rootsy