A look at the intense visage of Ruthann Friedman on the cover photograph of Now Sounds’ Windy: A Ruthann Friedman Songbook reveals those “stormy eyes that flash at the sound of lies,” but a listen to the sounds within shows the artist spreading her “wings to fly above the clouds.” For here is an entire disc’s worth of never-before-heard pop nuggets, crafted with a delicacy and beauty to match that photo. Windy, of course, is so named, of course, for The Association’s 1967 No. 1 hit penned by
Numero Group Uncovers The Pioneering Electronic Soundscapes of Iasos' "Celestial Soul Portrait"
The expert crate-diggers at Numero Group have recently offered up one of its most adventurous releases – the Celestial Soul of the single-named musician Iasos (pronounced ya' sos). Before the genres of ambient and New Age were classified as such, the Greek-born musician was experimenting with electronic instruments to create the “Paradise Music” now being reissued by Numero in the anthology Celestial Soul Portrait. Born in Greece in 1947 but a U.S. resident since 1951, Iasos moved to
Release Round-Up: Week of June 25
The Beatles, Help! (Blu-Ray Disc) (Capitol/Apple) The Fab Four's second film gets the hi-def disc treatment. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The Three O'Clock, The Hidden World Revealed (Omnivore) Early works by power-pop legends The Three O'Clock shine on this new compilation, featuring cuts from their early works on Frontier Records and 10 unreleased tracks. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Omnivore) Released on
Don't Just Stand There! Real Gone Reissues Patty Duke, Johnny Lytle
They laugh alike, they walk alike, at times they even talk alike! You can lose your mind, when cousins are two of a kind! So went the theme song to television’s The Patty Duke Show, starring the former Anna Marie Duke as “identical cousins” Patty and Cathy Lane. We’re told in Sid Ramin and Robert Wells’ theme song that the worldly Cathy “adores a minuet, The Ballets Russes and crepe suzette,” but the normal New York teen Patty “loves to rock and roll!” So, apparently, did Patty Duke, based
Gimme Some Lovin': Cherry Red Distills Spencer Davis Group's Live, Studio Tracks on "Keep On Running"
Between 1964 and 1968, Birmingham’s Spencer Davis Group charted seven U.K. Top 40 hits (including two No. 1s) and two in the U.S. Top 10. Although the R&B band was short-lived, songs like “Gimme Some Lovin’,” “Keep On Running” and “I’m a Man” remain classic rock staples today. A collection of odds and ends has just been released by Cherry Red Records as part of its PressPlay series. The label describes the PressPlay initiative as offering “the perfect introduction to the music of its most
A Beacon in the Pale of the Night: Nik Kershaw's "The Riddle" to Be Expanded in August
Following a recent expansion of his beloved (in the U.K.) debut album, Universal Music Group will offer the double-disc treatment to Nik Kershaw's sophomore effort The Riddle this summer, SuperDeluxeEdition reports. The monumental success of 1983's Human Racing, with its singles "Wouldn't It Be Good" and "I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" reaching No. 4 and No. 2 on the U.K. charts, respectively, meant a need to produce a great follow-up. Kershaw delivered with The Riddle, thanks to its
Start Them Up: Rolling Stones' Catalogue Newly Compiled for iTunes
Who says one of the oldest and biggest rock bands in the world can't keep their digital presence somewhat fresh? The Rolling Stones this week unveiled a revamp of their 50-year catalogue on iTunes, including two new digital box sets that collect the majority of their standard discography. While the Stones' catalogue has long been part of the digital music service, they're the latest act to reintroduce their albums in "Mastered For iTunes" format. While tireless physical music enthusiasts might
Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun: Red Temple Spirits' Post-Punk Albums Return To CD
Words like “unique” and “singular” are thrown around far too often, but they truly apply to the Red Temple Spirits. The Los Angeles quartet, described in 1989 by one pundit as “enigmatic,” recorded two albums in the waning days of the 1980s, Dancing to Restore an Eclipsed Moon and If Tomorrow I Were Leaving for Lhasa, I Wouldn’t Stay a Minute More... The post-punk group toured in 1990, and even gained airplay on MTV, but before 1992 was out, Red Temple Spirits had gone quietly into the night.
