The Spell: Jon Anderson’s “Animation” Returns from Cherry Red, Esoteric

The early 1980s marked a time of constant change for Jon Anderson.  He departed the band he co-founded in March after sessions with Roy Thomas Baker (Queen, Dusty Springfield) failed to click and tensions rose with his bandmates Chris Squire, Steve Howe, and Alan White.  (Rick Wakeman left Yes at the same time.)  He was finding more creative freedom when he joined the electronic music pioneer Vangelis as “Jon and Vangelis.”  Their debut Short Stories, released in January 1980, was a top five album in the U.K., and the duo followed it…

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Flight of the Moorglade: Cherry Red, Esoteric Reissue Jon Anderson’s “Olias of Sunhillow”

Jon Anderson’s 1976 solo debut Olias of Sunhillow was a lockdown album decades before those were in vogue.  Recorded in his home’s garage with Anderson on every instrument, the singer-songwriter recalled three months of 10-hour days to bring the ambitious sci-fi/fantasy concept album to life.  While its success was modest – it peaked at No. 47 in the U.S. and a stronger No. 8 at home in the U.K. – Olias musically anticipated Anderson’s collaborations with Vangelis and is today fondly looked upon as one of the finest, if not the finest,…

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Release Round-Up: Week of October 30

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Joni Mitchell Archives – Volume 1: The Early Years (1963-1967) (Rhino) 5-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 5-CD + Lithograph bundle: Joni Mitchell Online Store The first in a series of box sets, Joni Mitchell Archives – Volume 1: The Early Years (1963-1967) features nearly 6 hours of unreleased material – 119 tracks across 5 CDs – all from the period prior to the commencement of the legendary singer-songwriter’s recording career. You’ll hear her first-ever recorded performance, intimate and newly unearthed coffeehouse concerts, home demos, and much more. There’s a total…

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The Walrus and Me: “Looking Through a Glass Onion” Collects Pop-Psych Beatles Covers

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.  Countless various-artists collections of Beatlesongs have proliferated over the years – enough…

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Beyond and Before: Cherry Red’s Avant-Pop and Art-Rock Collection Features Yes, Bowie, Zombies, Procol Harum, Mick Ronson

Cherry Red’s Grapefruit imprint has continued its series of clamshell box sets exploring a particular period or genre in rock history with a new set dedicated to one of the U.K.’s most fertile periods.  The 3-CD Lullabies for Catatonics: A Journey Through the British Avant-Pop/Art Rock Scene 1967-74 offers 49 nuggets at the intersection of pop and rock, psychedelia and pastoral folk, prog and glam, famous and unknown.  Following up previous volumes like I’m a Freak Baby, Dust on the Nettles, and Come Join My Orchestra, this box concentrates (per compiler David…

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Hunting High And Low: Rhino Announces Record Store Day 2019 Lineup

Today, Rhino announced its offerings for the 2019 Record Store Day celebration, taking place at your local brick-and-mortar shop Saturday, April 13. Rhino’s 33 releases highlight several genres of music – soul, rock, rap, comedy, disco, pop, jam bands, prog, and more – on an array of formats including LPs, CDs, picture discs, colored vinyl, and even cassette tapes. Here’s the run-down on all their RSD titles! a-ha, Hunting High and Low: The Early Alternate Mixes – 1 LP – 6,000 copies Hunting High and Low: The Early Alternate Mixes brings together…

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Faster Than The Speeding Light: Rhino’s Black Friday RSD Slate Features Madonna, The Doors, Grateful Dead, Todd Rundgren and More

As we continue to look at the offerings for this Black Friday Record Store Day on November 23, here is a peek at the twelve titles Rhino will be releasing.  As always, these will be available exclusively at all finer independent music shops on Black Friday! The B-52’s – Cosmic Thing The group’s fifth album from 1989, featuring the hits “Love Shack” and “Roam.”  Limited edition of 4,500 copies on 140-gram rainbow colored vinyl. Devo – Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! Devo’s debut album, celebrating its 30th anniversary…

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Release Round-Up: Week of June 29

