In recent years, Rhino has aggressively courted the audiophile market with such series as the four-channel Quadio Blu-rays, and the audiophile-quality vinyl lines Rhino Reserves and Rhino High Fidelity. Two of Rhino High Fidelity’s recent releases underscore how the label has gone the extra mile in presentation, supplementing the stellar analog mastering by Kevin Gray and 180-gram vinyl pressing at Optimal Media with classic “tip-on” packaging and even liner notes in the best Rhino tradition. The RHF reissues of The Velvet Underground’s Loaded and The Stooges’ Fun House look as good as…
Who Loves The Sun: Rhino High Fidelity Reissues Velvet Underground, Stooges Classics
Rhino High Fidelity, the label’s audiophile-standard line of vinyl reissues, has announced its first releases of 2026: two classic rock milestones from the dawn of the 1970s. Limited to 5,000 units each, The Velvet Underground’s Loaded and The Stooges’ Fun House are both available now exclusively from Rhino.com. Each album has been cut from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray and pressed on 180-gram black vinyl at Optimal in Germany. Both titles are housed in sturdy, glossy “tip-on” jackets and contain newly-penned liner notes. Despite the tumultuous period surrounding the birth…
Baby I’m-A Want You: Elektra Celebrates 75 Years with Monthlong Initiative
Jac Holzman was still in college when he and pal Paul Rickolt each chipped in three hundred bucks to start a record company. That label, Elektra Records – so named for Greek mythology’s daughter of Atlas and Pleione, but with the “c” swapped out for a “k” – inaugurated its catalogue with the simply-titled New Songs, an album of poetry settings by composer-pianist John Gruen. Elektra soon shifted its emphasis to folk music, growing its discography with recordings by Theodore Bikel, Josh White, Judy Collins, Oscar Brand, and Tom Paxton before branching…
Listen to the Music: Rhino’s Rocktober Slate Features Doobie Brothers, Yes, Fleetwood Mac, Monkees, More
Rhino’s annual Rocktober campaign – this year encompassing 43 limited edition colored vinyl reissues of rockers both classic and contemporary – kicked off on October 4 with titles from Black Sabbath, Bush, Deep Purple, Devo, The Doobie Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, The Monkees, Stone Temple Pilots, and more. Next, on October 18, the collection will grow to include releases from Ramones and The Velvet Underground. The slate concludes on October 25 with The Cars, Foghat, Iron Butterfly, and more, including a second volume of Yes’ Yessingles. As usual, Rocktober titles will only be…
Party It Down: “We’re An American Band” Explores U.S. Hard Rock with Grand Funk, Vanilla Fudge, Mountain, Spirit, Nazz, More
We’re An American Band: the new 3-CD collection from Cherry Red’s Grapefruit Records is titled after Grand Funk (Railroad)’s 1973 chart-topping anthem. The song penned by Don Brewer and produced by Todd Rundgren was a semi-autobiographical look at life on the road, complete with parties, groupies, and guest stars. The story goes that the title phrase developed from a friendly argument between Grand Funk and Humble Pie about British vs. American rock. Brewer insisted that wasn’t the way it happened, but the resulting song indeed made the case for the U.S. hard…
The Weekend Stream: February 4, 2023
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. Today sees digital reissues of Raw Power, The Chronic, rare Motown, unreleased music from a Cash family member and more. The Stooges, Raw Power (50th Anniversary Legacy Edition) (Columbia/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon) Look out honey, ’cause he’s using technology! The Stooges’ seminal proto-punk classic celebrates a half-century with a new digital deluxe edition that bundles up everything from…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Gimme Danger: Cherry Red Collects Iggy and The Stooges’ “Raw Power”-Era Rehearsals on New Box Set
Cherry Red has recently released its second volume of archival material from Iggy Pop and The Stooges following 2020’s You Think You’re Bad, Man? The Road Tapes ’73-’74. The new title is Born in a Trailer: The Session and Rehearsal Tapes ’72-’73, and it’s a 4-CD collection chronicling the band’s rehearsal recordings made in London, Michigan, Los Angeles, Detroit, and New York. Author Kris Needs doesn’t pull any punches in his liner notes to this box when he describes this period in Stooges history as a “slow motion car crash.” Yet he…
Holiday Gift Guide: Vinyl Me, Please – A Year in Review
Over the past few months you’ve probably heard us mention Vinyl Me Please. The subscription-based record club frequently partners with the major labels to create exclusive pressings from across genres. They also curate Records of the Month for subscribers – available in three tracks: Classics, Essentials, and Hip Hop – specially selected by their staff to spotlight albums of importance in pop, rock, soul, world music, jazz, and beyond. This year, the offerings ran the gamut from The Stooges, Errol Garner, Stevie Nicks, John Mayer, McCoy Tyner, Gabor Szabo, Otis Redding, and…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Release Round-Up: Week of August 7
