Are you ready to listen to the music? If you are, you're in for quite a treat. The U.K.'s Edsel label has just launched a series of expanded Doobie Brothers remasters, encompassing the band's first eight studio albums (1971-1978) as four 2-CD packages. Doobie Brothers/Toulouse Street and The Captain and Me/What Once Were Vices were just released this past Monday, while Stampede/Takin' It to the Streets and Livin' On The Fault Line/Minute by Minute follow on September 26. These eight albums
Review: Alberta Hunter, "Downhearted Blues"
Alberta Hunter may have sang the blues, but she was far from forlorn when she took the stage at New York’s Cookery, at 8th Street and University Place, in 1981 to record the gig captured on Downhearted Blues: Live at the Cookery. Newly remastered on both CD and 180-gram vinyl from Rockbeat Records (ROC-CD-3024, 2011), this 18-track live set captures the bawdy blues singer at the ripe age of 86 and just as vibrant than she was in the 1920s and 1930s recording for storied labels like OKeh,
Soundtrack Round-Up: La-La Land Goes "Commando," Intrada Goes "Galactica"
Another pair of great stories for catalogue film score fans from around the way - another great sci-fi release from Intrada and a surprise expansion from La-La Land Records! Intrada's first in a series of archival titles devoted to Stu Phillips' score for the original Battlestar Galactica television show, released earlier this year, was a considerable hit. Naturally, the label was ready to partner with Universal on more volumes, and the second was released Monday - a nice companion piece to the
Johnny Mathis, Alfred Newman and Basil Poledouris Coming Soon From La-La Land
Let’s hope all of you film score fans out there have been saving your pennies! On Monday, Kritzerland will unveil its latest classic soundtrack release (watch this very space for that news!) and the very next day, La-La Land continues the musical bonanza with two unique offerings. Jean Neguelsco's 1958 film A Certain Smile starred Rosanno Brazzi (South Pacific) and Joan Fontaine (Rebecca). Adding to the luster, the soundtrack to the 20th Century Fox drama about a middle-aged man’s affair with
More Garland: First Hand Reveals "The London Studio Recordings 1957-1964"
The British Film Institute describes Ronald Neame’s 1963 film I Could Go on Singing as a “made-to-measure portrait of a singer grappling with her many demons before a London Palladium concert.” With the singer in question portrayed by the incandescent Judy Garland in what would turn out to be her final film role, it’s only natural to wonder just how much of the film was art imitating life. Or was it the other way around? Garland herself had performed triumphantly on the famed London stage as
Collectors' New Choice: Gordon Anderson Launches New Label
Eagle-eyed crate diggers might have noticed a major disappearing act of late. Collectors’ Choice Music, long renowned for its diverse and eclectic line-up of releases by artists ranging from Bing Crosby to Jefferson Airplane, has quietly been allowing its label’s releases to go out-of-print. In fact, many of those titles are already commanding high prices on the second-hand market. (The beginning of the end of the Collectors’ Choice label can be read here.) Though the company’s famed
Sit Down I Think It's Van Dyke Parks: Music Man's "Arrangements" Arrive on CD
Forgive the hyperbole, but there’s nobody quite like Van Dyke Parks. Composer, arranger, producer, singer, musician, actor, author, raconteur, Parks is one-of-a-kind. Known for his dazzling, sometimes oblique wordplay, and sheer musical invention, Parks has contributed production, arrangements and songs to an incredible number of renowned artists over the years, often blazing new trails while harnessing his vast knowledge of popular music. For the first time, the renaissance man's work as a
Ease On Down For Hip-o's New Stephanie Mills Anthology
Stephanie Mills' very first LP was titled Movin' in the Right Direction. And although the 1975 LP on the ABC-Paramount label didn't launch her career as a recording artist with a bang, its title was certainly apt. A few years later, the label would be 20th Century Fox instead of Paramount, and Mills would skyrocket to superstardom in the disco era. Her hitmaking records for 20th Century Fox Records are being compiled by Hip-o Select for the August 23 release of Feel the Fire: The 20th Century
You Don't Mess Around With Jim: Croce Classics Arrive In The U.K.
