Joni Mitchell fiercely announced her independence with "I Had a King," the haunting soliloquy which opens her 1968 debut album, Song to a Seagull. "I can't go back there anymore," she proclaimed. "You know my keys won't fit the door/You know my thoughts don't fit the man. They never can...they never can..." The song is bold, wise, and flecked with a graceful equanimity as the singer declares her freedom both from a husband who "lives in another time" and the societal constraints of the day.
The Second Disc Guide to Record Store Day Drop 2 TOMORROW!
Once again, Record Store Day here in the U.S. looks a little - make that a lot - different this year. The usual offerings have been split among two dates in 2021 with Drop 1 having taken place on June 12 and Drop 2 happening tomorrow, July 17. Every retailer is handling the Drop a bit differently thanks to the necessary accommodations for social distancing, smaller crowds, and better safety precautions. So please check in with your favorite store to find out more information. Below, you'll
Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer: Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" Soundtrack Gets Mega-Expansion
Cameron Crowe, in association with Universal Music, has done the (near-) impossible. On July 9, the writer-director will revisit the soundtrack to his 2000 instant classic Almost Famous in greatly expanded, near-complete form, including five - yes, five! - Led Zeppelin songs plus tracks by other typically difficult-to-license artists including Simon and Garfunkel, The Who, Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, David Bowie, and Stevie Wonder. That's not to mention new Rock and
How My Heart Sings: Craft Recordings Readies New Career-Spanning Box for Bill Evans
Bill Evans would have earned his place in the jazz history books if only for his role on Miles Davis' landmark 1959 set Kind of Blue. But the pianist-composer and modal jazz innovator recorded over 50 live and studio albums as a leader before his untimely death in 1980 at the age of just 51, leaving behind a legacy of some of the most beautiful jazz ever committed to tape. In addition to Davis, he also served as a sideman to musicians including Chet Baker, Cannonball Adderley, Charles Mingus,
A Case of You: Joni Mitchell's First Four Albums Remastered, "The Reprise Albums (1968-1971)" Due June 25
Last year Joni Mitchell and Rhino stunned fans with the announcement of the Joni Mitchell Archives, an ongoing series of releases that look back at the career of the multifaceted songwriter, singer, producer, and visual artist. (Check out our interview with series co-producer, Patrick Milligan, here!) Today, Joni Mitchell and Rhino announced the next volume in the series: The Reprise Albums (1968-1971), to be released June 25, just fifty years and three days after she released Blue on June
"It's What's Happening, Baby!" Historic, All-Star Music Special Returns To TV After 55 Years
It's What's Happening, Baby! That's the name of the 1965 television special hosted by influential New York disk jockey Murray Kaufman, a.k.a. Murray The K. Over the course of 90 minutes, the jocular, hep-talking Murray (who christened himself The Fifth Beatle as an early friend and supporter of the Fab Four) shared musical performances by the day's biggest pop and soul acts including The Supremes, Dionne Warwick, Ray Charles, The Righteous Brothers, The Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Johnny Rivers,
Wild Thing: Cherry Red Collects Complete Recordings of '70s Glam-Pop Band Fancy
The story of the band Fancy began with Chip Taylor's "Wild Thing." Captivated with Jimi Hendrix's fiery take on the classic popularized by The Troggs, producer Mike Hurst (The Springfields, Cat Stevens, Shakin' Stevens, Showaddywaddy) began to imagine the song as sung by a woman. He dialed up both the sex and the funk for a slower, breathier, and more salacious version of the pop-rock staple. Guitarist Ray Fenwick, bassist Mo Foster, drummer Henry Spinetti, keyboardist Alan Hawkshaw, and
Review: Elvis Costello and The Attractions, "Armed Forces: Super Deluxe Edition"
"Hey Clockface, keep those fingers on the dial," Elvis Costello implored on the jaunty, jazz-flavored title track of his 2020 album. "You said you'd be a friend to me, but time is just my enemy and it is hurting me so..." Despite his pleas, time has been rather good to Costello's artistry. Though initially branded an "angry young man" - and indeed, he channeled the punk zeitgeist early on with his fast and furious compositions - Costello has been able to travel wherever his muse takes him.
