Ace Records’ latest addition to its Songwriters Series, Colour My World: The Songs of Tony Hatch, should come with a warning label – CAUTION: THESE SONGS WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY. A composer, lyricist, producer, arranger and A&R man (whew!), Hatch was a hitmaker par excellence, and one of no small skill for imparting joy through his music. Petula Clark’s bright 1964 single “Downtown” alone would likely have assured Hatch a place in the Book of Pop, Swingin’ Sixties chapter. But listening to a
Vikki Carr's "Love Again: The Lost Columbia Masters" Unearths Never-Before-Heard Recordings
I recently had the great pleasure of providing the liner notes for Real Gone Music’s first-ever CD reissue of Vikki Carr’s Columbia Records album The First Time Ever (I Saw Your Face). That title arrived in stores last week joined by a collection of previously unreleased material from the great vocalist. Love Again: The Lost Columbia Masters is a major find for fans of Carr and in large part presents her voice in a new, contemporary country setting.- JM Have forty years really passed since
Ride This 'Trane: Blue Note Preps Complete Packages For Clifford Brown, Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane
The 75th anniversary campaign for Blue Note Records is continuing with a trio of titles from some of the venerable jazz label's all-time greatest artists. Following up on the recent deluxe presentation from Miles Davis of his Complete Blue Note Recordings, the label has announced new collections for Clifford Brown, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk. The Miles volume represented his complete Blue Note recordings as a leader, derived from his 10-inch LPs Young Man with a Horn, Miles Davis Volume
Release Round-Up: Week of June 10
Various Artists, Chicago Hit Factory: The Vee-Jay Story 1953-1966 (Charly) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) This import box set tells the story of great R&B label Vee-Jay Records via a whopping 10 discs, 269 tracks (including 112 hits) by more than 120 different artists, and a 72-page book. Artists include Jerry Butler, The Four Seasons, The Beatles, Gene Chandler, Little Richard, Betty Everett, The Dells and The Standells! Jazz, gospel, blues and doo-wop all figure prominently along with the
Bad Medicine is What You Need: Bon Jovi Expands "New Jersey"
With the summer fast approaching, New Jersey stalwarts Bon Jovi are celebrating their 30th anniversary by, 25 years later, revisiting one of their biggest hits: fourth album New Jersey. Released in the fall of 1988, New Jersey was the follow-up to 1986's Slippery When Wet, the band's commercial breakthrough which spun off the No. 1 hits "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Livin' on a Prayer," plus the Top 10 stadium classic "Wanted Dead or Alive." Working again with producer Bruce Fairbairn and
"It's A Wonderful" Soundtrack: Score to Frank Capra's Classic "Life" Gets First-Ever Release
"You see, George, you've really had a wonderful life. Don't you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away?" Each year, director Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life continues to lend a note of hope and inspiration to those discovering it for the first time. The story of suicidal George Bailey (James Stewart) and the guardian angel (Henry Travers) who shows him what life would have been like had he never been born, It's a Wonderful Life has transcended its modest origins to
They're Bad, They're Nationwide: ZZ Top to Release New Hits Compilation
More than 40 years after they burst onto the scene with an instantly recognizable brand of Texas-fried blues - and on the eve of a European tour - Rhino is preparing a new compilation for ZZ Top. The Very Baddest of ZZ Top follows vocalist/guitarist Billy F. Gibbons, bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard through their career in full; from their self-titled debut in 1971 to their bluesy breakthrough Tres Hombres in 1973, all the way to their MTV-era pop-rock renaissance with
I Knew A Man, Bojangles: Raven Reissues Early Jerry Jeff Walker
"It's about a guy I met in a jail cell in New Orleans. We were both in the drunk tank over a long weekend. He told stories, and to me he was the 'eyes of age.' I never saw him again." From such inauspicious roots came Jerry Jeff Walker's unlikely but enduring standard "Mr. Bojangles." The song gave the title to the singer-songwriter's 1968 Atco Records debut which has just been reissued by Raven Records as a three-for-one edition also containing his two Atco follow-ups, Five Years Gone and Bein'
I Just Can't Help Believin': "Elvis: That's The Way It Is" Goes Super Deluxe In 8-CD/2-DVD Box Set
The title of the 1970 documentary That's The Way It Is might have been plain-spoken, but nothing else was plain about the chronicle of Elvis Presley's return to the concert stage. And there's certainly nothing plain about the extravagant treatment being accorded the film and its companion album this summer. Why, we'd even say it's fit for a - make that, The King. On August 5, Legacy Recordings will team with Warner Bros. Home Video for a massive 8-CD/2-DVD box set including six full-length
