Reissue Theory: Fleetwood Mac, “Tango in the Night”

Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we focus on great albums and the reissues they could someday see. As we welcome one of our favorite ladies in rock back to her famous band, we remember their last album altogether and the pop success it enjoyed.

One of the best pieces of classic rock news to come out of this nascent year is easily the announcement of singer/keyboardist Christine McVie returning to Fleetwood Mac. McVie retired from the band (and touring in general) after the band’s incredibly successful The Dance tour in the late 1990s, leaving singer Stevie Nicks, singer/guitarist Lindsay Buckingham, bassist (and ex-husband) John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood to continue as a quartet, but made two surprise appearances with the band in England last year, later expressing her desire to rejoin the band.

While no official plans have been firmed up (beyond the possibility of a full tour), it certainly provokes one to think of the phenomenal albums the quintet have created – in particular, their final set as a quintet, 1987’s Tango in the Night. One of the band’s most modern (for its time, anyway) productions was also one of its most rapturously received, going triple platinum in the U.S. (and eight times platinum in the U.K., where it was the first Mac album since the Peter Green era to chart higher in England than the States) and spinning off four Top 40 hits. For all its success, though, it’s one of two by this lineup of the band (the other being its predecessor, 1982’s Mirage) that have not been remastered or expanded by Warner Bros./Rhino.

I think you know where this is leading, of course: after the jump, we’ll be looking out for love for Tango in the Night, and imagine what an expanded reissue might look like!

Rhino Gives The Royal Treatment To The King and Queen of Soul with New Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin Box Sets

Rhino is kicking off February’s Black History Month in a big way – with two new box sets dedicated to undisputed R&B royalty, Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding.  On February 4, the label will release the 4-CD collections The King of Soul and The Queen of Soul, and despite the wealth of sublime soul music on these sets, both titles are priced with an eye to the budget-conscious.  As of this writing, the Otis set is available at Amazon U.S. for $33.62, and the Aretha set for $34.05…or less than $0.40 per track!

Otis Redding’s The King of Soul coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the late legend’s debut album, 1964’s Pain in My Heart.  Over its 92 tracks, the collection traces Redding’s meteoric rise to superstar status, spanning the fast and furious period between 1962 and his tragic passing in 1967.  King of Soul draws on both studio and live recordings, including key singles and tracks from such landmark albums as 1965’s Otis Blue, 1967’s Carla Thomas duets set King and Queen, and 1968’s posthumously-released The Dock of the Bay.  It appears that tracks are in stereo (where available) with a few selections noted as mono.  (Stax began recording in stereo in 1965.)  King of Soul is a successor to 1993’s now out-of-print Rhino box set Otis! The Definitive Otis Redding, which featured 96 tracks over four CDs.  The new collection showcases Redding’s prodigious gifts as both an influential interpretive vocalist and an impassioned singer-songwriter.

Of course, Otis Redding penned what many consider to be Aretha Franklin’s signature song, “Respect.”  On King of Soul, you’ll find studio and live versions of the defiant anthem by Redding, and on Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin’s recording takes center stage.  Like the Redding set, this box is a latter-day successor to the 1992 box entitled Queen of Soul: The Atlantic Recordings.  That set boasted 86 tracks on four CDs; this box has 87 with the same disc count.  The new iteration of Queen of Soul includes music from each of Franklin’s Atlantic albums between 1967’s I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You and 1976’s Sparkle with the exception of the still-not-on-CD With Everything I Feel in Me (1974) and You (1975).  In addition to prime album cuts and hit singles such as “(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman” and “I Say a Little Prayer,” the collection also features numerous non-LP sides and a smattering of outtakes first issued on Rhino’s 2007 rarities compendium Rare and Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul.

After the jump, we have more on both sets, including full track listings with discographical annotations, pre-order links, and news on a special contest!

John Addison’s “Joseph Andrews” Is Kritzerland’s First Release of 2014

Upon its release, movie posters heralded the 1977 film Joseph Andrews as “the story of a young, English footman who served the Lady Booby but loved the little Fanny.”  Just in case anybody still wasn’t sure about exactly what the ribald film offered, the poster was illustrated with an image of the titular character surrounded by two ladies against the backdrop of a third, with a rather ample bosom.  Joseph Andrews was a belated thematic sequel to 1963’s Tom Jones, and like that film, it was directed by Tony Richardson and based on a novel by Henry Fielding (1707-1754).  Despite the passage of time since Tom Jones, Richardson naturally turned to the same composer: John Addison.  Addison had received an Academy Award for Tom Jones, one of four Oscars taken home by the movie including Best Picture.  Now, Addison’s score to Joseph Andrews has arrived on CD in its first-ever release, courtesy of Kritzerland.  It’s the label’s very first release of 2014.

