In past years, Numero Group’s Wayfaring Strangers series has taken adventurous listeners along to hear Ladies from the Canyon, Guitar Soli and Lonesome Heroes, drawing on rare or privately-pressed folk music and casting it in a new light. With its latest release, however, Numero is traversing even more unexpected territory. The punningly-titled Warfaring Strangers volume entitled Darkscorch Canticles will immerse listeners in a world of mystics and mages, devils and demons, and yes, dungeons
Review: Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin, "The King of Soul" and "The Queen of Soul"
All hail The King and Queen. The careers of Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin have been inextricably linked since Franklin entered New York’s Atlantic Studios on Valentine’s Day, 1967, with producer Jerry Wexler to record Redding’s “Respect.” Even before that pivotal moment, however, the two artists shared a label in Atlantic Records (distributor of Redding’s Stax records) and an ability to invest any song with raw honesty and unvarnished emotion. Atlantic and Rhino Records have recently
Review: Johnny Winter, "True to the Blues: The Johnny Winter Story"
If there’s some truth to the importance of being in the right place at the right time, Johnny Winter might attest to it. The slide guitar virtuoso came up in the ranks of show business when blues-rock was rising in popularity. He embodied an American alternative to Clapton, Page or Mayall, and offered a grittier take than Hendrix, more of the earth than the cosmos. Since debuting in 1969, Winter has rarely strayed from his signature style even as he’s stretched its boundaries, remaining True
Hot Shots: Big Break Relights Dan Hartman's "Fire," Expands Sheryl Lee Ralph's Solo Debut
Talk about fusion! For "Hands Down," the opening cut of his 1979 album Relight My Fire, Dan Hartman enlisted rock and roll great Edgar Winter to weave his alto saxophone licks throughout the Latin-flavored disco track, and Stevie Wonder to provide his instantly recognizable harmonica. Hartman wasn't just a dilettante, but a regular musical renaissance man. A veteran of the Johnny Winter Band and the Edgar Winter Group, he wrote the latter's smash hit "Free Ride," and successfully completed
Deep Purple Revisit "Made in Japan" in a Big Way
Deep Purple's monstrous power as a live act was solidified more than four decades ago with the release of their first live album, Made in Japan. This May, a tidal wave of Made in Japan reissues are surging your way, from remasters to expansions to box sets on CD, vinyl and Blu-Ray. (Whew!) In 1972, Deep Purple were flying higher than ever. The quintet - at the time, singer Ian Gillan, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, bassist Roger Glover, keyboardist Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice - had just
Gotcha! Raven Collects Three Essentials From Saxophone Great Tom Scott
Chances are if you’re reading these words, you’re intimately familiar with at least one performance by Tom Scott. The saxophonist played the part of the titular “Jazzman” on Carole King’s 1974 No. 2 single of the same name, helped take Paul McCartney’s “Listen to What the Man Said” all the way up to No. 1 in 1975, and lent support to Whitney Houston as she professed to be “Saving All My Love for You.” But the Grammy-winning Scott was also a prolific recording artist, both solo and with his
I'll Have Popcorn With That: Eclectic New Compilation Offers Jerry Butler, Eartha Kitt, Johnny Nash, Frankie Laine
What is Popcorn music?Bob Stanley of the band St. Etienne and the new Croydon Municipal label wants to tell you. “Popcorn is a genre after the fact, built by curation rather than creation,” the author of Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop (soon to be retitled The Story of Pop Music from Bill Haley to Beyonce for its upcoming U.S. edition) writes in the liner notes to his new release Sweet ‘n’ Salty Popcorn. “Its narrative was formed by Belgians in the seventies from records made in the
In A Russian State of Mind: Billy Joel's "A Matter of Trust: The Bridge To Russia" Gets Deluxe Treatment
With Billy Joel in the midst of his unprecedented concert run as a “franchise” at New York’s Madison Square Garden, the time has never been better to revisit one of the most significant concert appearances of the Long Island troubadour’s long musical career. On May 20, 2014, Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings will definitively chronicle Joel’s historic 1987 Russian concert tour on A Matter of Trust – The Bridge to Russia. A Matter of Trust will be available in a Deluxe Edition box set
EXCLUSIVE: Real Gone Saddles Up To Record Store Day With Never-Before-Heard Music From Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
Waylon Jennings might have said it best: "Bob Wills is still the King." The song of that name closed Jennings' 1975 album Dreaming My Dreams, which was released just one month after the death of the King of Western Swing at age 70. Waylon's ode to Bob Wills was revived three decades later by The Rolling Stones, and the sentiment still held true. Now, Real Gone Music is celebrating Record Store Day 2014 - that's Saturday, April 19 - with a slice of ultra-rare, vintage Americana that you've
Keeping Score with New Releases by Intrada and Kritzerland
The last few weeks have seen some great catalogue soundtracks released, including a set of LPs from a beloved Golden Age composer and a pair of heavy hitters at 20th Century-Fox. Last week saw Intrada release two score titles. The first is the world premiere of Maurice Jarre's score to Distant Thunder, from the 1988 John Lithgow-Ralph Macchio film about a Vietnam War veteran uneasily returning to his family after a decade spent in the American wilderness. Jarre's small-scale electronic ensemble
Release Round-Up: Week of February 25
Morrissey, Your Arsenal: Definitive Master (Parlophone) We don't hate it when Moz becomes successful, as was the case with his third non-compilation album from 1992, which now comes with an unreleased live show on DVD. CD/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Johnny Winter, True to the Blues: The Johnny Winter Story (Columbia/Legacy) A four-disc tribute to the influential blues guitarist, who turned 70 on Sunday. (Amazon U.S./ Amazon U.K.) Bob Mould, Workbook: 25th
Hank Williams, Jaco Pastorius Lead Off Omnivore's RSD Slate
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUKPRPWCDHg] That change in the air pressure you're probably feeling around your favorite indie record store can only mean one thing: Record Store Day 2014 is coming your way. April 19 will see a host of beloved major and independent labels celebrating the good old resilient brick-and-mortar store with various titles sold exclusively at participating stores. And the beloved cratediggers at Omnivore Recordings have four exciting titles prepared for the big
Somewhere Out There: Linda Ronstadt's Greatest "Duets" Arrive On CD in April
On April 10, Linda Ronstadt joins the class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – an honor that was certainly not needed to acknowledge Ronstadt’s place as among the top vocalists of her generation, but a welcome and long-overdue honor nonetheless. Two days earlier, Rhino celebrates the career of the versatile artist with the release of Linda Ronstadt – Duets. Its fifteen tracks encompass performances alongside artists including Aaron Neville, Emmylou Harris, Don Henley, Frank Sinatra, James
Review: Dionne Warwick On Edsel Records
Dionne Warwick's third album bore the title Make Way for Dionne Warwick. But truth to tell, by the time of its release in September 1964, America had already made way for the New Jersey-born singer. She had climbed the charts with the immortal likes of "Don't Make Me Over," "Anyone Who Had a Heart," "Walk on By" and "Reach Out for Me," the latter two of which were included on that LP. Of course, all of those singles were written and produced by the team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, who
Forever Dusty: Four New Releases Celebrate Springfield's Musical Legacy
Dusty Springfield’s ebullient first solo single, 1963’s “I Only Want to Be with You,” announced just how far the former Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien had come from her pop-folk trio The Springfields and the likes of “Silver Threads and Golden Needles.” The thunderous production and joyous vocals augured for a significant new talent, and the song was selected as one of the very first ever to be played on the BBC’s Top of the Pops. And indeed, Dusty Springfield remained at the top of
Jump on It! Incredible Bongo Band's Debut Reissued on Vinyl
Of all the breaks in hip-hop history to get you on the dance floor, few are more thrilling to this very day than "Apache," as recorded by Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band. A cover of a Jerry Lordan instrumental made famous by The Shadows in the U.K. and Jørgen Ingman and His Guitar in the U.S. in the early 1960s, the bongo-heavy version of "Apache" never charted but became a major influence on early hip-hop. The song's spaghetti western-esque riff was sampled by the likes of The Beastie
Too Much Heaven: Bee Gees' "Warner Bros. Years" Box Set Premieres Unreleased Tracks, Complete Concert
Following the release of 1981’s Living Eyes, The Bee Gees effectively called it a day. The band reportedly clashed during the making of the album, and its lack of chart success convinced Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb to pursue non-band projects for a time. Solo albums and soundtrack recordings arrived, and the Barry Gibb/Karl Richardson/Albhy Galuten team worked its magic on releases by Dionne Warwick, Kenny Rogers and Diana Ross (featuring numerous songs co-written by all three brothers, of
