When the album simply entitled Byrds arrived on David Geffen’s Asylum label in 1973, it had been only about a year-and-a-half since the last record from the California folk-rock heroes. But the original line-up of Gene Clark, David Crosby, Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke hadn’t recorded a complete album together since 1965. Byrds would be the group’s first long-player for a label other than Columbia Records – and the final Byrds album to date. Australia’s Raven Records label has
Holiday Gift Guide Review: A Folk and Country Christmas with The Kingston Trio, The Brothers Four and the Statler Brothers
The cover of The Kingston Trio’s 1960 Capitol release The Last Month of the Year depicts the three young folksingers in suits and ties, each loaded with a bundle of Christmas gifts. With a cover like that, one could be forgiven for having expected the group to deliver a jovial set of holiday favorites. Instead, The Trio created an album of rare beauty but considerable darkness. As such, it’s hardly your typical holiday fare but Real Gone Music’s reissue (RGM-0312) is a worthwhile inclusion on
Omnivore Boils Ron Nagle's "Bad Rice" In Deluxe Edition of 1970 Cult Classic
Today, Ron Nagle may be best known for his groundbreaking work as a ceramic sculptor. The "baron of sculptural intelligence" has been pushing the boundaries of art for decades now with his award-winning variations on the basic form of a cup. The San Francisco Gate recently praised the "master ceramic sculptor and painter whose original sense of color is equally informed by Mark Rothko and the hot rod aesthetic." But for music fans, Nagle is known for his double life as a singer, songwriter
Release Round-Up: Week of December 15
The Kinks, Anthology 1964-1971 (BMG/InGrooves, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Producer Andrew Sandoval (the recent The Monkees: Super Deluxe Edition) helms this kink-sized 5-CD kollection of hits, demos, interviews, alternate mixes, session outtakes, 25 previously unavailable tracks, an exclusive 7-inch single and copious, new liner notes! Dionne Warwick, Finder of Lost Loves: Expanded Edition (Arista/Funky Town Grooves) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) This 2-CD edition of Warwick's
Big Break Is "On Fire" With Latest Quartet Of Releases From Anita Pointer, Silver Convention, More
Anita Pointer’s solo debut might have seemed inevitable. She had sung lead on many of The Pointer Sisters’ biggest hits including Allen Toussaint’s “Yes We Can Can” and co-wrote the Grammy-winning “Fairytale.” By the time she released Love For What It Is on RCA in 1987, Anita was following in the footsteps of sisters Bonnie (who left the group in 1977 for a Motown solo contract) and June (with 1983’s Baby Sister). The album arrived on the heels of the success of “Too Many Times,” a duet with
Ace Is Twistin' the Night Away with Sam Cooke Tribute, Motown Rarities and More
When it comes to rare soul, Ace Records never sleeps! The label has recently released a compilation celebrating the career of Sam Cooke not as a singer but as a songwriter, along with collections dedicated to excavating the vaults of two great Detroit labels: Westbound Records, and of course, Motown! Countless albums have anthologized the short but influential oeuvre of Sam Cooke, but Bring It on Home: Black America Sings Sam Cooke takes a different approach, featuring 24 versions of Cooke
Tony Joe White, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Ray Kennedy Highlight Real Gone's February
From The Apollo to the swamps of Louisiana, Real Gone Music has a whirlwind musical tour planned for its February 3, 2015 slate! The centerpiece of the February batch just might be the first-ever complete collection of Louisiana man Tony Joe White's Warner Bros. recordings! Singer-songwriter White ("Willie and Laura Mae Jones," "Polk Salad Annie") has one of the most distinctive voices in southern soul, and Real Gone's new collection celebrates a major period his career with a new 2-CD set
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Frank Sinatra, "London"
It was ambitious, even for Sinatra. His sixth studio album on his own Reprise label – and one of five full-length LPs released in 1962 alone – would be recorded in Great Britain with a British musical director, producer and personnel, and would feature only songs from British composers. For the quintessentially American singer, it must have been a formidable challenge. But Sinatra Sings Great Songs from Great Britain proved that The Voice was up to the task. Over time, it became a
Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Monkees, "The Monkees: Super Deluxe Edition"
