Having just announced a John Lee Hooker box set, Craft Recordings shows no sign of slowdown, yesterday announcing The Sprit Of Memphis (1962-1976) a 4CD box set devoted to the legendary Isaac Hayes. It's impossible to think about the Stax Records sound--or soul music in the '60s and '70s, really--without considering Isaac Hayes. He helped shape the soul-pop sound of Memphis as a writer and producer, involved with smash hits and immortal cuts like "Hold On! I'm A Comin'," "B-A-B-Y" (a recent
Behind The Chalet: Chris Difford Demos, Memoir Due This Month
Anyone who's gotten really in the weeds with U.K. pop and rock has likely marveled at the work of Chris Difford. The London-born songwriter is best known as one half of the central brain trust of Squeeze, offering reedy countermelodies and biting lyrics alongside his longtime creative partner and co-founder Glenn Tilbrook. Squeeze are set to tour the U.K. and America this fall, with their 15th album, The Knowledge, due in October. But before that, Difford is taking some solo time in the form
Boom Boom Boom Boom: Craft Preps John Lee Hooker Centennial Box
With a style that synthesized Mississippi Delta blues through the urban Midwest during the mid-20th century and beyond, John Lee Hooker was the blues. And now, to celebrate what would have been his 100th birthday, Craft Recordings is prepping a five-disc box set, to be released next month. King Of The Boogie collects a track for every year since Hooker's presumed birth in 1917. The son of a sharecropper raised almost entirely on church spirituals, Hooker ran away from home at a young age,
UPDATE 8/22: Harry Nilsson's "Popeye" Soundtrack, Complete with Demos, To Be Released In September
ORIGINAL POST OF MAY 8: UPDATED AUGUST 22: Well, blow me down! Varese Sarabande will be bringing the soundtrack to composer-lyricist Harry Nilsson and director Robert Altman's loopy film musical version of Popeye to compact disc in an authorized edition for the very first time on September 29 - but that's not all. This 2-CD deluxe edition will not only feature all of Nilsson's memorable songs as performed by the perfectly-cast likes of Robin Williams, Shelley Duvall, and Paul Dooley, but will
Review: Howard Jones, "Best 1983-2017"
Howard Jones is more than his synths. The British keyboardist dominated his home country's charts in the '80s (and flirted with success on American shores more than a few times in the same period) with fascinatingly busy, seriously catchy slices of synthpop with more than a little R&B influence. But peel back the hooks and riffs and you'll find the work of a man who is searching--for what, it's not always clear, but the search is there. Best 1983-2017 (Cherry Red Records PCDTRED 707), an
I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together: Real Gone Reissues Carol Burnett Album for 50th Anniversary
Real Gone Music is kicking off its October slate of titles with a CD commemorating the 50th anniversary of one of the most iconic television program of all time: The Carol Burnett Show. The multi-talented Burnett recorded the album Carol Burnett Sings to tie in with the premiere of her new program, and Real Gone is giving the title its first-ever reissue on CD on October 6th, featuring liner notes by our very own Joe Marchese. Carol Burnett was already a stage, screen and recording veteran
Release Round-Up: Week of August 18
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Neil Young, Official Release Series Discs 5-8 / Official Release Series Discs 8.5-12 (Reprise) Official Release Series Discs 5-8: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. Official Release Series Discs 8.5-12: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. Finally, CD editions of Young's second and third Official Release Series boxes are available, spanning 1973 to 1979 (Time Fades Away (1973), On The Beach (1974), Tonight's The Night (1975),
Here They Go Again: Whitesnake Expand 1987 Album for Rhino Records
Nearly 40 years after they first formed, David Coverdale has made up his mind about Whitesnake--and ain't wastin' no more time: he's moving the band's back catalogue to Warner Music Group, Billboard reports. Though a new studio album and other new goodies are planned, of particular interest to catalogue enthusiasts is the October 6 reissue of the band's 1987 self-titled album on Rhino Records. Available in a variety of formats, including 2CD, 4CD/1DVD and 2LP sets, Whitesnake will feature
Shades of (Deep) Purple: Cherry Red Reissues Two From Hard Stuff
