"If I'm gonna be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I'm going to have to earn it," Dolly Parton commented upon her 2022 induction into the Cleveland hall. She promised that a rock and roll album was on the way, and today, she made good on that promise...with what essentially amounts to two such records! On November 17, Dolly's own Butterfly Records in association with Big Machine will release Rockstar, a whopping 2-CD or 4-LP collection with 30 songs featuring some of the biggest names in the
The Music Played: Universal Collects Blossom Dearie's 1960s Fontana Years with Over Two Dozen Unreleased Tracks
In a career spanning six decades and over 30 albums, singer-pianist-songwriter Blossom Dearie (1924-2009) garnered attention from popular song's finest writers including Michel Legrand, Bob Dorough, and Johnny Mercer and musicians such as Miles Davis and Bill Evans. A self-described "songwriter's singer" and "jazz musician learning to be a jazz singer," Dearie recorded for the Verve, Capitol, and Fontana labels before striking out with her own Daffodil Records; she also made numerous guest
Sun Will Shine: Grapefruit Collects Italian Prog-Rock Band Circus 2000 on New Anthology
Cherry Red's Grapefruit imprint has invited listeners to join the Circus. The Italian band Circus 2000 is the subject of I Am the Witch: The Anthology, a 2-CD set containing both of the Jefferson Airplane-esque group's albums, originally released in 1970 and 1972, plus singles, alternate mixes, and tracks intended for a never-completed third LP. Circus 2000's charismatic lead singer, Silvana Aliotta, had successfully transitioned from a precocious teenage pop singer to a rock frontwoman as
The Weekend Stream: May 6, 2023
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there's plenty of great new/old music to usher you into the weekend. Today's might be our biggest and best round-up of the spring: classic rock remixes, classic soul legends, rising rap icons, all kinds of '80s pop, a classic Broadway album making its belated digital debut - plus two urgent social causes we really want you to know about. David Bowie, Golden Years
Once Upon a Dream: "Disney100" Celebrates the Disney Music Legacy
"I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing: that it was all started by a mouse." Walt Disney was, of course, speaking of his enduring creation, Mickey Mouse. The character's debut in the 1928 animated short subject Steamboat Willie was indeed the watershed moment from which decades of entertainment in every conceivable medium followed. But the business that became The Walt Disney Company had been founded five years earlier, in 1923, by brothers Walt and Roy. That's the anniversary
Release Round-Up: Week of May 5
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores today! Olivia Newton-John, Just the Two of Us: The Duets Collection Vol. 1 (Primary Wave/Green Hill) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 17 favorite duets with Olivia Newton-John are featured on this new collection. The late artist's duet partners include Dolly Parton ("Jolene"), Michael McDonald ("Act of Faith"), Barry Gibb ("Face to
Man That He's Become: Yep Roc Expands Nick Lowe's 'Dig My Mood'
Yep Roc Records, custodian of NIck Lowe's noteworthy catalogue, will expand and reissue a late '90s album of his this summer. Dig My Mood, issued in 1998, was the U.K. singer/songwriter's 10th studio album and second independent release. Here, after leaving behind his detached power-pop style on 1994's The Impossible Bird, Lowe once again swung for the fences with his songcraft, while still wrapping it all in his signature rock sound. (Lowe would later bill The Impossible Bird, DIg My Mood
The Message is Love: Demon Preps Box Set of Arthur Baker Remixes
Demon Music Group scored a real coup in 2021 with the release of Dance Masters: Shep Pettibone (The Classic Master Mixes), a box set devoted to the stellar late '80s and early '90s remixer. The branding on the set indicated that Dance Masters was to be a series, presented by another remixing great: American DJ/producer Arthur Baker. Now, two years later, another Dance Masters set is forthcoming, focused on the work of Baker himself. Dance Masters: Arthur Baker (The Classic Dance Remixes), due
Keep On Loving You: Real Gone's May Slate Incudes The Donnas, Henry Franklin, Medeski Martin & Wood, The Reverend Horton Heat, and More
For its May lineup, Real Gone is releasing titles from the 1970s, 1990s, and 2000s from jazz, rockabilly, heavy metal, and rock artists. All of these titles are hitting store shelves this Friday, May 5 and we've got all the details below. The Donnas formed in California in 1993. Brett Anderson (lead vocals), Allison Robertson (guitar, backing vocals), Maya Ford (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Torry Castellano (drums, percussion, backing vocals) met when they were in the eighth grade.
