Omnivore Recordings is bound for Bakersfield, and the honky-tonks are still open! With Fresno to the north and Los Angeles to the south, the town of Bakersfield, California might have been an unlikely candidate for Nashville West, but so it was when Buck Owens, Ferlin Husky, Merle Haggard and other back-to-basics country stars called it home. Owens made the town his adopted residence from the age of 21, and directly answered the “countrypolitan” sound coming out of Tennessee with an
Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Comedy and Music of Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams
Welcome to 2012's Second Disc Holiday Gift Guide! We'll use these special reviews to highlight not only seasonally-themed releases, but box sets, deluxe reissues and other special titles that might make the perfect gifts under your tree this holiday season! Groucho Marx once observed that "marriage is a wonderful institution," before adding, "but who wants to live in an institution?" A few lucky couples have not only thrived in that institution, however, but also in the world of comedy:
T.S.O.P., The Early Years: BBR Collects The Three Degrees on Roulette
Big Break Records, an imprint of the U.K.'s Cherry Red Group, doesn't have an office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. But it might as well. Much of the remarkable music that emanated from ZIP Code 19107 has been revisited of late by BBR, and the latest title is one of the most fully loaded in the label's catalogue. The Three Degrees' Maybe actually combines two early albums from that "When Will I See You Again" trio, both from the catalogue of Roulette Records: 1970's Maybe and 1975's So Much
Rip It Up! "The London American Label: 1956" Spotlights Rock and Roll from Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, More
Did any label impact the taste of record-buyers in the United Kingdom in the early rock-and-roll era than that of London? Ace Records has been chronicling the activities of the London American label on a series of definitive releases culling the best of the label's 45s from one given year. Previous volumes have covered every year between 1957 and 1963, and for the most recent addition to the series, Ace has turned the clock back to 1956. In that year, London's output included American singles
Reviews: Dion's "Complete Laurie Singles," David Cassidy's "Romance"
Today, we're taking a look at two recent releases from Real Gone Music! Dion DiMucci greeted the 1960s on his own, just 20 years old but already a chart veteran with soon-to-be-classics like “I Wonder Why” and “A Teenager in Love” under his belt. Those songs, though, were recorded with his friends The Belmonts. When Carlo Mastrangelo, Angelo D’Aleo and Fred Milano wanted to emphasize doo-wop harmonies and Dion wanted to rock and roll, Dion and the Belmonts split. How would the Italian kid
The Digital Master Company Turns 30: GRP Records Celebrated with New Compilation
Though the 50th anniversary of Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss’ A&M Records got some well-deserved attention earlier this year, another unit of Universal Music Group was also celebrating a milestone anniversary. GRP Records, founded by Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen, was founded in 1978, as an imprint of Arista Records known as “Arista/GRP.” This arrangement was similar to Creed Taylor’s CTI label, which first existed as part of A&M. Much as Taylor struck out on his own, so did Grusin and
Verve Goes "Off to the Races" with Remastered Reissue of Rupert Holmes' "Mystery of Edwin Drood"
“I had been over at Barry Manilow’s house, and he said ‘you know Rupert Holmes?’ I said, ‘No,’” recalled Academy Award-winning producer Craig Zadan to author Kenneth Turan. “[Barry] played me his records, and I flipped out. I got all his records, and I made Joe [Papp] and [his wife] Gail listen to them and they fell in love with the work…at one point, Rupert came up with an idea about a show about a recording studio, but it ultimately didn’t jell. But I told him, ‘I believe you’re a great
Something So Strong: Jim Capaldi's "Some Come Running" with Clapton, Harrison, Winwood Reissued
There’s been some heavy Traffic at the record store lately. This month has already seen a 2-CD edition of Steve Winwood’s Arc of a Diver, and it’s recently been joined by Esoteric Recordings’ latest offering from the catalogue of Winwood’s Traffic cohort, the late Jim Capaldi. Following reissues of the songwriter and drummer’s Oh, How We Danced (1972), Whale Meat Again (1974), The Sweet Smell of Success (1980) and Let the Thunder Cry (1981), the Cherry Red Group imprint has turned its
Review: Five from The Steve Miller Band (1968-1970), Reissued on Edsel
