When I look out my window, many sights to see….and when I look in my window, so many different people to be, that it’s strange…so strange… It’s once again the season of Donovan, in all his strange and beautiful colors. EMI U.K. has recently released a budget-priced compendium that should make for a solid primer on the Scottish troubadour. Breezes of Patchouli: His Studio Recordings 1966-1969 is a four-CD set bringing together Donovan’s five Mickie Most-produced albums of that period plus
Hard-Core Troubadour: Steve Earle's Warner Bros. LPs, Unreleased Live Sets Boxed by Shout! Factory
After two straight country albums for MCA, Steve Earle made a major breakthrough with 1988's Copperhead Road, which fused his more roots-oriented stylings with elements of traditional rock and metal. Just as impressive, though, was his late '90s comeback after a prolonged period of inactivity, drug problems and incarceration. Three of Earle's albums from the latter half of that decade are coming back into print in a new box set from Shout! Factory. The Warner Bros. Years collects 1995's Train A
Ring Their Bells: Anita Ward, Stephanie Mills, Fern Kinney, Donna Washington Reissued
In recent days, we’ve turned the spotlight on a quartet of classic soul reissues, two each from Big Break Records (Arthur Prysock’s All My Life and Caston and Majors’ self-titled Motown album) and SoulMusic Records (Nancy Wilson’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off You/Now I’m a Woman and Jerry Butler’s Love’s on the Menu/Suite for the Single Girl). But those are hardly the only recent releases from these two imprints of the Cherry Red Group. Big Break has offered two titles, both from 1979 and both with
Get Down and Dirty: Three Albums From Metal Heroes Saxon Arrive From Edsel
Are you ready for a Solid Ball of Rock? Edsel Records has recently reissued the first three albums with which British heavy metal pioneers Saxon greeted the 1990s. Solid Ball of Rock (1991), Forever Free (1992) and Dogs of War (1995), all originally released on Germany’s Virgin label, have each been expanded with two bonus tracks for these new editions. Considered part of the same New Wave of British Heavy Metal that also included Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, Saxon made its debut in 1979
Speaking Words of Wisdom: "Let It Be...Naked" Comes to iTunes
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJYwJ4z02II] One of the most significant catalogue-era releases by The Beatles - the newly-mixed Let It Be...Naked, a stripped-down version of the band's final album - makes its debut on iTunes today. The story of Let It Be is by now the stuff of music legend. Bassist Paul McCartney proposed an LP that stepped away from the complex, overdub-heavy works of their 1968 self-titled album (better known, of course, as "The White Album"). Provisionally
BBR Keeps A Light In Its Window For The Lost Motown Classic "Caston and Majors"
Like a fine meal, Caston and Majors begins with an appetizer. "Child of Love," on cursory listening, is "just" a bright pop song with a funky groove, employing booming drums, surging strings and a catchy chorus ("Rise now, child of love/No time for wastin'/Rise now, child of love/Stop hesitatin'...") along with a "Hey, hey" cheer that invites singing along. But a closer listen to the lyrics finds songwriters Leonard Caston and Kathy Wakefield giving voice to a higher power: "You must be a
Él is Flying High with Ennio Morricone and Joao Donato
Cherry Red's Él Records label is going 'round the world with a pair of recent releases. Morricone Pops focuses on an oft-overlooked part of Italian composer Ennio Morricone's ouevre: that of his early sixties arrangements not just for film, but also for pop singers. Él also turns its attention to a favorite country, Brazil, for Sambou, Sambou, a collection of two albums of tunes by composer-pianist Joao Donato. With a staggering body of work including more than 500 films and television
Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me: "The TK Records Story" Mines Disco Gold
It’s been said that the greatest music is transporting, to another time or another place. If that’s true, it was no secret where the sounds of TK Records intended to transport the listener. Henry Stone’s TK family of labels originated in Miami, Florida, and the sleeve artwork for TK’s singles featured a tropical setting of palm trees, bright flowers and pristine waters. That serene scene serves as the cover for Gold Legion’s new TK Records Story (67094 562442 7), a 12-track anthology of disco
Review: Duane Allman, "Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective"