For The Monkees, the third time's the charm. The 1966 debut album from Davy, Micky, Peter and Mike has been expanded twice before on CD - first in 1994 on one CD and then in 2006 as a two-CD set. Rhino Handmade has recently unveiled the third and most comprehensive release of this album yet, and with 45 previously unreleased bonus cuts among its 100 songs, The Monkees: Super Deluxe Edition (R2-543027) is not just Monkee mania, but Monkee manna. The story of this American fab four has been told
Holiday Gift Guide Review: A Classic Christmas With Rosemary Clooney, Frank DeVol
Welcome to Part One of a two-part series exploring the recent line-up of Christmas releases from Real Gone Music! 1954’s White Christmas, quite simply, remains one of the most beloved holiday musicals to ever hit the silver screen. Built around the songbook of Irving Berlin – who lived to the age of 101 in 1989 but was already a Grand Old Man of American music by 1954 – the film starred Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen. Such a quartet promised an evening’s
The Legacy Vault Opens For Christmas With Ray Price, Jerry Vale, John Davidson, More
Without a doubt, 2014 has shaped up to be another joyous year for fans of Christmas music. Sony Music's Legacy Recordings has been at the vanguard of delivering holiday music with a recent batch of titles from Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra and others as part of its Classic Christmas Album Series. Sony has also licensed festive titles from Robert Goulet, Rosemary Clooney, The Brothers Four and Frank DeVol and the Rainbow Strings to Real Gone Music. Those titles have recently been
Holiday Gift Guide Review: "The Classic Christmas Album" Series
Johnny Mathis. Frank Sinatra. Perry Como. Steve Vai? Menudo? When it comes to Christmas music, Legacy Recordings doesn’t pull its punches. The label’s series of Classic Christmas Album releases has become a bit of an annual tradition, and this year’s batch of single- and various-artist anthologies once again draws on names both expected and unexpected. While the packages are bare-bones, with no liner notes (but happily with full credits and discographical annotation), the music most certainly is
The Beach Boys' New Digital "Copyright Collections" Offer 1964 Rarities, Two Complete Concerts
With another year rapidly drawing to a close, many fans were wondering if 2014 would bring another round of “copyright extension collections,” i.e. releases designed to circumvent recent European Union copyright law. The answer, of course, is “yes.” To greatly simplify, E.U. law now holds that a recording is protected for 75 years under copyright in the E.U. (the period previously was 50 years) but only if that recording has been released. As a result of this change in law, the past
Spend the Night in Bangkok: "Chess" Reissued for 30th Anniversary
Tim Rice had been thinking about writing a musical about the Cold War for some time in the late 1970s. Fascinated by the Soviet-U.S. chess rivalry of the time, the lyricist-librettist approached his longtime collaborator Andrew Lloyd Webber with the idea. Lloyd Webber, however, was not available, as he was too busy developing a little show known as Cats. A suggestion from a producer put Rice in touch with songwriters Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA. Looking to pursue some projects
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Todd Rundgren, "At The BBC 1972-1982"
Christmas has come early for Todd Rundgren fans this year with the release by Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings imprint of Todd Rundgren at the BBC: 1972-1982, a handsome new 3-CD/1-DVD box set of live performances drawn from Rundgren’s first decade of rock stardom. The latest release in Esoteric’s Todd Rundgren Archive Series, At the BBC captures the transformation of the ever-evolving artist from precocious pop chameleon to prog-rock adventurer and beyond. 1972’s sprawling Something/Anything
Release Round-Up: Week of December 2
B.J. Thomas, Home Where I Belong/Happy Man (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) B.J. Thomas, You Gave Me Love/Miracle (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Linda Jones, The Complete Atco-Loma-Warner Bros. Recordings (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) The Five Stairsteps, Our Family Portrait/Stairsteps (Expanded Twofer Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) The Unforgiven, The Unforgiven (Expanded Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) Cowboy, 5’ll Getcha Ten (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Grateful Dead, Dick’s Picks
Baby's Coming Back: Jellyfish Goes Deluxe In January
This January is all about Jellyfish, thanks to the team at Omnivore Recordings. On January 20, 2015, the label will release the eagerly-anticipated 2-CD deluxe editions of both 1990's Bellybutton and 1993's Spilt Milk - in other words, the complete original album oeuvre of the power pop revivalists. In total, 51 bonus tracks will be spread across the two releases for the most complete account of the short-lived yet fondly-remembered Bay Area band. Formed by singer/drummer Andy Sturmer and
