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Real Gone Music is moving to the sound of a disco beat! In conjunction with SoulMusic Records, Real Gone has tapped the vaults of RCA Records to present two world-premiere CD reissues, both with rare bonus tracks.

Perhaps no other genre has inspired as many songs imploring listeners to suppress their inhibitions and put their dancing shoes on as disco has. “Let’s Go to the Disco/’Cause I feel like dancing tonight/Let’s go to the disco/Where the music is outta sight!” The call to arms “Let’s Go to the Disco” opened the self-titled 1975 RCA album by Faith, Hope and Charity, which was produced, arranged, conducted and largely written by Van McCoy. Brenda Hilliard (“Faith”), Albert Bailey (“Hope”) and Zulema Cusseaux (“Charity”) first teamed as The Crystals (not those Crystals) and then as The Lovelles before canny producer Bob Crewe (The Four Seasons, “Lady Marmalade”) rechristened them Faith, Hope and Charity. They first worked with McCoy – in his days as a top purveyor of sophisticated, sultry soul, pre-“The Hustle” – in 1970, and their hit “So Much Love” gained them entrée to the Top 20 of the U.S. R&B chart and the Top 100 Pop. McCoy took the trio from Maxwell Records to Sussex Records, and although Zulema split from the group in 1971 after a couple of albums, the remaining two members stayed in contact with the producer. (Bailey and Hilliard had even sung on McCoy’s Disco Baby LP, from which “The Hustle” was drawn!) With the addition of new member Diane Destry filling the role of Charity, Hilliard and Bailey reteamed with McCoy and snagged a deal at RCA just as disco was continuing its ascent in the mainstream.

The gleaming, upbeat Faith, Hope and Charity followed the lush, string-laden orchestral disco approach that developed out of the Philadelphia soul sound emanating from that city’s Sigma Sound Studios. McCoy wrote or co-wrote seven of the album’s nine tracks, with the remaining two slots going to cover versions. Each cut found the arranger-orchestrator at the top of the disco game, surrounded by top NY session pros including Steve Gadd on drums, Eric Gale and David Spinozza on guitars, and Leon Pendarvis and Richard Tee on electric piano and clavinet. George Devens filled the Vince Montana role on the vibes.

Like “Let’s Go to the Disco,” “Disco Dan” reveled in the very sound of the new dance music, unabashedly celebrating it: “Disco Dan/He’s the latest, he’s the greatest…Makes you wanna move your feet and clap your hands…The man is really something!” Faith, Hope and Charity also found room to revive classic songs in disco versions. “Disco-fying” songs, from standards to recent hits, was par for the course; in 1975, Gloria Gaynor famously took The Jackson 5’s “Never Can Say Goodbye” to the Top 10. For FH&C, McCoy remade two vintage R&B hits. Both “Rescue Me,” Fontella Bass’ 1965 hit, and “Just One Look,” Doris Troy’s 1963 classic, featured lead vocals from Brenda Hilliard and respectably updated the beloved songs. Hilliard also lent her urgent vocals to the uptempo “Find a Way” from McCoy and his songwriting partner Charles Kipps, Jr.

After the jump: more on Faith, Hope and Charity, plus The New York Community Choir!

The brassy “Don’t Go Looking for Love,” an R&B Top 40 hit, and the infectious “To Each His Own (That’s My Philosophy),” an R&B chart-topper, most closely resembled Philadelphia soul with tight group harmony vocals, slinky bass, sweeping strings, chiming percussion and the sound of muted trumpets. Philly’s Brenda and the Tabulations had previously recorded McCoy’s pulsating “Little Bit of Love” with its composer; here, Destry’s slightly edgier voice carried the day. The lightly funky “Mellow Me” – not a ballad as the title might suggest – had its greatest success on the Disco chart, where it reached the Top 10. Truth to tell, mellow moments were far and few between on this uptempo, crowd-pleasing platter.

Three bonus tracks round out the set, the shorter single versions of “To Each His Own,” “Find a Way” and “Don’t Go Looking for Love.” Mark Wilder at Sony’s own Battery Studios has splendidly remastered, while SoulMusic’s David Nathan has provided the terrific liner notes.

By 1978, it wasn’t uncommon for gospel artists to “cross over” onto the pop charts. The Edwin Hawkins Singers, The Staple Singers and The Mighty Clouds of Joy were a few of the acts who had already done so; pop artists like B.J. Thomas were also returning the favor by charting gospel hits. The New York Community Choir, with its roots in gospel’s The Douglas Singers, had been recording since 1970, earning great acclaim in 1971 for the Top 15 R&B album The Truth is on Its Way with poet Nikki Giovanni. (One splinter group of the Choir, Revelation Movement, had concentrated on secular music, earning a contract with RSO Records and even touring with RSO’s star attraction, the Bee Gees.) RCA’s Warren Schatz was a fan of the NYCC’s 1973 song “Let’s Go Higher,” an R&B and Gospel hit, and approached the group to sign with the label in 1978 to create secular music with a spiritual bent. Schatz was firming up RCA’s R&B/disco roster with artists like Vicki Sue Robinson (whose “Turn the Beat Around” employed NYCC members as background vocalists) and Evelyn “Champagne” King at the height of the disco era. Many of the same ace players as on Faith, Hope and Charity – including Richard Tee, Leon Pendarvis, Steve Gadd and George Devens – entered RCA’s studios with producer Schatz and future CBS Orchestra leader Paul Shaffer on piano and Will Lee on bass – to record the NYCC’s Make Every Day Count. Real Gone has also brought this album to CD for the first time.

The catchy and uplifting title track, which opened the album, combined disco rhythms with a 10-strong gospel choir, and set its message to a big, danceable groove: “Don’t wait ‘til tomorrow/Tomorrow may bring sorrow/Make every day count!” The song, penned by members Arthur Freeman and Benny Diggs with Joseph Joubert (today a theatrical orchestrator), set the tone for the rest of the unusual yet striking eight-song album. Each track bore a positive message but emphasized spirituality over explicit religious references. Lee’s funky, slithering bass anchors Freeman’s “The World is Waiting for a Change,” another club-ready cut complete with a long bass-and-percussion break, as well as the joyous disco-gospel fusion “Rejoice, Rejoice.”

Though remembered for its disco-flavored material, Make Every Day Count also slowed down for ballads such as the Deniece Williams-esque ballad “A Song Can Reach Your Heart” and the piano-driven “Who Do You Say I Am,” one of the LP’s closest concessions to a “traditional” church sound. Freeman’s “This Old Man” is another breather, a touching and clearly heartfelt tribute to African-American fatherhood.

Perhaps the most famous song on the album is “I’ll Keep My Light in My Window,” which was introduced by its co-writer Leonard Caston on the underrated Motown album by Caston and Majors from 1974. This boisterous plea to “make a world of love for me and you” was also recorded by Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye (in duet form), Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye at Motown, and by Maria Muldaur and Ben Vereen outside of the Gordy empire. Naturally, the big sound of the NYCC was perfect for Caston and Theresa McFaddin’s anthemic composition. Another rousing roof-raiser, Diggs and Joubert’s “We Can Make It,” closes out the LP on a high note.

Real Gone’s reissue, again produced and annotated by David Nathan, adds the 12-inch mixes of “I’ll Keep My Light in My Window” and “Make Every Day Count.” No remastering credit is present, but sound quality is superb. The booklet also reprints the original album artwork, with lyrics printed on the tray card. (Alas, replica RCA labels aren’t utilized on either disc.) Some might have balked at NYCC’s RCA debut, asking “Why disco?” But the question should be “Why NOT disco?” Disco provided the Top 40 with some of its most joyous grooves; swapping out carnality for spirituality, NYCC proved that disco-gospel wasn’t such a far-fetched notion, after all.

Both Faith, Hope and Charity and Make Every Day Count are available now from Real Gone Music and SoulMusic Records!

Faith Hope & Charity, Faith Hope & Charity (Expanded Edition) : Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

The New York Community Choir, Make Every Day Count (Expanded Edition) : Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

 

Demon Music Group’s Harmless label offers the ultimate celebration of Northern Soul with this massive box set offering 222 tracks on 8 CDs, 2 DVDs and a 150+-page booklet!  This set features an eclectic array of artists including Gladys Knight and the Pips, Paul Anka, The O’Jays, The Four Seasons, Johnny Maestro, Ben E. King and many more.

Before Marc Bolan and T Rex went glam, there was My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair…  This 1968 album marked the debut of Bolan and Steve Peregrin Took as the fantastical underground-folk duo Tyrannosaurus Rex, This new 2-CD Deluxe Edition contains a 2014 remaster by original producer Tony Visconti and Sean Magee plus a host of bonus material. It includes both the stereo and mono versions of the album plus 12 tracks recorded for John Peel’s Top Gear show in 1967 and 1968, all previously unreleased.  Four songs recorded with producer Joe Boyd are also included, two of which are previously unreleaed. Rounding out this impressive package are seven Tony Visconti home demos (five previously unreleased) and two Marc Bolan interviews, also never-before-released.The booklet features a new essay by Mark Paytress.

Joining the Deluxe Edition of Tyrannosaurus Rex’s debut My People Were Fair… is this similarly-expanded version of the duo’s sophomore effort.  Alsoreleased in 1968 and produced by Tony Visconti, Prophets, Seers & Sages: The Angels Of The Ages established Marc Bolan and Steve Peregrin Took as a creative musical force with which to be reckoned.  This Deluxe Edition contains the 2014 mono remaster of the original album plus bonus material including one non-album single, a whopping 31 (!) alternate takes (23 previously unreleased), eight songs recorded for John Peel’s Top Gear, and two songs recorded for the BBC’s Voice Of Pop.  Mark Paytress provides the new liner notes in this gatefold digipak release.

Tyrannosaurus Rex’s third album Unicorn, from 1969, continued the duo’s association with producer Tony Visconti, and introduced such favorites as “Iscariot,” “Cat Black (The Wizard’s Hat)” and “The Misty Coast Of Albany.” This new 2-CD gatefold Deluxe Edition contains the mono 2014 remaster of the original album on CD 1, plus copious bonus material including non-album single A and B-sides; 5 songs recorded for John Peel’s Top Gear; and 3 songs previously only available on the 20th Century Superstar box set. CD 2 contains a further 26 alternate takes including 17 that were previously unreleased.  Mark Paytress provides the new essay.

This Blu-ray Pure Audio edition of Rush’s 1975 sophomore LP features the original album in high-resolution stereo and surround mixes previously only available on DVD-A as part of the Sector 1 box set.

2012’s MusiCares gala tribute to Macca comes to DVD and BD, with performances including Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s “I Saw Her Standing There,” James Taylor and Diana Krall’s “Yesterday” and “For No One,” Sergio Mendes’ “The Fool on the Hill,” Coldplay’s “We Can Work It Out,” Alicia Keys’ “Blackbird” and more!

Faithful assembles for the first time on one CD all of the masters produced by Jeff Barry (“Chapel of Love,” “Leader of the Pack,” “Sugar, Sugar”) for Dusty Springfield in 1971.  From his home base at New York’s Century Sound, Barry produced thirteen songs for Dusty – twelve intended for album release and one for a non-LP single.  Four songs were released on two 45s, but when Dusty departed Atlantic Records, the remaining tracks were left on the shelf, and thought lost until the CD era.  Faithful presents the 12-song album as originally envisioned (including Barry and Bobby Bloom’s cult favorite “Haunted,” Barry’s “I Believe in You” and Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend”) and also includes the B-side “Nothing is Forever” as a bonus track.  The Second Disc’s Joe Marchese has penned the liner notes based on his new interview with Jeff Barry!

Rockbeat Records has a new 5-CD box set which the label bills as “From the team that brought you [Rhino’s] original three Doo Wop Boxes comes this one, chock full of the rarest and greatest vocal group recordings from 1951-63, the golden years of Doo Wop. We present, not only some of the greatest names the Moonglows, the Flamingos, the Heartbeats but their hardest to find recordings too. Compiled and annotated by Grammy winner Billy Vera, this may be our most fabulous set yet. If you were to buy the original vinyl copies of these classics, it would cost you several hundred thousand dollars that is if you could find them. This is a Doo Wop box that no serious collector can afford not to own. And you’ll never hear them sounding as good, thanks to master remastering expert Jerry Peterson.”

A host of artists – including Sara Bareilles, Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lady Gaga, Alicia Keys, Steven Tyler and James Taylor – are on hand for this tribute to the one and only Carole King.  Available on DVD and BD.

Denny Tedesco’s acclaimed documentary about the hitmaking L.A. session legends collectively known as The Wrecking Crew arrives on DVD and Blu-ray.  Features contributions from Brian Wilson, Leon Russell, Glen Campbell, Cher, Herb Alpert, Micky Dolenz and more.

The Grammy-winning 1986 box set for the pianist-composer is reissued and repackaged.  As before, it contains 153 tracks representing Monk’s entire output at Riverside Records as recorded between 1955 and 1961.  The booklet offers liner notes, discographical annotation and more.

Walt Disney Records presents an expanded edition of the soundtrack to 1950’s Cinderella.  The first disc presents the program as previously expanded on CD, while the second disc has 23 tracks of demos, new Lost Chords recordings (some previously issued) and more.

Ace Records delivers with love and mercy on this new collection of songs written by Brian Wilson!  Its 25 tracks feature Jay and the Americans, Bruce and Terry, Kirsty MacColl, Bobby Vee, The Tokens, Jan and Dean, Darian Sahanaja and many more.

Legacy teams with the Country Music Hall of Fame for this 2-CD, 36-song companion soundtrack to the Nashville museum’s current exhibit chronicling Music City’s fusion of country of rock.  One previously unreleased cut by Bob Dylan joins both familiar and rare tracks by Johnny Cash, Linda Ronstadt, The Byrds, The Monkees, Neil Young, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and others!

Earlier this year, Real Gone released Faithful – a collection of Dusty Springfield’s complete sessions with producer-songwriter Jeff Barry, compiled for the first time as originally envisioned on one disc.  Now, the label has turned its attention to Dusty’s 1970-1971 London sessions intended for the album See All Her Faces but eventually released on numerous collections and box sets over the years.  For the very first time, every one of the tracks Dusty recorded in London during that two-year period has been collected on one disc in newly remastered sound.  Come for a Dream: The U.K. Sessions 1970-1971 presents some of Dusty’s rarest music in context, as you’ve never heard it before.  One track, Spike Milligan’s “Goodbye,” makes its U.S. CD debut and second appearance anywhere following its premiere on the 2011 U.K.-only Goin’ Back box set.  The Second Disc’s Joe Marchese provides the new liner notes!

Stage Door Records rescues the 1969 London Cast Recording of the short-lived musical Ann Veronica, based on the H.G. Wells novel and featuring a score by Cyril Ornadel (Pickwick) and David Croft.  Recorded at CTS Studios, the cast album (licensed from Sony) features the performances of Mary Millar (in the title role), Hy Hazell, Arthur Lowe, Peter Reeves, Charles West, Ian Lavender and John Inman.

Capitol Records belatedly releases a soundtrack to director Bill Pohlad’s acclaimed Brian Wilson biopic Love and Mercy featuring Atticus Ross’ original score plus music from the solo Wilson (“Love and Mercy,” “One Kind of Love”), The Beach Boys (“God Only Knows,” “Good Vibrations,” “Don’t Worry Baby”) and star Paul Dano (“God Only Knows”).

Ace follows up its Finders Keepers – Motown Girls CD with a second volume dedicated to the ladies of Hitsville, USA.  This time, the Ace team has excavated a full 25 previously unreleased tracks from artists including Brenda Holloway, Barbara McNair, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, the Lewis Sisters and LaBrenda Ben!

This 4-CD box set collects all three Under the Covers albums released by Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs paying tribute, respectively, to the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and adds a fourth disc with 15 bonus tracks, for a total of 60 songs.  This bonus disc rounds up most of the exclusive tracks previously associated with Under the Covers.  The box also includes a 48-page booklet with track annotations by Sweet and Hoffs!

Chicken Heads: A 50-Year History of Bobby Rush chronicles the career of the Louisiana-born, Arkansas-raised blues legend who has befriended and shared stages with the likes of Etta James, Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.  The 4-CD box set takes its title from the 1971 Galaxy Records single that earned Rush a No. 34 berth on the Billboard R&B Singles chart, but Galaxy isn’t the only label represented.  Chicken Heads, with nearly 100 tracks and almost 5 hours of music,  also draws on the multiple Grammy nominee’s varied recordings for Checker, Jewel, Philadelphia International, LaJam, Urgent and his own Deep Rush label.  Chicken Heads is graced with a 32-page color booklet featuring new liner notes from Bill Dahl and testimonials from friends and fans of Rush including Mavis Staples, Keb’ Mo’, Elvin Bishop, Denise LaSalle, Leon Huff, Al Bell, and more.

This new entry in the annual series features 68 songs over 3 CDs showcasing the diversity of modern independent pop artists – what’s not to love?

One of Real Gone’s earliest releases is reissued in a new jewel case edition (the prior release was housed in a digipak), featuring true stereo versions of classics from Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller’s Red Bird label.

Real Gone brings to vinyl a two-LP edition of the soundtrack to the 1995 film Waiting to Exhale.  Produced (with most of the songs written by) Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, the soundtrack was a huge smash in the mid-1990s featuring songs by Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, Aretha Franklin, Brandy, TLC, Mary J. Blige, Chaka Khan, SWV and Patti LaBelle, among others.  The album topped the Billboard charts and was eventually certified 7x platinum.  Seven of its sixteen songs were released as singles.  It also garnered critical acclaim too as it received 11 Grammy nominations in 1997, including Album of the Year.  Whitney Houston’s “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” won for Best R&B Song.  The soundtrack was never released on vinyl in the U.S. and this new purple vinyl edition is limited to 1,000 copies.

The new 2-disc Essential Stephen Sondheim gathers 29 tracks penned by the renowned composer-lyricist spanning the period from West Side Story through Passion.  The compilation features material under the Sony umbrella (Columbia, RCA) from various original cast recordings, soundtracks and concert presentations.

George Fest: A Night To Celebrate The Music Of George Harrison arrives on 2-CD/BD, 2-CD/DVD, vinyl and DD configurations.  This concert salute was filmed on September 28, 2014 (the day after what would have been Harrison’s 73rd birthday) at Los Angeles’ Fonda Theatre. Produced by Dhani Harrison and David Zonshine, George Fest features an eclectic line-up including Brian Wilson (“My Sweet Lord”), Norah Jones (“Something”), and Ann Wilson (“Beware of Darkness”) as well as Dhani himself (“Let It Down”).  Weird Al Yankovic, The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne and The Killers’ Brandon Flowers are part of an all-star Wilburys tribute on “Handle with Care.”  27 tracks, total.

Burt Bacharach joins a host of artists including Justin Hayward, Joss Stone, Rebecca Ferguson and Alfie Boe in this concert tribute filmed last year at London’s Royal Festival Hall and aired on the BBC.  In between performances of Bacharach hits and rarities (including “In Between the Heartaches” and “If I Could Go Back”), Michael Grade interviews the legendary composer about his craft.  Available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Masterworks Broadway reissues on CD-R and DD the original cast recording of Salad Days.  Revolving around a magical piano and even featuring a flying saucer, Salad Days was written by Julian Slade, with lyrics written by him and Dorothy Reynolds.  Reynolds also performed in the musical which opened in June 1954 in Bristol before transferring to the West End in August of that year.  It ended up running for 2,283 performances, which was a record at the time.  It has received several British revivals in the ensuing decades, and was previously available on a now-out-of-print CD via Sony West End.

Despite the nondescript title, this set features 14 tracks from the quadraphonic library of Sony on hybrid 4.0 channel SACD.  Many of the artists featured are heavy hitters, including Bob Dylan, Santana, Miles Davis, The Jeff Beck Group, Henry Mancini, and Harry Nilsson.

LAY, LADY, LAY – Bob Dylan
MILES RUNS THE VOODOO DOWN – Miles Davis
BLACK MAGIC WOMAN/GYPSY QUEEN – Santana
DEFINITELY MAYBE – Jeff Beck Group
SHINING STAR – Earth, Wind & Fire
GRAZING IN THE GRASS – The Friends Of Distinction
FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY – The O’Jays
PETER GUNN – Henry Mancini & His Orchestra
WATERMELON MAN – Herbie Hancock
7 SCREAMING DIZ-BUSTERS – Blue Oyster Cult
WITHOUT YOU – Harry Nilsson
THAT LADY – The Isley Brothers
WAKE UP EVERYBODY – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
BIRDS OF FIRE – The Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin

Leon Russell’s debut album comes to hybrid stereo SACD (playable on all CD players) from Audio Fidelity for the first time in the United States.  Leon Russell features guest turns from George Harrison and Ringo Starr, Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Joe Cocker, Merry Clayton and Clydie King.  Tracks include “A Song for You,” “Delta Lady” and “Roll Away the Stone.”

