Next Saturday, April 12, is certainly one of the most packed Record Store Days in recent memory. Since the list was announced, we drilled down on titles from Craft Recordings, Legacy Recordings, Rhino Records, Universal Music Group, Real Gone Music, Omnivore Recordings, BMG, Cooking Vinyl and Demon Music Group, as well as some notable titles that were getting later general releases on CD. Well, if you thought that was it, you're wrong! We pored and pored over the list and are here to share
A pleasant surprise available digitally today and on CD and 2LP in May is the soundtrack to an exciting new documentary about one of the great musical icons of the '60s: Sly Stone. SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) - the latest documentary by The Roots' drummer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, who picked up an Academy Award for his work on 2021's Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) - has a new companion album that features 21 favorite hits and album cuts,
A timely new collection will pay tribute to the work of Sly & The Family Stone through a diverse group of covers and rarely-heard singles written and produced by the group's iconic frontman for others. Everybody is a Star - The Sly Stone Songbook is the latest entry in Ace Records' Songwriter Series, chronicling some of the greatest modern songwriters of the last century. Naturally, the man born Sylvester Stewart is a prime candidate for such an overview. His mix of R&B, funk, pop and
Minneapolis guitarist Jesse Johnson, best known as a member of The Time, will be celebrated by Cherry Red's Robinsongs imprint with a 2CD set that combines three of his solo albums for the A&M label and an assortment of extras. The simply titled Jesse Johnson Revue / Shockadelica / Every Shade of Love + Bonus Tracks brings together Johnson's three post-Time solo efforts issued between 1985 and 1988, featuring the Billboard Hot 100 hits "Be Your Man," "I Want My Girl," "Crazay" (featuring
Sylvester Stewart, a.k.a. Sly Stone, thrillingly fused R&B with funk, rock, pop, and jazz as leader of the psychedelic outfit Sly and The Family Stone. But the visionary artist didn't emerge from nowhere with his most famous band; he'd paid his dues in the early part of the 1960s at the Bay Area's Autumn Records label as a producer and artist. Many of these recordings have been chronicled on collections from Ace (Precious Stone: In the Studio with Sly Stone 1963-1965, Listen to the Voices: