It’s a Family Affair: Sly and the Family Stone Want to Take You “Higher!” With New Career-Spanning Box Set

Epic Records and Legacy Recordings want you to have some hot fun in the summertime. On August 27, the labels will release the first-ever career-spanning box set dedicated to Sly and the Family Stone, as previewed on Record Store Day 2013.  The box succinctly entitled Higher! wants to take you there.  77 tracks chronicle the period between 1964 and 1977, and 17 of those recordings are previously unissued.

Sly Stone, born Sylvester Stewart in 1943, couldn’t hide his prodigious musical talents from an early age.  By the mid-1960s, the Texas boy had found his way to California’s Bay Area and the fertile, experimental scene there.  The hustling young man found gigs as a popular disc jockey for KSOL, and joined the staff at San Francisco’s Autumn Records.  Sly spearheaded a rock-and-roll revival with Bobby Freeman (writer and originator of “Do You Wanna Dance” years earlier) and was instrumental in the success of The Beau Brummels.  It was Sly who produced the Brummels’ 1964 hit “Laugh, Laugh,” on which the Bay Area met the British Invasion head-on.  The enterprising young man also oversaw the early recordings for Autumn subsidiary North Beach of The Great Society including “Someone to Love,” although the sessions were tumultuous.  The Society’s Grace Slick would later turn it into a chart smash on RCA with Jefferson Airplane.  But the newly-rechristened Sly Stone had his sight on even bigger things.

In 1967, Stone assembled a group of multi-racial, male and female musicians to bring to life his vision of a new kind of music.  His brother Freddy (guitar), Larry Graham (bass), Greg Errico (drums), Jerry Martini (saxophone/reeds), Cynthia Robinson (trumpet) would form the Family Stone, with Sly’s sister Rose soon completing the lineup on keyboards.  The Family Stone would be different from Stone’ last band, an R&B outfit cheekily named Sly and the Stoners – it would blend soul, R&B, pop, rock and proto-funk into A Whole New Thing, as the band’s first album was called.  Though that LP didn’t make as many waves as expected, the band’s second album very definitely did.  It was called Dance to the Music, and its title track became Sly and the Family Stone’s first Top 10 hit.

And the hits kept on comin’: “Everyday People” (No. 1), “Hot Fun in the Summertime” (No. 2), “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” (No. 1), “Family Affair” (No. 1), et cetera.  An incendiary performance at Woodstock was just one of the band’s triumphs.  Sly and the Family Stone also reflected the enormous social changes in America with powerfully charged LPs like Stand! and There’s a Riot Goin’ On.  But the original Family Stone broke up in 1975, having already survived the departures of Greg Errico in 1971 and Larry Graham the following year.  Sly would have his very well- publicized ups and downs in the years to come, and he periodically reactivated the Family Stone name, most notably for two Warner Bros. albums in 1979 and 1982.  A 2009 Sly Stone album bore the name I’m Back!  It wasn’t the first such proclamation – and likely won’t be the last – for the iconoclastic music legend.

After the jump: what can you expect on the new box set?  We have more details plus a full track listing with discography, pre-order links, and information on a bonus exclusive!

The Art of Excellence: Tony Bennett’s Columbia Catalogue Reissued On CD and Digital Formats

“My ambition has always been to create a hit catalogue rather than hit records,” wrote Tony Bennett in 2011.  Of course, the modest Mr. Bennett has managed to do both.  He’s charted successful singles and continues to chart albums, but has also crafted a catalogue distinguished by its sustained excellence.

On the same day as the release of Bennett/Brubeck, the landmark 1962 concert performance of Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck, Sony’s Legacy Recordings also made good on a couple of other catalogue initiatives for the legendary entertainer.  His original Columbia Records albums – plus eight discs of singles and bonus material first released on 2011’s The Complete Collection box set – can now be purchased as digital downloads via iTunes and Amazon.com, while Amazon and Barnes and Noble will be offering all titles as CD-Rs as part of their “Made on Demand” programs.  (At the time of this writing, Amazon links are only available for some of the albums, but each is expected to be “released” soon.)