Jerry Lee Lewis, The Ronettes, Del Shannon, Louis Armstrong Feature On "The London American Label 1964"
1964 will forever be remembered on American shores as the year of Beatlemania, when those four moptops from Liverpool led the British Invasion to the top of the pop charts. That tale has been chronicled many times, but one of the most recent releases from U.K.-based label Ace tells the story of the year's American Invasion - via the American records imported to London on the London American label. This latest volume in the long-running series (which now features an entry for each year between
Phyllis Hyman's "Goddess of Love" Is Revisited By SoulMusic Records
Phyllis Hyman sure looked like a Goddess of Love on the cover of her 1983 album of the same name. Now, the striking and statuesque former fashion model’s fourth and final album for Arista Records is back. It's just been reissued by Cherry Red’s SoulMusic imprint in an expanded edition that boasts two more tracks than Reel Music’s 2010 release. In a quest to find Hyman a degree of commercial success commensurate with her great talent, Clive Davis paired her with different producers for each
Review: "Woody Guthrie at 100! Live at the Kennedy Center"
The new CD/DVD set is entitled Woody Guthrie at 100! Live at the Kennedy Center, but in fact, Woody never made it past 55. This document of an altogether lively concert program from a wide assortment of admirers proves, however, that his music has not only lasted ‘til 100, but will likely survive us all. This is a celebration, yes, but a celebration with a conscience. A strong thread of morality and social awareness ran through all of Guthrie’s songs, as he believed music could make a
Review: ZZ Top, "The Complete Studio Albums 1970-1990"
"My friends, they all told me Man there's somethin' gonna change your life..." -ZZ Top, "Brown Sugar" I hate to play favorites, but from day one, I've been a fan of Legacy Recordings' "complete albums" concept. The slick packaging of an artist's classic albums in one package, with nicely-crafted mini jackets, replicated label art on disc and the always promising idea of bonus content is often too good to pass up. I'm probably not the typical target buyer - really, when am I ever - but as
Reviews: Eddy Arnold, "Complete No. 1 Hits" and David Allan Coe, "Texas Moon"
When 1965’s “Make the World Go Away” entered the Pop Top 10, it was unusual, even for those heady days of pop diversity. The singer, Eddy Arnold, had first signed to RCA Victor in 1943. The Musicians’ Union’s strike prohibited the young vocalist from recording until it was settled in December, 1944, but when Arnold finally entered WSM’s radio studios to record four songs, he was making history. His session was the first for a major label to be held in Nashville, Tennessee. His star was soon
Release Round-Up: Week of June 18
Patty Duke, Don’t Just Stand There/Patty / Sings Songs from Valley of the Dolls/Sings Folk Songs (Time to Move On) (Real Gone Music) All four of Patty's United Artists albums released on a pair of two-fers, including 1968's unreleased Sings Folk Songs. The Supremes, Cream of the Crop / Love Child / I Hear a Symphony / Join the Temptations / Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland / Supremes A Go-Go (Motown MS 649, 1966) (Culture Factory) A bunch of Supremes classics - six albums from 1966's The Supremes
Life's a Gas: T. Rex Tracks (and More) Compiled on Six-Disc "Marc Bolan At The BBC"
If you thought Edsel's box set edition of T. Rex's The Slider (or UMC's super-deluxe Electric Warrior) was as big as it could get for the glam rock legends, it might be time to rethink things: SpinCDs reports a six-disc box set encapsulating all of Marc Bolan's performances for the BBC - including both tracks by T. Rex and John's Children - will be released in the U.K. this fall. Marc Bolan At The BBC is hardly the first compilation to collect these live-in-studio recordings - 2006's
High Adventure: Kritzerland Heads To "The Far Horizons," Uncovers "Secret of the Incas"
There’s even more film soundtrack news coming your way today, thanks to Kritzerland’s latest announcement! The label will release a special two-for-one CD combining the scores to two vintage adventure films starring Charlton Heston: 1955’s Lewis and Clark drama The Far Horizons and 1954’s exotic Secret of the Incas, the latter of which is frequently cited as a direct inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. This 1,000-unit limited edition is set for release by the first week
Soundtrack Watch: Intrada's Busy Month
Calling all soundtrack lovers: Intrada has been pretty busy in the last few weeks, reissuing or expanding three diverse scores and premiering another on CD. The label's most recent batch saw a pair of double-disc score sets, and the first up was James Horner's action-packed score to 1994's Clear and Present Danger. Based on the Tom Clancy novel, Clear and Present Danger finds the irascible agent Jack Ryan (played again by Harrison Ford, his second turn in the role after 1992's Patriot Games)
Review: Burt Bacharach, "Anyone Who Had a Heart: The Art of the Songwriter" Box Set
Time stands still for Burt Bacharach. Rumer’s 2010 single “Some Lovers,” from Bacharach and Steven Sater’s musical of the same name, is the most recent track on Universal U.K.’s new box set Anyone Who Had a Heart: The Art of the Songwriter. Yet 2010 melts into 1965 like a ray of sunshine on the “cloudy Christmas morning” in the song lyric. Sleigh bells gently underscore wistful flugelhorns as it begins, with Rumer’s dreamy, comforting vocals gracefully gliding over the bittersweet melody.
