In the course of a career spanning seven decades, Tony Visconti has produced seminal albums in the classic rock genre including high profile collaborations with David Bowie, T. Rex, Gentle Giant, Strawbs, and Badfinger. But Visconti's C.V. runs much deeper, from folk (Ralph McTell, Tom Paxton) to musical theatre (Elaine Paige) and everything in between (Sparks). On October 20, Edsel will release the first large-scale tribute to Visconti's enormous musical legacy. Produced by Tony Visconti has
In recent weeks, Ace Records has made two new additions to its ongoing Producers Series, and both titles spotlight the versatility of the respective talents, Todd Rundgren and Gus Dudgeon. The Studio Wizardry of Todd Rundgren is, in many senses, an update of Rhino's 1992 compilation An Elpee's Worth of Productions. Like that set, it paints a portrait of the singer-songwriter largely in service of others' songs, though a handful of his own compositions appear, too. Ace's collection spans
Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings arm has continued its series of Strawbs reissues with a new expanded edition of the British rock band's 2008 album The Broken-Hearted Bride. Strawbs' seventeenth studio album, The Broken-Hearted Bride featured the line-up that first was assembled in 1973: founding member David Cousins (vocals/guitar/keyboards), Dave Lambert (lead guitar/vocals), Chas Cronk (bass), John Hawken (keyboards), and Rod Coombes (drums). This group recorded the LPs Hero and Heroine
Today, we're spotlighting three recent "Complete" collections from Cherry Red's Grapefruit imprint. "We played punk before punk was invented!" That quote by vocalist Don Fardon of The Sorrows opens up Grapefruit's new 4-CD set Pink Purple Yellow and Red: The Complete Sorrows. The R&B band formed in Coventry in 1963 and became a fixture on the mod scene; later, they were retroactively branded "freakbeat" for their aggressive and edgy style of R&B and rock and roll. Fardon, lead
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Bob Dylan, 1970 (Columbia/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) In recent years, Bob Dylan's annual copyright-extension collections have become highly sought-after collectors' items and fodder for bootleggers everywhere. Happily, Legacy Recordings has opted to give a wide release to Dylan's 1970 set, largely drawn from the Self Portrait sessions and featuring his loose jams with George Harrison. This 3-CD set features 74
Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint has returned to the Strawbs discography with another pair of reissues: Burning for You (1977) and Heartbreak Hill (recorded 1978, released 1995). Burning for You arrived between Deep Cuts and Deadlines, both of which have already been reissued by Esoteric. Deep Cuts had been produced by the team of Rupert Holmes and Jeffrey Lesser who were enlisted to nudge the band - down to four pieces with David Cousins, Chas Cronk, Dave Lambert, and Rod Coombes -
Esoteric Recordings is rightly known for its deluxe editions and box sets, but the Cherry Red imprint delivers the same high level of quality with its more modest releases. Today, we're looking at the single-disc expanded editions of a trio of diverse rock classics released in late 2019. Strawbs' ninth album, Deep Cuts, isn't an album of rarities as the title might indicate. Instead, the 1976 album is, as lead vocalist David Cousins describes in the liner notes, "the best-sounding album
Strawbs' Deadlines, by the numbers: It was the band's first album on Clive Davis' Arista label, last album of the 1970s, third album produced or co-produced by Jeffrey Lesser (Rupert Holmes, Loudon Wainwright III, Barbra Streisand), and only album to feature the four-piece line-up of Dave Cousins, Dave Lambert, Chas Cronk, and Tony Fernandez. It's recently been expanded by Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings arm as a 2-CD/1-DVD clamshell box set featuring numerous bonus tracks and a complete