The 1968 debut of the Steve Miller Band begins with a shattering cacophony, followed by an acoustic strum emerging like a beacon of light amidst the darkness and clatter. The album's title track "Children of the Future" is far removed from the ironic detachment of "The Joker" or the sleek majesty of "Fly Like an Eagle," later hits that proved the group could go "pop" while still showing off their versatility and impeccable musicianship. Edsel Records has just afforded listeners the opportunity
Review: Peter Gabriel, "So: Immersion Box Set" - Part 1: Let There Be No Doubt About It
When Peter Gabriel's So hit stores in the spring of 1986, it wouldn't be unfair to call almost everything about the ex-Genesis' fifth record a complete surprise. For one, the record had a title, boldly marked in the upper left corner as if a challenge to the reader. Moreover, the album sleeve showed not a Hipgnosis-created aberration of Gabriel - obscured by raindrops, jagged scratches, or photo manipulation that seemed to melt half his face off - but a Peter Saville-crafted black-and-white
Masterworks Broadway Says "Willkommen" to Dench in "Cabaret," Broadway's "Seventeen"
Masterworks Broadway is reopening the vaults for the latest two titles in its series of made-on-demand cast recording reissues, and proving that there truly is nothing like a Dame – one Dame Judi Dench, to be exact. Dench, about to be seen on the big screen in the latest 007 epic Skyfall, headlines the long out-of-print 1968 London Cast Recording of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Cabaret, due from Masterworks and Arkiv Music on November 13, just days following the U.S. release of Skyfall. Cabaret
Soundtrack Corner: We Will Always Love "The Bodyguard" Plus Jerry Lewis Goes "Geisha" and Les Baxter for Halloween
Though the 1992 soundtrack to Mick Jackson's film The Bodyguard is the best-selling soundtrack album of all time, its success was largely on the strength of star Whitney Houston's performances of "I Will Always Love You," "I Have Nothing" and "I'm Every Woman." Featured on just one track was the work of Alan Silvestri, the composer of Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit who provided the film's original score. The under-three minute snippet featured on the Grammy-winning Arista album
"Nuggets" Goes Back to Basics for November Reissue
If "Woodstock" is the first proper noun one thinks of when associating with psychedelia, "Nuggets" may be the second. One of the most watershed releases in Elektra Records' discography, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968 got under the surface of America's musical counterculture and created one of the most worthwhile multi-artist compilations of its time. Forty years later, Rhino brings Nuggets back as a newly-remastered set on CD and vinyl. If you can believe
In The Shadow of The Shadows: Songwriter Jerry Lordan Remembered on "All My Own Work"
Just who the heck was Jerry Lordan anyway? The English singer, songwriter, actor and comedian (1934-1995) provided hit records for Dale Hawkins, Anthony Newley, The Shadows and Jet Harris, but Lordan has never gotten his due in the CD era. Because most of his work came in the pre-Beatles era of British pop, too many of Jerry Lordan's songs are all but forgotten. RPM Records, an imprint of Cherry Red, has come to right that wrong with the comprehensive All My Own Work, combining Lordan's
GNP Crescendo Boldly Goes Again with New "Trek" Reissue
If you thought the Star Trek reissue renaissance couldn't get any better this year, there's at least one more release to bring your ears into maximum warp: GNP Crescendo, longtime Trek soundtrack label, announced yesterday an expanded edition of the score to 1994's Star Trek: Generations. Generations came to theaters months after the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation, an excellent program which rekindled interest in Gene Roddenberry's space franchise. It was no surprise that Patrick
Compilation Watch: Best-Ofs Planned for Whitney Houston, Kelly Clarkson
Next month - the all-important Christmas shopping season - sees two compilations from two immensely popular singers from the RCA roster with unmistakable voices. The label will release new compilations in the same week for departed R&B legend Whitney Houston and American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson - the latter of whom definitely owes more than a little of her style to the former. I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston marks a few firsts in Whitney's catalogue: it's her
Review: The Beach Boys Remasters, Part Two: The Album-by-Album Guide
It’s about time now! Don’t you know now? It’s about time we get together to be out front and love one another… - Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, Bob Burchman and Al Jardine (1970) Isn’t it time we danced the night away? How about doing it just like yesterday? - Brian Wilson, Joe Thomas, Jim Peterik, Larry Millas and Mike Love (2012) No, Mike Love didn’t fire Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys. But that didn’t stop the Beach Boys’ leader, producer and chief songwriter from telling The Los
