A remarkable treasure trove of Matt Monro rarities has just been released by EMI Gold, a timely reminder of the artist’s life and career. He was sometimes known as the “Cockney Como” or the “English Sinatra,” but both descriptions fail to adequately capture the essence of the beloved singer’s unique and enduring style. Fortunately, Matt Uncovered: The Rarer Monro offers that singular sound in abundance as it traces the arc of his entire career, via almost entirely unheard material. Click here if
David Guetta's Star-Studded Latest to Be Expanded This Fall
Parisian artist/producer/remixer David Guetta stepped back into the spotlight with last year's Top 5 album Nothing But the Beat - a collaboration between Guetta and some of the biggest names in R&B, rap and dance - and next week will present a greatly expanded edition of the album. Nothing But the Beat 2.0 combines the floor-fillers of the original disc, including the hit singles "Without You" (a Top 5 smash with guest vocals from Usher), "Turn Me On" (featuring Nicki Minaj) and "Where Them
Ten Kind Favors: Massive B.B. King Box in Development at Universal (UPDATED WITH TRACK LIST)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Np5Nmxr-1Y] With over half a century in the business of playing the blues, Riley B. King - "B.B." to millions - is the total embodiment of a living legend. As we dive headfirst into box set season, it looks like King's getting a box set from Hip-O/UMe worthy of that legend - and fans can be a part of it. Ladies and Gentlemen...Mr. B.B. King, crafted in honor of the 50th anniversary of King's contract with ABC-Paramount, has all the hallmarks of a
He and Mrs. Jones: Billy Paul and Big Break Records Have a Thing Going On with "360 Degrees" Reissue
Philadelphia International Records turns 40 this year, and Big Break Records keeps adding more candles to the birthday cake! The label's latest release from the PIR catalogue is one of the mightiest albums ever produced by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff: 1972's 360 Degrees of Billy Paul, the long-player which introduced the world to the steamy soul epic "Me and Mrs. Jones." This expanded and remastered edition follows BBR's reissue earlier this year of Paul's more jazz-oriented Ebony Woman, from
The Heart of a Man: Matt Monro Anthologized On Deluxe 2-CD Set "Matt Uncovered: The Rarer Monro"
A remarkable treasure trove of Matt Monro rarities has just been released by EMI Gold, a timely reminder of the artist's life and career. He was sometimes known as the "Cockney Como" or the "English Sinatra," but both descriptions fail to adequately capture the essence of the beloved singer's unique and enduring style. Fortunately, Matt Uncovered: The Rarer Monro offers that singular sound in abundance as it traces the arc of his entire career, via almost entirely unheard material. We're
Lean On Him: Bill Withers' "Complete Sussex and Columbia Masters" Box Coming in October
Bill Withers announced himself to the world in 1971 in typically understated fashion. He stood beside a plain brick wall, holding a lunch pail on the front cover photograph of Just as I Am. It offered no indication as to the fiery music contained within its grooves, from the plain-spoken, gut-wrenching "Ain't No Sunshine" to the tender and moving "Grandma's Hands." Withers was clearly a singer/songwriter with whom to be reckoned. But did stardom suit Bill Withers? His follow-up album was
Soundtrack Round-Up: FSM "Heat"s Up, Intrada Uncovers More Disney, La-La Land is Super, Kritzerland Is Forever Young
You know it's a big week for soundtracks when multiple specialty labels announce projects in the same week; currently, we have six such titles on the horizon from four labels! First off, Film Score Monthly has prepped their third-to-last soundtrack set, and it's an oft-requested killer: an expanded edition of John Barry's score to Body Heat (1981). A neo-noir classic, Body Heat - the directorial debut of legendary screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan (The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost
Review: Art Garfunkel, "The Singer"
The first-ever 2-CD anthology of the collected works of Arthur Ira Garfunkel is titled The Singer (Columbia/Legacy 88725 45816 2, 2012). In a life and career that’s also seen Garfunkel as an actor, poet, author, athlete and student, “singer” seems the most apt appellation. Indeed, he is not just a singer, but The Singer, in longtime service to the art of the song. Garfunkel was an anomaly in the young world of 1960s rock, leaving the songwriting to his partner Paul Simon while still lending
Déjà Vu: Expanded Reissue of Dionne Warwick's 1979 "Dionne," Produced by Barry Manilow, Arrives on CD