The Second Disc's HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2014
Don't have time to make that list and check it twice? Looking for that perfect present to place under the tree this holiday season? Look no further! 2014 has brought an amazing array of deluxe (and super deluxe!) special editions and box sets - plus a number of holiday-themed releases - all of which prove the vitality of music released in physical formats. We've highlighted the crème de la crème - over 40 titles! - right here to make your spirits bright, whatever your musical
Give 'Em a Spin: The Second Disc's Essential Back to Black Friday 2014 Release Guide
Yes, it’s that time of year again. Thanksgiving is here, and with each Thanksgiving comes another Black Friday, the day for consumers to start off the holiday shopping season on a mad, frenetic note. This year is just in the latest one in which numerous retailers in the U.S. have made headlines by blackening Thursday, or Thanksgiving Day itself, with sales starting on the holiday. So many might give thanks that the folks behind Record Store Day are waiting until the traditional Friday for the
David Foster Makes Christmas "Merry and Bright" With Rod Stewart, Celine Dion, More
In a career spanning five decades, producer-musician-songwriter David Foster has virtually become a brand name in himself. After making his name in bands like Skylark and Airplay, the Canadian multi-hyphenate contributed as sideman, writer and arranger to albums by George Harrison, Diana Ross, Donna Summer and Earth Wind and Fire; he won one of his sixteen Grammy Awards for co-writing that band’s “After the Love is Gone.” Beginning in the 1980s, he launched a solo career and also established
Better Be Fierce: Real Gone Reissues Two From Ronnie Dyson On "Phase 2/Brand New Day"
In the annals of underrated R&B vocalists, Ronnie Dyson (1950-1990) was among the greatest. A versatile singer equally comfortable with smooth soul, pure pop and showbiz pizzazz, Dyson left behind a small but rich catalogue for the Columbia and Cotillion labels. With the recent release of Phase 2 and Brand New Day from 1982 and 1983, respectively, Real Gone Music and SoulMusic Records have filled in two of the major holes in Dyson’s CD discography (RGM-0294). With the release of this stellar
Release Round-Up: Week of November 24
Simon and Garfunkel, The Complete Albums Collection (Columbia/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) This 12-CD box includes all five of Simon & Garfunkel's stereo studio albums released between 1964 and 1970, newly remastered from first-generation analog sources plus first-time remasters of The Graduate soundtrack and 1981's The Concert in Central Park; 1972's Greatest Hits album (which contained some unique performances unavailable elsewhere); and the live concert albums from 1967, 1969
Step by Step, Heart By Heart: Martika's Debut Expanded by Cherry Pop
For decades, The Disney Channel has served as a launching pad for the pop stars of tomorrow, from Justin Timberlake to Britney Spears to Selena Gomez and many more. One of the earliest shows to have stars emerge was Kids Incorporated which aired on The Disney Channel from 1986-1994 (after having moved there from syndication). Kids introduced audiences to, among others, Fergie and Jennifer Love Hewitt. But it was another cast member from the show who had early success stemming from her time
Bring the Noise! Public Enemy's Landmark "It Takes a Nation of Millions" to Be Expanded
Last year, UMe demanded that listeners “Respect the Classics” with a new series of multi-format reissues dedicated to landmark hip-hop albums from the vaults of labels including Def Jam, Interscope, Priority and Virgin. One of last year’s releases was an LP reissue of Public Enemy’s 1988 release It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. On November 24, Def Jam will revisit that title once again with a 2-CD/1-DVD expanded reissue. The second album by hip hop group Public Enemy, It Takes
Ace Super Soul Round-Up, Part Two: The "One in a Million" Songs of Sam Dees, The New Orleans Sound of Cosimo Matassa
Welcome to Part 2 of our two-part series exploring a recent crop of amazing soul and R&B from the Ace and Kent labels! Birmingham, Alabama native Sam Dees has worn many hats in a long and illustrious career – producer, singer, songwriter, among them. But it’s a songwriter that Dees has received his greatest acclaim. He’s gifted music to George Benson and Aretha Franklin (“Love All the Hurt Away”), Atlantic Starr (“Am I Dreaming”), Gladys Knight and the Pips (“Save the Overtime (For Me)”
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