"Yesterday's Gone": the song by folk-pop duo Chad and Jeremy opens the first of the six discs comprising Cherry Red and RPM's new box set Fab Gear: The British Beat Explosion and Its Aftershocks 1963-1967. It's a most appropriate opener, as yesterday really was gone for an entire generation of artists swiftly rendered obsolete by the emergence of The Beatles. As the box eloquently explains, the Fab Four "in name, song, band structure, image, defined this new Beat music...Until 1967, when The
If there was any doubt that history could be engaging as well as informative, such doubt would be dispelled by a listen to Bear Family's new release, the 4-CD box set Battleground Korea: Songs and Sounds of America's Forgotten War. Make no mistake, the handsomely slipcased collection is as imposing and heavy as a textbook, as its four discs are housed within a lavish, 160-page hardcover tome. But this immersive journey can't help but thrill in its scope and execution. It follows previous Bear
Tomorrow, May 25, Numero Group is conjuring up a world of tikis, palm trees, and colorful drinks - in other words, a Technicolor Paradise. After years of successfully excavating the rarest soul, jazz, R&B, New Age, and more, the label has turned its attention to the realm of exotica. The genre's blend of lounge, jazz, pop and all sounds beyond inspired a number of artists who didn't receive the same attention as, say, Martin Denny, Yma Sumac, Arthur Lyman, and Esquivel. An alternate
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Bruce Springsteen, The Album Collection Vol. 2, 1987-1996 (Columbia/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Bruce Springsteen boxes up the second set of his albums in chronological order, remastered by Bob Ludwig and Toby Scott using the Plangent Process. The collection is only available on vinyl, although a limited edition CD version is being released in Japan only. The CD version is now available for pre-order at Amazon U.S. /
Back in 2013, Ace Records launched its first collection of Motown Girls, spotlighting previously unreleased tracks from the legendary ladies of Motown Records. A second installment arrived in 2015, and now, we're finally the recipient of a third volume in the series. The 24-song anthology Baby I've Got It! More Motown Girls boasts 16 previously unreleased tracks, with the remaining eight drawn from the Motown Unreleased compilations (all of which have been digital-only except for the one
This Friday - April 20, or 4/20 - is a date that's not going unnoticed by the folks at the Jazz Dispensary label. And the festivities are continuing right through Record Store Day. On Friday, Jazz Dispensary teams with SPARC's four cannabis dispensaries for a new 7-inch vinyl single, which will be followed on Saturday's Record Store Day by the release of the 12-inch LP Soul Diesel II. The annual cannabis celebration 420 falls this Friday, hence the release that day of Private Stock Series #
Ace Records rightfully has a reputation for its top-notch collections, and three recent releases are no exception to that rule. Jon Savage's 1965: The Year The Sixties Ignited follows previous releases compiled for Ace by historian Savage covering the years 1966 and 1967. This latest volume, with 48 tracks on 2 CDs, explores how the various strains of pop music came together to awaken the culture: whether the power of Motown (the label had six number ones) or Bob Dylan (who inspired an
I Said, She Said, Ah Cid: With this delightfully offbeat release, Cherry Red's Grapefruit label has turned in one of the year's most intriguing releases. Ah cid, or acid, is in the air on this trippy 3-CD jaunt through the vaults of Alshire Records, the California-based budget label best known for the long-running 101 Strings series. As the subtitle - The Exploito Psych World of Alshire Records 1967-1971 - indicates, this set is focused squarely on the brief period in which Al Sherman's
Cherry Red's Soul Time imprint is on fire! The crate-digging team there unearthed two box sets' worth of R&B rarities in the final months of 2017 that we're happy to spotlight now! Mr. M's Northern Soul 1974-1981 is a 3-CD set celebrating the "oldies room" at the Wigan Casino, the late, fondly-remembered club in Wigan, England famous for its northern soul all-nighters held each Saturday from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. Sunday morning. Mr. M's was born out of necessity in 1974, a "club within a
The subject of a new collection from Ace Records isn't exactly a household name. But if you didn't know the name of Robert Kirby before, you certainly will after a listen to When the Day is Done: The Orchestrations of Robert Kirby. The titular orchestrator is best known for his lush adornment of Nick Drake's records, conjuring up a pastoral England that couldn't be more removed from the swingin' era that preceded it. A brief track from Drake opens this collection before it cedes to an
Stax Records is rightfully renowned for its catalogue of deep southern soul straight from the heart of Memphis. But, like its famous Detroit competitor Motown, the label founded by Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton released music in a variety of sounds and styles. The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968 (released in 1991 and reissued by Rhino in 2016 was the first major archival box to begin to address the Stax legacy in record-by-record fashion. It was followed by The Complete Stax-Volt Soul
Welcome to Part Two of our Ace Records Round-Up! If you missed Part One's spotlight on releases from Clarence Carter and James Carr, just click here! Abe Tilmon, Iry Tilmon, and James Mitchell, a.k.a. The Emeralds, hailed from Little Rock, Arkansas, but once the vocal trio moved to the Motor City in 1967, they rechristened themselves The Detroit Emeralds and signed to Ed Wingate's waning Ric-Tic label. It proved an auspicious start when their debut single, "Show Time," made No. 22 on the
