By the point The Mills Brothers’ new anthology Cab Driver: The Dot and Paramount Years: 1958-1972 begins in 1958, Herbert, Harry and Donald Mills had already been superstars for nearly thirty years. Known for their tight harmonies and sophisticated scatting as much as for their ability to mimic musical instruments with their voices, The Mills Brothers scored their first U.S. No. 1 hit in 1931 on the Brunswick label with “Tiger Rag,” an oldie from 1917 (!). Hollywood stardom followed at
Everybody Loves Somebody: Legacy Acquires Dean Martin's Reprise Catalogue, Launches Reissue Campaign
How lucky can one guy be... Dean Martin is said to have once observed that the two smartest decisions he ever made were partnering with Jerry Lewis...and breaking up with Jerry Lewis. When the split occurred, Martin was 39 years old, but convinced that a successful solo career was still ahead of him. Was he ever right! The former Dino Paul Crocetti was among the lucky few to have a successful second act in showbiz, and his career as just Dean Martin even eclipsed the first act as one-half
Brotherhood's "Complete Recordings" Show Another Side of Former Paul Revere and the Raiders Members
Rock's back pages are littered with "creative differences." Such differences split Paul Revere and the Raiders into two warring factions - Paul Revere and Mark Lindsay on one side; Phil "Fang" Volk, Mike "Smitty" Smith and Drake "The Kid" Levin on the other. The Volk-Smith-Levin triumvirate bristled at the more pop direction that the onetime garage band had been taking, and were none too pleased with the studio musicians being enlisted to beef up the Raiders' recordings. In early 1967, the
Hot Shots: Big Break Relights Dan Hartman's "Fire," Expands Sheryl Lee Ralph's Solo Debut
Talk about fusion! For "Hands Down," the opening cut of his 1979 album Relight My Fire, Dan Hartman enlisted rock and roll great Edgar Winter to weave his alto saxophone licks throughout the Latin-flavored disco track, and Stevie Wonder to provide his instantly recognizable harmonica. Hartman wasn't just a dilettante, but a regular musical renaissance man. A veteran of the Johnny Winter Band and the Edgar Winter Group, he wrote the latter's smash hit "Free Ride," and successfully completed
In A Russian State of Mind: Billy Joel's "A Matter of Trust: The Bridge To Russia" Gets Deluxe Treatment
With Billy Joel in the midst of his unprecedented concert run as a “franchise” at New York’s Madison Square Garden, the time has never been better to revisit one of the most significant concert appearances of the Long Island troubadour’s long musical career. On May 20, 2014, Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings will definitively chronicle Joel’s historic 1987 Russian concert tour on A Matter of Trust – The Bridge to Russia. A Matter of Trust will be available in a Deluxe Edition box set
Hank Williams, Jaco Pastorius Lead Off Omnivore's RSD Slate
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUKPRPWCDHg] That change in the air pressure you're probably feeling around your favorite indie record store can only mean one thing: Record Store Day 2014 is coming your way. April 19 will see a host of beloved major and independent labels celebrating the good old resilient brick-and-mortar store with various titles sold exclusively at participating stores. And the beloved cratediggers at Omnivore Recordings have four exciting titles prepared for the big
BBR Has "The Force" With Latest Kool and the Gang Remasters
Big Break Records is determined to make sure that Everybody's Dancin' with its latest two reissues from the kings of Kool. The Cherry Red label dived into the Kool and the Gang catalogue in late 2013 with deluxe, expanded editions of all four of the band's epochal albums with arranger-producer Eumir Deodato: Ladies' Night (1979, Platinum), Celebrate! (1980, Platinum), Something Special (1981, Platinum) and As One (1982, Gold). Prior to that, BBR had already given similarly lavish treatment to
Starbucks Goes Hip and Jazzy On Venti Release Slate
If you’re looking for a little music to go with your grande toffee nut latte, Starbucks has recently unveiled a number of new audio offerings to kick off 2014. In addition to its annual Sweetheart disc – an anthology of new(ish) artists playing old(ish) love songs including, this year, songs by John Lennon, Bob Dylan and Harry Nilsson – the coffee giant has curated a selection of Music for Little Hipsters, sets dedicated to Women of Jazz and When Jazz Meets Guitar, and an Opus Collection volume
Review: Blood, Sweat and Tears, "The Complete Columbia Singles"
Blood, Sweat and Tears has much in common with Rodney Dangerfield - they get no respect. Though the band founded by Al Kooper, Steve Katz, Bobby Colomby, Jim Fielder, Dick Halligan, Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss produced some of the most enduring pop singles of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the group has long lingered in the shadows of rock's back pages. Eclipsed in fame by Columbia Records labelmates Chicago, plagued by a series of acrimonious departures from the ranks, and pilloried for
