The lure of the screen has long been impossible for Elvis Costello to resist, beginning with his appearance in 1979’s Americathon and continuing right through the present day. The artist born Declan Patrick MacManus has appeared onscreen in motion pictures from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me to Spice World, and written songs for even more films. Although the prolific artist hasn’t released a new studio album since 2010’s National Ransom, Universal is seeing to it that there’s some
Review: Five from The Steve Miller Band (1968-1970), Reissued on Edsel
The 1968 debut of the Steve Miller Band begins with a shattering cacophony, followed by an acoustic strum emerging like a beacon of light amidst the darkness and clatter. The album's title track "Children of the Future" is far removed from the ironic detachment of "The Joker" or the sleek majesty of "Fly Like an Eagle," later hits that proved the group could go "pop" while still showing off their versatility and impeccable musicianship. Edsel Records has just afforded listeners the opportunity
Review: Peter Gabriel, “So: Immersion Box Set” – Part 2: This is the Picture
In yesterday's first part of the So box set review, we discussed the original album proper and the accompanying So DNA bonus disc. Part 2 continues with a look at a live show, some visual content and more. If there's a major mistake on the So box set, it's keeping the So DNA disc exclusive to a $100+ box set. As much as it replicates the original album (with a different spin, naturally), it feels closer to the mothership than the great but best-taken-separately experience of Live in Athens
The Kids Are Alright: The Who's "My Generation" Reissued on CD
“Belgravia, a rich neighbourhood where women in fur coats shoved me out of line as if I didn’t exist, only made more starkly apparent the generational divide I was trying to describe…The feeling that began to settle in me was not so much resentment towards those Establishment types all around my flat in Belgravia as fear that their disease might be contagious,” Pete Townshend writes in his new memoir, Who I Am, about the song “My Generation.” He continues, “What was that disease? It was
Can You Surry, Can You Picnic? Ace, Legacy Celebrate the Songs of Laura Nyro
In Wendy Wasserstein’s play Third, a professor is sitting at her desk, cigarette in hand, listening to “Wedding Bell Blues.” Her student enters, and recognizes the tune: “Is that the 5th Dimension?” The professor sharply replies, “Not in my office!” Beat. “It’s Laura Nyro. She wrote it.” He replies, “Cool. Does she have anything new out?” Professor Nancy Gordon answers, “She died of ovarian cancer a few years ago,” and changes the subject. Cancer would take Wendy Wasserstein, too, like
Review: Peter Gabriel, "So: Immersion Box Set" - Part 1: Let There Be No Doubt About It
When Peter Gabriel's So hit stores in the spring of 1986, it wouldn't be unfair to call almost everything about the ex-Genesis' fifth record a complete surprise. For one, the record had a title, boldly marked in the upper left corner as if a challenge to the reader. Moreover, the album sleeve showed not a Hipgnosis-created aberration of Gabriel - obscured by raindrops, jagged scratches, or photo manipulation that seemed to melt half his face off - but a Peter Saville-crafted black-and-white
Soundtrack Corner: We Will Always Love "The Bodyguard" Plus Jerry Lewis Goes "Geisha" and Les Baxter for Halloween
Though the 1992 soundtrack to Mick Jackson's film The Bodyguard is the best-selling soundtrack album of all time, its success was largely on the strength of star Whitney Houston's performances of "I Will Always Love You," "I Have Nothing" and "I'm Every Woman." Featured on just one track was the work of Alan Silvestri, the composer of Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit who provided the film's original score. The under-three minute snippet featured on the Grammy-winning Arista album
Review: David Sanborn, "Then Again: The Anthology"
Even if you don’t know David Sanborn, chances are you know his saxophone on David Bowie’s “Young Americans.” Or James Taylor’s “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You).” Or Bruce Springsteen’s “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” on which he joined Clarence Clemons and the Brecker Brothers. Though Sanborn is considered a leading light in the “smooth jazz” movement, his background is much more varied. He played the blues with Paul Butterfield at Woodstock, pure jazz with Gil Evans, and R&B with James
From Manhattan to Memphis: Ace, Kent Collect Classic Soulful Sides on Three New Releases
Though they're located across the pond, the team at Ace Records literally has the entire map of the U.S. covered when it comes to celebrating classic soul sounds. Among the numerous titles recently issued by the Ace family are three geographically-attuned sets sure to pique your ears and interest. Ace's journey begins in the American northeast, and specifically in New York City, with a second volume of Manhattan Soul. Like the first volume in the series, it's drawn from the considerable