Cherry Red is bringing out the Hard Stuff. The label has just issued Hard Stuff: The Complete Purple Records Anthology for the British hard rockers, bringing together their only two albums and assorted bonus tracks to tell the story of the band's time on Deep Purple's own record label. The seeds of Hard Stuff were planted by guitarist John DuCann and drummer Paul Hammond when both departed Atomic Rooster over the ever-popular "creative differences." The duo attempted to keep the Atomic
Review: The Creation, "Creation Theory"
Though The Creation only left behind roughly a couple dozen songs during their mid-'60s heyday, the story of the hard-rocking mods actually goes back further, and extends to decades later. Earlier this year, the U.S. label Numero Group presented 46 masters, alternates and remixes on a double-disc collection entitled Action Painting. Shortly thereafter, U.K. label Edsel unveiled an even more thorough presentation of the complete Creation story containing those 46 tracks and 33
Creedence Rising: Craft Collects The Golliwogs' "Complete Recordings"
Before there was Creedence Clearwater Revival, there was The Golliwogs. The San Francisco Bay Area band formed in 1959 as an instrumental trio (John Fogerty, Doug Clifford and Stu Cook) by the name of The Blue Velvets. A year later, John's older brother Tom joined, completing the line-up that would eventually keep on chooglin' as Creedence Clearwater Revival. By 1964's end, the quartet had signed with Fantasy Records and reinvented themselves as The Golliwogs, so named by Fantasy's co-owner
Smoke On The Water: Career-Spanning Deep Purple Compilation Due From Rhino
Deep Purple have just kicked off their latest tour in Las Vegas, co-headlining with Alice Cooper. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees and part of the "Holy Trinity of British Hard-Rock" (with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath) are nearing their 50th anniversary and Rhino Records has announced a new anthology, available in several configurations to celebrate the band's legacy. A Fire in the Sky will be available in single and 3-CD editions on September 8, with a 3-LP edition following on
SoulMusic Spotlight Part One: New Anthologies Arrive For Esther Phillips, Levert, and Mtume
Cherry Red's SoulMusic Records label has added another quintet of releases to its rapidly-growing Anthology series, and this batch is among the most eclectic yet, blurring the lines of jazz, pop, and R&B with Esther Phillips, Levert, Tom Browne, Kashif, and Mtume. As the premier vocalist on CTI Records' Kudu imprint, Esther Phillips (1935-1984) played a key role in producer Creed Taylor's "Cool Revolution" at CTI. A gifted vocalist, Phillips nonetheless struggled with personal demons
Listen to the Man: 7a Records Releases Mike Nesmith Solo Show On CD, Vinyl
By 1975, Michael Nesmith's bona fides as a groundbreaking pioneer of country-rock were well established. After his first solo LP, 1968's orchestral The Wichita Train Whistle Sings, the once and future Monkee had released six well-received albums and yielded a pair of hit singles, "Joanne" and "Silver Moon"- not to mention "Different Drum," a major hit for Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys. On November 27, 1975, Nesmith recorded an intimate set in London at the BBC Paris Theatre, during which
The Monkees, Yardbirds, Andy Williams, 5th Dimension Featured On "Songs of Harry Nilsson"
Randy Newman once observed of his friend Harry Nilsson, "The records Harry made, and the first records I made, it was like The Rolling Stones never existed." Indeed, before his famously chronicled lifestyle as a Hollywood hellraiser threatened to overshadow his reputation as a talent nonpareil (and left his once-angelic voice in tatters), Nilsson had carved out an artful niche of wit and whimsy. He expressed his musical muse in gentle psychedelia, baroque pop, folk rock, vaudeville
Release Round-Up: Week of August 11
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Jo Stafford, It Had to Be You: Lost Radio Recordings (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Jo Stafford's It Had To Be You: Lost Radio Recordings features 24 performances from the legendary vocalist's stint as co-host (with crooner Tony Martin) of The Carnation Contented Hour on CBS Radio from 1950-1951. With songs by mainstays of the Great American Songbook like Harold Arlen ("I've Got the World on a String"), Rodgers
All Around The World: New Box Celebrates The Jam's First Year
The Jam burst onto the scene in late April 1977 with the single "In the City," following it up just weeks later in May with a blazing debut album of the same name. Later that year, This is the Modern World arrived from the prolific three-piece featuring Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton, and Rick Buckler. On October 20 of this year, UMe/Polydor will look back on one incendiary year with 1977, a new 4-CD/1-DVD box set comprising remastered editions of both albums as well as unreleased demos and live
