Masterworks Broadway has announced a new slate of three titles in the Sony imprint's ongoing CD-R/DD initiative restoring classic cast recordings to print. This trio hails from the RCA Victor and Columbia catalogues, with two titles new to the digital domain. Sid and Marty Krofft are beloved creators of a pantheon of children's television classics […]
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Heatwave was a band like no other. American vocalists Johnnie Wilder Jr. and his brother Keith Wilder joined with British singer-songwriter-keyboardist Rod Temperton, Swiss bassist Mario Mantese, Czechoslovak drummer Ernest "Bilbo" Berger, and Jamaican guitarist Eric Johns to form this truly international cadre of first-class R&B purveyors. Thanks to a string of hits including "Boogie […]
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In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Dusty Springfield rightfully regained her reputation as one of the best British soul singers of her generation, with the help of some famous collaborators. The fruits of that labor, 1990's Reputation, is being expanded by Cherry Red Records this summer. While Dusty had dominated part of the '60s with […]
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Light in the Attic's penchant for incredible finds continues with the release of landmark, unheard sessions by singer Betty Davis with a galaxy of music stars backing her up. The bulk of The Columbia Years 1968-1969 stems from a session the incomparable singer recorded at Columbia Records' 52nd Street Studios on May 14 and 20, 1969. […]
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Before Pet Sounds, before SMiLE, heck, before "Surfin' USA," The Beach Boys were a scrappy family band with little but big dreams and tight harmonies. Things happened quickly for brothers Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, their cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine; in September 1961, the quintet first captured their voices together, and by […]
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Two late legends of soul - Brook Benton and Esther Phillips - have recently been feted on a pair of reissues from SoulMusic Records and Cherry Red. By the time Brook Benton signed with Atlantic Records' Cotillion imprint in 1968, he had already enjoyed an illustrious career at labels including OKeh, Epic, RCA, Mercury and […]
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A new Freddie Mercury anthology will be released this fall, chronicling the late Queen singer's solo tracks on two CDs and 13 vinyl singles. Messenger of the Gods: The Singles features 25 tracks recorded by Mercury and released between 1973 and 1993--several of which were never released in America, or released widely on CD. Among […]
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When singer-songwriter-poet Rod McKuen teamed with composer-arranger-conductor Anita Kerr for the 1967 album The Sea, neither had any inkling that the record's success would lead to an entire series of albums under the San Sebastian Strings moniker through 1975. The oft-imitated, never-duplicated, platinum-selling The Sea epitomized the now-moribund genre of "mood music," offering spoken word […]
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Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Bangles, Ladies and Gentlemen...The Bangles! (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Ladies and Gentlemen...The Bangles!, first released digitally in 2014, features all of the band's pre-Columbia studio material, plus four unreleased demos, two live tracks and other odds and ends! It arrives in stores from Omnivore just before […]
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A new round of reissues dedicated to progressive titans Emerson, Lake and Palmer are on the way from the BMG label beginning this July and continuing through 2016 and 2017. This new campaign promises to encompass not only ELP's nine studio albums but also the band's live recordings and compilations. The reissues will arrive in […]
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