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
Following the limited Record Store Day release of the 2-LP set for Record Store Day Black Friday, a standard edition of Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration is set for wide release on January 24 From Decca: "On Joni's 75th birthday last November, a star-studded roster of musicians gathered together to pay tribute to the legendary singer-songwriter. The evening was recorded and is now being released on vinyl. It features performances by Brandi Carlile, Glen Hansard, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones,
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
Joni Mitchell 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 collaborators, including Graham Nash, Seal, Chaka Khan, Kris Kristofferson, and James Taylor. Also on the bill were Diana Krall, Brandi Carlile, Rufus Wainwright, Emmylou Harris, Glen Hansard, Norah
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.
Warner Music France is providing a breezy soundtrack for summer with the fourth installment of California Groove. Arriving seven years after Volume 3, this impressive 6-CD box set is a little bit country, a little bit-rock-and-roll - not to mention filled with pop, lounge, jazz, dance, R&B, soul, and beyond. It's too eclectic to be filed under "yacht rock," though many of that so-called genre's bright lights are here, including Christopher Cross and Steely Dan. What it is, however, is a
Carly Simon is finally telling her own story. On November 24, the singer-songwriter will release Boys in the Trees: A Memoir via Macmillan imprint Flatiron Books. The eagerly-anticipated book promises to chronicle her life onstage and off. Just days earlier, on November 20, Rhino Records will release a companion 2-CD set, Songs from the Trees: A Musical Memoir Collection. Like Elvis Costello's Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink and its own companion audio release, the CDs' selections will
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring the return of a veteran artist, celebrations of the renowned musicians of Nashville and Los Angeles, a classic Disney soundtrack, and much more! Various Artists, Dylan, Cash and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City (Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Legacy teams with the Country Music Hall of Fame for this 2-CD, 36-song companion soundtrack to the Nashville museum's current exhibit chronicling Music City's fusion of country of rock.
Tonight, Linda Ronstadt receives her long-overdue recognition into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But rock and roll, of course, played only a small - if key - role in Ronstadt's career. The breadth of that career is revealed on Rhino's new release of Linda Ronstadt - Duets (Rhino R2 542161), containing fourteen tracks originally released between 1974 and 2006 plus one previously unreleased performance. While there are no duets here from Ronstadt's Tony-nominated turn in Gilbert and Sullivan's