Today we're looking at a pair of recent releases from Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint featuring some heavy sounds! With a résumé including Cream, Blind Faith, Blues Incorporated, The Graham Bond Organisation, and Fela Kuti's group, Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker has long been recognized as one of rock's greatest - and most volatile - drummers. With a personality as outsize as his talent, Baker brought a powerful touch to all of his projects and various bands. Between 1974 and 1976,
February promises to be a packed month for music fans, as Esoteric brings listeners a new, expanded reissue of Renaissance's 1973 classic, Ashes Are Burning, as well as a reissue of The Byrds, the reunion album by the legendary folk-rock group. Also on the way are reissues of Tear Gas's self-titled album, an expanded edition of Greenslade's Time and Tide, and a new 3-CD set called Revolution: Underground Sounds of 1968. Meanwhile, Esoteric's Reactive imprint will issue a 4-CD set
Featuring both classics and unearthed rarities, the set explores the wild year in which psychedelia, jazz, blues, folk, world music, and hard rock all collided to form groundbreaking and genre-pushing new music. The new compilation includes a number of legendary UK groups, including Deep Purple, Jethro Tull, Genesis, and Pentangle. Also present are Procol Harum, Caravan, Jeff Beck, Spooky Tooth, Traffic, The Move, Julie Driscoll with Brian Auger and The Trinity, The Crazy World of Arthur
A poem written for children in 1802 would not have been the most obvious subject for Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover for tackle, but that's precisely what he did in 1974 with The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast. Glover wrote, produced, and played on the pop/rock opera concept album which yielded the hit "Love Is All," sung by Ronnie James Dio. Now, that original album has been expanded to 3 CDs for a new box set from Cherry Red's newly-reactivated Purple Records imprint. In
Since September 25, 1979, there hasn't been a day when an Andrew Lloyd Webber melody hasn't been heard on Broadway. That was the opening night of Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Evita. Before it ended its run in June 1983, Lloyd Webber's musical Cats had opened, launching a record-breaking run through September 2000. But on January 26, 1988, the show opened which would eclipse them all: Phantom of the Opera. It today celebrates 30 years (marked with a special gala earlier this week) and is
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Doors, The Singles (Elektra/Rhino) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. 2CD/1BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. Vinyl box set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. Singles compiles all 20 of the singles from The Doors' official discography. This not only includes every A and B-side from their core studio albums, but several albums recorded and released after the passing of frontman Jim Morrison, including
Cherry Red is bringing out the Hard Stuff. The label has just issued Hard Stuff: The Complete Purple Records Anthology for the British hard rockers, bringing together their only two albums and assorted bonus tracks to tell the story of the band's time on Deep Purple's own record label. The seeds of Hard Stuff were planted by guitarist John DuCann and drummer Paul Hammond when both departed Atomic Rooster over the ever-popular "creative differences." The duo attempted to keep the Atomic
Deep Purple have just kicked off their latest tour in Las Vegas, co-headlining with Alice Cooper. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees and part of the "Holy Trinity of British Hard-Rock" (with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath) are nearing their 50th anniversary and Rhino Records has announced a new anthology, available in several configurations to celebrate the band's legacy. A Fire in the Sky will be available in single and 3-CD editions on September 8, with a 3-LP edition following on
"Jon Lord and Whitesnake fans must occasionally want to be introspective," reckoned Deep Purple and Whitesnake founding member Jon Lord, "and I'd rather they did so with my music than Barry Manilow's." Lord was explaining the impetus for his third solo album, 1982's Before I Forget. Cherry Red and Purple Records have recently reissued the composer-producer-keyboardist's Before I Forget on CD in an expanded edition bringing together bonus tracks included on the 1999 and 2012 editions. For
"We played it hot, hard and heavy at the Carolina County ball/And we sang 'Ooooo'/On a boogie-woogie Friday night..." Ronnie James Dio's early band Elf played it hot, hard and (pretty) heavy throughout its relatively short lifespan. Elf released three studio albums between 1972 and 1975 before going to superstardom with Rainbow (the core of which was actually built from Elf), Black Sabbath, and Dio. Last year, Cherry Red released a reissue of 1972's debut Elf; now, the label has turned its
What do Deep Purple, The Move, Hawkwind, Fleetwood Mac and The Yardbirds all have in common? Though each of those five bands carved out distinct musical identities, all incorporated elements of psychedelia in their early hard-rock explorations. A new 3-CD box set from Cherry Red's Grapefruit imprint offers an in-depth chronicle of the music that planted the seeds of progressive rock and metal. I'm a Freak, Baby is, as per its subtitle, A Journey Through the British Heavy Psych and Hard Rock
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Ronnie Spector, English Heart (Savoy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The one and only Ronnie Spector returns with an all-new studio album saluting her British Invasion friends. Expect Ronnie-ized renditions of the Jagger/Richards-written "I'd Much Rather Be with the Boys" (as "I'd Much Rather Be with the Girls") as well as "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying," "Tell Her No," "Girl Don't Come" and more! Amazon has an exclusive
Musical renaissance man Les Reed is responsible for some of the most beloved pop tunes of all time – “It’s Not Unusual,” “There’s a Kind of Hush,” and “The Last Waltz” among them. His songs have been recorded by Tom Jones, Elvis Presley, Shirley Bassey, Petula Clark and Bing Crosby. Less well known is that Reed also founded a record label. His Chapter One Records was formed in 1968 and lasted until 1973, releasing music by a diverse collection of artists including Episode Six (a proving
There’s rarely a lull in activity for the catalogue of Deep Purple, one of the most enduring bands to emerge from the British hard and progressive rock scenes of the late 1960s. Cherry Red’s Hear No Evil Records imprint has recently continued its reissue series for Deep Purple’s 1990s catalogue with an expanded edition of 1996’s Purpendicular [sic], chronologically following Slaves and Masters (1990) and The Battle Rages On… (1993). Hear No Evil’s raison d'être for this reissue is simple.