Return To The “Freedom Highway”: Staple Singers Classic Is Reissued and Expanded

For almost 50 years, between 1948 and 1994, The Staple Singers stood at the crossroads of gospel and soul, preaching messages of peace and positivity through music. In April 1965, The Staples – “Pops,” Mavis, Yvonne and Pervis – were joined by drummer Al Duncan and bassist Phil Upchurch at Chicago’s New Nazareth Church to record the album that became Freedom Highway. The LP, originally released on Epic Records, recognized that year’s historic civil rights marches from Montgomery to Selma, Alabama. Now, some fifty years later, Legacy Recordings has remixed, remastered and expanded this landmark recording as Freedom Highway Complete – Recorded Live at Chicago’s New Nazareth Church. On Tuesday, March 3, the reissue will be available as a single CD, a 2-LP set or a digital download.

The recording of Freedom Highway followed a tumultuous, important month in American civil rights history. Three landmark marches were held in March 1965 along the 54 miles connecting Selma, Alabama with the state capital of Montgomery. The March 7 march became known as “Bloody Sunday” when 600 marchers were violently confronted by state and local police forces. The March 9 event, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., likewise reached a standoff between police and protesters. The climactic March 21 protest found the marchers protected by a staggering 2,000 U.S. Army troops, 1,900 Alabama National Guard members, and other law enforcement personnel. In the years since, the marchers’ route has been proclaimed the “Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights Trail” and deemed a U.S. National Historic Trail. The acclaimed, new motion picture Selma, which opens nationwide tomorrow, January 9, dramatizes these dramatic events which led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Preacher, guitarist and singer Roebuck “Pops” Staples, along with his children Pervis, Cleotha, Yvonne and Mavis, was inspired by Dr. King and the actions of the protesters. On April 9, 1965, his group took the opportunity afforded by its status on the Epic Records roster to record a service inspired by the actions of the marchers. The set preserved on Freedom Highway features familiar civil rights anthems (“We Shall Overcome”), traditional gospel melodies (“When the Saint Go Marching In”) and religious pleas (“Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” “Help Me, Jesus”) along with the Staples’ newly-written “Freedom Highway.” Pops plays his six-string guitar throughout the service – the same sound that made the passionate preacher an unlikely soul music star. The original album was produced by country music superstar producer Billy Sherrill, who signed the Staples to Epic.

After the jump: we have more details including the full track listing and pre-order links!

Driving Through Kashmir: Led Zeppelin’s “Physical Graffiti” Turns 40, Arrives In Deluxe Formats Next Month

The series of expanded and remastered reissues from Led Zeppelin is getting into the home stretch.  Following the 2014 deluxe releases of the band’s first five albums, 1975’s Physical Graffiti – the band’s sixth of nine studio albums – will arrive in a variety of formats on February 24, 2015 – exactly forty years after the original album was first unveiled.

The hotly-anticipated Physical Graffiti was released almost two years after Led Zeppelin’s last album, Houses of the Holy, and was also the band’s most sprawling effort to date.  The double-disc set, showing off every side of the band’s increasingly varied repertoire, featured material that dated as far back as 1970’s Led Zeppelin III.  Also notable as the first release on Zeppelin’s own Swan Song label, the Grammy-winning Graffiti topped both the U.K. and U.S. album charts, and introduced such favorites as the lengthy, hypnotic orchestral track “Kashmir,” the acoustic guitar instrumental “Bron-Yr-Aur,” the Robert Johnson-inspired funky blues “Trampled Under Foot” and the epic “In My Time of Dying.”  The Rolling Stones’ road manager and pianist Ian Stewart even dropped by for the jam session “Boogie with Stu.”

Physical Graffiti will be available in the following formats:

• Double CD – Remastered album packaged in a replica of the original LP jacket.
• Deluxe Edition (3CD) – Remastered album on two discs, plus a third disc of unreleased companion audio.
• Double LP – Remastered album on 180-gram vinyl, packaged in a sleeve that replicates the LP’s first pressing in exacting detail.
• Deluxe Edition Vinyl (3LP) – Remastered album and unreleased companion audio on 180-gram vinyl.
• Digital Download – Remastered album and companion audio will both be available in standard and high-definition formats.
• Super Deluxe Boxed Set – This collection includes:

o Remastered double album on CD in vinyl replica sleeve.

o Companion audio on CD in card wallet featuring new alternate cover art.

o Remastered double album on 180-gram vinyl in a sleeve replicating first pressing.

o Companion audio on 180-gram vinyl in a sleeve with new alternate cover art.

o High-definition audio download card of all content at 96kHz/24 bit.

o Hardbound, 96 page book filled with rare and previously unseen photos and memorabilia

o High-quality print of the original album cover, the first 30,000 of which will be individually numbered.

After the jump: more details, including what you will find on the bonus disc, plus pre-order links!