“I ain’t wastin’ time no more,” Gregg Allman sang following the death of his brother Duane at the age of 24 in October 1971, “’cause time goes by like pouring rain…and much faster things/You don’t need no gypsy to tell you why/You can’t let one precious day slip by.” Surveying the remarkable new box set Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective (Rounder 11661-9137-2), it’s evident that Duane Allman’s too few days certainly were precious, filled with soulful sounds that transcended genre tags like
Born in the AUS: New Springsteen Comp Bows for Down Under Tour
If you're a new fan of Bruce Springsteen in Australia, or a hardcore collector who wants everything ever released on behalf of The Boss, have we got a title for you. In honor of Springsteen's Australian leg of the Wrecking Ball Tour, which kicked off last night in Brisbane and continues through the end of the month, Sony Music's Australian arm is releasing a new single-disc compilation that collects all his biggest hits in advance of the next few live dates - which, if they're anything like the
Andre Cymone's "AC" Gets Double-Disc Treatment from Funkytowngrooves
Way back in January 2012, The Second Disc reported on Funky Town Grooves’ planned reissue of former Prince bassist André Cymone’s 1985 Columbia breakthrough record A.C., which yielded the Top 10 R&B hit “The Dance Electric.” This long-aborning reissue from FTG finally arrived last week in an edition expanded from its original planned track listing. A.C. received its first-ever CD reissue from the U.K.’s Big Break Records label in 2011; BBR’s deluxe edition appended a generous five bonus
Put Your Hands Together: The O'Jays, Delegation, Black Slate, Donna Allen, George McCrae Arrive from BBR
The many varied strains of soul and R&B have long found a home at Cherry Red’s Big Break Records imprint, and this week's offerings from the label are no different, with five albums having just arrived from five very different artists on both sides of the Atlantic. The most well-known release in this batch is The O’Jays’ 1973 opus Ship Ahoy, produced and largely written by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff for their Philadelphia International label. Though it yielded the hit singles “Put Our
Such Things I Do to Make Myself More Attractive to You: Morrissey Re-Tools "Kill Uncle" for Reissue (UPDATED 3/6)
UPDATE (3/6): Morrissey has released the artwork for these new titles. The single cover for "The Last of the Famous International Playboys" was slated to feature an unreleased pic of Moz and David Bowie until the latter denied use of the image. Instead, the singer has cheekily used a picture of himself with pop Rick Astley backstage at Top of the Pops in 1988. No word as to whether or not the single will be intentionally mis-pressed to feature "Never Gonna Give You Up." ORIGINAL POST
The "Lowdown" On Friday Music's Expanded Reissue of "Chicago III"
In his recently released memoir The Soundtrack of My Life, Clive Davis speaks rhapsodically about one band he signed to Columbia Records who went on “to be one of the best-selling bands of the seventies…[and] successful in every succeeding decade, selling millions of albums along the way.” The mogul added, “They’re still active, and every year their fans lobby relentlessly for them to be nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an honor the band very much deserves.” Davis
"Do Ya" Want More Reissues From Electric Light Orchestra and Jeff Lynne? Three Titles Set for April
April might as well be known as The Month of Electric Light Orchestra, as the group's pioneering frontman, producer, arranger and songwriter Jeff Lynne has announced three new catalogue projects due in the U.S. on April 23 and in the U.K. on April 22. We've updated our original post of October 5, 2012 with new information including full track listings and details on each of the three upcoming, bonus-packed releases! UPDATED ORIGINAL POST OF 10/5/12: The wait is over. Though Electric Light
Skydog, Celebrated: Life of Duane Allman Explored in New Career-Spanning Box Set
Duane Allman was just 24 when he perished on the streets of Macon, Georgia, the victim of an accident involving his motorcycle and a flatbed truck carrying a lumber crane. Yet in a short but intense period of time, the Nashville-born slide guitar virtuoso had established a reputation as a creative and versatile musician with invention to spare. His distinct tones on a Wilson Pickett recording caught the ear of Atlantic Records’ Jerry Wexler, and while based at Rick Hall’s Muscle Shoals studio,
Reviews: Buck Owens, "Honky Tonk Man: Buck Sings Country Classics" and Don Rich, "Sings George Jones"
With its two latest releases, Omnivore Recordings continues its great Bakersfield rescue mission. Texas-born and Arizona-raised, Buck Owens made his mark in that California city, answering the prevailing “countrypolitan” style with a return to a pure and unadorned honky-tonk sound. But that “natural” sound had roots that ran deep in Bakersfield. Yet Owens’ parallel career as the avuncular, perpetually joking co-host of television’s cornpone Hee Haw may have caused audiences to take his
