When considering the history of Walt Disney Studios, Mickey Mouse is always front and center. Lovably scrappy Mickey became a breakout smash with 1928’s Steamboat Willie, setting the company on the path to becoming the all-encompassing entertainment conglomerate it is today. The character himself, however, has had several ups and downs over the years. One of these down periods was during the late 1930s when Walt Disney felt that Mickey wasn’t reaching the same heights of popularity he had
Holiday Gift Guide Review: A Folk and Country Christmas with The Kingston Trio, The Brothers Four and the Statler Brothers
The cover of The Kingston Trio’s 1960 Capitol release The Last Month of the Year depicts the three young folksingers in suits and ties, each loaded with a bundle of Christmas gifts. With a cover like that, one could be forgiven for having expected the group to deliver a jovial set of holiday favorites. Instead, The Trio created an album of rare beauty but considerable darkness. As such, it’s hardly your typical holiday fare but Real Gone Music’s reissue (RGM-0312) is a worthwhile inclusion on
Variety Is The Spice: Varese Serves Up Ian Hunter, Ray Price
Upon his departure from Mott the Hoople, frontman Ian Hunter wasted little time in establishing a solo career. His first, eponymous solo album in 1975 yielded the single that made Hunter’s name as a solo artist, the original version of “Once Bitten, Twice Shy.” Recorded at George Martin’s AIR Studios, “Once Bitten” boasted Hunter’s old cohort Mick Ronson as arranger, guitarist and co-producer, and the track made it all the way to No. 14 on the U.K. chart. (Great White’s 1989 cover version
Here's Your "Vehicle," Baby! Real Gone Expands Ides of March Debut
Never judge a book by its cover…or an album, for that matter. In his illuminating new memoir Through the Eye of the Tiger, Jim Peterik writes of the moment he first bore witness to the cover artwork of his debut album with his band The Ides of March, 1970’s Vehicle: “When we saw it there was an audible gasp and then an ‘Oh shit! This stinks!’ We wondered out loud what some perverted ‘genius’ was thinking when on the cover of our life’s work he put an image of a naked baby doll abandoned
They Shall Be Released: Bob Dylan and The Band's "The Basement Tapes, Complete" Arrives In November
Come all without, come all within, you’ll not see nothing like The Basement Tapes, Complete. On November 4, Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings will grant an official release to perhaps the most coveted collection of songs in Bob Dylan’s storied catalogue. The eleventh installment of Dylan’s acclaimed Bootleg Series presents, for the very first time, six discs of The Basement Tapes – as recorded in the summer of 1967 by Dylan and the group that would later become The Band, and per the
Release Round-Up: Week of August 19
The Posies, Failure (Omnivore) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Omnivore expands the 1988 debut album from power-pop heroes The Posies. The new Failure restores the album’s original 12-track running order (preserved on cassette but cut down by one song on vinyl) and adds eight bonus tracks. Many of these are sourced from a long out-of-print 2000 box set and a 2004 reissue of the album proper, but one, a demo of “At Least for Now,” is being heard for the first time
Review: Elvis Presley, "That's The Way It Is: Deluxe Editions"
In 1992, American voters were asked to vote on not one, but two, matters of national importance: who should be the next President of the United States – and which image of Elvis Presley should grace a postage stamp. Bill Clinton won the former with roughly 43% of the popular vote, and as for the latter decision? It was “young Elvis” by a reported 75% landslide. The lithe, “Heartbreak Hotel”-era image of the pelvis-swiveling icon had triumphed over the jumpsuit-clad “old Elvis” – who, in fact,
Kritzerland Celebrates "Summer" With Jerome Kern and Alfred Newman, Goes "Hollywood" With Neal Hefti
At first blush, Kritzerland’s two new releases don’t have much in common - though one celebrates the Golden Age of Hollywood and one is actually from The Golden Age of Hollywood. But both titles hail from celebrated and influential composers, and both of these scores are making their first-ever appearances on soundtrack albums. The composers are the legendary Jerome Kern and the big band great-turned-swinging sixties theme titan Neal Hefti, and the films are Centennial Summer and Won Ton Ton:
Soundtrack? Yes, I Know: La-La Land Preps "Naked Gun" Reissue
You've read the ad, you've seen the movies - now for the first time, La-La Land Records will release the complete scores to all three of the hilarious films in The Naked Gun trilogy, as composed by Ira Newborn. Detective Lieutenant Frank Drebin of Police Squad made a small but dedicated group of people laugh in Police Squad, the short-lived (six brilliant episodes!) ABC television series created by Airplane! masterminds Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrams and David Zucker. Leslie Nielsen's unflappable
Pass The Chicken and Listen: Morello Reissues Everly Brothers, Janie Fricke
When The Everly Brothers joined RCA Victor in 1972, their place in the popular music firmament was already all but assured. Their string of hits for the Cadence label beautifully fused tight, ethereal country harmonies with a rock and roll spirit, from 1957’s “Bye Bye Love” (U.S. No. 2) onward. When Don and Phil joined the Warner Bros. roster in 1960, they scored another smash right out of the gate with the chart-topping “Cathy’s Clown,” but by the late sixties, the hit singles had dried up.
