It's for good reason that Chet Atkins remains one of the most revered names not only in country music but in American music itself. A producer, A&R man, songwriter, sometimes-vocalist, and above all, a guitarist who influenced generations that followed him, Atkins defined the sound of the genre with his championing of RCA's lush Nashville […]
Continue ReadingAn upcoming holiday film is taking its cues from a classic song from George Michael and Wham! On November 8 in the U.S. and November 15 in the U.K., Last Christmas will arrive in cinemas. Legacy Recordings will issue the soundtrack, featuring one previously unheard George Michael song and an array of his classics, on […]
Continue ReadingChicago in the '50s was overflowing with skilled bluesmen, vocal groups, gospel singers, not to mention the mom-and-pop labels eager to make a hit off the artists. There are the now-famous labels - Chess, Delmark, and Vee-Jay among them. But the Windy City was so teeming with talent (and entrepreneurial hucksters trying to launch their […]
Continue ReadingSure, you can wait to find Real Gone's lineup of holiday-themed titles under the tree, but why wait? A trio of merry Yuletide albums will be available on color vinyl on November 1, including Cyndi Lauper's Merry Christmas... Have A Nice Life!, the Home Alone Christmas soundtrack compilation, and the soundtrack to Love Actually. First up: […]
Continue ReadingWhen David Cassidy died in November 2017, the world didn't just lose the eternally youthful Keith Partridge. Cassidy was persuasive and versatile vocalist and a fine actor who prospered beyond the shadow of the fictional Partridge Family. Far from being simple fodder for the bubblegum crowd, the records he released as a solo artist were […]
Continue ReadingWith a recent pair of reissues, Sony Music/Legacy Recordings has transported listeners to Greenwich Village at the dawn of the 1960s, when guitar-wielding troubadours took the stages at venues like Café Wha? to share their own "alternative" music: folk. While Connie Francis, Brian Hyland, Elvis Presley, and even Percy Faith were ascending to the top […]
Continue ReadingThe Rolling Stones have recently announced the latest in their archival series. Bridges to Buenos Aires will be released on November 8 in a variety of CD, vinyl, and video configurations. Following the Bridges to Bremen live album released in June, Bridges to Buenos Aires also commemorates The Rolling Stones' hugely successful 1997-1998 tour. The Buenos […]
Continue ReadingJimi Hendrix's Fillmore East concerts of December 31, 1969 and January 1, 1970 have become the stuff of legend. With Billy Cox and Buddy Miles matching him in intensity and power, Hendrix pushed the envelope of heavy rock, R&B, and funk. The original 1970 release of Band of Gypsys offered a tantalizing taste of the […]
Continue ReadingPoco famously rose from the ashes of Buffalo Springfield, with that band's Richie Furay and Jim Messina joined by Rusty Young (who had guested on Furay's "Kind Woman" for the final Springfield LP), George Grantham, and briefly, Randy Meisner. The band's 1969 debut Pickin' Up the Pieces was an influential entry in the West Coast […]
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