Almost halfway through February, three soundtracks from titans of film composing have been released by the fine folks at Intrada and La- La Land Records. On Monday, Intrada's latest archival soundtrack was announced: an expansion of James Horner's score to the hit An American Tail. Directed by Don Bluth (The Secret of NIMH, All Dogs Go To Heaven) and produced by Steven Spielberg, this movie--one of the few mainstream animated films of the '80s not produced by Disney--tells the story of Fievel
Release Round-Up: Week of February 1
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Johnny Mathis, I Love My Lady (Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Link TBD) Johnny Mathis' legendary lost 1981 collaboration with CHIC receives its first-ever standalone release from Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music! For the occasion, I Love My Lady has been outfitted with brand-new artwork and a deluxe 24-page booklet featuring an introduction from Nile Rodgers and interviews with Johnny and
Live In Hollywood
The first-ever live album from Linda Ronstadt, Live in Hollywood, features twelve tracks (three previously released) from the singer's April 24, 1980 performance for HBO. While the entire concert isn't featured here, the material is a choice cross-section of her biggest hits including "It's So Easy," "Just One Look," "You're No Good," "Desperado," and "Blue Bayou," as well as selections from her new wave-inspired Mad Love, which had just been released in February 1980. Her interpretations of
Have You Heard? Singer-Songwriter Pamela Polland's Complete Columbia Recordings, Including Unreleased Album, Coming from BGO
What do The Byrds' The Ballad of Easy Rider, Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys' Evergreen Vol. 2, and Helen Reddy's Music, Music all have in common? Every one of those albums features a song by Pamela Polland. Also known as one-half of the sixties folk-pop duo The Gentle Soul and a member of Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen ensemble, Polland's songs have additionally been recorded by artists as diverse as Vikki Carr, Nancy Ames, Bobby Bare, The Pointer Sisters, and Anita Carter. But
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Eagles, "Legacy"
Just Find a Place to Make Your Stand On the list of the United States' five best-selling albums of all time, one name stands tall - the only artist to lay claim to two of those five titles. That artist is, of course, a band: Eagles. 1976's Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) sits atop the list at 38 million copies sold; Hotel California is third with 26 million. The ten tracks on the former are all modern-day standards, each and every one of them still a radio staple. Though the original
Let the Music Begin: Real Gone Reissues Michelle Phillips' "Victim of Romance" and Keely Smith's Lennon-McCartney Album in June
We've filled you in about some of Real Gone Music's releases for June, including releases from Cheap Trick and The Quick, but now we've got word of a couple of more, this time from "Mama" Michelle Phillips and Keely Smith, both due June 1. The first is a reissue of Michelle Phillips' one and only solo album from 1977: Victim of Romance. This new edition features liner notes by our very own Joe Marchese. After the break-up of The Mamas & The Papas, Cass Elliott, Denny Doherty and John
Sweetheart of the Rodeo: Emmylou Harris' "The Ballad of Sally Rose" Goes Deluxe in June
Today is Emmylou Harris' birthday, and Rhino is celebrating the songbird's illustrious career with a brand-new 2-CD remastered and expanded edition of one of her most cherished albums. On June 1, the label will reissue 1985's The Ballad of Sally Rose, a concept album inspired by Harris' short but blazing time spent with the late Gram Parsons. This deluxe edition will also be available as a digital download, on streaming services, and as a 2-LP vinyl set. (The vinyl release will also be
Take Off Your Thirsty Boots and Stay For Awhile: Real Gone Announces "The Essential Eric Andersen"
Real Gone Music has announced that, in conjunction with Sony's Legacy Recordings, the label is adding a new title to the long-running Essential series with a volume devoted to singer-songwriter Eric Andersen. The 2-CD The Essential Eric Andersen, due March 30, features 33 songs chosen by Andersen himself which span his entire career and feature recordings from eighteen albums and ten different labels including Vanguard, Warner Bros., Columbia, Arista, Gold Castle, Appleseed, Meyer, Ryko,
Ace Spotlight, Part One: Label Goes Soul Deep with James Carr and Clarence Carter