Review: Keely Smith, "Little Girl Blue/Little Girl New (Expanded Edition)"
In spring 1963, Keely Smith entered the studio to cut her first full-length effort for Reprise Records, the label recently founded by her friend Frank Sinatra. Little Girl Blue/Little Girl New, recorded with arranger-conductor Nelson Riddle, exemplified Smith's classy vocal art and Riddle's peerless gift for orchestration. After far too long an absence from the shelves, this seminal release is back in print from Real Gone Music as the second entry in the label's Keely Smith series, with two
I Want Action: Playback Collects Lost Soul Recordings of Jeanette Jones
Even a diehard R&B connoisseur could be forgiven for not recognizing the name of Jeanette Jones. She only had one solo single to her name: 1969's "The Thought of You" b/w "Darling I'm Standing by You," released on the small Golden Soul label out of San Francisco. But in the 21st century, the musical archaeologists at Ace Records began issuing lost masters from this lost singer, building up a small but powerfully vivid catalog from the mystery-shrouded vocalist. Now, in association with
In Memoriam: Glen Campbell (1936-2017)
Earlier this year, Glen Campbell wished his friends and fans a touching Adios on his sixty-fourth and final studio album. It was the cathartic culmination of six years in which the legendary vocalist bravely brought his struggle with Alzheimer's to the public eye, embarked on a yearlong Farewell Tour, and recorded his final sessions as heard not only on Adios, but on Ghost on the Canvas, See You There and the soundtrack to the touching documentary Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me. Earlier
Short Takes: Barbara Cook, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones and Marshall Crenshaw
Farewell, Barbara Cook: The legendary original star of Broadway's The Music Man, Candide, and She Loves Me has passed away at the age of 89. Cook's enchantingly pure soprano made her a favorite ingénue of the Broadway stage, and her indelible performances in the above musicals as well as Flahooley, Plain and Fancy, The Gay Life, The Grass Harp, Follies in Concert, and others - including her final Broadway appearance in 2010's Sondheim on Sondheim - are happily preserved on original cast
Rock'n Me: Steve Miller Curates New "Ultimate Hits" Collection
Steve Miller recently brought his complete catalogue to Capitol Records and UMe, and now the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee will celebrate it with a newly-created compilation next month. Ultimate Hits, available September 15 as standard (1CD/2LP) or deluxe (2CD/4LP) packages, features the many AOR-oriented hits that made Miller's first compilation, Greatest Hits '74-'78, one of the highest-selling albums in America, including "The Joker," "Rock'n Me," "Fly Like An Eagle" and "Jungle
Is He Groovin' You? Big Break Collects Harvey Mason's Funky Arista Years
Harvey Mason may be best known for his session credits on countless classic records by artists from Carole King to Quincy Jones. But the drummer/percussionist has also led a solo career since 1975, most often fusing his jazz sensibility with R&B textures. His first stint as a solo artist came at Clive Davis' Arista Records, where he recorded five well-received, self-produced albums between 1975 and 1981. Big Break's recent anthology Sho Nuff Groovin' You: The Arista Records Anthology
Listen To What The Band Is Playing: Bruce Springsteen Releases Two 1977 Concerts Featuring Official Premiere of Unreleased Song
Bruce Springsteen has just released two new concerts into his ever-growing list of shows available as made-on-demand CD-Rs and digital downloads at nugs.net. The first is from February 7, 1977 in Albany, New York and the second is from the next night, February 8 in Rochester, New York. They are significant as no soundboards from this portion of Springsteen's touring career have ever surfaced before, and because they also feature a song which sees its first official release here: "Action in
Everybody Sing! JSP Records Collects Four Discs of Judy Garland's "Classic Duets" on New Box Set
Throughout her illustrious, if tragically curtailed, career, Judy Garland raised her voice in song with some of the greatest artists of all time, including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Al Jolson, Gene Kelly, Kay Thompson, and many more. Last Friday, August 4, a new 4-CD set arrived from the U.K.'s JSP Records celebrating Garland's greatest vocal collaborations with these performers and many others. Judy Garland: Classic Duets features 109 tracks over 4 CDs, including 15 tracks
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 198
- 199
- 200
- 201
- 202
- …
- 384
- Next Page »