Rock Hall Gets It Right

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its inductees earlier this evening, and the results are actually quite exciting.

The artists inducted are Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond, Dr. John, Darlene Love and Tom Waits. Leon Russell is getting the Award for Musical Excellence (formerly known as the Sidemen category) while the Ahmet Ertegun Award will go to Jac Holzman (founder of Elektra Records) and Art Rupe (founder of Specialty Records, the label that gave us Little Richard and “Tutti Frutti”).

Much of the press will go to Diamond finally receiving the credit he deserves as a rock artist, but this class – all consisting of solid performers from the 1960s and 1970s – is a bright one for fans of classic rock and roll. Let’s hope these accolades get the major labels to honor those artists with some nice reissues or box sets. (Here is a good place to start!)

The induction ceremony will air live on Fuse from New York City’s Waldorf-Astoria on March 14.

Bob Marley to “Live Forever” on New Live Set

Arguably, Bob Marley already is living forever, at least musically. His catalogue has been treated well through various reissues and compilations from Island Records since his death in 1981; the compilation Legend remains the highest-selling reggae album in history, with sales in excess of 14 million copies in the U.S. alone.

With the 30th anniversary of Marley’s passing imminent, Tuff Gong/UMe preps another treat from the vault: his last recorded concert, in support of the Uprising album. Live Forever is a double-disc set recorded at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 23, 1980. The release will cover the whole set list over two compact discs; there will also be a super deluxe edition packing those CDs along with three LPs of the concert.

The full track list is after the jump; Live Forever can be ordered here and here and will be in stores on February 1.

Legacy Readies New Playlists for 2011

Legacy Recording has got another batch of titles in the long-running Playlist series for next month.

The line-up is particularly diverse, stretching from soul (Lou Rawls, Patti Labelle) to more recent pop acts (Five for Fighting, Ace of Base, Bowling for Soup) and even touching on some gospel acts (including a spiritual disc from Willie Nelson). They’re not as heavy on the rarities, although some of the sets have some appealing rare cuts; Mr. Mister’s compilation will feature four tracks from the recently-released Pull, and The Outfield will debut a new single (from a forthcoming album) on their set.

All these titles are coming out January 25. Order them here and check out the track lists after the jump!

“Titans,” “Flesh” Close Out Intrada’s Year in Score Reissues

Intrada has announced their final four catalogue soundtrack releases to round out the year.

First up is Laurence Rosenthal’s complete score to the classic action/fantasy film Clash of the Titans (1981). This box office hit starred Harry Hamlin as the mythic hero Perseus, who ventured across ancient Greece battling classic monsters, all expertly created by stop-motion animation guru Ray Harryhausen. (The Gorgon Medusa as seen in the film still gives us the chills!) Intrada’s double-disc set greatly expands upon both the original Columbia LP and a 1997 expansion on PEG Recordings, making it your sole destination for all the music in the best stereo sound quality. Clash of the Titans is limited to 3,000 copies.

Next up is Navy SEALS, Lewis Teague’s score to the 1990 action film starring Charlie Sheen and Bill Paxton. Though some may know the film as a punchline in a scene in Clerks (1994), it’s a serviceable action score finally getting its due on CD (the original Atlantic soundtrack was all pop songs). It’s a small release, limited to 1,200 copies.

Then there’s a two-fer from the Golden Age of film scores. The Fox films On the Threshold of Space (1956) and The Hunters (1958) make their debut in any format. Lyn Murray composed the score to Threshold, an early film about astronauts, while Dean Sawtell composed The Hunters, a military action flick with Robert Mitchum. As a bonus, the disc also includes the music heard in the trailer for The Hunters. This set tops out at 1,000 copies.

Finally, we have the score to Flesh + Blood, a 1985 adventure about mercenaries in 16th century Europe. Basil Poledouris wrote this score for director Paul Verhoeven (the duo would join forces two years later for Robocop, also reissued by Intrada this year), and the composer considered it to be one of his favorites. Intrada had access to the original 24-track session masters, enabling a complete remix from the original film version (something Poledouris had always wanted to do); they also had access to Poledouris and engineer Eric Tomlinson’s original notes on editing, take selection and mixing, allowing this presentation to present the complete score as it was meant to be heard. This set is limited to 2,000 copies, so act fast.

Full track lists are after the jump.

Release Round-Up: Week of December 14

Another incredibly short one as we get closer to Christmas!

Michael Jackson, Michael (Epic)

A posthumous collection (the first of many) consisting of 21st century outtakes by The King of Pop. Did he sing them all? I don’t know, but I know I’ll buy this if only to make Will.i.am angry. (Official site)

Dio, Holy Diver (Niji)

The classic Dio album remastered and pressed onto picture vinyl by the late singer’s own Niji label. (Facebook page)

Bad Religion, 30th Anniversary Box Set (Epitaph)

This massive vinyl box, containing all the band’s albums, has been available to order since November, but it should be in stores now. (Official Web store)

The Smiths, The Smiths / Meat is Murder / The Queen is Dead / The World Won’t Listen / Strangeways, Here We Come (Rhino)

Five Smiths LPs – well, four LPs and one compilation of single-only material – make their digital debut (they’re available on Amazon today; iTunes had ’em earlier this week). Strange that Hatful of Hollow or Rank (which possess the bulk of the band’s live discography) didn’t make the cut, but this is a new fan’s best chance to own The World Won’t Listen instead of its more common American counterpart, Louder Than Bombs. May this lead to a remaster on CD? Let’s hope so! (Morrissey and Marr have actually publicly agreed on something recently – that’s another step in the right direction.) (iTunes, Amazon)