Soundtrack Watch: Varese Expands 'Looney Tunes' and 'Babe,' La-La Land Sweeps New 'Cobra Kai' Albums
The year is still new, but archival soundtrack labels are already working overtime with some solid new releases, including two expanded versions of gems from Varese Sarabande's catalogue, and two new releases from La-La Land Records covering one of TV's hottest tickets. First up from Varese is a new expansion of Nigel Westlake's score to the film Babe. Based on a British book about a pig raised as a sheepdog on a country farm, the film was seven years in development by an unlikely producer:
Release Round-Up: Week of December 11
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Neil Young, After the Gold Rush: 50th Anniversary Edition (Reprise) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The 50th Anniversary Edition of Neil Young's classic album features new art based on Gary Burden's original album cover design. The CD is out today while the vinyl edition will be released in March, 2021 and presented in a box set with the LP and a bonus 7″ single in a newly designed picture sleeve. This set includes two different
Snowblind: Black Sabbath's "Vol. 4" Goes Super Deluxe in February with Unreleased Studio, Live Material
Ozzy Osbourne hasn't been far from the news lately, appearing on the cover of GQ, sharing details of his ongoing struggle with Parkinson's disease, releasing the new album Ordinary Man, and appearing on various television projects. On February 12, 2021, however, Rhino will be looking back with Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward for a 4-CD or 5-LP celebration of their classic 1972 album: Black Sabbath Vol. 4. Now a platinum seller, Vol. 4 was the band's first self-produced LP
The Most Wonderful Time: New Andy Williams Special Premieres, "The Ultimate Collection" and More Released
Over the past weeks, radio stations across America have been changing to holiday formats. There's a good chance that if you spin the radio dial, you'll end up on the voice of Andy Williams. The late singer's 1963 favorite "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" has become an unofficial anthem of the Christmas season, and last year reached an all-time peak of No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 - an all the more impressive feat considering his first appearance on the chart was in 1956. Williams'
Going, Going, Gone: Kritzerland Premieres John Barry and Alan Jay Lerner's "Lolita, My Love" on CD, Reissues Ben Bagley's "Irving Berlin Revisited"
Kritzerland has just announced two new titles today! A musical version of Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel Lolita hardly seemed like typical fare for the Broadway stage. Yet Alan Jay Lerner - lyricist-librettist of My Fair Lady, Camelot, and Paint Your Wagon - envisioned just that. Lolita had already been adapted by Nabokov himself for director Stanley Kubrick's 1962 film starring Sue Lyon, James Mason, Shelley Winters, and a scene-stealing Peter Sellers, but the author gave his blessing to
UPDATE: Herbie Hancock Classics To Be Collected On "Vinyl Me Please Anthology: The Story of Herbie Hancock"
Back in April, Vinyl Me Please announced that jazz legend Herbie Hancock would be the focus of their next Anthology box set. The world has changed a lot since then and unforeseen production situations caused it to be set aside in favor of a Grateful Dead set. Well, now it's finally Herbie Hancock's turn. Today, the vinyl subscription service officially announced the upcoming release of The Story of Herbie Hancock as its next Anthology release. VMP's Anthology series considers the box set
Mind Blowing Decisions: Crimson Collects Three Discs of Heatwave
Autumn's almost here, but Demon's Crimson imprint is planning a Heatwave with the impending release of a 3CD collection in the label's Gold series that covers the U.K. R&B group in detail. Though they were based in England and signed to the country's GTO label (with Epic handling their works in the U.S.), Heatwave showcased the potential of soul, funk and R&B in the disco era to connect with a global audience. At the core of the band were two Americans (singers Johnnie Wilder, Jr. and
Yardbird Suite: Universal Celebrates Charlie Parker's Centennial With "Bird 100" Campaign
August 29 will mark what would have been the 100th birthday of Charlie Parker. The alto saxophonist is a pillar of jazz as we know it, transforming the genre as a leader of the bebop sound. To celebrate, Universal Music Group's UMe arm is continuing its Bird 100 campaign to include vinyl reissues of his Clef Records material, a new collection of Los Angeles sessions in the '40s and '50s, a new book of complete music scores, a graphic novel by Z2 Comics (publisher of Grateful Dead: Origins), a
Deluxe Edition of Linkin Park's Debut 'Hybrid Theory' About To Break
One of the bestselling albums released in 2000 is getting revisited in a big way this year: Linkin Park's debut album Hybrid Theory. The first album from the California rap/rock combo will be reissued October 9 in three rarity-packed editions for its 20th anniversary. A 2CD version pairs the original album with a bonus disc featuring a dozen B-sides, demos, live tracks and remixes from various European-only CD singles. A bigger 4LP box set features those albums alongside a 2LP reissue of
Phone Rings, Door Chimes, In Comes Company: Vocalion Releases Quad Mixes of "Company" and "A Chorus Line" on SACD
The U.K.'s Dutton Vocalion label is continuing its ongoing campaign reissuing quadraphonic albums on hybrid SACD (with a stereo layer playable on all CD players) with two classic Broadway cast recordings from the Columbia vaults. Both were choreographed by Michael Bennett, feature the talents of Donna McKechnie, and have orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick. Moreover, both merged classic Broadway with a powerful and contemporary sensibility. Much as Rodgers and Hammerstein had done before him,
State of Independence: Donna Summer Live Set Comes to CD, DVD, LP in July
Following its career-spanning Encore box set celebrating late superstar Donna Summer, Demon Music Group's Driven by the Music imprint will be bringing one of the diva's classic concerts to multiple formats. A Hot Summer Night will be issued on July 10 in both CD/DVD and 2-LP colored vinyl formats. The concert was recorded on August 6, 1983 as part of Summer's Hard for the Money tour. The She Works Hard for the Money album had just been released a couple of months earlier, in June, but Summer
Soundtrack Watch: Williams Releases, 'Star Wars' Spin-Off and Some 'Mystery Men'
With May the 4th occurring yesterday, it seemed only natural that there might be some Star Wars music-related news, or some great catalog-related material from the film series' iconic composer, John Williams. Luckily, fans got both! Not one but two Williams-oriented titles were announced yesterday. First, from Deutsche Grammophon comes John Williams Live In Vienna, a new live set taken from concerts conducted by the five-time Oscar winner earlier this year. Anticipation for the shows were
Today's the Day: America's "Heritage II" Collects Unreleased Demos, Alternates, More
If you think you know all of the exits off that mythical Ventura Highway, think again. Omnivore Recordings has just released a new collection straight from the America archives, and it's filled with unexpected treasures. Heritage II: Demos/Alternate Takes 1971-1976 follows up the first volume from 2017 and proves itself a more than worthy successor. This collection could well be subtitled The George Martin Years. While its two earliest tracks return to the period of the band's sophomore album,
Empyrean Isles: Herbie Hancock Classics To Be Collected on Upcoming Vinyl Me Please Anthology Set
The music subscription service Vinyl Me Please is back with another installment of its Anthology series, which seeks to reinvent the box set as an interactive medium. Volumes so far have shone a light on legendary record labels like Blue Note, Motown, Ghostly International, and Stax. For the last volume, the company paired up with Now Again Records to take a look at the Zamrock phenomena out of Zambia. This summer, Vinyl Me Please will switch focus to an individual artist as they highlight
Lost in Music: Cherry Red Boxes Sister Sledge Classics on "Thinking of You"
While 1979's anthemic "We Are Family" broke Sister Sledge into the mainstream, Kathy Sledge and her older sisters Debbie, Joni, and Kim were hardly overnight sensations. They paid their dues, and had been recording for Atco Records since 1973 when all four members were still teenagers. Now, Cherry Red's SoulMusic Records imprint has compiled all of the Sledges' recordings for Atco, its parent Atlantic, and sister imprint Cotillion into one tidy 6-CD box set. Thinking of You: The
Practice, Practice, Practice (Redux): Zappa Records Revisits 1971 Carnegie Hall Shows
Eddie, are you kidding? Is Zappa Records revisiting Frank Zappa's October 11, 1971 concerts at New York's Carnegie Hall? Yes, indeed. When Frank Zappa and his Mothers of Invention took the stage at that historic venue nearly fifty (!) years ago, the performances were recorded for possible future release on the artist's then-home of Warner Bros. Records. Back in 2011, Zappa Records issued a "warts and all" ticket to both complete shows performed on that date as a 4-CD box set simply
Lost in The Future: The Stooges' "Fun House" Receives 50th Anniversary, 15-LP Reissue
In 1999, Rhino Handmade released The Complete Fun House Sessions, a 7-CD box set that included almost every take from The Stooges' sophomore effort, Fun House. Now, the label will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Fun House with a luxurious vinyl box set, due July 17. Fun House - 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition includes a newly remastered 2-LP, 45rpm presentation of the landmark album alongside the vinyl debut of the Complete Fun House Sessions. Available exclusively through Rhino.com, the
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