Esoteric Recordings is rightly known for its deluxe editions and box sets, but the Cherry Red imprint delivers the same high level of quality with its more modest releases. Today, we’re looking at the single-disc expanded editions of a trio of diverse rock classics released in late 2019. Strawbs‘ ninth album, Deep Cuts, isn’t an album of rarities as the title might indicate. Instead, the 1976 album is, as lead vocalist David Cousins describes in the liner notes, “the best-sounding album Strawbs ever produced.” That was due, in no small part, to…
Don’t Think Twice: Ace Collects Rare Dylan Covers on “Take What You Need”
As one of the most influential songwriters of his generation – or any other – Bob Dylan’s music has long transcended borders, physical or otherwise. The Minnesota native’s music struck a chord in Britain, both on the concert stage (see: the famous “Judas!” concert) and on records, and his influence on British artists from The Beatles down can’t be underestimated. It’s no surprise that his songs were seized upon by British artists with a zeal equal to that of their American counterparts. Ace Records has recently collected 22 compositions by the former…
Tickle Me: Edsel Reissues The Alan Price Set’s Decca Recordings, Featuring Early Randy Newman Songs
Alan Price’s early accomplishments with The Animals would have been enough to ensure the keyboardist-composer-arranger’s place in the rock and roll pantheon, but happily, Price’s solo work has endured just as strongly over the years. Price publicly announced his departure from the group on May 5, 1965, and just a few months later in September, he introduced his new band, The Alan Price Set. Edsel has recently restored the early recordings of The Alan Price Set into print on a 3-CD collection, Twice the Price: The Decca Recordings. This collection brings together…
Review: Alan Price, “Savaloy Dip: Words and Music by Alan Price”
In a career spanning more than 50 years, Alan Price has just about done it all. The founding member of The Animals (and creator of the indelible organ parts on tracks like “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” and “House of the Rising Sun”) followed his tenure in that band by refining his craft as a top-flight singer-songwriter and broadening his artistic horizons by scoring films and stage musicals. So perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that one of the prolific Price’s projects fell through the cracks. That project was Savaloy Dip: Words…
Release Round-Up: Week of January 15
Welcome to our weekly Release Round-Up! Alan Price, Savaloy Dip (Omnivore Recordings) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Alan Price’s 1974 Warner Bros. album Savaloy Dip came and went in the blink of an eye (on a recalled eight-track!) before disappearing for what might have been forever…but Omnivore Recordings has come to the rescue with the first-ever reissue of this 11-song lost record from the Animals founder/keyboardist! Wes Montgomery, One Night in Indy (Resonance Records) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) This release presents for the very first…
The Animals’ Alan Price Leads Musical “Andy Capp” From Stage Door Records
When the musical Andy Capp premiered at London’s Aldwych Theatre (current home to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Stephen Ward) in September 1982, cartoonist Reg Smythe’s beloved character took his place alongside Little Orphan Annie, Snoopy and Li’l Abner as comic strip creations-turned-musical heroes. The frequently inebriated, cap-wearing, chronically unemployed ne’er-do-well made his debut in The Daily Mirror on August 5, 1957 and readers quickly became engrossed in the daily gags featuring Andy, his wife Florrie and their neighbors Chalkie and Rube. (The strip continues today in the same publication.) The stage adaptation was…