Having previously tackled the music and sounds of The Vietnam War on a comprehensive box set, the Bear Family label has turned its attention to chronicling another conflict. Battleground Korea: Songs and Sounds of America's Forgotten War, arriving from the label in the U.S on March 23, is a lavish 4-CD anthology from the historically-minded musical specialists, bringing into the sharp focus the soundtrack of the Korean War. Over 121 tracks, the Bear team brings together songs in the various
The beguiling Brazilian sounds of the bossa nova have long been a part of the repertoire from Cherry Red's El Records imprint. In the second half of 2017, the label released two more slipcased double-disc collections celebrating the music that - much like that girl from Ipanema - makes you go, "Aaaaah." João Gilberto and the Stylists of Bossa Nova Sing Antonio Carlos Jobim pairs the most famous vocalist and most famous composer of the genre in one package, while The Women of Bossa Nova Volume
Cherry Red's RPM imprint has recently touched on a variety of genres in a trio of 3-CD box sets which are small in size but chock full of rare musical offerings. Am I Dreaming? 80 Brit Girl Sounds of the '60s draws on a diverse range of Brit girl styles including pop, rock, folk, mod, R&B, and psychedelia. It showcases how Motown and the Brill Building sounds traveled across the Atlantic, as well as uniquely homegrown British sounds. RPM previously chronicled this era on eight volumes
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 has become a yearly tradition for the past several years, Motown released a "copyright extension" compilation of previously unreleased tracks at the very end of 2017, only a couple of weeks after last year's similar set got a physical release. Motown Unreleased: 1967 gathers 89 tracks across the equivalent of 4 CDs, all previously unheard treasures from the seemingly inexhaustible Motown vaults. Like the collections of the past couple of years, there is a wide range of Motown talent on
We're continuing to look at the 60th anniversary releases from legendary R&B powerhouse label Stax Records with a single-CD or LP collection that just might make a perfect stocking stuffer! Stax Country (CR 00009), from Craft Recordings, takes a fresh look at some of the other, non-R&B music emanating from the corridors of Stax's studios on East McLemore Avenue - in particular some "Sweet Country Music." That's the title of the twangy ditty recorded in 1975 by Becki Bluefield which
Can You Feel the Force? asks the title of Groove Line Records' new compilation of The John Luongo Disco Mixes. The force is undeniable on this 2-CD, 21-track selection of some of the finest floor-fillers crafted by the Boston DJ-turned-pioneering disco mix master. Luongo had a vision for disco that extended beyond the expected; hence, this dynamite set mostly drawn from the Sony vaults features an eclectic array of artists from the realms of R&B (The Jacksons. Gladys Knight and the Pips,
When it comes to Stax Records' 60th anniversary celebration, why should CDs have all the fun? The vinyl release of The Stax Vinyl 7s Box from Concord and UMC (STX 00252) brings fourteen rare tracks from across the Stax family of labels to seven 45 RPM singles, all emblazoned with the familiar yellow, finger-snapping logo. Compiler Richard Searling's raison d'etre is a simple one, as he sets forth in the liner notes: "I've selected the content based on my experience of featuring these songs in
Since 1977, Blind Pig Records has been a leading light for the blues in all its many forms. The label, originally formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan and named for that city's Blind Pig Café (welcoming musical artists since 1971), has just celebrated its fortieth anniversary with a new 2-CD, 34-track compendium. Blind Pig Records: 40th Anniversary Collection boasts selections from each decade of the Blind Pig story, featuring many recognizable artists and some lesser-known lights that might just
The history of commercial recorded music stretches back over 100 years and has encompasses the stories of many artists and talents. One of the biggest figures in this early history was Ralph S. Peer. The A&R (Artists and Repertoire) and publishing pioneer might not be a household name today, but he made major contributions to many varied musical genres including blues, country and Latin. Sony Music Latin has recently released a wide-ranging, eclectic 3-CD box set entitled The Roots of
From folk to space-age pop and heartrending soul, Ace Records and its Kent Records imprint have got collectors covered with a number of recent releases. Wilson Pickett Sings Bobby Womack on Kent Records traces the many meetings of the two soul titans - 17 tracks, in fact, all recorded between May 1966 and September 1968 and culled from The Wicked Pickett's tenure at Atlantic Records. Although Womack's time as an artist at the New York label was short (just one 1966 single, "Find Me Somebody"
Given the speed and frequency with which the Motown label made recordings during its heyday, the company's vaults are known to be vast. Large amounts of unreleased material have been added to compilations and reissues over the years, while still other collections have been solely devoted to never-before-heard tracks from the label's superstars. Due to European copyright laws that allow unused recordings to enter the public domain, Motown has been releasing digital-only copyright-extension
Even if you don't know the name of Bert Berns, chances are you know the songs he wrote ("Twist and Shout," "I Want Candy," "Hang On, Sloopy," "Piece of My Heart"), produced ("Under the Boardwalk," "Baby I'm Yours," "Brown-Eyed Girl," "Here Comes the Night") and oversaw as head of Bang Records ("Cherry, Cherry," "Solitary Man" and the rest of Neil Diamond's earliest recordings). Though Berns died in the final days of 1967 at just 38 years of age, a year hasn't gone by since when his songs haven't
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