It’s 1963. Imagine a label that counted Roy Orbison, Darlene Love, James Brown, The Drifters and Jerry Lee Lewis all among its artists. While such an array of talent never convened under one roof in America, it was a very different story in the United Kingdom. The U.K.’s Decca Record Company indeed brought all of those artists, and more, under the umbrella of its London American label. London American delivered the best in American pop, R&B and rock and roll to British audiences. Ace is
In Case You Missed Them: Soundtrack Smashes from La-La Land, FSM
Our apologies for not getting these titles to you earlier, but there's been a lot of action on the indie soundtrack label front, with two titles announced by Film Score Monthly late last week and three from La-La Land that went on sale yesterday and are selling briskly. Over at FSM, the label released Friday a short but powerful score to the film Testament, a 1983 drama featuring Jane Alexander as a mother coping with the fallout from a nuclear blast outside their California suburb. The
Fallin' All Over Again: Alicia Keys' Debut to Be Reissued This Summer
Has it really been a decade since that rich, soulful voice broke through the radio with a heartfelt "I keep on fallin'....i-i-i-i-in...and out..."? It was the voice of one Alicia Keys, the Hell's Kitchen-raised singer/songwriter/pianist, all of 20 years old at the time. She had a stunningly impressive resume for her age - a classically-trained pianist who started writing songs at 14, the valedictorian of New York City's Professional Performing Arts School at 16, two failed record deals with
Right On: Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" Receives 40th Anniversary Box Set (UPDATED WITH TRACK LIST)
Smokey Robinson has called it "the greatest album of all time." Rolling Stone ranked it in the Top Ten in its survey of the Greatest Albums of All Time, at No. 6. Marvin Gaye's What's Going On broke the Motown mold as Gaye delivered one of the most personal albums of all time: impassioned, outraged, haunting, beautiful and altogether unexpected. That seminal LP was released on May 21, 1971 and has remained in print since. Ten years ago, for its thirtieth anniversary, Motown reissued What's Going
That's Amore: Capitol Releases More from Dean Martin in June
Dean Martin once implored in song, "Please don't talk about me when I'm gone." Dino has been gone since 1995, but I doubt he'd mind that fans and collectors alike haven't stopped talking about him since. Part of this is due to the seemingly endless stream of repackaged "greatest hits" collections - and guess what? Not one, not two, but three such sets are on the way this June, just in time for Father's Day. Now ain't that a kick in the head! Back in February, we reported on Hip-o's two-CD,
Review: Bob Dylan, "In Concert: Brandeis University 1963"
Will the real Bob Dylan please stand up? Sunday, May 12, 1963. A 21-year old Bob Dylan is scheduled to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, America’s favorite variety program. The young singer plans to perform his satirical “Talking John Birch Paranoid Blues,” taking sharp aim at the radical anti-Communist John Birch Society. In the song, Dylan’s narrator joins the group, walking off with his “secret membership card," ready to hunt for reds. “Now we all agree with Hitler’s views, although he killed
"NKOTBSB" Compilation Tracks Revealed
For those of you anxiously counting down the days until The New Kids on the Block and The Backstreet Boys come to your town with the NKOTBSB Tour, the commemorative tour compilation due out next month has a track list. The NKOTBSB disc was constructed by voting fans, who selected the top five songs from each group (the catalogues of which are both conveniently housed under the Sony banner). The nostalgia of fans has a very strict time limit for each group; four of the five NKOTB tracks stemmed
Release Round-Up: Week of April 12
Bob Dylan, In Concert: Brandeis University, 1963 (Columbia/Legacy) Did you miss this when it first came to pass as a bonus disc with Amazon orders of the latest Bootleg Series? Here's your second chance. (Official site) Danny Elfman, The Tim Burton/Danny Elfman 25th Anniversary Music Box (Warner Bros.) Can you believe it? These things are finally starting to ship after four months and endless posts of addressing speculation and delays. (Official site) Jimi Hendrix, South Saturn Delta / Band
No Gloomy "Sunday" with Complete Les Baxter Debut
