The legacy of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland is filled with some of the most popular songs ever written: “Stop! In the Name of Love,” “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You),” “Baby, I Need Your Loving,” “You Can’t Hurry Love,” “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” among them. All of those songs, and so many other indelible hit records, were written under the aegis of Hitsville, USA, a.k.a. Berry Gordy’s Motown empire. But by 1967, the relationship between the label chief and his star
The Salsoul Orchestra Goes "High," "Up the Yellow Brick Road"
Big Break Records' non-chronological series of remastered and expanded reissues for The Salsoul Orchestra has already taken listeners from 1975's eponymous debut to 1982's farewell release Heat It Up. With the recent releases of 1978's Up the Yellow Brick Road and 1979's How High, the label has filled in the gaps of its lavishly produced program of the Orchestra's classic non-holiday studio albums. (No fear, however - there are other collaborative albums and even a collection credited to The
Release Round-Up: Week of May 13
Michael Jackson, Xscape (Epic) Where was this three years ago? This collection of eight outtakes, augmented with tasteful future-retro production by Timbaland, Stargate, L.A. Reid and others, is possibly the best project to escape the MJ vaults yet. For the discerning fan, Epic's done you a solid, offering a deluxe package with the same songs in their untouched demo form. It's really something. Standard CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Deluxe CD/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. LP: Amazon U.S. /
Box Set Watch: Edsel Collects The Sound, Suede, The (English) Beat
Demon Music Group’s Edsel Records has a packed release slate this week from a number of artists returning to the label’s roster. From Britpop heroes Suede (a.k.a. The London Suede), the label has Royal Albert Hall, 24 March 2010, a 2-CD/1-DVD set preserving the band’s reunion concert (with Brett Anderson, Neil Codling, Simon Gilbert, Richard Oakes and Mat Osman) benefiting Teenage Cancer Trust; and Sci-Fi Lullabies, a reissue of the original 2-CD anthology of the group’s B-sides released
Review: Rod Stewart, "Live 1976-1998: Tonight's the Night"
After more than a decade mining the Great American Songbook, seventies rock, vintage soul and Christmas carols, Rod Stewart returned to original rock material with the 2013 release of Time. And while much of the titular subject had indeed passed since his last album of new songs, Stewart’s distinctive voice and joie de vivre were happily intact. The spirit that has kept Stewart a superstar is fully on display in the new 4-CD box set Tonight’s the Night – Live 1976-1998. Over its four discs and
Eat, Drink and Be Merry: Dave Matthews Band's Debut Makes Vinyl Premiere
For many, it’s just not summer without a Dave Matthews Band tour, and on May 16, the favorite sons of Charlottesville, Virginia will kick off their latest U.S. trek on which fans can expect to hear band favorites in freshly improvised style. While the tour will likely feature contemporary and vintage material, the group will revisit where it all began on June 17 with the Bama Rags/RCA/Legacy Recordings expanded reissue of Remember Two Things. The 1993 album, primarily consisting of music
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
Ain't That The Shames! Now Sounds Reissues, Expands The Cryan' Shames' Psych-Pop LP "A Scratch In The Sky"
Put “California Girls” in a blender with “Cherish” and you might well wind up with something like “A Carol for Lorelei,” the bright, harmony-drenched pop nugget that opens The Cryan’ Shames’ sophomore album, 1968’s A Scratch in the Sky. Though the Chicago band recorded the LP in New York City, the good vibrations of the Summer of Love were clearly in the air back east for the Columbia Records artists. Whereas the band’s debut album Sugar and Spice was a blast of energetic rock and roll by way of
Folk Heroes: Omnivore Celebrates Hank Williams and Dave Van Ronk
This month, Omnivore Recordings turns its attention to two singer-songwriters who could be said to embody the spirit of American music, Hank Williams and Dave Van Ronk. Though he died just aged 29 in 1953, Hank Williams remains a towering figure in country-and-western music. The likes of "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Cold, Cold Heart," "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" and "Hey Good Lookin'" have been recorded countless times in country, pop, R&B and rock renditions by
From Brazil to Ireland, Él Releases Grab-Bag of Jazz, Vocals, Soundtracks and Bossa Nova
Fans of vintage jazz can thank Cherry Red's él label for a number of recent reissues from such artists as Cal Tjader, Dave Lambert and Jon Hendricks, Herbie Mann and Antonio Carlos Jobim. In a Latin Bag and Saturday Night/Sunday Night at the Blackhawk combines two albums on one CD from Latin jazz pioneer Cal Tjader. The vibraphonist/percussionist recorded these long out-of-print albums in 1961 and 1962, respectively, at Verve under the aegis of future CTI chief Creed Taylor. By the time he
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
Do It Again: JSP's "The Garland Variations" Box Set Collects Multiple Recordings of Judy Garland Songs
Like so many of the great vocalists of her day, Judy Garland frequently revisited repertoire over the years. An arrangement might vary, in great or small ways, and so, of course, would the interpretation. Garland’s unparalleled interpretive gifts, apt for wringing as much authentic emotion out of a song as possible, are front and center on the latest box set of the late artist’s recordings from JSP Records. The Garland Variations – Songs She Recorded More Than Once is a new 5-CD collection, set
BBR Embarks On An Odyssey With "Native New Yorker" Group and The Hues Corporation
Cherry Red’s Big Break Records imprint has rocked the boat with a batch of recent reissues from the RCA vaults – one seminal title from The Hues Corporation and a trio from “Native New Yorker” group Odyssey. When “Rock the Boat” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1974, it wasn’t exactly new. It had first appeared almost a year earlier on the August 1973 release of Freedom for the Stallion, The Hues Corporation’s debut album for RCA. “One lovely lady” and “two bright young men” is
The (Motown) Music That Makes Me Dance: The Supremes' "Funny Girl" Gets Expansion
I'm the greatest star/I am by far! But no one knows it... - Fanny Brice, Funny Girl Back in 2012, while reviewing Hip-o Select's splendidly expanded edition of The Supremes at the Copa, I wrote of the "altogether enjoyable [and] still inexplicably not on CD" album The Supremes Sing and Perform Funny Girl. Indeed, that 1968 LP, featuring Motown's greatest stars tackling the showstoppers from Jule Styne and Bob Merrill's score, has long been one of the rarest and most-requested titles in the
Hold On to Your Friends: Morrissey's "Vauxhall and I" to Be Expanded
On June 3, Morrissey is picking up where he left off. Parlophone Records will follow the February CD/DVD reissue of 1992’s Your Arsenal with the next album in his considerable catalogue, 1994’s Vauxhall and I. Like Your Arsenal, the remastered CD of Vauxhall will be packaged with a previously unreleased live concert performance, this time also on CD. Vauxhall and I was a very different animal than its predecessor. Since the release of Arsenal, the artist had suffered the loss of that album’s
Isn't That The Look of Love: Ace Reissues and Expands Lesley Gore's "Girl Talk"
The inviting cover image of Lesley Gore’s 1964 LP features the teenage star on the telephone, poised for some Girl Talk with her best girlfriends. Ace Records, following its expanded version of Gore’s shelved album Magic Colors, has recently reissued Girl Talk in similarly lavish fashion, with thirteen bonus tracks (Ace CDCHD 1383). Ace’s disc spotlights one of the great, largely unheralded “triangle marriages” in pop music – artist Lesley Gore, producer Quincy Jones and arranger Claus
"Porky's" Is Back! "Revenge" Soundtrack Features George Harrison, Dave Edmunds, Robert Plant, More
“Keep an eye out for the funniest movie about growing up ever made,” read the poster to 1982’s raunchy comedy Porky’s. It depicted the eye of a Peeping Tom, looking onto a woman showering. “You’ll be glad you came!” Despite – or more likely, because of – its puerile humor, the modestly-budgeted teen sex comedy Porky’s became a runaway hit and spawned two theatrical sequels by 1985. The third Porky’s film, Porky’s Revenge, was the least successful, grossing just $20 million compared to the first