In The Shadow of The Shadows: Songwriter Jerry Lordan Remembered on "All My Own Work"
Just who the heck was Jerry Lordan anyway? The English singer, songwriter, actor and comedian (1934-1995) provided hit records for Dale Hawkins, Anthony Newley, The Shadows and Jet Harris, but Lordan has never gotten his due in the CD era. Because most of his work came in the pre-Beatles era of British pop, too many of Jerry Lordan's songs are all but forgotten. RPM Records, an imprint of Cherry Red, has come to right that wrong with the comprehensive All My Own Work, combining Lordan's
Compilation Watch: Best-Ofs Planned for Whitney Houston, Kelly Clarkson
Next month - the all-important Christmas shopping season - sees two compilations from two immensely popular singers from the RCA roster with unmistakable voices. The label will release new compilations in the same week for departed R&B legend Whitney Houston and American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson - the latter of whom definitely owes more than a little of her style to the former. I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston marks a few firsts in Whitney's catalogue: it's her
Review: The Beach Boys Remasters, Part Two: The Album-by-Album Guide
It’s about time now! Don’t you know now? It’s about time we get together to be out front and love one another… - Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, Bob Burchman and Al Jardine (1970) Isn’t it time we danced the night away? How about doing it just like yesterday? - Brian Wilson, Joe Thomas, Jim Peterik, Larry Millas and Mike Love (2012) No, Mike Love didn’t fire Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys. But that didn’t stop the Beach Boys’ leader, producer and chief songwriter from telling The Los
Review: Barbra Streisand, "Release Me"
On Saturday evening, October 13, Barbra Joan Streisand triumphantly concluded a two-night engagement at Brooklyn, New York’s brand-new Barclays Center. The two evenings marked her first public performances in the borough of her birth since she dropped the “a” from Barbara and followed the call of superstardom, first to Manhattan and then to Hollywood. Streisand recalled to the audience of 19,000 that her last time singing in Brooklyn was on a stoop! Still, she serenaded the community with
Omnivore's Black Friday Schedule: Capitol Rarities on Vinyl, Jellyfish Instrumentals on CD
We're close to that most wonderful time of the year, folks! No, not Christmas, but - well, yeah, I guess Christmas is closer than we'd all wish it would be. But ANYWAY, the wonderful time I was alluding to is Record Store Day's Black Friday event. The day after Thanksgiving, our beloved local independent record stores join forces with major and independent labels alike to release special exclusive treats as a way of thanking us for patronizing their businesses. While a full list of RSD
The Fruits of Another: Paul Carrack's Career Anthologized on Triple-Disc "Collected"
Like some sort of blue-eyed soul version of Zelig, Paul Carrack has been a fixture of British rock for decades. As frontman of pub-rock Ace, he took "How Long" to the U.K. Top 20 and to No. 3 on Billboard's U.S. chart. He joined Roxy Music for their reunion album Manifesto in 1979, then sang and played keyboards for Squeeze on their iconic East Side Story album in 1981, which yielded the unforgettable "Tempted." Even while eking out a solo career post-Squeeze (enjoying U.S. hits with "Don't
Do The (Salsoul) Hustle: Big Break Celebrates Salsoul Records Legacy with Four Reissues
By 1975, Philadelphia soul had become too big even for the City of Brotherly Love. In the first half of the decade, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff had, along with the third member of their Mighty Three, Thom Bell, reinvented the sound of soul music. The Pennsylvania city had become synonymous with sweeping strings, punchy horns and the hi-hat cymbal of drummer Earl Young, offering up music that could be dramatic, sweet and funky, sometimes all within the same three-minute song! Bell had long
Review: Old 97's, "Too Far to Care: Expanded Edition"
Was it rock and roll? Was it country and western? By 1997, Rhett Miller and his Old 97’s were, well, Too Far to Care. As Miller recalls in his liner notes to Omnivore Recordings’ new 2-CD expanded edition of the band’s seminal third album (OVCD-45, 2012), his “little band from Texas…had only recently gotten folks to stop referring to their particular brand of music as ‘rockabilly.’” The Old 97’s were subject to a major label bidding war in which Elektra Records proved victorious, giving the
41 Years of Maximum R&B: UMe Plans Vinyl Box Set for The Who
We've seen a lot of new product for fans of The Who lately: Eagle Rock released the Live in Texas 1975 DVD, UMe is planning a standalone release of the Hull show from 1970 that appeared in the Live at Leeds box set a short time ago, guitarist Pete Townshend's memoir - and now, Universal announces a newly-remastered vinyl box set of The Who's studio albums. The simply-titled The Studio Albums features all 11 Who albums on 14 180-gram vinyl discs, from 1965's My Generation to 2006's Endless Wire.