Alongside the digital/MOD initiative, ten selections from the recently-remastered Bennett catalogue were released on Tuesday to Barnes and Noble stores and BN.com as exclusive (pressed) CDs.  As these are currently listed on the retailer’s website for five bucks and change each, these discs are quite a bargain.  (In stores, the $6.99 retail price is currently discounted to just $4.99 for each title!)

Tony’s titles returning to print via Barnes and Noble as physical CDs include:

1. Cloud 7 (1955)
2. In Person! (with Count Basie and His Orchestra) (1959)
3. Sings a String of Harold Arlen (1960)
4. I Wanna Be Around (1963) (*)
5. When Lights Are Low (1964)
6. If I Ruled The World – Songs For The Jet Set (1965) (*)
7. Yesterday I Heard the Rain (1968)
8. The Art of Excellence (1986)
9. Bennett/Berlin (1987)
10. Bennett Sings Ellington – Hot & Cool (1999)

(*) contains bonus tracks

Hit the jump for a closer look at these titles plus a list of the complete Bennett catalogue as released to iTunes, Amazon.com and BN.com as digital downloads and/or MOD CDs!                              

Review: Tabu Wave 2 – Alexander O’Neal, Cherrelle, Kathy Mathis and The S.O.S. Band

The earth has music for those who listen, proclaimed Clarence Avant’s Tabu Records label.  A major force in contemporary R&B from the late 1970s through the 1990s, Tabu followed in the footsteps of other black-owned, independent music empires as Berry Gordy’s Motown and Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s Philadelphia International.  While Tabu never achieved the same level of crossover success as those aforementioned labels, it indeed picked up the torch of “The Sound of Young America,” and its cutting-edge electronic style still reverberates in R&B and hip-hop today.  Earlier in 2013, the U.K.’s Demon Music Group announced the reactivation of the Tabu label for an ambitious reissue program, the second wave of which has recently arrived in stores.  This batch includes two classic titles from the era-defining production team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Alexander O’Neal’s Hearsay (1987) and Cherrelle’s High Priority (1985), both reissued as double-disc sets.  In addition, this wave includes single-disc expansions of The S.O.S. Band’s S.O.S. (1980) and Kathy Mathis’ Katt Walk (1987).

1980’s gold-selling S.O.S. marked the LP debut of The S.O.S. Band: Jason “T.C.” Bryant on keyboards and vocals, Billy “B.E.” Ellis on saxophone, keyboards and vocals, Mary Davis on vocals and percussion, James Earl Jones III on drums and vocals, Willie “Sonny” Killebrew on saxophone, flute and vocals, Bruno Speight on lead guitar and John Simpson on bass.  The album was produced by Sigidi Abdullah; the band’s hits with Jam and Lewis would come later.  Abdullah co-wrote “Take Your Time (Do It Right),” the No. 1 R&B/No. 12 Pop song that became the band’s first calling card.  But it’s just one of eight essential tracks on this debut album which owes as much to the sound of the seventies as to the new decade it welcomed.

The S.O.S. Band successfully managed to synthesize the effusive but commercially-waning sound of disco with a solid bed of funk and a key pop sensibility that seemingly owed much to Earth, Wind and Fire.  Like that group, the S.O.S. Band prominently employed horns for a style that would attract soul fans both young and old, and boasted talented vocalists, including the big-voiced Mary Davis.  S.O.S. was truly the organic sound of a band at work, and showed off each side of its style, from slow-burning ballads to catchy dancefloor anthems.  Almost every track on the album could have been pulled as a single,

