With a monthly release slate averaging six titles, Cherry Red’s Big Break Records label is at the vanguard of classic soul, R&B and dance reissues. Each of the label’s deluxe releases is aimed at collectors, with copious liner notes and more often than not, a selection of rare bonus cuts. It’s been a busy summer for the Big Break team, and in this first of a two-part series, we’ll look at some of the label’s latest offerings! Silver Convention, Get Up and Boogie (1976): Earlier this
Real Gone Is "In Tune" With September Slate Featuring Grateful Dead, Ides of March, Willie Hutch, More
September 1 marks Labor Day, but Real Gone Music isn’t taking much time off! The very next day, the label launches a new crop of eight titles emphasizing soul, funk and R&B but also encompassing country, classic rock and a touch of prog! At Motown, Willie Hutch gifted The Jackson 5 with his song “I’ll Be There,” saw his songs recorded by the label’s elite including Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye, and penned funky soundtracks including The Mack. In 1977, he departed Berry Gordy’s empire
Old School: Soul Man Willie Jones Has "Fire In My Soul" On Comeback Album, Welcomes Frank Black, Steve Cropper and Felix Cavaliere
We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming for a special news bulletin: Willie Jones, vocalist for The Five Jokers back in the early 1960s, has returned to recording for the first time in decades! His new solo album, Fire in My Soul, arrived this week in the U.K. from Cherry Red Records’ Shout! label, and we’re happy to report that it’s a treat for vintage soul enthusiasts! Much has been made of today’s crop of “neo-soul” artists, fusing organic elements of traditional R&B into more
Review: Real Gone Goes Soulful With Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, Irma Thomas
During its mid- to late-sixties heyday, Atlantic had two “girl groups” on its roster: The Sweet Inspirations and Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. It’s appropriate, then, that SoulMusic and Real Gone has a companion release to The Sweet Inspirations’ singles anthology with Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles’ 2-CD set The Complete Atlantic Sides Plus (RGM-0237/OPCD-8839) featuring Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx, Sarah Dash and Cindy Birdsong. Like The Sweet Inspirations and Irma Thomas collections,
Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing: Two CTI/Kudu Albums From Hank Crawford Reissued On One CD
Alto saxophonist and Ray Charles’ onetime musical director Hank Crawford had a keen ear for incorporating R&B influences into jazz, making him a perfect addition to Creed Taylor’s CTI roster. At CTI’s Kudu imprint, Taylor encouraged his jazz artists to court the mainstream while still staying true to their artistry and musicianship, and in the process, his label released some of the best fusion jazz with funk, soul and pop influences. Crawford’s third and fourth albums with Taylor, 1973’s
The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy Returns: Raven Collects David Allan Coe Albums
If “outlaw country” has a face, it’s likely that of David Allan Coe. Though many have been associated with the rabble-rousing, convention-defying, honky tonk-embracing genre, including Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard, Coe has been a perennial “bad boy” since bursting onto the music scene in the late 1960s fresh out of prison. In fact, many attribute the term “outlaw country” itself to Coe, who was a member of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club and certainly lived his life
Real Gone's Sizzling Summer Features Cass Elliot, Peggy Lipton, Annette, The Shirelles, Dee Dee Warwick and More
Summer is finally here, and Real Gone Music has a bevy of offerings due on July 29 which should make your vacation even sunnier! The label is throwing a beach party, sixties-style, with the original stereo soundtrack to How to Stuff a Wild Bikini featuring screen legends Annette Funicello and Mickey Rooney and “Louie, Louie” rockers The Kingsmen; celebrating true California royalty with an expanded edition of “Mama” Cass Elliot’s Don’t Call Me Mama Anymore (sorry, Cass!) featuring previously
Return To A Northern Town: Real Gone Preps Dream Academy Anthology with Previously Unreleased Tracks
The Dream Academy announced itself to American listeners in 1986 when “Life in a Northern Town,” the first single off the British band’s first album, made it all the way to No. 7 on the Hot 100. More than twenty years later, the strength of The Dream Academy’s music was made clear when country-pop duo Sugarland took the song back to the Top 40, this time on the country chart. The trio, consisting of Nick Laird-Clowes (guitars/vocals), Kate St. John (piano/accordion/saxophone/various) and
WE HAVE A WINNER! Billy Joel's "A Matter of Trust: The Bridge to Russia" Goes to One Lucky Winner!
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR CONTEST WINNER, FABIO TURSI! He's won a copy of Billy Joel's A Matter of Trust: The Bridge to Russia 2CD/1DVD set from Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings!
That's Amore: "Arrivederci Italy" Features Jerry Vale, Dean Martin, Rita Pavone, Nino Rota, Ennio Morricone
IN MEMORIAM: JERRY VALE (1930-2014) : While readying the following article for publication, we learned of the passing of Jerry Vale on May 18, 2014 at the age of 83. Jerry was one of the last great gentlemen of song, and a mainstay of the Columbia Records roster for many years. He notched 18 singles on the Hot 10o between 1953 and 1967, and 27 on the Adult Contemporary chart through 1971, including the AC chart-topper "Have You Looked Into Your Heart" in 1964. Though best-known for his
Like To Get To Know Them: Real Gone's July Features Spanky and Our Gang, Lulu, Peggy Lipton, Grateful Dead and More
Tuesday – July 1, that is – will never be the same, thanks to Real Gone Music’s slate spotlighting a quartet of famous sixties girls! But that’s not all. The label is also dipping its toes into tropicalia, anthologizing an unsung country-pop hero, going both punk and disco, and returning to the venerable Grateful Dead catalogue! Complete Singles Collections have become a specialty of Real Gone’s, and the label continues with a new title featuring every Mercury single released by Spanky
Viva Morello: Cherry Red Label Reissues Roy Rogers, Porter Wagoner, Ray Price, More
The Viva vaults are open! Viva Records, formed by producer Snuff Garrett (“The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves,” “This Diamond Ring”), released a diverse catalogue of music during its roughly two-decade existence – light instrumental pop, garage rock, comedy, and more. But the label might be best-remembered for its string of country successes in the early 1980s, most notably from David Frizzell and Shelly West. Earlier this year, Varese Sarabande reissued a
This One Goes Out: R.E.M.'s Early B-Sides Collected on Digital Set
On Tuesday, May 19, the same day that Warner Bros. Records issues R.E.M.’s 2-CD Unplugged 1991/2001: The Complete Sessions, UMe will offer a digital-only package for fans of the Athens, Georgia band’s earliest days. Complete Rarities: I.R.S. 1982-1987 collects 50 previously released odds and ends from Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry. These rarities have been culled from such releases as the 1987 Dead Letter Office (originally released in the wake of the success of Lifes
Review: Real Gone Offers Temptations From David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks
Three recent releases from the team at Real Gone Music feature the solo music of David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks, two-fifths of the original Temptations line-up. The label has reissued Ruffin's first four albums on two single CDs, two to each CD, and has premiered Kendricks' post-Motown LP Love Keys, for Atlantic Records, on CD. David Ruffin had departed The Temptations after the April 1968 release of the Wish It Would Rain album, with Dennis Edwards officially joining the group onstage in
Real Gone Has Sweet Inspiration(s) For June With Vikki Carr, Fanny, Grateful Dead, More
The details are out on Real Gone Music's June 3 release slate, and it's so eclectic and so packed with rarities that you might find yourself exclaiming of the Real Gone team, "It must be them!" Of course, "It Must Be Him" was Vikki Carr's signature hit, and Vikki is featured on not one, but two, releases from her Columbia Records tenure - including one with a full seventeen previously unissued recordings! If you like your female artists a bit more rocking, Real Gone has an expanded edition of
Masterworks Premieres Lost Album By Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy, Brings Rare Richard Rodgers and Ed Ames To CD
Sony's Masterworks Broadway division has announced its spring slate, and it's filled with surprises. The label is kicking it off with next week's first-ever release of a shelved album from Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy recorded in 1959 and unreleased until now, and following that in May with the first-ever reissue of a "lost" Richard Rodgers score written for television. That gem, Androcles and the Lion, will be followed in June by a pair of albums from one of its stars: Ed Ames, formerly of
You Must Remember This: TCM, Masterworks Compile "Classic Sound of Hollywood" From Mancini, Williams, Morricone, More
On April 1, Sony’s Masterworks division and Turner Classic Movies marked the cable network’s twentieth anniversary with a new 2-CD collection of vintage Hollywood movie themes. Play It Again: The Classic Sound of Hollywood continues the Masterworks/TCM series that has previously encompassed archival releases from Doris Day, Mario Lanza and Fred Astaire. Composers represented include Bernard Herrmann, Max Steiner, Maurice Jarre, Elmer Bernstein, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Henry Mancini, Ennio
