While American audiences might hear "reality TV-created band" and shudder under the weight of forgotten groups, in England (where the first rule of pop music is there are no rules), the biggest pop act of the new century was created before a rapt audience on the tube: Girls Aloud. And, off their recent flurry of activity surrounding the group's 10th anniversary (a recent compilation, 2012's Ten, and an ongoing U.K. tour to end a years-long hiatus), a deluxe career-spanning box set is planned for
Get Ready! Songs of "Motown: The Musical" Are Collected In Original Hit Versions
When Motown: The Musical opens at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on April 14, it will mark yet another career landmark for Berry Gordy, the songwriter-producer-entrepreneur who turned Detroit, Michigan into Hitsville, USA some fifty-five years ago. The musical, written by Gordy and directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, depicts the rise to prominence of the Sound of Young America, with Brandon Victor Dixon (The Color Purple, The Scottsboro Boys) starring as Gordy. He’s joined by a cast of
Bread Winners: Early Songs of David Gates Compiled By Rare Rockin' Records
Long before "Make It With You," "Everything I Own" and "If" became soft-rock standards for his band Bread, David Gates had toiled behind the scenes as a songwriter, producer, arranger and musician on the Hollywood scene. He worked with everybody from The Monkees to Captain Beefheart before striking out with Robb Royer and James Griffin to form Bread. The band's debut album was released in 1969, featuring the original version of "It Don't Matter to Me." The song soon mattered quite a bit for
Reissue Theory: Duran Duran, "Duran Duran (The Wedding Album): 20th Anniversary Edition"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we focus on notable albums and the reissues they could someday see. Today, two decades after its release, we imagine an expanded edition of an album that sent an iconic '80s band flying into the new decade - and back toward the top of the charts. The bizarre narrative that seems to plague pop music is that, with each new decade, the trends of the last 10 years should be relegated to the past as soon as possible. The psychedelic sounds of
Wu-Tang's RZA Compiles Classic Stax for "Shaolin Soul"
A new compilation of music from Stax Records is coming courtesy of a most interesting source: rapper/producer/actor/director RZA of The Wu-Tang Clan. The man born Robert Fitzgerald Diggs has rarely slowed down in the 20 years since Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) was released in the winter of 1993. Besides producing most of his group's early records and solo projects (including ODB's Return to the 36 Chambers, GZA's Liquid Swords, Method Man's Tical and Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...),
"Do Ya" Want More Reissues From Electric Light Orchestra and Jeff Lynne? Three Titles Set for April
April might as well be known as The Month of Electric Light Orchestra, as the group's pioneering frontman, producer, arranger and songwriter Jeff Lynne has announced three new catalogue projects due in the U.S. on April 23 and in the U.K. on April 22. We've updated our original post of October 5, 2012 with new information including full track listings and details on each of the three upcoming, bonus-packed releases! UPDATED ORIGINAL POST OF 10/5/12: The wait is over. Though Electric Light
An Apple A Day: Fifth Fab Volume of Apple Publishing Demos Arrives From RPM
Those were the days, my friend. In June 1967, The Beatles opened Apple Publishing in a one-room office on London’s Curzon Street, predating even the birth of Apple Records. Soon, the publishing concern moved to new quarters at 94 Baker Street, and later to 3 Savile Row. In that heady period when anything seemed possible, the Fab Four signed a multitude of talented young writers to Apple, many of them discovered by Terry Doran. Doran, a 27-year old Liverpool native who had previously owned an
Reviews: Three From Real Gone Music - Pozo Seco, Kenny O'Dell and Borderline
Between 1966 and 1968, The Pozo Seco Singers released three albums on Columbia Records, notching up Top 40 hits “I Can Make It with You” and “Look What You’ve Done.” The first two albums, Time (1966) and I Can Make It with You (1967) were released on CD by the Collectors’ Choice Music label; now, Real Gone Music has picked up the torch with a newly-expanded reissue of 1968's Shades of Time (RGM-0112). For this album, the group name was shortened just to Pozo Seco, and the trio of Don Williams,
Iron Maiden's 1988 Tour Film Gets Lovingly Expanded for Deluxe Reissue
