Following its 2012 reissue of R&B songstress Meli'sa Morgan's Capitol Records debut Do Me Baby, Cherry Red's SoulMusic Records imprint has turned its attention to Morgan's second long-player for the label. Good Love built on the success of Do Me Baby. Besides boasting a No. 1 R&B title track, the album established the Queens-born Morgan as a top R&B talent in her own right. She had previously sung on background vocals for the likes of Whitney Houston and Kashif, and fronted the
Review: The Beach Boys, "Live - 50th Anniversary Tour"
Water has always played a key role in the California myth of The Beach Boys – whether via the inviting waves of “Surfin’ USA,” the blue seas of “Hawaii,” or the dark imagery of “Surf’s Up.” But the water onstage for the group’s 50th anniversary tour was of a different sort: it was water under the bridge. If perhaps only for three or so hours each night last summer, all of the oft-publicized tensions that have beset America’s Band over the years seemed to melt away in full view of the
They've Got a Tiger by the Tail: Don Rich and The Buckaroos Return From Omnivore
Omnivore Recordings is going back to Bakersfield. Building on the success of such projects as Honky Tonk Man: Buck Sings Country Classics, Don Rich Sings George Jones, Buck Owens Live at the White House, Buck Sings Eagles, and (this author’s personal favorite!) the Buck Owens Coloring Book and Flexi Disc, Omnivore is mining the rich, rough-and-tumble country-and-western legacy of that California town for two new releases due on July 23. Buck Owens’ iconic band The Buckaroos are celebrated with
Review: R.E.M., "Green: 25th Anniversary Edition"
Let's say you're part of one of the most hotly sought-after bands in the world. You've developed a distinctive style that's set you apart from most of your peers since day one. You've put out five basically flawless albums out in five years, eventually earning yourself a U.S. Top 10 hit and exposure on MTV. And now, a major label wants to sign you. What do you do? The way R.E.M. answered this question on Green, their sixth album and first of many for Warner Bros. Records, is perhaps a gold
Jazz Greats Benny Carter, Shelly Manne, Jimmy Rowles, Red Mitchell Featured On "Too Late Blues"
Before pioneering cinéma vérité techniques on groundbreaking films like Faces and Husbands, John Cassavetes was signed to direct his first major-studio motion picture with 1962’s Too Late Blues. Handed the assignment on the strength of his first film, Shadows, Cassavetes was a brave choice to direct the story of jazz musician “Ghost” Wakefield and his struggle to stay true to himself while pursuing fame and romance. This raw and revealing story starred Bobby Darin, no stranger to the darker
Hi-Def "Help!": Beatles Film Coming to Blu-Ray
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TPE-VRXaQw] The Beatles' second feature film, 1965's Help!, is making its Blu-Ray debut this June. Reuniting with A Hard Day's Night director Richard Lester with a bigger budget (for one, they shot in color), Help! finds The Fab Four in yet another set of wacky predicaments - this time, Ringo can't seem to get a ring unstuck from his finger, and an evil cult want said ring for their own purposes. Silly stuff, for sure - and, at perhaps the most
Remember (Harry): Nilsson Box Set Chronicles RCA Albums, Premieres Unreleased Tracks
Long ago, far away…life was clear, close your eyes…Remember is a place from long ago, remember, filled with everything you know…remember, when you’re sad and feeling down… When you’re sad and feeling down, a sure cure-all is the music of Harry Nilsson. Sweet and sincere or withering and witty, Nilsson had a song for every occasion. Even when his own vocal cords deserted him, his sure sense of songcraft never did. Between 1967 and 1977, Nilsson recorded a remarkable series of albums for the
Release Round-Up: Week of May 14
R.E.M., Green: 25th Anniversary Edition (Warner Bros./Rhino) The Athens, Georgia rockers celebrate the quarter-century mark of their first Warner Bros. LP with a new 2CD deluxe edition featuring an unreleased live show from 1989. (2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) (LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Huey Lewis & The News, Sports: 30th Anniversary Edition (Capitol/UMe) Another hit-filled rock LP paired with a live disc; this one sees live versions of every hit and album cut from Sports over Huey
Review: Judy Garland, "Creations 1929-1962: Songs She Introduced"
In the first two lines of the introductory essay that accompanies JSP Records’ new box set Judy Garland – Creations 1929-1962: Songs She Introduced, the box’s compiler Lawrence Schulman sets forth its raison d'être: “That Judy Garland (1922-1969) was one of the most talented singers and actresses of her generation is known. That she introduced close to a hundred songs to the Great American Songbook is not.” Thanks to this 4-CD, 94-song collection, that secret shouldn’t be a secret any longer.
