Nick Kamen's career as a singer was a short-lived one, spanning just four LPs between 1987 and 1992. But the former Levi's model - best known for his role in the denim company's "Launderette" television advertisement in which he walks into a laundromat and removes his shirt and 501s - scored considerable success in that period including a U.K. Top 5 hit co-written and produced by none other than Madonna. Cherry Red's Cherry Pop label has recently reissued Nick Kamen, the debut album from the
Man, We Had a Party: Ace Collects Sequel Songs On "Second Helpings"
Numerous collections have compiled famous "answer songs." Ace Records' 2007 anthology The Answer to Everything had many of the best, like Jody Miller's "Queen of the House," Esther Phillips' "When a Woman Loves a Man" and Marilyn Michaels' "Tell Tommy I Miss Him." Early in the summer, Ace took a look not at answer songs, per se, but at sequel songs, on the compilation of Second Helpings: Sequels to the Songs That Left 'Em Hungry for More! The 24 tracks on this collection all hail from the
Release Round-Up: Week of September 18
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up including a couple of spectacular new box sets, one acclaimed soundtrack, numerous reissues and anthologies, and the return of a few beloved artists! a-ha, Hunting High and Low: 30th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (Warner Bros./Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The 1985 debut from a-ha gets super-sized with Rhino's upcoming 4-CD/1-DVD edition. Disc One has the original, remastered album, while Disc Two boasts 25 demos, Disc Three has 15
Strangers Again
Judy Collins returns for a new set of ballads performed as duets with artists including Willie Nelson, Michael McDonald, Jackson Browne, Jimmy Buffett, Glen Hansard and Don McLean! 1. Strangers Again feat. Ari Hest 2. Miracle River feat. Michael McDonald 3. Belfast To Boston feat. Marc Cohn 4. When I Go feat. Willie Nelson 5. Make Our Garden Grow feat. Jeff Bridges 6. Feels Like Home feat. Jackson Browne 7. From Grace feat. Thomas Dybdahl 8. Hallelujah feat. Bhi Bhiman 9. Someday Soon
In Memoriam: Rod McKuen (1933-2015) - A Second Disc Encore Review
On January 29, 2015, we lost a true American original with the passing of Rod McKuen, 81. Poet, composer, lyricist, singer, author, artist; there were few mountains that McKuen didn't climb to great success. An Oscar and Pulitzer nominee, and a Grammy winner, McKuen also was among the earliest to champion the works of Jacques Brel, and was a longtime advocate for gay rights. "It doesn't matter who you love, or how you love, but that you love," McKuen once said. In his own recordings and
To Everything There Is A Season: Raven Reissues "The Byrds"
When the album simply entitled Byrds arrived on David Geffen’s Asylum label in 1973, it had been only about a year-and-a-half since the last record from the California folk-rock heroes. But the original line-up of Gene Clark, David Crosby, Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke hadn’t recorded a complete album together since 1965. Byrds would be the group’s first long-player for a label other than Columbia Records – and the final Byrds album to date. Australia’s Raven Records label has
Tony Joe White, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Ray Kennedy Highlight Real Gone's February
From The Apollo to the swamps of Louisiana, Real Gone Music has a whirlwind musical tour planned for its February 3, 2015 slate! The centerpiece of the February batch just might be the first-ever complete collection of Louisiana man Tony Joe White's Warner Bros. recordings! Singer-songwriter White ("Willie and Laura Mae Jones," "Polk Salad Annie") has one of the most distinctive voices in southern soul, and Real Gone's new collection celebrates a major period his career with a new 2-CD set
Klaatu Rising: Bernard Herrmann's "The Day The Earth Stood Still" Returns To CD
Klaatu barada nikto. With those three words, Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) saved the world from certain destruction at the hands of the eight-foot robot Gort in the 1951 classic The Day the Earth Stood Still. Director Robert Wise’s film remains one of the most chilling and effective Cold War-era films, wrapping its plea for peace in a compelling, documentary-style sci-fi narrative. Chief among its assets was a score by maestro Bernard Herrmann (Psycho, Taxi Driver). Herrmann’s intense, exciting
A Little Love In Her Heart: "She Did It" Spotlights Songs of Jackie DeShannon
