Next Saturday, April 12, is certainly one of the most packed Record Store Days in recent memory. Since the list was announced, we drilled down on titles from Craft Recordings, Legacy Recordings, Rhino Records, Universal Music Group, Real Gone Music, Omnivore Recordings, BMG, Cooking Vinyl and Demon Music Group, as well as some notable titles that were getting later general releases on CD. Well, if you thought that was it, you're wrong! We pored and pored over the list and are here to share
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there's plenty of great new/old music to usher you into the weekend. Our latest round-up may be on April Fool's Day, but it's no joke: remixes by Madonna, rarities by Burt Bacharach and Peggy Lee, a White Stripes live set and the first major Barry White production are all here. Happy streaming! Madonna, Nothing Really Matters (Remixes) (Warner/Rhino) (iTunes /
In its 1960s heyday, Atlantic Records was the destination for deeply-felt soul. Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Solomon Burke, and Wilson Pickett were just a handful of the artists there who defined the sound of soul music. Lesser-known but no less significant were The Sweet Inspirations. Today, the vocal quartet might be best-remembered as Elvis Presley's preferred onstage backup group, but The King was just one of a staggering number of artists they supported - including the
When Cissy Houston was signed to Private Stock Records in 1977 to record the first of two albums just reissued by the Cherry Pop label, her C.V. spoke for itself. Music practically ran in the veins of the vocalist born Emily Drinkard in Newark, New Jersey, 1933. Cissy first made her mark as a member of The Drinkard Singers, the group said to have recorded the very first major-label gospel album (1959's A Joyful Noise, on RCA Victor). Among Cissy's fellow Drinkard Singers was her sister Lee
If there's such a thing as a First Family of Soul, it might as well be the combined Houston/Warwick clan. Born in Newark, New Jersey in 1933, Emily "Cissy" Drinkard sang gospel with her family as part of The Drinkard Singers, which counted Cissy's sister Lee Warrick among its members. Marie Dionne Warrick was born in 1940 to Lee and her husband Mancel; Delia Mae "Dee Dee" Warrick followed in 1942. Though The Drinkard Singers remain an important part of the history of gospel music, said to