Let me take you down... The Beatles' songs were so sturdy and well-crafted that artists such as Matt Monro and Ella Fitzgerald became early adopters. But from the start, John, Paul, George, and Ringo's contemporaries had been just as likely as the older generation to mine their songbook. As the sixties continued and the Beatles ushered in the shift from pop to rock (minus the "and roll"), similarly youthful artists brought their own increasingly adventurous spins to the lads' material.
Today, Vinyl Weekend kicks off at Barnes and Noble locations around the United States. This promotion sees the release a number of exclusive vinyl titles including classic albums, compilations, and cast recordings. These titles are typically available even at locations that (shudder) no longer have full music departments, and should also be available at BN.com. We're spotlighting the catalogue-related titles and more below. Click here to locate a B&N near you. Bread, Anthology of
By any estimation, 1966 was a pivotal year in rock. On one side of the Atlantic: Pet Sounds, Blonde on Blonde, Sounds of Silence. On the other: Revolver, Fresh Cream, Aftermath. Those albums merely represent the tip of the iceberg, however. 1966 was a year in which psychedelia emerged from the fringes and onto the charts via such artists as The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, and yes, The Beatles with "Tomorrow Never Knows." The underground scene continued to grow and increasingly attract the
Cherry Red's ongoing series of small clamshell box sets filled with big content make for the perfect stocking stuffer! Here's a look at three more titles you might have missed... Climax Blues Band's The Albums 1973-1976 is the second such box set released this year by Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint, following The Albums 1969-1972. This 4-CD set contains the following albums, culminating in the biggest commercial triumph for the band that began its life as The Climax Chicago Blues
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Judy Collins, The Elektra Albums: Volume Two (1970-1984) (Edsel) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Demon Music Group's Edsel label is following up its July release of Judy Collins' The Elektra Albums Volume One (1961-1968) with a second volume out today. The Elektra Albums Volume Two (1970-1984) finishes up the artist's Elektra Records tenure, comprising these nine releases on CD in their original sequences: Whales and Nightingales
Ace Records has released a number of splendid Motown collections in recent years, but now the label is taking a different approach to the music of Hitsville, USA. As Motown celebrates its landmark 60th anniversary, On the Detroit Beat: Motor City Soul - U.K. Style 1963-1967 brings together 24 diverse British interpretations of Motown classics, making for a potent reminder that the Sound of Young America was, truly, international. Compiler Tony Rounce helpfully points out in his liner notes
Ace's latest addition to its Songwriter Series, Listen People: The Graham Gouldman Songbook 1964-2005, appropriately enough begins with a track written by Gouldman, "That's How (It's Gonna Stay)." But the track is also significant in that it was performed by Gouldman, as well - as part of his early group The Mockingbirds. Throughout his career, he's worn many hats - as a songwriter, as a band member, as a solo artist - and all of them are touched upon on this fine celebration of a largely
As longtime collectors know, great "nuggets" show up in the most unlikely places...and so do Nuggets, naturally. Warner Music Japan has just issued four volumes of Soft Rock Nuggets, but most of the tracks on these collections are firmly in the harmony-drenched, lushly melodic, sunshine pop genre. Any fans of Rhino Handmade's Come to the Sunshine: Soft Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults (reissued on vinyl this year for Record Store Day) will find much to savor on these latest additions to the
Five decades ago, in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, a social movement was growing. Young people, with heads full of progressive ideas and evolving attitudes toward sex, drugs and rock and roll, were converging on the area to celebrate their personal freedom--an extension of that January's "Human Be-In" in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The "Summer of Love," as it was called, was the birth of the modern counterculture, and music played an integral role in the shaping,
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Zombies, Odessey and Oracle: 50th Anniversary Edition (Varese Vintage) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) It's the time of the season! Varese has a new edition of The Zombies' 1968 classic, freshly remastered at d2 Mastering and with seven bonus tracks as well as new liner notes by co-producer Andrew Sandoval and rare photographs. The bonuses comprise the mono mix of "I'll Call You Mine" and "I Want Her She Wants Me;" alternate
Before ABBA, one of the most popular groups on the Swedish music scene was The Lee Kings. Between 1965 and 1967, The Lee Kings released fourteen singles - including several hits and chart-toppers on the Tio i topp chart - and one album, all of which are collected on Bingo!! For The Lee Kings: Expanded Edition. This RPM Records release, licensed from Warner Music Group, Universal and the band itself, has a whopping 48 tracks on two CDs, representing everything The Lee Kings recorded in their
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up featuring a host of deluxe reissues, box sets, and more! Phil Collins, Face Value: Deluxe Edition (Atlantic/Rhino) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Phil Collins' 1981 classic featuring "In the Air Tonight" gets expanded to two CDs or DD with the addition of eight live tracks and four demos (plus a new, modern cover photograph echoing the original). Ten of the twelve bonuses are new
Welcome to today's Release Round-Up for the first international Friday release date! Like you, we're still adjusting to the switch from Monday in the U.K./Tuesday in the U.S. to a worldwide Friday date. Please sound off in the comments below on whether you would like to see us run this longtime feature each Friday, or earlier in the week (so that you may plan ahead for Release Day)! The Hollies, Changin' Times: The Complete Hollies, January '69 - March '73 (Parlophone) (Amazon U.S. /
