When it comes to Record Store Day, Liberation Hall sure isn’t kidding around. The label has seven titles from a host of rock, jazz, blues, and folk superstars, all set for release on vinyl at independent record stores everywhere tomorrow, April 22 – but that’s not all. All seven albums have also arrived on CD. Eddie Money’s The Covers (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) brings the late rock-and-roller’s two 2009 EPs together on one album. The eight songs on The Covers encompass the rock spectrum, from the classics (The…
Cherry Red’s él Heads to the Sixties for Pop Art, Bossa Nova, and Singing Celebs
What made the swinging sixties swing? Cherry Red’s él label continues to explore the various corners of early 1960s pop music with a trio of releases that, in large part, offer answers to that very question. Pop Goes the Easel: The Start of the Swinging Sixties takes its name from maverick director Ken Russell’s 1962 documentary film, and over two eclectic CDs, boasts 65 tracks from thirteen different films and television programs. Artists range from Buddy Holly to Anthony Newley. A fine companion disc is Bowler Hats and Leather Boots: Personalities Go…
Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars: Él Collects Vintage Gilberto, Jobim, Bonfá on CD
Fewer images in music are more evocative than that of the tall and tan and young and lovely girl from Ipanema, walking like a samba and inspiring passersby to go, “Aaaah.” Jazz musicians of every stripe and every instrument latched onto Brazil’s bossa nova sound after it exploded to popularity in the wake of Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luis Bonfá, Vinicius de Moraes and João Gilberto’s soundtrack to the 1959 film Black Orpheus. Though Black Orpheus was the breakthrough, it wasn’t the birth of bossa nova. From the very beginning, though, was João…
Relaunched FiveFour Label Offers Rare Jazz Classics from Ornette Coleman, Luis Bonfá, Gary Burton
FiveFour, the jazz-oriented sister label of Cherry Red’s él imprint, had lain dormant since 2008 following releases by some of the genre’s greatest artists including Bill Evans, Buddy Rich and Milt Jackson. Founder Mike Alway has just reactivated FiveFour, however, and the label has just relaunched with three long out-of-print titles drawn from the Sony Music archives: Ornette Coleman’s Chappaqua Suite (1965), The Gary Burton Quartet’s In Concert (1968) and a two-fer from Luis Bonfá: The New Face of Bonfa (1970) and Introspection (1972). The most demanding of the three titles, and…
Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention
September 25, 2026
