Late in 1970, Joni Mitchell took a moment while performing at London's Royal Festival Hall to announce an early retirement from the stage. She relocated to British Columbia, built a modest stone cabin in the somewhat remote area, and let inspiration guide her rather than the machinations of a manager or record executive. While in this self-imposed creative exile, Mitchell began crafting the album that became 1972's For the Roses. It would reach listeners more than a year after the June 1971
"The sound of this thing was like, 'We're breaking some new ground here.'" Earlier this year, musician-arranger-bandleader Tom Scott of the L.A. Express reminisced to the U.K.'s MOJO magazine about working with Joni Mitchell on her 1972 album For the Roses. Indeed, Scott realized early on that the merging of folk and jazz sensibilities was about to take the singer-songwriter's music to the next level. Mitchell's creatively groundbreaking 1972-1975 albums - For the Roses, Court and Spark (1974),
Last evening in Washington, DC, Joni Mitchell joined the 44th class of Kennedy Center Honorees alongside Bette Midler, Berry Gordy, Lorne Michaels, and Justino Diaz. The singer-songwriter who has blurred the lines of folk, pop, rock, and jazz was celebrated by friends and admirers including Brandi Carlile, Herbie Hancock, Ellie Goulding, Norah Jones, Brittany Howard, Dan Levy, and Cameron Crowe. President Joe Biden, also in attendance, had earlier summed up the thoughts of many when he
Blossom, smile some sunshine down my way/Lately, I've been lonesome/Blossom, it's been much too long a day/Seems my dreams have frozen/Melt my cares away... - James Taylor, "Blossom" With the Summer of Love over, social and political tensions at a boil, and the specter of the Vietnam War still hovering, the tail end of the 1960s was filled with upheaval. Carole King recognized the national trauma and responded in the only way she knew how: by turning inward and sharing her emotions in
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Rolling Stones, Tattoo You: 40th Anniversary Edition (Polydor/Interscope/UMe) 4CD + Tattoo You Picture Disc Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1CD (Album Remaster): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD (Album Remaster and Lost & Found): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 5LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1LP (Album Remaster): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP (Album Remaster
It's that time of year again! Record Store Day has released the full list of titles for its annual RSD Black Friday event, happening this year on Friday, November 26 and unofficially kicking off the holiday shopping season. Legacy Recordings' slate draws on some of the most beloved artists on the label's roster, representing genres including pop, folk, rock, metal, jazz and R&B. Below, we've reprinted the descriptions supplied by the label. All titles are due in your local
Joni Mitchell fiercely announced her independence with "I Had a King," the haunting soliloquy which opens her 1968 debut album, Song to a Seagull. "I can't go back there anymore," she proclaimed. "You know my keys won't fit the door/You know my thoughts don't fit the man. They never can...they never can..." The song is bold, wise, and flecked with a graceful equanimity as the singer declares her freedom both from a husband who "lives in another time" and the societal constraints of the day.
Fifty years ago tomorrow -June 22, 1971 - Joni Mitchell released Blue. The singer-songwriter's fourth studio album, Blue was raw, intense, emotional, beautiful, moving, and hugely influential. In short, it was the kind of album that only comes along once a generation - if that. Mitchell recently discussed its legacy with filmmaker-journalist Cameron Crowe for The Los Angeles Times. She observed, "The most feedback that I got was that I had gone too far and was exposing too much of myself. I
This Friday, Craft Recordings will release the vinyl debut of Joni Mitchell's most recent studio album, Shine. With excellent music that carries even more weight in 2020, RTI-pressed 180-gram vinyl, and beautiful packaging, this LP is one for Joni's many fans to treasure. Mitchell's artistry proved prescient on Shine, originally released in 2007 on the Hear Music label. Thematically, Shine is not far removed from Dog Eat Dog, her searing critique of Reagan-era policies and corporate greed.
