While David Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy" officially kicked off with the January 1977 release of Low, the international superstar had actually been working in Germany a bit earlier with Stooges frontman Iggy Pop on his solo debut, The Idiot. The LP was a departure from Pop's primitive-styled proto-punk with The Stooges, embracing a steely and electronic […]
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Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Doris Day, Her Greatest Songs (Sony U.K.) (Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Her Greatest Songs features 16 of Doris' classics from 1948-1970 on pink vinyl. This new compilation draws on her classic Columbia recordings plus the vinyl debut of her rendition of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now," recorded in […]
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Craft Recordings has just announced a new collection celebrating country superstar Ronnie Milsap. Due out on May 29, The Best of Ronnie Milsap gathers up 12 of the artist's biggest hits from his first tenure at RCA. Craft's parent company, Concord Music, acquired the rights to 16 of Milsap's RCA albums from between 1977-2006 last […]
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It's been said that the only true constant is change - and that's certainly been borne out by the group bearing that moniker. Between 1980 and 1985, the rotating line-ups collectively known as Change released six albums built around insistent rhythms, catchy hooks, and commanding vocals. Unexpectedly in 2018, Change returned from a three-decade-plus hiatus […]
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It was on my 23rd (or 25th, depending on how you count it) day of lockdown when I once again had to do something we're all sick of doing these last few weeks: go on social media and see another wave of tributes to a favorite artist who's succumbed to the COVID-19 pandemic. This time, […]
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Last evening, we learned of the passing of John Prine, 73, from COVID-19 complications. Though initially branded by the press as one of the "new Dylans," it wasn't long before the singer-songwriter transcended that label - and most others. With wit, humor, anger, empathy, and social conscience, the onetime "singing mailman" delivered mordant observations and […]
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Dee Dee Bridgewater has long defied easy categorization. The Grammy and Tony Award-winning singer-actress has fronted a jazz orchestra; worked with legends of the genre like Thad Jones, Dexter Gordon, and Max Roach; starred in two Broadway musicals; hosted a long-running NPR radio show; and served as a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador as part of her […]
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Earlier this year, Mobile Fidelity announced a pair of remasters to add to their excellent Gain 2 Ultra Analog LP reissue series: one, an often lambasted psych-rock staple, the other a landmark in lushly orchestrated cool jazz. Though Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida and Miles Davis' interpretations of Porgy and Bess couldn't be much further apart stylistically, they […]
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Secret origins have long been a classic trope of comic books. This June, a rather unexpected super-team will find their origins revealed in a new graphic novel. That's the release date for Z2 Comics' Grateful Dead Origins, written by Chris Miskiewicz with art by Noah Van Sciver. Origins will depict the early days of Jerry […]
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I. Try Me, I Know We Can Make It Donna Summer's first studio album was entitled Lady of the Night, after its retro-styled galloping pop song composed by Giorgio Moroder and the album's producer Pete Bellotte. Following the release of her next LP, Summer would own the night as an international superstar. But there was […]
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