Dionne Warwick recently announced a new album, produced by Phil Ramone. Entitled Now, the projected October release will reflect on a storied career that’s lasted 50 years. But Warwick was in a very different place then, meaning in 1979. The sophisticated soul singer was at a crossroads. Her unprecedented string of pop and R&B hits written and produced by Burt Bacharach and Hal David at Scepter Records were far in the rearview mirror. Bacharach and David had bitterly split after just
If It's Meant to Be: Barbra Streisand Announces "Release Me" Collection of Long-Lost Songs
Everybody knows "The Way We Were." But how about "The Way We Might-Have-Been?" The what-ifs are many in Barbra Streisand's career. The legendary vocalist, about to celebrate her fiftieth year with Columbia Records in 2013, has amassed a vault filled with unreleased outtakes from her decades of recording. These date as far back as 1962 when the young singer recorded an as-yet-unissued rendition of Harold Arlen and "Yip" Harburg's "Right as the Rain" for possible release on 45. (In fact,
Take the "A" Train to Complete Boxes From Ellington, Armstrong, Christian and Smith
The roaring twenties are back! Okay – or should that be OKeh? – in fairness, so are the thirties, forties, and fifties, thanks to four upcoming box sets spotlighting legendary jazz and blues stars. Legacy Recordings adds to its growing Complete Albums Collection library on October 30 with these new volumes: Louis Armstrong, The Complete OKeh, Columbia and RCA Victor Recordings 1925-1933 (OKeh/Columbia/RCA/Legacy) (10 CDs); Charlie Christian, The Genius of the Electric Guitar (Columbia/
The Spinners' Rare Motown Sides Can Be "Truly Yours" On New Compilation, Reviewed Here!
It’s a shame the way The Spinners’ Motown catalogue has been overlooked in the CD era, and quite frankly, for all time. The group exploded in popularity under the aegis of producer/arranger/composer Thom Bell at Atlantic Records in 1972, with their first three singles all hitting No. 1 R&B and Top 20 Pop (two went Top 10 Pop). But The Spinners had been making sweet music since 1954 and recording since at least 1961, and made Motown their home since the folding of Harvey Fuqua’s Tri-Phi
The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" Is Coming to Take You Away
The Magical Mystery Tour is coming to take you away on October 9 when The Beatles’ 1967 feature film arrives on DVD and Blu-ray in a completely restored new edition! Initially aired on BBC1 television in December, 1967, The Beatles starred in the film opposite a motley crew of performers including Ivor Cutler, Victor Spinetti, Jessie Robins, Nat Jackley, Derek Royle, and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. Both the DVD and Blu-ray will sport a fully remixed soundtrack (5.1 and stereo) as well as
Lipstick Traces (On a New CD): Benny Spellman's "Fortune Teller" Rounds Up New Orleans Singles
The name on the new CD is that of Benny Spellman, but Fortune Teller: A Singles Collection might as well have been co-credited to Allen Toussaint, the writer or co-writer of 24 of this new anthology’s 30 tracks. The recently released collection from Cherry Red’s Shout! label brings together singles from Spellman’s illustrious career dating between 1960 and 1967, accurately subtitled “New Orleans Hits and Northern Soul Gems,” and you might just find each song to truly be a gem. It’s hands-down
The Fabulous, and Complete, Johnny Cash! Legacy Announces "Columbia Album Collection"
He’s been everywhere man, he’s been everywhere. But now Johnny Cash is going somewhere he’s never been before: into Complete Albums territory. Though the Man in Black has been anthologized numerous times in the past (including on an indispensable set of Bear Family releases) nothing has approached the sheer magnitude of this new box set. The Complete Columbia Album Collection is a massive 63-CD, 59-album treasure trove collecting every one of Cash’s albums for the venerable label, released
And I Want You For All Time: Glen Campbell, Jimmy Webb Reunite For Vintage "Session"
What makes for the perfect marriage of songwriter and singer? The magic is nearly indefinable when composer and lyricist meet a voice to serve as a muse; when two or three people, each with an inimitable gift, find themselves on a perfect, sympathetic and transcendent wavelength to bring each other’s music to life. There have been many such marriages across all genes of music: Dionne Warwick with Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Frank Sinatra with Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen; Petula Clark
Tuesday Tidbits: Incubus Teams with Best Buy on Exclusive "HQ," Bert Jansch's "Heartbreak" Is Expanded, and Musicians Fight Epilepsy with "Joey's Song"
Today is the day for a 2-CD/1-DVD set of previously unissued live performances from the band Incubus. Celebrating their twentieth year together, Incubus is launching a 4-week, 18-city tour co-headlining with Linkin Park. The tour kicks off tonight in Boston, Massachusetts, but the performances on Incubus HQ Live date from one year ago, recorded in West Hollywood, California. That was when the band set up shop at a storefront on La Brea Avenue for seven special nights of performances. HQ Live
