"So now, ladies and gentlemen, it is Star Time. Are you ready for Star Time?" With those words by emcee Fats Gondor on the stage of The Apollo Theater in New York City on October 24, 1962, history was made. James Brown was set to take the stage at the famed Harlem theater - but […]
Continue Reading
In the first two lines of the introductory essay that accompanies JSP Records’ new box set Judy Garland – Creations 1929-1962: Songs She Introduced, the box’s compiler Lawrence Schulman sets forth its raison d'être: “That Judy Garland (1922-1969) was one of the most talented singers and actresses of her generation is known. That she introduced […]
Continue ReadingOn August 6, 2013, RCA and Legacy Recordings will release a box set fit for a King. Elvis at Stax: Deluxe Edition compiles three CDs of master takes and alternates all drawn from Presley's July and December 1973 sessions at Stax Recording Studios on McLemore Avenue in Memphis. Elvis was right at home; he could […]
Continue Reading
Let's dispense with the "Get Ready" puns: after a four-year wait, Hip-O Select's Complete Motown Singles series inches closer toward the finish line with Volume 12A: 1972. This five-disc set includes every single side released by Motown during the first half of 1972, a time of transition for the company. Berry Gordy had already moved his Detroit-based media […]
Continue Reading
Listen to the band! The Monkees' eighth album, The Monkees Present, was a grab bag unlike any other previously produced by the group. By October 1969, The Monkees was off the air and remaining Monkees Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith were soldiering on for their second album without Peter Tork. February's Instant Replay, […]
Continue Reading
From four-legged critters to gun-blazing Westerns, La-La Land's release slate this week features some great, little heard soundtrack material coming out of the vaults. Outside of horror circles, the 1971 film Willard - about a misfit with an affinity for rats - is best known for its 1972 sequel, Ben, which featured an oddly sweet, wildly successful theme […]
Continue Reading
Between 1967 and 2009, San Francisco’s Blue Cheer spread its metallic gospel of hard riffs and heavy psychedelia around the world. Though the band only had two Hot 100 singles (No. 14 “Summertime Blues” and No. 92 “Just a Little Bit,” both in 1968), its influence was mighty in the evolution of the metal genre. […]
Continue Reading
Following last year's releases from The Salsoul Orchestra, First Choice, Instant Funk and Double Exposure, Big Break Records continues its exploration of the Salsoul Records catalogue with two new reissues from Skyy and Candido. These discs can be said to offer another side of the Salsoul legacy as neither are locked into the Philly grooves […]
Continue Reading
Three decades after their signature hit "In a Big Country" became one of the best rock songs of the decade, Mercury will celebrate the legacy of the Scottish band with a new live box set this summer. Big Country At The BBC is a 3CD/1DVD box collecting just about everything the BBC recorded pertaining to […]
Continue Reading
Real Gone Music has recently released three very different albums from three duo acts, and we're looking at each one of them! Tom Jans is perhaps best known today as the songwriter of “Loving Arms,” so memorably recorded by Elvis Presley in 1973 and also cut by everyone from Etta James to Kenny Rogers. But […]
Continue Reading