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Donna Summer, Encore (Crimson Productions) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The ultimate Donna Summer box set, Encore bring together the late superstar's complete albums on 33 CDs, including 8 discs of 7″ and 12″ mixes, single edits, non-album cuts, and other rarities. It totals a staggering 329 tracks, truly the most comprehensive tribute to Summer ever collected. Christian John Wikane provides the new liner notes. The set is
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Allman Brothers Band, Trouble No More: 50th Anniversary Collection (Mercury/UMe) 5CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 10LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada UMe is marking The Allman Brothers Band's 50th anniversary with a new 5-CD or 10-LP box set boasting 61 newly remastered tracks including classics, rarities, and seven previously unreleased tracks. Trouble No More is bookended with the band's never-before-heard
Over six years at Warner Bros. Records, James Taylor laid the groundwork for a career that is now in its sixth decade. The Massachusetts native's records were key exponents of the early Laurel Canyon sound, not to mention the entire confessional "singer-songwriter" movement that today is synonymous with the 1970s. The six albums he released at Warner Bros. were collected over the summer in one essential CD or vinyl LP box set, The Warner Bros. Albums 1970-1976, that's perfect for the impending
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! James Taylor, The Warner Bros. Albums 1970-1976 (Warner/Rhino) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Rhino has a newly remastered box, supervised by Peter Asher, of James Taylor's six studio albums for the label including Sweet Baby James (1970), Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon (1971), One Man Dog (1972), Walking Man (1974), Gorilla (1975); and In the Pocket (1976). Available on CD,
The One Man Band tour took James Taylor on the road for three years of unusually intimate performances, even by the standards of the guitar-wielding troubadour. In 2007, the tour culminated in a series of shows at Pittsfield, Massachusetts' small, 775-seat Colonial Theatre, a true homecoming for the famous Massachusetts native. Joined only by keyboardist Larry Goldings, Taylor treated audiences to a tour through his songbook that amounted to a master class in musical storytelling. The live
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up - a packed one, for sure! Bob Dylan, The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings (Columbia/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Just in advance of the June 12 debut of director Martin Scorsese's documentary Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, Columbia and Legacy unveil a new 14-CD box set that promises to be the ultimate chronicle of the initial leg of Dylan's legendary Rolling Thunder Revue from
Rhino is about to shower the people with the first-ever box set from James Taylor. Between 1970 and 1976, the quintessential troubadour released six albums on Warner Bros. Records that laid the groundwork for his remarkable career which continues to this day. At Warner Bros., Taylor introduced signature songs like "Fire and Rain," "Sweet Baby James," "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight," "Mexico," and "You Can Close Your Eyes," as well as classic interpretations of "You've Got a Friend" (his first
For more than 50 years, the voice of James Taylor has been that of an old friend, offering warmth, comfort, and reassurance in song. While the singer-songwriter hasn't released a new album in four years, he's been a welcome presence on the road. Now, the recording of one of his most beloved tours is coming to vinyl for the first time from Craft Recordings. On June 7, the label will bring Taylor's 2007 One Man Band to a 2-LP set. Housed in a gatefold jacket, it's been mastered by Ryan Smith
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up. Here's what's due for March 29! John Coltrane, Coltrane '58: The Prestige Recordings [5 CD] (Craft Recordings) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The year 1958 was a breakout one for saxophone legend John Coltrane. It marked the year when Coltrane--already well-established as a talented sideman--began to make a name for himself as a solo musician and developed his signature "sheets of sound" style while exploring many other routes. To
Few musicians have had as lasting an impact on music as Joni Mitchell. In her four-decade career, she made groundbreaking music that traversed genres and continually stunned fans and critics alike. The music icon celebrated her 75th birthday in style last November, as Jörn Weisbrodt and The Music Center in Los Angeles hosted a pair of star-studded Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration concerts in her honor. The line-up (which Joni helped select) featured many of her closest friends and dearest
Few musicians have had as lasting an impact on music as Joni Mitchell. In her four-decade career, she made groundbreaking music that traversed genres and continually stunned fans and critics alike. The music icon celebrated her 75th birthday in style last November, as Jörn Weisbrodt and The Music Center in Los Angeles hosted a pair of star-studded Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration concerts in her honor. The line-up (which Joni helped select) featured many of her closest friends and dearest
Few musicians have had as lasting an impact on music as Joni Mitchell. In her four-decade career, she made groundbreaking music that traversed genres and continually stunned fans and critics alike. The music icon celebrated her 75th birthday in style last November, as Jörn Weisbrodt and The Music Center in Los Angeles hosted a pair of star-studded Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration concerts in her honor. The line-up (which Joni helped select) featured many of her closest friends and dearest
Welcome to another Release Round-Up. Here's a look at what's coming out today, December 14! Bruce Springsteen, Springsteen on Broadway [2CD] (Columbia) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Springsteen on Broadway captures songs and selected stories from The Boss' acclaimed, Tony Award-winning engagement on the Great White Way. Mixed by Bob Clearmountain and mastered by Bob Ludwig, the album arrives one day before the closing show, and also just before it's broadcast in full on
It's coming on Christmas... and just in time for the holidays, Rhino has treated Joni Mitchell fans with a new, 8-LP box set, Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting To Be Danced. Previously released in a 4-CD configuration in 2014, this Joni Mitchell-curated collection finds the celebrated songwriter, singer, and visual artist exploring the many contexts and definitions of love. The result is a 53-song, four-act suite that craftily presents some of Joni's best work in a compelling
Long before he was serenading fans with his expressive, distinctively smoky voice as a modern-day crooner, Steve Tyrell was moving and shaking behind the scenes at Scepter Records. When not producing singles for Maxine Brown, The Shirelles, Chuck Jackson, or B.J. Thomas, he was working in A&R and promotions alongside Scepter's superstar "triangle marriage" team of Dionne Warwick, Burt Bacharach, and Hal David. In 2008, with six solo albums then under his belt, Tyrell returned to his roots
Analog Spark has had a busy summer. The label contributed a number of exclusive releases to Barnes and Noble, including stellar reissues of the classic Broadway cast recordings to Hello, Dolly! (1964, RCA), Cabaret (Columbia, 1966) and Hair (RCA, 1969) as well as Dave Brubeck's delightful Dave Digs Disney (Columbia, 1957) in its original mono mix. The vinyl specialists have recently turned their attention to a title of a more modern vintage from a venerable American troubadour, James Taylor.