A Bigger (and Bigger) Bang: Rolling Stones Deliver Limited “Brussels” Boxes and Vinyl “Some Girls” Concert, Release Vintage Documentary [UPDATED WITH TRACK LISTING]

If you feel like you’ve been caught in a crossfire hurricane…you’re not alone.

A rolling stone gathers no moss, and neither do The Rolling Stones.  After making headlines throughout 2012 for not celebrating their 50th anniversary with a massive tour, retrospective box set or something of the sort, the World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band can’t seem to keep out of the headlines lately with a bevy of upcoming projects, including rumored performances in New York and London, two distinct documentaries, another repackaging of 2011’s Live in Texas: On Tour 1978, and three limited edition vinyl box sets of live “official bootleg” The Brussels Affair that makes the phrase “super deluxe edition” seem woefully inadequate.

Crossfire Hurricane is the title of the documentary coming from director Brett Morgen (The Kid Stays in the Picture).  With a limited theatrical release planned as well as airings on HBO and the BBC, Crossfire Hurricane promises to trace the Stones’ “nearly mythical journey from outsiders to rock and roll royalty, according to the director.  But it’s not the only documentary on the band’s radar.  Charlie Is My Darling – Ireland 1965 premieres at the New York Film Festival on September 29, and arrives on DVD and Blu-ray on November 6 in standard editions and…a super deluxe box set!

Charlie is My Darling was the very first documentary to chronicle the Rolling Stones, long before they achieved mythic status.  It was filmed on a brief tour of Ireland in the aftermath of breakthrough single “(I Can’t Get No Satisfaction)” hitting No. 1.  Though it featured professionally filmed concert performances as well as behind-the-scenes segments of the group on the road, Charlie has only trickled out in brief segments over the years, some not properly synched.  Directed by Peter Whitehead (Tonite Let’s All Make Love in London) and produced by the legendary impresario (and the Stones’ manager from 1963 to 1967) Andrew Loog Oldham, the movie includes “candid, off-the-cuff interviews…juxtaposed with revealing, comical scenes of the band goofing on one another as well as unsuspecting outsiders,” according to ABKCO.  It “offers an unmatched look inside the day-to-day life of the Stones.”

Released by ABKCO Films, the new Charlie is My Darling adds previously unseen footage by director Mick Gochanour and producer Robin Klein, the Grammy-Award winning team that brought the classic The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus film to the screen in 1996.  Following the premiere at the New York Film Festival on September 29 and an encore screening on October 3 at the Walter Reade Theatre, the documentary will be broadcast on television and issued on DVD, BD and a special DVD/BD super deluxe box.  The latter will include the film on both DVD and BD, plus two CDs (Live in England 1965 and the film soundtrack) and a vinyl LP.  You can pre-order all versions here!

After the jump: the Rolling Stones revisit The Brussels Affair, but it’s not what you might be expecting!  Plus: the complete track listing to the Charlie is My Darling box set!

All the Love in the World: Dionne, Aretha Classics Are Remastered by BBR

The eighties aren’t traditionally remembered as a halcyon period for classic soul.  R&B eventually took on new meaning as it splintered into hip-hop, rap and urban genres that were as integral to their day as street-corner doo-wop and soul were to their own.  Big Break Records, a Cherry Red imprint, has long been committed to rediscovering perhaps-neglected works by some of the biggest names in soul and R&B, and a particularly fascinating series of recent reissues has turned its attention to two legendary ladies of soul as they transformed themselves for a new generation, Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick.  Both Franklin’s Love All the Hurt Away and Warwick’s Heartbreaker were produced under the aegis of Clive Davis for Arista Records in the early days of the 1980s (1981 and 1982, respectively), and both of these classic albums have just received gleaming new editions from BBR.

Love All the Hurt Away follows BBR’s recent reissues of Aretha (1980), Jump to It (1982) and Get It Right (1983), completing the initial quartet of Arista releases from the Queen of Soul.  Franklin’s sophomore Arista album found her as a sort of nexus of R&B’s past and present.  At the helm was her longtime Atlantic Records producer Arif Mardin, who had earlier reunited with Franklin when he co-produced her Arista debut in 1980.  Songs came from friends old (Burt Bacharach, David Porter and Isaac Hayes) and new (Rod Temperton, Bacharach’s collaborator and eventual wife, Carole Bayer Sager), a duet was recorded with another veteran artist who had scored a major crossover from jazz to pop (George Benson) and the rhythm section featured some of the hottest names in eighties rock, pop and soul: Jeff Porcaro and Paulinho da Costa on drums, Marcus Miller on bass, Steve Lukather on guitar, Greg Phillinganes on anything with keys!  Even the song selection was split between originals and reworkings of old favorites.  With this album perhaps more than any other, Franklin looked both forward and back, and of course, she would reach the zenith of her eighties “comeback” with 1985’s Who’s Zoomin’ Who.