In the Moonlight: La-La Land Returns with New Williams Expansion, Unused Score Releases
Not long after La-La Land Records issued one of their best archival soundtrack batches for Black Friday 2022, they made a stunning proclamation: after one release in January, the label would take a long break. Any third-party music licensing post-COVID has been a challenge, and the label sought to take a breather, offer some great sales, restock some old favorites and let the rights and clearance pipelines unclog with time. And unclog they have! The label's first batch of titles in nearly five
Wave That Flag: Grateful Dead Mega-Box "Here Comes Sunshine" Features 1973 Shows, Trucks and Betts Encore
A new Grateful Dead mega-box is on the way - and it's rewinding the years all the way back to 1973. 50 years ago, the band's tour culminated in a pair of performances at Washington, DC's Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium as co-headliners with The Allman Brothers Band. The June 10 show, in particular, remains one of the Dead's best ever: an almost five-hour mega-concert with an encore featuring Dickey Betts and Butch Trucks of the ABB sitting in. On June 30, both of the Washington, DC shows
In Memoriam: Gordon Lightfoot (1938-2023)
We mourn the loss of troubadour Gordon Lightfoot (1938-2023). Lightfoot's songs pierced the heart, springing from the folk tradition but with one foot in the pop realm as they pondered love, loneliness, nature, and history. His warm, burnished baritone was like that of an old friend, reassuring and wise. The Ontario native was a Canadian national treasure but his music belonged to the world; part of the secret to his success was his richly diverse musical background. By his teenaged years,
People Need Love: ABBA's "Ring Ring" Celebrates 50 with Singles Box Set, More
When the single "People Need Love" was released in 1972, it was intended as a one-off collaboration between three successful Swedish pop entities: female singers Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad and songwriting/producing duo Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. The single was credited simply to "Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid," with no intentions of further capitalizing on the partnership. But the success of the song - a Top 20 hit in their native Sweden - led to an album's
The Weekend Stream: April 29, 2022
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there's plenty of great new/old music to usher you into the weekend. A short round-up this week, featuring expanded albums from the Godfather of Soul and a late '90s R&B star, another ZTT rarity, a classic rock remix and an LP from a screen legend. James Brown, Gravity (Expanded Edition) (Volcano/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon) The success of "Living in
Willin': Little Feat's "Sailin' Shoes" and "Dixie Chicken" Get Remastered, Expanded
"When Lowell [George] and I first got together," Little Feat co-founder Bill Payne remembered to author Bob Mehr in 2022, "our philosophical discussions became about what kind of band we want to be in. We're not going to be a blues band...but we'll play some blues. We're not going to be a country band...but we'll play some country. The idea was that it was supposed to be eclectic and not just one thing." That ethos guided Little Feat for seven studio albums on Warner Bros. Records through
Release Round-Up: Week of April 28
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores today! Stephen Stills, Live at Berkeley 1971 (Omnivore/Iconic) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP Box: Stephen Stills Webstore Omnivore and Iconic Artists are serving up a previously unreleased 14-song live album drawn from Stephen Stills' concerts at the Berkeley Community Theater in Berkeley, CA, on August 20 and 21, 1971.
Craft Recordings Plans Staggering Box of Stax Demos
How do you follow up an essential document like this year's comprehensive Wattstax box set? If you're Craft Recordings, you plan a trip deep into the unheard history of the legendary Memphis label, through dozens of demos released for the first time anywhere. Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos is an impressive 7CD anthology including 146 demo versions of enduring Stax hits and fan favorites, songs written by label songwriters that ended up elsewhere as well as a number of songs
On His Own: Bobby Brown's Breakthrough 'Don't Be Cruel' Set for Deluxe Edition at Iconoclassic
Leaving a pop group can be a tricky thing. Will the work you do on your own connect with audiences the same way it did with your bandmates? Ultimately, there's only one way to find out: strike hard and make the music your own. Bobby Brown of New Edition delivered a master class in how to go solo with his second LP Don't Be Cruel (1988) - and now, thanks to Iconoclassic Records, it's getting its due on disc with a deluxe 2CD edition packed with remixes and rarities. As one fifth of Boston
Going for It: New Wham! Compilations Offer Singles, New to CD Mixes and More
More than 40 years after they took the U.K. - and then the world - by storm, the story of pop duo WHAM! will be told in a multi-format compilation, issued just after a new documentary set for release this summer. The Singles: Echoes from the Edge of Heaven is arguably the most comprehensive look at the work of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley as they combined their glossy good looks with an almost unsuspecting penchant for pop brilliance. In just five short years, the pair notched nearly a
Sea Breeze: "Lush Exotica" Collects Four Early Albums from Arthur Lyman
The title of the new collection from Cherry Red's Righteous imprint, Lush Exotica, conjures up images of tropical islands, palm trees swaying in the breeze, sun-drenched beaches, and Polynesian paradise. Perhaps no artist provided a more vivid soundtrack to those images than Arthur Lyman. The late vibraphonist and marimba player (1932-2002), born in Oahu, Hawaii, recorded dozens of albums applying his breezy, alluring style to genres such as folk, jazz, showtunes, and pop. Lush Exotica
In Memoriam: Harry Belafonte (1927-2023)
Can a song truly make change? In an increasingly complex, divided and uncertain world, it's a fair question that has no easy answers. As a child, though, I can tell you I believe the answer was yes. After all, there was Harry Belafonte's "Turn the World Around." It's funny to think that a song from one of Belafonte's final studio albums - far removed from the unprecedented success of 1956's Calypso, the first LP claimed to sell a million copies - and one that didn't even get a considerable
Straight Into Love: Kenny Rogers' Posthumous "Life Is Like a Song" Coming in June
Kenny Rogers released the 28th and final studio album of his lifetime with 2015's Once Again It's Christmas. On June 2, UMe will celebrate the late superstar's musical legacy with a posthumous release featuring eight previously unreleased tracks and two rarities. Life Is Like a Song, coming on CD, vinyl, and digital formats, has been curated and executive produced by his widow Wanda Rogers. It's also Rogers' first studio album to debut on vinyl in the U.S. since 1991. Life Is Like a Song
Mind Go Wild: Zappa's 1970 "Hot Rats" Sequel "Funky Nothingness" Gets First Release
In the pantheon of jazz-rock, Frank Zappa's 1969 LP Hot Rats is surely near the pinnacle. The primarily instrumental album recorded by Zappa, multi-instrumentalist Ian Underwood, and the top tier of L.A.'s session musicians melded the compositional and improvisational sophistication of jazz with Zappa's gritty, searing, and blues-drenched electric rock style. Recorded to 16 tracks at a time when the technology was still in its infancy, Hot Rats pushed the boundaries of production. Elements of
The Weekend Stream: April 22, 2023
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there's plenty of great new/old music to usher you into the weekend. Follow up your Record Store Day with a few digital versions of the latest exclusive vinyl releases, plus rare live material from Bruce Springsteen, rare studio material from Little Richard, one of Billy Joel's first bands, a new way to hear an old favorite by The Police and even more! Billy Joel,
The Second Disc's Record Store Day 2023 Shopping Guide
Record Store Day! It's that time again where music lovers and vinyl flippers get together at their favorite physical music retailers and wait in line to snag some treasured albums - almost all of which are pressed on vinyl instead of CD (or, you know, sold on secondary marketplaces for above their retail value). It's certainly easy to be cynical about this stuff, but the crux of the idea still lives: find some music that moves you, something from an old favorite you've maybe never heard
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