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! The Supremes, Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland: Expanded Edition (Motown/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The Supremes’ smash 1967 album featuring “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” and “Love Is Here and Now You’re Gone” gets a must-have 2-CD deluxe treatment, including the original mono and stereo albums, rarities, outtakes, remixes, and a live set from The Copacabana in 1967 featuring one of the last joint performances of Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard!  Read more here! Guns N’ Roses, Appetite for Destruction [Various Formats] (Geffen/UMe) 1CD:…

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Sound Chaser: Steven Wilson’s Yes Mixes Debut on Vinyl

As part of Yes’ 50th anniversary celebration, Rhino is readying a new five-album box bringing Steven Wilson’s recent, acclaimed remixes of the band’s storied catalogue to vinyl.  Due on June 29, Yes: The Steven Wilson Remixes features Wilson’s remixed versions of: The Yes Album (1971), Fragile (1971), Close To The Edge (1972), the double album Tales From Topographic Oceans (1973), and Relayer (1974). Each remixed album is a vinyl debut, having previously appeared only in deluxe CD/Blu-ray or DVD-Audio packages. To mark the occasion, longtime Yes collaborator Roger Dean has created new…

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Release Round-Up: Week of November 24

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! “Weird Al” Yankovic, Squeeze Box: The Complete Works of “Weird Al” Yankovic (Legacy) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The world’s premier parodist celebrates his discography with a box set unlike any other: all 14 of his original albums, newly remastered; Medium Rarities, a bonus album of rare and unreleased material; and a 100+ page book of rare photos and memorabilia–all packaged in a replica of Al’s signature accordion! INXS, Kick 30 (Atlantic/Rhino (U.S.)…

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One of a Kind: Bruford Brings Box Set

As the founding drummer of Yes and a prominent member of King Crimson in the 1970s, Bill Bruford was a key figure in the developing prog rock scene. Now, he’s preparing a box set devoted to the first band he ever created: the aptly-titled Bruford. Seems Like a Lifetime Ago 1977-1980 will include Bruford’s complete output, with some exciting extras as well. The group’s first two albums, Feels Good to Me (1978) and One of a Kind (1979), have been newly remixed in both stereo and 5.1 surround by Jakko Jakszyk; One…

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Release Round-Up: Week of August 11

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Jo Stafford, It Had to Be You: Lost Radio Recordings (Real Gone Music)  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Jo Stafford’s It Had To Be You: Lost Radio Recordings features 24 performances from the legendary vocalist’s stint as co-host (with crooner Tony Martin) of The Carnation Contented Hour on CBS Radio from 1950-1951.  With songs by mainstays of the Great American Songbook like Harold Arlen (“I’ve Got the World on a String”), Rodgers and Hart (“Little Girl Blue”), Irving Berlin (“It’s a Lovely Day Today”) and Cole Porter (“In The Still of the…

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Warner Music Plans Record Store Day Bonanza

Record Store Day has been an institution for a decade now, so leave it to this year’s 10th anniversary event to be one of the biggest! We’ve already shone the spotlight on releases by David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Prince, Omnivore Recordings and Legacy Recordings; now, it’s time to take a look at Warner Music’s incredibly generous lineup. Over 30 titles will be featured from the label group at independent record stores on Saturday, April 22. There’s really something for everyone: vintage 12″ singles from the likes of Madonna, Jane’s Addiction and Deee-Lite;…

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Release Round-Up: Week of October 7

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up which just might be the biggest slate of the year to date! Lou Reed, The RCA and Arista Album Collection (RCA/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Legacy brings together 16 Lou Reed albums from his RCA and Arista years on 17 CDs, all remastered directly under Reed’s supervision before his untimely passing in 2013.  An 80-page hardbound booklet with detailed liner notes, five art prints and a poster round out this limited edition package.  Read more here! Prince, The Prince Movie Collection (Warner Home Video) (Amazon…

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Release Round-Up: Week of September 30