Review: Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb, "In Session"
What drew together the son of a sharecropper from Delight, Arkansas and the minister’s boy from Eld City, Oklahoma? They were separated by a decade; one conservative, one liberal; one singer, one songwriter; one an establishment country star, the other a long-haired pop wunderkind – the paths of Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb first crossed when Campbell chose to record Webb’s “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” in 1967. The Oklahoma kid had written the song as a young staff songwriter at Motown’s
GRRR! And The Stones Keep On Rolling with Career-Spanning Box Set, All-New Songs [NOW WITH TRACK LISTING]
When the Rolling Stones kick a celebration into high gear, they're not kidding. Hot on the heels of various and sundry documentaries, DVDs, Blu-rays and luxury vinyl box sets, the world's greatest rock and roll band has just announced its first-ever compilation-styled career-spanning box set. GRRR! is a joint project of ABKCO and Universal Music Group, and it's slated to arrive on November 13 in the U.S. and one day earlier in all other territories. The new set is more comprehensive than the
Review: The Beach Boys Remasters, Part One: "50 Big Ones: Greatest Hits"
We’re continuing our series of in-depth features dedicated to America’s band, The Beach Boys, and the various projects that have kept the group occupied throughout 2012! Today, as the Boys launch a new series of album reissues and compilation titles, we explore Greatest Hits, 50 Big Ones and more! It was the headline heard the world (wide web) over: Mike Love Fires Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. Of course, it wasn’t true. No matter, though: suddenly, good, good, good vibrations were
Release Round-Up: Week of October 9
The Beach Boys, 2012 Remasters / Greatest Hits / Greatest Hits: Fifty Big Ones (Capitol/EMI) The summer gets a little more endless with a new compilation (in two formats) and remasters of nearly all of the band's '60s albums. (A full breakdown of those albums is here, and a full review is coming up from Joe today!) The Beatles, Magical Mystery Tour (Apple/EMI) The Fab Four's kooky film is making its Blu-Ray debut in standard and deluxe box formats. Deep Purple, Machine Head: 40th
Review: Steve Winwood, "Arc of a Diver: Deluxe Edition"
Steve Winwood turned 32 in 1980, a grand old man by rock and roll standards. He was already a veteran, having played with the Spencer Davis Group, Blind Faith and perhaps most notably, Traffic, but a 1977 solo debut failed to yield significant commercial gains. “I suppose I’ve always been a band leader, rather than a virtuoso like [Blind Faith bandmate] Eric Clapton,” Winwood once mused. So it might have come as a shock to many when the inner virtuoso emerged on New Year’s Eve, 1980, with the
Donald Fagen Gives "Cheap XMas" Gift with Career-Spanning Digital Compilation
In preparation for Steely Dan singer Donald Fagen's fourth solo album, Sunken Condos, Reprise is releasing a compact digital compilation pairing the new album with the rest of Fagen's solo discography. Cheap XMas: Donald Fagen Complete is a digital box set featuring five discs worth of Fagen albums and non-LP material. The Nightfly (1982), Kamakiriad (1993) and Morph the Cat (2006), Fagen's jazzy "Nightfly Trilogy," will be included with the set, as well as the disc of non-LP material that
Falling In Love Again: Kritzerland Revisits "The Blue Angel," "Ranchipur" and "The Seven Cities of Gold"
Though Hugo Friedhofer’s name isn’t among the most recognizable in the pantheon of film composers, Kritzerland is determined to change all that! The 1947 Academy Award winner for The Best Years of Our Lives has been fêted by the label over the past couple of years with impressive restorations and reissues of his scores to One-Eyed Jacks, The Adventures of Casanova, The Barbarian and the Geisha and Violent Saturday, while Intrada has also gotten into the act with Two Flags West. The versatile
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