Dean Martin once implored in song, "Please don't talk about me when I'm gone." Dino has been gone since 1995, but I doubt he'd mind that fans and collectors alike haven't stopped talking about him since. Part of this is due to the seemingly endless stream of repackaged "greatest hits" collections - and guess what? Not one, not two, but three such sets are on the way this June, just in time for Father's Day. Now ain't that a kick in the head! Back in February, we reported on Hip-o's two-CD,
Review: Bob Dylan, "In Concert: Brandeis University 1963"
Will the real Bob Dylan please stand up? Sunday, May 12, 1963. A 21-year old Bob Dylan is scheduled to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, America’s favorite variety program. The young singer plans to perform his satirical “Talking John Birch Paranoid Blues,” taking sharp aim at the radical anti-Communist John Birch Society. In the song, Dylan’s narrator joins the group, walking off with his “secret membership card," ready to hunt for reds. “Now we all agree with Hitler’s views, although he killed
"NKOTBSB" Compilation Tracks Revealed
For those of you anxiously counting down the days until The New Kids on the Block and The Backstreet Boys come to your town with the NKOTBSB Tour, the commemorative tour compilation due out next month has a track list. The NKOTBSB disc was constructed by voting fans, who selected the top five songs from each group (the catalogues of which are both conveniently housed under the Sony banner). The nostalgia of fans has a very strict time limit for each group; four of the five NKOTB tracks stemmed
Welcome to the "House of Rufus"
Think Loudon Wainwright III's Forty Odd Years box set is exhaustive? The singer-songwriter's son, Rufus, just topped it - and then some. We previously reported that Rufus Wainwright was planning a massive career-spanning box set, but Universal Music just revealed details on the scope of House of Rufus, due out this summer. Altogether, the set includes 19 - count 'em, 19! - discs, featuring every studio and live record Wainwright's ever released and then some. According to a post on Rufus'
Release Round-Up: Week of April 12
Bob Dylan, In Concert: Brandeis University, 1963 (Columbia/Legacy) Did you miss this when it first came to pass as a bonus disc with Amazon orders of the latest Bootleg Series? Here's your second chance. (Official site) Danny Elfman, The Tim Burton/Danny Elfman 25th Anniversary Music Box (Warner Bros.) Can you believe it? These things are finally starting to ship after four months and endless posts of addressing speculation and delays. (Official site) Jimi Hendrix, South Saturn Delta / Band
Black Sabbath is "Born Again" on New U.K. Reissue
England has gotten more than its share of great expansions of the Black Sabbath catalogue - even the lesser known material - and now we can add another title to the list. The metal ensemble's Born Again (1983) is coming back into print in May in a new double-disc deluxe edition. Black Sabbath were in a period of transition in the months leading up to Born Again. Vocalist Ronnie James Dio had left the band to form his own successful band, and took Sabbath drummer Vinny Appice with him. Remaining
No Gloomy "Sunday" with Complete Les Baxter Debut
Les Baxter sure gets around. The past year has seen reissues of the maestro's scores from a number of labels including Intrada, La-La Land and Kritzerland, and the latter ups the ante today with the release of the exotica master's score to 1960's infamous Black Sunday (La Maschera del Demonio, or The Mask of Satan). Mario Bava's Italian horror classic stars Barbara Steele, John Richardson, Arturo Dominici and Ivo Garrani in the tale of a vampire/witch put to death by her brother who is reborn
Rhino Knows What Time It Is: Chicago "Live in '75" Coming from Handmade (UPDATED 4/11)
UPDATE 4/11: The link just before the jump takes you directly to the order page for this set. Original post: Billboard has certified them as the second-most successful American rock band in music history, only following The Beach Boys. The RIAA places them handily in the Top Ten of all-time album sales from an American group. So it's fair to say that Chicago is still perhaps the most successful American rock band to have been wholly ignored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The band has
Back Tracks: The Shirelles on Scepter
Diana Ross, Martha Reeves and Mary Weiss – and even Joan Jett, Victoria Beckham and Nicole Scherzinger – all owe a debt to Shirley Owens, Doris Coley, Addie Harris and Beverly Lee. That quartet doesn’t have the name recognition of those that followed them, but those four young women from Passaic, New Jersey ignited the girl group phenomenon when they joined forces as The Poquellos, soon to be renamed The Shirelles. Were The Shirelles the first girl group? Probably not. Were they the first to
Let's Hear It for the Big Break May Slate
Not long after the Cherry Red labels update their calendars for April, their ever-busy Big Break Records imprint preps a set of R&B reissues for May. And there are quite a few hits contained therein. No less than six new expansions are on the label's schedule in the next month, most of them from the Sony catalogue. The biggest hits by far would be Back Stabbers, the sophomore release by The O'Jays and the album that spun off the immortal chart-topping hit "Love Train," and Deniece Williams'
Another Barrel Full of Monkees from Friday Music?
