Ray Charles took the Shrine Auditorium by storm in 1964, following a tour of Japan. That fiery show was recorded (unbeknownst to the Genius himself) and released as Live in Concert in 1965. Now, Concord is prepping an expanded edition of the concert with several unreleased bonus tracks from the same show. Though the original 12-track LP touched on some great hits and standards as only Ray could sing them - "What'd I Say," "I Got a Woman" and "Hallelujah, I Love Her So" chief among them - the
Back Tracks: Aerosmith, Part II - The Geffen Years and Beyond
Way back in January we did a Back Tracks feature on Aerosmith's Columbia discography, just as Steven Tyler was beginning to crazy it up on American Idol. However, since then Tyler has become a solid asset for Idol fans, and it wouldn't be surprising if the end of the show's current season didn't dovetail into some sort of Aerosmith resurgence. With that in mind, let's take a look from where we left the band in the last Back Tracks special. 1982's Rock in a Hard Place saw original guitarists
La-La Land Boards "Money Train"
The newest scores to order from La-La Land are from films both old and new: Mark Mancina's score to Money Train (1995) and Abel Korzenlowski's soundtrack to Copernicus' Star (2009). Money Train was an action-comedy flick starring Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson as New York City two transit cops. The film was not a success, but is known for being one of the earliest mainstream appearances of Jennifer Lopez and its killer action score by Mark Mancina, who at the time was making quite a mark on
Joan Baez to Reissue "Play Me Backwards" With Additional Tracks
Joan Baez recently announced the reissue of her 1992 album Play Me Backwards as a nicely expanded set - but you'll have to pony up if you want it in the States. Play Me Backwards marked a lot of firsts for the folk singer: her first album in Nashville since Come from the Shadows (1972), her first of many collaborations with songwriters/producers Kenny Greenberg and Wally Wilson, her main collaborators for most of the 1990s and her first music video, for the track "Stones in the Road." The
Release Round-Up: Week of March 1
James Brown, The Singles Vol. 10 1975-1979 (Polydor/Hip-o Select) The Godfather of Soul's penultimate complete singles compilation from Select. One more to follow! (Hip-o Select) Carole King and James Taylor, Troubadours: The Rise of the Singer-Songwriter (Hear Music) A new documentary on the California singer/songwriter scene of the 1970s, coupled with a bonus disc of some of the best songs from that period. (Amazon) Various Artists, Icon (UMe) Budget compilations from artists across the
Pino Donaggio's Lost "Ordeal" Released at Last
Kritzerland’s restoration of Pino Donaggio’s complete score to Carrie was one of the most lauded film score releases of 2010. Today, the label announced a title that could be considered a follow-up: the premiere of Donaggio’s shelved score to the 1985 film Ordeal by Innocence. This Cannon Films adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1958 novel was directed by Desmond Davis of 1981’s Clash of the Titans, and featured a starry ensemble including Christopher Plummer, Faye Dunaway and Ian McShane. The
Rush Celebrates 30 Years of "Moving Pictures" With Surround Mixes and More
For fans of music in surround, every new release can be a cause for celebration. Surround music hasn't proliferated for years, but a small if steady flow keeps the torch burning over multiple formats. Last year saw the surprise launch of Rhino Handmade's Quadradisc series with classic quadraphonic titles arriving on DVD from Aretha Franklin and Chicago, while Tom Petty and UMe offered Damn the Torpedoes as a 5.1 Blu-Ray. King Crimson continued its 40th Anniversary Series on Inner Knot with a
The Man Who Sang "Liberty Valance": RPM Continues Gene Pitney Reissues
With one of the most resonant and recognizable voices in rock and roll, Gene Pitney (1940-2006) was the rare American talent to be able to withstand the British Invasion and continue to thrive. He collaborated with Phil Spector and The Rolling Stones, wrote hit songs for Roy Orbison, Bobby Vee, Ricky Nelson and the Crystals, and brought to life the songs of others, too. Among the recipients of the Pitney treatment were Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and
Short Takes: Hectic Edition
Sincerest apologies to all our readers who may have wondered where The Second Disc went off to. Though I hate jumbling personal/professional stuff with maintenance of the site, today was kind of busy. But there will be a few relaxed posts over the weekend as a way of thanking you, the reader, for your patience (and continued readership, of course!). In any case, here are two links that might be worth your perusal on the reissue front: The Yep Roc label posted a neat interview with Nick Lowe,
"I Spy" a Set of Soundtrack Reissues from FSM
Film Score Monthly's latest release is a nice reissue of a pair of LPs from the classic comedy I Spy. The show, riding high on a wave of '60s spy mania thanks to the likes of James Bond, was a deft blend of action and comedy, featuring a groundbreaking pair of actors as secret agents: Robert Culp and Bill Cosby. It was the first major role for a black actor on television, and through all their jet-setting adventures, Cosby's race was smartly never even acknowledged, let alone played for
It's Official: Queen Will Rock Fans with U.S. Reissues
To finally clear up all the confusion, Hollywood Records issued a press release confirming that the upcoming reissues of the band's first five LPs - the ones we've covered at great length here - will be getting Stateside releases this spring. As with the U.K. versions coming from Island/UMe in March, these sets will be two discs each, pairing the original LPs with a bonus disc of rarities. (The track listings are identical worldwide.) The Deep Cuts compilation is not set for a U.S. release, but
Cherry Red Reissues A-Plenty in March
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
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
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
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
Release Round-Up: Week of February 22
Johnny Cash, Bootleg 2: From Memphis to Hollywood (Columbia/Legacy) Rarities from the Man in Black, including rare radio performances, demos and single sides. (Official site) Various Artists, Wall of Sound: The Very Best of Phil Spector / The Ronettes, Be My Baby: The Very Best of the Ronettes / The Crystals, Da Doo Ron Ron: The Very Best of The Crystals / Darlene Love, The Sound of Love: The Very Best of Darlene Love (Phil Spector Records/Legacy) Legacy finally gets things going with their
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
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,
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