Ace Records' Kent imprint keeps fans and collectors on a steady diet of rare and well-done soul, and a quartet of releases that closed out 2017 prove to be no exception. Though held in high esteem by connoisseurs, James Carr never received the recognition of many of his peers. The 20-track, simply-titled The Best of James Carr (Kent CDKENM472) makes a strong case for the Memphis singer's place in the top of the R&B pantheon. It begins, naturally, with his stone-cold classic 1967
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Various Artists, "Stax Country"
We're continuing to look at the 60th anniversary releases from legendary R&B powerhouse label Stax Records with a single-CD or LP collection that just might make a perfect stocking stuffer! Stax Country (CR 00009), from Craft Recordings, takes a fresh look at some of the other, non-R&B music emanating from the corridors of Stax's studios on East McLemore Avenue - in particular some "Sweet Country Music." That's the title of the twangy ditty recorded in 1975 by Becki Bluefield which
Bound for Glory: Dylan, Baez, Paxton, Havens, Collins Celebrate Woody Guthrie on New Bear Family Box
Bob Dylan once said that, upon hearing Woody Guthrie's songs, "it was like I had been in the dark and someone had turned on the main switch of a lightning conductor." Steve Earle opined that "Woody is my hero of heroes and the only person on earth that I will go to my grave regretting that I never met." No less a literary eminence than John Steinbeck noted, "Woody is just Woody," before explaining, "Harsh voiced and nasal, his guitar hanging like a tire iron on a rusty rim, there is nothing
Release Round-Up: Week of September 29
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! David Bowie, A New Career in a New Town (1977-1982) (Parlophone) 11CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. 13LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. The third release in Parlophone's series of chronological box sets dedicated to the music of David Bowie, A New Career in a New Town (1977-1982) closes the book on the legendary artist's RCA career. It follows 2015's Five Years (1969-1973) and 2016's Who Can I Be Now? (1974-1976),
Anthology
This new 2-CD, 39-song compendium from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band begins with "Buy For Me The Rain," the first track from their 1967 self-titled Capitol Records debut, and ends with "The Resurrection" from their most recent studio release, 2009's Speed of Life, and hits the high points in between, including deep album cuts, instrumentals, and memorable duets with Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman, Roy Acuff, Doc Watson, Bruce Hornsby, and Allison
Release Round-Up: Week of September 15
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Doors, The Singles (Elektra/Rhino) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. 2CD/1BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. Vinyl box set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. Singles compiles all 20 of the singles from The Doors' official discography. This not only includes every A and B-side from their core studio albums, but several albums recorded and released after the passing of frontman Jim Morrison, including
Listen to the Man: 7a Records Releases Mike Nesmith Solo Show On CD, Vinyl
By 1975, Michael Nesmith's bona fides as a groundbreaking pioneer of country-rock were well established. After his first solo LP, 1968's orchestral The Wichita Train Whistle Sings, the once and future Monkee had released six well-received albums and yielded a pair of hit singles, "Joanne" and "Silver Moon"- not to mention "Different Drum," a major hit for Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys. On November 27, 1975, Nesmith recorded an intimate set in London at the BBC Paris Theatre, during which
In Memoriam: Glen Campbell (1936-2017)
Earlier this year, Glen Campbell wished his friends and fans a touching Adios on his sixty-fourth and final studio album. It was the cathartic culmination of six years in which the legendary vocalist bravely brought his struggle with Alzheimer's to the public eye, embarked on a yearlong Farewell Tour, and recorded his final sessions as heard not only on Adios, but on Ghost on the Canvas, See You There and the soundtrack to the touching documentary Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me. Earlier
Simple Dreams: 40th Anniversary Edition
Linda Ronstadt's 1977 multi-platinum smash album featuring "Blue Bayou," "It's So Easy" and "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me" is remastered and expanded by Rhino in a new edition featuring three bonus live versions of the above-mentioned songs, first heard in a 1980 HBO television special. Available on CD, LP, DD and streaming.