So you want to be a rock 'n' roll star? Then listen now to what I say...Just get an electric guitar, then take some time and learn how to play... Those acerbic lyrics from The Byrds' 1967 "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" were admittedly aimed at The Monkees, according to the song's co-writer, Chris Hillman. Yet from the vantage point of over forty years later, the pop and television stars have more than proved their true musical credentials. They're taking their act on the road this
Neil Young Unearths "A Treasure" For May/June Release
Well, the wait for Archives, Volume 2 is far from over, but Neil Young fans and collectors know that the artist rarely goes too long anymore without throwing them a bone (however delayed!). Such a bone is coming your way in May and June from Reprise. A Treasure compiles twelve live recordings dating from 1984 and 1985, including previously unreleased songs. One of these, "Grey Riders," will be the album's lead-off "single." Young is backed by the International Harvesters, who supported him on
Legacy Grows New Reissues by Peter Tosh
In 1970, a non-profit organization, the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), was created to influence public opinion on the legality of cannabis use in America. With the support of advisory board members like Willie Nelson, Bill Maher and Tommy Chong, it's arguably one of the best-known and best-organized groups on marijuana advocacy. Six years after NORML was created, one of the most potent pro-pot songs was released - Peter Tosh's "Legalize It." Tosh was a luminary
Review: Leon Russell, "The Best of Leon Russell"
There wasn't a dry eye in the house when Leon Russell, upon accepting his induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, thanked Elton John for rescuing him from "a ditch beside the highway of life." Thanks to the success of The Union, the collaborative album between John and his early idol, Leon Russell's profile has been considerably high of late. It's been so high, in fact, that one member of the Steve Hoffman Music Forums even queried of the community, "Is Leon Russell getting too much
Soundtrack Round-Up: La-La Land's Next Releases, "TRON" on Demand and More Elfman Box Goodies
Here's some news from around the world of catalogue soundtrack releases, including developments on notable box sets and a surprise expansion from La-La Land Records. The busy label has finally announced a release date of next Tuesday, April 12, for their biggest-sized title yet - an eight-disc box set of music from the Medal of Honor video game series. The long-running franchise, conceived by Steven Spielberg for the Sony PlayStation game console, has featured music by several composers, most
Rhino Resurrects "L.A. Woman" This Fall
It was hard not to worry about Rhino for awhile. Since the new year kicked off, things have been eerily quiet from the venerable label and catalogue arm of Warner Music Group (currently prepping for a major reorganization). Outside of the largesse of the Europe '72 box set from The Grateful Dead and a few soundtrack selections, all was quiet. Now, one of Warner's most enduring catalogue artists looks to be getting another reissue: hot off the presses, Rhino's announced a 40th anniversary
"Trouper" to Get More Super on New ABBA Deluxe Set
The ABBA catalogue has seen plenty of expansions, compilations and catalogue activity (see this Back Tracks post for the proof) over the years, and we can now add one more to the list: Super Trouper, the band's penultimate album, is being reissued yet again with a bonus DVD of unreleased goodies. Super Trouper was the group's penultimate album, a conscious attempt to distance the group from the increasingly-hated genre of disco. The more straightforward pop stylings were still as successful
Rosanne's Record Shop: "The Essential Rosanne Cash" Coming from Legacy
It’s no small feat to become a success in the music business, but it may be an even greater accomplishment when your father is a legend. While the cachet of a famous last name may provide entrée into the industry, only a major, singular voice can maintain a long career. The number of such successes is small, but an undoubted member of the elite club is Rosanne Cash. Like Nancy Sinatra and Natalie Cole, Cash has defied the odds to become a living legend herself, and produced a body of work
