The King has returned: Follow That Dream, Sony's "official bootleg" label for Elvis Presley catalogue projects, has announced its two newest titles for February, a live set and a vinyl reissue. First up is White Knight in Vegas, a 1969 performance at Las Vegas' International Hotel, the biggest showroom on the strip at the time. Fresh off the iconic NBC comeback special some nine months prior, Presley began his stint at the venue in late July, and this show captures Elvis at his showiest.
Derek, Eric and "Layla": Details Announced for 40th Anniversary Set
Prepare to be on your knees: details have been released for UMe's upcoming 40th anniversary editions of Derek & The Dominos' Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, due out March 8. The result of a searing, bluesy collaboration between Eric Clapton, members of Delaney & Bonnie's touring outfit and Duane Allman, Layla was a critical success but sold only moderately until the title track shot to the Top 10 some two years after the album was released. It became a multigenerational hit in the
Sail On, Silvergirl: "Bridge" Returns for 40th Anniversary Edition (UPDATED 1/22)
“Bridge Over Troubled Water” began as Paul Simon’s “humble little gospel hymn song.” But upon its release, it quickly took on a life of its own. Simon’s inspirational words and music, Art Garfunkel’s spine-tingling vocal and Larry Knechtel’s majestic piano all contributed to a work that resonated deeply, as a both an epitaph for the 1960s and a reassuring affirmation for a new decade’s beginning. Believe it or not, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is 40 years old; what’s hard to grasp isn’t that
Friday Feature: "Men in Black"
Once in a while, a great comedy comes around that makes an incredible impact on film, thanks to its quick wits, original ideas and great performances. In the 1980s, there were several great films that deftly blended comedy with science fiction and action film tropes - 1984's Ghostbusters and 1985's Back to the Future - that remain generational touchstones and modern-day classics of popular cinema. When children of the '80s say, "They don't make 'em like they used to," it's not hard to imagine
Amazon to Start Pressing Universal's Catalogue on Demand
Here's some interesting news from the too-rarely-reported business side of the catalogue world: Universal Music Group is going to start pressing out-of-print catalogue titles through Amazon's CreateSpace self-publishing and on-demand services. Similar to Warner and Collectors' Choice's Tartare program, the UMG/CreateSpace partnership will see the label licensing its out-of-print content to the online service's Disc on Demand program. Each copy of an album under this program is made direct to
More of Melba: Moore's Epic Debut Due from BBR
By 1978, Melba Moore had already established herself as a multifaceted musical force. After making her Broadway debut as Dionne ("White Boys") in the original Broadway company of Hair, she picked up a Tony Award in 1970 for her performance in Purlie, where she introduced the showstopping "I Got Love." In 1978, she was starring in New York opposite the legendary Eartha Kitt in Timbuktu! and ready to resume her solo recording career. With stints on the Mercury and Buddah labels behind her, she
Short Takes: Early Details on Reissues from Pearl Jam, Kate Bush
A new Rolling Stone article has revealed some details about the upcoming batch of catalogue titles from Pearl Jam. The forthcoming reissues of Vs. (1993) and Vitalogy (1994) will feature "previously unheard bonus tracks (including an alternate version of “Corduroy” and a guitar-and-organ version of “Betterman”), an entire 1994 Boston show and a cassette from their Monkeywrench radio series." The article is not clear, but it seems as though both albums and bonus material may be paired together,
Back Tracks: Aerosmith Part I - The Columbia Years
Aerosmith isn't dead, but it may as well be. Frontman Steven Tyler was preposterous in his first televised appearance as a judge on American Idol (though there was some very funny writing about the whole ordeal), and if you're like me, you wish Tyler had stepped away from such ridiculous duties and went on to perform with what many have called America's greatest rock and roll band - even if it sounded more like their recent, pop-oriented rock instead of their bluesy, pre-metal days. To
Kinks Reissues Get Klearer