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Neil Diamond, Live Reissues 1972-2018 (Capitol/UMe) Hot August Night (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Links TBD / uDiscoverMusic.com) Love at the Greek (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / uDiscoverMusic.com) Hot August Night II (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / uDiscoverMusic.com) Hot August Night/NYC (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / uDiscovermusic.com) Hot August Night III (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / uDiscovermusic.com) All-Time Greatest Hits (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / uDiscoverMusic.com / Target.com) Capitol and UMe are reissuing five classic Neil Diamond live albums as 2-LP vinyl editions beginning with 1972’s seminal Hot August Night and continuing with the unofficial sequel Love at the Greek (1977) as well as Hot August Night…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Everybody’s Movin’: Third Man Records Presses Up Rare Stooges Set “Live At Goose Lake,” Albert Ayler Gem “New Grass”
Jack White’s Third Man Records has established itself as a formidable addition to the list of fine reissue labels. Though Third Man most often deals with Jack White’s back catalog and production work, every so often, the label delivers a lost classic by legendary musicians. Such is the case with a pair of new releases – a live set from The Stooges vintage 1970, and a reissue of a beloved if challenging free jazz/soul album by saxophonist Albert Ayler. New Grass is available now. The album was a departure for Ayler as…
Lost in The Future: The Stooges’ “Fun House” Receives 50th Anniversary, 15-LP Reissue
In 1999, Rhino Handmade released The Complete Fun House Sessions, a 7-CD box set that included almost every take from The Stooges’ sophomore effort, Fun House. Now, the label will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Fun House with a luxurious vinyl box set, due July 17. Fun House – 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition includes a newly remastered 2-LP, 45rpm presentation of the landmark album alongside the vinyl debut of the Complete Fun House Sessions. Available exclusively through Rhino.com, the 15-LP box set will be limited to 1,970 numbered copies. Listeners will hear “no less…
Real Cool Time: “The Stooges” Turns 50 with Deluxe Edition Featuring Speed-Corrected John Cale Mixes
The Stooges’ thunderous 1969 debut has received a number of upgrades in the compact disc realm including significant reissues in 2005 and 2010. Now, Rhino has brought that seminal rock classic into the digital domain with the release of The Stooges: 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition. This set mirrors the contents of the 2010 double-disc set with the original album, studio outtakes, and alternates (never-before-available digitally), plus John Cale’s rejected mix of the original album, which is being released at the correct speed for the first time. This 26-song presentation is available…
Run Out Groove Round-Up: The Dream Syndicate, The Stooges, Secret Machines and Morphine
Today, we’re taking a look at four recent titles pressed for audiophile-level vinyl excellence by the Run Out Groove label! Run Out Groove embraces the Paisley Underground with the vinyl premiere of The Dream Syndicate’s The Complete Live at Raji’s. Recorded on January 31, 1988 (not 1989, as indicated on the original CD release of the truncated album), the set captured the underground heroes prior to the release of their Ghost Stories album – and a year prior to their breakup. But the line-up, at this point consisting of Steve Wynn (vocals…
Lost In The Future: Run Out Groove Preps Stooges’ “Fun House Sessions” Highlights on Vinyl
Run Out Groove Vinyl has announced its newest limited-edition offering. The label and Rhino affiliate will follow up the MC5’s Motor City Five collection as well as Echo and the Bunnymen, Secret Machines, and The Dream Syndicate with a vinyl premiere from the powerful proto-punk rockers The Stooges. The 2-LP set Highlights from the Fun House Sessions is currently available for pre-order now exclusively at Run Out Groove, with a release date set for September 15. Pre-orders will close on July 1, at which time the title will become available to general…
The Bad Seeds: “Nick Cave Heard Them Here First” Features Dylan, Cash, Pitney, More