Twenty-five years after embarking on their 7th Tour of a 7th Tour, Iron Maiden are commemorating their 1988 tour with an expansive, multi-format 25th anniversary package at the end of March. Maiden England '88, filmed over two nights at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre, sees the band touring in support of the polished, prog-influenced Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Featuring nearly all of the album - including U.K. Top 10 hits "Can I Play with Madness," "The Evil That Men Do," "The
Review: Barbra Streisand, "Classical Barbra: Expanded Edition"
The title said it all: Classical Barbra. Here was a singer who needed no surname, diving headfirst into a new repertoire, that of art songs and arias. Streisand’s 1976 “crossover” album, created in collaboration with arranger, pianist and conductor Claus Ogerman, has recently arrived on CD in a newly-remastered, expanded edition from Sony’s Masterworks label (88691 92255 2, 2013). And if Classical Barbra might not have been every fan’s first choice for a deluxe Streisand reissue, producer
Review: "Classic Singles" of Merle Haggard, George Jones and Wanda Jackson
What makes a (living) legend most? Based on the label's three most recent releases, Omnivore Recordings certainly has some ideas. Omnivore has just issued singles anthologies from three tried-and-true country titans: Merle Haggard's The Complete '60s Capitol Singles, George Jones' The Complete United Artists Solo Singles, and Wanda Jackson's The Best of the Classic Capitol Singles. All three titles reiterate the eclectic label's commitment to reissuing some of the most significant C&W
Grammy Winners, Alt-Rockers Go Deluxe At Target
Having blanketed Sunday night's Grammys telecast with ads and promotions (including heavily discounted prices on Grammy-nominated artists and exclusive promotions on recent and upcoming LPs by Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake), American retailer Target has partnered with a recent Grammy winner and an upstart rock group to expand and reissue two albums. Babel, the sophomore album by folk-rockers Mumford & Sons, and Night Visions, the studio debut by pop-rockers Imagine Dragons, have both
Esoteric Offers Southern Comfort with Two Ian Matthews Reissues
Ian (later Iain) Matthews has had a place in the rock pantheon since his debut with Fairport Convention on the band’s very first, self-titled album. Matthews only remained with Fairport for two albums (and one song on the group’s third effort) before departing to craft his own Matthews’ Southern Comfort. The title of that LP soon morphed into a band name for a new Matthews-fronted outfit, and Matthews Southern Comfort (no apostrophe) released two more albums before the band splintered from the
Review: Fleetwood Mac, "Rumours: Expanded Edition"
It never should have worked. Since its formation in 1967, Fleetwood Mac had endured radical personnel changes, a stylistic shift from blues to rock, even a challenge from a "fake Mac" claiming to be the band in concert. When guitarist-songwriter-vocalist Bob Welch became the latest member to pass through the Fleetwood Mac revolving door, Mick Fleetwood and the husband and wife team of John and Christine McVie invited two young Californians to bolster the line-up. Lindsey Buckingham and his
"Romeo's Tune" and Beyond: Steve Forbert's First Two Albums Reissued and Expanded
Steve Forbert’s 1978 debut on Nat Weiss’ Nemperor label proclaimed the singer-songwriter Alive on Arrival and indeed, the artist made a strong impression with a set of personal, sometimes gentle, musical reflections on life and love. Forbert departed Mississippi for New York City in the mid-seventies when the city was hardly the family-friendly playground it is today, and managed to carve out a niche in the vibrant club scene of the day, playing famous venues like Gerde’s Folk City and even
Rock Your Socks: Tenacious D's Debut Celebrated with New Vinyl Reissue
The Fenix has rizen! This Sunday evening, Tenacious D – the comedy/rock duo of Jack Black and Kyle Gass – is up for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. The Tenacious team's Rize of the Fenix is facing stand-up competition from such acts as Jim Gaffigan, Kathy Griffin, Lewis Black, Margaret Cho and Jimmy Fallon, the latter of whom also mixed comedy and rock to great effect on his nominated album. But Tenacious D is looking back as well as forward. On March 5, Epic Records and Legacy
Good Things: Edsel Expands Fine Young Cannibals Catalogue
Our friends at Slicing Up Eyeballs and Super Deluxe Edition have confirmed track lists for Edsel's upcoming reissues of both studio album by U.K. group Fine Young Cannibals. Along with General Public, Fine Young Cannibals were formed from the ashes of The (English) Beat, with guitarist Andy Cox and bassist David Steele joining forces with singer Roland Gift, whose soulful voice was one of several hundred the bandmates auditioned. A video of lead single "Johnny Come Home" on The Tube,
