Dreams Come True: Aerosmith’s Classics Coming to iTunes

While most fans of The Second Disc wouldn’t know it – likely owning some of the remasters and compilations that have been on shelves in the past – much of the Aerosmith catalogue has not been available digitally. This changes with the recent announcement of Aerosmith’s first Columbia-era output, including all studio and live albums and select compilations, coming to iTunes on September 6.

Pre-order links are already up through the digital provider for Aerosmith’s seven studio albums from 1973’s Aerosmith to 1982’s Rock in a Hard Place, three live compilations (1978’s Live! Bootleg and the two Classics Live! sets from 1986 and 1987) and a handful of studio collections, including 1980’s Aerosmith’s Greatest Hits (the pre-order links gives an incorrect title and cover art, using the basic details from 2004’s Greatest Hits 1973-1988 but featuring the same track list as the older set), the 1991 anthology Pandora’s Box and Devil’s Got a New Disguise, a 2006 set that was the first single-disc set to feature hits from all of Aerosmith’s label deals, including the late ’80s/early ’90s hit years on Geffen and their late ’90s return to Columbia.

Additionally, Aerosmith’s entry into Legacy’s Essential series will bow digitally and in stores on the same date. However, as is sometimes the case for the product line, The Essential Aerosmith is a repackaged version of the 2002 compilation O Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits, the only other compilation on the market to include Columbia and Geffen-owned tunes in equal measure. (For fans of physical product still looking to complete start their Aerosmith collections, there will also be an Essential 3.0 version of the set, adding a third, six-track disc of deeper cuts from the early Columbia years.

Walk this way (you knew that was coming, I’m sure) for the full list of offerings on iTunes.

Miles Davis’ “Blue Flame” Continues To Burn Bright With New Fan-Selected Comp

For many, the very art of jazz is inextricably tied to the art of improvisation, or creating in the moment.  So it’s both innovative and altogether appropriate that Legacy Recordings is spearheading an improvised album of a sort for one of jazz’s true greats, the trumpeter and composer Miles Davis.  Though christened Blue Flame, little else has been set in stone for the digital-only album which will be released on September 26.  (And even that title was chosen via a fan poll!  Doesn’t it tip the hat nicely to Davis’ 4x platinum 1959 LP, Kind of Blue?) Here’s where the improvisation comes in: Blue Flame will be wholly assembled from votes on Facebook.

Davis’ music, in all its periods from bebop to fusion, continues to speak to legions of fans and musicians alike, so this unique initiative is asking fans to select their favorite tracks from 40 selections offered on Davis’ Facebook page.  “The Miles Davis Fan Project” launched on August 1, and the 40 tracks offered in the program encompass many phases of Davis’ ever-chameleonic musical persona.  His lengthy Columbia Records career spanned 1957 and 1985, during which time his collaborators and sidemen included luminaries like John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans and so many more.  The tracks have been featured on Facebook via social sound sharing platform SoundCloud, powered by RootMusic’s BandPage application.  The tracks feature Facebook’s “Like” button (now virtually a part of the cultural lexicon, itself!) which prompts fans to vote.  The ten recordings that receive the most “Likes” will be assembled as Blue Flame.  A quick glance at Davis’ Facebook page shows favorite tracks like “Bye Bye Blackbird,” “E.S.P.,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So” and “Nefertiti” among the titles in contention.

Hit the jump for more on this fresh initiative!

Clapton Sings the Blues: Vinyl Box Set to Anthologize Late Period Albums

Vinyl enthusiasts are going to have Slowhand for the holidays. A report from fanzine Where’s Eric? announces the November release of Clapton Blues, a five-vinyl box set that encompasses three of Clapton’s great late-period blues albums.

First up is From the Cradle, Clapton’s first LP since the triumphant success of his MTV Unplugged appearance in 1992. It’s a raw, straight pass of a set (the liner notes detail only two overdubs and no editing) comprised of 16 classic covers of blues legends from Elmore James to Muddy Waters. Strange as it sounds, this was Clapton’s first true all-blues album as a solo performer, but it was just what folks wanted to hear, topping the Billboard 200 and earning a triple platinum certification.

Clapton’s next foray into the blues was 2000’s Riding with the King, a collaboration with – who else? – the one and only B.B. King. While the then-74-year-old guitarist had worked with Clapton before (they first met Clapton when he was Cream’s guitarist and worked together on King’s Deuces Wild in 1997), this was their first full-blown joint effort. The response was exactly what you’d expect from two giants of the genre getting together: strong sales, critical respect and a Grammy for each of their shelves for Best Blues Album.

Finally, while not a collaboration in the strict sense of the word, Clapton in 2004 tackled the work of late blues pioneer Robert Johnson for Me and Mr. Johnson. Of course, the guitarist was no stranger to his work – his interest in Johnson in the ’60s paved the way for the critical reassessment and resurgence that Johnson’s output would enjoy in the decades to follow – but the record was kind of an accident, the output of a studio session with no new written material. The loose sessions were turned into an album, and Clapton’s blues legend was further underlined.

The box will feature Cradle and King on double vinyl and Johnson on single vinyl. According to the report, an exclusibe online preorder will feature the discs on blue vinyl as well.

Clapton Blues is available November 22. Reacquaint yourself with the track lists after the jump!

Act Naturally: Buck Owens Is “Bound For Bakersfield”

Buck Owens and Bakersfield have always gone together, the singer and guitarist inextricably linked to his California home.  Owens’ “Bakersfield Sound” was a carefully-developed response to the slick, string-laden productions frequently coming out of Nashville, and a return to real country roots in the late 1960s.   RockBeat Records is building an eclectic line-up (including a new studio recording from a California legend of the pop/rock world, Jackie DeShannon) and has announced Bound for Bakersfield 1953-1956: The Complete Pre-Capitol Collection, due for release on September 26.

These tracks form the cornerstone of Owens’ long career, which took off when he signed to Capitol Records.  He recorded his first session for Capitol in 1957 and released his first long-player on the famed label in 1961.  His stripped-down sound inspired legions of admirers including The Beatles, who performed “Act Naturally” with Ringo Starr on lead vocals.  (Ringo and Buck performed a duet version of the song in 1989.)  Yet Owens may be best-remembered today for his lengthy run (1969-1986) on the television program Hee Haw, co-hosting with Roy Clark.

The 24-song reissue expands on previous collections of this material, including 2001’s 21-track Young Buck on the Audium label.  The new compilation opens with selections from his first known session in 1953 in Hollywood, which produced two singles (“Down on the Corner of Love” b/w “It Don’t Show on Me” and “The House Down the Block” b/w “Right After the Dance”) on Claude Caviness’ Pico Rivera-based Pep Records. It closes with a 1956 Bakersfield session that produced singles on Chesterfield Records and an album on La Brea Records. Included are previously unreleased alternate takes including an overdubbed version of “Hot Dog.”  These songs are largely honky tonk-style though Owens experimented with rockabilly on the route to perfecting his signature sound.

Hit the jump for more, including the track listing with discography, and a pre-order link!