That Jackie DeShannon is one of the most gifted singer-songwriters in popular music should come as no surprise to anybody reading this. Equally skilled at interpreting her own songs as well as those of others, the multi-talented Miss DeShannon was the concerned yet optimistic voice of “What the World Needs Now is Love,” the flower-power spokeswoman who implored you to “Put a Little Love in Your Heart,” one of the first Ladies of the Canyon, and one-half of the songwriting team behind the
Temptin': SoulMusic Reissues The Temptations' Atlantic Albums On One CD
When The Temptations departed Berry Gordy’s historic Motown label in 1977, the Motown roster was in the midst of dramatic change. The Tempts followed in the footsteps of their onetime labelmates like The Four Tops, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Spinners and even The Jackson 5, all of whom had departed Motown. The Tempts - Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, Richard Street, Glenn Leonard and newest recruit Louis Price – signed to R&B powerhouse label Atlantic, where they remained for two
The Sound of Young America, Seventies-Style: Big Break Goes Motown
Big Break Records has long kept each month packed with the most soulful records of all time, but the label has recently done something a little extra special – an entire group of six releases drawn exclusively from the vaults of Motown Records! (And there's more on the way!) Atop this mighty list is a long-awaited remaster of Stephanie Mills’ Motown debut, For the First Time. Released in 1975 – the same year Mills took Broadway by storm in The Wiz – the LP was the “first time” she recorded
Morales Preps the (Dance) Sound of Young America on "Club Motown"
Calling all '80s Motown fans! Universal's U.K. arm has issued a double disc set of 20 classic club mixes from the label, curated by noted remixer John Morales. Motown of course crafted the sound of young America throughout the '60s and created some deeply affecting funk and soul in the '70s, but the '80s was still a prolific time, thanks to popular R&B/dance acts including Rick James and DeBarge as well as established acts like The Temptations and Commodores frontman Lionel Richie.
Big Break Big Round-Up, Divas Edition: Label Reissues Carolyn Franklin, Gloria Gaynor, Patti LaBelle
As the youngest daughter of The Reverend C.L. Franklin, Carolyn Franklin was destined to live in the shadow her older sister Aretha. But like eldest sister Erma, Carolyn carved out an impressive career of her own. During her too-short life, sadly curbed by cancer at age 43 in 1988, Carolyn recorded for both the independent Double L label and the major RCA Victor. In addition to serving as a background singer on such classics as "Respect" and contributing to its now-famous arrangement, she wrote
Who Loves You: Rhino Celebrates "Jersey Boys" With Box Sets For Frankie Valli and Four Seasons, First Bob Gaudio Anthology
Next Friday, June 20, marks the highly-anticipated opening of director Clint Eastwood’s film adaptation of the smash 2005 Broadway musical Jersey Boys. With John Lloyd Young reprising his Tony Award-winning performance as Frankie Valli opposite a cast of theatre and film veterans including Christopher Walken as Jersey mobster Gyp DeCarlo, Eastwood’s film promises to bring the gritty story of Valli and The Four Seasons (Nick Massi, Tommy DeVito and Bob Gaudio) to an even wider audience than
SoulMusic Round-Up: Label Expands, Reissues Esther Phillips, The Tymes, Lenny Williams and Benét
SoulMusic Records has kept a busy profile in recent months on both sides of the Atlantic. A quartet of the label’s recent U.K. releases spotlight memorable voices from across the R&B spectrum. The one-time “Little Esther,” a.k.a. Esther Mae Jones, a.k.a. Esther Phillips, came to CTI Records’ Kudu imprint in 1971 as a veteran artist. Though she was just shy of 36 years old, she already had 22 years of her career behind her. If Atlantic Records was unsure of the best setting in which to place
Ring Them Bells: Pink Floyd Celebrates 20 Years of "The Division Bell" with New Box Set
All has largely been quiet on the Pink Floyd front since the early 2012 release of the Immersion (mega-box) and Experience (trimmed-down but still deluxe) Edition sets for 1979’s The Wall. The releases for The Wall concluded a campaign that also saw Discovery Edition (standard) remasters of all of the group’s albums and lavish sets for The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here. Today, the Floyd camp announced a new 20th anniversary box set for the band’s fourteenth and final studio
Review: Linda Ronstadt, "Duets"
Tonight, Linda Ronstadt receives her long-overdue recognition into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But rock and roll, of course, played only a small - if key - role in Ronstadt's career. The breadth of that career is revealed on Rhino's new release of Linda Ronstadt - Duets (Rhino R2 542161), containing fourteen tracks originally released between 1974 and 2006 plus one previously unreleased performance. While there are no duets here from Ronstadt's Tony-nominated turn in Gilbert and Sullivan's