Les Baxter sure gets around. The past year has seen reissues of the maestro's scores from a number of labels including Intrada, La-La Land and Kritzerland, and the latter ups the ante today with the release of the exotica master's score to 1960's infamous Black Sunday (La Maschera del Demonio, or The Mask of Satan). Mario Bava's Italian horror classic stars Barbara Steele, John Richardson, Arturo Dominici and Ivo Garrani in the tale of a vampire/witch put to death by her brother who is reborn
Rhino Knows What Time It Is: Chicago "Live in '75" Coming from Handmade (UPDATED 4/11)
UPDATE 4/11: The link just before the jump takes you directly to the order page for this set. Original post: Billboard has certified them as the second-most successful American rock band in music history, only following The Beach Boys. The RIAA places them handily in the Top Ten of all-time album sales from an American group. So it's fair to say that Chicago is still perhaps the most successful American rock band to have been wholly ignored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The band has
Back Tracks: The Shirelles on Scepter
Diana Ross, Martha Reeves and Mary Weiss – and even Joan Jett, Victoria Beckham and Nicole Scherzinger – all owe a debt to Shirley Owens, Doris Coley, Addie Harris and Beverly Lee. That quartet doesn’t have the name recognition of those that followed them, but those four young women from Passaic, New Jersey ignited the girl group phenomenon when they joined forces as The Poquellos, soon to be renamed The Shirelles. Were The Shirelles the first girl group? Probably not. Were they the first to
Let's Hear It for the Big Break May Slate
Not long after the Cherry Red labels update their calendars for April, their ever-busy Big Break Records imprint preps a set of R&B reissues for May. And there are quite a few hits contained therein. No less than six new expansions are on the label's schedule in the next month, most of them from the Sony catalogue. The biggest hits by far would be Back Stabbers, the sophomore release by The O'Jays and the album that spun off the immortal chart-topping hit "Love Train," and Deniece Williams'
Another Barrel Full of Monkees from Friday Music?
So you want to be a rock 'n' roll star? Then listen now to what I say...Just get an electric guitar, then take some time and learn how to play... Those acerbic lyrics from The Byrds' 1967 "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" were admittedly aimed at The Monkees, according to the song's co-writer, Chris Hillman. Yet from the vantage point of over forty years later, the pop and television stars have more than proved their true musical credentials. They're taking their act on the road this
Neil Young Unearths "A Treasure" For May/June Release
Well, the wait for Archives, Volume 2 is far from over, but Neil Young fans and collectors know that the artist rarely goes too long anymore without throwing them a bone (however delayed!). Such a bone is coming your way in May and June from Reprise. A Treasure compiles twelve live recordings dating from 1984 and 1985, including previously unreleased songs. One of these, "Grey Riders," will be the album's lead-off "single." Young is backed by the International Harvesters, who supported him on
Review: Leon Russell, "The Best of Leon Russell"
There wasn't a dry eye in the house when Leon Russell, upon accepting his induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, thanked Elton John for rescuing him from "a ditch beside the highway of life." Thanks to the success of The Union, the collaborative album between John and his early idol, Leon Russell's profile has been considerably high of late. It's been so high, in fact, that one member of the Steve Hoffman Music Forums even queried of the community, "Is Leon Russell getting too much
Soundtrack Round-Up: La-La Land's Next Releases, "TRON" on Demand and More Elfman Box Goodies
Here's some news from around the world of catalogue soundtrack releases, including developments on notable box sets and a surprise expansion from La-La Land Records. The busy label has finally announced a release date of next Tuesday, April 12, for their biggest-sized title yet - an eight-disc box set of music from the Medal of Honor video game series. The long-running franchise, conceived by Steven Spielberg for the Sony PlayStation game console, has featured music by several composers, most
Rhino Resurrects "L.A. Woman" This Fall
It was hard not to worry about Rhino for awhile. Since the new year kicked off, things have been eerily quiet from the venerable label and catalogue arm of Warner Music Group (currently prepping for a major reorganization). Outside of the largesse of the Europe '72 box set from The Grateful Dead and a few soundtrack selections, all was quiet. Now, one of Warner's most enduring catalogue artists looks to be getting another reissue: hot off the presses, Rhino's announced a 40th anniversary
