The Living Word: New Box Sets Chronicle Wattstax in Full, 50 Years On

One of the greatest music festivals of the ’70s is getting celebrated with an exhaustive array of reissues in 2023: Wattstax, the multi-dimensional Los Angeles celebration of soul, funk, blues and gospel courtesy of Stax Records. A half-century after the premiere of a Golden Globe-nominated documentary on the star-studded 1972 event, Craft Recordings, custodian of the Stax catalogue, will release the most definitive looks at Wattstax, most recently addressed in a 3CD box set in 2003 that took the highlights of both double albums from 1973 and added even more material. Soul’d…

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UPDATE: “Summer of Soul” Soundtrack, Out Now on CD and Digital, Coming to Expanded Vinyl in June

Last summer, as some music lovers took tentative steps in getting back to concertgoing amid the early vaccinations against COVID-19, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson gifted audiences with an incredible display of live performance some 50 years in the past. Summer of Soul is The Roots drummer’s debut documentary, concerning a little-seen arts festival in Harlem that took place before, during and after that year’s Woodstock Music & Art Fair – with some of the greatest soul, blues and jazz performers of the late ’60s gracing the stages. On January 28, Legacy Recordings made…

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Winter of ‘Summer of Soul’: Soundtrack to Acclaimed Music Doc Coming in January

Last summer, as some music lovers took tentative steps in getting back to concertgoing amid the early vaccinations against COVID-19, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson gifted audiences with an incredible display of live performance some 50 years in the past. Summer of Soul is The Roots drummer’s debut documentary, concerning a little-seen arts festival in Harlem that took place before, during and after that year’s Woodstock Music & Art Fair – with some of the greatest soul, blues and jazz performers of the late ’60s gracing the stages. On January 28, 2022, Legacy Recordings…

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UPDATE: Jump to It! Rhino Confirms New Release Date for Career-Spanning “Aretha” Box Set

It was late in 2015 when audiences across the country watched Aretha Franklin take the stage at The Kennedy Center Honors to salute honoree Carole King.  The undisputed Queen of Soul tore into King, Gerry Goffin, and Jerry Wexler’s “(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman” with blazing intensity and thrilling authenticity.  She had not just sung these lyrics but lived them.  Nearing the song’s finale, she simply but defiantly dropped her fur coat to the floor, creating an instant viral moment that elicited tears and cheers in equal measure.  That…

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Jump to It! Rhino Collects Aretha Franklin’s Hits, Rarities, Never-Before-Released Tracks on New Box Set

It was late in 2015 when audiences across the country watched Aretha Franklin take the stage at The Kennedy Center Honors to salute honoree Carole King.  The undisputed Queen of Soul tore into King, Gerry Goffin, and Jerry Wexler’s “(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman” with blazing intensity and thrilling authenticity.  She had not just sung these lyrics but lived them.  Nearing the song’s finale, she simply but defiantly dropped her fur coat to the floor, creating an instant viral moment that elicited tears and cheers in equal measure.  That…

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They’ll Take You There: Craft Recordings Releases Staple Singers’ “Come Go with Me: The Stax Collection” on CD

Earlier this year, Craft Recordings released The Staple Singers’ Come Go with Me: The Stax Collection in vinyl and digital editions. The set compiled all of The Staple Singers’ 1968-1974 albums for the Stax label plus a volume of rarities, non-LP single sides, and live recordings. On November 13, that box will come to CD as remastered from the original analog tapes by Jeff Powell at Take Out Vinyl. Come Go with Me: The Stax Collection features the following original studio albums: Soul Folk in Action(1968) We’ll Get Over (1970) The Staple…

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Let’s Do It Again: Omnivore Preps Four Remastered Staple Singers Albums For June

Today, more than 25 years after their final performance together, The Staples Singers are synonymous with gospel and soul music of the highest order. Roebuck “Pops” Staples, daughters Cleotha, Mavis, and (sometimes) Yvonne, and son Pervis raised their voices in song to celebrate the Lord, but also to crusade for civil rights and share musical messages of power and positivity around the world.  In the 1960s, the group transitioned from pure gospel and blues to soul and R&B, setting the stage for their commercial breakthrough at Stax Records. Following their tenure at…

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Release Round-Up: Week of May 24

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! America, Classic Album Collection: The Capitol Years (Capitol/Caroline) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) All six of America’s Capitol albums are collected in one newly remastered box set.  Classic Album Collection: The Capitol Years presents newly remastered versions of 1979’s Silent Letter, 1980’s Alibi, 1982’s View from the Ground, 1983’s Your Move, 1984’s Perspective, and 1985’s In Concert in one deluxe, affordable package complete with a booklet.  It’s been compiled by America archivist Jeff Larson and remastered by Andy Pearce.  Read all about it…

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Release Round-Up: Week of February 8

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Prince, Musicology [Various Formats] (Legacy) 1-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2-LP black vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2-LP purple vinyl: Prince Official Store Today, three of Prince’s essential 2000s albums arrive on CD and, for the first time ever, LP.  Musicology marked Prince’s return to a major label and to the upper heights of the charts.  It reached the Top Five on the Billboard Album Chart in 2004.  It also resulted in two Grammy Awards:  Best Traditional R&B…

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Release Round-Up: Week of November 17

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Queen, News of the World: 40th Anniversary Edition (UMC (U.K.) / Hollywood (U.S.) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K.) Queen’s sixth album, 1977’s News of the World, is being generously expanded for its 40th anniversary in a new 3CD/1DVD/1LP box set.  The original album is presented on CD and LP.  The first bonus CD, the entirely unreleased Raw Sessions, presents an alternate version of the original album from demos, outtakes and live cuts. The second bonus disc collects a further 19 relevant bonus tracks, including versions from archival live…

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