Ace continues its ongoing Songwriters Series with a volume dedicated to Ray Davies of The Kinks!  Here is a 26-track selection from the band’s golden years – including a song from brother Dave, and a number of recordings in which the whole band participated.  Artists include Herman’s Hermits, Petula Clark, The Chocolate Watchband, The Pretty Things, Bobby Rydell, The Cascades, and more!

When not playing on many of Motown’s most renowned records, Funk Brother Jack Ashford carved out a career as one of the Motor City’s most prolific producers.  Ace’s Kent label brings together 24 tracks on Just Productions, part of the label’s Producer Series.  Just Productions, of course, was also the name of Ashford’s label which he founded after Pied Piper folded.  Some of the company’s productions appeared on their own Sepia, Triple B, Ashford and Awake labels, while others were licensed to Jay-Walking, Buddah, Spectrum, Premium Stuff and Inter Soul.  Ace samples the best of Just Productions  – including cuts from Eddie Parker and The Four Sonics – on this selection of scintillating Detroit soul!

Ace brings on another 24 tracks of the cream of the male Motown crop – including 16 previously unreleased tracks!  One Track Mind! More Motown Guys has The Spinners, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Fantastic Four, Edwin Starr and more on a group of uptempo songs designed to have listeners hit the dancefloor, Detroit-style!

Ace brings its acclaimed 2015 Here Today: The Songs of Brian Wilson compilation to 180-gram white vinyl in a slimmed-down form (12 tracks vs. 25 on the CD) with all of Ace’s deluxe hallmarks of packaging and annotation!  The album features Darian Sahanaja of The Brian Wilson Band and The Wondermints along with Kirsty MacColl, Carmen McRae, The Tokens, The Castells, Nick DeCaro, Betty Everett, Bobby Vee and more!

Ace taps the Decca vaults for this new anthology celebrating the label’s best ’60s pop-rock girls!  Lulu, Marianne Faithfull, Dana Gillespie, Elkie Brooks, Beryl Marsden, Billie Davis and others appear on this collection featuring the work of producers, arrangers and writers such as Mike Leander, Andrew Loog Oldham, Shel Talmy, Charles Blackwell and Tony Meehan.  Available as a 24-song CD or a 12-song LP (retitled 1963-1970, for accuracy’s sake)!

Legacy has a digital download of the soundtrack to the Hank Williams biopic I Saw the Light.  The album, co-produced by Rodney Crowell, features Tom Hiddleston as Williams performing six songs including “My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It,” “Hey Good Lookin’,” “Jambalaya” and “Why Don’t You Love Me.”  It also features vintage recordings by Eddy Arnold, Eartha Kitt, Jo Stafford, The Delmore Brothers and other artists.

The soundtrack to Don Cheadle’s Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead features eleven original Davis performances culled from his recordings at both Prestige and Columbia spanning 1956-1981 as well as dialogue excerpts from the film and five original compositions by Robert Glasper.  His contributions include “What’s Wrong with That?” (a jam that closes the movie imagining Cheadle as Davis playing in the present day with guest performers Glasper, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Gary Clark, Jr., Esperanza Spalding and Antonio Sanchez) and “Gone 2015,” an end-credits song with a guest turn from rapper Pharoahe Monch.  Available on CD, DD and LP.

Universal U.K. expands Motortown Revue in Paris, originally released in 1965, to 2 CDs or 3 LPs – both of which add a previously unreleased twelve tracks of live Motown magic!  Martha and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, The Miracles, Earl Van Dyke and, of course, The Supremes are all here.  31 tracks total.

The final album by the late, great Allen Toussaint, American Tunes was recorded at two sets of sessions with producer Joe Henry: solo piano at Toussaint’s New Orleans home studio in 2013, and with a rhythm section and guest artists in Los Angeles in 2015.  On his solo performances including “Mardi Gras in New Orleans,” “Hey Little Girl” and “Big Chief,” Toussaint pays tribute to his hero at the keys, New Orleans’ Professor Longhair.  The album also features band arrangements of songs written and/or popularized by Toussaint (“Delores’ Boyfriend,” “Southern Nights”), Duke Ellington (“Come Sunday,” “Rocks in My Bed,” “Lotus Blossom”), Bill Evans (“Waltz for Debby”), Fats Waller (“(I’m) Confessin’ (That I Love You),” “Viper’s Drag”), Paul Simon (title track “American Tune”), and others.  The double-vinyl LP release adds three bonus tracks: renditions of Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer’s “Moon River” and the Professor Longhair pair “Her Mind is Gone” and “Bald Head.”

Now That’s What I Call Broadway! rounds up 18 tracks from the past 40 years of musical theatre, including familiar tunes from A Chorus Line and Chicago (1975) right up through Matilda (2013) and Carole King’s Beautiful (2014).

Varese Sarabande has the first-time-on-CD reissue of Dave Grusin’s score to 1979’s The Champ.  The original Planet Records soundtrack also features Chris Thompson’s rendition of Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager’s “If You Remember Me,” produced by Richard Perry!

Varese is returning the soundtrack to Sydney Pollack’s filmThe Electric Horseman to CD in a newly-remastered edition.  The Columbia Records album features five songs performed by the movie’s co-star Willie Nelson (including the hit “Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys”) as well as six tracks from Dave Grusin’s instrumental score.

The rare 1977 London Cast Recording of Harry Nilsson’s The Point!, starring Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones of The Monkees, finally comes to CD from Varese Vintage!

Real Gone has first-ever vinyl issue of Dusty Springfield’s Faithful album.  In 1971, Springfield went into the studio with the legendary Jeff Barry for what was supposed to be her third Atlantic album.  Alas, it was not meant to be at the time and the album was shelved.  Last year, Real Gone collected up all of the songs from those sessions and compiled them on one CD.  Now, you will be able to listen to this unreleased album on the format it would have been heard on in the early 1970s.  This orange vinyl edition is limited to 1,000 copies. (Please note that the track “Nothing Is Forever” from the CD is not on the vinyl version as it was not intended for the album originally and this vinyl is meant to replicate the album as it would have existed at the time.)  TSD’s Joe Marchese provides the liner notes!

Stage Door Records follows up its popular Lost West End with a second volume of rare songs from forgotten London musicals.  This time out, the 22-track collection features shows from 1970 to 2008:  ‘Isabel’s A Jezebel’ (1970), ‘Bordello’ (1974), ‘Jack The Ripper’ (1974), ‘Maggie’ (1977), ‘Dean’ (1977), ‘Fire Angel’ (1977), ‘After Shave’ (1977), ‘Drake’s Dream’ (1977) ‘Flowers For Algernon’ (1979), ‘Wild Wild Women’ (1982), ‘Blondel’ (1984), ‘The Importance’ (1984), ‘Winnie’ (1988), ‘Moby Dick’ (1992), ‘Voyeurz’ (1996), ‘Boyband – The Musical’(1999), ‘Casper’ (1999) ‘Napoleon’ (2000), ‘Money To Burn’ (2003), ‘Murderous Instincts’ (2004), ‘Zorro’ (2008), and ‘Imagine This’ (2008).  Michael Crawford, Colm Wilkinson and Paul Jones are among the artists you’ll hear!  A 16-page booklet rounds out the set!

Cherry Red/Strike Force Entertainment’s 2-CD/1-DVD “Expanded Collector’s Edition” of Dusty Springfield’s 1990 LP Reputation features the original album alongside its various 12″ mixes and B-sides (including the Disco Mix of “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” as a bonus track), as well as the bonus tracks from EMI Gold’s Reputation and Rarities reissue from 1997.  The package is rounded out with a DVD of promo videos and liner notes featuring insights from Dusty, session singer Simon Bell and Tris Penna of EMI, who helped oversee the original release.

A Capitol Christmas, available on CD and vinyl, presents 24 swinging holiday tracks from the label’s golden era including selections from Frank Sinatra, Nat “King” Cole, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Margaret Whiting, Lou Rawls, and others!  It’s bookended by “The Christmas Song” – first in Nat’s solo version and then in duet form with Nat and Natalie!

This new collection offers fourteen tasty tracks from the label’s holiday catalogue, including standout tracks by vocalists Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, Diana Krall and Patti Austin!

Fourteen classic instrumental performances – including a previously unreleased version of Irving Berlin’s “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” by The Oscar Peterson Quartet – are featured on this new holiday compilation!  Other artists include John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Jimmy Smith, and The Ramsey Lewis Trio!

Bruce Springsteen, Mavis Staples, Aaron Neville, John Fogerty, and the late Allen Toussaint are among those artists celebrating Dr. John on this new release preserving a 2014 concert held at New Orleans’ Saenger Hall.  Dr. John himself also joins in the performances!  Available on 2 CDs or DD or 1 DVD.

Bear Family is getting into the holiday spirit with Big City Christmas, a new collection of 30 Christmas favorites in the pop, R&B, doo-wop and rockabilly styles!  These rare and previously unreleased tracks from 1948-1968 include performances by Frankie Valli and the Four Lovers, Eartha Kitt, Ricky Nelson, Frankie Lymon, and Bill Haley and His Comets!  Familiar favorites are provided by Doris Day, Connie Francis, Dean Martin, Rosemary Clooney, and Chuck Berry, and a 1966 Christmas greeting by Ann-Margret tops it all off!

These two classic rock films make their Blu-ray debut from Shout! Factory.  1964’s T.A.M.I. Show boasts artists from The Beach Boys to The Rolling Stones to The Supremes among numerous other stars (James Brown, Lesley Gore and Smokey Robinson and The Miracles to name a few).  The acts were backed by members of the famed Wrecking Crew under the direction of Jack Nitzsche. The Big T.N.T. Show was filmed in November 1965, like its predecessor in California, and released in 1966.  The sequel once again rounded up a diverse cast of big names including Petula Clark, Ray Charles, The Ronettes and The Byrds.  It was directed by Larry Peerce and musically directed by Phil Spector.  David McCallum (at the time one of the stars of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and currently starring onNCIS) emceed and conducted the orchestra.  Shout! Factory’s new collection includes all of the special features from the previous T.A.M.I. ShowDVD together with new interviews and promo spots.  Also included is a 36-page booklet.  The Big T.N.T. Show is also being released by itself on DVD.  Both films have been mastered from a new high-definition transfer.

Elaine Paige is lending her name to a new 3-CD collection of musical theatre favorites.  Elaine Paige Presents The Musicals features 58 tracks and over three hours of Broadway and West End favorites from artists including Paige, Petula Clark, Michael Crawford, Michael Ball, Idina Menzel, Liza Minnelli, Jennifer Holliday and more!

Numero Group revisits its acclaimed 2006 compilation on vinyl.  This set features 13 folk-rock-flavored tracks “culled from beyond the crop of critic-revisionist darlings Linda Perhacs, Judee Sill, or Vashti Bunyan,” drawing instead on “unlikely heroines who sang beneath the infrastructure of the music business.”

The LP-sized box set Leonard Bernstein: The Composer contains 25 CDs of the maestro’s most enduring compositions in remastered and/or remixed form including his Broadway musicals, all of the original stereo “Bernstein Conducts Bernstein” recordings made for Columbia Masterworks, new compilations, and more.  View our original article for full details on this comprehensive collection!

Stage Door Records unearths another lost bit of West End history with this first-ever release of music from composer-lyricist-librettist Kermit Goell’s Pocahontas.  The 1963 show starring Anita Gillette and Terence Cooper was a swift 12-performance flop, prompting Decca Records to cancel its cast album recording sessions.  But the score was preserved on a demo sung by a company of Broadway vocalists as well as on the composer’s piano demos.  Stage Door premieres those ultra-rare recordings on CD along with a newly-recorded interview with Anita Gillette!

The crate-diggers at Germany’s Bear Family label are celebrating Easter with a selection of “28 hot tracks for your basket!”  Easter Bunny Hop has such seasonal treats as Rosemary Clooney’s “Eggbert the Easter Egg” and My Choc’late Rabbit,” Johnny Horton’s “Egg Money,” Tommy Sands’ “The Chicken and the Hawk,” Fats Domino’s “Easter Parade,” and Sam Butera’s “Up Jumped a Rabbit.”  These pop, rock and roll, country and R&B treats are bound to leave you hoppin’!

Honeybeat: Groovy 60s Girl Pop, curated by Sheila Burgel from the Sony archives and released on Real Gone Music, features 19 songs from nine different labels, nearly a third of which have never been released on CD.  While some tracks come from known artists such as Little Eva, Skeeter Davis and even Nichelle Nichols (who had a brief music career during her time on Star Trek), most are definitely of the “hidden treasure” variety.  Burgel’s notes feature interviews with many of the artists and the set has been co-produced with Sony’s Rob Santos and remastered by Vic Anesini.  In addition to the CD release, 14 of the tracks are being put out on a 1,200 copy limited violet vinyl edition on the same day.

Dusty Springfield’s 1970 A Brand New Me LP (her follow-up Atlantic effort to the landmark Dusty in Memphis) found Dusty traveling to Sigma Sound in Philadelphia to work with Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Thom Bell, architects of the orchestrated soul known as “The Philadelphia Sound.”  Springfield would have a #3 AC hit with the album’s title song.  Brand New Me forms the basis of this new collection which adds seven bonus tracks: the single “I Wanna Be a Free Girl,” five outtakes which were previously featured on various Springfield reissues over the years, and the previously unreleased outtake “Sweet Charlie.”  The original album has been resequenced, and all tracks have been newly remixed from the original multi-tracks by Ted Carfrae.  Joe’s liner notes feature new quotes from Thom Bell.  It adds up to a complete celebration of Dusty Springfield’s spin on Philadelphia soul!

Planned to last four volumes, Real Gone Music’s The Complete Loma Singles will gather up the nearly 100 singles from the short-lived 1960s R&B label.  Founded in 1964 as a sublabel to Warner Bros., Loma was run by Bob Krasnow.  It only existed until 1968 and was primarily a singles label, releasing only a handful of LPs.  Despite this, the label has intrigued soul music collectors over the years.  Producers and arrangers for the label included James Brown, Jerry Ragovoy and Gene Page.  Arguably the biggest stars on the label were Ike and Tina Turner.  They are featured on this 50-track first volume alongside artists like The Apollas, The Olympics, Smiley Lewis and Little Jerry Williams.  The collection, annotated by Alec Palao, has been remastered by Mike Milchner at SonicVision, with all but one single taken from the original master tapes.

Lifehouse gathers together its greatest hits including “Hanging by a Moment” and “You and Me” on this new 18-track anthology.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K.
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K.

The Balitmore-based psych-rock/dream-pop duo (consisting of French-born, niece-of-Michel vocalist/keyboardist Victoria Legrand and guitarist/bassist Alex Scally) rounds up 14 rarities and previously unreleased songs and mixes on this new collection.

Stage Door Records’ Lost West End series, collecting rare tracks from forgotten U.K. musicals, returns with a third volume.  Lost West End Vintage turns its attention to the period of 1948-1962, presenting 52 songs from 35 musicals (including more than 20 new-to-CD tracks).  Petula Clark, Frankie Howerd, Sally Ann Howes, Tommy Steele, and Cliff Richard are among the stars featured on this 2-CD collection.

Before his death last fall at the age of 74, Leon Russell had spent much of his final year writing and recording a new album inspired by the sounds of the Great American Songbook.  The result is this legend’s final studio album.  On a Distant Shore features reworkings of three Russell classics (“This Masquerade,” “A Song for You,” “Hummingbird”) as well as nine new songs, making for a fitting farewell from a remarkable artist.

2-CD/2-LP/1-BD Box Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2-CD Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Saturday Night Fever is 40 years old, and Capitol and UMe are marking the occasion with a new box set.  In this 2-CD/2-LP/1-BD presentation, you’ll find the original remastered album on CD and double LP as well as the film on Blu-ray (presented here in a recently restored 40th anniversary cut overseen by director John Badham and packed with extras from previous DVD releases including director’s commentary and deleted scenes).
Audio extras are minimal: an extra CD EP includes new remixes of the four original Bee Gees tunes by noted mixer Serban Ghenea. Rather than update the tracks for a modern dance approach, Ghenea has taken the original multitracks and brought out new details buried from within the master tapes.

Arista and Legacy offer a new collection of songs related to The Bodyguard, featuring fourteen previously unreleased tracks (including film versions, alternates, live performances, and more) performed by the late, great Whitney Houston.  A purple double vinyl edition will follow at a later date!

3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 
3CD/Blu-ray/4LP super deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 

Rush’s fifth studio album, originally released in 1977, is reissued in a multitude of formats, all including a full concert from 1978, a sound effects track, and four covers by prog groups of classics from the album.  All this audio material will be available as a 3CD or 4LP set; for the hardcore Rush fans, a super deluxe box will combine both of those sets and add a Blu-ray disc featuring a high-resolution version of the album in stereo plus a new 5.1 surround remix by acclaimed engineer Steven Wilson, as well as three newly restored music videos. Extras in the box include lithographs and a turntable mat with original artwork by Hugh Syme, a replica of the band’s 1978 tour program, and a “unique King’s Ring,” complete with velvet pouch and neck chain.

Capitol Records follows up last year’s A Capitol Christmas with a second volume collecting 24 more of the venerable label’s most buoyant holiday offerings.  Glen Campbell, The Beach Boys, Nancy Wilson, The Lettermen, The Four Freshmen, Lena Horne, and more are represented on this eclectic yuletide compendium.  Available on CD on November 17, and vinyl on December 1.

Varese Vintage celebrates 40 years of the Burt Reynolds/Sally Field/Jackie Gleason comedy with a pairing of the original Smokey and the Bandit soundtrack, primarily by Jerry Reed and Bill Justis, with that of its sequel, 1980’s Smokey and The Bandit II (in which Reynolds, Field, Reed and Gleason – playing Sheriff Justice and his two brothers – all reappeared); that album featured tracks by country icons like Reed, Tanya Tucker, Don Williams, Brenda Lee, Roy Rogers and The Statler Brothers. Both albums appear here for the first time on compact disc!

This 2-LP soundtrack to Brett Berns and Bob Sarles’ documentary about legendary songwriter/producer/BANG Records head Bert Berns captures the late Berns’ artistry through classic recordings by The Isley Brothers, Janis Joplin, Van Morrison, Freddie Scott, and many others!

The soundtrack to Nora Ephron’s beloved 1993 romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle returns on vinyl from Real Gone Music.  The score was composed by Marc Shaiman, and the soundtrack album featured classic standards from artists such as Louis Armstrong, Nat “King” Cole, Gene Autry, and Jimmy Durante.  Also on the album were standards performed by contemporary artists like Carly Simon, Dr. John, Joe Cocker, Harry Connick, Jr. and the pair of Celine Dion and Clive Griffin.  Dion and Griffin’s version of “When I Fall in Love” would hit No. 6 on the Billboard AC chart.  Real Gone debuted Sleepless in Seattle on vinyl in 2017; this pressing is limited to 1,500 copies and pressed on “Valentine’s” red vinyl.

Craft Recordings boxes up a fourth volume of rare singles from the Stax vaults.  Volume Four lives up to its subtitle, collecting odds and ends from Stax and its various imprints by artists including not just the label’s usual heavy hitters but also Big Star, Billy Eckstine, Delaney and Bonnie, and others.  80 pages of liner notes accompany this 6-CD treasure trove.

Varese Vintage returns the long out-of-print soundtrack to the 1984 thriller Thief of Hearts to CD in a newly remastered and expanded edition!  In addition to the title track by Melissa Manchester and the original score by Harold Faltermeyer, the album also includes songs from E.G. Daily, Annabella Lewin of Bow Wow Wow, Darwun, and Beth Anderson & Joe “Bean” Esposito.  TSD’s Joe Marchese supplies the new liner notes!  Bonus tracks include the rare 12-inch dance mix of Manchester’s “Thief of Hearts” and the single and remixed versions of Daily’s “Love in the Shadows.”

Omnivore begins its four-volume series exploring the vaults of R&B indie Ru-Jac Records with this volume comprising 28 rare tracks (10 unreleased) from the period of 1963-1964.  Artists include Winfield Parker, Jeanne Dee, Little Sonny Daye, The Fruitland Harmonizers, The Jolly Jax, and more.

Omnivore continues its four-volume trawl through the archives of R&B indie Ru-Jac Records with this disc featuring 22 rare and soulful tracks (7 previously unreleased) from artists like Arthur Conley, Brenda Jones, Harold Holt, and Winfield Parker!

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada (TBD)
2CD/2DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. (TBD) / Amazon Canada (TBD)
2CD/2BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. (TBD) / Amazon Canada (TBD)
4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. (TBD) / Amazon Canada (TBD)

The star-studded 2002 concert celebration of the life of George Harrison – featuring Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, and other luminaries – returns in a variety of formats from Craft Recordings.