Joseph Andrews was Fielding’s first full-length published novel and actually one of the earliest novels written in English. For his cinematic adaptation, Richardson enlisted a starry cast.  Peter Firth (Lifeforce, The Hunt for Red October) took the title role of Joseph, supported by Ann-Margret as Lady Booby, Michael Hordern, Jim Dale (the same year he starred in Disney’s Pete’s Dragon), Beryl Reid and Penelope Wilton (of Downton Abbey), along with cameos by John Gielgud, Hugh Griffith (repeating his role of Squire Western from Tom Jones) and Peggy Ashcroft.   John Addison, previously represented on Kritzerland by both Tom Jones and A Bridge Too Far (also 1977), was a go-to composer for Richardson.  The pair collaborated on such classic films as The Entertainer, A Taste of Honey, The Charge of the Light Brigade and more.

After the jump, we have more information plus a pre-order link and full track listing!

Release Round-Up: Week of January 14

Bruce Springsteen, High Hopes (Columbia)

It’s a new album, but one assembled from songs and outtakes Bruce has been amassing for the last few years: we’ll take it (in the hope that this new album means Bruce is in a vault mood for the rest of the year)! (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. – both with exclusive DVD of the entire Born in the U.S.A. album live on the Wrecking Ball tour)

Elvis Presley, The Movie Soundtracks (RCA/Sony Music U.K.)

Why should the States get all the fun? An import box set featuring 20 discs of Elvis’ film soundtracks (some great, others…a little different). (Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.)

Lone Justice, This is Lone Justice: The Vaught Tapes (Omnivore)

A spirited studio set cut two years before the band’s acclaimed debut album on Geffen Records. A must for rockabilly fans!

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Mark Lanegan, Has God Seen My Shadow? An Anthology 1989-2011 (Light in the Attic)

A killer career-spanning compilation from the ex-Screaming Trees frontman, featuring a dozen unreleased tracks.

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Lucinda Williams, Lucinda Williams: Deluxe Edition (Thirty Tigers)

First released on Rough Trade Records and long out of print, the album with some of Williams’ best known compositions (“Passionate Kisses,” “I Wanted to See You So Bad,” “Changed the Locks”) is expanded with not only the live bonus tracks from a previous remaster but another contemporaneous live show that’s never been released before.

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Li’l Abner: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Columbia/Sony Masterworks)

The long-unavailable soundtrack to the 1959 adaptation of the 1956 musical, featuring a song score by Johnny Mercer & Gene DePaul and arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle, is finally released as an on-demand CD title. (CD-R/DD: My Play Direct)

Billy Paul, Feelin’ Good at the Cadillac Club (Big Break Records) / Dan Hartman, Relight My Fire: Expanded Edition / Sheryl Lee Ralph, In the Evening: Expanded Edition (Hot Shot Records)

The latest from BBR includes a reissue of Philadelphia soul legend Billy Paul’s debut (studio) album and two expanded titles from underrated greats Dan Hartman and Sheryl Lee Ralph.

Billy Paul: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.
Dan Hartman: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.
Sheryl Lee Ralph: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.

John Baldry, Boogie Woogie: The Warner Bros. Recordings / Taj Mahal, Sing a Happy Song: The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings / John Sebastian, The Reprise Recordings / Crazy Horse, Scratchy: The Complete Reprise Recordings / Doug Sahm, The Genuine Texas Groover: The Complete Atlantic Recordings / The Blasters, The Slash Recordings / Danny O’Keefe, Classics / Hubert Laws, Carnegie Hall / The Chicago Theme / Crying Song / How to Beat the High Cost of Living (with Earl Klugh) / Say It with Silence (Wounded Bird)

We told you about Wounded Bird’s Rhino Handmade budget reissues yesterday, but there’s also a bunch of straight reissues from jazz flutist Hubert Laws due from the label today, too.

John Baldry: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Taj Mahal: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
John Sebastian: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Crazy Horse: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Doug Sahm: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
The Blasters: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Danny O’Keefe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Carnegie Hall: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
The Chicago Theme: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Crying Song: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
How to Beat the High Cost of Living: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Say It with Silence: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.