Cherry Red's RPM label continues to trawl the deepest vaults for truly rare gems in the realms of pop, rock, and R&B. Part One of this two-part RPM Round-Up focuses on three rarities-packed collections from the mid-to-late 1960s! Despite releasing eighteen singles and one album between 1965 and 1972 in his home of the U.K., James Royal never achieved stardom while he was recording. But the blue-eyed soul man's stellar body of work began attracting fans on the northern soul and mod
Light in the Attic is continuing its long-running Lee Hazlewood Archive Series. On November 3, the label will release newly remastered and expanded CD and LP editions of three classics from the maverick singer-songwriter/producer: Forty (1969), Requiem for an Almost Lady (1971), and the Ann-Margret collaboration The Cowboy and the Lady (1969). To mark his 40th birthday, Hazlewood recorded a different kind of album, appropriately entitled Forty. It was recorded in England with producer Shel
Though The Creation only left behind roughly a couple dozen songs during their mid-'60s heyday, the story of the hard-rocking mods actually goes back further, and extends to decades later. Earlier this year, the U.S. label Numero Group presented 46 masters, alternates and remixes on a double-disc collection entitled Action Painting. Shortly thereafter, U.K. label Edsel unveiled an even more thorough presentation of the complete Creation story containing those 46 tracks and 33
An advertisement reprinted in Ace Records' splendid new collection Making Time: A Shel Talmy Production reads, "Artistes Shel Talmy Has Recorded: The Kinks, The Bachelors, The Who, Chad and Jeremy" and so on. Add to that list Manfred Mann, The Creation, The Fortunes, Trini Lopez, Lee Hazlewood, and a certain David Bowie, and you have an idea of the scope of this first-of-its-kind collection dedicated to the work of the producer-engineer-impresario. Though born in Chicago, Talmy made his name