When Jim Croce died in September 1973, the victim of a tragic plane crash, he was only 30 years old. He truly was in the prime of his career, riding the wave of the singer/songwriter movement with his sensitive, personal brand of storytelling. Croce's vivid songs were alternately upbeat and sorrowful, introspective and AM radio-ready. Before his death, Croce only recorded four proper studio albums, the first in collaboration with his wife Ingrid. Those remaining three albums, originally released
Queen Adopts iTunes LP for Reissues - But Who Else Does?
At first I thought there wasn't much to post about this article from MusicWeek. Queen and Universal are throwing their support behind the iTunes LP for the band's upcoming reissues (the next batch of which is out next week). Big deal, right? But then I thought about a few paragraphs from the middle of the piece, that really seem to tell a more intriguing story than the idea of a band trying to promote their catalogue titles: Universal’s commitment to iTunes LP could prove a shot in the arm for
Intrada Preps Pouledoris and Exciting New Series on the Horizon
Intrada has two very interesting catalogue soundtrack titles up for order today - but it's their plans for later in the month that have film score fans dizzy with anticipation. Today brings another set of scores from Basil Pouledoris in Cherry 2000 (1987), a sci-fi cult classic with Melanie Griffith as a sexy automaton of the future, and The House of God (1984), a barely-seen 1984 adaptation of the satirical medical novel of the same name. While Cherry 2000 will be familiar to fans of
Weekend Wround-Up: Pulp and Howard Jones Reissue News, Record Store Documentary In Progress
NME reports the first three albums by the recently-reunited Britpop legends Pulp will be reissued later this summer. Although It (1983), Freaks (1987) and Separations (1992) (the first originally released on indie label Red Rhino and the other two released through indie Fire Records) will not be remastered, they will feature new artwork and, in the case of the latter two, bonus tracks culled from single B-side material. (It was re-released by Cherry Red in 1994 with three bonus tracks; one of
"The Berlin Affair" Arrives From "Carrie" Composer Donaggio
In a rare Friday announcement, Kritzerland this morning unveiled its latest soundtrack reissue/restoration. From Pino Donaggio, the renowned composer of Carrie and Dressed to Kill, comes the score to 1985's The Berlin Affair in its first-ever CD release. Liliana Cavani's film was based on Junichiro Tanazaki's novel The Buddhist Cross and dealt with its controversial themes head-on. In 1938 Berlin, Louise, the wife of a young Nazi, enters into a romantic relationship with artist Mitsuko
Cash, Perkins, Lewis and...The Chipmunks? Ace Revisits 1958 On "The London American Label"
After a terrifically eclectic volume dedicated to the hits, misses and everything in between of 1963, Ace’s London American Label turns the clock back to the early days of rock and roll via the pioneering British imprint. The London American Label: 1958, the sixth volume of the series, similarly offers something for everyone. Unlike so many other British labels mining this period thanks to public domain law, Ace licenses each and every track from the current copyright owners and remasters them
Review: Derek and the Dominos, "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs: 40th Anniversary Edition"
Size isn’t everything. Though Universal’s new super-deluxe box set of Derek and the Dominos’ Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (Polydor/Universal 0600753314326) is about as hefty as these packages come, the best of the box set could fit into a standard jewel case. The 40th anniversary collection includes (drum roll, please) 4 CDs, an audio DVD (though not DVD-Audio – more on that later), 2 LPs, a 48-page hardcover book, an art print, badges, pop-up artwork and a scratch-plate sticker. But
Music Club Deluxe U.K. Preps Double-Disc Compilations for Redding, Cross, Foreigner
Music Club Deluxe, part of the U.K.'s Demon Music Group, has prepped a trio of new budget-minded, double-disc sets for a few legendary artists. While there's nothing new on the forthcoming compilations by dearly departed soul legend Otis Redding, soft-rock maestro Christopher Cross and platinum-selling hard rock band Foreigner (and only one general rarity among any of the three - a non-LP B-side closing out the Foreigner set), their two-disc running times and decent price tag might be of
Superman and Green Lantern Still Ain't Got Nothin' On Him: Donovan Preps Expanded "Sunshine Superman"