Short Takes: More News on Queen Reissues, Stax Expansions, Howard Jones Box Ships
Queen's official site issued a press release yesterday confirming a June 13 release date in the U.K. of the next batch of the band's reissues. News of the World (1977), Jazz (1978), The Game (1980), Flash Gordon (1980) and Hot Space (1982) will comprise this batch. No bonus material has been announced (nor has a U.S. release date been set), but a Deep Cuts compilation will accompany the discs. We have our friends at Vintage Vinyl News to thank for this tip: Concord Records is releasing three
Back Tracks: Nirvana
Seventeen years ago today, Generation X lost an icon when Kurt Cobain, the talented, troubled frontman for Nirvana, took his own life in his Seattle home. Nirvana were three albums into their career, but had already redefined music for an entire cachet of disaffected youth. The genre that came to be known as grunge music, based on frequently alternating dynamics, heavy distortion and angst-filled lyrics, was forged largely under the songwriting tactics of Cobain, who very reluctantly accepted
Musicals Are Busting Out All Over: Masterworks Announces Next Wave of Vintage Releases
Sony's Masterworks Broadway label has announced the next three titles it will rescue from the vaults of Columbia and RCA Victor, and the albums have one person in common: Richard Rodgers. Still one of the most-recorded composers of all time (Rodgers' "My Funny Valentine," co-written by Lorenz Hart, was the third most-covered song of 2010 according to ASCAP, no small feat considering the song was written in 1937!), Rodgers' collaborations with both Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II are represented in
He's Got What It Takes: Marv Johnson's Motown Years Coming from Kent
Had Marv Johnson (1938-1993) accomplished nothing else, he would still go down in history as the first artist heard on a Motown single. The very first release to come out of Berry Gordy's mighty empire in January 1959, Tamla 101, was Johnson's "Come to Me" b/w "Whisper," both sides of which were written by Gordy and the artist. Thankfully, Johnson did accomplish much more musically, and as a testament to his legacy, Ace's Kent label will release I'll Pick a Rose for My Rose: The Complete Marv
Intrada Premieres Classic Film Soundtracks from Friedhofer, Newman, Small
Fans of Hugo Friedhofer and Alfred Newman have had much to applaud lately, thanks to Kritzerland’s recent reissues of Friedhofer’s One Eyed Jacks and Newman’s The Counterfeit Traitor. Our friends at Intrada last night delivered more for fans of those Golden Age titans with the release of the scores to Two Flags West (1950) and North to Alaska (1960) on one CD; Friedhofer composed the former while Alfred Newman conducted. For the latter, Alfred’s brother Lionel handled scoring duties and also
Release Round-Up: Week of April 5
Rush, Moving Pictures: 30th Anniversary Edition (Mercury/UMe) A CD/DVD remaster of one of the Canadian rock band's most beloved albums, featuring a 5.1 surround remaster of the album and some rare music videos on the DVD. If you're in the U.S., Best Buy is currently the only place you can get the set on CD/Blu-Ray; it'll be available to general retail on May 3. (Amazon) Material Issue, International Pop Overthrow: 20th Anniversary Edition (Hip-o Select) An underrated power-pop classic gets
Review: Aretha Franklin, "Take a Look: Aretha Franklin Complete on Columbia"
Some legends are repeated so often that they’ve come to be accepted as the truth. One such legend has it that the suits at Columbia Records, circa 1960-1965, were a chain of fools who kept Aretha Franklin from reaching her potential. After all, the record states that one year and one record after being released from Columbia, a superstar was born. But what if that notion was completely incorrect, and Aretha Franklin’s talent was already fully formed and on display at Columbia? Listen to the
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