Review: The Grass Roots, "The Complete Dunhill/ABC Hit Singles"
The tale of The Grass Roots is a convoluted one, involving a couple of bands, a pair of auteur songwriter-producers, and a handful of famed session men. But if the behind-the-scenes story is one with numerous twists and turns, the appeal of the music recorded under The Grass Roots’ name is blissfully simple: great songs, great productions, great performances. 24 polished nuggets from the Los Angeles pop-rockers – many of which still remain in rotation on oldies radio today - have been collected
Life Is A Dance: BBR Reissues Chaka Khan, Silver Convention, Instant Funk
Chaka Khan announced her solo freedom with "I'm Every Woman," the euphoric opening track on 1978's Chaka. At 25 years old, Khan was already a veteran of the funk-rock band Rufus with whom she had recorded landmark hits like "Tell Me Something Good" and "Sweet Thing," but Chaka took her passionate style in a new, mainstream R&B direction. The Warner Bros. album, produced by the legendarily versatile Arif Mardin (Dusty Springfield, Bette Midler, The Bee Gees), placed Khan's powerful voice
Couldn't I Just Tell You: Todd Rundgren Goes Deluxe In New Edsel Series
On the first side of his fifth LP, Todd Rundgren proclaimed, “A man would simply have to be as mad as a hatter/To try and change the world with a plastic platter...” Yet forty years on, Rundgren is still “trying to make a living off an elpee’s worth of toons.” As such, he’s accumulated quite a back catalogue, for which Demon Music Group’s Edsel label has been the most recent steward. In 2011, Edsel began reissuing Rundgren’s Bearsville catalogue, both solo and with Utopia, and continued onto
Release Round-Up: Week of June 3
Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin I / Led Zeppelin II / Led Zeppelin III: Deluxe Editions (Swan Song/Atlantic) Anyone ever heard these albums? Interesting stuff. I don't know about you, but I'd predict big things for these guys. Led Zeppelin 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 1LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2CD/3LP Super Deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Led Zeppelin II 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 1LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2CD: Amazon
UPDATE 6/2: Meet The Beatles, Japan-Style: New Box Set Collects Fabs' Original Japanese Albums, U.S. Edition Coming In July
UPDATE 6/2: It now appears that Capitol Records will be releasing this box set in the U.S. on July 15! See below for updated Amazon links and more! ORIGINAL POST (5/5/14): Attn: Beatle collectors – you know who you are! On June 25, Universal Music Japan is extending an invitation to Meet the Beatles as you would have fifty years ago in that country. The new Meet the Beatles box set presents mini-LP CD replicas of five albums released by the Fab Four in Japan in 1964 and 1965. As with the
Still Unforgettable: "The Extraordinary Nat King Cole" Collects Hits, Rarities, Unreleased Songs
The title of Capitol's upcoming Nat King Cole compilation is a simple but accurate one: The Extraordinary Nat King Cole. In his too-short 45 years, Cole transformed himself from an acclaimed jazz pianist to one of America's pre-eminent vocalists. His smooth-voiced baritone helped put Capitol Records on the map, and he broke down barriers previously unheard of for African-American entertainers. Cole's posthumous 1991 duet on "Unforgettable" with daughter Natalie Cole earned him a new generation
Review: Billy Joel, "A Matter of Trust: The Bridge to Russia"
Billy Joel has been famously prickly in recent years about many of the archival releases bearing his name. But one hopes that the troubadour, currently in the midst of his tenure as a “franchise” at New York’s Madison Square Garden, is beaming with pride at A Matter of Trust – The Bridge to Russia. This set, available in a variety of audio and video formats from Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings, not only splendidly chronicles Joel’s historic 1987 trek to the Soviet Union but vividly
Review: Vanilla Fudge, "The Complete Atco Singles"
It’s hard to believe that Real Gone Music’s The Complete Atco Singles (RGM-0239, 2014) is the first such overview for Vanilla Fudge. Between 1966 and 1970, the Long Island quartet delivered heavy riff-rock that bridged the gap between psychedelia and the nascent hard rock form that would come to be known as heavy metal, transforming popular songs with a raw, visceral, punch-in-the-gut sound. This tasty, single-disc collection brings together every one of the 18 sides released on the Atco label
WE HAVE A WINNER! Billy Joel's "A Matter of Trust: The Bridge to Russia" Goes to One Lucky Winner!