The sleek EWF sound is most evident on “Open Letter,” while wistful, Bacharach-esque horns add dimension to the melancholy “What’s Wrong with Our Love Affair.”   The exuberantly up-tempo “Love Won’t Wait for Love” emphasizes disco flourishes with its big strings, horns and suitable-for-dancing break.  Of course, the sexy smash “Take Your Time (Do It Right)” also had its roots in disco, and hasn’t lost any of its luster in the ensuing years.  Neither has “Take Love Where You Find It,” another big, brassy, disco-flavored track with tasty flute so redolent of the era.  Six bonus tracks have been added to S.O.S., including the single edit and disco mix of “S.O.S. (Dit Dit Dit Dash Dash Dash Dit Dit Dit),” the long version and both sides of the single of “Take Your Time (Do It Right),” and the edit of “What’s Wrong with Our Love Affair.”  Justin “Musicology” Kantor provides the liner notes, which contain fresh quotes from Mary Davis and trumpeter Abdul Ra’oof.

After the jump: the scoop on Cherrelle, Alexander O’Neal and Kathy Mathis!

Rock & Roll Revival: Edsel Plans Massive Box for U.K. Act Showaddywaddy

Fans of classic rock and roll revival act Showaddywaddy have got quite the box set coming their way from Edsel in June. The Complete Studio Recordings 1973-1987 collects just about the band’s entire output, released or otherwise, in a 10-disc set.

The U.K. act rose to almost improbable fame in the mid-to-late ’70s by dressing up in 1950s-London fashion (known to the uninitiated as “Teddy Boy” subculture) and covering a host of old-time rock songs, from Buddy Holly (“Heartbeat”) and Eddie Cochran (“Three Steps to Heaven”) to The Marcels (“Blue Moon”) and Gerry Goffin/Barry Mann (“Who Put the Bomp in the Bomp-a-Bomp-a-Bomp”). If that sounds crazy to you, the revelation that the band had 10 Top 10 hits in England, including the chart-topper “Under the Moon of Love” must sound ludicrous. Showaddywaddy still tour across the U.K. (embarking on a 40th anniversary trek this year), with original members Romeo Challenger on drums and Rod Deas on bass leading the group. (The band is still managed by singer Dave Bartram, despite his stepping down as lead singer in 2011.)

The Complete Studio Recordings includes all eight of the band’s albums for Bell, Arista and RCA – all of which had been reissued and expanded by Cherry Red’s 7Ts label in recent years – and adds two extra discs: one of non-LP single sides, and one of unreleased demos and alternate mixes.

The box is available on June 17, and can be ordered after the jump.

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Review: Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck, “Bennett/Brubeck: The White House Sessions, Live 1962”

It was a Tuesday afternoon in Camelot when giants met.

These giants weren’t the types who resided in the clouds atop beanstalks, of course.  These were giants of a decidedly more earthy variety.  It was at the behest of John F. Kennedy’s White House that Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck came together.  On August 28, 1962, they shared a bill at the base of the Washington Monument as a parting gift to an audience of college-age interns who had served that summer in the nation’s capital.  Following two individual sets – Brubeck’s as a member of his storied Quartet, and Bennett’s fronting Ralph Sharon’s trio – the singer and the pianist teamed up for the first time.  (Their second and final performance together didn’t arrive until 47 years later, in 2009.) Though the concert was recorded by a prescient Columbia Records, only one song – Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s “That Old Black Magic” – had ever been released.  The tapes were thought lost.  And then, late in 2012, they surfaced.  And now, Columbia, Legacy and RPM Records have released this titanic summit as Bennett/Brubeck: The White House Sessions, Live 1962 (88883 71804 2).  It doesn’t disappoint.

The pairing might have sounded odd on paper.  Brubeck, who hailed from California, studied with Darius Milhaud, who also counted Burt Bacharach among his students, and established himself as one of the most original voices in jazz.  The avuncular Brubeck could make the most experimental time signatures seem accessible, and his Quartet – with Joe Morello on drums, Eugene Wright on bass and Paul Desmond on alto saxophone – wedded commercial and artistic success.  Bennett, on the other hand, was an Astoria boy who, as he’s fond of joking, was one of the original American idols.  An amateur contest winner and onetime singing waiter, Bennett worked his way up the ladder of showbiz to secure a contract with Columbia Records.  There, he scored pop smashes with tunes from Broadway’s Richard Adler and Jerry Ross (“Rags to Riches”) and Hank Williams (“Cold, Cold Heart”) Bennett’s hit singles seemed far removed from Brubeck’s jazz world.  Bennett was keeping a secret, though.  He was a jazz singer at heart.  “[Columbia honcho] Mitch [Miller] really didn’t like jazz,” the 86 years young crooner wrote in his 2012 memoir Life is a Gift: The Zen of Bennett.  “He didn’t care for Duke or Count Basie – and when I came to the label, I was a jazz singer.”  That identification served Bennett well when sharing the stage with Dave Brubeck and in the studio with the likes of Count Basie, Bill Evans, Stan Getz and Herbie Hancock.  Yet their ties to each other ran even deeper.  Both men were veterans of World War II and passionate Civil Rights supporters, and at Columbia Records, both evinced a gift of making art commercial.

We’re giving Bennett/Brubeck a spin after the jump!

BBR Goes For The Total Experience with Gap Band, Billy Paul Reissues

Today we’re taking a look at two recent reissues from Big Break Records.  Both Billy Paul’s Lately and Gap Band VII were originally released by Total Experience Records, and both were the production work of Jonah Ellis.  Big Break has expanded and remastered both albums.

Billy Paul, Lately (Total Experience, 1985 – reissued Big Break CDBBR 0224, 2013)

Could anyone among us have an inkling or a clue, what magic feats of wizardry and voodoo you can do?  And who would ever guess what powers you possess?

Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff of Philadelphia International Records had an inkling of the magic Billy Paul could do when they gifted the veteran jazz singer with “Me and Mrs. Jones,” a smoldering ode to a lady with whom the vocalist “has a thing goin’ on.”   Those lyrics above are from the rarely-performed verse of Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane’s “On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever),” a song first sung on record – sans verse – by Paul on his 1968 Gamble Records release Feelin’ Good at the Cadillac Club.  Billy Paul was already nearing his mid-thirties when he made that long-playing debut.  He was over 50 when he revisited “On a Clear Day” as the most atypical track on a rather atypical album, 1985’s Lately.  The first of only two albums recorded by the singer in the 1980s, the Total Experience release has just been lovingly reissued by Cherry Red’s Big Break imprint (CDBBR 0224).  Paul was joined in Hollywood by Gerry Brown (drums), Nathan East (bass), Oliver Scott (keyboards/vocals/electronic drums), David Tillman and Juan Luis Cabaza (keyboards), and album producer/multi-instrumentalist Jonah Ellis.  Marva King, Maxine and Julia Waters and Carmen Twillie all provided background vocals.

The album’s closing track, “On a Clear Day” was just one of the songs on the album that recalled the earlier salad days of Billy Paul’s recording career.  Whether in 1968 or 1985, Paul found soulful liberties to take with Burton Lane’s elegant melody, and even on the re-recording, he made room for a piano solo that recalled his jazz roots.  Though they’re adventurous in the context of re-presenting a theatrical standard, the burbling synthesizers and programmed drum beats obscure both the song and Paul’s vocal, and alas, that’s too frequently the case on Lately.  Yet BBR’s exemplary reissue, produced by Wayne Dickson, remastered by Nick Robbins, and generously annotated by J. Matthew Cobb, allows us to view the album as a well-intentioned experiment in a stellar career.

Lonnie Simmons’ Total Experience label had found great success with The Gap Band and Yarbrough and Peoples, but the company was already in the midst of the struggles that would eventually see its demise when Lately was slotted for release.  Producer and chief songwriter Jonah Ellis (known for his work with both of those Total Experience acts) grafted an aggressively “contemporary” sound onto Paul’s smooth vocals, but by and the large, the new material wasn’t up to the standard set by the singer.  Just one other standard made it onto the album, Harry Warren and Al Dubin’s “I Only Have Eyes for You.”  Ellis adhered closely to the blueprint of The Flamingos’ classic doo-wop version of the 1934 song, but gave it a modernized makeover.  Paul’s alluring, sensual vocal exudes confidence as he adds plenty of impassioned ad-libs.

