Uncanned: Legendary Krautrock Band to Release Box of Unreleased Songs

Notable German rockers Can are releasing 30 unreleased tracks in a new box set coming this June from Mute Records.

The Lost Tapes, co-curated by founding band member Irmin Schmidt, draws from over 30 hours of uncovered tapes that lay hidden in the band’s studio in Weilerswist, discovered when the studio and all its possessions was sold to the German Rock N Pop Museum. Best of all for collectors, the tracks, spanning through the band’s classic period from 1968 to 1977, are all entirely unreleased. These aren’t outtakes or alternate arrangements, but music that has never been heard, commissioned for unreleased soundtracks or cut from albums due to space.

With artists from David Bowie and Public Image Ltd. to The Fall and The Flaming Lips citing Can as an influence, this set is going to be one to check out when it streets on June 18. In the meantime, check out the first track from the box below and hit the jump for the full track list.

My Huckleberry Friend: El Records Offers Variations on Mancini’s “Moon River and Me”

Quick – think of your favorite Blake Edwards movie.  Okay, now be honest: when conjuring up an image of one of Edwards’ signature comic set pieces, didn’t you automatically start hearing a famous theme?  If you did, chances are it was composed by Henry Mancini.  Edwards and Mancini worked hand in hand for some 30 projects over a 35-year period, from 1958’s groundbreaking television series Peter Gunn through 1993’s Son of the Pink Panther, Edwards’ final motion picture.  One of the most cherished of the Mancini/Edwards pairings came on 1961’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s.  With the Academy Award-winning ballad “Moon River” as its immortal centerpiece, Tiffany’s offered Mancini in his most tuneful mode, embracing dramatic cues, swinging cocktail music, brash big band jazz and even a cha-cha-cha.  The varied compositions perfectly captured the spirit of the romantic comedy based on Truman Capote’s novella and starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard.  As with most of Mancini’s film work, his score to Breakfast at Tiffany’s was re-recorded for a home listening experience for RCA Victor’s original soundtrack album.  Now, a bit more of Mancini’s original score is available thanks to the U.K.’s Cherry Red-affiliated El Records label and its release today of Moon River and Me (coincidentally also the title of Andy Williams’ autobiography, Williams being the American singer most associated with the Academy Award-winning song penned by Mancini and Johnny Mercer for the film).

Moon River and Me features seventeen recordings from Breakfast at Tiffany’s.  Though this doesn’t represent the entirety of the original score, it offers music not present on the 12-track RCA Victor re-recording.  These tracks include the original main title, Audrey Hepburn’s vocal rendition of “Moon River” and other previously-unavailable cues like the moody “Paul the Spy,” wistful “Running Home” and alternately slinky and animated “Next Morning.”  All of these are presented in generally good sound and make a welcome companion to the RCA Victor soundtrack album.  (Presentations such as this are possible due to current United Kingdom copyright law which finds music more than 50 years old to be in the public domain.)

There’s more on Moon River and Me, too, including variations on that famed song.  Hit the jump to read on!

ZTT Uncovers Buried Digital Treasure

ZTT Records has taken to iTunes to uncover their latest vault find: a reissue of Ca$h, the 1988 album by dance-rock outfit Nasty Rox Inc.

The U.K. quintet, featuring CJ Mackintosh of short-lived dance legends M|A|R|R|S, were one of the most prominent U.K. bands to mix house/club music with straightforward rock. Their single “Escape from New York” was described by the NME as “the aural equivalent of ‘[The] Towering Inferno,” and they ended up as the support act for a British tour with funk legend James Brown.

The album, which hasn’t been released since its initial pressing in 1988, features three bonus tracks: the 12″ B-side “Escape from New York 2” (which appeeared on original cassette reissues of Ca$h) plus two unreleased bonus cuts.

The album is yours to buy on iTunes in the U.S. and the U.K.!

Nasty Rox Inc., Ca$h (originally released as ZTT Records 1, 1988)

1. 9th Wonder
2. 10th Wonder
3. Say It Mean It
4. Escape from New York
5. Blow
6. Wooba Wubbaa I
7. Nobby’s One
8. Nasty Rox Inc.
9. Wooba Wubbaa II
10. Escape from New York 2 (12″ B-side – ZTT NROX 1 (U.K.), 1988)
11. What It Is (previously unreleased)
12. Praise the Lord (previously unreleased)

In Case You Missed It: Join the (Music) Club!

If you’re a British compilation hunter or fan of imports, it’s tough to go wrong with Demon Music Group’s Music Club Deluxe label. The relatively inexpensive double-disc sets the label turns out might look simple or quickly assembled, but they’re in fact often packed with a few rarities for your buck.

In recent weeks, Music Club Deluxe has issued a half-dozen compilations, all for ’80s pop/rock artists. You likely know their hits, but there are some great album cuts, B-sides and remixes to go around for each. Hit the jump and we’ll run through them all.

The Road to Tarkio: Brewer and Shipley’s Debut “Down in L.A.” Remastered and Expanded By Now Sounds

Oklahoma-born Michael Brewer and Ohio native Tom Shipley found fame on Missouri’s mythical Tarkio Road, thousands of miles away from Hollywood’s La Brea Avenue and the headquarters of A&M Records.  But before they took one pivotal toke over the line into stardom, Brewer and Shipley recorded an album for Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss’ label that couldn’t have been recorded at any other time and place than Los Angeles, circa 1967-1968.  Down in L.A. was almost entirely written by Brewer and Shipley, either individually or collectively, and recorded at such landmark studios as United/Western Recorders and Sunset Sound.  The names dotting the album’s personnel list are about as lustrous as you could possibly find at the time: Hal Blaine and Jim Gordon on drums, Joe Osborn and Lyle Ritz on bass, Leon Russell on piano, keyboard and organ.  These Wrecking Crew vets supported Brewer and Shipley in creating an album that stands as a lost treasure of the California folk-rock genre.  Thanks to the fine folks at Now Sounds, Down in L.A. has made its long-awaited CD release.

Brewer and Shipley first bonded over their mutual love of folk music, playing the coffeehouse circuit alongside countless other young troubadours in the early 1960s.  Brewer was the first of the duo to answer California’s siren call, teaming with songwriter Tom Mastin as Mastin & Brewer.  That twosome made vital connections with members of The Mothers of Invention and Buffalo Springfield, but Mastin’s personal demons brought the partnership to an abrupt halt.  Brewer’s brother Keith deputized for Mastin, but the real magic happened when Brewer and Shipley brought their voices together.  Shipley, an acquaintance of Brewer’s, had independently made his way to the Golden State and reconnected with his old friend.  Reissue producer Steve Stanley’s copious liner notes inform us that Brewer received an offer to join The Association in early 1967 as a replacement for the departing Jules (Gary) Alexander.  Brewer declined the offer, preferring to continue developing a professional bond with Shipley.  Shortly thereafter, Brewer and Shipley were signed as staff songwriters to A&M Records’ Good Sam Music publishing division.  At Good Sam, they placed songs with artists as diverse as Bobby Rydell, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and even Noel “The Windmills of Your Mind” Harrison.  But it wasn’t long before A&M gave them the green light to proceed with the album that became Down in L.A. under the production auspices of Allen Stanton and Jerry Riopelle.

Hit the jump to join us Down in L.A.!