Reviews: Bayeté, Sandra Rhodes and Sid Selvidge Arrive from Omnivore
If you’re looking for a record label to do your deep crate-digging for you, look no further than Omnivore Records. The musical archaeologists there have unearthed three all-but-unknown records from artists on the fringe. But these fresh and vital discoveries from Sid Selvidge, Sandra Rhodes and Todd Cochran a.k.a. Bayeté will likely leave you wondering, “How have I missed this music until now?” Likely on the strength of his work on Bobby Hutcherson’s 1971 Blue Note LP Head On,
Review: Little Feat, "Rad Gumbo: The Complete Warner Bros. Years 1971-1990"
“Well they say that time loves a hero/But only time will tell/If he`s real he`s a legend from heaven/If he ain`t he was sent here from hell...” Though Little Feat’s singer-songwriter-guitarist Lowell George wasn’t among the writers of the song “Time Loves a Hero” from the band’s 1977 album of the same name, the lyric might well describe him. Time has, indeed, told: almost 35 years after George’s death in June 1979, his legacy still resonates as does that of the band which he founded. Yet
Love Is What They Came Here For: BBR Expands Leon Haywood, Carl Carlton Albums
There was a lot more to Leon Haywood than his 1975 hit “I Want’a Do Something Freaky to You.” Texas native Haywood played keyboards for Sam Cooke, masqueraded in studio bands The Packers and The Romeos and scored his first solo pop hit with 1967’s “It’s Got to Be Mellow.” When he began incorporating funk and disco sounds into his brand of soul, however, Haywood found his niche. Big Break has recently celebrated the Haywood ouevre with expanded editions of his 1980 platter Naturally and the
SoulMusic Goes "Loco" with Expanded Reissues From Dee Dee Warwick, The Four Tops
Dee Dee Warwick signed with Mercury Records’ Blue Rock imprint in 1964, the same year her sister Dionne solidified her place in the upper reaches of the charts with songs like “Walk on By,” “Reach Out for Me” and “You’ll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart).” Though Dee Dee never saw the same kind of commercial success as Dionne, she carved out a unique vocal identity with her dark, bluesy and intense tone. At Mercury, Dee Dee recorded two albums and a number of singles. In 2012, Soul
Purple Reign: Numero Anthologizes Early Minneapolis Funk Bands
It was something like Sly Stone or James Brown for the New Wave set: tight, sparse R&B jams peppered with funky guitar and pulsating bass, sweetened with electronic accoutrements in the percussion section and dazzling synthesizers where a horn section might be. The "Minneapolis sound" changed soul music dramatically in the '80s, with Prince and his collaborators, associates and followers (The Time, Andre Cymone, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Alexander O'Neal) helping rewrite musical style for
Review: Bob Dylan, "The Complete Album Collection Volume One"
Tucked away on Bob Dylan’s 23rd studio album Empire Burlesque, the troubadour sings simply but sternly, “Trust yourself/Trust yourself to do the things that only you know best/Trust yourself/Trust yourself to do what’s right and not be second-guessed...” Dylan had trusted himself since he first arrived on the scene in 1962, engaging in a series of transformations that enthralled, angered, transfixed and bewildered those that followed his career – from folk troubadour to electric rocker to
It's Love That Really Counts: Él Continues Vintage Burt Bacharach Series
In 1962 alone, Burt Bacharach premiered more than 30 new compositions, recorded by a variety of artists from Marlene Dietrich to The Drifters. It's even fair to say that '62 was the year the composer truly came into his own. While previous years offered their share of hits for the songwriter - "I Wake Up Crying," "Tower of Strength," "Baby, It's You," "Magic Moments," "The Story of My Life" - the Bacharach sound hadn't completely crystallized. With Jerry Butler's July 1962 single of Bacharach
Review: Perry Como, "Just Out of Reach: Rarities from Nashville Produced by Chet Atkins"
“Hey, let’s do it again and again,” invited Perry Como on the bouncy opening track of 1975’s Just Out of Reach. The Tony Hatch/Jackie Trent song, previously recorded by singer-actor Jim Dale on This is Me, was perfectly suited to Como’s warm, soothing tones. Who wouldn’t take him up on the offer to do it again and again? As the musical landscape of the 1960s and 1970s drastically shifted, the one-time big band “boy singer” wasn’t quite as ubiquitous a presence as he once was. Still, the