Review: Two From Camper Van Beethoven and Omnivore Recordings
And this here's a government experiment and we're driving like Hell To give some cowboys some acid and to stay in motels We're going to eat up some wide open spaces like it was a cruise on the Nile Take the hands off the clock, we're going to be here a while - Camper Van Beethoven, “Eye of Fatima (Pt. 1)” You can take the band out of the underground, but you can’t take the underground out of the band. California’s Camper Van Beethoven had been making its brand of “surrealist, absurdist folk”
Review: Michael Bloomfield, "From His Head to His Heart to His Hands"
“I think we’ve exploited you enough. I just want you to know I’m signing you!” With those words, spoken by John Hammond Sr. and heard on the first disc of Legacy Recordings’ new 3-CD/1-DVD box set From His Head to His Heart to His Hands, Michael Bloomfield became a Columbia Records recording artist. Though he died in 1981 at the age of 37, the blues guitarist extraordinaire left behind a substantial body of work in a variety of musical settings. Perhaps he never fulfilled the entirety of his
Cherry Red Turns Up the Heat with Any Trouble's "Complete Stiff Recordings"
When the band Any Trouble made its debut on Stiff Records in 1979 with the single “Yesterday’s Love” b/w “Nice Girls,” the label had already survived the defection of co-founder Jake Riviera and, with him, artists including Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe. Any Trouble was one of the headliners of the 1980 “Son of Stiff” tour, alongside Ten Pole Tudor, Dirty Looks, Joe “King” Carrasco and The Crowns, and The Equators, and made their LP debut that year with Where Are All the Nice Girls? Produced by
Dance a Little Bit Closer with Charo and The Salsoul Orchestra, Loleatta Holloway
Cuchi-cuchi! Charo, or María del Rosario Mercedes Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza, burst onto the cultural radar with her goofy, slightly suggestive catchphrase during the late-sixties run of the television phenomenon Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. Once a frequent passenger on The Love Boat, the comedienne-bombshell still is a familiar face today on television (Dancing with the Stars, RuPaul’s Drag University) and onstage – on land and on sea, even on the good ship Disney Magic. In 1977, Charo
I Can Read Your Mind: The Alan Parsons Project's "Complete Albums" Box Arrives In March
On March 31, The Alan Parsons Project’s many tales of mystery and imagination will come to life anew on Arista Records and Legacy Recordings’ 11-CD box set The Alan Parsons Project - The Complete Albums Collection. This new set marks the first time that the Project’s complete discography has been assembled in one place, from 1976’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination to 1987's Gaudi. Sweetening the pot will be the first-ever release of the APP’s fifth album The Sicilian Defence. The Complete
You're Gonna Hear From Her: Dory Previn's Debut Album Reissued on CD
When songwriter Dory Previn died in 2012, The Los Angeles Times noted one of the contradictions inherent in her life and art: “Although she was an Oscar-nominated songwriter, Dory Previn was better known for ballads that spoke to wounded souls.” Truth to tell, even her early film music was often believably personal, intense, and filled with emotion. It’s no wonder that vocalists including Judy Garland, Dionne Warwick, Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Bobby Darin, Barbra Streisand, Matt Monro,
It's About That Time: Complete Concerts On "Miles at the Fillmore" Box Set Chronicle Davis' Rock Revolution
Between June 17 and 20, 1970, the fresh musical possibilities of a new decade were on vivid display in New York City’s East Village when the bill at the Fillmore East was shared by two titanic talents on the Columbia Records roster – Miles Davis and Laura Nyro. Though the pairing might seem an incongruous one, both Davis and Nyro shared an affinity for pushing the envelope and synthesizing various genres into a singular style of music that was easily identifiable as their own. Davis’ stand as
Review: Tower of Power, "Hipper Than Hip: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow - Live on the Air and In the Studio"
What is hip? Based on the evidence of Tower of Power’s Hipper Than Hip: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow - Live on the Air and in the Studio (RGM-0208), the Bay Area band certainly qualifies. Real Gone Music’s crackling first-time release of a 1974 concert recorded for radio is a potent reminder of why Tower of Power’s rip-roaring horns have enlivened a host of recordings from artists as diverse as Elton John, Grateful Dead, Poison, Neil Diamond, Santana, and Aerosmith. Tower of Power scored its