Where There's a Will: Derek and the Dominos' Bobby Whitlock Joined by Clapton, Harrison, Delaney and Bonnie On Reissued Solo LPs
The story of Bobby Whitlock is one that intersects with rock royalty like George Harrison and Eric Clapton – and now Light in the Attic’s Future Days Recordings imprint is getting ready to tell the story of the Derek and the Dominos pianist-organist. On June 25, Future Days will reissue Whitlock’s two solo albums for ABC-Dunhill, Bobby Whitlock and Raw Velvet (both from 1972), as one 2-CD set entitled Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way: The ABC-Dunhill Recordings. For purists, the label will
Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr., P-Funk Offshoot Parlet and More Join Dionne Warwick on Real Gone's July Slate
The July slate for Real Gone Music has been announced, and things are really heating up! We've already filled you in at length about the pair of anthologies coming your way from Dionne Warwick, We Need To Go Back: The Unissued Warner Bros. Masters and The Complete Warner Bros. Singles, two of the most ambitious releases yet from the prolific label. But that's not all. Real Gone is completing their July 30 release schedule with a pair of long-awaited titles from Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis,
Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah! Rhino U.K. Keeps CHIC Fans "Up All Night" with New Two-Disc Compilation
With CHIC co-founder/co-producer/guitarist Nile Rodgers back in the musical spotlight where he belongs - his distinctive funk guitar anchors Daft Punk's chart-topping single "Get Lucky," the arguable song of the summer - Rhino's U.K. arm has done well to introduce another CHIC-oriented compilation to stores. Up All Night: The Greatest Hits (cheekily named after a lyric in "Get Lucky") is more than just a set of tracks by the immortal disco band. Sixteen of the album's 25 tracks are classics
Gene Pitney Is "Looking Through the Eyes of Love" On New RPM Two-Fers
After a long hiatus, Cherry Red's RPM label is continuing its series of reissues dedicated to the late Gene Pitney ("Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa," "Town Without Pity," "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"). The singer's long out-of-print albums for Aaron Schroeder's Musicor label were reissued on CD in a series of two-fers by Sequel Records in the late 1990s, but upon their deletion from the catalogue, they began commanding high prices on the second-hand market. Since then, the Pitney
Julia Fordham Reissues Out from Under "Lock and Key" from Cherry Pop
Cherry Pop gets sophisticated once again with the expanded releases of two albums by Julia Fordham this month. The British singer-songwriter hit it big in the late '80s and early '90s for a clutch of smart pop tunes with immaculate production from the likes of Hugh Padgham and Peter Asher. Guitarist Dominic Miller, who'd played in World Party and would become the go-to guitarist for Sting in the 1990s and beyond, prominently lent his six-string talents to Fordham's records as well, which
Little Anthony and the Imperials Move to a "New Street"...In Philadelphia!
Paul Simon once said, "Little Anthony Gourdine has one of the purest voices to come out of the New York doo-wop scene. [The Imperials] will be remembered as great musicians from the streets of my hometown." Bob Dylan was also a fan: "The Beatles weren't rock and roll, nor were The Rolling Stones. Rock and roll ended with Little Anthony and the Imperials." But by 1973, the group was ready for a new direction, or a "new street," as it were. The group first worked with then-budding producer
Bohemian Like Them: Dandy Warhols Expand Third Album with Unreleased Bonus Disc
If you've yet to make your trip to the record store this week to pick up some new reissues, here's another new re-release coming your way to think over: Portland, Oregon-based rockers The Dandy Warhols have expanded their third album, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia, for its 13th anniversary. The band's third album (and second for Capitol Records) was inarguably their commercial breakthrough. Thirteen Tales was buoyed by the success of the track "Bohemian Like You," which was prominently
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