Where Were You When We Needed You: Latest Volume of "The Complete Motown Singles" Arrives in June
Let's dispense with the "Get Ready" puns: after a four-year wait, Hip-O Select's Complete Motown Singles series inches closer toward the finish line with Volume 12A: 1972. This five-disc set includes every single side released by Motown during the first half of 1972, a time of transition for the company. Berry Gordy had already moved his Detroit-based media empire westward to Los Angeles, leaving some of his flagship groups in a transitional period. The Jackson 5 still had their hits, but not
Ain't No Cure: Blue Cheer "Rocks Europe" On New 2-CD Set
Between 1967 and 2009, San Francisco’s Blue Cheer spread its metallic gospel of hard riffs and heavy psychedelia around the world. Though the band only had two Hot 100 singles (No. 14 “Summertime Blues” and No. 92 “Just a Little Bit,” both in 1968), its influence was mighty in the evolution of the metal genre. The band called it a day for the final time, though, in 2009, following the death of original member Dickie Peterson. On the band’s website, Andrew “Duck” MacDonald wrote, “Blue Cheer
Let's Celebrate: Big Break Goes Deep Into The Salsoul Groove with Candido, Skyy
Following last year's releases from The Salsoul Orchestra, First Choice, Instant Funk and Double Exposure, Big Break Records continues its exploration of the Salsoul Records catalogue with two new reissues from Skyy and Candido. These discs can be said to offer another side of the Salsoul legacy as neither are locked into the Philly grooves of Vince Montana or Baker-Harris-Young. Instead, they show just how far the New York label could push the dance/R&B envelope in the waning days of
Everything's Inwards: "Big Country At The BBC" Box Announced
Three decades after their signature hit "In a Big Country" became one of the best rock songs of the decade, Mercury will celebrate the legacy of the Scottish band with a new live box set this summer. Big Country At The BBC is a 3CD/1DVD box collecting just about everything the BBC recorded pertaining to Big Country between 1982 and 1990. Included are two Radio 1 sessions with Kid Jensen and John Peel in 1982 and 1983 as well as live dates from 1983, 1984, 1988 and 1989, from Hammersmith Palais
Real Gone's Duos, Reviewed: Tom Jans and Mimi Fariña, Chet Atkins and Les Paul, Barbara and Ernie
Real Gone Music has recently released three very different albums from three duo acts, and we're looking at each one of them! Tom Jans is perhaps best known today as the songwriter of “Loving Arms,” so memorably recorded by Elvis Presley in 1973 and also cut by everyone from Etta James to Kenny Rogers. But in his tragically short lifetime – he died in 1984, aged 35 or 36 depending on the source – Jans also recorded five albums as a singer-songwriter. His first two, including an album of duets
Don't Make Him Over: New Box Set Chronicles Burt Bacharach's "Art of the Songwriter" On Six CDs
Burt Bacharach has been speaking through his music for the past 60+ years, since his very first recorded composition,“Once in a Blue Moon,“ appeared on Nat “King“ Cole’s Penthouse Serenade in 1952. But today, Bacharach is speaking in his own voice with the publication of his first-ever memoir, Anyone Who Had a Heart: My Life and Music. Co-written by Robert Greenfield (Ahmet Ertegun biography The Last Sultan), the book has been described by Kirkus Reviews as “illuminating and gritty“ while
Release Round-Up: Week of May 7
TABU Reborn, Wave 3: The S.O.S. Band, S.O.S. / Cherrelle, High Priority / Alexander O'Neal, Hearsay / Kathy Mathis, Katt Walk (Tabu/Edsel) The latest wave of Tabu reissues available from the U.K.: all have bonus tracks, with Cherrelle and Alexander O'Neal's sets presented as two-disc packages. Amazon U.K. links are above; here are U.S. links for The S.O.S. Band, Cherrelle, Alexander O'Neal and Kathy Mathis. Burt Bacharach, Anyone Who Had a Heart: My Life and Music (Harper) One of the
Losers Weepers! Ace Unveils Rare and Unreleased Songs on "Finders Keepers: Motown Girls 1961-67"
Thanks to the dedication of labels like Ace Records, it would be impossible to "forget the Motor City." Along with the U.S.' flagship Hip-O/UMG Select imprint, Ace has led the charge in issuing vintage 1960s-era Motown material, much of it unreleased. The recent release of Finders Keepers: Motown Girls 1961-1967 compiles 24 tracks from girls both famous (The Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, Mary Wells) and all-too-unknown (LaBrenda Ben, Thelma Brown, Anita Knorl) for a potent overview of
The Days of Henry Mancini: "Wine and Roses," "Fear" Receive First-Ever Soundtrack Releases
