February promises to be a packed month for music fans, as Esoteric brings listeners a new, expanded reissue of Renaissance's 1973 classic, Ashes Are Burning, as well as a reissue of The Byrds, the reunion album by the legendary folk-rock group. Also on the way are reissues of Tear Gas's self-titled album, an expanded edition of Greenslade's Time and Tide, and a new 3-CD set called Revolution: Underground Sounds of 1968. Meanwhile, Esoteric's Reactive imprint will issue a 4-CD set
Featuring both classics and unearthed rarities, the set explores the wild year in which psychedelia, jazz, blues, folk, world music, and hard rock all collided to form groundbreaking and genre-pushing new music. The new compilation includes a number of legendary UK groups, including Deep Purple, Jethro Tull, Genesis, and Pentangle. Also present are Procol Harum, Caravan, Jeff Beck, Spooky Tooth, Traffic, The Move, Julie Driscoll with Brian Auger and The Trinity, The Crazy World of Arthur
Venerated BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel once called Bridget St. John “the best lady singer-songwriter in the country.” So when Peel formed Dandelion Records in 1969, the label’s first signing was St. John; in fact, Peel once commented that “the main reason why we started the label [was] ‘cos nobody else was going to record her stuff.” Cherry Red Records has just reissued all three of St. John’s moody, evocative Dandelion albums (individually released in 2005 on CD) recorded between 1969 and 1972,