When Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. departed The 5th Dimension following the release of 1975's Earthbound, their commercial success as a duo was far from a sure thing. Despite being a worthy follow-up to the 5th Dimension's magnum opus The Magic Garden and a reunion with that album's composer-lyricist-producer Jimmy Webb, Earthbound didn't rekindle the group's fortunes. But McCoo and Davis knew they had one thing going for them: their union, one which is still going strong today. That
Legacy is Miles Ahead on Davis' Mono CD Box Set
Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings are getting Miles Ahead with a new box set due on November 12. Miles Davis’ The Original Mono Recordings is a definitive portrait – in crisp monaural sound – of the legendary trumpeter’s earliest, era-defining period at Columbia Records. Its nine albums, recorded between 1956 and 1961 (and released between 1957 and 1964), include some of the greatest landmarks in recorded jazz as well as a couple of lost treasures: ‘Round About Midnight (1957) Miles
Couldn't Love Him More: John Martyn Box Set Due This Month
Universal's U.K. arm has made a nice habit in recent years of exhaustive box sets devoted to one artist. The Moody Blues' Timeless Flight was an 11CD/6DVD overview of the British rock band; this fall includes box sets devoted to Sparks and Tears for Fears' The Hurting. The upcoming The Island Years, an exhaustive box devoted to folk icon John Martyn, is 18 discs - 17 CDs and one DVD - that looks to be quite the knockout for anyone's shelf. Martyn was a notable figure in the British folk scene
Cherry Pop "Thinks It Over" With Two Reissues From Cissy Houston
When Cissy Houston was signed to Private Stock Records in 1977 to record the first of two albums just reissued by the Cherry Pop label, her C.V. spoke for itself. Music practically ran in the veins of the vocalist born Emily Drinkard in Newark, New Jersey, 1933. Cissy first made her mark as a member of The Drinkard Singers, the group said to have recorded the very first major-label gospel album (1959's A Joyful Noise, on RCA Victor). Among Cissy's fellow Drinkard Singers was her sister Lee
Disco Connection: BBR Spins Dance Gold With Latest Reissues
At Big Break Records, no stone has been left unturned in the label’s quest to reissue the best in soul, R&B, dance and disco, as evidenced by five of the Cherry Red imprint’s latest catalogue expansions. 1971’s “Funky Nassau” by The Beginning of the End established the Bahamas as a fertile ground for musical invention when the single on Henry Stone’s Alston label became a Top 15 Pop/Top 10 R&B hit. His interest in the region’s music piqued, Stone signed the quintet T-Connection to his
Really Saying Something: Bananarama Reissues Coming from Edsel
"Hot summer streets and the pavements are burning, I sit around..." Summer may be over, but Edsel's given Bananarama fans quite the reason to sing and dance: on October 22, they will reissue all six of the London girl group's London Records albums as 2CD/1DVD sets. Known for their spunky, tomboyish image, powerful unison vocals and a style with one foot in both the past and the future - hits included covers of "Really Saying Something" by The Velvelettes, Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him
Release Round-Up: Week of September 3
Rod Stewart, Rarities (Mercury/UMe) It's Rod at his rarest: two discs of outtakes, non-LP singles and other good stuff, including two unreleased BBC session tracks. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Jefferson Starship, Live in Central Park NYC May 12, 1975 / Claudia Lennear, Phew! / Ponderosa Twins Plus One, 2+2+1=Ponderosa Twins Plus One / Jo Ann Campbell, All the Hits--Her Complete Cameo Recordings / Joanie Sommers, Come Alive!--The Complete Columbia Recordings / Stonewall Jackson, Original
Silk 'N Honey: LITA's Lee Hazlewood Archive Series Continues With "Honey Ltd."
Light in the Attic has a taste of Honey for you – Honey Ltd., that is. The latest release in the label’s Lee Hazlewood Archive Series, The Complete LHI Recordings brings together the complete LHI Records output (1968-1969) of the girl group produced by Hazlewood and Mike Post, and arranged by Ian Fairbairn-Smith and Jack Nitzsche. The 13-track anthology is available now. Laura Polkinghorne, Marsha Jo Temmer and sisters Joan and Alexandra Silwin first raised their voices in song at Detroit’s
Go To The Mirror! The Who To Reissue "Tommy" In Super Deluxe Style
The amazing journey is about to continue. Following the massive box sets accorded Live at Leeds and Quadrophenia, The Who have confirmed a Super Deluxe set of 1969's Tommy just in time for the holidays. The 3-CD/1-BD set, due in the U.K. on November 11 and in the U.S. on November 12, will include a newly remastered edition of the original album on one CD, a second disc of previously unissued demos and outtakes, a third CD of a 1969 live performance (drawn from numerous shows), and a Blu-ray
Review: Sly and the Family Stone, "Higher!"