Mardin had produced a handful of tracks on 1980’s Aretha, but must have felt sufficiently rejuvenated to oversee every track on Love All the Hurt Away.  He applied gloss and funk to versions of “Can’t Turn You Loose” and “What a Fool Believes” on Aretha, and here, the same treatment was applied to Sam and Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Comin’” and more interestingly, The Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”  The former rendition retained the original’s trademark horn riff, with arrangers Jerry Hey and Larry Williams embellishing it further while Marcus Miller’s bass adds to an almost Kool & the Gang-esque “Celebrate” feel.  Franklin raps a bit, and Robbie Buchanan’s “mini-Moog” sounds add another modern slant to the track.  For “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” Mardin took a similar approach, retaining the original’s choir but adding electronic sounds from Greg Phillinganes on the mini-Moog and David Paich on the electric piano; Franklin’s vocal floats airily above Miller’s burbling bass, Porcaro’s drums and the guitars of Steve Lukather and David Williams.  Franklin took the opportunity to alter the Glimmer Twins’ lyrics, personalizing the song and delivering an offhand, funky and up-tempo take on the song that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Rod Temperton’s “Living in the Streets” can sit comfortably alongside the danceable R&B he penned for Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones on albums like Off the Wall and Thriller, with a rhythmic groove that doesn’t let up.  Chuck Jackson returned from Aretha to contribute the sensitive “Search On,” one of the album’s classic soul throwbacks with a dynamic melody and sweet backing vocals from Jo Ann Harris.  The pleasant title duet with George Benson as well as Allee Willis, David Lasley and Don Yowell’s “There’s a Star for Everyone” also snugly fit into this category.  Franklin herself supplied two songs: the seductive, joyous “Whole Lot of Me,” and the album-closing, string-swathed “Kind of Man” in which she heaps praise upon the “kind of man that every little boy looks up to and wants to be.”

There’s more on Aretha, plus Dionne’s Heartbreaker, after the jump!

Completely Fab: Beatles Remasters, Debut Single Coming to Vinyl (UPDATED)

The wait is over.

This holiday season, vinyl enthusiasts and Beatlemaniacs everywhere will finally have a chance to hear 2009’s long-awaited Beatles remasters on 180-gram vinyl.

All of the albums in The Fab Four’s official discography – 1963’s Please Please Me and With The Beatles, 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night and Beatles for Sale, 1965’s Help! and Rubber Soul, 1966’s Revolver, 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the U.S. Magical Mystery Tour LP, 1968’s self-titled “White Album,” 1969’s Yellow Submarine soundtrack and Abbey Road, 1970’s Let It Be and the 1987 non-LP singles collection Past Masters – are getting pressed on vinyl and released in one deluxe box.

We’ll let the press release detail the remastering and vinyl transferring process:

At the start of the restoration process, engineers conducted extensive tests before copying the analog master tapes into the digital realm using 24-bit/192 kHz resolution and a Prism A-D converter. Dust build-ups were removed from tape machine heads after the completion of each title. Artifacts such as electrical clicks, microphone vocal pops, excessive sibilance, and poor edits were improved upon as long as it was determined that doing so didn’t at all damage the integrity of the songs. Similarly, de-noising technology was applied in only a few necessary spots and on a sum total of less than five of the entire 525 minutes of Beatles music. Compression was also used sparingly and only on the stereo versions to preserve the sanctity of the dynamics.

In cutting the digital masters to vinyl, stringent safeguards and procedures were employed. After cutting to lacquer, determined to be warmer and consistent than cutting to DMM, the next step was to use the Neumann VMS80 cutting lathe at Abbey Road. Following thorough mechanical and electrical tests to ensure it was operating in peak condition, engineer Sean Magee cut the LPs in chronological release order. He used the original 24-bit remasters rather than the 16-bit versions that were required for CD production. It was also decided to use the remasters that had not undergone ‘limiting,’ a procedure to increase the sound level.

Having made initial test cuts, Magee pinpointed any sound problems that can occur during playback of vinyl records. To rectify them, changes were made to the remasters with a Digital Audio Workstation. For example, each vinyl album was listened to for any ‘sibilant episodes.’ vocal distortion that can occur on consonant sounds such as S and T. These were corrected by reducing the level in the very small portion of sound causing the undesired effect.

Similarly, any likelihood of inner-groove distortion was addressed. As the stylus approaches the center of the record, it is liable to track the groove less accurately. This can affect the high-middle frequencies, producing a ‘mushy’ sound particularly noticeable on vocals. Using what Magee has described as ‘surgical EQ,’ problem frequencies were identified and reduced in level to compensate for this.

The last phase of the vinyl mastering process began with the arrival of the first batches of test pressings made from master lacquers that had been sent to the two pressing plant factories. Stringent quality tests identified any noise or click appearing on more than one test pressing in the same place. If this happened, it was clear that the undesired sounds had been introduced either during the cutting or the pressing stage and so the test records were rejected. In the quest to achieve the highest quality possible, the Abbey Road team worked closely with the pressing factories and the manufacturers of the lacquer and cutting styli.

