There are truly few in the music business like Herb Alpert. A trumpet player, songwriter, label co-founder, sculptor and philanthropist – Alpert is all these things and more, and they’re all due to be on display in a forthcoming documentary, appropriately titled Herb Alpert Is…, slated to premiere October 1. Just one day later, a new overview of his storied musical career is due. The box set Herb Alpert Is…, to be released through his own Herb Alpert Presents label, will compile 63 tracks from his storied studio output – those legendary…
United ‘Nation’: Nine Digital Remix EPs Celebrate 30th Anniversary of Janet Jackson Classic
After putting much of Janet Jackson’s classic catalogue on vinyl out this year, UMe keeps the party going with a whopping nine new digital EPs to celebrate this week’s 30th anniversary of Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814. The label is premiering nearly 100 rare and digitally unavailable edits, instrumentals and remixes spanning Rhythm Nation‘s incredible run of hit singles for more than a year. Seven tracks – “Miss You Much,” “Rhythm Nation,” “Escapade,” “Alright,” “Come Back To Me,” “Black Cat” and “Love Will Never Do Without You” – all reached the Top…
The Pleasure Principle: Janet Jackson Albums Coming To Vinyl, Plus Expanded ‘Control: The Remixes’
When a new pressing of Janet Jackson’s breakthrough album Control was announced earlier this year, we speculated that perhaps the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and R&B/pop legend would finally be the subject of some catalog activity. That wish seems to be coming true: four more of Janet’s albums are coming to vinyl on July 24, along with an expanded edition of a remix album to be released in America for the first time! A&M/Virgin/UMe will press Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989), janet. (1993), The Velvet Rope (1997) and All For…
Gimme a Beat! ‘Control’ Comes Back To Vinyl – Are More Janet Jackson Classics Coming?
Even viewed through the incredible prism of her talented family, Janet Jackson has had one of the most formidable careers in modern music history. This year, after an impassioned fan campaign, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame finally inducted the youngest Jackson sibling, who’s released 10 Top 5 albums in the U.S., placed more than two dozen singles in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide of funky, engaging, conscious R&B songs. With an already exciting summer of live performances planned…
Purple Reign: Numero Anthologizes Early Minneapolis Funk Bands
It was something like Sly Stone or James Brown for the New Wave set: tight, sparse R&B jams peppered with funky guitar and pulsating bass, sweetened with electronic accoutrements in the percussion section and dazzling synthesizers where a horn section might be. The “Minneapolis sound” changed soul music dramatically in the ’80s, with Prince and his collaborators, associates and followers (The Time, Andre Cymone, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Alexander O’Neal) helping rewrite musical style for a new generation. With much of Prince’s recent material partially focused on retrofied jams (his last…