"Drums Along the Hudson" Beat Again with Reissue of Expanded Album
When Jem Recordings - the famous import distributor (located in the author's hometown!) - was reborn last year, at its front and center was The Bongos, the incredible Hoboken-bred pop-rock band who were the first and last act to play the town's legendary venue Maxwell's when it closed last year. Jem issued on CD an unreleased Bongos album, Phantom Train, as well as a physical release for frontman Richard Barone's superb Cool Blue Halo 25th Anniversary Concert. Last week, Jem added another Bongos
Bruce Springsteen Remasters Announced - with a Twist
It's one of the biggest headlines catalogue music fans have been waiting decades to hear - if not necessarily in the context they'd like. Today, Bruce Springsteen announced ten of his albums from across his entire discography have been newly remastered from the original analogue tapes by Bob Ludwig. The list includes five classic LPs - Springsteen's first four albums Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (1973), The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle (1973), Born to Run (1975), Darkness
He Wears It Well: Long-Delayed Rod Stewart Box Set Back On Track For March Release
2014’s gonna be alright for fans of Rod Stewart. Following 2012’s sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll memoir Rod: The Autobiography and the 2013 release of Rarities (largely culled from the box set The Rod Stewart Sessions: 1971-1998), the one-time Rod the Mod and all-time superstar is still in a reflective mood. Stewart will look back on three decades of concert performances with the March 18 release from Warner Bros. Records of Live 1976-1998: Tonight’s the Night. This long-rumored box set consists
Release Round-Up: Week of February 18
The Allman Brothers Band, Boston Common 8-17-71 (Allman Brothers Band Recording Company) / Play All Night: Live At The Beacon Theatre 1992 / Live At Great Woods 1992 (Epic/Legacy) A host of Allman-related catalogue projects are due out today to commemorate 45 years since the beloved rockers first came together. The band is self-releasing a fine find of a show recorded just weeks after the dates that were captured on At Fillmore East and months before Duane Allman's sudden passing. Elsewhere,
Starbucks Goes Hip and Jazzy On Venti Release Slate
If you’re looking for a little music to go with your grande toffee nut latte, Starbucks has recently unveiled a number of new audio offerings to kick off 2014. In addition to its annual Sweetheart disc – an anthology of new(ish) artists playing old(ish) love songs including, this year, songs by John Lennon, Bob Dylan and Harry Nilsson – the coffee giant has curated a selection of Music for Little Hipsters, sets dedicated to Women of Jazz and When Jazz Meets Guitar, and an Opus Collection volume
Bear Family Making Plans for Box Set of Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton Recordings
Johnny and June. George and Tammy. Porter and Dolly. The world of country music had some of its greatest successes in pairs - duets whose songs projected all the joy and pain of love and loss, just like any good country song should. Whether the joy or pain was real or simply projected very well is another matter, as anyone who's seen Walk the Line can attest. In the case of Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton, their relationship was never romantic and often turbulent, but it did yield one of the
Brand New Year, Brand New Compilation: Legacy Preps "The Essential Eric Carmen"
Will the real Eric Carmen please stand up? There's Eric Carmen, the power pop prince of The Raspberries. There's Eric Carmen, the classically-inspired balladeer of "All By Myself" and "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again." And there's Eric Carmen, the eighties "comeback kid" of "Make Me Lose Control" and the Dirty Dancing perennial "Hungry Eyes." Luckily, all sides of the versatile artist figure prominently on Arista Records and Legacy Recordings' upcoming release of The Essential Eric Carmen.
Action, Action, Action! Real Gone's April Release Schedule Announced
Second Disc HQ may be surrounded by layers of detestable snow, but a new release schedule from Real Gone Music is as good as any sunshine! (Plus, these titles are due in April, by which everything will have melted...WE HOPE.) You've already read about two of the label's new April releases courtesy of Joe's post about Doris Day earlier today, but that's not all they're offering. A complete singles collection by Patti LaBelle and The Bluebells - featuring the three future members of LaBelle with
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