Review: Barbra Streisand, "Release Me"
On Saturday evening, October 13, Barbra Joan Streisand triumphantly concluded a two-night engagement at Brooklyn, New York’s brand-new Barclays Center. The two evenings marked her first public performances in the borough of her birth since she dropped the “a” from Barbara and followed the call of superstardom, first to Manhattan and then to Hollywood. Streisand recalled to the audience of 19,000 that her last time singing in Brooklyn was on a stoop! Still, she serenaded the community with
Do The (Salsoul) Hustle: Big Break Celebrates Salsoul Records Legacy with Four Reissues
By 1975, Philadelphia soul had become too big even for the City of Brotherly Love. In the first half of the decade, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff had, along with the third member of their Mighty Three, Thom Bell, reinvented the sound of soul music. The Pennsylvania city had become synonymous with sweeping strings, punchy horns and the hi-hat cymbal of drummer Earl Young, offering up music that could be dramatic, sweet and funky, sometimes all within the same three-minute song! Bell had long
Review: Old 97's, "Too Far to Care: Expanded Edition"
Was it rock and roll? Was it country and western? By 1997, Rhett Miller and his Old 97’s were, well, Too Far to Care. As Miller recalls in his liner notes to Omnivore Recordings’ new 2-CD expanded edition of the band’s seminal third album (OVCD-45, 2012), his “little band from Texas…had only recently gotten folks to stop referring to their particular brand of music as ‘rockabilly.’” The Old 97’s were subject to a major label bidding war in which Elektra Records proved victorious, giving the
GRRR! And The Stones Keep On Rolling with Career-Spanning Box Set, All-New Songs [NOW WITH TRACK LISTING]
When the Rolling Stones kick a celebration into high gear, they're not kidding. Hot on the heels of various and sundry documentaries, DVDs, Blu-rays and luxury vinyl box sets, the world's greatest rock and roll band has just announced its first-ever compilation-styled career-spanning box set. GRRR! is a joint project of ABKCO and Universal Music Group, and it's slated to arrive on November 13 in the U.S. and one day earlier in all other territories. The new set is more comprehensive than the
Review: Steve Winwood, "Arc of a Diver: Deluxe Edition"
Steve Winwood turned 32 in 1980, a grand old man by rock and roll standards. He was already a veteran, having played with the Spencer Davis Group, Blind Faith and perhaps most notably, Traffic, but a 1977 solo debut failed to yield significant commercial gains. “I suppose I’ve always been a band leader, rather than a virtuoso like [Blind Faith bandmate] Eric Clapton,” Winwood once mused. So it might have come as a shock to many when the inner virtuoso emerged on New Year’s Eve, 1980, with the
7Ts Wakes Up in Love This Morning with David Cassidy Reissues; Beach Boys Among Guests
David Cassidy sure is getting a lot of love on both sides of the Atlantic. Almost simultaneously, reissue campaigns for the singer, actor and former teen idol were launched in the U.S. by Real Gone Music and in the U.K. by Cherry Red's 7Ts imprint. The former label has already reissued 1974's Cassidy Live!, 1976's Gettin' It in the Street, and 1985's Romance. 7Ts began its own campaign with a two-fer of Cherish and Rock Me Baby (both from 1972) and is continuing chronologically with four
Verve Select Celebrates 65 Years of Louis Armstrong's "Live at Symphony Hall" with Complete Edition
When Decca Records first released Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars’ 1947 concert recorded at Boston’s Symphony Hall in the summer of 1951, the album became an instant best-seller. Armstrong was a regular recording and touring presence at that time, but concert recordings were gaining popularity in the LP format. Home listeners were anxious to bring the beloved entertainer and his troupe into their homes and onto their hi-fis. Satchmo at Symphony Hall was a deluxe product by the era’s
Relaunched FiveFour Label Offers Rare Jazz Classics from Ornette Coleman, Luis Bonfá, Gary Burton
FiveFour, the jazz-oriented sister label of Cherry Red’s él imprint, had lain dormant since 2008 following releases by some of the genre’s greatest artists including Bill Evans, Buddy Rich and Milt Jackson. Founder Mike Alway has just reactivated FiveFour, however, and the label has just relaunched with three long out-of-print titles drawn from the Sony Music archives: Ornette Coleman’s Chappaqua Suite (1965), The Gary Burton Quartet’s In Concert (1968) and a two-fer from Luis Bonfá: The New
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