The other day we'd mentioned that The Kinks' first three U.K. albums were being expanded across the pond. Amazon's U.K. pages had track listings for the double-disc sets, but there wasn't much in the way of annotations. If a song popped up twice, was it an alternate mix? A live version? A demo? We didn't know, so we didn't say much. Now, U.K. site Spin CDs has put up track listings for Kinks, Kinda Kinks and The Kink Kontroversy, and while there's still a small bit of speculation to be had, the
Massive Live Dead Box Coming in Fall
Do you love The Grateful Dead? I mean really love-with-capital-letters-bold-italicized-and-underlined LOVE The Grateful Dead? Well, there's a massive box set coming your way to help you express that love. In its newest issue, Rolling Stone reports a box is coming from Rhino that will chronicle The Dead's European tour of 1972 in its entirety, all from original 16-track recordings. It's going to be 60 discs of 22 shows, in their entirety, unedited and bursting at the seams with liner notes and
Reissue Theory: Sammy Davis, Jr., Compiled: "Sammy in the Seventies"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, here we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. Today, we look at a beloved American icon and one of the least anthologized periods of his lengthy career. There may be no figure in American popular culture more maligned in death than Sammy Davis, Jr. The image of the diminutive entertainer, clad in open shirts and bell-bottoms, wearing beads and gold chains, and with an ever-present cigarette dangling
Zombies LPs to Be Revived As Double-Disc Sets
Repertoire Records is releasing double-disc editions of the original two albums by The Zombies. The British group, acclaimed for such singles as "She's Not There" and "Time of the Season," only cut two albums in the late '60s - Begin Here for Decca and Odessy and Oracle for CBS - before splitting up. But there was plenty of material to be had; there were quite a few non-LP singles and a host of material for a third, never-released album. This work has been anthologized before - perhaps most
Back Tracks: Queen, Part II
We continue our coverage of Queen's previous reissues - in anticipation of the band's forthcoming remasters on new U.K. home Island Records - with a look at Queen during most of the '80s, where they went increasingly pop-friendly before returning to their rock roots in the 1990s, losing their iconic frontman and becoming anthologized in nearly a dozen or so compilations. The show must go on, after the jump.
From "Walter Mitty" to "Inner City": Masterworks Broadway Reissues Due
Sony’s Masterworks Broadway division continues its dig through the vaults of the Columbia and RCA Records labels with three new titles, to be released as CD-Rs exclusively through Arkiv Music or as digital downloads. Today, January 18, sees the reissue of Originals – Musical Comedy 1909-1935, an RCA compilation dating from 1968. This collection remains one of the best ever to anthologize the sound of musical comedy in its earliest days, and is a “Who’s Who” of that golden era. The vaudeville
Reissue Theory: Stevie Wonder, "Hotter Than July"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, here we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. With today being a national holiday in honor of an iconic civil rights leader, we take a look at an album with a song written to make that holiday a reality. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FchMuPQOBwA] Today is a day off for many people in the United States, in observation of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the great civil rights
Short Takes: 40s Aplenty, Kinks Konfusion, QotSA Date Change and Big Star Reissue Due
The magic numbers for reissues this year looks to be 40: we have no less than three different 40th anniversary sets with release dates in March. We've already mentioned the CD/DVD edition Bridge Over Troubled Water (1971) on that date. And the same day will see the release of the promised new deluxe editions of Derek and The Dominos' Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (a remaster, a double-disc deluxe edition, a double vinyl edition, and a 4 CD/2 LP/1 DVD super deluxe box). And Amazon is
Fit for a Queen: Legacy Planning Massive Aretha Box
As if news of Aretha Franklin's improved health wasn't good news enough, Columbia and Legacy have told the Associated Press that there's going to be a massive box set of her works for the label coming this spring. Take a Look: Aretha Franklin Complete on Columbia is going to be a 12-disc set - 11 CDs and a DVD - chronicling this oft-overlooked early phase of the Queen of Soul's career. Franklin signed to the label in 1960 at the young age of 18, and spent several years releasing albums and
"Elvis is Back" is Back
Elvis Presley's Elvis is Back!, it was previously reported, will be released as a Legacy Edition on March 1. We now have a track list to go with that title. The two-disc set will combine Elvis is Back!, Presley's 1960 LP and the first the King recorded after returning from the Army, with Something for Everyone, an album from the following year. Each will be expanded with relevant non-LP single sides, some of which rank highly in Elvis' discography ("Are You Lonesome Tonight?," "It's Now or
In Case You Missed It: Slayer on Vinyl
Oddly, Slayer's The Vinyl Conflict box, which came out in November, sort of flew under The Second Disc's radar. But today, we have a very special reason to make sure that doesn't happen again. This 11-LP box features all of the iconic metal band's albums for Def Jam (yes, this was toward the end of Rick Rubin's tenure with his label) and American Recordings (the label Rubin subsequently created), from 1983's Reign in Blood to 2009's World Painted Blood. All are remastered and pressed on
Friday Feature: "Casino Royale" (1967, 2006)
"The dry riffle of the cards and the soft whirr of the roulette wheel, the sharp call of the croupiers and the feverish mutter of a crowded casino hide the thick voice at Bond's ear which says, 'I will count up to ten.'" So read the blurb on the jacket of the original printing of Ian Fleming's 1953 novel Casino Royale, which introduced Agent 007 to the world. Fleming's novel set the tone for those that followed, introducing the "Bond girl" (Vesper Lynd), the larger-than-life villain (Le Chiffre,
FSM Fetches Classic Canine Scores
Film Score Monthly's first release of 2011 is a whopper: five discs' worth of dog-related film scores, anchored mostly around the lovable star Lassie. Created by writer Eric Knight in a short story that was expanded into a 1940 novel, Lassie was a loyal collie who treks across Depression-era Yorkshire, England to reunite with his young owner. The film spawned several sequels and spin-offs, most notably a long-running American television show that ran from 1954 to 1973. The dog is one of only
Back Tracks: Queen, Part I
This week's remaster and reissue of Queen's first two greatest hits LPs in the U.K. (on new home Island Records) is the start of what promises to be a massive reissue campaign for the band's 40th anniversary. The band's first five LPs are slated to be expanded and released in March, with additional batches to follow through 2011. Of course, this isn't the first time the Queen catalogue has been rolled out on CD. While British audiences got straight CD transfers throughout the late '80s,
Lowe's "Labour" Not Lost: Reissue Due in March
Nick Lowe never was lacking in confidence. The former Brinsley Schwarz bassist/vocalist had already defined pub-rock as a member of that band, and did much the same for the burgeoning punk movement as producer of Elvis Costello’s first albums. Now he was in the forefront of the so-called “new wave” vanguard, and Lowe realized there was little he couldn’t do. Armed with hubris but with tongue firmly planted in cheek, he named his 1978 Radar Records (U.K.) debut Jesus of Cool. Its artwork depicted
Reissue Theory: Sting, Compiled (UPDATED 1/12)
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, here we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. Today's installment concerns a former Police man and his lack of decent compilations over the past few decades. There's something disconcerting when an artist gets to the point where they're comfortable enough to do whatever they want, but that "whatever they want" just doesn't count toward reissues, box sets or the like. One such example I've been
Back Tracks, In Memoriam: Margaret Whiting (1924-2011)
In 1997, a musical revue came and went at Broadway's Royale Theatre. The revue, Dream, was a mostly unexceptional journey through the music and lyrics of the legendary Johnny Mercer. Why the "mostly," then? Dream had one very exceptional living link to Mercer, and that was the resplendent Margaret Whiting, who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 86 in Englewood, New Jersey. When Mercer (along with Buddy DeSylva and Glenn Wallichs) started Capitol Records in 1942, one of the first artists he
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