After the jump: plenty more on Billy Paul’s Lately!  Plus: mind the Gap – the Gap Band, that is!

Here’s Your Chance: Philly Soul Legends, Deep Soul Grooves Comprise BBR’s Next Release Slate

From the streets of Philadelphia to the deepest vaults of soul and R&B, this coming week’s slate of reissues from Big Break Records has got just about something for everyone.

Enchantment, the Detroit soul group behind 1978’s hit “It’s You That I Need,” would make some changes in the ’80s, having moved labels a few times (from Roadshow/United Artists to RCA and finally Columbia for two albums) and also subtly altering their sound from a lush, disco feel to a Fairlight-led modern groove. While Utopia, their final album, did not chart, it still has its fans thanks to singles like “Here’s Your Chance” and “Don’t Fight the Feeling.” Utopia makes an appearance on CD, both newly remastered and with five bonus tracks, including single mixes of “Here’s Your Chance.”

Though “Kleeer” was the name of the band behind the album Winners in 1979, the group of musicians who made up this ensemble took on several monikers throughout the decade. As The Jam Band, they were New York-based session players, notably for Disco-Tex and The Sex-O-Lettes; as Pipeline, they were an ill-fated hard rock outfit on Columbia Records and as The Universal Robot Band, they were another disco-based studio project (which would enjoy a cult dance hit in the ’80s with “Barely Breaking Even”). Kleeer was self-made dance music, however, with a Top 40 R&B hit in the title track. (Fun fact: among the horn players doing session work on this LP are jazz legends Randy and Michael Brecker!) Winners is expanded with a bonus extended version of the title track.

The song titles on Gwen McCrae’s Melody of Life hint at a love life of joy and pain; for McCrae, it was all too real. Three years prior, after a rocky relationship, she divorced her husband and collaborator George McCrae (of “Rock Your Baby” fame); after Melody, she’d further separate from her label, TK Records subsidiary Cat, for whom she’d made six albums. (McCrae would enjoy some success in the ’80s on Atlantic.) McCrae’s tour de force vocals shine anew on CD with this expansion of Melody of Life, featuring two single edits as bonus tracks.

BBR’s last two releases this week are pure Philadelphia soul from two architects of the genre. First, there’s the debut album by MFSB (Mother Father Sister Brother), the de facto house band for all of Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff’s musical ventures. Though Philly soul was still in its infancy when MFSB released their first, self-titled album in 1972, the groundwork is very much there, on both Philly originals (“Back Stabbers,” a hit for The O’Jays, “Something for Nothing,” written by Gamble, Roland Chambers and Thom Bell) and covers (Curtis Mayfield’s “Freddie’s Dead,” Sly & The Family Stone’s “Family Affair”). The same can be said for the final BBR release of the week, the live set The O’Jays in Philadelphia. The group had recorded for Imperial and Bell, but this LP, released on Neptune Records, was their first under the Gamble-Huff umbrella; the following year’s Back Stabbers for Philadelphia International would make them worldwide stars.

After the jump, you can place your orders for all of these titles, which are shipping now (save for Kleeer, which has a June 3 date on Amazon U.K.).

