Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! America, Half Century (America Records/Gonzo) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The 50th anniversary celebration of America rolls on with a massive new box set. Half Century is an expansive 7-CD/1-DVD box packed with rare and previously unreleased material from the beloved band featuring Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and the late Dan Peek. There’s a slew of unreleased demos circa 1970; a remastered full-length radio session in Bremen from 1973; rehearsals and demos for the Hideaway album; 11 unheard session recordings from 1981; a disc full of rarities…
The Way It Goes: Esoteric Collects Albums from David Gilmour-Produced Band Unicorn
Unicorn went through a number of names before the band settled on that mystical creature: The Senders, The Pink Bear, The Late Edition, The Late, and just plain Late. The band wasn’t late at all – rather, they were right on time in combining their influences into a striking sound of their own. They’d started as a beat group and put those skills to use backing Billy J. Kramer; then, the discovery of the Southern California sounds of CSN became a major influence. Unicorn blended CSN-style harmonies with Beatles-inspired songcraft, Motown energy,…
Gone So Fast: Omnivore Brings Unicorn’s Lost, Gilmour-Produced Folk-Rock Gems to CD, LP, and Digital
The ’70s folk-rock group Unicorn released three albums for EMI during the decade. The recordings were produced by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour and highlighted the band’s talent for laid-back folk-rock. Their smooth, Eagles-like sound, Crosby & Nash-esque harmonies, and slick, professional production value could have won them critical acclaim, but history has largely forgotten their lush original material. (Cherry Red’s Esoteric imprint has recently taken a look at their core discography.) These days, the group is mostly known for backing up Kate Bush on her first demos and having one of their…
More Tomorrow: Esoteric Reissues Two From Unicorn, David Gilmour-Produced Band
What would it have sounded like if Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour had produced the Eagles? One possible answer comes via his work with the British band Unicorn. Despite the patronage of the psychedelic rocker, Unicorn took many of its cues from the American West Coast. Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings imprint is remastering and expanding two albums from Unicorn, 1976’s Too Many Crooks, and 1977’s One More Tomorrow. Both titles are due this Friday, March 31, in the United Kingdom, and one week later in the United States. The laid-back sound of Too…







