"Make That Move," "I Can Make You Feel Good," "A Night to Remember," "The Second Time Around": these are just a few of the hits that put Shalamar on the musical map. One of the leading lights of impresario Dick Griffey's SOLAR (Sounds Of Los Angeles Records), Shalamar placed over 20 twenty entries on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart and more than 10 on the Pop survey; across the pond, the group scored 19 hits on the U.K. Singles Chart. Now, the group's towering accomplishments have been
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! James Taylor, The Warner Bros. Albums 1970-1976 (Warner/Rhino) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Rhino has a newly remastered box, supervised by Peter Asher, of James Taylor's six studio albums for the label including Sweet Baby James (1970), Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon (1971), One Man Dog (1972), Walking Man (1974), Gorilla (1975); and In the Pocket (1976). Available on CD,
Cherry Red's Robinsongs imprint continues to unleash classic funk and soul albums on CD in two, three, and four-for-one packages. The label has been reissuing classic albums from such marquee names as The Whispers, Shalamar, Midnight Star, The Bar-Kays, Lakeside, and Crown Heights Affair. Today's Part One looks at the new and upcoming releases from the first three of those groups! The Whispers' first three albums on Dick Griffey and Don Cornelius' Soul Train and SOLAR (Sound of Los Angeles
Shalamar, Friends: Deluxe Edition / The Isley Brothers, Winner Takes All: Expanded Edition / Bootsy Collins Presents Sweat Band: Expanded Edition / The Gap Band, Gap Band VII: Expanded Edition / Billy Paul, Lately: Expanded Edition (Big Break) The Big Break titles we covered yesterday include a double-disc expansion of one of Shalamar's most enduring LPs, plus Isleys, P-Funk and albums from Total Experience Records. Full coverage/pre-order links here! Blue Oyster Cult, Imaginos / Sea
A host of '80s R&B titles are out in the U.K. this week from Cherry Red's Big Break offshoot. They include a double-disc expansion of one of Shalamar's best-loved albums, plus expanded editions of a few LPs by the likes of The Isley Brothers, The Gap Band and Billy Paul. While 1982 was the year of Michael Jackson's Thriller, U.K. R&B enthusiasts also count another album as influential to the genre that year: Shalamar's Friends. After a string of hits around the world for the trio
The Spectrum family of labels in the U.K., which includes the catalogues of what Americans count toward Universal Music Group, have a few affordable compilations on the market in the coming month from a diverse crop of artists. On May 23, the label will release compilations from Styx as well as both Fleetwood Mac and Rod Stewart. (The latter two artists, whose catalogues reside with Warner Music Group in the U.S., will focus on each act's "early years.") It's also worth noting that Spectrum has