Sly Stone was a sponge. After leading Bobby "Do You Wanna Dance" Freeman to a hit record with 1965's "C'mon and Swim," the writer-producer-artist formerly known as Sylvester Stewart knew he had hit on a good thing. Hence, "I Just Learned to Swim." Then, "Scat Swim." But on the latter, Stone was already showing off his stylistic diversity, interrupting the beat to "slow it down a little so everybody can swim" and then speeding it back up again. He had soaked up the fertile creative
Reissue Theory: "Michael Jackson's Moonwalker"
Welcome to yet another installment of Reissue Theory, where we celebrate notable releases and the reissues they could someday see. On the King of Pop's birthday, we remember one of the Bad era's least-remembered but most captivating pieces of merchandise: Michael Jackson's first feature film. The past year has seen quite the revival of interest in Michael Jackson's 1987 album Bad. It's hard to imagine an album that sold multiplatinum levels of records and spawned a record-setting five
Madness to Reissue "Take It or Leave It" on DVD
Madness may be all in the mind, but in October it'll be on your TV screens thanks to a new reissue of the band's film, Take It or Leave It, coming from Salvo Music in October. Directed by Stiff Records founder Dave Robinson and released in 1981, Take It or Leave It is a docudrama about the beloved British ska group, combining staged vignettes with live footage and other fun stuff. Released in conjunction with the band's third album, 7, the film features various studio and live versions of songs
Review: Bob Dylan, "The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait"
Who is Bob Dylan? Today, he might identify himself as “a song and dance man,” a noble profession if there ever was one. But for decades, the man born Robert Zimmerman has been much, much more. Resistant though he might have been to the tag of “spokesman of a generation,” said generation could have done much worse. To describe Dylan’s role in the 1960s is certainly to paint with broad brushstrokes. But it can be said with some measure of truth that Dylan liberated popular music from the
Midnight Special: Sweet "Rocky Horror" Reissues on Tap
A toast! A famed box set of music from The Rocky Horror Show is coming back into print, as well as a new reissue of the original film soundtrack on CD and vinyl, 40 years after the show first Time Warped into the hearts of fans. There comes a time in many music and theatre enthusiasts' lives when they encounter The Rocky Horror Show, Richard O'Brien's raucous cult musical, which first premiered in London's West End in the summer of 1973. More than 35 years after it was adapted into The Rocky
La-La Land Re-Enters "The Matrix," Draws "Wyatt Earp" for Milestone Release
La-La Land's latest releases celebrate the ongoing legacy of the music of Warner Bros. Pictures, from modern Westerns to ultramodern action flicks - not to mention another landmark in the label's own discography. For its 250th release, La-La Land has greatly expanded James Newton Howard's score to Wyatt Earp, Lawrence Kasdan's 1994 drama about the real-life lawman starred Kevin Costner as the titular Earp and co-starred Gene Hackman and Dennis Quaid. Despite its star power, it was considerably
"The Bells Ring," Again: New Wave Outfit Swimming Pool Q's Reissue A&M Works on Deluxe Compilation
Here's a surprising treat from earlier in the summer: New Wave outfit The Swimming Pool Q's recently re-released their two albums for A&M Records with a host of bonus content. The Atlanta-based quintet - anchored by multi-instrumentalist Jeff Calder and guitarist Bob Elsey (the band's principal songwriters) and singer/keyboardist Anne Richmond Boston - enjoyed local success on the DB Records label (alongside acts like Pylon and Love Tractor) before making the jump to the majors with their
Review: The Beach Boys, "Made in California"
If everybody had an ocean... Rarely have five simple words in pop music held such promise. The message at the time was an invitation squarely aimed at teens: “If everybody had an ocean, across the USA/Then everybody’d be surfin’ like Califor-ni-a...” But ultimately, the promise and California dream embodied by Hawthorne, CA’s native sons came to mean so much more than mere surfin’. The sound of The Beach Boys – Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Al Jardine, David Marks,
Let Him Sing and We're Happy: Parlophone Readies The "Alternate" Matt Monro