Lest you think that’s not lavish enough treatment for one of the most influential discographies in popular music history, the box will also come with a 252-page illustrated book written by Beatle authority Kevin Howlett, featuring chapters on each album as well as a discussion of the remastering and vinyl preparation process.

This set, limited to 50,000 copies worldwide, has a suggested retail price of $449.99, but Amazon has it for a cool $400.

(UPDATE 3:30 p.m.) Also announced today is a replica reissue of Parlophone single R-4949 – The Beatles’ first U.K. single, which featured “Love Me Do” backed with “P.S. I Love You.” (This version of “Love Me Do” was replaced on the Please Please Me album with a different take featuring session drummer Andy White; Ringo’s playing did not immediately impress George Martin, who relegated him to tambourine duties on that take!) This 45, to celebrate 50 years of Beatles on vinyl, will be packaged in the same “fruit stripe” paper sleeve that the original was contained in. It will be limited to only 4,400 copies and will hit stores October 5 – exactly 50 years to the day the original single was released.

Nobody Does It Better: James Bond Turns 50, Capitol Celebrates with New CD Anthology

When Sean Connery first uttered the immortal words “Bond…James Bond” fifty years ago in the film Dr. No, the template for the long-running movie series was already set.  That soon-to-be-signature phrase was joined in the film by a piece of music that would quickly rival those three words for familiarity.  John Barry’s arrangement of “The James Bond Theme” not only helped cement the silver screen icon of 007 but virtually became a genre unto itself, that of spy music.  The spy film craze may have hit its peak in the swinging sixties, but Ian Fleming’s immortal character of the debonair Bond has endured over some 23 “official” films (including this year’s upcoming Skyfall), plus a couple of unofficial ones.  He has been portrayed by six actors in those 23 films, from Connery to Daniel Craig.  Since Dr. No, James Bond and music have been closely intertwined, and the film franchise continues to attract the very best: it’s been all but confirmed that record-breaking artist Adele will mark her return to music with the recently-leaked Skyfall theme.  Now, 50 years of Bond music is being compiled by Capitol Records as Best of Bond…James Bond, set for an October 9 release in both standard and deluxe editions.  It joins the recent DVD/BD box set, Bond 50, which contains each and every official Bond film to date!

While similar (and similarly-titled!) compilations have arrived on a periodic basis in the CD era, the new set in its deluxe two-disc form is the most comprehensive collection of Bond-related music yet with 50 tracks.  Both versions stand as a tribute to John Barry, the late composer who will forever be associated with the film series.  The disc opens with his original arrangement of “The James Bond Theme.”  Though credited to Monty Norman, Barry long maintained in and out of the courtroom that the composition was, in fact, his own.  (The confusion stems from the fact that Barry was presented with Norman’s theme, and rearranged it in the style of his previous instrumental “Bea’s Knees,” almost wholly transforming the music along the way.  He was reportedly paid under $1,000.00 for his troubles!)  Barry went on to score eleven of the films between 1963’s From Russia with Love through 1987’s The Living Daylights, ceding movies along the way to George Martin, Marvin Hamlisch and Bill Conti.  Since Barry’s retirement from the Bond franchise, the longest-standing composer has been David Arnold, with five films under his belt between 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies and 2008’s Quantum of Solace.  (The score to Skyfall has been crafted by director Sam Mendes’ frequent collaborator Thomas Newman.)  Either consciously or subconsciously, however, every composer has been influenced by the template set by John Barry.  Indeed, his famous arrangement of the Norman theme has been quoted in each film’s score.  Best of Bond also is a reminder of the gargantuan talents of two other contributors, both of whom passed away in 2012: Marvin Hamlisch (The Spy Who Loved Me) and Hal David (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.)

The first CD (also available as a stand-alone disc) features 23 tracks: the theme to every one of the films from 1962’s Dr. No through 2008’s Quantum of Solace, plus the “secondary” theme to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), Louis Armstrong’s “We Have All the Time in the World.”  This CD includes Chris Cornell’s “You Know My Name” from Casino Royale (2006), the first main Bond theme to not appear on the movie’s soundtrack album.  Other highlights include the very first vocal Bond theme, Lionel Bart’s “From Russia with Love” as performed by Matt Monro; Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley and John Barry’s “Goldfinger” from the iconic Dame Shirley Bassey; Barry and Don Black’s booming “Thunderball” from Tom Jones; Paul and Linda McCartney’s Wings-performed “Live and Let Die;” Carole Bayer Sager and Marvin Hamlisch’s “Nobody Does It Better” (from The Spy Who Loved Me); Barry and Duran Duran’s “A View to a Kill;” and Barry and Pål Waaktaar’s “The Living Daylights,” performed by Waaktaar’s band a-ha.

What’s on Disc 2?  Hit the jump!