Here They Go Again: The Hollies Reveal BBC “Radio Fun”

2011 was a good year to be a Hollies fan, and it seems that 2012 might follow in its footsteps!  Last year, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees saw a plethora of releases on both CD and vinyl from labels like EMI, Sundazed and BGO, reissuing individual albums and offering comprehensive new compilations.  This May, a heretofore-unreleased area of the band’s history will be rediscovered when EMI issues Radio Fun, a 32-track compilation of some of the classic group’s best BBC radio performances.

The official Hollies website has released cover artwork as well as the track listing for this exciting new compilation.  Featuring liner notes by longtime drummer Bobby Elliott, Radio Fun draws on programs like Top of the Pops and Saturday Club for a cross-section of familiar hits and less well-known songs.  Like so many of their British Invasion counterparts, the lads were frequent visitors to the BBC’s studios, beaming their trademark harmonies over the airwaves on a wide variety of material both expected and unexpected.  So, though there’s no “Carrie Anne,” “King Midas in Reverse” or “On a Carousel,” you will get “Here I Go Again,” “Jennifer Eccles,” “I Can’t Let Go,” “I’m Alive,” and “Look Through Any Window.”  Though the Graham Nash era of the band (collected virtually in full on EMI’s 2011 box set) is heavily represented, you’ll also hear post-Nash tracks like the smash hit “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” as well as Tony Hicks’ “Too Young to Be Married.”  Elliott and Hicks keep the Hollies’ music alive with an active tour schedule; the current incarnation of the band is currently celebrating with a Hollies 50^th anniversary tour of South Africa and Europe.

The Hollies’ Radio Fun is due in stores in the U.K. on May 7, and will arrive shortly thereafter on American shores.  Hit the jump for the full track listing of Radio Fun!  A pre-order link is not yet available but we’ll update once a link is live!

I’m Sticking with You: The Velvet Underground’s Moe Tucker Gets Career-Spanning Anthology

She may have been a self-described “schlep from Levittown,” but Maureen “Moe” Tucker of The Velvet Underground always beat to the sound of her own drum.  Tucker shed her suburban roots when she joined with Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison in The Velvet Underground, replacing drummer Angus MacLise.  (His tenure was a brief few months.)  It’s fair to say that The Velvets changed the sound of rock and roll forever, breaking long-held lyrical taboos and musically drawing from both avant-garde drones and crunchy R&B riffs.  And as the drummer anchoring those groundbreaking works, Moe Tucker changed the sound of The Velvet Underground.  Tucker’s style was all her own, with a primal urgency and spare set-up.  She rarely used cymbals, with her kit consisting of tom toms, a snare drum and an upturned bass drum.  She preferred mallets to drumsticks.  And she preferred to play standing up, eschewing the usual stool.  Tucker’s take-no-prisoners style survived the demise of the band, and she continues to make music today.  The fine folks at Sundazed Music have just announced I Feel So Far Away: Anthology 1974-1998, the first-ever career-spanning set for the solo work of Moe Tucker.

Never the recipient of a solo major label contract, Tucker’s discography consists of a number of releases on various independent labels in multiple configurations: LPs, EPs, singles, compact discs.  Sundazed’s 2-CD compilation, also available as a 3-LP set, brings together some of the best and rarest of Tucker’s career, including collaborations with members of Sonic Youth, Violent Femmes, Half-Japanese and yes, The Velvet Underground.  (Remember Brian Eno’s adage that while the Velvets didn’t sell many records, everyone who bought an album went on to form a band?)

Somewhat surprisingly, the Tucker ouevre contains more titles than the Velvet Underground’s own catalogue; the seminal band only recorded four canon albums.  A fifth LP (1973’s Squeeze) was almost solely the work of Doug Yule, John Cale’s replacement in the band, and is hardly considered a Velvet Underground album despite the band name above the title.  Tucker began her solo career in 1982 with Playin’ Possum, and while she manned the drum kit, she also took on guitars and saxophone in addition to vocals.  The album was recorded at home with a four-track recorder, but the results were anything but simple.  Five tracks on I Feel So Far Away originated on this debut which took in all of Tucker’s influences and even directly addressed her musical heritage.  The Lou-Reed penned VU classic “Heroin” sat comfortably alongside “Bo Diddley,” Chuck Berry’s “Around and Around” and Little Richard’s “Slippin’ and Slidin’.”  Songs from Tucker’s youth proliferate on her solo releases, and on the anthology you’ll hear unique takes on Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” and Phil Spector hits like “Then He Kissed Me” and “To Know Him is to Love Him.”  Ironically, Tucker’s work with Reed, Cale and Morrison helped shatter the conventions of Brill Building pop that Tucker later celebrated.

What else will you find?  Hit the jump for more, including the full track listing, discographical information and a pre-order link!

“Predator” De-Cloaks Again and More Disney from Intrada

Intrada’s latest batch of soundtrack releases should be cause for celebration, if you’re not an easily offended fan.