Omnivore Succeeds with Reissue of The Posies' "Failure"
Last week Omnivore Recordings announced their latest title for the late summer: an expansion of the debut album by power-pop idols The Posies. The Washington-based group, built around singers/songwriters/guitarists Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, earned immediate indie acclaim when first album Failure was released on the PopLlama label in 1988 after Scott McCaughey - leader of The Minus 5 and a constant collaborator with R.E.M. since the mid-1990s - was given a self-released copy of the album on
Review: Hank Williams, "The Garden Spot Programs 1950"
Hello everybody, Garden Spot is on the air/So just relax and listen in your easy rocking chair/Music for the family in the good old-fashioned way/I hope that we can please you, bring you sunshine every day! That bucolic, peppy introduction opened Naughton Farms' Garden Spot radio program, "the show that brings you all your favorite folk music singers." One such "folk music singer" in 1950 was Hank Williams. Omnivore Recordings' new The Garden Spot Programs, 1950 (OVCD-87, 2014) preserves 24
Audio Fidelity In Surround: Label Premieres Kooper's Multichannel "Super Session," Reissues Benson's "Breezin'" In 5.1
Thanks to the dedication of audiophile specialty labels like Audio Fidelity, Analogue Productions, and Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, the high-resolution Super Audio CD (SACD) format remains alive and well. Yet most of these labels’ recent releases have featured stereo mixes only. Audio Fidelity is finally making its first major leap into the world of 5.1 multi-channel surround sound with two upcoming reissues of classic albums including one long-coveted title. On August 5, the label will
Ramble On! Review: The Led Zeppelin Remasters - "I," "II" and "III"
Led Zeppelin wasn’t built in a day. “Good Times Bad Times,” the first track off the hard rock combo’s first album, today sounds very much of its time and also unusually forward-thinking. The crunchy riff that introduces the track augured for the amped-up sound of metal to come, but the opening verse and chorus still have one foot in mod pop. Yet the sheer attack that marks Zeppelin’s best work was already there. Jimmy Page’s guitar cuts loose at about the minute-and-a-half point, John Bonham’s
"It's A Wonderful" Soundtrack: Score to Frank Capra's Classic "Life" Gets First-Ever Release
"You see, George, you've really had a wonderful life. Don't you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away?" Each year, director Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life continues to lend a note of hope and inspiration to those discovering it for the first time. The story of suicidal George Bailey (James Stewart) and the guardian angel (Henry Travers) who shows him what life would have been like had he never been born, It's a Wonderful Life has transcended its modest origins to
I Just Can't Help Believin': "Elvis: That's The Way It Is" Goes Super Deluxe In 8-CD/2-DVD Box Set
The title of the 1970 documentary That's The Way It Is might have been plain-spoken, but nothing else was plain about the chronicle of Elvis Presley's return to the concert stage. And there's certainly nothing plain about the extravagant treatment being accorded the film and its companion album this summer. Why, we'd even say it's fit for a - make that, The King. On August 5, Legacy Recordings will team with Warner Bros. Home Video for a massive 8-CD/2-DVD box set including six full-length
Review: Billy Joel, "A Matter of Trust: The Bridge to Russia"
Billy Joel has been famously prickly in recent years about many of the archival releases bearing his name. But one hopes that the troubadour, currently in the midst of his tenure as a “franchise” at New York’s Madison Square Garden, is beaming with pride at A Matter of Trust – The Bridge to Russia. This set, available in a variety of audio and video formats from Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings, not only splendidly chronicles Joel’s historic 1987 trek to the Soviet Union but vividly
Return To Ipanema: Verve Marks 50th Anniversary of "Getz/Gilberto" With Deluxe Reissue