Everybody knows the music of Henry Mancini, whether the slinky jazz of “The Pink Panther Theme,” the wistful nostalgia of “Moon River” or the jaunty charm of “Baby Elephant Walk.” But thanks to the dedication of labels like Intrada, Kritzerland, La-La Land and Quartet Records, more and more listeners are getting to know Henry Mancini the musical dramatist. 2012 saw a staggering number of Mancini soundtracks on CD – many appearing for the first time in complete form - arguably making him the
Bound For Glory: Rosanne Cash, Judy Collins, John Mellencamp, Donovan Celebrate Woody Guthrie at 100
On July 14, 2012, Woody Guthrie would have turned 100 years old. The Oklahoma-born “Dust Bowl Troubadour” died in 1967, just 55 years of age, but all these many years later, his compositions such as “This Land is Your Land,” “Grand Coulee Dam” and “The Sinking of the Reuben James” are cornerstones of American song. The folk hero, whose guitar was famously emblazoned with the slogan “This machine kills fascists,” was celebrated last year with Smithsonian Folkways’ impressive 3-CD/hardcover book
Run for Cover: Basia's Debut LP to Be Expanded by Cherry Pop
One of the Cherry Pop reissue label's newest titles for May is a greatly-expanded edition of Time and Tide, the solo debut album by Polish singer/songwriter Basia. Basia Trzetrzelewska first caught the public eye in England as the lead singer for sophisti-pop band Matt Bianco alongside vocalist Mark Reilly and keyboardist Danny White. Their similarities to Sade and Everything But the Girl, as well as their Top 30 hits "Get Out of Your Lazy Bed" and "Half a Minute," earned them widespread
In The Street, Again: Big Star's "Nothing Can Hurt Me" Arrives On CD, LP and Digitally
When Magnolia Pictures releases the documentary Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me to cinemas, On Demand and iTunes on July 3, it will be the culmination of a years-in-the-making adventure to bring the story of Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel’s band to the big screen. The commercial impact of Big Star was as minimal as its influence over an entire generation of musicians was enormous, but the legacy of the power pop heroes still blazes brightly today. Following the 2009
Review: Dust, "Dust/Hard Attack"
Everybody has to start somewhere. For producers Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise (KISS), Stories bassist Kenny Aaronson, and Marc Bell, a.k.a. Marky Ramone, a major chapter of their starting chapter was Dust. Wise (guitar/vocals), Aaronson (bass/steel, dobro and bottleneck guitars) and Bell (drums) joined with producer/songwriter Kerner to create two albums for Neil Bogart’s Kama Sutra label in 1971 and 1972 that proved Americans could give their British brethren a run in the heavy-rock
We Rock! "Sacred Heart"-Era Dio Show Remastered for CD, DVD, Blu-Ray
A reissue of Magica isn't all Dio fans have to look forward to this summer on the catalogue front: Eagle Rock is remastering and expanding a 1986 live show from the legendary metal band across multiple formats. Finding the Sacred Heart: Live in Philly 1986 captures Dio's full show from Philadelphia's grand departed arena, The Spectrum, on June 17, 1986. The band's most recent studio album, Sacred Heart, had been out for almost a year, but this leg of the tour featured the first of many lineup
Starbucks Serves "Self-Portraits" of Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman and Others
Some of the music featured on Starbucks Entertainment’s latest compilation album, Self-Portraits, is a bit atypical for a coffeehouse setting: Warren Zevon, Judee Sill, Randy Newman, John Prine, Loudon Wainwright III. The songs on Self-Portraits, by and large, demand attention, as all are drawn from the realm of the singer-songwriter with an emphasis on confessional or first-person songs. The 16-track CD focuses on the 1970s (with just one track from 1969), and although there are a few
Rhino Plans ZZ Top Albums Box with Original Mixes Bowing on CD
The Southern-smoked legacy of Texas blues-rock band ZZ Top will be celebrated this summer with a new box set from Rhino Records that features all of the band's classic albums for the London and Warner Bros. labels. The Complete Studio Albums 1970-1990 collects 10 great albums by the band in one box. The Texan trio - vocalist/guitarist Billy F. Gibbons, bassist Dusty Hill and drummer/sole beardless member Frank Beard - first rose to prominence through early blues-based classics (ZZ Top's First
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 387
- 388
- 389
- 390
- 391
- …
- 453
- Next Page »