The lost words of Johnny Cash – from poems, letters, and other unpublished writings – are set to music for the very first time and performed by a “Who’s Who” of artists including Johnny’s daughter Rosanne Cash, his stepdaughter Carlene Carter, fellow Highwaymen Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson, Elvis Costello, John Mellencamp, T Bone Burnett, Allison Krauss, The Jayhawks, and others.  John Carter Cash has helmed the project at Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, Tennessee.  Available in CD, DD, and LP formats.

Bear Family collects four discs’ worth of songs and sounds (totaling 121 tracks) from the Korean War, complete with a lavish 160-page hardcover book.  Features artists including  Gene Autry, Ernest Tubb, Tex Ritter, Red Foley, John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Fats Domino, Lloyd Price, The Louvin Brothers, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe (among others, of course)!

The soundtrack album to the documentary Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story is a retrospective of the guitarist’s career and influence, including key Bowie tracks (“Moonage Daydream,” “Cracked Actor, Time”) as well as recordings by Elton John (“Madman Across the Water”), Ian Hunter (“Once Bitten, Twice Shy”), Michael Chapman (“Soulful Lady”), Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott (the previously unreleased “This Is For You”), and Ronson himself plus a previously unissued tribute from fellow Bowie collaborator Mike Garson, and two 1992 live cuts (“Heroes” and “All the Young Dudes”) from the 1992 Freddie Mercury tribute concert featuring Bowie, the remaining members of Queen, and others.  A new liner notes essay is included in the release which will be available on CD, digital, and 180-gram black vinyl.  Limited edition red vinyl will be available directly from the UDiscoverMusic.com store.

And all that jazz: Real Gone Music has the first-ever vinyl reissue of the original soundtrack to 2002’s Academy Award-winning musical Chicago, starring Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, and Queen Latifah, and featuring a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb with Danny Elfman.  It’s pressed on 2 LPs, in black and gold, and is limited to 1,500 units.

This comprehensive 5-CD set contains the A- and B-sides of every single released under the Stax Records banner in the tumultuous year of 1968, including the company’s sub-labels, for a total of 120 tracks.  Some tracks are by soul legends like Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers, William Bell, Booker T. & The M.G.’s and Johnnie Taylor and some come from the deeper Stax catalogue, featuring artists such as Linda Lyndell, The Soul Children and The Mad Lads.  The set includes a 56-page book with liner notes by Andria Lisle, Robert Gordon, and Steve Greenberg, as well as rare and previously unseen photos.  It will be available as a 5-CD set and as a digital download.

Vinyl Box 1 (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Vinyl Box 2  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
CD Box 1 (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Kate Bush’s complete albums discography – plus a smattering of rarities – are coming to CD and vinyl in two waves of releases.  The vinyl albums – comprising all ten of the artist’s studio albums – will be released in four separate box sets.  The first two, the 4-LP Vinyl Box 1 and the 3-LP Vinyl Box 2, will be available on November 16.  The concluding pair, the 6-LP Vinyl Box 3 and 4-LP Vinyl Box 4, will be released two weeks later, on November 30.  Vinyl Box 4 exclusively consists of rare tracks, with one LP of 12-inch mixes, two LPs of singles and B-sides, and a fourth of Kate’s interpretation of other songwriters’ compositions, from Gershwin to John and Taupin.

As for the compact disc configurations, CD Box 1 (7 discs) and CD Box 2 (11 discs) will also be available in November, with Box 1 arriving on November 16 and Box 2 on November 30.  Note that Before the Dawn is included in CD Box 2 in its original mastering along with all of the above-referenced bonus discs.  All of the albums other than Before the Dawn have been remastered by Kate Bush and James Guthrie.  Additionally, all of the individual studio albums will be available as standalone CDs.  The rarities collections are exclusive to the box sets.

 

Vinyl Box 3  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Vinyl Box 4  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
CD Box 2   (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Kate Bush’s complete albums discography – plus a smattering of rarities – are coming to CD and vinyl in two waves of releases.  The vinyl albums – comprising all ten of the artist’s studio albums – will be released in four separate box sets.  The first two, the 4-LP Vinyl Box 1 and the 3-LP Vinyl Box 2, will be available on November 16.  The concluding pair, the 6-LP Vinyl Box 3 and 4-LP Vinyl Box 4, will be released two weeks later, on November 30.  Vinyl Box 4 exclusively consists of rare tracks, with one LP of 12-inch mixes, two LPs of singles and B-sides, and a fourth of Kate’s interpretation of other songwriters’ compositions, from Gershwin to John and Taupin.

As for the compact disc configurations, CD Box 1 (7 discs) and CD Box 2 (11 discs) will also be available in November, with Box 1 arriving on November 16 and Box 2 on November 30.  Note that Before the Dawn is included in CD Box 2 in its original mastering along with all of the above-referenced bonus discs.  All of the albums other than Before the Dawn have been remastered by Kate Bush and James Guthrie.  Additionally, all of the individual studio albums will be available as standalone CDs.  The rarities collections are exclusive to the box sets.

2CD/3LP1/BD Super Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2CD Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

The 1978 album Hemispheres from Canadian rock heroes Rush celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, and UMe/Anthem is not letting the occasion go unnoticed.  The classic LP is being reissued on November 16 in a variety of formats including a 2CD/1BD/3LP Super Deluxe Edition, standalone 3LP and 2CD Deluxe Editions, and a Deluxe Digital Edition.  All formats include the 2015 remastered version of the album and a disc of previously unreleased live performances
.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 

’80s Symphonic blends 15 original ’80s tracks from across Warner’s celebrated catalogue and blends them with brand-new, symphonic arrangements performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.  Among the tracks given the symphonic treatment are The Cars’ “Drive,” Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” a-ha’s “Take On Me,” and David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance.”   While “Let’s Dance” was helmed by original producer Nile Rodgers, the other tracks have all been produced by Andy Wright (Simple Minds, Eurythmics, Jeff Beck) at Abbey Road Studios.  Available on CD and digital November 23, with vinyl to follow on December 7.

Craft Recordings brings together five Cuban jam sessions first released between 1956-1965 by the country’s first independent record label, Panart.  This 5-CD or 5-LP set presents all of the jams in their entirety, featuring pianist Julio Gutierrez, tres player Nino Rivera, flautist Jose Fajardo, and bassist and mambo pioneer Israel Cachao Lopez.  The CD version has a 96-page booklet while the LP iteration, presented on 180-gram vinyl, has a 28-page booklet.  Also available digitally.

Ghostlight Records has celebrated the 10th anniversary of composer-lyricist-star Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning, breakthrough musical In the Heights with a deluxe 3-LP vinyl set of its Original Broadway Cast Recording.  The three remastered LPs are housed in a beautiful flip-top box with the show’s original artwork, and the box also includes a 16-page booklet with lyrics, photos, a synopsis, and more.  Additionally, an MP3 download card is included.  This release is currently a U.S. Barnes and Noble exclusive.

Ghostlight has brought Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz’s smash hit musical Be More Chill to vinyl.  The show, which premiered at New Jersey’s Two River Theater and has subsequently enjoyed a sold-out run off-Broadway in anticipation of its move to Broadway in 2019, has captured the hearts and minds of young theatergoers who have turned it into a viral sensation.  The double-gatefold package features red and green colored vinyl, new artwork, and a 16-page booklet with lyrics, photos, and a note from Iconis.

Verve/UME celebrate the career of a jazz impresario for the ages.  As founder of the Clef, Norgran and Verve labels, Granz helped bring jazz to the masses and launched the careers of many of the genre’s brightest stars.

The 4-CD set includes 44 tracks, some appearing on CD for the first time ever.  The booklet includes new liner notes by Tad Hershorn, author of Norman Granz: The Man Who Used Jazz For Justice.  On the discs, you’ll find incendiary performances by the likes of Coleman Hawkins with Charlie Parker and Lester Young, Nat “King” Cole, with Les Paul and Illinois Jacquet, Dexter Gordon, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Gerry Mulligan, Stan Getz, and Dizzy Gillespie.  Altogether, The Founder shows the lasting impact of Granz’s career and the role he played in the work of a veritable who’s-who of modern jazz.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Nonesuch website (bundle with print and MP3 download)
2-LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Nonesuch website (bundle with print and MP3 download)

Todomundo Records and Nonesuch have announced an expanded soundtrack album, True Stories, A Film By David Byrne: The Complete Soundtrack, due on CD, 2-LP, and digital November 23.  It marks the first-ever release of the comprehensive soundtrack presented in film sequence.  The 23-track set features many songs that are unavailable on CD or digital, including John Goodman and Annie McEnroe’s songs, and 14 tracks from Byrne’s Sounds from True Stories album which was only ever available on LP and cassette.

As a former music journalist with credits in Rolling Stone and Creem magazines, Cameron Crowe has always meticulously crafted the soundtracks for his films.  Vanilla Sky‘s is no exception.  The eclectic soundtrack includes music by Radiohead, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, The Chemical Brothers, and more.  Real Gone Music will release a limited-edition, 2-LP set of Music From Vanilla Sky that marks the soundtrack’s return to vinyl.  Limited to 1,000 units, the soundtrack is pressed onto “blue cloud”-colored vinyl and housed in a gatefold sleeve adorned with production stills from the film.

Real Gone Music is set to release Orange County:  The Soundtrack, a 2-LP set featuring the music from the Jake Kasdin-directed film.  Released in 2002, Orange County followed the story of an O.C. surfer kid as he tries to get into Stanford University.  The soundtrack was full of compelling tunes by the likes of Cake, Social Distortion, Pete Yorn, and Brian Wilson.  It also boasted two new tracks:  Foo Fighters’ “The One” and The Offspring’s “Defy You.”

Real Gone’s release marks the soundtrack’s first-ever vinyl release.  Limited to 700 copies, the two-disc set will be pressed on orange vinyl and presented in a gatefold sleeve embellished with production stills.

With an endearing and clever plot featuring ten interlocking stories and star-studded cast of Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, and many more, Love Actually has become one of the most acclaimed romantic comedies of the last twenty years.  But also key to its success and longevity is its remarkable soundtrack.  As director Richard Curtis put it:  “Without its music, Love Actually wouldn’t work at all. I know–because I saw the film without the music, and it’s a shocker.”  The film’s score features the likes of The Beach Boys, Eva Cassidy, Joni Mitchell, The Pointer Sisters, Maroon 5, Kelly Clarkson, Norah Jones, and Dido, among others.  For their new vinyl version, Real Gone has followed the track listing of the U.S. CD release, including three original, Christmas-themed bonus tracks by Billy Mack, Olivia Olson, and Otis Redding.  All the music is pressed two white-and-red “candy cane”-style LPs and housed in a gatefold sleeve featuring production stills from the film.

This 3-CD set is a musical exploration of the development of British New Wave. While in the U.S. “new wave” was a lose term applied to pretty much any pop that came out in the late ’70s and early ’80s, U.K. purveyors used the term to refer to their deliberate reaction to, if not rejection of, the punk musical aesthetic.  It eventually mutated into the Mod Revival–members of which drew greatly from the melody-driven pop of the ’60s–and later to another unique British psychedelic strand in the ’80s.  Harmony In My Head examines all these musical threads and, with the help of a set of liner notes and discographical notes that’s 12,000 words strong, contextualizes the era with impressive depth and detail.

On the music front, most of the Power Pop and New Wave heavy hitters are accounted for on this 76-track collection.  Elvis Costello, Squeeze, Nick Lowe, and Buzzcocks feature, as do less-successful but significant bands such as The Freshies, The Flys, and The Records.  Cherry Red also dug into the proverbial record crates to include rare 45s from micro-labels, many of whose songs have never appeared on CD before.  Even on these recordings, the sound quality doesn’t distract or seem out of place next to the more slick and professional productions.  So music of all provenance sounds equally compelling, thanks to the work of Simon Murphy at Another Planet Music, who remastered the set with Mark Stratford.

 

Recorded live during their 2002 “comeback” tour, Rush’s In Rio was originally released on CD and DVD in 2003.  Now, the 28-song set featuring hits and deep cuts from across their career arrives on vinyl for the first time, across 4 discs. The collection includes all 29 songs from the Rio gig, plus two bonus tracks recorded at other stops during the Vapor Trails Tour. “Between Sun & Moon” was recorded on September 27, 2002 in Phoenix, AZ and “Vital Signs” was recorded on October 19, 2002 in Quebec City, Quebec.

Featuring both classics and unearthed rarities, the set explores the wild year in which psychedelia, jazz, blues, folk, world music, and hard rock all collided to form groundbreaking and genre-pushing new music.  The new compilation includes a number of legendary UK groups, including Deep Purple, Jethro Tull, Genesis, and Pentangle.  Also present are Procol Harum, Caravan, Jeff Beck, Spooky Tooth, Traffic, The Move, Julie Driscoll with Brian Auger and The Trinity, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Van Der Graaf Generator, Pretty Things, Status Quo, The Incredible String Band, John Martyn and many more.  Revolution also features lesser-known acts, such as Eyes of Blue, The Action, Gun, Second Hand, and Blonde on Blonde.  Eagle-eyed readers will also notice the inclusion of Dave Mason’s “Just For You,” an Island single by the ex-Traffic member that makes a rare CD appearance here.  All the selections have been remastered and are supplemented with an illustrated booklet featuring a new essay by Mark Powell.

Available February 22 in the U.K., March 1 in the U.S.  Amazon U.S. link is due to go live soon!

Joni Mitchell celebrated her 75th birthday in style last November, as Jörn Weisbrodt and The Music Center in Los Angeles hosted a pair of star-studded Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration concerts in her honor.  The line-up (which Joni helped select) featured many of her closest friends and dearest collaborators, including Graham Nash, Seal, Chaka Khan, Kris Kristofferson, and James Taylor.  Also on the bill were Diana Krall, Brandi Carlile, Rufus Wainwright, Emmylou Harris, Glen Hansard, Norah Jones, and Los Lobos with La Marisoul, Cesar Castro & Xochi Flores.  Featuring a set of Joni classics and deep cuts from across her career, each night was a thrilling tribute full of excellent music.  November 7 was even more magnificent, as Mitchell herself attended and even appeared onstage to blow out birthday candles and sing along as the all-star band and more than 3,000 fans sang “Happy Birthday” and “Big Yellow Taxi” in tribute to her.  A film of the event will screen across North American on February 7.

A CD of highlights from the concert — also entitled Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration — will be available on March 1 from Decca.  The album’s 16 tracks include such highlights as Brandi Carlile and Kris Kristofferson’s heartfelt take on “A Case of You,” Seal’s breathtaking “Both Sides Now,” Diana Krall’s haunting take on “Amelia,” and  and Los Lobos and Friends’ rollicking “Dreamland,” which features Chaka Khan reprising her guest vocal spot, as she did on the original recording back in 1977.

Anchoring each live performance — on CD and on screen — is a top-notch house band full of Joni’s collaborators.  Led by drummer Brian Blade and pianist Jon Cowherd, the band also includes guitarists Greg Leisz and Marvin Sewell, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, as well as Jeff Haynes on percussion, Chris Thomas on bass, Bob Sheppard on woodwinds, and special guest Scarlet Rivera on violin.

The soundtrack CD is set to arrive from Decca on March 8.

Last year, Kate Bush surprised fans with a series of fully-remastered box sets presenting her entire albums discography plus numerous bonuses on CD and vinyl.  The second CD box (the simply-titled CD Box 2) included four discs of rare bonus material, all of which were also released as the fourth vinyl box (Remastered in Vinyl IV).  Now, those four CDs are being broken out on their own.  The Other Sides brings together one disc of extended 12-inch mixes, two discs of assorted odds and ends, and one disc of Bush’s interpretations of others’ words and music.

CD:  Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP:  Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Cleveland’s rock scene during the ’70s was largely championed by Steve Popovich, a former Cleveland resident who ended up being the head of A&R at Epic.  In mid-1976, he left the corporate rock world and headed back home to Cleveland, where he set up Cleveland International Records, part record label, part management company, part marketing consulting group.  Throughout the ’70s, Cleveland International had a hand in some of the most unique records in rock.  Decades on, many of their projects remain legendary.

Cleveland Rocks is a 13-track collection (10-track on the LP) that brings together some of the best of the C/I catalog.  Among them is the aforementioned Hunter’s “Cleveland Rocks,” plus the Jersey bar-band grit of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, the blue-collar rock of Joe Grushecky and the Iron City Houserockers, and many other certified classics like Meat Loaf, Jim Steinman, Dick Wagner & Michael Kamen, Ellen Foley, and many other more obscure groups.

 

 

Real Gone Music has pressed up 1,000 copies on “pocket protector brown” vinyl of the ’80s comedy classic soundtrack featuring tracks by The Rubinoos, Bone Symphony, Gleaming Spires, Pat Robinson and Jill Michaels!

Music from Season Two of the acclaimed Amazon Prime television series boasts not one but two Barbra Streisand tunes (“Just Leave Everything to Me” from the film soundtrack of 1969’s Hello, Dolly! and the evergreen “Happy Days Are Here Again”) plus appearances by Frank Sinatra (“How Are Ya Fixed for Love” with Keely Smith), Blossom Dearie (“Some Other Time”) and Ella Fitzgerald (“Old Mother Hubbard’). Further tracks come from Dean Martin (“I’d Cry Like a Baby”), Louis Prima and the Witnesses (“Five Months, Two Weeks, Two Days”), Julie London (“‘S Wonderful”), Sarah Vaughan (“I’m Gonna Live ‘Til I Die”), and Patience and Prudence (“Witchcraft”). The film soundtrack performance of The King and I‘s “Shall We Dance” is also featured. Season Two is available March 29 on CD.

David Bowie followed up his otherworldly performance in 1976’s The Man Who Fell to Earth with a decidedly more grounded role, that of Paul Ambrosius von Przygodski, a Prussian officer-turned-gigolo, in the 1978 film Just a Gigolo.  Its soundtrack supervised by Jack Fishman featured period-style vocal and instrumental tracks including hard-to-find tracks by The Manhattan Transfer, Marlene Dietrich, and The Village People.  Bowie also contributed pieces for the film, including “Revolutionary Song,” which is heard four times throughout the film.  Cherry Red’s expanded reissue of the soundtrack brings all the tracks  to CD for the first time ever, and includes a 24-page booklet with an introduction by Paul Fishman (who also remastered the music), original LP liner notes, and an essay by Charlie Bridgen.

Following their announcement of a Record Store Day color-vinyl edition of the title, Craft Recordings have unveiled further details about their new compilation of hard-to-find gems from the psychedelic era, entitled Poppies: Assorted Finery from the First Psychedelic Age. In addition to the orange-vinyl RSD version, which will be in independent shops on April 13, Poppies will also be released on CD and on digital download platforms on April 19.

The 13-track collection – the first in a series of themed compilations – brings together psychedelic rock and pop rarities from the Vanguard, Stax, Hip, Musart, and Original Sound catalogs. Among the cult-classic favorites that feature are Buffy Sainte-Marie (whose eerie 1969 acid-folk track “Poppies” gives the collection its name), Southwest F.O.B. (whose “Smell of Incense” was one of Stax Records’ most surprising best-sellers), and a wealth of other often-forgotten mementos of the era by the likes of The Honey Jug, The Sot Weed Factor, Erik, The Serpent Power, and The Human Jungle. The latter is represented by a previously unreleased track called “When Will You Happen To Me,” which will be released as an instant grat single on April 12. Alongside the music, Poppies boasts detailed liner notes written by five-time Grammy nominee Alec Palao which provide details on the artists and songs in the collection.

The 1973 Blaxploitation comedy Cleopatra Jones starred Tamara Dobson as the title character secret agent who battles against drug lord Mommy played by Shelley Winters. The film was a success, with a sequel arriving two years later. The soundtrack is mix of songs and score pieces. Joe Simon, who had had teamed with Gamble and Huff for hits “Drowning In The Sea of Love” and “Power of Love” in 1971 and 1972, was one of the featured performers on the album. Jazz trombonist J.J. Johnson wrote the score. Two songs from Millie Jackson are also included. They would also appear on her 1973 album It Hurts So Good. Here is what Real Gone has to say about the reissue:

“One of the great Blaxploitation film scores of the ’70s, finally back on vinyl where it belongs! This 1973 feature introduced one of the great characters in the whole genre, starring the indomitable, six-foot-two Tamara Dobson as Cleopatra Jones, a taller, hipper, and blacker James Bond. In this film, she thwarts a lesbian L.A. drug lord as played by Shelley Winters, all accompanied by the musical efforts of what is pretty much a ’70s soul/jazz/funk dream team. On vocals, you had the leading male and female lights of the Spring label, the great Joe Simon (performing the hit title theme) and Millie Jackson. And on the instrumental side, jazz trombone giant J. J. Johnson (in collaboration with the underrated Carl Brandt of Mod Squad score fame). The result: a prime example of the symphonic funk that became the siren song for Blaxploitation soundtracks throughout the ’70s. For its first domestic vinyl reissue, we’ve pressed up just 700 copies in red and blue starburst vinyl, with original artwork intact…oh so tasty!”

