It was a Tuesday afternoon in Camelot when giants met. These giants weren’t the types who resided in the clouds atop beanstalks, of course. These were giants of a decidedly more earthy variety. It was at the behest of John F. Kennedy’s White House that Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck came together. On August 28, 1962, they shared a bill at the base of the Washington Monument as a parting gift to an audience of college-age interns who had served that summer in the nation’s capital. Following
BBR Goes For The Total Experience with Gap Band, Billy Paul Reissues
Today we're taking a look at two recent reissues from Big Break Records. Both Billy Paul's Lately and Gap Band VII were originally released by Total Experience Records, and both were the production work of Jonah Ellis. Big Break has expanded and remastered both albums. Billy Paul, Lately (Total Experience, 1985 - reissued Big Break CDBBR 0224, 2013) Could anyone among us have an inkling or a clue, what magic feats of wizardry and voodoo you can do? And who would ever guess what powers
Here's Your Chance: Philly Soul Legends, Deep Soul Grooves Comprise BBR's Next Release Slate
From the streets of Philadelphia to the deepest vaults of soul and R&B, this coming week's slate of reissues from Big Break Records has got just about something for everyone. Enchantment, the Detroit soul group behind 1978's hit "It's You That I Need," would make some changes in the '80s, having moved labels a few times (from Roadshow/United Artists to RCA and finally Columbia for two albums) and also subtly altering their sound from a lush, disco feel to a Fairlight-led modern groove.
Review: Paul McCartney and Wings, "The Paul McCartney Archive Collection: Wings Over America"
"Yesterday" and Today (1976) With a burst of boogie woogie, Paul McCartney finally acknowledged the elephant in the room. And then he made it abundantly clear that he wasn't going to be standing in any shadow, even his own. That moment came seven songs into the first disc of Wings Over America when Paul suddenly became Beatle Paul once again, tearing into "Lady Madonna" with Fats-inspired glee. The Wings Over the World tour - taking in three continents, 66 concerts and roughly one million
Good Love: SoulMusic Expands Two From Nancy Wilson and Meli'sa Morgan
Following its 2012 reissue of R&B songstress Meli'sa Morgan's Capitol Records debut Do Me Baby, Cherry Red's SoulMusic Records imprint has turned its attention to Morgan's second long-player for the label. Good Love built on the success of Do Me Baby. Besides boasting a No. 1 R&B title track, the album established the Queens-born Morgan as a top R&B talent in her own right. She had previously sung on background vocals for the likes of Whitney Houston and Kashif, and fronted the
Review: The Beach Boys, "Live - 50th Anniversary Tour"
Water has always played a key role in the California myth of The Beach Boys – whether via the inviting waves of “Surfin’ USA,” the blue seas of “Hawaii,” or the dark imagery of “Surf’s Up.” But the water onstage for the group’s 50th anniversary tour was of a different sort: it was water under the bridge. If perhaps only for three or so hours each night last summer, all of the oft-publicized tensions that have beset America’s Band over the years seemed to melt away in full view of the
More Monkeemania: Friday Music Reissues "Justus" In CD/DVD Edition
The recently-announced, and hotly-anticipated, Rhino Handmade box set of The Monkees Present isn’t the only one of the band’s albums on the reissue docket. Following last year’s similar edition of 1987’s Pool It!, Friday Music will, on May 28, reissue The Monkees’ 1996 reunion album Justus in a CD/DVD package combining the original 12-track CD with a DVD of the original Rhino Home Video tie-in program. Justus marked the first studio album to feature all four Monkees – Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz,
Come Get This Thang: The Spinners' G.C. Cameron's Motown Solo Debut Arrives On CD
It’s a shame, isn’t it? When Motown mainstays The Spinners departed the venerable Detroit label for the greener pastures of Atlantic Records, lead singer G.C. Cameron didn’t make the switch. Cameron, the unmistakable main voice of The Spinners’ Stevie Wonder-penned No. 14 hit “It’s a Shame,” remained with Motown. Cameron suggested his cousin and close friend Philippe Wynne replace him, and soon watched Wynne and co. score the group’s first ever Top 10 pop singles. In fact, Atlantic debut
Review: R.E.M., "Green: 25th Anniversary Edition"
