As if the impressive release schedule from Big Break Records wasn't enough to excite catalogue fans, next month will see another impressive wave of reissues from other labels in the Cherry Red family. 7Ts, Cherry Pop and Soul Music are all planning some impressive remastered and expanded discs which will bring some pop, rock and R&B acts from the '70s, '80s and '90s back into print. From 7Ts comes expansions of the first two LPs by singer/actress Suzi Quatro. While these two glam-rock LPs
Angel Air Revisits a Series of Tommy James Classics
Shondells frontman Tommy James has been fairly well-represented on CD, with reissues from both Collectors' Choice and Collectables compiling most of his classic oeuvre. Now, the U.K.'s Angel Air label takes its turn filling in more gaps in James' catalogue with a trio of reissues. First up are a pair of two-fers, In Touch (1976) with Midnight Rider (1977), and Three Times in Love (1980) with Hi-Fi (1990), followed by an expanded edition of A Night in...Big City: An Audio Movie (1995). In
Do You Love Them? The Contours' Lost Motown Classics Arrive on CD
Early Motown act The Contours received a new lease on life back in 1988 when Dirty Dancing (and its More Dirty Dancing soundtrack) introduced a new generation to their 1962 hit single, “Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance).” The song made a return appearance on the Billboard chart more than 25 years after its original appearance, and the group even performed live as part of the Dirty Dancing Tour. Prior to that, the Contours hadn’t seen many glory days since 1967. That was when the group
Short Takes: Beach Boys Record Store Day Release, Neil Diamond Updates and More
Although nobody seems to know if The Beach Boys' SMiLE is indeed coming out, Capitol's offering a mini-consolation prize for the moment: a special single release for Record Store Day in April. This double-78 RPM single features one disc with the original versions of "Good Vibrations" and "Heroes and Villains," and another with alternate takes of each song. (These are presumably alternates as previously released on the Smiley Smile/Wild Honey two-fer.) Legacy has updated their info on the
Singles Sets from Sundazed to Feature Sam the Sham, Sir Douglas Quintet
When it comes to the recent
Michael Small's "Audrey Rose" Arrives on CD
Despite his acclaimed scores to films such as Klute, The Parallax View, Marathon Man and The China Syndrome, Michael Small (1939-2003) remains one of the most underrated names in the film score pantheon. Too few a number of Small’s works have been made available on CD, yet his singular voice enhanced a number of great films (and even some bad ones - Ed.). This is especially true during his 1970s peak in which he collaborated with directors as celebrated as Alan J. Pakula, Bryan Forbes, Sidney
Shout! Factory to Release New Marshall Tucker Band Compilation
Last year saw the release of a no-frills box from the Marshall Tucker Band, issued through the band's own Ramblin' Records. They were straight reproduction of the LPs along with a live CD/DVD set initially released by Shout! Factory, which had also remastered and expanded each of the MTB albums for Capricorn Records in the past. It looks like Shout! Factory is still putting out MTB releases, as a new greatest hits compilation is coming from the label on April 5. It's a pretty straightforward
Now Sounds Readies "The Collage" for Expanded CD Debut
When The Collage signed with Mercury Records' Smash division in 1968 (also the home of The Left Banke), the group was on the verge of a breakthrough. Consisting of Jerry Careaga, Ron Joelson, Donna Byrd and Jodie Cline, the two-man, two-woman Collage was in the mold of The Mamas and the Papas, but with two ace songwriters instead of one; Careaga and Joelson worked as a team. Their songs - described by Careaga as "beat-poetry lyrics to show-tune-style melodies" - grabbed the attention of industry
Review: The Crystals, The Ronettes and Darlene Love: "The Very Best Of"
If Phil Spector didn’t exist, someone would have had to invent him. Spector scored his first chart-topper as writer, artist and arranger in 1958 with “To Know Him is to Love Him” performed his by group, the Teddy Bears. But a 1960 apprenticeship with famed songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller convinced the ambitious young man that his future was behind the scenes as a producer. (His 1960 stint with Leiber and Stoller also yielded “Spanish Harlem,” which Spector co-wrote with Leiber.) With
Review: Various Artists, "Wall of Sound: The Very Best of Phil Spector 1961-1966"
In another time, in another place, I would not be writing this review of Legacy's new Phil Spector compilation with a slight pang of melancholy. And you wouldn't be reading it with the possible tug at the heartsrings you might face now. Phil Spector was one of the most significant pop producers of the 20th century - a creator of pop music as a blissful, romantic, universal commodity - but recent events have ensured that anyone who speaks his name today does so with hesitation, with knowledge of
RCA to Salute "Idol" Hands in New Compilation
As if music fans needed another reminder that, every now and then, the pop culture ship sometimes docks in unusual waters, Sony is prepping a compilation of hits for American Idol's tenth anniversary. I mean, whaaaaaat? Alright, so the show's being a bit premature in celebrating its legacy; Idol premiered on FOX in the summer of 2002 and has failed to let up since. The idea of plucking a pop star from obscurity has lost much of its novelty status, but there have been some great artists and acts
Another Morrissey Compilation is Coming
If you thought you already had the best of Morrissey on CD - even if you probably do - Moz is going to prove you wrong with The Very Best of Morrissey, a new CD/DVD compilation due in April. If our count is correct, this is Morrissey's seventh or eighth compilation, but it's good to see he's still active. The track list collects pretty much all the hits you'd expect from the HMV/Parlophone era of 1988 to 1995, including a few choice B-sides and single material (U.S. mixes of "Tomorrow" and "My
A "Cliffhanger" Coming from Intrada