That tall and tan and young and lovely “Girl from Ipanema” is back, thanks to Verve Records’ 50th Anniversary Edition of Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto’s Getz/Gilberto. In stores today, this new deluxe edition presents the seminal bossa nova album in both mono and stereo, with the mono mix appearing on CD for the very first time. In addition, this release retains the bonus tracks – single versions of “The Girl from Ipanema” and “Corcovado” – from Verve’s previous reissue. Bossa nova, translated,
He Wants YOU To Have His Baby: "Paternity" Premieres On CD, Plus Two By Leigh Harline
Kritzerland is back this month with a pair of new releases premiering three film scores on CD for the very first time! First up is the music from the 1981 Burt Reynolds comedy Paternity, composed by David Shire. No stranger to stage (Closer Than Ever, Big) or screen (Norma Rae, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three), Shire supplied director David Steinberg’s film (also starring Beverly D’Angelo, Paul Dooley, Norman Fell, Lauren Hutton and Elizabeth Ashley) with charming, light and romantic
Review: Bee Gees, "The Warner Bros. Years: 1987-1991"
Tonight, Barry Gibb’s Mythology tour continues making its way through the United States, as the surviving member of The Bee Gees celebrates his family’s legacy in song. From humble beginnings in Australia (1965’s The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs) through international stardom and a final studio farewell (2001’s This is Where I Came In), Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb mastered an ever-shifting array of styles. Baroque, lightly psychedelic pop/rock ceded to tough funk-infused R&B,
Release Round-Up: Week of May 19
Oasis, Definitely Maybe: Chasing The Sun Edition (Big Brother/Ngrooves) Oasis' debut album is remastered and expanded; the first in a planned series of multi-format reissues from the legendary Britpop band. 1CD remaster: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.2LP remaster: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.3CD deluxe edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.3CD/2LP/1 x 7″ box set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Billy Joel, A Matter of Trust: The Bridge to Russia (Columbia/Legacy) The Piano Man's 1987 sojourn to the USSR is
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
Ace's "Black America Sings Bacharach and David" Features Dionne, Aretha, Cissy, Nina and More
In retrospect, it might be telling that Burt Bacharach’s first recorded song, “Once in a Blue Moon,” was cut in 1952 by Nat “King” Cole. From those earliest days, Bacharach and his lyrical partner Hal David saw their songs recorded by a host of African-American artists: Johnny Mathis, Gene McDaniels, Joe Williams, Lena Horne, and Etta James among them. Once the duo began to change the sound of American music with their ultra-cool, sophisticated pop-soul compositions, those songs were most
Ain't No Stopping Them Now: Sony Acquires Entire Philadelphia International Catalogue, Box Set Coming Soon [UPDATED]
UPDATED 4/9 WITH NEW INFORMATION, LINKS AND IMAGES: The love train is pulling back into the station. Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff’s Philadelphia International Records, distributed by CBS Records, began life in 1971 with the release of Billy Paul’s Going East on LP and The Ebonys’ “You’re the Reason Why” on 45. (Trivia fans, take note: Gideon Smith’s single “Arkansaw Wife” – yes, you read that right – has an earlier catalogue number, but the quintessentially Philly track by The Ebonys appears
Little Esther, All Grown Up: Raven Collects Esther Phillips' First CTI Albums
As the premier vocalist on CTI Records' Kudu imprint, Esther Phillips (1935-1984) played a key role in producer Creed Taylor's "Cool Revolution" at CTI. A gifted vocalist, Phillips nonetheless struggled with personal demons throughout her too-short life. The former "Little Esther" had her first taste of success in 1949, just fourteen years old, and a taste of heroin not long after; stories of her mercurial behavior have entered into legend. But her talent was never in doubt. CTI recorded
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