Rosanne's Record Shop: "The Essential Rosanne Cash" Coming from Legacy
It’s no small feat to become a success in the music business, but it may be an even greater accomplishment when your father is a legend. While the cachet of a famous last name may provide entrée into the industry, only a major, singular voice can maintain a long career. The number of such successes is small, but an undoubted member of the elite club is Rosanne Cash. Like Nancy Sinatra and Natalie Cole, Cash has defied the odds to become a living legend herself, and produced a body of work
Back Tracks: Nirvana
Seventeen years ago today, Generation X lost an icon when Kurt Cobain, the talented, troubled frontman for Nirvana, took his own life in his Seattle home. Nirvana were three albums into their career, but had already redefined music for an entire cachet of disaffected youth. The genre that came to be known as grunge music, based on frequently alternating dynamics, heavy distortion and angst-filled lyrics, was forged largely under the songwriting tactics of Cobain, who very reluctantly accepted
Musicals Are Busting Out All Over: Masterworks Announces Next Wave of Vintage Releases
Sony's Masterworks Broadway label has announced the next three titles it will rescue from the vaults of Columbia and RCA Victor, and the albums have one person in common: Richard Rodgers. Still one of the most-recorded composers of all time (Rodgers' "My Funny Valentine," co-written by Lorenz Hart, was the third most-covered song of 2010 according to ASCAP, no small feat considering the song was written in 1937!), Rodgers' collaborations with both Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II are represented in
He's Got What It Takes: Marv Johnson's Motown Years Coming from Kent
Had Marv Johnson (1938-1993) accomplished nothing else, he would still go down in history as the first artist heard on a Motown single. The very first release to come out of Berry Gordy's mighty empire in January 1959, Tamla 101, was Johnson's "Come to Me" b/w "Whisper," both sides of which were written by Gordy and the artist. Thankfully, Johnson did accomplish much more musically, and as a testament to his legacy, Ace's Kent label will release I'll Pick a Rose for My Rose: The Complete Marv
Release Round-Up: Week of April 5
Rush, Moving Pictures: 30th Anniversary Edition (Mercury/UMe) A CD/DVD remaster of one of the Canadian rock band's most beloved albums, featuring a 5.1 surround remaster of the album and some rare music videos on the DVD. If you're in the U.S., Best Buy is currently the only place you can get the set on CD/Blu-Ray; it'll be available to general retail on May 3. (Amazon) Material Issue, International Pop Overthrow: 20th Anniversary Edition (Hip-o Select) An underrated power-pop classic gets
Review: Aretha Franklin, "Take a Look: Aretha Franklin Complete on Columbia"
Some legends are repeated so often that they’ve come to be accepted as the truth. One such legend has it that the suits at Columbia Records, circa 1960-1965, were a chain of fools who kept Aretha Franklin from reaching her potential. After all, the record states that one year and one record after being released from Columbia, a superstar was born. But what if that notion was completely incorrect, and Aretha Franklin’s talent was already fully formed and on display at Columbia? Listen to the
David Bowie to Unleash "Golden Years" Remixes Across Multiple Formats
Well, there hasn't been any news of David Bowie releasing his lost album Toy, even after it was unceremoniously leaked two weeks ago. But some old Bowie material will indeed be coming to light in a new way on June 6, when the musician and iconoclast releases Golden Years as both an EP and iPhone application. Golden Years, the EP, will feature Bowie's original 1975 track and four remixes by Anthony Valadez, Eric J. Lawrence, Chris Douridas and Jeremy Sole of KCRW. It will be released in an array
Ozzy's "Blizzard" and "Madman" LPs to Be Expanded in May (UPDATE 4/4)
UPDATE 4/4: This isn't particularly new, but in case anyone stumbled upon this post, there was some initial confusion as to the existence of bonus tracks on the Diary of a Madman set. Everything has now been properly edited. Original post: Last year, Legacy promised to turn October into "Rocktober" with the reissues of Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman, the first two solo albums by Ozzy Osbourne. Those reissues were unsurprisingly well-received by fans, particularly following the revelation
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 283
- 284
- 285
- 286
- 287
- …
- 315
- Next Page »