Blixa Sounds has compiled a one-stop-shop collection of tracks by Robin Lane & The Chartbusters with Many Years Ago: The Complete Robin Lane & The Chartbusters Collection. The 3-CD set is released on March 1 and brings together a whopping 52 tracks, spanning all of the group’s official albums, as well as demos, rare singles and EP tracks, and unreleased session takes. The result is the most comprehensive compilation of classic Robin Lane tracks thus far!

Robin Lane got her start as a folk-rock artist in the Laurel Canyon scene and can even be heard on Neil Young’s second album, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. But after moving to the East Coast of the U.S. in the late ’70s, she embraced the punk and new wave music around her and formed a band with Leroy Radcliffe and Asa Brebner, formerly of the Modern Lovers. In 1980, Robin Lane & The Chartbusters released their first album, a self-titled effort for Warner Brothers Records. It featured Lane’s first Billboard Hot 100-charting single, “When Things Go Wrong” (#87, July 1980.) The track garnered significant airplay and its music video was a fixture on early MTV. The band followed up their debut with 5 Live, an EP that featured live versions of three Chartbusters originals (“When Things Go Wrong,” the new tracks “8.3,” “Lost My Mind,” and “When You Compromise”) as well as a cover of the rock standard “Shaking All Over.” The following year, Robin Lane & The Chartbusters released Imitation Life, which was to be their final album on Warner Brothers. Lane then released Heart Connection independently in 1984, before entering a hiatus to being a family.

Blixa Sounds collects all those classic ’80s tracks and more. Disc Two also includes seven unreleased session recordings recorded during the making of Heart Connection. Two of Lane’s pre-Chartbusters demos also feature: “Rose for Sharon” and “Never Enough,” the latter eventually rewritten as “When Things Go Wrong,” alongside a 1979 demo of “I Found Out.” There’s also Robin Lane & The Chartbusters’ lone pre-WB single for Deli Platters Records, which features early versions of “When Things Go Wrong,” “Why Do You Tell Lies,” and the original composition, “The Letter.” The disc closes with a 1990 demo of “The Longest Thinnest Thread” and “Little Bird,” from the group’s 2002 reunion album. Disc Three, meanwhile, spotlights Robin Lane & The Chartbusters onstage. It kicks off with the 5 Live EP and also presents 17 previously unreleased live recordings recorded from 1979 to 1981, including covers of Del Shannon’s “Keep Searchin’ (We’ll Follow the Sun)” and Willie Dixon’s “Violent Love.”  All of the audio has been remastered and is presented with a fully annotated booklet with liner notes by Brett Milano and rare photographs from Robin Lane’s archive.

“I’ve never gotten over the pleasure of someone covering one of my songs,” Leonard Cohen once said. “I don’t have a sense of proprietorship, which probably stems from coming up as a folksinger where it was understood that songs develop a patina through interpretation. I feel that’s the mark of excellence.”

Ace Records has just released a new collection of excellent Leonard Cohen covers with Hallelujah: The Songs of Leonard Cohen. It’s the latest volume in the label’s Songwriter series, and it brings together 18 eclectic tracks, including two songs that never appeared on his own albums: “Come Spend the Morning,” as interpreted by Lee Hazlewood, and “God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot,” a piece from Cohen’s book Beautiful Losers, set to music and recorded by Buffy Sainte-Marie.

From Judy Collins’ 1967 hit version of “Hey That’s No Way to Say Goodbye” that helped introduce Cohen’s music to the world, to Marissa Nadler’s 2007 interpretation of “Famous Blue Raincoat,” the collection spans decades, genres, and approaches. Along the way, listeners are treated to several of Cohen’s best-known songs. There’s Nina Simone’s spell-binding “Suzanne,” Nick Cave’s recasting of “Avalanche,” k.d. lang’s take on “Bird On The Wire,” and Jeff Buckley’s trademark cover of “Hallelujah.” But deep cuts abound as well, such as Stina Nordenstam’s cover of “I Came So Far For Beauty,” originally released on Cohen’s Recent Songs, and Tom Northcott’s rare 1995 interpretation of “True Love Leaves No Traces” from Cohen’s collaboration with Phil Spector, Death of a Ladies’ Man. There’s also David Blue’s funky 1975 cover of “Lover, Lover, Lover,” featuring Joni Mitchell on backing vocals and the LA Express providing accompaniment, and Joe Cocker’s gritty “First We Take Manhattan.”

With a 24-page booklet of liner notes penned by Cohen biographer Ian Johnston, plus in-depth track-by-track commentary with Cohen quotes compiled by Mick Patrick, not to mention the music within, Hallelujah: The Songs of Leonard Cohen spotlight the far-reaching impact of his words and music across the decades.

To celebrate the fiftieth year of The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings has announced the May 10 release of the new box set, Jazz Fest: The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The 5-disc set is presented as a large-format, 12″x12″ book. Inside its 136 pages are numerous photos spanning the festival’s history, plus many essays and discographical annotations. There’s a forward from festival founder George Wein, as well as notes from Jeff Place and Huib Schippers from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings; New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation archivist Rachel Lyons; WWOZ’s Director of Content, Dave Ankers; and The New York Times‘ Jon Pareles.

The music promises to be equally impressive. The five disc box set includes previously unreleased from the vault of WWOZ Radio and beyond. It totals up to 300 minutes of music spanning the years 1974 to 2016. Disc 1 spotlights jazz, while Discs 2 and 3 feature R&B, blues, and gospel. Disc 4, meanwhile, celebrates Zydeco, Cajun and other New Orleans regional music, and Disc 5 brings the funk, along with rock, blues, and hip-hop. Among the legendary artists present are Irma Thomas, Professor Longhair, The Dixie Cups, The Neville Brothers, Allen Toussaint (appearing solo and with Bonnie Raitt), Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Dr. John, Terence Blanchard, and Trombone Shorty, whose “One Night Only” is now available as a digital single (see below).

For its 60th anniversary year, Universal Music Enterprises has begun reminding fans that “Motown Did It First“; now, the label that launched The Sound Of Young America is revisiting a box set that was released in celebration of its 50th anniversary a decade ago.  Motown: The Complete No. 1s featured more than 200 international chart-toppers, plus a handful of bonus masters that went to No. 1 through cover versions or samples. And the packaging was a delight: the discs were housed in five digipaks, all carried in an intricate replica of 2648 West Grand Boulevard – the Detroit building that served as the label’s first office and studio space (and today is open to the public as The Motown Museum).  That package has been replicated, while a 6-song bonus disc adds a handful of extra Motown magic right up through recent remixes of Diana Ross classics, which have topped Billboard”s dance charts in the past two years.

Varese Sarabande is returning Dave Grusin’s classic score to The Goonies to CD, this time in a wide release.  This edition, as assembled and remixed by album co-producer Mike Matessino in 2010, loses four alternate cues from the previous limited-edition CD release. Still, it offers 70 minutes of terrific music that fans of ’80s adventure films shouldn’t miss.

Britain’s/America’s Got Talent sensation Susan Boyle celebrates 10 years of music with a new collection featuring 17 tracks – 13 favorites (including “I Dreamed a Dream,” “Hallelujah,” and “Wild Horses”) and 4 new songs including the duet “A Million Dreams” with stage star Michael Ball.

In just a few months during 1969, Stax and its artists released a staggering 27 albums and 30 singles during what’s been called the “Soul Explosion,” which is also the name of a 1969 compilation arriving on vinyl for the first time since its original release. The 28-song, 2-LP sampler brings together hits from the likes of The Staple Singers, Albert King, Eddie Floyd, and The Mad Lads.  These are paired with rarer songs, some of which are exclusive to this collection.  Among them are The Bar-Kays’ “Hot Hips,” Ollie & The Nightingales’ “Heartache Mountain,” and Eddie Floyd’s “It’s Wrong To Be Loving You.”  The lacquers for the 2-LP edition were cut by Jeff Powell at the Memphis-based Take Out Vinyl and pressed locally at Memphis Record Pressing.  The discs are housed in a deluxe gatefold sleeve.  The collection will also be released digitally for the first time, including in high-resolution at 24-bit/96kHz or 24-bit/192kHz formats.

Stage Door Records launches a new series celebrating musicals year-by-year: Lost Broadway.  The first volume focuses on the year 1961, shining a new light on all-but-forgotten or infrequently-revived shows including 13 Daughters, The Conquering Hero, Milk and Honey, Subways Are for Sleeping, Sail Away, Carnival, and more.  The 2-CD, 57-song collection features original cast performances on Disc One from artists such as Barbara Cook, Jerry Orbach, and Elaine Stritch, and a treasure trove of pop covers and rare versions on Disc Two from a line-up including Doris Day, Judy Garland, and Nat “King” Cole.

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1CD: Walmart.com

Filmmaker Ken Burns has tackled many subjects over the years, from the Civil War to baseball.  His documentaries have garnered numerous awards over the years.  In 2001, he took an in-depth look at the genre of jazz.  Now, he’s exploring a different genre with Country Music, an eight-part, 16-1/2-hour documentary premiering September 15 on PBS.  And as with Jazz, there is an accompanying soundtrack.  The most expansive of these is a 5-CD box set due August 30.  Other configurations of the set including a 2-CD, 2-LP, 1-CD Wal-Mart exclusive, and digital will follow on September 13.  All formats include many of the genre’s landmark recordings by artists such as Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Charley Pride, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, and George Jones.

Jakob Dylan and a group of friends including Beck, Cat Power, Fiona Apple, Norah Jones, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, and Regina Spektor revisit thirteen Laurel Canyon classics on this album inspired by director Andrew Slater’s recent documentary film.  Songs include “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” by Dylan with Young, “Expecting to Fly” with Spektor, “Goin’ Back” with Beck, “You Showed Me” with Cat Power, and more.

On August 2, Rhino releases the ultimate Woodstock experience: a massive, 38-CD, 432-song (267 previously unreleased!) box set featuring nearly every note performed at the Festival (only the Jimi Hendrix estate would not give permission for his entire performance).  But if that’s too much Woodstock for your tastes, Rhino has also come through, as 10CD, 5LP, and 3CD highlights versions will also be released on June 28.  Woodstock – Back to the Garden – 50th Anniversary Experience features 162 tracks across 10 CDs and is the first Woodstock collection to feature live recordings of every performer at the festival.  This version will be also available via digital download.  Woodstock – Back to the Garden – 50th Anniversary Collection collects 42 tracks, and will be available on 3 CDs or 5 LPs.

Toto, Kenny Loggins, Rupert Holmes, 10cc, and Chuck Mangione are among the eclectic artists on this collection of breezy soft-rock summer sounds.  Available on CD, LP, and digital platforms.

Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Barnes and Noble Exclusive Orange Vinyl

August 14 sees the theatrical release of Blinded by the Light, a new coming-of-age film inspired by Sarfraz Manzoor’s Greetings from Bury Park: Race, Religion and Rock N’ Roll.  Both book and movie chronicle the story of a young man’s life-changing experiences with the music of Bruce Springsteen, so it’s only appropriate that a soundtrack filled with Boss tunes would be on the way.  Blinded by the Light: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack features 12 songs from the Springsteen catalogue, including classics and previously unreleased tracks such as the long-sought-after studio recording of “I’ll Stand By You,” written in 2001 for Springsteen’s oldest son and originally submitted for consideration for the big-screen adaptation of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.  Also, for the first time on a “proper” wide-release album, the soundtrack presents two live rarities: the debut live performance of “The River” (from No Nukes ’79, Madison Square Garden, NYC, September 21, 1979) and a recent solo acoustic performance of “The Promised Land” (Concert for Valor, The National Mall, Washington DC, November 11, 2014).  Available in CD and digital configurations) as well as 2-LP 12″ vinyl configurations including an exclusive orange vinyl edition at Barnes and Noble.  

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Earwig Music has one of the year’s most intriguing box sets and most significant historical excavations – a beautiful 124-page, 4-CD hardcover tome chronicling in words and music the story of Narvel Eatmon, a.k.a. Cadillac Baby, and his Chicago label Bea & Baby Records. From 1959-1989, the label and its various imprints (among them Key, Keyhole, Miss, and Ronald) championed the Windy City music scene with an impressive array of blues, gospel, soul, doo-wop, hip-hop, and even comedy recordings – the best of which are featured on this compelling retrospective.

Real Gone Music brings the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese’s 2006 drama to vinyl for the first time in a kelly green pressing.  The hard-hitting album features music by Roger Waters, The Beach Boys, Badfinger, The Rolling Stones, Roy Buchanan, The Allman Brothers Band, and other heavy hitters.  It’s limited to 1,100 copies.

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Showtime’s long-awaited documentary on Motown Records makes its debut on August 24.  But before that, Universal Music will issue a companion soundtrack on CD (in both standard 1CD and deluxe 2CD editions) and vinyl, featuring many of the label’s all-time classic songs.  The vinyl edition arrives on September 27.  Also available on digital/streaming.

Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music proudly present the first new volume of The Great Songs of Christmas in nearly 50 years bringing many of the exclusive tracks featured on Goodyear’s original 1961-1970 series together.  Expect to hear rarities from Percy Faith, Andre Kostelanetz, Johnny Mathis, Robert Goulet and Carol Lawrence, and Ray Conniff, and even more new-to-CD tracks from The Harry Simeone Chorale, Andre Previn, and Mahalia Jackson plus special, never-on-CD bonus tracks from the W.T. Grant’s Very Merry Christmas Series by Mark Lindsay and Gary Puckett!  It’s all wrapped up in a deluxe package remastered by Vic Anesini and styled after the original series, with track-by-track liner notes from TSD’s Joe Marchese.

Darlene Love, Southside Johnny, Tom Petty, Mel Tormé, and legendary composer John Williams are among those featured on Home Alone Christmas, the collection of songs drawn from the first two films in the Home Alone series.  Now, Real Gone is re-pressing this joyful LP on Clear with Red and Green Swirl “Christmas Party” Vinyl.

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Craft Recordings celebrates 60 years of The Sound of Music with CD and vinyl reissues of the original Broadway cast recording starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel, and originally released on Columbia Records. Produced by Goddard Lieberson and featuring Robert Russell Bennett’s grand orchestrations, it’s been newly remastered for Craft’s reissue from the original three-track master tapes by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound. The LP version will be pressed on four sides of vinyl for optimum sound quality at RTI and housed in a replica of the original LP’s lavish gatefold jacket (the first such gatefold printed by Columbia). [Note this edition was previously available in a limited run from Craft’s sister imprint Analog Spark; the releases are identical other than the label artwork.]  The album will also be available digitally, including at 192/24 high resolution.

The long-running NOW series has a 5-CD, 100-song collection of Christmas classics from an eclectic roster of artists past and present including Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Kacey Musgraves, Kelly Clarkson, Petula Clark, Engelbert Humperdinck, The Jackson 5, The Beach Boys, Sam Smith, Whitney Houston, and more.

It’s showtime!  Beetlejuice returns to gleefully demonic life on Ghostlight/Warner’s cast recording of Eddie Perfect’s Tony-nominated score to the smash hit show currently packing ’em in at the Winter Garden.  Nominee Alex Brightman stars as Beetlejuice in a cast also including Sophia Anne Caruso, Kerry Butler, and Rob McClure.  The cast album has been streamed over 100 million times, but here’s your chance to own it on vinyl.  Also available on CD and in digital formats, and in an exclusive color vinyl edition at Urban Outfitters.

Bear Family (who else?) has the ultimate, 10-CD celebration of The Bakersfield Sound – that back-to-basics, honky-tonk country style popularized by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard out of Bakersfield, CA.  The Bears’ box also features luminaries like Don Rich, Ferlin Husky, Dallas Frazier, Wynn Stewart, Jean Shepard, David Frizzell, Clarence White, The Gosdin Brothers, and many others to comprehensive chronicle the city’s towering legacy in music.  A 200-page book accompanies the 307 tracks, including demos, radio recordings, and previously unreleased live and studio recordings.  In short – a must-have!

Stage Door Records is bringing another rare London cast album to CD with the premiere of Man of Magic, the 1966 musical based on the life of Houdini.  With music by Wilfred Wylam (a.k.a. classical composer Wilfred Josephs), and book and lyrics by John Morley and Aubrey Cash, Man of Magic starred Americans Stuart Damon (Cinderella, General Hospital) and Stubby Kaye (Guys and Dolls, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) along with Judith Bruce (The Avengers, Playgirl After Dark).  The tuneful score was captured on the CBS cast album which has been remastered for Stage Door’s Cast Album Masters Series, limited to just 500 units.  Grab it before it disappears!

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Cat Stevens is revisiting his 1978 album Back to Earth in a mammoth 5-CD/2-LP/1-BD box set as well as standard CD and vinyl editions of just the remastered original album. The super deluxe set pairs the new remaster with a disc of live tracks from the last decade, plus rare demos, including two previously unheard tracks: “Toy Heart” and “Butterfly.” Also included is the previous 2001 remaster of Back To Earth, plus Alpha Omega (A Musical Revelation), a Yusuf-produced 1978 recording by his brother David. The final CD features Stevens’ performance at the 1979 UNICEF Year of the Child benefit concert, which marked his farewell (for several decades, at least) to concert performing. The sixth disc, a Blu-ray, features video footage of the UNICEF Year of the Child performance and a high-resolution version of the remastered Back To Earth album. There’s also an LP of the remaster and a further LP featuring the UNICEF concert. Rounding out the set is a 50-page hardback book and exclusive memorabilia. 

Following the limited Record Store Day release of the 2-LP set for Record Store Day Black Friday, a standard edition of Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration is set for wide release on January 24  From Decca:  “On Joni’s 75th birthday last November, a star-studded roster of musicians gathered together to pay tribute to the legendary singer-songwriter. The evening was recorded and is now being released on vinyl. It features performances by Brandi Carlile, Glen Hansard, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, Chaka Khan, Diana Krall, Kris Kristofferson, Los Lobos with La Marisoul, Cesar Castro & Xochi Flores, Graham Nash, James Taylor and more.”

Stage Door Records revisits Kwamina, the short-lived yet ambitious 1961 Broadway musical from the co-writer of Damn Yankees and The Pajama Game.  Kwamina (which translates to “born on Sunday”) recounted the (fictional) life story of Peter Kwamina Mwalla, the son of a West African tribal chief who returns to his home country after attending medical school in London, bringing with him modern methods which don’t sit well with his traditional village. He’s met with opposition by the village’s white female doctor, but (in formulaic style) romance blossoms before the evening’s end and they eventually work together to teach the tribe’s young members. Stage Door will reissue the original cast recording (starring Sally Ann Howes, Terry Carter, Brock Peters, and Robert Guillaume) as an expanded 2-CD entry in its Deluxe Edition series. This presentation, made possible as a result of current U.K. public domain laws, has the stereo Original Broadway Cast Recording accompanied by three alternate takes from the album sessions and a special bonus recording of “Another Time, Another Place” by original star Sally Ann Howes.  The second disc is dedicated to cover recordings from Kwamina including a new-to-CD studio cast recording, a jazz LP of the score by the Billy Taylor Orchestra, and pop covers by such artists as Robert Goulet, Jerry Vale, Al Martino, The Kingston Trio, Joanie Sommers, and Gordon MacRae. George Dansker has written new liner notes.

Concord Jazz revisits the evening in 2016 when Patti Austin, Cassandra Wilson, Ledisi, Monica Mancini, David Alan Grier, The Count Basie Orchestra, and other artists took the stage to celebrate the centennial of Ella Fitzgerald.  The album has 16 tracks including Austin’s “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” Austin and Grier’s Porgy and Bess medley, Wilson’s “Cry Me a River,” Mancini’s “Once in a While,” and much more.  Available on CD and digital formats.

Rufus Wainwright’s new studio album Unfollow the Rules features twelve new songs from the singer-songwriter including “Damsel in Distress” and “Unfollow the Rules.”  Available on CD and vinyl.

The long-running NOW series releases its second volume of NOW That’s What I Call Yacht Rock on CD and in digital/streaming formats May 1, with a 2-LP vinyl set arriving on July 3.  This installment features eighteen songs from a host of favorite artists including Kenny Loggins (joined by Stevie Nicks for “Whenever I Call You Friend,” co-written by Loggins and Melissa Manchester), Michael McDonald (“I Keep Forgettin'”), Toto (“I’ll Be Over You”), and Little River Band (“Reminiscing”). They’re joined by Seals & Crofts (“Summer Breeze”), Chicago (“If You Leave Me Now”), Elvin Bishop (“Fooled Around and Fell in Love”), Paul Davis (“I Go Crazy”), Gerry Rafferty (“Baker Street”), REO Speedwagon (“Keep on Loving You”), Captain and Tennille (“Love Will Keep Us Together”), and many more.