Intrada knows how to make film score fans hang onto every release: their latest batch includes a long-unreleased, underrated suspense score and the long-awaited deluxe reissue of a classic early '90s action score. Released in 1993, Cliffhanger, starring Sylvester Stallone as a mountaineer unwillingly forced into a heist led by John Lithgow was a critical and commercial success, and featured a great action score by Trevor Jones. The soundtrack called back to classic scores by luminaries like
Review: Ride, "Nowhere: 20th Anniversary Edition"
Rock music has a definite genre problem. When Rhino Handmade announced the reissue of Ride's Nowhere late last year, some absent-minded reading on Wikipedia yielded a primer on the shoegaze genre. "Shoegaze" is one of those things you might encounter if you were a voracious reader of music reviews in the early '90s, but it might have just been a word rather than a whole genre. Shoegaze was a mini-genre assigned to bands with a particular style - particularly, effects-laden guitars taking
UMe Gets Impulsive with Forthcoming Box Set
Universal Music Group has an impressive array of jazz titles in their library. Defining labels of the genre like Verve and Mercury are jewels in UMe's crown, while the catalogues of Concord and Fantasy are distributed domestically by Universal as well. One of the more arguably underrated vintage labels in Universal's family, though, is Impulse! Records. The label, founded by Creed Taylor in 1960 as a label in the ABC-Paramount group, may not be as long-running as the others in Universal's
Presidents' Day Special Feature: Stan Freberg, "The United States of America"
Here's one for Watson: "This actor, comedian, voice artist, singer, songwriter and advertising guru coined the name 'Grammy' for the annual awards bestowed by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS)." The correct answer? "Who is Stan Freberg?" To list Freberg's credits in the fields of cinema, radio, television, animation and music would take up the entirety of this column, but readers unfamiliar with those accomplishments are advised to stop reading now, order a copy of
Iggy Pop, Live and in a Box
2010 had no shortage of reissues from The Stooges. All three of their classic studio LPs were reissued - The Stooges in a new deluxe edition from Rhino Handmade, Fun House through the repressed 1970: The Complete Fun House Sessions box set also from Rhino Handmade and Raw Power as part of Sony's Legacy Edition series - and Handmade released a live set,
Robbie Williams Reissues to Entertain You in March
After a new double-disc compilation and a heavily-publicized reunion with U.K. boy band Take That (who will go on tour this year), EMI will have another batch of goodies for the Robbie Williams fan in your life: new CD/DVD reissues of the singer's Chrysalis catalogue. Williams - one of the most celebrated male singers in England, with more BRIT Award wins than anyone and some 60 million albums sold worldwide - recorded seven LPs for Chrysalis between 1997 and 2006. Each one topped the British
D.I.Y. Dylan: Bob's "Archive" Box Coming Soon
Maybe Bob Dylan really was a hobo. Despite his solid middle-class upbringing, it wasn't uncommon for fans to believe that Dylan really did ride the rails slinging a bag on a stick. Dylan, for a time, even encouraged this mythology of his own making. But if he wasn't a hobo in the literal sense, he undoubtedly was one, musically, if one defines a hobo as "one who wanders from place to place without a permanent home." Since his self-titled Columbia debut in 1962, Dylan has travelled the path from
Friday Feature: "Catch Me If You Can"
It's hard not to be skeptical over the fact that Catch Me If You Can, the amazing "true story of a real fake," is coming to Broadway. Modern musicals based on existing properties either hew too close to their original musical source material (if they were already rooted in song, like Footloose) or not close enough; consider Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, for instance. (Or don't!) The few songs this author's heard from the Catch Me musical score, sent on a promotional disc, are jaunty and fun
Queen Reissue Batch to Feature Another Compilation
What's a batch of Queen reissues without some compilations? The same day of the latest catalogue overhaul in the U.K., Island will release Deep Cuts 1973-1976. True enough to its name, it will feature album sides from the first five albums, with no bonus material. While some of the tunes are known even to casual fans ("Stone Cold Crazy," "Keep Yourself Alive"), it's a fine enough disc for anyone who wants to dip more of their foot into the waters of Queen's discography (or see how new
Lauded Wainwright: Box Set to Honor Musical Patriarch (UPDATED)
Loudon Wainwright III has had a charmed life. The singer/songwriter has captivated audiences for decades with his witty, self-deprecating style. He's also done an impressive job of passing on his musical gift through genetics; children Rufus, Martha and Lucy Wainwright Roche are all accomplished singer/songwriters in their own right. But his latest project is all his to celebrate: a box set spanning his idiosyncratic career, coming out in May on Shout! Factory. 40 Odd Years is to be a
Big Break Delivers Big Slate of Soul Classics in March
Our friends at the U.K.-based Big Break label haven't given much thought lately to a break! A recently-announced slate of March releases bring the label's total catalogue to nearly 50 titles since its inception in 2009, and covers a wide and diverse swath of soulful artists. Some are returning to the label (The Pointer Sisters, Deniece Williams, Billy Ocean) and others are making their label debuts (Dennis Edwards, Ashford and Simpson, The Originals). Deniece Williams is recipient of her third
Blues in a Box: Legacy to Celebrate Robert Johnson's 100th
May 8 would have been the 100th birthday of Robert Johnson, arguably the most influential figure in blues music. Of course, Johnson did not live nearly that long - he died at 27 in 1938, leaving a legacy of stirring, influential recordings on 78 RPM records and a bizarrely ill-documented lifeline (only two pictures of him are known to exist, and there's a legend that he gained his guitar prowess thanks to a deal with the devil himself) - but his legacy remains strong. The 1961 compilation King
The Latest Queen Reissue Update
Just a quick note to readers that Queen's Web site has posted release dates for the upcoming reissues in all international territories. Except America of course! Over here, we've got a release date of "TBC," which is perhaps better than "N/A."
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