Golden Age Noir: Miklos Rózsa Score to "Strange Love" Premieres On CD
Had Miklós Rózsa only composed the Academy Award-winning score to 1959’s epic Ben-Hur, his place in the cinema pantheon would likely have been assured. But Ben-Hur was just one of three Rózsa scores to win Oscars in a career that spanned from 1937’s Knight Without Armour through 1982’s Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid. Rózsa, who also maintained a career as a composer of concert works, often employed a rich, sweeping orchestral style, and though he famously crafted “big” scores, he was also an
These Are the Voyages: Complete Box Set of "Star Trek" Television Music Planned
Until about a year before The Second Disc started, it seemed likelier to invent a warp drive than to get a decent reissue series of music from the Star Trek universe. All that changed in 2009, when Film Score Monthly released an remastered and expanded edition of James Horner's iconic soundtrack to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). Over the next three years, the floodgates opened. All six of Paramount's films featuring the original television cast (for those keeping track, that's Jerry
Smoke on the Water, Redux : Deep Purple's "Machine Head" Goes Super Deluxe in October for 40th Anniversary
So...the super deluxe box sets just keep on coming! The latest addition to the growing array of titles is a 40th anniversary of Deep Purple’s 1972 Machine Head album. EMI promises to explore every nook and cranny of this stone-cold hard rock classic, considered by many as a benchmark in the development of the metal genre. It remains the British band’s most successful album, having topped the charts in the U.K. and reached a Top 10 placing in the U.S., and introduced the hit single “Smoke on
Reissue Theory, In Memoriam: Various Artists, "The Essential Marvin Hamlisch"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we focus on notable albums and the reissues they may someday see. Today's installment looks back at the mighty career of the late Marvin Hamlisch and how his best songs might be compiled into a truly "Essential" release. On Tuesday morning, August 7, news broke that composer Marvin Hamlisch had unexpectedly died the day before, at the age of 68. The worlds of music, theatre and film were all shocked, as Hamlisch's latest musical, The
Review: Johnny Cash, "The Greatest" Series and "We Walk the Line: A Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash"
Saddle up! This week has brought a veritable Johnny Cash bonanza from Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings, and a trip to the Ponderosa isn’t even required! As the Cash 80th birthday train continues its ride, the late artist’s longtime home is celebrating his career with four newly-curated compilations on compact disc as well as an all-star tribute concert available in DVD/CD and Blu-ray editions. The new series The Greatest (the rare hyperbolic title that can stand up to scrutiny)
He'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony): RPM Reissues Famed Songwriter Roger Cook's "Study"
Even if you don't know the name of Roger Cook, chances are you do know his songs: "You've Got Your Troubles," "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing," "My Baby Loves Lovin'," "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress," just to name a few. But like so many of his contemporaries, the songwriter harbored aspirations of a solo career, too. This wasn't so far-fetched; as half of the duo David and Jonathan (with Roger Greenaway, co-writer of all those aforementioned songs), Cook was already a bona fide
Turn You "Inside Out": Omnivore to Premiere "Athens, GA" Soundtrack on CD
They called it "the Liverpool of the South," and for good reason. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Athens, GA became an overnight hotbed for some of the quirkiest rock and roll music in the country. The creation of local hangout The 40 Watt Club, a bustling scene of professionals who were as much fans as they were musicians and some huge would-be world conquerors and local heroes like The B-52's, Pylon, Love Tractor and R.E.M. all made the Athens scene a killer destination alongside the
In Memoriam: Marvin Hamlisch (1944-2012)
I only met Marvin Hamlisch once. It was late in September 2010, on the campus of Los Angeles' UCLA, where the esteemed composer had been working on a revised production of his 1979 musical They're Playing Our Song. He and I were both on our cell phones in the lobby a few minutes before the show was about to start. As if by serendipity, we hung up at the same time. As we both were headed back into the auditorium, I couldn't resist the opportunity to extend my hand to one of the men whose
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