Spicks and Specks: Ace Collects "Songs of The Bee Gees" From Lulu, Nina Simone, Percy Sledge, Others
With a recent Grammy Awards salute, a new catalogue deal, and the 40th anniversary of Saturday Night Fever, the music of the Bee Gees has been front and center in 2017. Ace Records has joined the celebration of the brothers Gibb with a new entry in the label's long-running Songwriters Series. To Love Somebody: The Songs of The Bee Gees 1966-1970 pulls into focus the early professional years of Barry, Robin, and Maurice, with 24 choice cover versions of songs both familiar and lesser-known.
Higher and Higher: Real Gone's June Slate Features Rita Coolidge, Kris Kristofferson, Doris Day, Larry Coryell, Jesse Ed Davis and More
As we get further into the spring season, we've begun to hear about releases that will be coming out more towards summer. Among these are the new announcements of titles from Real Gone Music due on June 2. As always, they are an eclectic group featuring CDs and vinyl reissues. First up are two titles from Rita Coolidge featuring liner notes from our very own Joe Marchese. 1973's Full Moon was the first duet album Coolidge made with her then-husband Kris Kristofferson. It was the first of
Adios, Adios: Glen Campbell To Release Final Studio Album in June
In 2011, Glen Campbell released Ghost On the Canvas and it was revealed that the legendary artist was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Campbell then embarked upon the yearlong Good Times - Final Farewell Tour which took him to cities in Europe and North America. After the conclusion of that tour, he went into the studio to finish the album See You There, which was released in August of 2013. It was billed at the time as his sixty-third and final studio album. However, it has now been
Fab Gear: RPM Premieres Mortimer's Lost Apple Records Album
Another missing piece of the Apple Records puzzle has just emerged thanks to Cherry Red's RPM Records label. Between February and April 1969, the New York band Mortimer worked with producer Peter Asher (Peter and Gordon, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt) at London's Trident Studios to craft an LP for The Beatles' Apple Records label. The Fabs' imprimatur was firmly in place: John Lennon had passed their music onto Apple, George Harrison had encouraged their signing, and Paul McCartney had given
Different Drum: Michael Nesmith's "Infinite Tuesday" Offers Soundtrack to His Autobiography
On April 18, Crown Archetype will release Infinite Tuesday: An Autobiographical Riff, the long-awaited memoir by Michael Nesmith. The book chronicles Papa Nez's life from his childhood days in Dallas, Texas through his success with The Monkees, groundbreaking work in music video and virtual reality, and beyond. Four days before the book's release, however, Rhino Records will issue a companion CD tracing Nesmith's musical evolution. The April 14 release of Infinite Tuesday: Autobiographical
Morello Country Round-Up Part 1: Marty Robbins, Dottie West, George Jones and Tammy Wynette
Cherry Red's imprint Morello has been releasing twofers from some of country's biggest artists for several years now. They've had a lot of great recent releases in 2016 and we'd thought we'd highlight some of them for you. All of the following twofers feature eight-page color booklets with two pages of liner notes and reproductions of sleeve notes and/or back covers. They each have notes written by journalist Tony Byworth with the exception of Dottie West CD. All of the reissues are produced
Release Round-Up: Week of December 9
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Randy Newman, The Randy Newman Songbook (Nonesuch) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The Randy Newman Songbook box set marks the first-ever combined release of all three of the legendary songwriter's piano-and-voice Songbook albums (including the new Vol. 3) recorded in 2003 and 2010 with producers Mitchell Froom and Lenny Waronker. All songs have been resequenced as one cohesive, thematically-linked listening experience spread over 4
Thin Red Line [Expanded Edition]
Varese Vintage brings the 1980 Planet Records debut of power-pop band The Cretones to CD. Though The Cretones were overshadowed at the time by Linda Ronstadt's having covered three of their songs on her new wave-influenced Mad Love album, this reissue gives the four-person group headed by Mark Goldenberg and Peter Bernstein a chance to shine. This remastered edition boasts three previously unreleased bonus tracks: "Mood Vertigo," "Quit It," and "Taking the World with Kisses."