It wasn’t easy for Donovan (real name: Donovan Philips Leitch) to shake the early accusation that he was merely a Scottish-born clone of Bob Dylan. Surely songs like 1965’s “Catch the Wind” did nothing to dispel the myth. Donovan himself acknowledged the debt in 2001, confessing “I sounded like him for five minutes” while pointing out the musical heroes referenced by both artists. But any Dylan comparisons were passé by the time Donovan released Sunshine Superman, one of the first truly
Weekend News Round-Up: Doobies, Peter Gabriel, Stax and Kansas
It was such a busy week that reporting has spilled over into the weekend! Enjoy these tidbits from around the rest of the catalogue music world. Eagle Rock is releasing a vintage live CD/DVD by The Doobie Brothers, from their 1982 farewell tour. Live at the Greek 1982 sees a lineup that included sole original member Patrick Simmons on guitar, longtime co-drummer Keith Knudsen (who shared the kit with Chet McCracken, a member since 1980's One Step Closer), guitarist/violinist John McFee,
Review: Loudon Wainwright III, "40 Odd Years"
Lucky for us, Loudon Wainwright III is only "so damn happy" on an infrequent basis. The singer-songwriter-humorist-satirist-actor (is that enough of a multi-hyphenate for you?) posited the question "Is it necessary to feel like shit in order to be creative?" He arrived at the final answer "yes!" but prefaced it with "unless you're J.S. Bach." Over the course of 91 songs on four CDs and another 38-plus on DVD, Shout! Factory's new box set 40 Odd Years (82663-12189, 2011) - dig the double
UPDATE: Don't "Walk Away": Left Banke Reissues Coming from Sundazed on June 28
Today, The Left Banke is probably best known for "Walk Away Renee." A No. 5 pop hit in 1966, the song has been recorded by The Four Tops, Frankie Valli, Linda Ronstadt and Eric Carmen, to name a few, and remains a staple of oldies radio today. But was The Left Banke a mere flash in the pan, just a one-hit wonder? Far from it. Yet things have been stacked against the group for quite a while now: neither of their two original Smash LPs has ever seen CD release in America, and the definitive CD-era
Review: Don Sebesky, "Giant Box"
Why can’t jazz be populist and pure, both at the same time? One imagines Creed Taylor asked that question when he launched CTI (Creed Taylor Incorporated) as a solo label back in 1970. Three years earlier he had decamped from Verve and christened the CTI name as an imprint of Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss’ A&M Records. At A&M, Taylor produced nearly 30 albums by such jazz greats as Wes Montgomery, Montgomery's heir apparent George Benson, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Herbie Mann. Taylor’s
Poison Double Dip with "Double Dose"
There comes a time in every music collector's life where we utter, "Another (name of artist) compilation?!" The time has come to put Poison in those parentheses; their latest collection is due in stores on May 3. Double Dose: Ultimate Hits does have a lot of worthy material for new fans. In addition to collating all the band's notable singles, it includes a fair amount of album cuts and at least one or two non-LP tracks that were scooped up on reissues or prior compilations. But for hardcore
"1991" Documentary Featuring Nirvana, Sonic Youth Revisited
Thanks to Slicing Up Eyeballs for this neat tip over the weekend: 1991: The Year Punk Broke is making its debut on DVD later this year. This documentary of Sonic Youth and Nirvana's European tour of 1991 - a precursor to the breakthrough Nirvana would experience with Nevermind some 20 years ago - was released on VHS and laserdisc many years ago, and featured performances by both bands as well as other luminaries of the age including Dinosaur Jr., The Ramones and more. The DVD will feature a
A Dozen "Playlist" Sets Due in May
Love 'em or hate 'em, the various budget compilations that come from the major labels are quick, easy ways to get catalogue material out to the masses. Universal's ICON and Sony's Playlist series are probably the highest-profile of these series, but the latter is arguably the more beloved of the two, thanks to a concerted effort by some of the producers at Legacy to get rarer tracks on the Playlist discs, whether it's a rare single version or bonus track from a previous reissue. Legacy has 12
Crossing the Pond: "London American Label 1963" Spotlights Spector and More
It’s 1963. Imagine a label that counted Roy Orbison, Darlene Love, James Brown, The Drifters and Jerry Lee Lewis all among its artists. While such an array of talent never convened under one roof in America, it was a very different story in the United Kingdom. The U.K.’s Decca Record Company indeed brought all of those artists, and more, under the umbrella of its London American label. London American delivered the best in American pop, R&B and rock and roll to British audiences. Ace is
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