50 years ago, two of American music’s greatest talents proved they were still venturing into new territories. Elvis Presley, some decade and a half after he first took the world by storm, was setting up shop in Nashville for a marathon session that saw him pulling from the new popular songbook and many songs written just for him. These sessions delivered several albums’ worth of material and are now presented chronologically in a new box set, complete with exciting new mixes on From Elvis In Nashville . The same year, Jimi Hendrix…
Holiday Gift Guide Stax Spotlight: The Staple Singers’ “Come Go with Me” and “The Gospel Truth: Complete Singles Collection”
UPDATED DECEMBER 2020: Earlier this year, Craft Recordings released The Staple Singers’ Come Go with Me: The Stax Collection in vinyl and digital editions. The set compiled all of the famed gospel group’s 1968-1974 albums for the Stax label plus a volume of rarities, non-LP single sides, and live recordings. Now, that box has come to CD as beautifully remastered from the original analog tapes by Jeff Powell at Take Out Vinyl. Come Go with Me: The Stax Collection features the following original studio albums which broadened the Staples’ sound from gospel…
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Holiday Gift Guide Review: Peter Tork, “Stranger Things Have Happened”
UPDATED DECEMBER 2020: 7a Records’ announcement earlier this year of a deluxe remastered and expanded edition of Peter Tork’s only solo album, 1994’s Stranger Things Have Happened, marked a major milestone for the label. Over the years, 7a has already delivered a treasure trove of releases from Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, and Michael Nesmith on CD and vinyl, but with the inclusion of the late Tork, its roster of artists finally seems complete. The path to Stranger Things Have Happened was a long one. Tork was, by and large, musically inactive during the…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Replacements, “Pleased to Meet Me: Deluxe Edition”
The Replacements’ Pleased to Meet Me marked the moment when Minneapolis met Memphis. For their second major label album, fifth overall, first without founding member Bob Stinson, and lone offering as a trio, the ‘Mats called upon Jim Dickinson. The producer and Memphis mainstay entered the picture after abortive demo sessions in the band’s hometown during which time Bob had been dismissed from the band, leaving Paul Westerberg to pick up the lead guitar duties, Tommy Stinson on bass, and Chris Mars on drums. Dickinson had played piano for the Stones, produced…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Tears for Fears, ‘The Seeds of Love: Deluxe Edition’
Think back to your days listening to pop music in the ’80s – say, for the sake of argument, 1985. Thriller‘s wrapped up its run of seven hit singles. Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. is in the middle of its own seven-hit stretch. Purple Rain made Prince a juggernaut – and Tears for Fears, the British duo behind the moody, electronic The Hurting (1983) have broken into the mainstream with the progressive psych-pop of 1985’s Songs from the Big Chair, including back-to-back chart-toppers “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and “Shout.”…
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Holiday Gift Guide Review: U2. “All That You Can’t Leave Behind: 20th Anniversary Edition”
Prepare to elevate your soul with this 20th anniversary box set edition of U2’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind. Twenty years into their career, U2 rang in the new millennium with a career-redefining recording that saw them return to the upper echelons of the Billboard charts, with Grammy nominations and worldwide hits to boot. With enduring instant classics like “Beautiful Day,” “Walk On,” “Elevation,” and “Stuck in a Moment That You Can’t Get Out Of,” it’s no wonder the album remains a favorite. It bridges the gap between the experimental strains that…
Holiday Gift Guide Spotlight: Cherry Red Box Set Bonanza – Rhinoceros, Jerry Jeff Walker, Fumble
Welcome to the third part of our Holiday Gift Guide Spotlight – Cherry Red Box Set Bonanza! Click here for Part One, featuring Evelyn “Champagne” King, and here for Part Two featuring Graham Bonnet! When one thinks of bands assembled by audition, The Monkees usually spring to mind. Davy, Micky, Peter, and Michael had been assembled by Screen Gems for the purposes of starring in a new television sitcom, and by sheer force of will became a “real” band making some of the era’s most intoxicating music. But The Monkees were far…
Holiday Gift Guide Spotlight: Cherry Red Box Set Bonanza – Graham Bonnet’s “Solo Albums 1974-1992”