First, and most controversially, the label has announced a second pressing of the score to Alan Silvestri’s score to the 1987 sci-fi/action classic Predator. One of the best soundtrack’s of Silvestri’s mid-to-late-’80s period of greatness (which also saw the scores to gems like Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit), Predator is a kinetic, rhythmic score that fits perfectly with the tone of the film, the tale of an American Special Forces outfit on a mission in the jungles of South America. The group, led by Col. Alan “Dutch” Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger), comes across a more fearsome foe than global terrorists, a stealthy alien hunter who decimates the group with violent traps and weapons.

The Predator score, a fan favorite, was finally released as a limited title by Varese Sarabande in 2003. That edition sold out not long after its release; when Intrada announced another limited reissue (slightly re-edited and remastered) in 2010, it sold out in about a day. This edition, commissioned as an unlimited title by licensor 20th Century Fox and composer Silvestri, features different artwork, minor tweaks in editing at the suggestion of fans, and an additional brief unused cue that appeared on Varese’s edition. Discussion of the merits of this reissue has been heated (a thread at the Film Score Monthly forum has been closed due to uncivil discussion), but this writer maintains that getting the music out to the many people who doubtlessly missed out on both releases is far more important than the sanctity of limited edition status.

But things for Intrada have a Disney-style happy ending in more ways than one, as you’ll find out after the jump!

Release Round-Up: Week of March 6

Mark Lindsay, The Complete Columbia Singles (Real Gone)

Joe calls this collection of the Paul Revere and The Raiders frontman’s solo single sides “one of (Real Gone’s) finest and most consistently enjoyable releases to date.” If that doesn’t get your catalogue muscles moving, it may be time to check your pulse!

Clannad, Timeless / The Essential Clannad (RCA/Legacy)

Alternately given both titles (the package has the latter while the sticker atop the disc has the former), this double-disc overview of one of Ireland’s favorite rock bands features a heap of Celtic tradition alongside guest vocals by Bono, Bruce Hornsby and Steve Perry.

Fats Domino, The Imperial Singles Volume 5: 1962-1964 (Ace)

The fifth and final volume from Ace of Fats’ Imperial single sides.

’til tuesday, Voices Carry: Expanded Edition (Hot Shot Records)

Boston-based ’80s rockers – best known as the first spotlight for lead singer/songwriter Aimee Mann’s talents – see their first, most successful album reissued by new Cherry Red imprint Hot Shot, with three single mixes as bonus tracks.

Rick Nelson, The Complete Epic Recordings (Real Gone)

Another victory for Real Gone: all of Rick Nelson’s late ’70s solo material for Epic Records, much of it released for the first time on CD, in the U.S. or both!

Todd Rundgren, Back to the Bars / Hermit of Mink Hollow/Healing/The Ever-Popular Tortured Artist Effect ; Utopia, Todd Rundgren’s Utopia/Another Live / Adventures in Utopia/Deface the Music/Swing to the Right ; Roger Powell, Air Pocket / M. Frog, M. Frog (Edsel)

A whole lot of Todd Rundgren reissues.

David Sylvian, A Victim of Stars 1982-2012 (EMI)

Released last week in the U.K. and available on our shores now, this two-disc set collects the best of the Japan frontman’s solo work, with one new track.

Details Revealed For George Harrison Film “Material World” Deluxe Edition, CD To Feature Unreleased Recordings

UPDATE 3/5/12: Our friends at MusicTAP are reporting a May 1 release date for the American video premiere of Living in the Material World on both DVD and Blu-Ray.  Watch this space for details on whether the American editions will mirror the contents of the British releases, as described below!

ORIGINAL POST (10/5/11): DVR Alert!  Martin Scorsese’s documentary Living in the Material World premieres on American television tonight on HBO, proving that – at least for tonight – it’s not TV; it’s HBO that we’ll be watching!  Scorsese’s two-part documentary (the second part airs tomorrow evening) sheds light on the one-time Quiet Beatle, with revealing home movies, rare video footage and frank interviews from famous friends and associates like Eric Clapton, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, George Martin, Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, Tom Petty, Phil Spector and Ringo Starr.  Excitingly, Scorsese’s film features both solo and Beatles tracks mixed into 5.1 for the first time.

Olivia Harrison’s lavish coffee table companion, loaded with striking photographs, diaries, letters and memorabilia, has already arrived in stores both in the United States and United Kingdom from Abrams.  Home video releases for the U.K. have already been announced by Lionsgate Home Entertainment, with Material World arriving in three formats: DVD, Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack (or “Double Play”) and finally, a deluxe DVD/Blu-Ray edition containing an exclusive CD of previously unreleased songs and a book of photography.  Surprisingly, no official soundtrack has been announced to tie in with the documentary, and no DVD or Blu-Ray release has been confirmed yet for America.

Although only available now as an import, the deluxe DVD/Blu-Ray is hotly anticipated, containing both audio and video content exclusive to that edition.  For those with region-free capabilities who simply can’t wait for the inevitable domestic release, Living in the Material World is released next Monday, October 10, in the United Kingdom, and we can now reveal the exclusive content of the Deluxe Edition.  You’ll find it all after the jump!