Morales Preps the (Dance) Sound of Young America on “Club Motown”

Calling all ’80s Motown fans! Universal’s U.K. arm has issued a double disc set of 20 classic club mixes from the label, curated by noted remixer John Morales.

Motown of course crafted the sound of young America throughout the ’60s and created some deeply affecting funk and soul in the ’70s, but the ’80s was still a prolific time, thanks to popular R&B/dance acts including Rick James and DeBarge as well as established acts like The Temptations and Commodores frontman Lionel Richie. Morales and partner Sergio Munzibal, the “M+M” mixing team, turned many of those tracks into club hits, and Club Motown features some familiar hits as well as some mixes that were only ever released in Europe, for the likes of Michael Lovesmith or Bobby Nunn.

In addition to the classic vintage dance sides on Club Motown, Morales has completed work on six new “throwback” club mixes of tracks by Teena Marie, Diana Ross, Thelma Houston and more! A double 12″ single set, John Morales Presents Motown Divas, features some of these new mixes plus instrumentals in a vintage-style sleeve.

After the jump, you can check out the track lists for both sets and place your orders!

He Was The Bravest Of Them All: Kritzerland Pairs “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” with “Donovan’s Reef” On CD

In a long and illustrious career, filmmaker John Ford only made two movies for Paramount Pictures.  Both starred his frequent collaborator, John Wayne, and both were scored by the relatively unknown English composer Cyril J. Mockridge who nonetheless received an Academy Award nomination in his distinguished career (for 1955’s Guys and Dolls) which encompassed both film and television.  Kritzerland celebrates the Ford-Wayne-Mockridge team with the upcoming, world premiere release of the scores to both of Ford’s Paramount productions on one CD: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and Donovan’s Reef (1963).

Though the former’s music is best-remembered today for the Burt Bacharach/Hal David “exploitation song” that wasn’t actually in the motion picture (and therefore isn’t a part of this presentation), in which David succinctly captured the essence of the film in a brief pop lyric, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance boasts a distinctive score courtesy of Mockridge.  The composer wove source music as well as a cue from Alfred Newman (with whom he often worked while serving as a staff composer at Twentieth Century Fox) into his score.  The action-comedy Donovan’s Reef, shot on location in Hawaii, had a very different feel than the western Liberty Valance, but Mockridge again delivered with a score incorporating traditional music of the islands.

If ordered directly from Kritzerland, the 1,000-unit limited edition release of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance/Donovan’s Reef will ship by the second week of September, but the label has been averaging three to five weeks early in terms of shipping ahead of the official ship date.

After the jump, you’ll find full details on both scores courtesy of Kritzerland’s press release, plus the complete track listing and order link!

Varese Treks “Into Darkness” for Latest Expanded Score

Last week, Varese Sarabande boldly went with yet another deluxe edition of a Star Trek soundtrack: the most recent film, 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness, featuring music composed by Michael Giacchino.

Following 2009’s astounding film reboot, Into Darkness pits Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto) and the crew of the USS Enterprise against a rogue Federation officer, John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), part of a traitorous plot to engage in a war with the Klingon Empire. We won’t spoil the by-now obvious twist if you’ve not seen it, but Harrison is not who he seems – one of the Federation’s most formidable foes, whose power drives Kirk to his limits as captain.

Like its predecessor, Into Darkness featured a stirring score from Oscar winner Giacchino, featuring a propulsive original theme for the series as well as nods to Alexander Courage’s original series theme tune. Initially released as a brief 44-minute soundtrack, the deluxe edition of the sequel score, limited to 6,000 copies and packaged similarly to the expansion of the 2009 film, expands the offering to two hours!

As always, full specs and a link to order from the label are after the jump.

You Get What You Deserve: Classic Big Star Albums to Be Reissued

For years, fans of power pop have had their Magna Carta of a CD: Fantasy Records’ two-fer of Big Star’s #1 Record and Radio City, the primary records issued by the legendary Memphis band. On September 2, that configuration changes with the release of both albums newly remastered on individual discs.

Both albums will be newly remastered from the original analog tapes (approved by original engineer/Ardent Records founder John Fry and allowing for Mastered for iTunes/24-bit hi-res downloads) and will be accompanied by new liner notes by Mike Mills, R.E.M.’s former bassist.

Taken together, #1 Record and Radio City are touchstones of Beatlesesque, visceral, beautiful pop courtesy of frontman Alex Chilton (who’d rose to fame as the young, powerful voice behind The Box Tops’ “The Letter”) and singer/guitarist Chris Bell. Together with bassist Andy Hummel and drummer Jody Stephens, they earned immense acclaim for #1 Record (despite no sales to match); Bell departed shortly thereafter, and equally celebrated Radio City was recorded as a trio. (A third, semi-released album has been repackaged over the years; other compilations have since followed.)

Though the sales never matched, this is a bold new chance for fans to discover or rediscover the two albums that established Big Star as masters of their craft. Pre-order #1 Record (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) and Radio City (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) today!