When they took the stage at Largo, Maryland’s Capital Centre in June, 1975, nostalgia was foremost on the minds of the members of Chicago. Early in the set so immaculately preserved by Rhino on the new Live in ’75 (Rhino Handmade RHM2 526436, 2011), comments are made from the stage with a great deal of surprise: “[Here’s] another blast from the past!” “Nostalgia is in nowadays.” “We would like to be nostalgic.” Would the Robert Lamm, Walter Parazaider, Lee Loughnane and James Pankow of 1975
Dave Brubeck Digitally "Digs Disney" On New Legacy Edition
It was prescient that the cover of the November 8, 1954 edition of Time was devoted to jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck. Just five years later he and his Quartet would release Time Out, the watershed in his series of "Time"-themed albums, the first jazz album to sell one million copies and one of the genre's biggest-selling albums of all time. Propelled by the success of saxophonist Paul Desmond's sinuous, sophisticated "Take Five," Time Out was a No. 2 pop album and was certified
Greater Hits, Volume II: Three Times the Bob
Our first installment of Greater Hits was a rousing success, and the big musical celebration of the day prompts our next installment of the series. Bob Dylan, 70 years old today, has been rhapsodized about all over the Internet. Rolling Stone made him the focus of their newest issue, while other publications have counted down the Bard's best work (I'm of course partial to Popdose's write-up). And PopMarket, Sony's beloved clearinghouse for box set deals, is offering the three-disc Dylan set from
Byrds, Cooke, Corea, Getz “Complete Album Collections” Coming from Legacy
This morning, Sony’s Legacy division kicked off a new catalogue initiative that’s sure to raise a few eyebrows! The Complete Album Collection box sets bring together an artist’s entire tenure at a label (in these cases, Columbia and RCA Victor) in one tidy box set, with albums in individual mini-LP sleeves. The first four artists to receive this treatment are The Byrds, Sam Cooke, Stan Getz and Return to Forever, and the boxes are available for pre-order now exclusively through PopMarket.
Reissue Theory: Bob Dylan, "New Morning: Legacy Edition" Including "Dylan (1973)"
Happy Birthday, Bob! Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we focus on notable albums and the reissues they could someday see. To celebrate Mr. Dylan's 70th birthday, we're taking a look at one acclaimed LP and the controversial collection drawn from its outtakes. Can these albums be reissued and expanded in the proper context? One answer follows! Greil Marcus famously asked, "What is this shit?" in his review of Bob Dylan's 1970 Self-Portrait. Dylan's tenth album for
Make Me Wanna Holler: A Chat with Harry Weinger on "What's Going On" (Part 2)
The wait is over. We continue our discussion of Marvin Gaye's classic What's Going On, to be released as a super-deluxe edition on June 7, with reissue producer Harry Weinger. In this portion of the discussion, Weinger touches on the always-hot topic of remastering the source material, a thought on super-deluxe box sets, and future projects to honor both Gaye's legacy and other Motown greats. Read on after the jump!