New Box Set Explores The "Love, Poetry and Revolution" of '60s British Psychedelia
It's only appropriate that "a journey through the British psychedelic and underground scenes" would remain one of the best-kept secrets of late 2013. Love, Poetry and Revolution is the name of the recent box set from Grapefruit, the Cherry Red Group's dedicated U.K. psych imprint. (Grapefruit is also responsible for the new John's Children anthology featuring Marc Bolan.) Over nearly four hours, this 3-CD set surveys the fertile, creative period in the U.K. musical underground between 1966
Short Takes: Digital Updates on Billy Joel, Black Sabbath and More
When not releasing intriguing physical products, sometimes labels like to do neat things to spice up their digital offerings, making complete discographies available or taking advantage of Apple's "Mastered for iTunes" initiative. Here's a few notable digital-oriented stories we've caught wind of in recent days! He's a living legend, a multiplatinum bestseller, a Kennedy Center honoree and - in 2014 - the first musical franchise at New York's Madison Square Garden. This week, Legacy
Wanna Have Fun: Cyndi Lauper's "She's So Unusual" Revisited for 30th Anniversary
She’s So Unusual! On October 14, 1983, the world discovered that of Cyndi Lauper, catapulting the artist’s debut album to Top 5 status. The native New Yorker picked up two Grammy Awards for She’s So Unusual, and over the years has remained in the limelight as a recording star, club favorite, Broadway composer, fashion icon and LGBT rights activist. On April 1, Legacy Recordings will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Lauper’s first album with a reissue available in 1-CD, 2-CD and 1-LP
Play A Song For Me: Bob Dylan's 30th Anniversary Concert Is Expanded On CD and DVD/BD
Since its opening on February 11, 1968, Madison Square Garden at Manhattan’s Pennsylvania Station has hosted some of the most memorable events in music history, from The Concert For Bangla Desh in 1971 to The Concert for New York City in 2001. For sheer star wattage, one of the most notable of MSG’s many special events was the 1992 evening remembered simply as “Bobfest.” It was a night for friends, contemporaries and younger artists to pay tribute to an American great for whom a first-name
Billy Paul Is "Feelin' Good" On BBR Reissue Of His First Studio Album
Big Break Records and Billy Paul - they've got a thing going on. The label, an imprint of the Cherry Red Group, has just returned to the soul titan's catalogue for the sixth time - and with this release has gone back to the very beginning. BBR's previous reissues from the "Me and Mrs. Jones" singer have explored his Philadelphia International discography as well as his Neptune release Ebony Woman and a post-PIR album for Total Experience Records. Now, the label has turned its attention to
Everybody Loves Somebody: New "Playlist" Wave Includes Ronnie Spector, Simon and Garfunkel, Journey, Dean Martin, More
It’s a new year, and that means a new crop of Playlist titles from Legacy Recordings! As in the past, this crop of releases runs the gamut, with a number of titles including rare or new-to-CD material and others relying on the tried and true. The artists represented also encompass a wide variety of genres. Fans of classic rock-and-roll and pop will find plenty to enjoy on a career-spanning disc from Ronnie Spector and a reissue of the vintage Greatest Hits album of Simon and Garfunkel, while
Get Ready: Tommy Hunt's "Sign of the Times" Revives Northern Soul Favorites
Trivia: who was the first artist to release Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "I Don't Know What to Do with Myself" in 1962? Hint: it wasn't Dusty Springfield (1964) or Dionne Warwick (1966). The answer is Tommy Hunt, onetime member of The Flamingos and a member of the Scepter Records family between 1961 and 1964. At Scepter, Hunt introduced both that now-classic song and scored hits like "Human" (No. 5 R&B/No. 46 Pop, 1961) and "I Am a Witness" (No. 71 R&B, 1963). Hunt followed his
Rhino Gives The Royal Treatment To The King and Queen of Soul with New Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin Box Sets
Rhino is kicking off February’s Black History Month in a big way – with two new box sets dedicated to undisputed R&B royalty, Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding. On February 4, the label will release the 4-CD collections The King of Soul and The Queen of Soul, and despite the wealth of sublime soul music on these sets, both titles are priced with an eye to the budget-conscious. As of this writing, the Otis set is available at Amazon U.S. for $33.62, and the Aretha set for $34.05...or less
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