Following last year’s releases of Houserocker: A Joe Grushecky Anthology and the singer-songwriter’s newest album, Can’t Outrun a Memory, Omnivore Recordings is returning to the Grushecky discography on March 28 with the worldwide CD premiere of The Iron City Houserockers’ 1981 album, Blood on the Bricks. The band’s third album, it’s been newly remastered and expanded with 11 previously unreleased bonus tracks. The expanded edition will also be available digitally. Blood on the Bricks teamed Joe Grushecky and his dynamite band-Eddie Britt on lead guitar and vocals, Art Nardini on bass, Gil…
Release Round-Up: Week of July 12
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. John Lennon, Mind Games: The Ultimate Collection (Capitol/UMe) 6CD/2BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 9LP/6CD/2BD Super Deluxe Box: Official Store 2CD (includes contents of CD 1 and 6, below): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP (includes contents of CD 1 and 6, below): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada (TBD) John Lennon’s fourth solo album Mind Games will receive a deluxe box set this summer packed with new mixes of the album’s contents as well…
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Rock and Roll Heart: Omnivore Celebrates Joe Grushecky with Career Anthology, New Album
The title of the 1979 debut album from Joe Grushecky and The Iron City Houserockers proclaimed Love’s So Tough. The Pittsburgh native and his band captured their city’s blue-collar milieu, recalling a harder-edged E Street Band. The group took their sound an expansive step further with 1980’s Have a Good Time But Get Out Alive!, a bar-band classic which welcomed guests including Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson, and Stevie Van Zandt. That album introduced “Pumping Iron” which quickly became the band’s signature song. Since then, Grushecky has continued to write, record, and perform…
Release Round-Up: Week of October 29
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! R.E.M., New Adventures in Hi-Fi: 25th Anniversary Edition (Craft Recordings) 2CD/1BD (now due November 19): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD (now due November 12) : Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP (Original album only; out today): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Craft Recordings is continuing its ongoing R.E.M. reissue series with a 25th anniversary edition of the Georgia band’s tenth studio album New Adventures in Hi-Fi. A 2CD/1BD Deluxe Edition will present the newly remastered original album, a disc of B-sides and rarities, and a Blu-ray with numerous features…
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Light of Day: Cleveland International Expands Joe Grushecky’s Springsteen-Produced “American Babylon”
Last year, the recently-reactivated Cleveland International Records label reissued Joe Grushecky and The Iron City Houserockers’ Have a Good Time…But Get Out Alive! as a deluxe edition for its 40th anniversary. Now, the label is returning to the catalogue of the Pittsburgh rocker for a slightly belated 25th anniversary edition of The Houserockers’ 1995 album American Babylon which was produced by, and features, Grushecky’s friend Bruce Springsteen. The 2-CD expansion of American Babylon is due for release on October 29, with a vinyl edition arriving in early 2022. The vinyl reissue will…
Review: The Iron City Houserockers, “Have a Good Time But…Get Out Alive!” [40th Anniversary Edition]
With apologies to John Lennon, Joe Grushecky is a working-class hero. A special education teacher by day and musician by night, Grushecky has worked for decades in inner-city Pittsburgh to help children battling severe developmental, emotional, and physical disabilities. Determination, grit, and authenticity have long been among his trademarks as an artist. Now, Cleveland International Records has reissued his sophomore album, recorded with his band The Iron City Houserockers, in a 2-CD or 2-LP expanded edition. 1980’s Have a Good Time…But Get Out Alive! is packed with aggressive yet joyful melodies blurring…
Release Round-Up: Week of June 19
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, Orange Crate Art: 25th Anniversary Edition (Omnivore) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Omnivore 2LP Black Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Omnivore 2LP Colored Vinyl: Omnivore Omnivore celebrates 25 years of Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks’ beautiful Orange Crate Art with a variety of reissues. The 2-CD version boasts three previously unreleased bonus tracks on the first disc: a stunning, subtle take on “What a Wonderful World” (listen here) that…
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Release Round-Up: Week of May 22
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Joe Grushecky, Have a Good Time But Get Out Alive! 40th Anniversary Edition (Cleveland International) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers’ bar-band classic is returning to print in a newly expanded edition adding a second disc with 16 previously unreleased tracks including demos and rarities. The 40th anniversary edition of Have a Good Time But Get Out Alive! arrives from the reactivated Cleveland International Records label today in digital…
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Down to Junior’s Bar: Iron City Houserockers’ “Have a Good Time” featuring Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson, Steven Van Zandt Turns 40, Gets Expanded Edition
Pittsburgh native Joe Grushecky burst onto the national music scene in 1979 as leader of the Iron City Houserockers. Their debut album on MCA Records, 1979’s Love’s So Tough, conjured an authentic blue-collar milieu and recalled a harder-edged E Street Band. The band upped their game with follow-up release Have a Good Time But Get Out Alive! in 1980. Now, that bar-band classic is returning to print in a newly expanded edition adding a second disc with 16 previously unreleased tracks including demos and rarities. The 40th anniversary edition of Have a…
Too Wild To Tame: Meat Loaf, Ian Hunter, Ronnie Spector, and More Collected on “Cleveland Rocks”
“Cleveland Rocks” is the name of one of Ian Hunter’s best-loved compositions. First released in 1979, it’s since became the de-facto anthem of the city, a rock proclamation whose title has always rung true. Cleveland’s rock scene during the ’70s was largely championed by Steve Popovich, a former Cleveland resident who ended up being the head of A&R at Epic. In mid-1976, he left the corporate rock world and headed back home to Cleveland, where he set up Cleveland International Records, part record label, part management company, part marketing consulting group. Throughout…
