“John, let’s do a shot for the warden,” photographer Jim Marshall reportedly implored Johnny Cash during the singer’s 1969 performance at San Quentin Prison. Cash’s snarling response, with his middle finger in air, made for one of the most famous music photographs of all time. Cropping up on T-shirts, posters and the like, Marshall captured […]
Continue ReadingDoris Day made quite a splash in 2011 when My Heart, her first album of primarily original material in some seventeen years, entered the British album charts with a Top 10 placement. The singer, actress and animal rights activist turns 88 today, April 3. Day remains greatly beloved around the world, and our coverage of […]
Continue Reading
Here's a real treat for Disney fans coming from their co-branded series wit Intrada Records: the premiere release of Elmer Bernstein's original score to the studio's controversial animated feature The Black Cauldron. Based on the Welsh mythology-inspired fantasy series The Chronicles of Prydain, Cauldron is the tale of Taran, a young pig-keeper embarks on adventure to save his home […]
Continue ReadingJohnny Cash, Bootleg IV: The Soul of Truth (Columbia/Legacy) Three complete gospel albums - one of which was never released - and a heap of unreleased material make this one to look out for if you like The Man in Black at his sacred best. Morrissey, Viva Hate: Deluxe Edition (Liberty/EMI) If you can call it that, […]
Continue Reading
Extra! Extra! Lost Folk Singer Found! His name is Tom Northcott, and had things turned out a little differently, he might be remembered in the same breath as Joni Mitchell or Gordon Lightfoot, fellow Canadian troubadours. After founding the Tom Northcott Trio, he headed for California during perhaps the most fertile period ever for creative, […]
Continue Reading
Canadian rockers Barenaked Ladies are releasing a compilation of outtakes and rarities that, fortunately, more or less lives up to the title. Stop Us If You've Heard This One Before!, a counterpoint to last year's Hits from Yesterday and the Day Before, features 12 tracks, only two of which have ever seen the official light of […]
Continue Reading
After more than three years of planning, preparing and waiting, audiences finally have a chance to enjoy an expanded edition of John Williams' score to Steven Spielberg's 1991 cult classic Hook (La-La Land Records LLLCD 1211). The world had been "getting by," so to speak, with the Epic label's original 75-minute CD presentation - a generous […]
Continue ReadingThough Billy Joel retired from the business of writing and recording new pop music in 1993 following his River of Dreams, and has largely kept his word in the ensuing almost-twenty years, the music legend has hardly lowered his profile. Since River of Dreams, Joel, now 62, has written an album’s worth of classical compositions, […]
Continue Reading
Indie rockers the Kaiser Chiefs are set to release their first career-spanning collection, Souvenir: The Singles 2004-2012, this summer. The Leeds-based quintet formed in 1996 under the name Parva, and released one album on Beggars Banquet's short-lived Mantra label. After their label shuttered, they rebuilt from the ground up, writing new, New Wave and punk-inspired songs […]
Continue Reading
We're just three weeks away from Record Store Day on April 21, and following individual announcements from fantastic labels like Omnivore Recordings, Concord Records, Sundazed Music and Rhino/Warner Bros., we can finally reveal the full line-up of RSD-related goodies! These limited editions, available at independent music retailers across the U.S. and even internationally, are primarily vinyl […]
Continue Reading