Ace Records has an unusual name on its roster: that of Australian musical iconoclast Nick Cave. An artist who’s lived up to his description as rock’s “Prince of Darkness,” Cave has nonetheless drawn on a wide array of influences in crafting his own intense, personal and powerful songbook. Ace has rounded up the original versions of 25 songs recorded over the years by the artist on the collection entitled Nick Cave Heard Them Here First. This anthology follows the label’s similar sets for The Ramones, The New York Dolls, David Bowie, Elvis…
Chili Peppers Revisit Classic Covers on Digital EP
How do the Red Hot Chili Peppers celebrate their graduation to legend status per their recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction? They pay tribute to the ones that came before on a new digital EP that includes a handful of B-sides paying tribute to their favorite fellow inductees. We Salute You, to be released May 1, includes covers of Dion and The Belmonts, The Ramones, The Stooges, Neil Young, The Beach Boys and David Bowie, all of which can certainly be argued as influences for the long-running funk-rock outfit. Half…
Review: The Stooges, “Have Some Fun: Live at Ungano’s”
Perhaps more than any other band, you can learn a great deal about The Stooges without ever taking a really close listen to their music. For instance, when Raw Power, the band’s final album before a lengthy split, was remastered and reissued in 1997, chaotic lead singer Iggy Pop personally remastered the album to be as unlistenable as possible. Volume levels were at a violent, threatening level – a potent reminder of the band’s sonic death wish and Pop’s iconic, self-destructive attitude. The album was restored to its original, David Bowie-created mix in a…
Stooges Live Show, Out-of-Print Box Set Unearthed (UPDATED 10/25)
For a band that nobody seemed to care about when they were together, The Stooges have really done alright for themselves. All three of their major studio albums have been reissued multiple times to varying degrees of acclaim. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year for their contributions to the early punk rock scene before anyone knew exactly what punk was. And Rhino is planning a few Stooges-oriented holiday gift ideas to close out a banner year that saw another reissue of the band’s 1969…
Iggy Goes Back to “Kill City”
A bit of news that had slipped through the cracks: a reissue of a lesser-known record in the Iggy Pop catalogue. This one is a remixed and remastered version of Kill City, his 1977 collaboration with James Williamson. Recorded in 1975 after The Stooges imploded (while Pop was in treatment for a heroin addiction), Kill City is another protopunk effort with some great efforts by Williamson (ex-guitarist for The Stooges). While it may not have the impact that those Stooges LPs still have, it was an important stepping stone for Iggy between…
News Round-Up: Steve Winwood, India.Arie and The Stooges
There’s some new info to post about Revolutions: The Very Best of Steve Winwood, the upcoming four-disc Steve Winwood box that may or may not be as good as the last Winwood box. This comes from a comment by an admin on Winwood’s official Web site. Also, note that the Amazon selling price is a not-terrible $39.98: All the material in this box set was transferred from the original analogue master tapes at 24-bit, 192k resolution in 2010 using the highest quality Prism A-D conversion. The albums “About Time” and “Nine Lives” have been entirely…
Still Your Dog
After a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction and an upcoming reissue of their most iconic record, what more can The Stooges pull from their back catalogue? Not surprisingly, there’s an answer: Rhino Handmade is prepping a two-disc reissue of the band’s 1969 self-titled debut LP. Of course, as you may have read last week, the album already was given a double-disc reissue by Rhino in 2005. This set ups the ante by presenting a complete, alternate mix of the record and several unearthed songs. The set will also feature a bonus…
Back Tracks: The Stooges
We continue our ongoing Rock and Roll Hall of Fame pre-game coverage by looking back at another batch of reissue offerings from one of the inducted artists. The Stooges were one of those bands that were in the right place at the wrong time. Their music was raucous and energetic, their antics were nothing short of ostentatious. But when they rolled onto the scene in 1969, they really had no place in the rock music landscape behaving the way they did. Sure, other big rock bands of the day were into mind-altering substances…
“Raw Power” to Melt Faces in April
Fans of The Stooges, get ready for a rush: Legacy Recordings is reissuing Raw Power, one of the most iconic pre-punk rock records of the 1970s. And hardcore fans are going to drool over the goodies that are coming their way. The standard set is going to be a two-disc Legacy Edition (you know, the ones in a double digipak with a slip case). On the first disc is the original album as originally mixed by David Bowie. This is a really big deal, as the last time Legacy reissued the record…