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Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers’ bar-band classic is returning to print in a newly expanded edition adding a second disc with 16 previously unreleased tracks including demos and rarities. The 40th anniversary edition of Have a Good Time But Get Out Alive! arrives from the reactivated Cleveland International Records label on May 22 digitally, and June 19 for CD and vinyl formats.  Grushecky, who wrote or co-wrote all but one of the album’s tracks, welcomed an illustrious guest roster. Mick Ronson played piano on “Rock Ola” and mandolin on “Old Man Bar” while Ian Hunter produced and arranged “Hypnotized” as well as arranging “We’re Not Dead Yet.” The uncredited Van Zandt, fresh off production work for Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes and then co-producing and recording with Bruce Springsteen forThe River, reportedly produced and arranged five tracks (“Junior’s Bar,” “Angela,” “Running Scared,” “Blondie,” and “Don’t Let Them Push You Around”) in addition to playing lead guitar on “Junior’s Bar.”

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Digital Edition: Amazon U.S. / Spotify

Cash Money: The Instrumentals collects 23 such instrumental tracks on digital platforms and 19 on vinyl. Many of these seminal cuts from the landmark hip-hop label have never before appeared on either format. Expect to hear crossover Hot 100 hits like Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up” (the uncensored version of the No. 19 entry “Back That Thang Up”) featuring Lil Wayne and Mannie Fresh; Birdman and Lil Wayne’s No. 21 “Stuntin’ Like My Daddy;” and Big Tymers’ No. 11 “Still Fly;” among other key tracks from Lil Wayne, Cash Money Millionaires, Hot Boys, and BG.

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Blue vinyl LP + poster: Yusuf/Cat Stevens Online Shop
Merchandise + media bundles: Yusuf/Cat Stevens Online Shop

Yusuf, a.k.a. Cat Stevens, has reimagined and re-recorded his 1970 classic Tea for the Tillerman for a new generation with the assistance of producer Paul Samwell-Smith and guitarist Alun Davies, both of whom collaborated with him on the original.  The result is a surprising yet familiar new take on a beloved LP.

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Orange vinyl: Vinyl Me Please

A newly unearthed concert from the late jazz titan Thelonious Monk premieres on Palo Alto.  Recorded October 27, 1968 at that California city’s high school, the set features both originals and standards in the inimitable Monk style. The album will be released on CD and LP.  The LP boasts a deluxe presentation with a gatefold sleeve, printed inners, a booklet with liner notes by Monk historian Robin D. G. Kelley plus reproductions of the original concert poster and program. For fans of color vinyl, the subscription program Vinyl Me Please offers an exclusive variant on transparent orange swirl vinyl.  Legacy Recordings is handling the digital release.

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LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Your Local Record Shop

The Grammy-winning blues icon Bobby Rush returns with a stripped down, acoustic tribute to the rich blues history of Mississippi featuring songs from a handful of blues greats from his adopted home state. These include early acoustic blues greats Skip James and Robert Johnson, and Rush’s contemporaries on the music scene of the ’50s and ’60s, Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson II, and Muddy Waters. There are also five Rush originals – “Down in Mississippi,” “Let Me in Your House,” “Sometimes I Wonder,” “Let’s Make Love Again,” and “Garbage Man,” all credited under his given name, Emmett Ellis, Jr. – whose country vibe matches the songs that inspired the album.

“Although I was born in Louisiana, I’m proud to call Mississippi home,” says Rush, who moved to Jackson, Mississippi, in the 1980s and traces his family connections to the Magnolia State back to his great grandparents. “I’m saluting Mississippi guys because they, to me, stayed truest to their roots. If you want to get the real deal of the blues, get it from the bluesmen who are from Mississippi. Whether they migrated somewhere else like Chicago or Beverly Hills, if they are from Mississippi you can hear the deep roots of Mississippi in their stories.”

A new box set will anthologize most of the output of influential ska/punk label 2 Tone Records.  2 Tone: The Albums collects on CD eight major long-playing albums issued by the British label between 1979 and 1984: The Specials’ Specials (1979), More Specials (1980) and In The Studio (1984, issued under a revised line-up and new name, The Special AKA); The Selecter’s Too Much Pressure (1980); Cuban-born Rico Rodriguez’s That Man Is Forward (1981) and Jama Rico (1982); and two compilations: Dance Craze, the soundtrack to the 1981 documentary of the same name covering the 2 Tone label and cultural movement, and 1983’s This Are Two-Tone, which collected non-LP and one-off singles from the label as recorded by The Specials, Madness, The English Beat, The Bodysnatchers, and more.  2 Tone: The Albums features all eight discs in mini-LP reproductions of their original sleeves, enclosed in a lidded rigid box with a 24-page booklet that features new liner notes for each album.

Real Gone has a limited vinyl reissue of the soundtrack to 1985’s The Return of the Living Dead. Return‘s history and legacy is a little complicated. George A. Romero and John Russo wrote 1968’s classic Night of the Living Dead.  After its release, the two parted ways, with Russo retaining the rights to use the title “Living Dead.”  Romero, meanwhile, began a series of sequels beginning with Dawn of the Dead in 1978 (four more films through 2009’s Survival of the Dead would follow). Russo wrote a novel entitled The Return of The Living Dead and then wrote and produced a film of the same name in 1985 (the same year as Romero’s second sequel, Day of the Dead). Return is a quasi-sequel to Night, but has many more comedic elements and exists in a continuity wholly separate from the Romero films and introduced the concept of zombies wanting to eat brains to the lore. Return itself would spawn four sequels through 2005’s Return of the Living Dead: Rave To The Grave. Return‘s soundtrack featured many popular punk bands from around 1985 including 45 Grave, The Cramps, The Damned, T.S.O.L., The Flesh Eaters and The Jet Black Berries. Real Gone released several limited edition colored vinyl versions of this for Halloweens past. This year, the label is doing a clear with blood red splatter vinyl edition.

The Gospel Truth: The Complete Singles Collection features all 17 singles issued by Stax Records imprint Gospel Truth between 1972 and 1974 – 34 songs on 2 CDs or 3 LPs – including both non-LP singles and samplings of the imprint’s album catalogue.  Among the highlights are numerous tracks from Gospel Truth’s first signing, Michigan’s The Rance Allen Group, who specialized in reworkings of secular songs into spiritual ones.  Also featured are four sides from Joshie Jo Armstead including her rendition of Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields’ “Ride Out the Storm” which she introduced onstage in the pre-Broadway tryout of Seesaw.  New liner notes have been penned for the collection by Memphis-based journalist and NPR host Jared Boyd, incorporating fresh interviews with Al Bell, Rance Allen, and Mary Peak Paterson.  While both editions are handsomely packaged, the LP is housed in a triple gatefold, with the vinyl pressed at Memphis Record Pressing.

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / uDiscoverMusic (gold)

The Best of Bond…James Bond offers a stellar 25-track overview of the pop themes that scored nearly all of the films based on Ian Fleming’s famed British secret agent. There are 14 U.K. Top 10 hits and two Academy Award winners herein – altogether, a formidable, half-century-plus musical portrait of one of cinema’s most popular characters. First released under this title by Capitol/EMI in 1999, The Best of Bond…James Bond was reissued in 2002, 2008 and 2012 with additional title themes and various bonus tracks (or, in the case of the latest edition, for the film series’ 50th anniversary, a bonus disc of score material).

There’s a few firsts for this Bond collection: this will be the set’s first LP edition, spread across three discs and pressed on either standard black or limited edition gold vinyl. (The gold set will be available exclusively at uDiscoverMusic.) For the first time, this edition of the collection will actually include the most current theme: Billie Eilish’s theme to Daniel Craig’s fifth and final Bond film, No Time To Die (due to release in November, having been delayed from this spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic).​

Nonesuch brings the soundtrack to Tim Burton’s big-screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s classic Grand Guignol musical to vinyl.  The 2-LP edition (mirroring the deluxe CD version of the complete soundtrack) features Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, and Sacha Baron Cohen.

4-CD/Blu-ray/LP/12″ Box: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Your Local Record Shop
2-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Your Local Record Shop
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Your Local Record Shop
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Your Local Record Shop

Cat Stevens revisits 1970’s Mona Bone Jakon in a new, 50th anniversary edition arriving in a host of formats.  The 4-CD/Blu-ray/LP 50th anniversary box set edition features a new remaster of the original mix (overseen by Paul Samwell-Smith) on CD 1, a 2020 remix by David Hefti on CD 2, and on LP, unreleased demos on CD 3 (including the new single “I Want Some Sun”), and 18 live performances on CD 4.  There’s also a 6-song live set on an etched LP and a Blu-ray disc featuring high-resolution audio of the 2020 mix, plus the original promotional video for “Lady D’Arbanville” and numerous television appearances.

5-CD/Blu-ray/LP/12″ Box: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Your Local Record Shop
2-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Your Local Record Shop
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Your Local Record Shop
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Your Local Record Shop

Cat Stevens, a.k.a. Yusuf, is looking back at his 1970 multi-platinum classic Tea for the Tillerman in a new variety of 50th anniversary formats.   The album cemented the artist’s reputation and included some of his best-known hits, including “Wild World,” “Father and Son,” and timeless classics like “Where Do the Children Play” and “On the Road To Find Out.”  The deluxe 50th anniversary box packs in 5 CDs, a Blu-ray, an LP, and an etched 12″.  CD 1 includes the 2020 remaster of the original album mix, while CD 2 houses the 2020 remix (also on LP).  The recent album Tea For The Tillerman ² is reprised on CD 3, while CD 4 contains demos, alternate versions, and unreleased tracks.  CD 5 is filled with 25 live recordings from The Troubadour in L.A. (also on an etched 12″),  KCET also in L.A., the BBC In Concert performance, Beat Club, various French TV appearances, and four songs recorded at New York’s Fillmore East.  The Blu-ray includes the promo video for “Father and Son,” TV appearances on KCET, a trio of songs from the BBC, and performances on Beat Club and French television.  If that weren’t enough, there’s also high-res audio of the 2020 remix of Tea For The Tillerman.

The hit West End revival of Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins was halted in March by COVID-19, but its live cast recording was thankfully preserved earlier.  This new album stars Zizi Strallen as the magical nanny, Charlie Stemp as Bert, and the legendary Petula Clark as The Bird Woman.  The stage version of the classic book and film features The Sherman  Brothers’ beloved movie tunes as well as George Stiles and Anthony Drewe’s new songs in that joyful spirit. Available on CD and digital formats.

12 x 7: The Singles Collection celebrates the late Amy Winehouse with all of her A- and B-sides, including the Ivor Novello Award winners “Stronger Than Me,” “Rehab,” and “Love Is a Losing Game,” on 12 slabs of vinyl.  Its twelve singles – totaling 23 sides (as Disc 12, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” doesn’t have a B-side) – encompass both Winehouse’s jazz-tinged/retro R&B originals as well as her interpretations of such classic songs as Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” Mort Garson and Bob Hilliard’s “Our Day Will Come,” and Leon Russell’s “A Song for You.”  Also featured is her impassioned rendition of “Body and Soul” with Tony Bennett.

Amy Winehouse’s The Collection brings together the British singer’s full-length efforts including both of the studio albums released in her lifetime, 2003’s Frank and 2006’s breakthrough Back to Black.  The latter, still one of the U.K.’s best-selling albums, earned the singer her second Ivor Novello Award (the first was for “Stronger Than Me” on Frank), a Brit Award, and five Grammys – tying the record for the most wins in one night by a female artist and making her the first British woman to win five of the coveted trophies.  Disc 3 has the posthumously-released Lioness: Hidden Treasures, which compiled alternates, one-off covers, and collaborations with Bennett, Nas, and Back to Black producer Mark Ronson.  The fourth CD has the audio from Winehouse’s Shepherd’s Bush concert of May 29, 2007, previously released on DVD only, and the fifth CD boasts remixes drawn from singles of “Stronger Than Me,” “Back to Black,” “You Know I’m No Good,” “Love Is a Losing Game,” and 11 more songs.

Have yourself a merry swingin’ little Christmas with this delightful 2019 release from Billy Stritch, Jim Caruso, and Klea Blackhurst.  That talented threesome captures the spirit of New York’s vibrant club scene with jolly renditions of classic tunes such as “The Christmas Waltz,” “The Christmas Song,” “Little Jack Frost Get Lost,” “It Happened in Sun Valley,” and the Andy Williams specialty “Kay Thompson’s Jingle Bells” plus the Cy Coleman/Floyd Huddleston gem “He’s Stuck in the Chimney Again.”  The trio is joined on their seasonal romp by jazz great Dave Koz and the one and only Donny Osmond.

On the evening of Friday, December 18, 2020 at 7:00 p.m., Stritch, Blackhurst, and Caruso will reunite online at Radio Free Birdland for a special holiday concert featuring Dave Koz, Luke Hawkins, and the inimitable Marilyn Maye.  Visit events.broadwayworld.com to get your front row ticket to this virtual concert.

1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

The Complete Atlantic Singles 1968-1971, first issued on CD and then as a Record Store Day vinyl exclusive in 2021, now gets a wide vinyl release.  The collection brings together Dusty Springfield’s 24 U.S. single sides released during her tenure at Atlantic on one deluxe 2-LP gatefold set.  These tracks have been remastered from the original mono tapes by Mike Milchner at Sonic Vision, and all but the eight sides pulled from Dusty in Memphis have never been reissued in these original mixes. TSD’s Joe Marchese provides the new liner notes based on interviews with Jeff Barry, Thom Bell, and Kenny Gamble.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Black Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Splatter Vinyl: Real Gone Music

Real Gone reissues keyboardist and Black Jazz co-founder Gene Russell’s 1973 sophomore album Talk to My Lady.  The album eschewed the trio format of its predecessor in favor of an electric band featuring Henry Franklin on bass, Black Jazz labelmate Calvin Keys on guitar, Charles Weaver on congas, Leon Ndugu Chancler on drums, and Eddie Gee on tambourine.  As well as his own soul-jazz compositions including the title track and “Get Down,” Russell brought new flavors to contemporary favorites (Stevie Wonder’s “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” and Gamble and Huff’s “Me and Mrs. Jones”) as well as classic standards (Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “My Favorite Things,” Carl Sigman and Tadd Dameron’s “If You Could See Me Now”).  Real Gone has Talk to My Lady coming on CD, standard black vinyl available everywhere, and clear with black splatter vinyl available exclusively through the label and limited to 200 copies.  It’s been remastered by Mike Milchner and features new liner notes from Pat Thomas.

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Impulse! Records celebrates its 60th anniversary with this new collection (available on 2 CDs or 4 LPs) charting the label’s history from 1961-1976 with a selection of tracks that explore the sounds of Impulse! during the societal and cultural revolutions of the 1960s.  Its 25 often-lengthy tracks reflect on politics, social upheaval, spirituality, and the African-American experience.  The label’s boldface names are all here including John and Alice Coltrane, Quincy Jones, Charlie Haden, Max Roach, Stanley Turrentine, Earl “Fatha” Hines, Ahmad Jamal, and Albert Ayler.

Stage Door launches a three-volume series collecting RCA Victor’s 1953 Show Time EPs.  Each four-song EP celebrated a different classic musical with a starry cast (often featuring singers who had starred onstage in the show represented).  The shows included on the first volume are Oklahoma! (Rodgers and Hammerstein); Carousel (Rodgers and Hammerstein); Show Boat (Kern and Hammerstein); The Cat and The Fiddle (Kern and Harbach); Babes in Arms (Rodgers and Hart); and Jumbo (Rodgers and Hart).  John Raitt, Jack Cassidy, Carol Bruce, Lisa Kirk, Stephen Douglass, and Patricia Neway are among the artists.

The new collection California Music Presents Add Some Music is anchored by an all-new recording of The Beach Boys’ gentle Sunflower anthem “Add Some Music to Your Day” featuring the participation of Beach Boys Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks as well as members of the extended Beach Boys family: Brian Wilson’s daughters Carnie and Wendy; Carl Wilson’s son Justyn; Mike Love’s children Christian, Hayleigh, and Ambha; and Al Jardine’s son Matt.  Spearheaded by David Beard, the editor and publisher of the long-running Beach Boys journal Endless Summer Quarterly, this special record will benefit Feeding America at a time when so many families in the U.S. are in need.  “Add Some Music to Your Day” has been produced by Brian Wilson Band member and Carnie Wilson’s husband Rob Bonfiglio.  The album is rounded out with solo contributions from Love, Jardine, Johnston, Marks, Bonfiglio, and longtime Beach Boys sideman Jeffrey Foskett.  Available on CD and digitally.

Omnivore’s release of Yesterday’s Tomorrow: Celebrating the Winston-Salem Sound preserves a concert held on May 12, 2018 at that city’s Ramkat club.  On that evening, original members of Winston-Salem bands including Arrogance, Little Diesel, Sacred Irony, and Rittenhouse Square -including such familiar names as Mitch Easter (Let’s Active), Peter Holsapple, Will Rigby, and Chris Stamey (the dB’s); singers Don Dixon, Dale Smith, Lynn Blakey, and Bob Northcott; and many others — got together to make a big noise in a (relatively) small space in celebration of Winston-Salem’s musical legacy.

Get On Board the Soul Train: The Sound of Philadelphia International Records Vol. 1 is the first in a series of box sets from the U.K.-based United Souls label, an imprint of Snapper Music, which will ultimately collect the entire Philadelphia International albums discography on CD.  The slipcased, 8-CD/1-12″ single hardcover book-style set will feature the following eight albums, originally released between 1971 and 1973:

• Billy Paul, Going East (Philadelphia International Z 30580, 1971);
• Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes, I Miss You (Philadelphia International KZ 31648, 1972);
• The O’Jays, Back Stabbers (Philadelphia International KZ 31712, 1971);
• Billy Paul, 360 Degrees of Billy Paul (Philadelphia International KZ 31793, 1972);
• Dick Jensen, Dick Jensen (Philadelphia International KZ 31794, 1973);
• The Intruders, Save the Children (Gamble KZ 31991, 1973);
• MFSB, MFSB (Philadelphia International KZ 32046, 1973); and
• Billy Paul, Ebony Woman (Neptune NLPS-201, 1970 – reissued Philadelphia International KZ 32118, 1973).

The set is rounded out by a 12-inch vinyl single of the O’Jays’ “Back Stabbers” b/w MFSB’s “Back Stabbers” and an exclusive poster.​

Stage Door Records brings the 1969 London Studio Cast Recording of Mame, starring Beryl Reid and Joan Turner and produced by Norman Newell at Abbey Road, to CD for the very first time in a remastered and expanded edition that adds two bonus single sides performed by Turner.  One of the few English-language recordings of Mame, it features all of Jerry Herman’s main numbers for the show including “It’s Today,” “We Need a Little Christmas,” “Bosom Buddies,” and “If He Walked Into My Life” with full, brassy orchestrations.

Real Gone brings Gene Russell’s New Direction to wide-release LP and CD after previously issuing it for Record Store Day last year.  The first release on Black Jazz Records, the album found the pianist and label founder supported by bassist Henry Franklin and drummer Steve Clover in a piano trio setting melding jazz and soul.

3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Amy Winehouse’s posthumous live release Amy Winehouse at the BBC, first issued in 2012, returns as a 3-CD or 3-LP expanded edition.  This presentation brings together her earliest BBC Radio sessions, music from her first television appearances, and more.  It features the original album on one disc plus A Tribute to Amy Winehouse by Jools Holland on Disc Two and BBC One Sessions Live at Porchester Hall on Disc Three.  The expanded Amy Winehouse at the BBC, with 38 tracks up from the original 14, contains a 20-page booklet featuring rare photographs.

Cleopatra Records delivers a tribute to Pink Floyd’s 1975 classic Wish You Were Here with a line-up of musicians including Todd Rundgren, Ian Paice, Joe Satriani, and Rick Wakeman.  Available on CD and vinyl.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Craft Recordings has announced a 75th anniversary campaign for groundbreaking R&B label Specialty Records.  On August 6, Rip It Up: The Best of Specialty Records will arrive on CD, LP, and digital platforms, and Craft promises that further releases from the Specialty catalogue will arrive over the next year.  The 18 tracks on Rip It Up spotlight the incendiary R&B and, later, rock-and-roll that put Specialty on the map.  (Perhaps Specialty’s gospel offerings will be recognized on a future release.)  Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Lloyd Price, Larry Williams, and Percy Mayfield are among the artists represented.

The late Charles Mingus’ January 19, 1974 concert at Carnegie Hall featuring sidemen George Adams, Hamiet Bluiett, Don Pullen, and Dannie Richmond as well as guest artists Jon Faddis, Jon Handy, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Charles McPherson was originally released by Atlantic Records with just two lengthy encore songs – “C Jam Blues” and “Perdido” – each occupying one side of vinyl.  Now, after 47 years, the entire show is being released by Run Out Groove on CD and LP, with 74 minutes of previously unreleased music from the late composer-leader-saxophonist.  It’s all been mastered from the original tapes, and the package features new liner notes by historian Michael Cuscuna to place it all into context.  The CD is due on June 11 and the LP on July 16.

Following The Show Time Series EP Collection Volume One, Stage Door Records has released Volume Two of the series premiering RCA Victor’s 1953 Show Time EPs on CD.  The single-CD 20-track release features five musicals:

• Mademoiselle Modiste (Victor Herbert/Henry Blossom);
• Naughty Marietta (Victor Herbert/Rida Johnson Young);
• Shuffle Along (Eubie Blake/Noble Sissle);
• Blackbirds of 1928 (Jimmy McHugh/Dorothy Fields); and
• The Band Wagon (Arthur Schwartz/Howard Dietz).

Cast members include Doretta Morrow, Thelma Carpenter, Avon Long, Cab Calloway, Harold Lang, and Edie Adams.  This release is limited to just 500 units.  Orders are shipping now directly from Stage Door; it’s due from Amazon on June 25 in the U.K. and July 2 in North America.

Following its Broadway debut in 1966, the Neil Simon/Cy Coleman/Dorothy Fields musical Sweet Charity made it to London in October 1967 in a production starring Juliet Prowse.  Two months later, Saga Records released its own recording of the Coleman/Fields score to coincide with the production’s arrival at the Prince of Wales Theatre.  Now, Saga’s studio cast recording starring West End mainstay Mary Preston as Charity is making its premiere on CD from Stage Door Records.  This is the only recording that features a cut verse from Charity’s “You Should See Yourself,” and Stage Door’s reissue additionally premieres an expanded version of “Rich Man’s Frug” with material cut from the original LP.  The CD has been remastered from the original tapes.

4CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
7LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Metallica continues the Black Album celebration with a second box set, The Metallica Blacklist.  Over 53 tracks, artists of various genres and generations celebrate the legacy of The Black Album with their own reinterpretations of its twelve songs.  The release groups the songs together in the original album order; in other words, the album begins with six versions of “Enter Sandman,” continues with seven interpretations of “Sad But True,” and so on.  Artists include Weezer, Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit, St. Vincent, Biffy Clyro, The Neptunes, Phoebe Bridgers, Mickey Guyton, My Morning Jacket, Darius Rucker, Chris Stapleton, Imelda May, Kamasi Washington, and Miley Cyrus featuring WATT, Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma, current Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo, and Chad Smith.  The Metallica Blacklist will be available in multiple formats including a 4CD box set; a limited edition 7LP vinyl box; and download/streaming.  Profits from the release will be divided evenly between charities of the artists’ choice and Metallica’s All Within My Hands Foundation.

LP Part One (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / PopMarket / Rough Trade U.K. – Exclusive Signed Edition)
LP Part Two (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / PopMarket)
4CD Box Set (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. – Exclusive Signed Edition / PopMarket)

Arthur Baker Presents Dance Masters: The Shep Pettibone Master Mixes is an expansive salute from one legendary remixer to another.  Available on 4 CDs (47 songs in one box set) or 2 LPs (32 tracks across two releases), the collection inaugurates the Dance Masters series and brings together vintage Pettibone 7- and 12-inch mixes of classic songs by a true “Who’s Who” including Whitney Houston, George Michael, Duran Duran, Cyndi Lauper, Belinda Carlisle, Elton John, Lionel Richie, The Salsoul Orchestra, and Sananda Maitreya (the former Terence Trent D’Arby).

Last year, the recently-reactivated Cleveland International Records label reissued Joe Grushecky and The Iron City Houserockers’ Have a Good Time…But Get Out Alive! as a deluxe edition for its 40th anniversary.  Now, the label is returning to the catalogue of the Pittsburgh rocker for a slightly belated 25th anniversary edition of The Houserockers’ 1995 album American Babylon which was produced by, and features, Grushecky’s friend Bruce Springsteen.  The 2-CD expansion of American Babylon features the original album plus bonus demos and a second disc of performances from Grushecky’s concert tour with Springsteen.  A vinyl reissue will follow in early 2022.

The Original 1998 Broadway Cast Recording of Terrence McNally, Lynn Ahrens, and Stephen Flaherty’s Tony Award-winning epic musical Ragtime – based on E.L. Doctorow’s novel and starring Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald, Marin Mazzie, Mark Jacoby, Peter Friedman, and Judy Kaye – comes to vinyl for the first time.  Masterworks Broadway’s 3-LP set, housed in a hardbound slipcase, features each disc pressed on 180-gram red, white, and blue vinyl, respectively, as well as a 20-page stitched, oversized booklet with new liner notes and track-by-track commentary by Ahrens and Flaherty, an interview with Mitchell, recording session photos, and the complete album libretto.

The second volume of Snapper/United Souls’ box set series collecting the complete Philadelphia International Records albums features the following eight albums, originally released in 1973:

• Billy Paul, Feelin’ Good at the Cadillac Club (Philadelphia International KZ 32119);
• The O’Jays, In Philadelphia (Philadelphia International KZ 32120);
• The Intruders, Super Hits (Gamble KZ 32131);
• Spiritual Concept, Spiritual Concept (Philadelphia International KZ 32404);
• The Three Degrees, The Three Degrees (Philadelphia International KZ 32406);
• Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes, Black and Blue (Philadelphia International KZ 32407);
• The O’Jays, Ship Ahoy (Philadelphia International KZ 32408); and
• Billy Paul, War of the Gods (Philadelphia International KZ 32409).

The slipcased, hardcover book-style set additionally features a 12-inch vinyl single of Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes’ “The Love I Lost” b/w The O’Jays’ “It’s Too Strong” and an exclusive poster.

Real Gone Music reissues Merry Christmas, Baby, one of the earliest compilations of Christmas music singles.  Originally issued in 1956 and subtitled Intimate Christmas Music for Young Lovers, the R&B album was released on the independent Hollywood Records and takes its name from the 1947 Charles Brown hit which it features.  Johnny’s Moore’s Blazers contribute another four songs to the compilation and the Jackson Trio (brothers Eugene and Freddie Jackson and a rotating third musician) add another two holiday compositions.  Another hit on the album is Lowell Fulson’s “Lonesome Christmas (Parts 1 and 2).”  Also included is Jimmy Witherspoon’s “Christmas Blues”.  In 1954, Hollywood released it on a single paired with another song:  Mabel Scott’s “Boogie Woogie Santa Claus,” which is an additional track on the compilation.  Scott recorded the song in 1947 and it earned a top 15 berth on the R&B chart.  Real Gone’s reissue is the first ever appearance of the original album on CD.  It has been remastered by Mike Milchner at SonicVison and features liner notes by Bill Dahl.

Real Gone has a vinyl repressing of the soundtrack to 2018’s Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch.  This was first released in 2020 by Real Gone as an exclusive at Urban Outfitters.  It is now hitting general retail for the first time.  Last year, The Second Disc said this about the album: “The 2018 reboot of the classic Christmas tale is full of great music – from Danny Elfman’s original score to musical selections by Jackie Wilson, Nat King Cole, The Supremes, Brian Setzer, Run-D.M.C., Tyler The Creator, and more.”  This new pressing comes on clear with red and white swirl vinyl.

Stage Door Records concludes The Show Time Series EP Collection, collecting RCA Victor’s 1953 series dedicated to highlights from classic musicals, with this volume featuring 20 tracks from five musicals.  The shows heard in this volume are: Anything Goes (Cole Porter); Kiss Me, Kate (Cole Porter); Porgy and Bess (George and Ira Gershwin/DuBose Heyward); Girl Crazy (George and Ira Gershwin); and The Little Shows (various songwriters).  Helen Gallagher, Lisa Kirk, Jack Cassidy, and Edie Adams are among the performers.

Carla Olson has brought together an array of female artists to celebrate the artistry of Gordon Lightfoot on this new 14-song CD release.  Ladies Sing Lightfoot features Olson (“Ringneck Loon”) and her band The Textones (“Early Morning Rain”) as well as Susan Cowsill (“if You Could Read My Mind”), Natalie Noone (“Steel Rail Blues”), Shayna Alder (“Carefree Highway”), and many others on a variety of Lightfoot favorites.

This new 22-track compendium features duet and solo cuts from Bakersfield troubadour Buck Owens and his frequent singing partner and television co-star Susan Raye originally issued between 1970 and 1975.  Together Again will be available on both CD and digital formats.

This 4-CD/1-7″ single collection spans the period of 1965-1975 and the groundbreaking Latin soul of such artists as Ray Barretto, Joe Bataan, Larry Harlow. Bobby Valentin, and Willie Colon.  The box set contains 89 single sides on four CDs housed in a 60-page hardcover book with liner notes by compilation co-producer Dean Rudland and numerous photos.  Also available as a 2-LP highlights edition.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1LP: Target.com

Legacy Recordings delivers a soundtrack to Questlove’s acclaimed 2021 documentary Summer of Soul, chronicling the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival.  Live recordings are featured from headliners including The 5th Dimension, Nina Simone, David Ruffin, Sly & The Family Stone, Gladys Knight & The Pips, B.B. King, The Chambers Brothers, and more.  Available now on CD and digital, with vinyl coming on June 17.  Both the digital edition and the 2LP vinyl version add one bonus cut, “Africa,” from Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach.

The Father of the Delta Blues (1902-1988) is back on this new release from Easy Eye Sound which premieres eight tracks from manager Dick Waterman’s personal archive of quarter-inch tapes recorded by House in the 1960s as the bluesman was rediscovered by a new generation of fans on the folk circuit. Forever On My Mind represents the earliest full-length House solo performance recorded after his rediscovery, at an appearance on November 23, 1964 at Wabash College, a small men’s school in Crawfordsville, Indiana.  Producer Dan Auerbach has overseen the restoration and mastering of these powerful performances.  Available on CD, standard black vinyl, Easy Eye Sound-exclusive orange marble vinyl, and digital/streaming.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Legacy issues the soundtrack to the fourth season of Amazon Prime’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and it’s another collection of favorites and rarities from the show’s period setting as well as a handful of original songs sung on the show.  This time out, the set features Doris Day, Ella Fitzgerald, Blossom Dearie, Judy Garland and Fred Astaire, and Broadway showstoppers from Wonderful Town, Oh, Captain!, and The Pajama Game.  It’s streaming now, hits CD on April 29, and vinyl on November 4.

2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Rhino reissues the bassist-composer’s 1957 album for Jubilee Records, Mingus Three, on CD and LP with eight previously unreleased performances.  A rare trio record for Mingus, it welcomed pianist Hampton Hawes and drummer Dannie Richmond and featured renditions of four familiar American Songbook standards (“Yesterdays,” “I Can’t Get Started,” “Summertime,” and “Laura”) as well as two originals (“Back Home Blues” and “Dizzy Moods”) and one jam credited to Hawes (“Hamp’s New Blues”).  The album has been expanded with a second disc of eight tracks, all recently discovered in the London Parlophone Records vaults.  These encompass alternate takes of every song on Mingus Three save “Laura,” plus two untitled, improvised blues originals.  The packages will replicate the original Jubilee sleeve and labels while the booklet adds new liner notes from pianist-arranger Sy Johnson (a Mingus collaborator in the 1970s) as well as period photos.

Notorious B.I.G.’s 1997 album Life After Death was released on Bad Boy and Arista Records just sixteen days after his death.  The expansive double album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and yielded two consecutive chart-topping singles, “Hypnotize” and “Mo Money Mo Problems.”  Now, it’s being reissued as a vinyl box set that’s quadruple the size of the original double-LP, with eight vinyl albums including the remastered Life After Death (now presented on three LPs), and reissues of the original 12-inch singles of “Hypnotize,” “Mo Money Mo Problems,” “Sky’s the Limit,” and “Nasty Boy.”  These are accompanied by a booklet featuring new liner notes by Sheldon Pearce, exclusive quotes from key personnel involved with the album, and rare photos from the original album cover shoot.  Everything is housed within a lavish box with a lift-up lid.

Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Stage Door Records

The Grand Imperial Cirque de Paris is coming back to town!  Stage Door Records has the latest in its series of Deluxe Edition cast recordings with a 2-CD expanded edition of the original 1961 Broadway Cast Recording of Michael Stewart and Bob Merrill’s Carnival!  The musical archaeologists at Stage Door have added choice renditions of Merrill’s tunes from such diverse artists as Joni (James) and her husband Tony (Acquaviva), Mel Tormé, Pat Boone, and The Everly Brothers as well as two complete studio recordings.  Composer-bandleader Cyril Ornadel’s recording was issued on MGM as a complement to the label’s cast recording and The Paul Smith Ensemble’s Carnival in Percussion arrived on sister label Verve.  (Electric organist Smith’s album features “Magic, Magic,” a duet between Rosalie and Marco that wasn’t included on the original cast album.)  Stage Door has even appended one track from German-born American zither player Ruth Welcome’s full-length Carnival! LP, recorded with notable arranger Klaus (or Claus) Ogerman.  Another rare treat is Anna Maria Alberghetti’s live “Love Makes the World Go ‘Round” from a Stars for Defense radio broadcast.  All three albums on Stage Door’s set are presented in stereo

On May 14 and 15, 1957, piano great Thelonious Monk joined drummer Art Blakey and his loose musical collective known as the Jazz Messengers to record an album for Atlantic Records.  The resulting LP, Monk’s lone appearance on the label, remains a high point in both artists’ discographies.  Blakey and Monk were joined by Johnny Griffin on tenor saxophone, Bill Hardman on trumpet, and bassist Spanky DeBrest for the session which featured such Monk compositions as “In Walked Bud,” “Blue Monk,” and “Rhythm-a-Ning.”  (Monk penned all of the album save one song co-written with Coleman Hawkins, and one track written by Griffin.)  Rhino’s expanded edition, available on 2 LPs or 2 CDs, features the original album supplemented by six session outtakes.  Ashley Kahn has authored the new liner notes.

Elvis Costello has joined his old friend Allan Mayes to reform Rusty, the band in which they played in 1972-1973.  Costello and Mayes were joined by The Imposters and guest keyboardist Bob Andrews of Brinsley Schwarz for this newly-recorded six-song album comprising Rusty originals plus covers of Nick Lowe, Jim Ford, and Neil Young played in the band’s original setlists.  The Resurrection of Rust arrives digitally June 10; the U.S. date for the CD release is July 29 (delayed from July 1) while the vinyl edition follows in August.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Light in the Attic Store
Red Opaque Wax LP: Light in the Attic Store
Clear Wax “Cocktail Party” LP: Light in the Attic Store
Black Vinyl LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Light in the Attic Store

Light in the Attic has unearthed a cache of tapes from tastemaker/scenester Earl McGrath to curate Earl’s Closet, a volume with rare and hard-to-find tracks from a wide variety of artists including Daryl Hall and John Oates, Delbert McClinton and Glen Clark, David Johansen, and Terry Allen.  The collection is available in a variety of formats, all of which include liner notes by Joe Hagan and mastering by John Baldwin.

4CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
4CD/7″/Cassette: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
6LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

A new box set devoted to late filmmaker John Hughes presents a diverse collection of pop songs he helped bring to the masses. Life Moves Pretty Fast. The John Hughes Mixtapes offers four volumes of songs from the writer/director’s popular comedies and teen dramas including The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The director’s longtime music supervisor Tarquin Gotch has curated the collection with the help of Hughes’ son James, even working from some of the filmmaker’s personal mix tapes as featured on the cover of the package. Gotch, the younger Hughes, and Ferris Bueller himself (actor Matthew Broderick) have all penned notes and tributes for the accompanying booklet, which will also include track-by-track annotations. The box will be available as a 4CD or 6LP set, with a double vinyl cutdown also available. A limited edition version of the 4CD set will add in a reissue of a 7″ sent to members of Hughes’ fan club featuring two tracks from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (which wouldn’t appear on CD until decades later) as well as a Hughesian cassette featuring a selection from the box.

This 22-track collection gathers the eclectic music featured in the fourth season of Netflix’s supernatural drama Stranger Things, including Kate Bush’s chart-topping “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God),” KISS’ “Detroit Rock City,” The Beach Boys’ “California Dreamin’,” James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain,” Metallica’s “Master of Puppets,” Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s “A Kiss to Build a Dream On,” and two versions of Journey with Steve Perry’s “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart).”  Available on CD, digital formats, and a host of 2-LP versions: standard black vinyl which includes a 12×12 Stranger Things poster insert; and exclusives at Walmart (Creel House cover and puzzle), Target (California cover and diorama), Barnes & Noble (Russia cover and stickers), and Amazon (Lab cover and a 12×12 Butcher Billy lithograph).  The CDs are available September 9 and the vinyl versions are due November 4.

Stage Door Records revisits Johnny Burke and Robert E. McEnroe’s 1961 Broadway musical based on The Quiet Man in a new 2-CD Deluxe Edition featuring copious bonus material including rare radio sessions, an orchestral album, rare pop single covers, demos, and more.

Following a sold-out run at Boston’s Colonial Theatre, the biographical A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical is coming to Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre.  The cast recording produced by the legendary Bob Gaudio preserves the performances of Will Swenson and Mark Jacoby as Neil in two different stages of his life, supported by a blazing cast including Robyn Hurder as Neil’s second wife Marcia Murphey.  The show (featuring a book by Anthony McCarten, screenwriter of Bohemian Rhapsody and the upcoming I Wanna Dance with Somebody) and album boast all of Diamond’s big hits including “Sweet Caroline,” “Cracklin’ Rosie,” “Solitary Man,” and “Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show.”  The musical begins previews on Braodway November 2 – the same date the album arrives on digital and streaming services – and opens December 4, coinciding with the CD release.

Stage Door Records brings this “holy grail” of international cast albums to CD with a clutch of rare bonus tracks.  The 1961 Mexico City cast recording of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s record-breaking musical arrives with eight additional tracks. These include both sides of the single recorded in Swedish by Christian Bratt, star of the 1961 Stockholm production; three additional Swedish cover recordings; and four pop covers from Harry Belafonte, James Shigeta, Don Rondo, and Gerrit van Triest.   This release is limited to just 500 units.

Looking for three packed discs’ worth of the best bands and artists you’ve never heard of – and a few you have?  Look no further than the 23rd (!) volume of International Pop Overthrow.  Curated by IPO founder David Bash and Rina Bardfield, this collection brings the long-running series back with a bang after a three-year hiatus due to…well, you know!  Live music is back, and so is IPO; the fest has so far in 2022 hit cities including Phoenix, Chicago, Liverpool, San Diego, Vancouver, New York, and Boston.  This eclectic 68-song sampler is overflowing with big hooks, bright guitars, shimmering harmonies, and an abundance of the kind of melodies you’d wished were still being written…and they are!  Familiar names here include Fernando Perdomo, Badfinger’s Joey Molland (performing with The Raz Band), April March (with a cut from her 2022 Omnivore release In Cinerama), singer-songwriter Seth Swirsky, and The Pengwins’ Danny Wilkerson, but each artist is choice.  The Tambourine People, The Vinylos, Lisa Marie Claire, Brent Windler, The Glimmer Stars, and countless others just might become new favorites.  Throughout, you’ll hear shades of Todd Rundgren, Cheap Trick, Badfinger, Big Star, The Cowsills, and The Sunshine Company – and the package lives up to the music, with art direction and design by Now Sounds’ Steve Stanley.  IPO Vol. 23 is a treat that will fit snugly in any stocking and brighten the holiday season.

Stage Door Records celebrates the legacy of Meredith Willson’s musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown with a deluxe 2-CD set comprising four distinct programs of the musical’s songs.  The Original Demo Recordings and More! opens with the fully-orchestrated album of demos performed by veteran studio singers Sandy Stewart and Bernie Knee.  It continues with another clutch of demos performed by Meredith Willson himself along with wife Rini and original star Harve Presnell.  The second CD is dedicated to pop cover recordings, beginning with the complete stereo album presentation of Andre Kostelanetz’s album of the Molly Brown score.  It then rounds up fourteen pop covers of the show’s standout numbers including Dinah Shore’s “I Ain’t Down Yet,” Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians’ “Belly Up to the Bar, Boys,” Aretha Franklin’s “Are You Sure,” Gordon MacRae’s “Dolce Far Niente,” Nat “King” Cole’s “If I Knew,” and The Four Preps’ “I’ve Already Started In.”  Stage Door’s premiere CD release of these rare recordings is limited to just 500 units and includes a colorful 12-page booklet with new liner notes by George Dansker.