Parlophone is getting back on a carousel this July with the release of a new 5-CD box set from The Hollies. Changin' Times: The Complete Hollies January '69 - March '73 follows up the label's 2011 collection The Clarke, Hicks & Nash Years: The Complete Hollies: April 1963 - October 1968. The July 10 U.K. release collects every commercially-released album track and non-album single from the band recorded between January 1969 and March 1973, for a total of 92 songs (including some previously
Ray Parker Jr. & Run-DMC, Ghostbusters: Stay Puft Edition Super Deluxe Vinyl (Legacy) The Marshmallow Man is back! The Stay Puft Super Deluxe Edition Vinyl is a limited edition collectible that every Ghostbusters fan will want to take home! Co-produced by The Second Disc's Mike Duquette, this set contains the No. 1 hit single “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr. and the “Ghostbusters” rap by Run-DMC for the film’s hit sequel, with both tracks on a white 12” single in a deluxe, puffy,
George Harrison, The Apple Years 1968-1975 (Apple/Universal, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Here, at last, are George Harrison's complete albums for Apple Records, all beautifully remastered and featuring select bonus material. These six albums are available in a deluxe box set with a bonus DVD or as individual reissues: Wonderwall Music (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Electronic Music (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) All Things Must Pass (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Living in the
The rich harmonies of 2010 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees The Hollies will be celebrated by the Parlophone label on September 22 in the U.K. and October 21 in the U.S. with the release of 50 at Fifty, a new 3-CD career-spanning anthology of 50 songs originally released between 1963 and the present day (including one previously unissued recording). The new anthology, officially announced on The Hollies’ website, includes material from the band’s various lineups as originally released on
RPM Records, an imprint of Cherry Red Group, continues to leave no stone unturned in its explorations of every corner of the British pop-rock map with three recent collections from Hollies leader Allan Clarke, “Pied Piper” Crispian St. Peters and beat combo The Scorpions. Today, the spotlight is on Sideshow from Allan Clarke, who began singing in Manchester as a youth with his pal Graham Nash and never looked back. Sideshow: Solo Recordings 1973-1976 collects three early solo albums from Allan
2011 was a good year to be a Hollies fan, and it seems that 2012 might follow in its footsteps! Last year, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees saw a plethora of releases on both CD and vinyl from labels like EMI, Sundazed and BGO, reissuing individual albums and offering comprehensive new compilations. This May, a heretofore-unreleased area of the band's history will be rediscovered when EMI issues Radio Fun, a 32-track compilation of some of the classic group's best BBC radio
Queen, Queen / Queen II / Sheer Heart Attack / A Night at the Opera / A Day at the Races: Deluxe Editions (Hollywood) No, you're not seeing double. The first batch of 40th anniversary Queen expanded editions, available in the U.K. since March, make their stateside debuts. There's an Amazon-exclusive box with all of them included, too. Dear readers: any big box retailers carrying these? The only one I imagine that is would be Best Buy. (Official site) The Go-Go's, Beauty and the Beat: 30th
Fans of the Hollies have lately had plenty of items on their wish lists, thanks to recent releases from the Sundazed and BGO labels. Yes, it’s been quite a year in catalogue terms for the lads from Manchester! EMI’s U.K. arm continues the celebration with the May 9 release of one whopper of a box set. The Clarke, Hicks & Nash Years (what about Bobby Elliott? Just askin’!) is subtitled The Complete Hollies: April 1963 – October 1968, and if this is somewhat of a fallacy, it’s more or less the
It's Hollies-mania all over again! Back on February 15, we tipped you to a vinyl box set due April 19 collecting some of the Manchester quintet's toughest-to-find tracks. But it gets better. On the same date that Sundazed releases the Lost Recordings and Beat Rarities box, the label will also continue its vinyl LP reissue series for the band with brand-new releases of Beat Group! and Bus Stop. These 1966 albums for Imperial Records were, respectively, The Hollies' third and fourth American
The Hollies have long existed in the shadow of Graham Nash's other band - you know, the one with two or three other initials. But the lineup of Nash, Allan Clarke, Tony Hicks and Bobby Elliot plus Eric Haydock or Bernie Calvert could be equally potent. And lately, The Hollies have been recipients of a lot of well-deserved love. First came last year's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and then Sundazed kicked off a vinyl campaign reissuing two of the band's hardest-to-find American
The Beatles, Love (iTunes Version) (Apple/EMI) Another Beatles album drops on iTunes: the 2006 soundtrack to the Cirque du Soleil attraction - and this version has two previously unreleased bonus tracks. (iTunes) Miles Davis, Bitches Brew Live (Columbia/Legacy) The jazz great lights up the Newport Jazz and Isle of Wight Festivals in this vintage compilation (Sony) The Stan Getz Quintets, The Clef & Norgran Studio Albums (Verve/Hip-o Select) A three-disc box collating Getz's early
Before discovering his golden vocal blend with David Crosby and Stephen Stills, Graham Nash made sweet music with Allan Clarke as a member of The Hollies. With a core lineup of Nash, Clarke, Tony Hicks and Bobby Elliott (with bassist Eric Haydock replaced by Bernie Calvert in 1966), The Hollies possessed arguably the finest harmonies of any British Invasion act, and the band was finally rewarded with a coveted spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. Like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones