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
As one of the most influential songwriters of his generation - or any other - Bob Dylan's music has long transcended borders, physical or otherwise. The Minnesota native's music struck a chord in Britain, both on the concert stage (see: the famous "Judas!" concert) and on records, and his influence on British artists from The Beatles down can't be underestimated. It's no surprise that his songs were seized upon by British artists with a zeal equal to that of their American counterparts. Ace
In less than two weeks, the Stax Records 60th anniversary celebration will continue with a new set jointly produced by Concord Bicycle Music and Rhino. Soulsville U.S.A.: A Celebration of Stax is a 60-song, 3-CD journey through the heart of Memphis with some of the Stax label's brightest stars including Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers, Booker T. & the MG's, William Bell, Sam and Dave, and more. It's due on September 22. Soulsville U.S.A. is a successor to the 2007 release
Cherry Red's Robinsongs imprint is turning up the Cool Heat with a new 2-CD, 25-track collection celebrating The Best of CTI Records and featuring many of the classic jazz label's most renowned artists including instrumentalists George Benson, Freddie Hubbard, Hubert Laws, and Stanley Turrentine, and vocalists Nina Simone, Patti Austin, and Esther Phillips. Chances are, if you think of a jazz artist, it wouldn't take many degrees of separation to reach Creed Taylor. The esteemed producer
Around this time last summer, we filled you in on two volumes of Ace's Beat Girls series focusing on sixties starlets from the Pye and Decca labels. Now, Ace has recently released another volume in the series. Marylebone Beat Girls looks at the big-city acts recording out of London's Marylebone district, home of EMI's headquarters and its labels like Parlophone, His Master's Voice, and Columbia. This 25-track collection of uptempo nuggets brings the Swingin' London fusion of pop, rock, and
Randy Newman once observed of his friend Harry Nilsson, "The records Harry made, and the first records I made, it was like The Rolling Stones never existed." Indeed, before his famously chronicled lifestyle as a Hollywood hellraiser threatened to overshadow his reputation as a talent nonpareil (and left his once-angelic voice in tatters), Nilsson had carved out an artful niche of wit and whimsy. He expressed his musical muse in gentle psychedelia, baroque pop, folk rock, vaudeville
The new anthology Milk of the Tree, from Cherry Red's Grapefruit label, sets forth its mission statement clearly in its subtitle: An Anthology of Female Vocal Folk and Singer-Songwriters 1966-1973. Still, how to anthologize such a broad and powerful group of artists during one of the most creatively fertile periods in popular music history? Grapefruit does a fine job in distilling the essence of the period - and charting the growth of artists from a pure pop framework to one in which they
What is the sound of Philadelphia? As Kent Records' exciting compilation Nothing But a House Party: The Birth of The Philly Sound 1967-1971 readily admits, there were many such sounds - the sound of teen idols Fabian and Frankie Avalon; of "South Street" and "The Mashed Potato" and Cameo-Parkway Records; of the doo-wop of The Dreamlovers, and before that, of Italian-American singers like Mario Lanza and Al Martino. But the sound of Philadelphia referenced here is the one with capital letters -
An advertisement reprinted in Ace Records' splendid new collection Making Time: A Shel Talmy Production reads, "Artistes Shel Talmy Has Recorded: The Kinks, The Bachelors, The Who, Chad and Jeremy" and so on. Add to that list Manfred Mann, The Creation, The Fortunes, Trini Lopez, Lee Hazlewood, and a certain David Bowie, and you have an idea of the scope of this first-of-its-kind collection dedicated to the work of the producer-engineer-impresario. Though born in Chicago, Talmy made his name
With its latest project, 7a Records has invited Monkees fans to Listen to the Bands - yes, plural. This recent 25-track collection features modern, independent artists all tackling Davy, Micky, Mike, and Peter's classic songbook - and making it even more special, all profits from the limited edition album will be donated by the label to the Davy Jones Equine Memorial Foundation. Appropriately, curators Glenn Gretlund and Iain Lee of 7a have made sure that many of the famous songwriting names
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
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Beach Boys, 1967: Sunshine Tomorrow (Capitol/Brother/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The Beach Boys' Sunshine Tomorrow, a new 2-CD and digital collection, not only premieres the first-ever true stereo mix of 1967's Wild Honey, but also premieres a whopping 54 rarities recorded that year including the live album Lei'd in Hawaii, session material from both Wild Honey and Smiley Smile, and further live recordings (spanning
A Tribute Told in Vignettes... Well, I don't like to reduce us to just being part of the "Seattle Sound." I'd like to think of us as expanding more. Like, we're huge in Europe right now. I mean, we've got records... uh, a big record just broke in Belgium. -Cliff Poncier, Singles A Cameron Crowe film tends to have a "killer" soundtrack. Listening to a Crowe soundtrack is an intriguing adventure filled with carefully curated juxtapositions. In fact, the experience is a lot like the
Late in 2015, Ace Records released the compilation Jon Savage's 1966: The Year The Decade Exploded to coincide with the publication of the author-historian's book of the same name. Now, Ace and Savage have followed that CD release with another volume - 1967: The Year Pop Divided. The 2-CD collection's mission statement is clearly set out: "MOR ballads were rife in the U.K. charts in 1967, but thankfully not on this dynamic collection of rock, soul, pop, and incipient funk and psych the teenage
With a recent Grammy Awards salute, a new catalogue deal, and the 40th anniversary of Saturday Night Fever, the music of the Bee Gees has been front and center in 2017. Ace Records has joined the celebration of the brothers Gibb with a new entry in the label's long-running Songwriters Series. To Love Somebody: The Songs of The Bee Gees 1966-1970 pulls into focus the early professional years of Barry, Robin, and Maurice, with 24 choice cover versions of songs both familiar and lesser-known.
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Various Artists, Honeybeat: '60s Groovy Girl-Pop (Real Gone Music) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Honeybeat: Groovy 60s Girl Pop, curated by Sheila Burgel from the Sony archives and released on Real Gone Music, features 19 songs from nine different labels, nearly a third of which have never been released on CD. While some tracks come from known artists such as Little Eva, Skeeter
To many, the phrase "English weather" conjures images of fog, clouds, and rain. To Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, English weather means something "melodic, melancholy, with jazz and folk touches, and the same similar shrug of resignation..." So explains the compilers of the recent English Weather, an absorbing 18-track compendium from Ace Records collecting rare and unusual songs that might be, in their words, akin to "an unfamiliar album with a hint of Crosby, Stills and Nash, but an identifiably
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring some of the most hotly-anticipated sets of the year! Fleetwood Mac, Tango in the Night [Various Editions] (Warner Bros./Rhino) 3CD/1DVD/1LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Fleetwood Mac's 1987 album featuring "Little Lies" and "Everywhere" returns in a variety of formats including a 3-CD/1 DVD/1 LP version (with the original
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