Intrada Premieres Three Rugged Scores on Two Discs
The latest haul from Intrada is three '60s and '70s scores for some tough-guy pictures, each from three different, classic composers and all making their debut on any format. First up, Elmer Bernstein scores Cahill: U.S. Marshal (1973). Bernstein obviously had some Western chops - The Magnificent Seven, anyone? - and he certainly had quite the opportunity to flex those muscles for this film. The title character, a black-hatted lawman pursuing a bank robber (George Kennedy) and his accomplices
John Barry's "First Love" Receives World Premiere Release from La-La Land
Though John Barry crafted a lushly exquisite score for First Love in 1977 - the same year the film titan also lent his talent to The Deep and The White Buffalo - his name appeared nowhere in the credits to the romantic drama directed by Joan Darling. The director had enlisted Barry when she thought twice about the initial concept of using songs written by Cat Stevens and Paul Williams, but in the end, brief fragments of Barry's score remained, uncredited, alongside songs from Stevens and
Take a Giant Step with "Complete Columbia Albums" of Taj Mahal
The Complete Columbia Albums of Taj Mahal, by the numbers: 13 albums, 15 CDs, 170 tracks. This all adds up to a mighty legacy worthy of the man’s namesake! The former Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, Jr. made his name as a blues renaissance man at Columbia Records with a string of well-received albums released between 1968 and 1976, and the new Complete Albums box set due in stores tomorrow (February 5) collects them all under one roof for the first time, plus two archival compilations. Now 70
Review: The Miles Davis Quintet, "The Bootleg Series Volume 2: Live in Europe 1969"
“Directions in music by Miles Davis,” read the subtitle of the trumpeter’s late-1968 Columbia album Filles de Kilimanjaro. It was the first, but not the last, of his albums to bear those words. But listeners couldn’t have been expected to know which direction Davis would take with each album. Nefertiti, recorded in June-July 1967 but released in March 1968, turned out to be Davis’ last fully acoustic LP, with its follow-up Miles in the Sky (recorded January and May ’68 and released in
Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars: Él Collects Vintage Gilberto, Jobim, Bonfá on CD
Fewer images in music are more evocative than that of the tall and tan and young and lovely girl from Ipanema, walking like a samba and inspiring passersby to go, "Aaaah." Jazz musicians of every stripe and every instrument latched onto Brazil's bossa nova sound after it exploded to popularity in the wake of Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luis Bonfá, Vinicius de Moraes and João Gilberto's soundtrack to the 1959 film Black Orpheus. Though Black Orpheus was the breakthrough, it wasn't the birth of bossa
Short Takes, Classic Pop Edition: What's Coming From Willie Nelson, Bing Crosby, Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett
Today’s Short Takes looks at a variety of upcoming releases with one thing in common: great vocalists in the tradition of the Great American Songbook! First up, let's take a look at an album of new recordings from a favorite reissue label. One genre has never been enough to contain the musical restlessness of Willie Nelson. The country legend and honky-tonk hero created his own standards with his early songs such as “Crazy” and “Funny How Time Slips Away” before paying tribute to the Great
Big Break Serves Up Soul, Jazz and Funk from Carmen McRae, Billy Paul, Azteca and More
Timeless soul music knows no regional boundaries, at least based on the latest quintet of releases from Cherry Red's Big Break Records imprint. With this group of reissues, you'll travel to Philadelphia by way of Hawaii, Oakland, Harlem and Chicago. All of the titles previewed below are available now in the U.K. and next Tuesday, February 5, in the U.S.! Two new titles hail from the Philadelphia International Records catalogue. Perhaps most exciting is the first CD release outside of Japan
Release Round-Up: Week of January 29
Fleetwood Mac, Rumours: Expanded/Deluxe Editions (Warner Bros.) Ahead of the band's forthcoming tour, a new 4CD/1DVD/LP deluxe box set edition of their most popular album, featuring the original album on CD and vinyl, two discs of studio outtakes (including the one from the 2004 reissue) and an unreleased documentary. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) A three-disc edition collects the album and the two new bonus CDs, so if you own the last expansion and can live sans DVD, you can pick the rest up for
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