Perhaps no label this holiday season has offered such a bonanza of box sets as Cherry Red. Yesterday, we looked at Evelyn “Champagne” King’s The RCA Albums 1977-1985. Today, we’re turning the spotlight onto Graham Bonnet’s Solo Albums 1974-1982! Cherry Red’s Hear No Evil (HNE) imprint has long been a home for archival releases from singer Graham Bonnet of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, Alcatrazz, and The Michael Schenker Group. Now, HNE has brought together Bonnet’s first four solo albums, the “lost” 1974 set intended to be his debut but ultimately unheard until 2016,…
Holiday Gift Guide Spotlight: Cherry Red Box Set Bonanza – Evelyn “Champagne” King, “The RCA Albums 1977-1985”
Perhaps no label this holiday season has offered such a bonanza of box sets as Cherry Red. Today we kick off a three-part feature on five of these sets (any of which just might make the perfect stocking stuffer!) with a Holiday Gift Guide spotlight on Evelyn “Champagne” King’s The RCA Albums 1977-1985. Bronx-born, Philadelphia-raised vocalist Evelyn “Champagne” King came from a showbiz family including her uncle Avon Long – perhaps best known as Sportin’ Life in multiple productions of Porgy and Bess – who had made his Broadway debut in 1936…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Kiki Dee, “The Fontana and Motown Years”
UPDATED DECEMBER 2020: Kiki Dee rocketed to worldwide stardom (no pun intended) on Elton John’s Rocket Records in 1976, imploring “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” to John on the chart-topping duet. She had been recording for Rocket since 1973, scoring such U.K. hits as “Amoreuse” and “I’ve Got the Music in Me,” the latter of which also went to the top 20 of the U.S. Hot 100, as well. Anyone familiar with Dee’s Rocket recordings knows her to be a singer of both power and sensitivity, and last year, Edsel collected that…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Doors, “Morrison Hotel: 50th Anniversary Edition”
For The Doors, 1970 should have been a new beginning. Upon the February 1 release of the band’s fifth album, Morrison Hotel, Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and John Densmore were still recovering from the events of the prior year. On March 1, 1969, Morrison famously (or infamously?) exposed himself onstage in Coconut Grove, Florida. The Lizard King’s “indecent exposure” led to the cancellation of over two dozen concerts and some radio stations’ refusal to play The Doors’ music. But the July release of The Soft Parade yielded the hit single…
Holiday Gift Guide Reviews: Cat Stevens, “Mona Bone Jakon” and “Tea for the Tillerman” 50th Anniversary Editions
1970 was a defining year for pop music, and few stars ascended to quite the same heights as Cat Stevens, whose Mona Bone Jakon and Tea For the Tillerman re-introduced the songwriter and singer to audiences. Gone are the production excesses of his late-’60s pop recordings. Here, Stevens’ songs are stripped-down as he looks inward and embraces a soulful sound. Fifty years on, these two albums have been revisited by Yusuf through his aptly titled Cat-O-Log Records imprint, in coordination with UMe. Joe offers his thoughts on Mona Bone Jakon, followed by Sam’s commentary…
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Holiday Gift Guide Review: Buck Owens and His Buckaroos, “A Merry ‘Hee Haw’ Christmas”
Omnivore has served up one of the year’s most festive treats with the first-ever CD reissue of A Merry “Hee Haw” Christmas from Buck Owens and The Buckaroos. The 1970 Capitol release collected both of Buck and his band’s Christmas albums – 1965’s Christmas with Buck Owens and His Buckaroos and its 1968 follow-up, Christmas Shopping – as a double-album tie-in with Owens’ starring role on television’s Hee Haw. The country-themed variety show was midway through its 1969-1971 run on CBS-TV; it would then move to syndication for a remarkable run through…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Donna Summer, “The Wanderer: 40th Anniversary”
A new beginning – Donna Summer was certainly ready for one when she signed as the first artist on David Geffen’s upstart record label in 1980. She had clashed and litigated with her longtime home of Casablanca Records over her artistic direction, and on a personal level had become a born-again Christian. Her first album for Geffen would build on her success at Casablanca but confidently introduce a new Donna Summer, as well. The Wanderer, her eighth studio album, became a top 20 success in the U.S. and yielded a top five…
THE SECOND DISC’S 2015 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE IS HERE!
We wouldn’t want you to be left out in the cold for Cyber Monday, so we’re proud to present our annual Holiday Gift Guide featuring nearly 75 essential selections for the music enthusiast in your life! We’ve filled the guide with box sets (such as the popular Bob Dylan title to your left!), archival releases and holiday music favorites. So Just click here to access this year’s picks! You’ll notice that the Gift Guide is in the same easy-to-use format as our Release Calendar, so you can search for a title by a favorite…