Let's say you're part of one of the most hotly sought-after bands in the world. You've developed a distinctive style that's set you apart from most of your peers since day one. You've put out five basically flawless albums out in five years, eventually earning yourself a U.S. Top 10 hit and exposure on MTV. And now, a major label wants to sign you. What do you do? The way R.E.M. answered this question on Green, their sixth album and first of many for Warner Bros. Records, is perhaps a gold
Remember (Harry): Nilsson Box Set Chronicles RCA Albums, Premieres Unreleased Tracks
Long ago, far away…life was clear, close your eyes…Remember is a place from long ago, remember, filled with everything you know…remember, when you’re sad and feeling down… When you’re sad and feeling down, a sure cure-all is the music of Harry Nilsson. Sweet and sincere or withering and witty, Nilsson had a song for every occasion. Even when his own vocal cords deserted him, his sure sense of songcraft never did. Between 1967 and 1977, Nilsson recorded a remarkable series of albums for the
Release Round-Up: Week of May 14
R.E.M., Green: 25th Anniversary Edition (Warner Bros./Rhino) The Athens, Georgia rockers celebrate the quarter-century mark of their first Warner Bros. LP with a new 2CD deluxe edition featuring an unreleased live show from 1989. (2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) (LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Huey Lewis & The News, Sports: 30th Anniversary Edition (Capitol/UMe) Another hit-filled rock LP paired with a live disc; this one sees live versions of every hit and album cut from Sports over Huey
Listen To The Band: Rhino Boxes Micky, Mike and Davy's "The Monkees Present"
Listen to the band! The Monkees' eighth album, The Monkees Present, was a grab bag unlike any other previously produced by the group. By October 1969, The Monkees was off the air and remaining Monkees Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith were soldiering on for their second album without Peter Tork. February's Instant Replay, the first sans Tork, had managed a respectable showing at No. 32 on the pop chart, but in the post-Head days, hit singles were far from guaranteed for the group.
Let's Celebrate: Big Break Goes Deep Into The Salsoul Groove with Candido, Skyy
Following last year's releases from The Salsoul Orchestra, First Choice, Instant Funk and Double Exposure, Big Break Records continues its exploration of the Salsoul Records catalogue with two new reissues from Skyy and Candido. These discs can be said to offer another side of the Salsoul legacy as neither are locked into the Philly grooves of Vince Montana or Baker-Harris-Young. Instead, they show just how far the New York label could push the dance/R&B envelope in the waning days of
Real Gone's Duos, Reviewed: Tom Jans and Mimi Fariña, Chet Atkins and Les Paul, Barbara and Ernie
Real Gone Music has recently released three very different albums from three duo acts, and we're looking at each one of them! Tom Jans is perhaps best known today as the songwriter of “Loving Arms,” so memorably recorded by Elvis Presley in 1973 and also cut by everyone from Etta James to Kenny Rogers. But in his tragically short lifetime – he died in 1984, aged 35 or 36 depending on the source – Jans also recorded five albums as a singer-songwriter. His first two, including an album of duets
Don't Make Him Over: New Box Set Chronicles Burt Bacharach's "Art of the Songwriter" On Six CDs
Burt Bacharach has been speaking through his music for the past 60+ years, since his very first recorded composition,“Once in a Blue Moon,“ appeared on Nat “King“ Cole’s Penthouse Serenade in 1952. But today, Bacharach is speaking in his own voice with the publication of his first-ever memoir, Anyone Who Had a Heart: My Life and Music. Co-written by Robert Greenfield (Ahmet Ertegun biography The Last Sultan), the book has been described by Kirkus Reviews as “illuminating and gritty“ while
Review: Dust, "Dust/Hard Attack"
Everybody has to start somewhere. For producers Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise (KISS), Stories bassist Kenny Aaronson, and Marc Bell, a.k.a. Marky Ramone, a major chapter of their starting chapter was Dust. Wise (guitar/vocals), Aaronson (bass/steel, dobro and bottleneck guitars) and Bell (drums) joined with producer/songwriter Kerner to create two albums for Neil Bogart’s Kama Sutra label in 1971 and 1972 that proved Americans could give their British brethren a run in the heavy-rock
Stage and Screen Bonanza: "World of Suzie Wong," "Elephant Steps" and Gene Kelly's "Clownaround" Coming Soon
More treats are on the way for fans and collectors of rare cast albums and film soundtracks thanks to the ongoing work of the Masterworks Broadway and Kritzerland labels. As part of its ongoing digital/CD-on-demand program, Masterworks is offering two of the most unexpected cast recordings from the label’s considerable library. On May 7, Stanley Silverman and Richard Foreman’s Elephant Steps: A Fearful Radio Show makes its digital/CD(-R) debut, while on June 4, Moose Charlap and Alvin