Welcome (Back) to the Club! Varese Announces New Archival Releases
After a lengthy hiatus, Varese Sarabande's CD Club has returned with a new batch of film score reissues, expansions and projects from the vault. Fans were starting to worry for the sanctity of the limited club releases throughout the year; there hadn't been a batch in six months, an unusual amount of wait time even after a year in which the label did great premieres and expansions of soundtracks from The Goonies, Family Plot, Star Trek (2009), Spartacus and others. But with a new batch
Wouldn't It Be Nice? "Pet Sounds" Coming to SACD
“I figure no one is educated musically ‘til they’ve heard [Pet Sounds],” Paul McCartney once said of The Beach Boys’ classic, released 45 years and one week ago on May 16, 1966. George Martin concurred: “Without Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper wouldn’t have happened.” Brian Wilson poured his musical heart into the album’s thirteen tracks; in less than thirty-five minutes, he delivered an entire spectrum of emotions in a song cycle of striking beauty and sensitivity. Pet Sounds may initially have been
FSM Readies Rare Astaire Musical and Two by Rosenthal
Film score collectors, don’t put those wallets away just yet. Kritzerland announced a rare treat from Pino Donaggio, The Berlin Affair, on Friday. Varese Sarabande’s CD Club makes its release announcement today, and Film Score Monthly has just confirmed another two titles including one unique surprise. First up is a two-for-one CD from the pen of Laurence Rosenthal, 1966’s Hotel Paradiso and 1967’s The Comedians. Second is a rare musical to be released on the Film Score Monthly label. Until
Richard Thompson Box Highlights Rare Live Recordings
Universal's U.K. arm recently announced a four-disc box set highlighting Richard Thompson's many musical appearances on the BBC. The Live at the BBC box set features 61 tracks over three CDs and 19 video performances on a DVD. The first disc is devoted entirely to performances by Richard and Linda Thompson, including their three Peel sessions (portions of which were released on a 2004 reissue of their Hokey Pokey album in the U.K.) and a portion of a show from their beloved final tour (also
Release Round-Up: Week of May 23
Thanks to everyone's favorite all-consuming pop star Lady Gaga, this week's releases actually start a day earlier. Think of it as like being in England! New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys, NKOTBSB (Columbia/Jive/Legacy) Imagine a greatest hits EP for each band, augmented with three bonus tracks featuring all nine boy band members working together like some sort of insane, teenybopper Voltron. (Official site) The Monkees, The Monkees Present: Expanded Edition / Changes: Expanded
Who Loves Them? Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons Mix Hits, Rarities On New U.K. Comp
Could anyone have expected the resurgence of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons that occurred in 2005 when the musical Jersey Boys opened at the Virginia Theatre on Broadway? Suddenly, Valli’s profile was higher than it had been at any time since the mid-1970s, and today he continues to reap the rewards of the musical’s exposure in multiple cities in America, Canada, England and Australia. Collector’s Choice launched a comprehensive album reissue program in 2007 which was the best such
"The Berlin Affair" Arrives From "Carrie" Composer Donaggio
In a rare Friday announcement, Kritzerland this morning unveiled its latest soundtrack reissue/restoration. From Pino Donaggio, the renowned composer of Carrie and Dressed to Kill, comes the score to 1985's The Berlin Affair in its first-ever CD release. Liliana Cavani's film was based on Junichiro Tanazaki's novel The Buddhist Cross and dealt with its controversial themes head-on. In 1938 Berlin, Louise, the wife of a young Nazi, enters into a romantic relationship with artist Mitsuko
"I Just Wanna Ask a Question": Harry Weinger on the "What's Going On" Box Set
For most music producers, there's a kind of strangeness to working on multiple reissues of the same classic album over time. Not so for Harry Weinger, vice-president of A&R at Universal Music Enterprises and, as one of UMe's resident Motown gurus, the producer of several deluxe editions of Marvin Gaye's classic LPs, including What's Going On. "You learn between anniversaries," Weinger said. "And luckily, I was there for both of them." When What's Going On became one of Universal's first in
What the Franke? Friday Music Prepares for a Knockout
If you're a voracious reader of pop liner notes, there's a good chance you might have come across the name Franke Previte. If not, you're about to have a chance to reconnect with the man and his music. Previte was the lead singer of Franke & The Knockouts, a New Jersey band whose best-known song, "Sweetheart," went to No. 10 in 1981. Of course, like so many other bands, they're probably best known for what they did after splitting up; the band's second drummer, Tico Torres, went on to sit
Foot Foot, Reissued: The Shaggs' "Philosophy of the World" Is Back!
Raise your hand if you’re a fan of The Shaggs. We know you’re out there. Frank Zappa called the band “better than The Beatles.” Kurt Cobain admired them as unwitting founders of the DIY/alternative movement. The New York Times proclaimed The Shaggs’ 1969 Philosophy of the World “maybe the best worst rock album ever made.” Lester Bangs called them an “anti-power trio,” while Rolling Stone chimed in that The Shaggs most resemble “lobotomized Trapp Family singers.” What to make of Dot, Betty
Joy Division, New Order United for the First Time on New Comp (UPDATED 5/18)
UPDATE (5/18): Rhino has released the unreleased track "Hellbent" for your streaming pleasure! Listen to it here. Original post: Can you believe, in this crazy world of music catalogue titles, that nobody's ever thought to do this before? Rhino's U.K. arm is releasing Total: From Joy Division to New Order next month, marking the first time a commercial compilation collates the best of both bands. (A 2001 New Order promo compilation tacked a few Joy Division songs on the end of its running
Alicia's "A Minor" Expansion Has a Track List
The 10th anniversary reissues of Alicia Keys' Songs in A Minor now have track lists with some tantalizing unreleased material - but how much you get, as is so often the case, depends on which version you buy. As previously reported, the singer/songwriter/pianist's Grammy-winning debut LP is being expanded across several formats for its 10th anniversary. A "deluxe edition" will feature a bonus EP of rare and unreleased songs, including two previously unheard demos. A long-boxed "collector's
Where Are All The "Magic Colors": Lesley Gore's Lost Album Arrives on CD
Lesley Gore epitomized the sound of American pop in the early-to-mid 1960s with hits like "It's My Party" and its answer/follow-up, "Judy's Turn to Cry." For my money, there may never have been a greater one-two punch in pop than that pair, produced by Quincy Jones and arranged by Claus Ogerman. But where was the teen pop queen by the Summer of Love? The U.K.'s Ace label answers that question with the June release of Magic Colors: The Lost Album with Bonus Tracks 1967-1969, unearthing a lost
Before Blondie and Talking Heads: Now Sounds Presents The Original "New Wave"
Blame it on the bossa nova. It was at a Westwood record store that Reid King first heard Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “One Note Samba,” performed by the great Brazilian guitarist Laurindo Almeida and the Modern Jazz Quartet. In no time at all, King found inspiration in the tricky chords of the bossa nova. He mastered them and went on to write his own songs, often in collaboration with one-time child actor Thom Andriola, who performed under the stage name of Tommy André. By 1966, King and
Release Round-Up: Week of May 17
Queen, Queen / Queen II / Sheer Heart Attack / A Night at the Opera / A Day at the Races: Deluxe Editions (Hollywood) No, you're not seeing double. The first batch of 40th anniversary Queen expanded editions, available in the U.K. since March, make their stateside debuts. There's an Amazon-exclusive box with all of them included, too. Dear readers: any big box retailers carrying these? The only one I imagine that is would be Best Buy. (Official site) The Go-Go's, Beauty and the Beat: 30th
Ring-a-Ding Ding! 1961 Sinatra Debut For Reprise Is Remastered and Expanded
Shortly before Christmas 1960, Frank Sinatra entered the studio to record the tracks that would yield Ring-A-Ding Ding!, his inaugural release on the record label he founded, Reprise. As the company’s slogan went, Reprise albums were meant “to play and play again,” and boy, did Sinatra live up to his word! Ring-A-Ding Ding! is still one of the singer’s most beloved albums some fifty years after its March 1961 release, and Concord Records is marking the occasion on June 7 with a remastered
Cash, Perkins, Lewis and...The Chipmunks? Ace Revisits 1958 On "The London American Label"
After a terrifically eclectic volume dedicated to the hits, misses and everything in between of 1963, Ace’s London American Label turns the clock back to the early days of rock and roll via the pioneering British imprint. The London American Label: 1958, the sixth volume of the series, similarly offers something for everyone. Unlike so many other British labels mining this period thanks to public domain law, Ace licenses each and every track from the current copyright owners and remasters them
Welcome to the "City of Fear": Intrada Unearths Early Goldsmith
Intrada's newest release batch has only one catalogue score (the other is a symphonic piece by Arthur Rubenstein) but it's a keeper: it's the earliest film work of legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith currently on CD. City of Fear, a 1959 thriller about an escaped convict who believes himself to be in possession of a canister of heroin - but in fact has something much more dangerous - was only one of the first half-dozen credits for the young Goldsmith, and only his second film score after a host
Review: Jimi Hendrix, "South Saturn Delta" and "Band of Gypsys: Live at the Fillmore East"
When Jimi Hendrix wrote the lyrics, "Well, she's walking through the clouds, with a circus mind that's running 'round?," is it possible that he was writing about himself? Hendrix isn't generally considered part of the school of autobiographical singer/songwriters, and appreciation of his lyrical and melodic craft usually takes a backseat to his dazzling virtuosity as a musician. So while "Little Wing" isn't precisely about Hendrix, the vivid lyrical imagery of a dreamer with a "circus mind"
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