Give Me Love: George Harrison’s “Apple Years” Are Collected On New Box Set

George Harrison’s years at Apple Records were among his most productive.  The Quiet Beatle inaugurated Apple’s LP series with 1968’s Wonderwall Music soundtrack and nearly closed out the label with its final album of original material (1975’s Extra Texture (Read All About It)).  In between, Harrison released a series of solo records, oversaw the soundtrack to his groundbreaking Concert for Bangla Desh, and lent a helping hand to Apple artists including Badfinger, Jackie Lomax, Billy Preston, Doris Troy and Lon and Derrek Van Eaton.  Following the 2004 Dark Horse Years box set and 2010’s box of Collaborations with Ravi Shankar, the Harrison family has announced the release of The Apple Years 1968-1975 via Apple and Capitol/UMe.

This 7-CD/1-DVD box set, arriving on September 22 in the U.K. and September 23 in the U.S., includes expanded and newly-remastered versions of Harrison’s Apple albums beginning with 1968’s Wonderwall Music – the very first solo album by any Beatle – and continuing with the even more experimental Electronic Sound as issued on the Zapple label (1969), the acclaimed triple-album All Things Must Pass (1970), Living in the Material World (1973), Dark Horse (1974) and Harrison’s Apple swansong Extra Texture (Read All About It) (1975).  The all-star Concert for Bangla Desh is not included; it last saw a deluxe reissue in 2005.  All of the individual CDs will also be available as standalone releases, while the DVD will remain exclusive to the box set.

All Things Must Pass was last expanded and reissued on CD in 2001 with Harrison’s participation.  After his November 2001 death, a reissue arrived for Living in the Material World in 2006.  Dark Horse and Extra Texture haven’t been revisited on CD since Capitol’s reissues in 1992.  After the jump: we’ll look at the contents of each disc!

An Outlaw Looks At 75: Legacy Goes Digital With David Allan Coe’s Columbia Collection

This week, David Allan Coe turns 75.  Over those three-quarters of a century, Coe has given a face to outlaw country, raising rabble and raising hell even as he recorded some of the most enduring albums of the genre.  In celebration of the perennial rebel’s landmark birthday, Legacy Recordings is making 20 of his classic albums (and over 200 songs), originally released between 1974 and 1989, to digital service providers including Amazon MP3, iTunes and Spotify.  The digital initiative launches today with five titles released between 1974 and 1977 (The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy, Once Upon a Rhyme, Longhaired Redneck, Rides Again and Tattoo) and continues weekly through September 23, totaling four batches of five albums.

Legacy’s online collection from the vaults of Columbia Records spans the period between 1974’s major label debut The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy (so named for Coe’s outrageous onstage get-up) and 1989’s Crazy Daddy and includes such signature songs as “Would You Lay with Me (In a Field of Stone),” “Take This Job and Shove It,” “Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile” and “She Used to Love Me a Lot.”

The controversial, anti-establishment country hero’s body of work remains one of the most exciting and most daring in the country oeuvre, and this one-stop (digital) shopping just might provide a welcome entrée to a daunting, large discography.

After the jump, you can raise a little hell by perusing the complete release schedule to mark David Allan Coe’s 75th!

Release Round-Up: Week of September 2

Willie Hutch, In Tune (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / Willie Hutch, Midnight Dancer (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / Esther Phillips, Alone Again, Naturally (Expanded Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) /Ullanda McCullough, Ullanda McCullough/Watching You, Watching Me (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / Ray Griff, The Entertainer – Greatest U.S. & Canadian Hits (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / Rick Wakeman, Rick Wakeman’s Criminal Record (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / The Ides of March, Vehicle (Expanded Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / Grateful Dead, Dick’s Picks Vol. 16 – Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA 11/8/69 (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) (all Real Gone Music)

Real Gone Music is kicking off September with classic soul, disco, country, prog rock, jazz-rock and more on this packed slate of eight titles!

George Benson, Breezin’ SACD (Audio Fidelity) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Audio Fidelity makes a splash in the multi-channel audio arena with this hybrid SACD release featuring stereo and surround mixes of the guitar great’s pop breakthrough!

Big Star, # 1 Record and Radio City (Stax)

# 1 Record : Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Radio City: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Concord has a pair of standalone reissues of Big Star’s first two albums with new liner notes from R.E.M.’s Mike Mills!

Jackie DeShannon, She Did It! The Songs of Jackie DeShannon, Volume 2 (Ace) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Ace has a second volume filled with hits and rarities from the pen of the great Jackie DeShannon – including tracks from Olivia Newton-John, The Ronettes, The Righteous Brothers, Peter and Gordon, Rita Coolidge, Tammy Grimes, The Carpenters, Randy Edelman, and of course, Kim Carnes with the smash hit “Bette Davis Eyes” – plus an exclusive demo from Jackie herself!  Look for Joe’s review coming soon!

Game Theory, Blaze of Glory (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Omnivore has CD and vinyl reissues of the 1982 debut album from power pop/new wave band Game Theory, generously expanding the CD edition with fifteen bonus tracks – eleven of which are previously unissued!  The label promises this will be the first in a series, so don’t miss out – this is the ground floor!

10cc, Ten Out of 10 and Windows in the Jungle (UMC)

10cc’s eighth and ninth albums get the deluxe treatment in the U.K.!  The expanded  Ten Out Of 10  features 7 bonus tracks including B-sides and live versions; Windows, 10cc’s first collaboration with Andrew Gold, adds seven bonuses including B-sides and tracks from the U.S. version of the album.

Ten Out of 10: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Windows: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Michel Legrand, The Other Side of Midnight: Original Music from the Motion Picture (Intrada)

Intrada is now shipping the CD premiere of composer Michel Legrand’s (The Thomas Crown Affair, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) lush, atmospheric score to director Charles Jarrott’s (Lost Horizon) 1977 film based on Sidney Sheldon’s novel.

James Horner, Gorky Park: Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack (Intrada)

Also newly-available from Intrada: a newly expanded presentation of James Horner’s (Titanic, Braveheart) score to Michael Apted’s 1983 crime thriller.  This edition features the complete score in true stereo for the first time, and a brace of bonus tracks!