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! The Rolling Stones, The Rolling Stones in Mono (ABKCO) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The Rolling Stones in Mono captures, on 15 CDs or 16 LPs, the original mono albums released on both sides of the Atlantic between 1964 and 1969 including the exceptionally rare mono editions of Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967), Beggars Banquet (1968) and Let It Bleed (1969).  Exclusive to the box is Stray Cats, a single-CD/double-LP collection of mono single-only material and odds and ends,…

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Release Round-Up: Week of November 6

This week’s Release Round-Up brings the year’s most eagerly-anticipated box set, a stunning new collection from the Fab Four, a Christmas feast including two titles from Second Disc Records, and more! Bob Dylan, The Bootleg Series: Volume 12 – The Cutting Edge (Columbia/Legacy) The Best of the Cutting Edge 2-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. The Best of the Cutting Edge 3-LP Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. The Cutting Edge 6-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. The Cutting Edge: Collector’s Edition 18-CD: BobDylan.com Exclusive Whether you’re in for the 2-CD, 6-CD, or 18-CD edition, you…

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Release Round-Up: Week of May 26

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up!  We hope all of our U.S. readers enjoyed a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  And now, without further ado, onto the music! Yes, Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Finally, after a brief delay, Progeny is here! This whopping 14-CD box captures seven complete concerts from Yes circa 1972 – the same tour leading up to the performances preserved on Yessongs.  For those who don’t need 14 discs, 2-CD and 3-LP Highlights distillations are also available (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) !…

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Release Round-Up: Week of May 19

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up featuring a number of rock legends! Yes, Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) This whopping 14-CD box captures seven complete concerts from Yes circa 1972 – the same tour leading up to the performances preserved on Yessongs.  For those who don’t need 14 discs, 2-CD and 3-LP Highlights distillations are also available (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) ! Jeff Beck, Live+ (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Guitar hero Jeff Beck returns with a new live album culled from his 2014…

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Sensitive Chaos: Rhino To Release Anthology From Steve Howe of Yes

Get ready to say “Yes” to a new retrospective from progressive-rock great Steve Howe.  The English guitarist has curated a new 33-track retrospective, simply titled Anthology, for release on March 10 via Rhino.  The 2-CD set, also available as a digital download, is primarily drawn from the studio albums he’s recorded between 1975 and 2011.  It arrives just weeks before the May 19 release of Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two, the 14-CD box set preserving Howe and Yes’ performances on their landmark 1972 tour. Drawing inspiration from talents as diverse as Chet Atkins…

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Short Takes: Yes’ Massive Box Set, Metallica’s Original Demo and Van Halen Remasters

There soon will be many more Yessongs. Progressive rockers Yes released the triple-LP live album Yessongs in 1973. It captured the band at the height of its powers, riding a wave of success thanks to the 1972 album Close to the Edge. In the weeks leading up to the recording of Yessongs, however, the band recorded a number of shows that are now being collected in Rhino’s massive 14-CD box set Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two. The May 19 release contains seven complete shows recorded in the fall of 1972 as Jon Anderson,…

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Real Gone Has “Rhapsodies” In April From Dusty Springfield, Rick Wakeman, Jesse Winchester and More

One surefire cure for the winter blues is to think ahead to the warmer climates awaiting us in spring.  And Real Gone Music is seeing to it that April 2015 will shower not only with rain but with a full slate of new releases! This batch includes a sprawling set from Yes’ Rick Wakeman produced the great Tony Visconti, two more visits down memory lane with Grateful Dead, plus some rare music from underrated singer/songwriters Craig Fuller and Eric Kaz, and Jesse Winchester.  And that’s not all.  Real Gone also premieres on…

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Sound Chaser: Steven Wilson Revisits Yes, Jethro Tull In Stereo and Surround

When it comes to new surround-sound mixes, one name has become closely associated with the format: Steven Wilson. Keeper of the progressive-rock flame and frontman for Porcupine Tree, Wilson has in recent years created definitive 5.1 remixes for artists like King Crimson, Yes, XTC, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Gentle Giant, and Jethro Tull. It was recently announced that Wilson would be extending his talents to an upcoming reissue from (non-prog!) rock band Tears for Fears, and we can also confirm that he is continuing his work with the catalogues of Yes and…

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