Don't Cry For Me, Princess Leia: John Williams, Andrew Lloyd Webber Go Disco
What do a beloved Broadway musical and an iconic sci-fi epic have to do with dance music pioneer Boris Midney? Plenty, as it turns out. Midney, a producer and arranger who came to prominence in the disco era with his expansive 48-track productions, recorded under a number of guises: Caress, Beautiful Bend, Masquerade, Double Discovery, to name a few. And The Demon Music Group’s Harmless Records imprint indeed does have a double discovery! On January 26 in the U.K. and one week later in the
Burt Bacharach's "Together?" Finally Arrives On CD, Features Jackie DeShannon, Michael McDonald
Sexual liberation only goes so far… So went the tagline of director Armenia Balducci’s 1979 film Amo non amo. When the Italian drama starring Jacqueline Bisset, Maximilian Schell and Terence Stamp was slated for U.S. release, though, the decision was made to replace the score by Italian prog/symphonic “horror rock” band Goblin with a new, more accessible soundtrack. Burt Bacharach was tapped, and the Oscar-winning composer went far in lending an American flavor to the film, retitled for the
We Love You Conrad, Oh Yes We Do: "Bye Bye Birdie" Film Soundtrack Turns 50, Is Newly-Expanded
Gray skies are gonna clear up... More than seven years before the first Tribe of Hair let the sun shine in, another cast of characters brought rock (and roll!) to the New York stage. Michael Stewart, Charles Strouse and Lee Adams’ smash hit musical Bye Bye Birdie skyrocketed its leading actors Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera to greater fame in 1960, alongside director/choreographer Gower Champion, in a sweet but timely tale of a hip-swiveling rocker about to go off to the Army and the one
In Case You Missed It: Norah Jones' "Covers" Gets Domestic CD Release
Norah Jones sure is everywhere. The singer/songwriter with the smoky voice and a deep musical bloodline (being the daughter of Ravi Shankar) exploded onto the scene with 2002's Come Away with Me, a deft fusion of pop, jazz and country that topped the charts in nearly a dozen countries, won eight Grammy Awards and remains one of only 11 albums in this century to be certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America for over 10 million units shipped. She's also a reliable guest
Some Nice Things We've Missed: Quartet Records' Trio of Sondheim and Double Mancini
As 2012 yielded to 2013, more than a few noteworthy releases may have been lost in the shuffle. Some of the most impressive of those December releases came from Spain's Quartet Records. The label closed out the year with three particularly spectacular titles that no film score buff will want to miss. Two came from the prolific pen of Henry Mancini, perhaps the most-represented soundtrack composer in terms of 2012’s releases. Having previously issued the complete score to Curse of the Pink
Three From FiveFour: Jazz Label Offers Gil Evans on Hendrix, Plus Don Ellis and Duke Ellington
Cherry Red’s recently-reactivated FiveFour label’s latest trawl into the Sony jazz archives has delivered another three rare titles to CD. All have been available in the format before, though one is particularly difficult to find, and all three should have great appeal. The oldest selection of the trio hails from 1959. Duke Ellington’s Jazz Party welcomed Dizzy Gillespie as well as Jimmy Rushing, Jimmy Jones and Ellington’s longtime sax man, Jimmy Hodges. Ellington and his frequent
And Now She Sings! Chita Rivera Solo Albums Coming to CD from Stage Door
Chita Rivera was the toast of the musical stage in 1961, reprising her New York triumph in Bye Bye Birdie in London's West End. Over fifty years later, the resplendent Ms. Rivera is still the toast of the musical stage, wowing audiences nightly as the decadent Princess Puffer in the Broadway revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Yet the triple-threat dancer/actress/singer who originated roles in musicals including West Side Story and Chicago has made all too few trips to the recording studio
Don't Just Stand There: Real Gone Readies January Slate with Patty Duke, Rick Wakeman, Billy Joe Shaver, and More
2012 isn’t yet over, but it’s not too soon to look forward to all of the amazing releases already slated for 2013! Real Gone Music is doing its part with a whopping nine-title slate due January 29 from a plethora of pop, rock, country and soul artists. One of the sixties’ most unexpected hits might have been Patty Duke’s “Don’t Just Stand There,” a 1965 Top 10 hit that sounded more than a little like Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me.” By the time the actress recorded her first album for United
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