Matt Monro (1930-1985) made one of his first major splashes under the pseudonym of “Fred Flange,” adding the requisite touch of Sinatra to Peter Sellers’ 1959 comedy LP Songs for Swingin’ Sellers. Good as he was at being Sinatra, however, he was even better at being Matt Monro. Producer George Martin picked up on this, and the rest is history. Monro began his tenure at EMI signed (like Sellers) to Parlophone, later became an artist for EMI’s famous U.S. Capitol label, and still later saw
Mario Lanza Is "The Toast of Hollywood" On New Set From TCM, Sony
In the 1950 film of the same name, Mario Lanza was anointed The Toast of New Orleans. According to the fine folks at Turner Classic Movies and Sony Masterworks, however, the Pennsylvania-born, Italian-American tenor is also The Toast of Hollywood. TCM and Masterworks are following up their 2012 release of Doris Day’s With a Smile and a Song with a new, similarly-designed 2-CD set dedicated to the late Hollywood singing star Lanza. The rich-voiced singer may have perished in 1959 at just 38
Naxos To Reissue Bethlehem Catalogue, Titles Promised From Nina Simone, John Coltrane, Mel Tormé
Another chapter is soon to be written in the story of the classic jazz label Bethlehem Records. The label, founded in 1953 by Gus Wildi, will soon be relaunched by classical specialist label Naxos in association with Bethlehem’s current owner, Verse Music Group. Titles are planned to roll out in six batches, from August 27 of this year through July 29, 2014. Bethlehem played a major part in establishing the careers of such prime vocalists as Chris Connor, Nina Simone and Julie London, and at
Review: The Monkees, "The Monkees Present: Deluxe Edition"
And then there were three. Peter Tork had departed The Monkees in December 1968, just a couple of months prior to the February 1969 release of the band’s seventh studio album, Instant Replay. The remaining trio of Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith soldiered on, though, cutting numerous new tracks and updating old ones for an eighth effort. Issued by Colgems in October 1969 on the heels of an unsuccessful greatest-hits album, it was The Monkees Present and emphasized the slimmer group
Back Tracks: John Mayer
This week saw the release of Paradise Valley, the sixth full-length album by singer/songwriter/guitarist John Mayer. The Connecticut-born performer remains one of the most intriguing figures in pop music since the dawn of the 2000s: educated at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, Mayer was the complete package for a generation - multifaceted in his musical talents (kind of an insane cross between James Taylor and Stevie Ray Vaughan), an unabashed encyclopedia of modern pop - and, as it
Original Jazz Classics Celebrates 60 Years of Riverside with Evans, Montgomery, Baker, More
From its headquarters at 553 West 51st Street in New York, New York, the Riverside Records label presided over an impressive roster of jazz talent. Founded in 1953 by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer, Riverside was home at one time or another to Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, Alberta Hunter, Johnny Griffin, plus a number of artists currently being recognized with deluxe reissues from the Riverside catalogue: Thelonious Monk and Gerry Mulligan, Cannonball Adderley and Milt Jackson, Chet Baker, Wes
SoulMusic Records Delivers the Love with Phyllis Hyman's "Buddah Years"
SoulMusic Records, an imprint of the Cherry Red Group, continues its non-chronological tour through the catalogue of the late Phyllis Hyman with the release of The Buddah Years. Despite the compilation title, this 13-track CD is actually a straight reissue of Hyman’s very first solo album, recorded for Buddah Records, plus four bonus tracks. Though she had previously recorded a single for Private Stock Records, the statuesque soul singer’s first major splash came as guest vocalist for
Take the Midnight Train to Eight New Gladys Knight and the Pips Reissues from FTG
Funkytowngrooves is leaving on the midnight train to Georgia with a series of six expanded reissues from the catalogue of Gladys Knight, both solo and with the Pips. September 16 and 30 are the dates to mark for the label's reissues of four vintage albums originally released on Buddah (Imagination, I Feel a Song, 2nd Anniversary and The One and Only...), one on Bell (In the Beginning) and three on Columbia (Gladys Knight, Visions and Life). It's a good time to be a fan of Gladys' ouevre; the
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