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR CONTEST WINNER, FABIO TURSI! He's won a copy of Billy Joel's A Matter of Trust: The Bridge to Russia 2CD/1DVD set from Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings!
Give Me the Future: Hear No Evil Label Reissues Meat Loaf’s "Bad Attitude" for 30th Anniversary
Though he burst onto the scene like a Bat Out of Hell and has enjoyed a 35+-year solo career to date, the artist known as Meat Loaf has never been terribly prolific in the studio. Over the course of three and a half decades, he has only released 11 full studio solo albums with a 12th due next year. To the casual observer, however, that may seem a high number. After all, his career is often thought to consist of just the two smash Bat Out of Hell albums released 16 years apart in 1977 and 1993.
Return To Ipanema: Verve Marks 50th Anniversary of "Getz/Gilberto" With Deluxe Reissue
That tall and tan and young and lovely “Girl from Ipanema” is back, thanks to Verve Records’ 50th Anniversary Edition of Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto’s Getz/Gilberto. In stores today, this new deluxe edition presents the seminal bossa nova album in both mono and stereo, with the mono mix appearing on CD for the very first time. In addition, this release retains the bonus tracks – single versions of “The Girl from Ipanema” and “Corcovado” – from Verve’s previous reissue. Bossa nova, translated,
Release Round-Up: Week of May 27
Holland-Dozier-Holland: The Complete 45s Collection: Invictus/Hot Wax/Music Merchant 1969-1977 (Harmless) The H-D-H compositions/production didn't stop after the trio left Motown; they in fact created several labels and did an awful lot of work for them, as evidenced by this massive eight-disc box set of their works for three labels through the late '60s and '70s. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) KISS,
SoulMusic Round-Up: Label Expands, Reissues Esther Phillips, The Tymes, Lenny Williams and Benét
SoulMusic Records has kept a busy profile in recent months on both sides of the Atlantic. A quartet of the label’s recent U.K. releases spotlight memorable voices from across the R&B spectrum. The one-time “Little Esther,” a.k.a. Esther Mae Jones, a.k.a. Esther Phillips, came to CTI Records’ Kudu imprint in 1971 as a veteran artist. Though she was just shy of 36 years old, she already had 22 years of her career behind her. If Atlantic Records was unsure of the best setting in which to place
The Doom Tour, Doomed No More: CSNY Confirms July Release of Lavish 1974 Tour Box Set
You no longer need feel “helpless” waiting for the official announcement of Crosby Stills Nash and Young’s mega-box set celebrating the band’s legendary – and notorious – 1974 tour. On July 8, CSNY 1974 arrives with 40 live tracks and bonus video footage in a variety of formats, including: a 3-CD/1-video DVD set; a Pure Audio Blu-ray (192kHz/24-bit)/1-video DVD set; a 16-track single CD distillation; a 12-track Starbucks-exclusive single-CD; and a limited edition set featuring a
He Wants YOU To Have His Baby: "Paternity" Premieres On CD, Plus Two By Leigh Harline
Kritzerland is back this month with a pair of new releases premiering three film scores on CD for the very first time! First up is the music from the 1981 Burt Reynolds comedy Paternity, composed by David Shire. No stranger to stage (Closer Than Ever, Big) or screen (Norma Rae, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three), Shire supplied director David Steinberg’s film (also starring Beverly D’Angelo, Paul Dooley, Norman Fell, Lauren Hutton and Elizabeth Ashley) with charming, light and romantic
It's Carnival Time At Ace With "The Ric and Ron Story Volume 1"
While Ric and Ron Records were not the first little labels to make big noises out of New Orleans, Louisiana, they certainly were among the most influential. Between 1958 and 1963, Joe Ruffino’s labels boasted some of the Crescent City’s greatest artists – Professor Longhair, Irma Thomas, Chris Kenner, Eddie Bo, and Johnny Adams, to name a few. The U.K.’s Ace Records label has recently begun a new series chronicling The Ric and Ron Story, kicking off with Volume 1, You Talk Too Much. The
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