“Going Blank Again,” Again: Ride to Reissue Sophomore Album with Bonus Live Film

Following Rhino’s great expansion of the debut LP by shoegaze pioneers Ride, the U.K. band are expanding their second album through an independent label with some audiovisual extras packaged in the set.

Going Blank Again, released 20 years ago in 1992, was a bit of an evolution from the traditional, reverb-heavy sounds of their full-length debut, 1990’s Nowhere. While the guitars still had their typical buzzsaw sensibilities, the band experimented with more layered vocals and a less guitar-heavy mix, drawing comparisons with, surprisingly, power-pop labelmates Teenage Fanclub. NME‘s review sums it up nicely: “[Going Blank Again] fills in the lines between Ride’s beauty with cement and then builds like a demon. There is no stone left unturned, as they open up to new reference points…would you believe King Crimson? New Order? The Who? The Beach Boys?”

The deluxe edition of Going Blank Again, to be released through Oxford Music, will feature four bonus tracks from non-LP singles (the same tracks appended on a reissue from Ignition Records in the U.K. in 2001), as well as the first-ever DVD release of Brixton, a 1992 live show released on VHS (and laserdisc in Japan). The show is presented fresh from the original digital video master, with a new audio remix by John Catlin and Catherine Marks (the latter of whom mixed the live show on the bonus disc of Rhino’s Nowhere reissue).

The first 2,000 copies of the album – discounted at £20, from a non-numbered list price of £24 – will be numbered (as of this writing, more than 1,400 are left); of those, 50 random copies will be signed by all four members of the band. A pound from every sale will be donated to the U.K. charity Friends of the Earth Bee Cause.

Check out the set after the jump.

In Case You Missed It: Cold Chillin’ Comp Has Got What You Need

Here’s a fun one that went under the radar a week or so ago: a new compilation highlighting the early works of rap label Cold Chillin’ Records.

Cold Chillin’, which thrived in the late ’80s and early ’90s, was the home for an informal group of Queens-based artists known as The Juice Crew. Known for their “answer records” and propensity for rapping about “beefs” with rival artists, the Cold Chillin’ roster was comprised of hitmakers like producer Marley Marl, battle rapper MC Shan, Kool G Rap and DJ Polo and – perhaps most famously, rapper/beatboxer Biz Markie, whose comical, somewhat off-key single “Just a Friend” became the label’s biggest hit.

Top 4: The Best of Cold Chillin’ Records includes cuts from those four artists, from album spanning from 1987 to 1992, including Kool G Rap and DJ Polo’s somewhat controversial gangsta album Live and Let Die, which original CC distributor Warner Bros. refused to distribute in the wake of Ice-T’s “Cop Killer” scandal.

This new compilation, distributed by Traffic Entertainment Group (who’ve also done some great expansions of these Cold Chillin’ classics), is available now and yours to order after the jump.

Various Artists, Top 4: The Best of Cold Chillin’ Records (Traffic Entertainment Group TEG-77518-2, 2012)

1. Jane, Stop This Crazy Thing – MC Shan
2. The Bridge – MC Shan
3. Down by Law – MC Shan
4. Pickin’ Boogers – Biz Markie
5. Vapors – Biz Markie
6. Make the Music with Your Mouth Biz – Biz Markie
7. Droppin’ Science – Marley Marl featuring Craig G.
8. Duck Alert – Marley Marl featuring Craig G.
9. Wack Itt – Marley Marl featuring Roxanne Shanté
10. I Pioneered This – MC Shan
11. Juice Crew Law – MC Shan
12. Just a Friend – Biz Markie
13. Spring Again – Biz Markie
14. On the Run – Kool G Rap and DJ Polo
15. Ill Street Blues – Kool G Rap and DJ Polo

Tracks 1-3 from Down by Law (Cold Chillin’ 25676, 1987)
Tracks 4-6 from Goin’ Off (Cold Chillin’ 25675, 1988)
Tracks 7-9 from In Control, Volume 1 (Cold Chillin’ 25783, 1988)
Tracks 10-11 from Born to Be Wild (Cold Chillin’ 25797, 1989)
Tracks 12-13 from The Biz Never Sleeps (Cold Chillin’ 26003, 1989)
Tracks 14-15 from Live and Let Die (Cold Chillin’ CC 5001, 1992)

La-La Land Takes Flight on an Incredibly Vintage Title

The latest offering from La-La Land Records may be among the oldest music we’ve ever covered for the site! The label is releasing a new recording of J.S. Zamencik’s score to Wings, a 1927 silent picture forever noted by trivia buffs as the first film to take home an Academy Award for Best Picture (or as it was known then, Most Outstanding Production).

Wings, which starred Charles “Buddy” Rogers and Richard Arlen as rival pilots in World War I and Clara Bow as the small-town girl in love with one of them, capitalized on the country’s fascination with flight – owing in no small part to Charles Lindbergh’s recent Transatlantic journey – to become one of the first major recognized successes by the fledgling Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, earning the award for Most Outstanding Production in 1929. (It was only one of two silent films to earn the award; the last was The Artist, released in 2011!)

The score was composed by J.S. Zamecnik, a composer largely forgotten to history but notable for composing the “photoplay” scores to many silent pictures of the era. As such, there was no “original” soundtrack, as the music was played live to picture, usually by an organist in the theater. For Paramount Pictures’ 100th anniversary – an occasion which saw the film restored and released on DVD and Blu-Ray earlier this year – the studio commissioned a new recording of Zamecnik’s music, orchestrated by Dominik Hauser (who’s done scores for Daredevil, Freddy vs. Jason and The Chronicles of Riddick, among many others). This 2,000-unit release marks the first time any Zamecnik score has been released as a full album.

Your chance to own a piece of film score history is after the jump.

Let the Good Times Roll: Dr. John, Barbara Lynn, Johnny Adams Featured On New Box Set

When it comes to two of the most influential labels in New Orleans music history, the vinyl renaissance (celebrated just this past weekend with another successful Record Store Day) is definitely in full swing.  Ric Records and its sister label Ron Records were founded in 1959 by Joe Ruffino, based in New Orleans.  Though the labels were only active for roughly three years, some of New Orleans’ greatest talents passed through the company’s doors.  Mac Rebennack, or Dr. John, served as a writer and producer, and even spent time as label president!  Harold Battiste (Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me,” Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You, Babe”) was among the other arrangers, and artists on Ric and Ron included Irma Thomas, Professor Longhair, Johnny Adams and Joe Jones.  It was Jones who provided Ric with its biggest hit, “You Talk Too Much”, which peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 in the fall of 1960. The now-legendary Soul Queen of New Orleans, Irma Thomas recorded her first single “(You Can Have My Husband but) Don’t Mess with My Man” for the Ron label.

Rounder Records is celebrating the Ric Records and Ron Records labels with a 10-record box set, From the Vaults of Ric & Ron Records: Rare and Unreleased Recordings 1958-1962.  The box, which was first available on Record Store Day, contains ten 45 RPM singles of rare and unreleased material, including the audition recording by Johnny Adams of “I Won’t Cry.”  This special set is being released in conjunction with the Numero Group in North America and Ace Records in the United Kingdom.  In addition to this vinyl collectible, digital customers have a big treat in store for them.  CD purchasers, however, are being left out in the cold with the digital release of all 140 songs released as 45 RPM singles by Ric and Ron.  These have been released on seven 20-song digital albums.

Hit the jump for more details on Rounder’s new reissue program!