Review: Paul McCartney and Wings, “The Paul McCartney Archive Collection: Wings Over America”

“Yesterday” and Today (1976)

With a burst of boogie woogie, Paul McCartney finally acknowledged the elephant in the room.  And then he made it abundantly clear that he wasn’t going to be standing in any shadow, even his own.  That moment came seven songs into the first disc of Wings Over America when Paul suddenly became Beatle Paul once again, tearing into “Lady Madonna” with Fats-inspired glee.  The Wings Over the World tour – taking in three continents, 66 concerts and roughly one million fans – was the most dramatic realization yet of McCartney’s reinvention.  It was also the first time he performed his Beatles back catalogue as the leader of Wings.  “You could seriously go down in history as a guy who tried to get as good as The Beatles and failed miserably,” he’s recently said.  “I felt, in the end, like the guy who tried to get as good as The Beatles – and didn’t.  But did awfully well.”  And he arguably never did better than the Wings Over America leg of the tour.

From May 3, 1976 in Fort Worth, Texas, through June 23 in Inglewood, California, Wings played 31 dates for 600,000 fans.  The massive arena rockshow party thrown by McCartney, wife Linda, Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch, Joe English and a four-person brass section (Tony Dorsey, Steve Howard, Thaddeus Richard and Howie Casey, a fellow Liverpool native and longtime hero of McCartney’s who played the same venues as the young Beatles) translated to disc as one of the most electrifying live albums ever.  And now the chart-topping Wings Over America has been released as the fifth entry in The Paul McCartney Archive Collection – and the most dizzyingly lavish yet.

The remastered 2013 Wings Over America has flown into shops in multiple editions.  The original album is available as a standard 2-CD edition and a 3-LP set.  Retail giant Best Buy is offering a 3-CD version.  But the centerpiece is the individually numbered, slipcased set of 3 CDs, 1 DVD and 4 books.  This massive, heavy box dwarfs even last year’s Ram, which itself was significantly bigger than the book-style format of Band on the Run, McCartney and McCartney II.  Despite its larger size, though, its similar spine design and identical height still makes it possible to display on your shelf next to those volumes.  With this set, it’s likely that you’ll lose yourself in the not just the music, but in the overwhelming array of printed material relating to McCartney’s American jaunt.

After the jump: we dive into the various versions of Wings Over America!

Release Round-Up: Week of May 28

Wings, Wings Over America: The Paul McCartney Archive Collection (MPL/Hear Music/Concord)

Paul McCartney’s first great U.S. tour was chronicled brilliantly on this 1977 live album, and it’s been greatly expanded herein for McCartney’s ongoing reissue campaign.

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
3CD (Best Buy exclusive)
4CD/1DVD box: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Tony Bennett & Dave Brubeck, The White House Sessions: Live 1962 (Columbia/RPM/Legacy)

A once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between the legendary singer and the acclaimed jazz pianist bows in full on CD for the first time. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Burt Bacharach, Anyone Who Had a Heart: The Art of the Songwriter – The Best of Burt Bacharach (U.S. Edition) (Hip-O/UMe)

What was a six-disc box or two-disc set internationally is a different two-disc anthology of the acclaimed songwriter’s greatest works, as performed by Barbra Streisand, Tom Jones, Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin and more. (Amazon U.S.)

The Monkees, Justus: The Deluxe Edition (Friday Music)

The Monkees’ final album, expanded to include an original behind-the-scenes promo film on DVD.  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Basia, Time and Tide: Deluxe Edition (Cherry Pop)

The solo debut of the Polish singer/songwriter expanded with a heap of bonus material – all produced by TSD pal Vinny Vero! (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Dio, Finding the Sacred Heart: Live in Philly 1986 (Eagle Rock)

A long sought-after Dio live video is remastered and reissued across several different formats!

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Blu-Ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Enchantment, Utopia: Expanded Edition / Kleeer, Winners: Expanded Edition / Gwen McCrae, Melody of Life: Expanded Edition / MFSB, MFSB: Expanded Edition / The O’Jays, Live in Philadelphia (Big Break Records)

The BBR slate for this week includes some rare early records from The O’Jays and MFSB and much more! Watch this space for a full breakdown of every title plus Amazon pre-order links!

Various Artists, NOW That’s What I Call 30 Years (Universal U.K.)

Three discs celebrating three decades of the long-running U.K. compilation. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)