Walt Disney Records' Legacy Collection marches on. The next project in the series spotlights a movie of relatively more recent vintage than some of the other releases this year. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Toy Story will be the recipient of the 2-CD soundtrack treatment which is due out on July 10. Who would have thought in 1995, just one year after Disney's blockbuster The Lion King that the direction of the animated studio would be forever altered by a computer-animated film
Less than one year ago, Walt Disney Records announced The Legacy Collection, a 12-title series marking various anniversaries of classic Disney films and even a theme park. In June, the series kicked off with a deluxe expansion of the soundtrack to The Lion King to commemorate that film's 20th year, and since then we've received similarly expanded editions of Mary Poppins (50th), Sleeping Beauty (55th), The Little Mermaid (25th), Fantasia (75th) and Pinocchio (75th). Future releases were
With a new pair of reissues, Demon Music Group’s Edsel label is the in the right place, for the label has turned its attention to the catalogue of one of the funkiest men alive: Mac Rebennack, a.k.a. Dr. John, the Night Tripper. An A&R man, arranger, producer, artist, and session musician since the early days of New Orleans rock and roll, the good doctor came into his own as a solo headliner with 1968’s Gris-Gris. Since that psychedelic exploration of N’awlins-style R&B, Dr. John has
If you've been following these pages for the past few weeks, you've likely noticed an awful lot of coverage about Record Store Day! Well, the day is nearly here! Tomorrow, Saturday, April 21, music fans and collectors will flock to their local independent record stores to celebrate both the sounds on those round black platters and the very concept of shopping in a physical retail environment. To many of us, both are a way of life. We're doubly excited this year because one special title was
With April 19's Record Store Day a little more than a week away, it might be time to start making those checklists! We've already filled you in on exciting releases from Legacy Recordings, Real Gone Music, Sundazed, Omnivore Recordings, Varese Sarabande and many others, but today it's all about Rhino! The Warner Music Group catalogue arm has a bumper crop of more than 25 exclusive offerings from some of the biggest names classic rock, vintage R&B and beyond - including The Doors, Grateful
A new box set released today chronicles the musical legacy of The Walt Disney Company with a variety that hasn't been seen in quite awhile. The new Disney Classics celebrates nearly every medium of entertainment the animation studio-turned-film-titan has dabbled in, from film and television to revolutionary theme park attractions. Disney Classics is touted in a press release as being released in honor of 90 years of musical history as it pertains to the work of Walter Elias Disney (1901-1966).
Some of the music featured on Starbucks Entertainment’s latest compilation album, Self-Portraits, is a bit atypical for a coffeehouse setting: Warren Zevon, Judee Sill, Randy Newman, John Prine, Loudon Wainwright III. The songs on Self-Portraits, by and large, demand attention, as all are drawn from the realm of the singer-songwriter with an emphasis on confessional or first-person songs. The 16-track CD focuses on the 1970s (with just one track from 1969), and although there are a few
On February 11, 2011, Barbra Streisand joined some illustrious company, including Bono, Brian Wilson, Aretha Franklin and her “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” duet partner, Neil Diamond. That was the evening Streisand was recognized as the MusiCares Person of the Year, following in the footsteps of those above-named artists. Streisand was a natural candidate for the honor, as the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences annually bestows it upon an artist with significant artistic
Extra! Extra! Lost Folk Singer Found! His name is Tom Northcott, and had things turned out a little differently, he might be remembered in the same breath as Joni Mitchell or Gordon Lightfoot, fellow Canadian troubadours. After founding the Tom Northcott Trio, he headed for California during perhaps the most fertile period ever for creative, boundary-breaking musical exploration, the mid-1960s. Northcott opened for The Who, The Doors and Jefferson Airplane, and was signed to Warner Bros.
Toy Story 3 certainly had its fair amount of accomplishments. It was highest-grossing film of 2010 (domestic and worldwide), the all-time box office champ among animated features, and in the Top 10 highest-grossing films of all time. It reaped five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and took two of the gold statues home. It became the first film to be released theatrically in 7.1 surround sound. But one thing Toy Story 3 didn't have was a proper soundtrack album on CD.
Somewhere in rock's back pages, you might find the name of Tom Northcott, troubadour. After establishing himself as the folk-singing frontman of The Tom Northcott Trio in his native Canada, Northcott headed for California, and proved himself in the fertile musical ground of the San Francisco Bay Area, opening for acts like The Who, The Doors and Jefferson Airplane. Soon he found himself even further south, signed to Los Angeles' Warner Bros. Records. And between 1966 and1969, Northcott
Leon Russell might have been reluctant to return to his pop music roots when producer Lenny Waronker invited him to sit in the arranger's chair for Harpers Bizarre's 1967 debut album. But in retrospect, a Master of Time and Space must have been involved in any LP that listed among its credits Randy Newman, Van Dyke Parks, Paul Simon, Richard Rodgers and Sergei Prokofiev! The California quintet's Feelin' Groovy long-player is still one of the boldest, most imaginative and most fun debut albums
Ever feel like all the fancy bonus content and packaging on some reissues totally overshadows the music? Rhino's European division must've felt so, too: they released a handful of Original Album Series boxes a few weeks ago, featuring a lot of music with a minimum of frills and a relatively low price. The titles - five albums by one artist, housed in mini-LP cardboard sleeves and put into a box - are the ideal quick, easy discography builder for new fans or collectors with a few notable gaps on
By the numbers, Randy Newman is the recipient of six Grammys, three Emmys and two Oscars (the latter out of a stunning 20 nominations). Mr. Newman created "something new under the sun" with the 1968 release of his self-titled Reprise debut, after years honing his craft on staff at Metric Music. At Metric, he wrote with Jackie DeShannon and in this early period provided songs for Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black, Nina Simone, Alan Price, Peggy Lee and so many others. Ambitious concept albums and
Before Abbey Road or Caribou, The Beau Brummels immortalized a famous recording studio as the title of Bradley’s Barn, their 1968 album for Warner Bros. Records. The San Francisco pop-rock outfit had travelled to Nashville, Tennessee to record at Owen Bradley’s storied venue at roughly the same time their contemporaries, The Byrds, were on the other side of town cutting Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Though the “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Turn! Turn! Turn!” hitmakers beat the Brummels to the punch
It may have been sheer coincidence that Ace dropped I'll Do Anything: The Doris Troy Anthology 1960-1996 and Jackie DeShannon's Come and Get Me: The Complete Liberty and Imperial Singles Volume 2 on the same day. But different though these two singers may be, their similarities are striking. Both were pioneering female songwriters, with Troy penning her biggest hit, "Just One Look," and DeShannon offering up the likes of "When You Walk in the Room" and "Put a Little Love in Your Heart." Both had
This week's Friday Feature should come as no surprise. There's one movie on more minds than any other this week: Toy Story 3, the 11th effort by Disney's Pixar Animation Studios. Like the other films in the series, it promises to be a funny, adventurous and touching affair that adults will connect to as easily as kids. Like the others, it promises massive box office returns and universal acclaim (as of this writing, film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has not picked up a single negative