UPDATE - Bring On Your "Wrecking Ball": Emmylou Harris Classic Revisited By Nonesuch Label As 2-CD/1-DVD Set
Before Bruce Springsteen unleashed his Wrecking Ball or Miley Cyrus her “Wrecking Ball,” Emmylou Harris gave her 1995 studio album, produced by Daniel Lanois (U2, Bob Dylan) that title after a Neil Young composition. Harris’ Wrecking Ball embraced a more explicitly cutting-edge “rock” sound than many of her past traditional country efforts, and earned the artist a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Recording. On April 8, Nonesuch Records (sister label to Elektra/Asylum, the original
Reviews: Real Gone Goes R&B with Bettye Swann and Samuel Jonathan Johnson
Shreveport, Louisiana-born Bettye Swann never liked her birth name of Betty Jean Champion, yet when it came to soul music, Swann was certainly a champion. Her debut single for Money Records, 1965’s “Don’t Wait Too Long,” became a Top 30 R&B hit, and two years later, “Make Me Yours” went all the way to the No. 1 spot on that chart. It was inevitable that bigger labels than Money would come calling, and sure enough, Swann recorded two country-flavored LPs in 1969 and 1970 for Capitol. Rick
Review: Elton John, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: 40th Anniversary Edition," Part One
“When are you gonna come down? When are you going to land?” It looked like Elton John would never come down. When Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John’s seventh album and first double-LP set, arrived in October 1973, it followed six straight Top 10 albums. The last two of those had gone all the way to No. 1. Five of John’s singles had also reached the Top 10 of the Hot 100, including one chart-topper. The former Reg Dwight was at the top of the world. Where does one go from there? The answer,
The Return of "One-Eyed Jacks": Sold-Out Soundtrack Receives New Encore Edition
When we first reported on Kritzerland's reissue of the soundtrack to 1961's One-Eyed Jacks on Wednesday, August 25, 2010, the limited edition release had already sold out. In fact, all 1,200 copies had sold out in a matter of hours. But the label is bringing this in-demand title back as a new Encore Edition. Strictly limited to 1,000 units, the Encore Edition re-presents the contents of the deluxe restoration of Hugo Friedhofer's score. The new edition is scheduled to ship by the first week
Of Ghosts, Panthers and Ronettes: Legacy Unveils Record Store Day 2014 Slate
Today’s the day! This morning, Los Angeles’ vinyl mecca Amoeba Music hosted the “Official List Launch” for Record Store Day, with simultaneous unveilings of the extensive RSD ’14 line-up occurring in Nashville and across the pond in London. We’ve already filled you in on some of the exciting titles arriving on Saturday, April 19 from many of our favorite labels (Real Gone Music, Omnivore Recordings) and artists alike (Creedence Clearwater Revival, Devo, Neil Young, R.E.M. ), and there’s plenty
Once She Had A Secret Love: Legacy, Real Gone Celebrate Doris Day's 90th Birthday With Classics and Never-Before-Heard Music
UPDATE 3/18: Whether on record, the silver screen or television, the name of Doris Day has always been synonymous with grace, class, charm, tenacity and artistry. The singer, actress and animal rights activist will celebrate her landmark 90th birthday on April 3 of this year, but two days earlier, Real Gone Music will mark the occasion with two brand-new releases filled with both classics and rarities. Music, Movies & Memories celebrates the entirety of Day's career as one of America's
Real Gone Unearths 5th Dimension, Vanilla Fudge and More for Late April
Real Gone Music isn't letting up, with six heavy-hitting reissues announced for an April 29 release, including compilations for Vanilla Fudge and The 5th Dimension, long-lost recordings by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys and more! We've already told you about RGM's plans to release 10 tracks from the band's famed radio-only "Tiffany Transcriptions" - four of which won't be available on any other release - as a Record Store Day exclusive. A two-disc, 50-track set of those recordings from
Gotcha! Raven Collects Three Essentials From Saxophone Great Tom Scott
Chances are if you’re reading these words, you’re intimately familiar with at least one performance by Tom Scott. The saxophonist played the part of the titular “Jazzman” on Carole King’s 1974 No. 2 single of the same name, helped take Paul McCartney’s “Listen to What the Man Said” all the way up to No. 1 in 1975, and lent support to Whitney Houston as she professed to be “Saving All My Love for You.” But the Grammy-winning Scott was also a prolific recording artist, both solo and with his
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