Soul’d Out: The Complete Wattstax Collection:
12CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Wattstax: The Complete Concert:
6CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
10LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

The Best of Wattstax (Highlights)
1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Wattstax: The Living Word
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Wattstax 2: The Living Word
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

One of the greatest music festivals of the ’70s is getting celebrated with an exhaustive array of reissues from Stax Records and Craft Recordings: Wattstax, the multi-dimensional Los Angeles celebration of soul, funk, blues and gospel.  A 3CD box set released in 2003 took the highlights of both original double albums from 1973 and added even more material. Soul’d Out: The Complete Wattstax Collection, expands on that mightily: 12 CDs, including the complete concert on six CDs, four soulful engagements (also recorded for the original documentary) at Los Angeles’ Summit Club in the weeks that followed, and a handful of studio recordings and other ephemera that were also included on original releases. (A total of 31 tracks have never been released; even between-set speeches and introductions are retained.) The set comes with a full-color 76-page book featuring a new introduction from Al Bell, the festival’s organizer and the then-president of Stax, as well as new essays from Rob Bowman and A. Scott Galloway. Several smaller sets will be released alongside Soul’d Out including a still-lavish 6-CD or 10-LP box set with the complete concert only, a 1CD highlights album, and vinyl reissues of the original two double albums.

This new collection gathers together 14 hymns and spirituals recorded by the late Whitney Houston. Most of the songs stem from soundtracks, one of the few places she flexed her muscles within the genre (on 1992’s juggernaut The Bodyguard and more notably on 1996’s The Preacher’s Wife); six of the tracks are previously unreleased, and at least one was recorded in 1981, before Houston signed a deal with Clive Davis’ Arista Records. The set also includes a stirring cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” performed live on VH1 in the mid-’90s alongside gospel icon CeCe Winans. An accompanying documentary of the same name will dive deeper into Whitney’s gospel roots, with commentary from host Winans. The special will air on the UPtv and AspireTV networks on March 24 and will also receive a DVD release on an unconfirmed date.

Following the recent, massive Wattstax box, the team at Craft Recordings has another major Stax archival excavation: Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos is an impressive 7CD anthology including 146 demo versions of enduring Stax hits and fan favorites, songs written by label songwriters that ended up elsewhere as well as a number of songs unveiled here for the first time. Only six of these tracks have ever been released!  The material here runs the gamut of Stax’s style and influence throughout the ’60s and ’70s. The box features raw, early song sketches and fleshed-out full-band ideas; rough versions of hits for The Staple Singers (“Respect Yourself”), Luther Ingram (“If Loving You is Wrong (I Don’t Want to Be Right)”), and even non-Stax artist Wilson Pickett (whose “634-5789 (Soulsville, USA)” can be heard above, in co-writer Eddie Floyd’s original pass); and works by some of the greatest names to pen for Stax, including Isaac Hayes & David Porter, Carla Thomas and the team known as We Three (Homer Banks, Bettye Crutcher and Raymond Jackson).  Michael Graves has mastered the audio.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Dark Horse Records is kicking off its Leon Russell campaign with a reissue of his intimate 2001 set Signature Songs, on which Russell revisited such classics of his songbook as “A Song for You,” “Tight Rope,” “Delta Lady,” and “This Masquerade” in piano-and-vocal arrangements.  Available on CD, vinyl, and digital formats.

After well over a year since the release of Satisfaction Guaranteed, United Souls’ series of box sets collecting the Philadelphia International label’s complete studio albums resumes with Love Is the Message: The Sound of Philadelphia Vol. 3.  The third installment of the series promised to eventually encompass 15 volumes contains the following eight studio albums:

• The Ebonys, The Ebonys (Philadelphia International KZ 32419, 1973);
• MFSB, Love Is the Message (Philadelphia International KZ 32707, 1973);
• Bunny Sigler, That’s How Long I’ll Be Loving You (Philadelphia International KZ 32859, 1974);
• Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes, To Be True (Philadelphia International KZ 33148, 1975);
• The O’Jays, Survival (Philadelphia International KZ 33150, 1975);
• Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, Potpourri (Philadelphia International KZ 33152, 1974);
• Monk Montgomery, Reality (Philadelphia International KZ 33153, 1974); and
• Billy Paul, Got My Head on Straight (Philadelphia International KZ 33157, 1975).

Like previous boxes in this series, a 12-inch single is included.  This time, it features MFSB’s “T.S.O.P.” featuring The Three Degrees, backed with The Trammps’ “Stop and Think.”  The latter would appear on an album in 1975 when PIR imprint Golden Fleece released the eponymous The Trammps.  Tony Cummings supplies liner notes for this collection, and all audio has been remastered from the original tapes.

1961’s Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane was recorded in 1957 but not issued until Trane (already a veteran of Davis’ and Dizzy Gillespie’s bands) had become a jazz superstar in his own right.  The album was recorded not long after pianist Monk, already a titan of the jazz genre, and Coltrane began a summer residency at New York’s Five Spot Café.  Now, it returns as one of the first titles in the relaunched Original Jazz Classics series.  The album has been pressed on 180-gram vinyl, cut from the original master tapes in an all-analog (AAA) chain by Kevin Gray at Cohearant Audio.  it will also be reissued digitally in 192/24 HD Audio.

Craft Recordings looks back on the Savoy label and the roots of bebop on this new collection.  Available on five 10-inch LPs or two CDs, The Birth of Bop brings together 30 early examples of the groundbreaking jazz genre originally recorded between 1944 and 1949; artists include Stan Getz, Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Milt Jackson, Kai Winding, and Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis.  New liner notes have been penned by Neil Tesser while Joe Tarantino has remastered.

Rush’s ninth studio album, Signals, is going super deluxe in a new box set containing:

• 2015 remastered Signals on CD (previously issued on vinyl) for the first time;
• 2015 remastered Signals on half-speed mastered, 180-gram LP in a tip-on jacket;
• Blu-ray Audio Disc featuring Signals in both Dolby Atmos and 5.1 surround mixes by Richard Chycki as well as the 2015 remaster in 48/24 stereo, new animated visualizers, and music videos for “Subdivisions” and “Countdown”;
• “Subdivisions” b/w “Red Barchetta” (Live) 7-inch single;
• “Countdown” b/w “New World Man” 7-inch single;
• “New World Man” b/w “Vital Signs” (Live) 7-inch single; and
• “New World Man” (Single Edit) b/w “Digital Man” 7-inch single.

The box is rounded out with a 40-page hardcover book featuring previously unpublished photos from the Signals tour and new illustrations, plus an assortment of swag: three lenticular pieces transitioning from black-and-white headshots into the “Digital Man” color headshots, four Signals tour lithographs, a replica of Syme’s original cover sketch; and a double-sided poster with Syme’s art on one side and an outtake photo from the cover shoot on the other side.

4CD: Amazon U.S. (TBD) / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada (TBD)
4CD with signed print: Amazon U.K.

Dance Masters: Arthur Baker (The Classic Dance Remixes) brings Baker’s work behind the mixing boards to life with a 43-track offering of classic 12″ mixes. From club hits like Afrika Bambaataa and The SoulSonic Force’s “Planet Rock” to mixes of pop classics by Daryl Hall & John Oates, Cyndi Lauper, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Fleetwood Mac, and more, this new volume of Dance Masters offering will more than live up to its name. It’ll be available on four CDs or eight LPs, newly remastered by Nick Robbins at Sound Mastering and featuring in-depth liner notes by Bill Coleman plus track-by-track commentary by Baker himself (along with rare photos from his archives). A 2LP highlights package will also be available.  Of particular worth to collectors is a promotional mix of Pet Shop Boys’ “Suburbia” making its CD debut, plus rare-to-CD mixes of songs by Al Jarreau, Robbie Nevil, Neneh Cherry, Carly Simon and Atlantic Starr. Even a mix of Artists United Against Apartheid’s charity single “Sun City” and a track from Baker’s collaboration with Bob Dylan (1985’s Empire Burlesque) are included here.

7CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
8LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Changes: The Complete 1970s Atlantic Recordings – on 7 CDs, 8 LPs, and digital formats – collects new remasters of all seven of jazz bassist-composer-leader Charles Mingus’ studio albums as originally released on Atlantic Records between 1974 and 1979 plus bonus material. The CD version includes three previously unreleased outtakes: “Big Alice,” “The Call,” and “Music for ‘Todo Modo.'” The LP version, though, offers more: those three tracks plus additional unreleased takes for “Big Alice” and “The Call” and previously released alternates (which first appeared on CD in 1993) of “Big Alice” and “The Call.”

The fifth and final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel arrives on CD June 9 (and LP on September 22) – and marvelous it is!  The album features both classics (Tony Bennett’s “I Wanna Be Around,” Barbra Streisand’s “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” and “I Stayed Too Long at the Fair,” Richard Burton’s Camelot ballad “How to Handle a Woman,” Doris Day’s “I Love the Way You Say Goodnight,” and Bobby Short’s “I Happen to Like New York”) and some unexpected surprises (Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer as Carol Burnett doing Once Upon a Mattress‘ “Shy,” Hank Azaria’s “Nancy (With the Laughing Face),” and Mrs. Maisel herself – Rachel Brosnahan – performing her final standup routine).

4CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
6LP Signed: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP Highlights: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

In the course of a career spanning seven decades, Tony Visconti has produced seminal albums in the classic rock genre including high profile collaborations with David Bowie, T. Rex, Gentle Giant, Strawbs, and Badfinger.  But Visconti’s C.V. runs much deeper, from folk (Ralph McTell, Tom Paxton) to musical theatre (Elaine Paige) and everything in between (Sparks).  Edsel now releases the first large-scale tribute to Visconti’s enormous musical legacy.  Produced by Tony Visconti has been curated by its subject.  It will be available in a variety of formats including 4 CDs, 6 LPs, and 2 LPs, with the 6LP edition including a signed print by Visconti.  The CD box boasts 77 tracks from the producer’s distinguished career, while the LP box offers 73 and the highlights 2LP set has 30 songs. Phil Kinrade has mastered all audio at AIR Mastering with Visconti’s approval.  The 4CD version has an 80-page booklet with an introduction by Visconti, track-by-track notes by Mark Paytress, artist tributes, and previously unpublished photographs.  The 6LP vinyl edition is strictly limited to 1,000 units, with each LP pressed on 140-gram vinyl and a 60-page booklet included.  Artwork for both formats was designed by the Barnbrook studio.

Iconoclassic Records brings a long-lost album from E Street Band charter member David Sancious to CD.  After playing piano, organ and keys on Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ; The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle; and the title track of Born to Run, Sancious founded Tone with bassist Gerry Carboy and another former E Streeter, drummer Ernest “Boom” Carter. Fans expecting the Jersey Shore sound were in for a surprise: Tone were influenced by prog and jazz fusion, and Dance of the Age of Enlightenment – a four-movement ballet – was no different. The album was awash in painstakingly overdubbed keyboards and synths and featured vocals from Mahavishnu Orchestra/Return to Forever singer Gayle Moran and another vocalist on the shore scene named Patti Scialfa (who would later marry Springsteen). Despite its artistic merits, Sancious’ label Arista projected little commercial fortunes, and the album was shelved after a rare promotional issue squeaked out.  That all changes with this CD premiere, newly remastered from the original tapes by Sancious himself. (He’s also penned liner notes for the package, which features John Sellards’ restoration of the original album artwork.) Fans of ’70s prog and fusion will find this one irresistible.

4CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.K. (signed print) / Amazon Canada
6LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. (signed print) / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

The Arthur Baker-presented Dance Masters series follows generous box sets on Shep Pettibone and Baker himself with a new overview of John “T.C.” Luongo, who parlayed working in and around the Boston club scene into more than a decade of 12″ remix work, first for some of the greatest R&B artists crossing over into disco, and then fusing cutting edge dance sounds to a new generation of MTV-savvy rock acts. The list of cuts given the extended treatment here is formidable, from Dan Hartman’s influential “Vertigo/Relight My Fire” and soulful sides by Johnny Mathis, Melba Moore, and Patti LaBelle to takes on Huey Lewis and The News’ “I Want a New Drug,” Billy Idol’s “Eyes Without a Face,” ABC’s “The Look of Love,” Tina Turner’s “The Best” and so much more. As with the other volumes in the Dance Masters series, this one has been coordinated and compiled by catalog producer Wayne A. Dickson and Baker (who also writes a foreword to the set’s liner notes essay by Alexis Petridis). Luongo offers track-by-track commentary along with rare photos from his personal collection. The 4CD set will feature 43 tracks in total, with a 6LP box set showcasing 36 tracks (some of which are different mixes or songs entirely) and a double vinyl featuring 16. (Amazon U.K. will have limited quantities of the box set editions with a signed print.)

The Great Songs of Christmas: Masterworks Edition brings together 18 lush selections primarily drawn from the original, long out-of-print series of LPs, featuring the most beloved carols of all time as performed by the greatest classical artists of the 20th century.  These legends include Leonard Bernstein and The New York Philharmonic, Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, opera greats Richard Tucker, Robert Merrill, and Anna Moffo, cellist-conductor Pablo Casals, and Erich Leinsdorf and The London Symphony Orchestra with The Roger Wagner Chorale.  Half of the tracks are new to CD, and most of the rest can be fiendishly tough to find on out-of-print compilations.  This volume of The Great Songs of Christmas has been freshly remastered by Mike Milchner at SonicVision, and the deluxe 24-page booklet designed by John Sellards features new, track-by-track liner notes by Joe Marchese and rare photos of the artists.

Back to the Future, currently filling seats at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre, is expanding its original London cast recording starring Olly Dobson and Roger Bart (currently reprising his role as Doc Brown in New York) with an entire bonus disc of demos and early versions of the score’s songs by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard.

4CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Craft Store (picnic meadow green)

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This remarkable new 4CD/1BD box set invites listeners to hear The Sound of Music anew.  The first two discs represent the complete musical score as heard in the film, from the orchestral prelude and Julie Andrews’ iconic “The Sound of Music” – yes, that word is overused, but it certainly qualifies here! – all the way to the climactic reprise of “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” and the “End Cast” titles. The program closes with vintage audio interviews with Rodgers, Wise and Charmain Carr, who played the Von Trapp’s eldest daughter Liesl.  The third disc presents a fresh remaster of the original 1965 soundtrack LP along with a few archival bonus tracks – most of them previously released, other than a demo of “I Have Confidence” sung by none other than Marni Nixon, who played one of the nuns and also famously served as the singing voice behind Natalie Wood in the Wise-directed 1961 adaptation of West Side Story and Audrey Hepburn in 1964’s My Fair Lady (a role Andrews originated but was passed over, allowing her to secure her Oscar-winning turn in Mary Poppins.) The fourth disc, meanwhile, is chockablock with extras: alternate takes of key songs and instrumentals of the major musical numbers, nearly all previously unreleased. (The set boasts a total of 42 unreleased tracks, including some pieces of score that did not make previous reissues.) Simply put, this box is the last word on the beloved soundtrack to The Sound of Music.  The Blu-ray offers stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes.  “Highlights” editions are available on CD and LP.

The new cast recording of Broadway’s current smash hit revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street starring Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford – currently streaming – comes to 2 CDs on December 15 and to 3 LPs in March 2024 from Reprise/Arts Music.  Produced by musical director Alex Lacamoire and co-produced by director Thomas Kail, the album preserves the acclaimed cast’s rendition of Sondheim’s thrilling score with the original, 26-piece orchestrations of Jonathan Tunick.  Both the CD and LP versions will include a deluxe, 40-page booklet with liner notes by Peter Marks, the full libretto, and production photos.  Gaten Matarazzo, Jordan Fisher, Ruthie Ann Miles, Maria Bilbao, Jamie Jackson, John Rapson, and Nicholas Christopher round out the principal cast of this stunning revival.

Legendary guitar hero and “Nashville Sound” progenitor Chet Atkins (1924-2001) is celebrated on this new release featuring contributions from James Taylor, Alison Krauss, Vince Gill, Eric Clapton, Ashley Campbell, Brad Paisley, Ricky Skaggs, Charlie McCoy, Atkins pals Tommy Emmanuel CGP and John Knowles CGP, and others.  Carl Jackson has produced.  A vinyl edition follows on May 3.

LITA has lined up an A-team of artists to celebrate the late Lou Reed.  The Power of the Heart is available in wide release on CD and as a Record Store Day exclusive on vinyl, and features Rosanne Cash, Keith Richards, Lucinda Williams, Rufus Wainwright, Rickie Lee Jones, Joan Jett, and others on a host of classic Reed songs.

Cleopatra has assembled a group of artists including Todd Rundgren, Steve Hillage, Carmine Appice, Ian Paice, Arthur Brown, and King Crimson’s Jakko M. Jakszyk and Mel Collins to recreate Crimson’s 1969 classic In the Court of The Crimson King.  Available on CD, LP, and digitally.

To coincide with a revival of the roller-skating sensation Starlight Express to London, Universal Music Recordings is reissuing a 1-LP “highlights” package of the original London cast recording on zoetrope vinyl.  This recording of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Richard Stilgoe musical preserves the performances of Stephanie Lawrence (Pearl), Frances Ruffelle (Dinah the Dining Car), Jeff Shankley (Greaseball), Ray Shell (Rusty), Jeffrey Daniel (Electra), Lon Satton (Poppa), and soul queen P.P. Arnold (Belle the Sleeping Car), among others.  The complete 1984 recording featured 28 tracks, 11 of which are reprised on this single-LP release.  A twelfth song, “Crazy,” has been appended from 1992’s The New Starlight Express, a much-publicized revision to the London production.  (When the combined London run of the original and new versions ended in January 2002, Starlight Express had run for 7,409 performances.)

Houserocker: A Joe Grushecky Anthology is an all-encompassing look at the singer, songwriter, and bandleader, covering 40 years of music from The Iron City Houserockers, Joey G., Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers, and Grushecky solo.  Available on 2 CDs and digitally, the anthology culls 36 key tracks from Grushecky’s discography, as newly remastered by Michael Graves.  The compilation has been produced by Omnivore’s Cheryl Pawelski along with Joe’s son (and current Houserocker) Johnny Grushecky, and includes a booklet with liner notes by Mike Ragogna and Joe, plus Joe’s track-by-track comments.  Rare photos round out the package.

Can’t Outrun a Memory is Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers’ first studio set since 2017’s More Yesterdays Than Tomorrows.  Grushecky states in the press release of this new LP, “This one was a long time coming, but we worked through, never losing sight that we were creating one of our best records. I believe we captured the band at its peak.”  Omnivore’s release, available on CD, 2 LPs, and digital formats, includes a quartet of bonus tracks illuminating the songs’ development.

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1LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Universal releases the soundtrack to the new Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black in different configurations: 1CD/1LP or 2CD/2LP.  The single-disc version offers a dozen cuts from Winehouse, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, The Shangri-Las, Minnie Riperton, and Nick Cave.  The double-disc sequence has all of the above plus songs from Tony Bennett, Willie Nelson, The Specials, Thelonious Monk, Donny Hathaway, and The Libertines for a total of 26 songs. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Legacy Recordings, in collaboration with Whitney Houston’s estate, will release the late artist’s The Concert for a New South Africa (Durban).  The CD and double vinyl release chronicles Whitney’s first of three concerts in South Africa in the fall of 1994 – just a few short months after the first democratic election was held in the country, marking an official end to the apartheid state that had gripped the nation and became a flashpoint for activist musicians less than a decade before. On November 8 of that year, at Kings Park Stadium in Durban, Houston and her band took the stage to perform some of her greatest hits, from the ’80s chart-toppers “How Will I Know,” “Greatest Love of All,” “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” and “So Emotional” to the killer run of singles from her soundtrack to 1992’s The Bodyguard.  The audio release – featuring highlights on the physical release and the full concert on digital streaming and download versions – is preceded by a concurrent limited theatrical screening of restored footage from the same set. It’s the first time anything from the show has been released; HBO aired Houston’s second show, taped at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg on November 12, for a concert special; portions were later released on 2014’s Whitney Houston Live: Her Greatest Performances. The album closes with an unreleased studio version of “Love Is,” a track performed at the South African concerts. (The digital version will include a second mix of “Love Is” by gospel singer Carvin Winans.)  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Target (with fold-out poster) / Barnes & Noble (alternate cover)
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Target (split green/pink)

What else can we say? Wicked just might be the most highly-anticipated film of the year, and here’s the soundtrack (featuring the songs heard in Act One of the long-running Broadway musical…fans of Act Two will have to wait until the next movie!). Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, and Michelle Yeoh are among the stars, along with a few surprise voices that you’ll find out if you seek out the track list on the cover – so use caution if you’re spoiler-averse! Available on CD, LP, and digital formats, including various retailer exclusives including Target and Barnes & Noble.  As an Amazon affilliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.