Sophisticated Lady: Phyllis Hyman's Arista Debut Is Expanded By SoulMusic Label
When Phyllis Hyman took her own life on June 30, 1995, one of the most potent, poignant voices in soul music was silenced. A singer as well as a Tony Award-nominated actress, Hyman did leave behind a small but important discography of eight studio albums, which has since been bolstered by posthumous releases. Indeed, it’s understandable why “new” recordings from the expressive vocalist are so sought after. While the native Philadelphian never had a commercial pop breakthrough, notching far
Review: Margaret Whiting, "The Wheel of Hurt" and "Maggie Isn't Margaret Anymore/Pop Country"
When Margaret Whiting scored a No. 26 Pop/No. 1 Easy Listening hit with 1966's "The Wheel of Hurt," she was surrounded by the aura of a comeback. But the veteran songstress was only in her early forties. Three albums and a clutch of singles recorded for London Records between 1966 and 1970 proved that Whiting was most definitely still a contender. Now, the recordings from Whiting's London period have finally arrived on CD, filling in a major gap in the Margaret Whiting discography. Real Gone
Review: The Sugar Shoppe, "The Sugar Shoppe"
Who was a proprietor of The Sugar Shoppe? Was it Thomas Andrews, architect of the Titanic? Was it Anthony Hope, the lovestruck sailor who befriended the murderous barber Sweeney Todd? Or was it Jesus himself? Well, actually it was all of the above, as The Sugar Shoppe was co-founded by none other than actor/singer Victor Garber years before his roles in Titanic, Sweeney Todd and Godspell (not to mention Alias, Argo, Assassins, Damn Yankees, and so many more). Garber joined singer,
Review: Shuggie Otis, "Inspiration Information/Wings of Love"
How to describe the career trajectory of Shuggie Otis? The son of Johnny Otis, the “Godfather of Rhythm and Blues,” Shuggie (born Johnny Alexander Veliotes Jr.) displayed prodigious talent on the guitar from an early age. He began performing with his father before he reached his teenage years, played for the likes of Al Kooper and Frank Zappa, and even joined with dad Johnny in 1969 for some off-color ribaldry as two-thirds of Snatch and the Poontangs. Otis then landed at Epic Records for a
Back To Montague Terrace (In Blue): Scott Walker's Early Solo Albums Are Remastered and Boxed
Upon the late 2012 release of Scott Walker's album Bish Bosch, U.K. newspaper The Guardian posed the question, "Were you hoping this might be the album that would see Scott Walker return to lush, beautiful balladry?" The answer: "Well, tough." Indeed, the iconoclastic singer-songwriter has pursued a defiantly singular path creating intense, nightmarish and never-uninteresting soundscapes on albums such as Bish Bosch. His work over the past two-plus decades has been removed, of course, from
Ring Their Bells: Anita Ward, Stephanie Mills, Fern Kinney, Donna Washington Reissued
In recent days, we’ve turned the spotlight on a quartet of classic soul reissues, two each from Big Break Records (Arthur Prysock’s All My Life and Caston and Majors’ self-titled Motown album) and SoulMusic Records (Nancy Wilson’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off You/Now I’m a Woman and Jerry Butler’s Love’s on the Menu/Suite for the Single Girl). But those are hardly the only recent releases from these two imprints of the Cherry Red Group. Big Break has offered two titles, both from 1979 and both with
Come Aboard, He's Expecting You: Vintage Jack Jones Albums Arrive From Zone Records
For eight seasons beginning in 1977, the voice of Jack Jones came into households singing the praises of The Love Boat via Paul Williams and Charles Fox's famous theme song. Yet long before The Love Boat, the smooth-voiced singer had established himself as a premier vocalist comfortable with both jazz and changing pop styles. To date, Jones has recorded over fifty albums, yet many of his finest album achievements still remain unreleased on CD. Zone Records is rectifying that with the reissue
More Rain: Blind Melon's Debut Expanded by UMe with Unreleased EP
Two decades after that bee girl tap-danced into the conscious of pop-rockers everywhere, Capitol/UMe is reissuing Blind Melon's debut LP with an EP's worth of unreleased tracks. Blind Melon began in the late 1980s with vocalist Shannon Hoon, guitarists Rogers Stevens and Chris Thorn, bassist Brad Smith and drummer Glen Graham. Their local popularity in California clubs led to a contract with Capitol Records, but it was Hoon's friendship with fellow native Indianan Axl Rose, lead singer for Guns
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