Like To Get To Know Them: Real Gone’s July Features Spanky and Our Gang, Lulu, Peggy Lipton, Grateful Dead and More

Tuesday – July 1, that is – will never be the same, thanks to Real Gone Music’s slate spotlighting a quartet of famous sixties girls! But that’s not all. The label is also dipping its toes into tropicalia, anthologizing an unsung country-pop hero, going both punk and disco, and returning to the venerable Grateful Dead catalogue!

Complete Singles Collections have become a specialty of Real Gone’s, and the label continues with a new title featuring every Mercury single released by Spanky (McFarlane) and Our Gang – “Lazy Day,” “Like to Get to Know You,” and “Sunday Will Never Be the Same” among them! Spanky’s recordings were much more diverse than just those sunshine pop classics, with folk, jazz and rock influences – and Real Gone has them all. Oh me, oh my…If you ever wanted to hear Duane Allman and Lulu on the same track, you’ll have the chance with the 2-CD reissue of Lulu: The Atco Sessions 1962-1972! This set, originally released by Rhino’s UK imprint and now a pricey collectible, collects every one of the smoldering soul sides such as “Oh Me Oh My (I’m a Fool for You Baby)” recorded by Lulu with both the Muscle Shoals house band and The Dixie Flyers! Real Gone then goes to Rio with Gal Costa’s self-titled 1969 album for Philips, a key album in the Brazilian tropicalia movement featuring songs from Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Jorge Ben. Country and pop star Ronnie Dove’s chart career began with 1964’s “Say You,” and continued with such hits as “Right or Wrong,” “My Babe,” and “Cry.” In 1965 alone he charted five singles, yet Dove’s output has been largely overlooked on CD. Real Gone rectifies this with a new disc featuring all 21 of the pop hits he notched during the ’60s on a single CD, many remastered from newly available tape sources. Fast-forward to the 1970s for an R&B journey courtesy The New York Community Choir’s 1978 RCA album featuring the hit disco floor-filler “Make Every Day Count.” Continuing to the 1980s, Real Gone has an expanded edition of X’s fourth album, More Fun in the New World, produced by The Doors’ Ray Manzarek. The label then arrives in the 1990s with its latest volume of Dick’s Picks. This entry in the series of live Grateful Dead concert recordings restores to print a 3-CD set taken from a 1991 show at the Boston Garden.

Last but not least, Real Gone has a groovy treat with the American CD debut of Mod Squad star Peggy Lipton’s 1968 self-titled Ode Records release in a first-time expanded edition! Produced by Lou Adler, arranged by Marty Paich and featuring the famed Wrecking Crew, Peggy Lipton: The Complete Ode Recordings reveals the striking beauty as a songwriter of great depth, performing her own evocative compositions alongside those of Carole King and Laura Nyro. I’m thrilled to announce here that I’ve written new liner notes for this lost slice of ornate Southern California pop, which also features five bonus tracks including a previously unreleased recording of Brian Wilson and Tony Asher’s “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” and rare singles penned by Laura Nyro, Donovan, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and Jimmy Webb!

After the jump, we have Real Gone’s press release with full information on every title plus pre-order links and more!

Viva Morello: Cherry Red Label Reissues Roy Rogers, Porter Wagoner, Ray Price, More

The Viva vaults are open! Viva Records, formed by producer Snuff Garrett (“The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves,” “This Diamond Ring”), released a diverse catalogue of music during its roughly two-decade existence – light instrumental pop, garage rock, comedy, and more. But the label might be best-remembered for its string of country successes in the early 1980s, most notably from David Frizzell and Shelly West. Earlier this year, Varese Sarabande reissued a trio of Viva soundtracks featuring artists including Ray Charles, Peggy Lee, Chet Baker and Glen Campbell, and Cherry Red’s Morello label tapped Viva (by special arrangement with Varese) for titles from Frizzell and West. Morello has added four more vintage LPs from the Viva and Snuff Garrett Enterprises vaults to its collection. These titles hail from bona fide country-and-western greats: Ray Price and Porter Wagoner, and Roy Rogers and Bob Nolan.

Happy Trails to You/The Sound of a Pioneer presents on one CD the 1975 and 1980 albums by Roy Rogers and Bob Nolan, respectively. Rogers (1911-1998), of course, was one of the most famous cowboys of all time thanks to his appearances on radio, television and film, and also charted hit singles between 1946 and 1991. But long before lending his name to a chain of chicken restaurants and even before meeting and marrying Dale Evans, Rogers co-founded western singing group The Sons of the Pioneers with Bob Nolan (1908-1980). Morello’s new two-fer presents the Garrett-produced albums recorded by both men late in their careers. Happy Trails to You, arranged and conducted by Garrett’s frequent collaborator Stephen Dorff, took its title from Rogers’ signature song composed by his wife and first released as a single in 1952. In addition to a remake of “Happy Trails,” the 20th Century Records LP featured Roy’s recording of Hank Williams’ “Cold, Cold Heart,” a fitting western movie medley, and original songs penned by Garrett and Dorff.

Five years later, in 1980, Garrett and arranger-conductor Al Capps (Cher, Vikki Carr) gave a similar treatment to Bob Nolan. His The Sound of a Pioneer, a rare solo outing, also blended classic and contemporary material with an emphasis on his own material including western standards “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” and “Cool Water.” Nolan initially resisted re-recording those tunes, but Garrett insisted on it and earned the singer’s grudging acceptance. He also covered Billy Joe Shaver’s “Ride Me Down Easy” and Rex Allen Jr.’s nostalgic 1976 hit “Can You Hear Those Pioneers.” (Allen Jr. was the son of another famous singing cowboy, Rex Allen.) For Nolan’s recording of Marty Robbins’ “A Man Walks Among Us,” Robbins himself added harmonies. Nolan passed away months after the release of the album on Elektra Records, but it was a fitting final statement by a true Pioneer.

After the jump: a look at the two-fer from Ray Price and Porter Wagoner, and full track listings and order links for both releases!