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
The Second Disc's Record Store Day 2014 Must-Haves
If you've been following these pages for the past few weeks, you've likely noticed an awful lot of coverage about Record Store Day! Well, the day is nearly here! Tomorrow, Saturday, April 21, music fans and collectors will flock to their local independent record stores to celebrate both the sounds on those round black platters and the very concept of shopping in a physical retail environment. To many of us, both are a way of life. We're doubly excited this year because one special title was
Review: The Everly Brothers, "Songs Our Daddy Taught Us" Expanded Edition
When Phil Everly passed away earlier this year, his legacy was celebrated by both those who knew him and those who were influenced by him. Chanteuse Norah Jones commented, “The high harmonies Phil sang were so fluid and beautiful and always sound effortless in a way that just washes over the listener.” Jones’ partner on the tribute album Foreverly, Billie Joe Armstrong, wrote, “Those harmonies will live on forever.” Iggy Pop observed, “The Everlys were the real deal when it comes to American
Kritzerland Premieres Rare Scores From Paul Glass and Robert Farnon on New 2-CD Set
The composers represented on Kritzerland’s most recent release might not be the most widely recognized, but the label’s deluxe 2-CD set from Paul Glass and Robert Farnon should surely earn them quite a few more fans. Overlord / Disappearance / Hustle brings together two scores from Glass (b. 1934) and one from Farnon (1917-2005) on two CDs – for the price of one. Glass, also a prolific composer of “serious” music including pieces for orchestras and chamber groups, was versatile enough to tailor
It's 5:15 Again: The Who Revisit "Quadrophenia" In New Live Box, Release 5.1 Surround of Original Album
For fans of The Who, Christmas is coming early this year. The band has taken, in recent years, to marking the holidays with super-sized box sets dedicated to such classic albums as Live at Leeds, Tommy and Quadrophenia. The latter, Pete Townshend’s 1973 mod rock opera, was celebrated in 2011 via a multitude of releases including a 4-CD/1-DVD box set with the original album, two discs of demos, and a DVD of selected songs in surround sound. This June, Townshend and Roger Daltrey will follow up
Hey Hey! They're Boyce and Hart - And You Can Help Complete Their Documentary!
For a few years in the halcyon days of the sixties, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart were on top of the world. Singers, songwriters and producers, Boyce and Hart - individually or collectively - were behind some of the most enduring hits of that era or any other: "Last Train to Clarksville," "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone," "Come a Little Bit Closer," "Hurt So Bad," "I Wanna Be Free," "Valleri," "Pretty Little Angel Eyes," and of course, the immortal "Theme from The Monkees." As if turning out hits
Big Break's Big Round-Up: Label "Phreeks" Out with Patti LaBelle, Isaac Hayes, Gwen McCrae, More
One of the busiest labels on the reissue front is undoubtedly Cherry Red Group’s Big Break Records imprint. We’ve just turned the spotlight on BBR’s releases from Donna Summer and John Barry, and Leon Haywood and Carl Carlton, and The Salsoul Orchestra and Loleatta Holloway. Coming up, we have reviews and features planned on titles from The Hues Corporation, Odyssey, and more. But today, we’re taking a look at another handful of the busy BBR label’s most recent offerings – from top-tier
"Weird Scenes Inside" Rhino's Record Store Day Slate
With April 19's Record Store Day a little more than a week away, it might be time to start making those checklists! We've already filled you in on exciting releases from Legacy Recordings, Real Gone Music, Sundazed, Omnivore Recordings, Varese Sarabande and many others, but today it's all about Rhino! The Warner Music Group catalogue arm has a bumper crop of more than 25 exclusive offerings from some of the biggest names classic rock, vintage R&B and beyond - including The Doors, Grateful
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