Margaret Whiting was a singer's singer. Possessed of a clarion vocal instrument capable of both great exultation and deep longing, a performance by Whiting guaranteed a path to the heart of a song. It's no wonder that Johnny Mercer, a songwriter of no small stature, made sure that the 18-year old songbird was one of the first artists signed to his fledgling Capitol Records label. Mercer had known Whiting since her childhood as the daughter of his collaborator, composer Richard Whiting, and
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a host of holiday offerings (including three new titles from Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music!) and much, much more! Jack Jones, The Jack Jones Christmas Album (Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music proudly bring Jack Jones' 1964 Kapp Records classic to CD for the very first time! The Jack Jones Christmas Album features lush renditions of "White
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a host of titles on CD and vinyl! Fleetwood Mac, In Concert (Warner Bros./Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) This 3-LP concert album features 22 live recordings from Fleetwood Mac's 1979-1980 tour, originally presented in December on the Tusk Deluxe Edition box set, for the very first time on vinyl. The music heard on In Concert was recorded at four stops (Wembley, Tucson, St. Louis, Omaha) during the band's 111-show
Yesterday we brought you the news of the upcoming Second Disc Records title to be released in conjunction with Real Gone Music: Bobby Darin's Another Song on My Mind: The Motown Years anthology. Now we've got the rest of Real Gone's March slate to tell you about and it's as excitingly eclectic as ever! Kicking things off is a CD that should be of great interest to jazz enthusiasts. Herbie Mann is considered one of the greatest jazz flautists ever and was an early proponent of world music.
When Margaret Whiting scored a No. 26 Pop/No. 1 Easy Listening hit with 1966's "The Wheel of Hurt," she was surrounded by the aura of a comeback. But the veteran songstress was only in her early forties. Three albums and a clutch of singles recorded for London Records between 1966 and 1970 proved that Whiting was most definitely still a contender. Now, the recordings from Whiting's London period have finally arrived on CD, filling in a major gap in the Margaret Whiting discography. Real Gone
The S.O.S. Band / Cherrelle / Alexander O'Neal, "Tabu Reborn" Vinyl Editions (Wave 1) (Tabu/Edsel) The start of a lengthy reissue campaign from Demon Music Group, these are 180-gram vinyl reissues of The S.O.S. Band's III (1982), Cherrelle's 1984 debut Fragile, and Alexander O'Neal's self-titled debut from 1985. Expanded editions of these albums come out on CD next week, followed by a great many more waves of product throughout 2013 and into 2014! S.O.S. Band: Amazon U.S. / Amazon
April is known for showers, so why shouldn’t Real Gone Music shower collectors with a big line-up encompassing not just some super-rare rock and soul, but also country, film soundtracks, pop vocals and even crossover classical? Nine releases, all due on April 2, run the gamut for this busy label. On the rock front, fans will likely snap up the first-time domestic CD release of the 1971 solo album by Memphis music legend Don Nix. Featuring the Muscle Shoals rhythm section, Living by the Days
In 1997, a musical revue came and went at Broadway's Royale Theatre. The revue, Dream, was a mostly unexceptional journey through the music and lyrics of the legendary Johnny Mercer. Why the "mostly," then? Dream had one very exceptional living link to Mercer, and that was the resplendent Margaret Whiting, who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 86 in Englewood, New Jersey. When Mercer (along with Buddy DeSylva and Glenn Wallichs) started Capitol Records in 1942, one of the first artists he