Perhaps the most fun release of the year – and certainly the sweetest – is this entry in Cherry Red’s ongoing series of themed compilations.  Pour a Little Sugar on It: The Chewy Chewy Sounds of American Bubblegum 1966-1971, on the Grapefruit imprint, brings together 91 tracks from the golden age of bubblegum music.  Naturally, there are plenty of songs with food allusions (“Yummy Yummy Yummy,” “Candy Apple Cotton Candy,” “Gingersnap,” and, of course, “Chewy Chewy” among them)…and artists with food in their names, too (1910 Fruitgum Co., Salt Water Taffy, The Rasberry [sic] Pirates, The Peppermint Trolley Company, Cartoon Candy Carnival, The Pinneaple Heard, The Marshmallow Highway, and even the Pastrami Malted…yuck!).  But this compilation is more than just another excuse to write off bubblegum as some lesser form of pop; instead, it’s the genuine craftsmanship behind these songs that shines through.  Compiler David Wells has dotted every “i” and crossed every “t,” including artists both expected (The Archies, Ohio Express, 1910 Fruitgum Co., The Lemon Pipers, Bobby Sherman) and some less so (Neil Diamond, The Electric Prunes, Sparks, The Beach Boys, The Monkees, and…The Velvet Underground?!), and the collection flows seamlessly.  There are rarities from Rupert Holmes (The Street People’s “Jennifer Tomkins” and “Thank You Girl”), Ron Dante (“Let Me Bring You Up,” “How Do You Know”), the Jeff Barry-produced Globetrotters (“Cheer Me Up,” “Bouncin’ All Over the World”), and numerous cuts from the Kasenetz-Katz factory.  While this offering might be too sugary for some, it’s just right for anyone with a taste for pop music at its well, chewy-chewiest!  (And the 48-page booklet with detailed, track-by-track annotations is worth the cost of admission.)

Ring the Bells and Sing: with this new compilation, Esoteric Recordings takes a look at 1975 in progressive rock.  By compiler Mark Powell’s admission, “1975 is not often referred to as a year that produced a wealth of legendary music.”  He sets out to prove that assessment wrong with this 4-CD, 47-song compendium.  The set stresses the international reach of prog as well as the art of the album as opposed to the single; while many of these artists weren’t regular hitmakers, Powell stresses that they were filling theatres as well as college and university auditoriums, no longer underground but an important part of the rock music of the day.  Many of the names here are familiar to collectors of other Cherry Red/Esoteric releases (Barclay James Harvest, Hawkwind, Stackridge, Procol Harum, Renaissance).  Another Esoteric alum, Al Stewart, might not fit neatly into any one musical box – whether folk, pop, prog, rock, or even yacht rock! – but his “Modern Times” is a seamless inclusion here.  Of the other boldfaced names, Yes is represented with “Soon” (perhaps ironically, in its single version) and bassist Chris Squire is also heard on his own “Lucky Seven.”  Genesis’ Steve Hackett is represented with “Star of Sirius” and “Shadow of the Hierophant.”  Concentrating (mostly) on deep cuts, Ring the Bells and Sing serves as an alternative history of rock circa ’75.  Its accompanying 48-page booklet, with track-by-track annotations, is an essential part of the journey.  James Collins has remastered, and the whole thing is housed in a clamshell case that’s the perfect size to stuff a stocking!​

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CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

The soundtrack to director James Mangold’s critically acclaimed biopic A Complete Unknown, starring Golden Globe nominee Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan, arrives January 24 on vinyl in a 16-song edition featuring such highlights as “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “Girl from the North Country,” “Maggie’s Farm,” “Like a Rolling Stone,” and “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.”  The full 23-song soundtrack follows February 28 on CD, with unique cover artwork.

4CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
7LP: Amazon U.S. (TBD) / Amazon U.K. (TBD) / Amazon Canada (TBD)
Super Deluxe 4CD/7LP: Official Store / uDiscover Music

Rush 50 comprises a generous 50-track overview of the group’s output spanning their entire career across four CDs or seven 180-gram LPs, plus a 104-page hardcover book featuring new 50th anniversary artwork by the band’s creative director Hugh Syme and liner notes by David Fricke and Philip Wilding. (A super deluxe box set will include both physical formats, the hardcover book, and additional material.) The set offers five tracks released on CD for the first time and five previously unreleased cuts, including both sides of the band’s debut single, alternate versions of songs “Working Man” and “The Trees,” live versions of songs never released on albums, and the final number of the group’s last concert, featuring late drummer Neil Peart. Whew! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Rufus Wainwright had an eclectic 2024, encompassing projects including the West End musical Opening Night and this classical commission based on the text of Lord Byron’s “Darkness” and the Requiem Mass.  Warner Classics has issued the live recording of the premiere performance of the latter. Byron’s text is mostly narrated by an actor (in this case, Meryl Streep; a future California performance will be narrated by Jane Fonda) and is underscored by orchestra.  The Latin Requiem text is sung by a large mixed choir, children’s choir, and soprano (Anna Prohaska). Mikko Franck conducts.  Available on CD and vinyl (and already out digitally).​

A deluxe edition of Status Quo’s first concert album will pair the original album – never a favorite of the band’s leader Francis Rossi – with the full, newly-remixed shows that it was assembled from, all under the supervision of the band.  Working with Statua Quo and engineer Andy Gamble at AVP Productions, the newly-expanded Live! pairs a remaster of the original album with the three Glasgow shows (each with identical set lists) – all sourced from newly-discovered multi-tracks of the concerts. These fresh new mixes have given Rossi (who still tours with the Quo to this day) the chance to hear the material to his satisfaction, and this new set bears his figurative stamp of approval.  It’s packaged in a 7″ box set with a booklet that includes photos, memorabilia, and new liner notes by both Dave Ling of Classic Rock and Gamble, who dives deep on the restoration process. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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Following last year’s releases of Houserocker: A Joe Grushecky Anthology and the singer-songwriter’s newest album, Can’t Outrun a Memory, Omnivore Recordings returns to the Grushecky discography with the worldwide CD premiere of The Iron City Houserockers’ 1981 album, Blood on the Bricks.  The band’s third album, it was produced by Steve Cropper and features “Friday Night,” “Saints and Sinners,” and more.  It’s been newly remastered by Michael Graves and expanded with 11 previously unreleased bonus tracks.  TSD’s Joe Marchese has written the new liner notes based on an interview with Grushecky.  The expanded edition will also be available digitally.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.​

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Cat Stevens is bringing his 1974 Japan-exclusive album, Saturnight: Live from Tokyo, to CD and wide-release vinyl following 2024’s Record Store Day reissue.  The 12-track album features the first live performance of Stevens’ cover of Sam Cooke’s “Another Saturday Night” as well as staples including “Wild World,” “Peace Train,” and “Oh Very Young.”  This edition, remastered at Abbey Road, includes liner notes including remembrances from bassist Bruce Lynch and tour manager Carl Miller.  The CD is housed in a digipak with a 16-page booklet.  The vinyl edition is pressed on 140-gram black vinyl, with a 140-gram splatter variant available through various Universal storefronts including Cat’s online store, The Sound of Vinyl, and uDiscoverMusic.  (The 2024 RSD exclusive was pressed on 180 grams.)  All formats are due on May 2.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Back in 2023, Iconoclassic released E Street Band founding keyboardist David Sancious’ rare, originally-withdrawn album Dance of the Age of Enlightenment on CD for the first time. Now, the label is continuing its association with the artist for a reissue of his 1981 album The Bridge. The album was originally issued on Arista in 1981 in the U.K. and Japan, while the 1982 American edition was released on Elektra. Iconoclassic’s worldwide CD premiere has a reversible insert with both covers (take your pick!), while the audio has been newly remastered by Sancious and Robert Frazza for this release.​

Mingus In Argentina offers highlights from two shows near the end of the late composer-bandleader’s career in 1977, on which he’s joined by Ricky Ford (tenor saxophone), Jack Walrath (trumpet), Robert Neloms (piano), and Dannie Richmond (drums).​ This set features a 36-page booklet with liner notes by Brian Priestley.  Previously available on vinyl for Record Store Day.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.​

Springsteen’s Country will collect 20 covers of The Boss, some familiar (Johnny Cash’s “Johnny 99,” Steve Earle’s live take on “State Trooper”), some offbeat (a take on Tunnel of Love opener “Ain’t Got You” by Solomon Burke, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s version of beloved outtake “From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)”), and some altogether lesser known (Americana acts like Lera Lynn and The Whiskey Treaty Roadshow interpreting “Fire” and “The Rising”). The set was compiled by Sean Rowley, a well-known British DJ/presenter who happens to be one of the men on the album cover of Oasis’ (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?. (Rowley previously assembled Ladies Sing The Boss for Ace.) As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.​

Hot on the heels of a successful London revival, the Original Broadway Cast Recording of the 2009 Tony Award-winning musical Next to Normal is revisited for this special 2CD edition which premiered last year on digital services.  Composer Tom Kitt and co-producer Derik Lee have remixed the original album from the multitracks, bringing out new elements in both the orchestration and vocals, and revitalizing it with a newfound energy better reflective of the cathartic experience in the theatre.  Next to Normal, co-written with Brian Yorkey and starring Alice Ripley, J. Robert Spencer, and Aaron Tveit, explored mental illness in a frank and authentic fashion all too infrequently seen on stage; this newly-revitalized recording is a reminder of its searing score and the powerful emotions it conjures.​  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

The 2CD or 2LP Stax Revue: Live in ’65! expands a pivotal pair of concerts undertaken at the 5-4 Ballroom in Los Angeles 60 summers ago when the Memphis label – newly bolstered by a distribution deal with Atlantic Records – took several of its marquee acts to the West Coast (many for the first time) for a spirited club set packed with favorites by William Bell (“You Don’t Miss Your Water”), Rufus Thomas (“Walking the Dog”), his daughter Carla (“Every Ounce of Strength”) plus bands like Booker T. & The MG’s and Stax house band The Mar-Keys. What made the set’s timing truly striking was that, days after the shows went on from August 7 to 8, the L.A. neighborhood of Watts saw its population rise up to protest the racism and discrimination from the city towards its Black residents. (The uprising, quashed by the National Guard, resulted in 34 deaths; those five days of rebellion were commemorated in a label-sponsored music festival held in the city seven years later, called Wattstax.) The shows were first issued in truncated form in 1992; this set adds previously unreleased tracks (with three more songs on CD than on vinyl). As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

You Can’t Hip a Square: The Doc Pomus Songwriting Demos collects more than 160 tracks from the late, legendary songwriter, who died in 1991 at the age of 65 and was subsequently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Blues Hall of Fame. Over 120 of these demos are previously unreleased, while still others are making their CD and digital debuts.  Many of these songs are familiar, while others never received an official recording.  What they share in common is the impeccable songwriting of Doc Pomus, with songs ranging from the heartbreakingly tender to the authentically gritty.  The first four discs are a treasure chest of various demos, while the fifth disc, reprising a Record Store Day vinyl release, is dedicated to songs written for Elvis Presley.  The sixth disc boasts (almost) all Pomus vocals. The 6CD package contains a hardbound book that’s loaded with liner notes: track-by-track annotations from Pomus’ daughter Sharyn Felder and set co-producer Cheryl Pawelski plus essays by Felder, Geoffrey Himes, and Pomus’ close friend Peter Guralnick, and music historian/writer/producer Eddie Gorodetsky (Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour).  Jordan McLeod and Michael Graves have beautifully restored the audio; Graves has remastered.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.​

Play On: A Raspberries Tribute, from Think Like a Key Records, is no ordinary tribute.  Its roster is anchored by such all-time MVPs as Rick Springfield, John Waite, Foreigner’s Lou Gramm, The Bangles’ Debbi and Vicki Peterson, and Marshall Crenshaw, each paying tribute to Eric Carmen, Jim Bonfanti, Dave Smalley, Wally Bryson, Michael McBride, and Scott McCarl in his or her own inimitable style. Play On also features the illustrious likes of Cherie Currie of The Runaways, Kasim Sulton and Willie Wilcox of Utopia, ’70s TV stars and teen idols The Hudson Brothers, Shoes, singer-actress Karla DeVito, The Lemon Twigs, Darian Sahanaja and Rob Bonfiglio of The Brian Wilson Band and Al Jardine’s Pet Sounds Band, The Chefs (featuring Stan Lynch of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and Dan Baird of Georgia Satellites) and rising star Tori Holub, who recently performed with Sulton and Todd Rundgren on the What the World Needs Now tribute to Burt Bacharach.  Musician and author Ken Sharp (Overnight Sensation: The Story of Raspberries), who co-produced this tribute with Fernando Perdomo, contributes two songs (the beautifully swooning “If You Change Your Mind” and pulse-pounding “I’m a Rocker,” both penned by Carmen).  All told, Play On boasts a whopping 37 tracks on 2 CDs, and four songs feature a special guest: none other than Jim Bonfanti.  He plays drums on “I Wanna Be with You,” “Tonight,” “If You Change Your Mind,” and “I Don’t Know What I Want.”  The late Eric Carmen is heard on the count-in to “Tonight.”  Wally Bryson’s son Jesse recreates his dad’s “Might as Well” off 1972’s Fresh.  The words “labor of love” come to mind for this electric, eclectic release.​

Blues band The Fabulous Thunderbirds – who had perhaps one of the least likely chart hits of the ’80s – will release a box set this year chronicling their most mainstream years and showcasing their original and best-known guitarist.  The Jimmie Vaughan Years: Complete Studio Recordings presents seven complete albums over four CDs: the Chrysalis releases The Fabulous Thunderbirds (1979), What’s the Word (1980), Butt Rockin’ (1981) and T-Bird Rhythm (1982), and the CBS Associated albums Tuff Enuff (1986), Hot Number (1987) and Powerful Stuff (1989). As an additional treat, the set also includes 13 never-before-released tracks from a 1978 session, co-produced by rock legend Doc Pomus and Joel Dorn for an unreleased debut. The discs are packaged in a 12″ hardcover book-style package packed with rare photos and liner notes by Bill Bentley chronicling the band’s history. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

In advance of the October 7 release of his memoir of the same name, Yusuf, a.k.a. Cat Stevens, is looking back on his discography with On the Road to Findout.  This newly-curated collection spanning 1967-2023 will be available as a 1CD or 2LP highlights set, as well as a deeper-dive 2CD or 4LP collection. It’s the first time an album will feature both the cream of his work as one of the top British folk songwriters in the ’60s and ’70s as well as music from his return to popular song styles after decades out of the business following a major spiritual journey. Both sets will include new liner notes from the artist as well as lyrics. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

 

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10 years, 10 songs: Atlantic Records is marking ten years of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton with a ten-track highlights album, available on CD or LP.  The vinyl package adds a poster featuring members of the original Broadway cast.  Amazon is offering an exclusive “Angelica’s Vinyl” pressing.

Rupert Holmes’ delightfully witty and joyful adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance – reset to New Orleans with all of the jazz flavor that implies – comes to CD and digital.  The Tony Award-nominated production stars Ramin Karimloo as The Pirate King, David Hyde Pierce as (the very model of a modern) Major General Stanley, Jinkx Monsoon as Ruth, Samantha Williams as Mabel, and Nicholas Barasch as Frederic.​

Let’s Play Chess: A Chess Records Anthology is a new 2LP set offering 25 of the label’s most essential tracks from Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Etta James, and others. The set is curated by eminent drummer Steve Jordan, a known appreciator of the Chess legacy. The versatile percussionist cut his teeth playing in the house band for Saturday Night Live, and was plucked alongside a murderer’s row of session legends to keep the beat when cast members John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd started covering Chess sides and soul favorites as The Blues Brothers. He also served in the backing band for the all-star 1987 concert film Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll and has been a longtime collaborator with Keith Richards of Chess disciples The Rolling Stones – and when longtime drummer Charlie Watts elected to sit out of the last leg of the Stones’ No Filter Tour in 2021 shortly before his passing, he picked Jordan to take over his stool. Jordan has also penned liner notes for the collection sharing his lifelong personal appreciation for the music of Chess and its many backing musicians (who are credited in the gatefold).  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.​

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LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

The Chess Records Christmas Album offers 14 unique entries in the Christmas canon, from Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run” and The Moonglows’ “Hey Santa Claus” to obscure soul, jazz, and gospel fare from the likes of The Soul Stirrers, Kenny Burrell, The Meditation Singers, Rotary Connection, The Salem Travelers, and more. (A particular standout is an instrumental take on “The Little Drummer Boy” by the studio group Lenox Avenue, which featured session legends Chuck Rainey and Richard Tee. It’s one of four new-to-digital tracks on the collection.) The Chess Records Christmas Album will be released simultaneously with Let’s Play Chess on November 14, available on blue frost vinyl, CD or digitally. We’re also pleased to share that the physical package includes liner notes by our own Mike Duquette!  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

The Numero Group kicked off their 200 line of titles in 2017 with Savage Young Dü, an unprecedented archival dive into the early works of Minneapolis punk trio Hüsker Dü. Fifty entries later in that chapter of the label’s discography, Numero has a new Dü title that takes a special look at what may be their most pivotal year as a band.  1985: The Miracle Year is a 2CD or 4LP set that chronicles the group’s biggest gambles yet, through the filter of their blistering live shows. Kicking off with a powerful 23-song local set at First Avenue not even a month into that year and following through with another 20 tracks recorded around the globe over the next nine months, The Miracle Year offers an alternate path through the year that saw the group issue third and fourth albums New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig and commit to a major-label deal, from indie SST Records to the hallowed halls of Warner Bros. Records. Portions of the release have been meted out through the summer as digital EPs ahead of its full release on November 7; all physical editions come with 36 pages of liner notes.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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Kate Bush’s Best of the Other Sides rounds up 11 odds and ends from her catalogue which were previously included on the 2018-2019 collections The Other Sides.  These versions have been remastered and certain tracks (including “Experiment IV,” “You Want Alchemy,” and “Walk Straight Down the Middle”) have been slightly tweaked and/or edited. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.​

Following its digital and CD releases, Lakeshore and Center Stage Records premiere the full soundtrack to writer-director Bill Condon’s recent big-screen adaptation of Terrence McNally, John Kander, and Fred Ebb’s Kiss of the Spider Woman on vinyl.  Starring Jennifer Lopez, Diego Luna, and Tonatiuh, the soundtrack features both classic songs from the original musical and “new” songs written for the show but originally unused in the final production including “Never You,” “An Everyday Man,” and “I Will Dance Alone.”  The film failed to meet commercial expectations, but its score remains as potent and powerful as ever.​

Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Cherry Red

Second Disc Records teams with Cherry Red’s Lemon Recordings imprint to release the first-ever collection of Leon Russell’s recordings for the Warner-distributed Paradise Records label.  The Paradise Years 1976-1981 presents, on four CDs, six full albums:

• Wedding Album: Expanded Edition – Leon and Mary Russell (1976);
• Make Love To The Music: Expanded Edition – Leon and Mary Russell (1977);
• Americana: Expanded Edition – Leon Russell (1978);
• Heart Of Fire – Mary Russell (1979);
• Life And Love – Leon Russell (1979); and
• The Live Album: Expanded Edition – Leon Russell and New Grass Revival (1981).

Seven bonus tracks have been added, all of which are new to CD.  These encompass the non-LP B-side “Anita Bryant” plus original single versions.  These albums have previously been available on CD only in bare-bones editions from Wounded Bird Records and in long out-of-print Japanese editions; this marks the first time they have been expanded.  All albums have been newly remastered by Nick Robbins, while the 28-page, full-color booklet features two new essays.  Music historian Charles Donovan chronicles the collaboration between Leon and Mary Russell, as well as Mary’s solo album Heart of Fire, including new reflections from musicians Gary Ogan, Richard Torrance, and Gene Meros.  TSD’s own Joe Marchese then explores Russell’s solo recordings at Paradise and his felicitous teaming with New Grass Revival.  Paul Bevoir has designed The Paradise Years, with cover artwork designed by John Sellards. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Bob Dylan’s impressive songbook is celebrated as part of Ace’s Black America Sings series for the second time (after 2010’s How Many Roads compilation). This set offers 20 takes on favorites from across the folk songwriter and Nobel Prize winner’s mighty catalogue as sung by such luminaries as The Staple Singers, Billy Preston, Natalie Cole, Harry Belafonte, Nina Simone, Solomon Burke, Merry Clayton and others, augmented by liner notes by Tony Rounce.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Rhino.com
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Rhino.com

To commemorate the Tony-winning musical’s 15-year anniversary on Broadway, Rhino is releasing a new edition of The Book of Mormon‘s Grammy-winning original cast album on both CD and 2 LPs.  The 2026 edition features expanded packaging containing lyrics, photos, and new liner notes by David Pogue drawing on commentary by Parker, Stone, Lopez, and musical director-arranger Stephen Oremus.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.