Last year, The Second Disc had nothing but good things to say about Dearly Beloved: A Prince Songbook, Cherry Red's triple-disc tribute to the music of Prince. The set told a story of The Artist's massive impact on pop, rock and soul by way of songs he gave others to record and a galaxy of genre-bending covers. In a year of considerable challenges in Prince fandom, it was a veritable oasis in a desert. Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of speaking with Adam Mattera, the curator and
The holidays are a time of good cheer and gratitude, where we all (in theory) come together to share in a common joy. There has not been a lot of common joy if you're a Prince fan; we don't need to re-litigate it more than we did this summer, but it's worth noting that the quest to make intriguing, posthumous Prince projects under the current estate organization has maybe gotten worse than when we published our editorial. But there have been celebrations of The Purple One that honor his
Between the muted 40th anniversary celebration of Purple Rain and the bizarre drama over an estate-sanctioned Netflix documentary on his life and career, Prince fans could probably use a win lately. A new compilation from Cherry Red looks like it might finally offer one. Dearly Beloved - A Prince Songbook is an unexpectedly robust-looking 3CD set that will pay tribute to the Minneapolis icon as a songwriter - one whose classic hits have become pop standards, with so much talent overflowing
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there's plenty of great new/old music to usher you into the weekend. Our latest round-up may be on April Fool's Day, but it's no joke: remixes by Madonna, rarities by Burt Bacharach and Peggy Lee, a White Stripes live set and the first major Barry White production are all here. Happy streaming! Madonna, Nothing Really Matters (Remixes) (Warner/Rhino) (iTunes /
Big Break Records has recently reissued two albums from the late, great Teddy Pendergrass in remastered and expanded editions. 1980's TP, originally released on Philadelphia International Records, welcomed the smoldering soul man into the 1980s and premiered one of his most beloved recordings, "Love TKO." Eight years later, having survived a life-threatening accident, Pendergrass solidified his comeback with the Elektra LP Joy. By the time of 1980's platinum seller TP, the artist with the
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, headlined by the long-awaited return of The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers in a variety of formats and editions! The Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers (UMe) 3-CD/1-DVD Super Deluxe Edition Box Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2-CD/1-DVD Deluxe Edition Box Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2-CD Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 1-CD Standard Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2-LP Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Digital Download:
Following the commercial failure of the big-budget 1973 movie musical Lost Horizon, Burt Bacharach retreated. Tension over the film had led to a split with his longtime songwriting partner Hal David, and their split had in turn led to a breakup of their “triangle marriage” with singer Dionne Warwick. Lawsuits ensued. Only one new Bacharach song emerged in 1974, Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “Seconds,” co-written with playwright Neil Simon for a proposed movie version of the 1968
Elvis Presley, That's the Way It Is: Deluxe Editions (RCA/Legacy) The King regained his crown with a 1970 stint at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, as depicted in the acclaimed documentary of the same name. A new box set features the original album on CD along with seven recorded live shows plus that documentary in two separate cuts on DVD; the documentary bows on Blu-ray next week. 8CD/2DVD box set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2CD Legacy Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon
In recent days, we’ve turned the spotlight on a quartet of classic soul reissues, two each from Big Break Records (Arthur Prysock’s All My Life and Caston and Majors’ self-titled Motown album) and SoulMusic Records (Nancy Wilson’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off You/Now I’m a Woman and Jerry Butler’s Love’s on the Menu/Suite for the Single Girl). But those are hardly the only recent releases from these two imprints of the Cherry Red Group. Big Break has offered two titles, both from 1979 and both with
The S.O.S. Band / Cherrelle / Alexander O'Neal, "Tabu Reborn" Vinyl Editions (Wave 1) (Tabu/Edsel) The start of a lengthy reissue campaign from Demon Music Group, these are 180-gram vinyl reissues of The S.O.S. Band's III (1982), Cherrelle's 1984 debut Fragile, and Alexander O'Neal's self-titled debut from 1985. Expanded editions of these albums come out on CD next week, followed by a great many more waves of product throughout 2013 and into 2014! S.O.S. Band: Amazon U.S. / Amazon
A recent trio of releases from Cherry Red’s SoulMusic Records imprint is sure to get the pulses racing of ’70s and ‘80s soul fans. Freda Payne’s second album for Capitol Records, 1978’s Supernatural High, followed 1977’s Stares and Whispers, also the recipient of a past SoulMusic reissue. Skip Scarborough (Earth Wind and Fire, Dionne Warwick, Phyllis Hyman) took the production helm from Motown’s Frank Wilson and wrote a few tracks for the project. Like many of Payne’s best albums,
Stephanie Mills' very first LP was titled Movin' in the Right Direction. And although the 1975 LP on the ABC-Paramount label didn't launch her career as a recording artist with a bang, its title was certainly apt. A few years later, the label would be 20th Century Fox instead of Paramount, and Mills would skyrocket to superstardom in the disco era. Her hitmaking records for 20th Century Fox Records are being compiled by Hip-o Select for the August 23 release of Feel the Fire: The 20th Century