Release Round-Up: Week of May 19

Oasis, Definitely Maybe: Chasing The Sun Edition (Big Brother/Ngrooves)

Oasis’ debut album is remastered and expanded; the first in a planned series of multi-format reissues from the legendary Britpop band.

1CD remaster: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2LP remaster: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
3CD deluxe edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
3CD/2LP/1 x 7″ box set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Billy Joel, A Matter of Trust: The Bridge to Russia (Columbia/Legacy)

The Piano Man’s 1987 sojourn to the USSR is chronicled anew, with expansions of both the original KOHUEPT album and video program and a newly-filmed retrospective documentary on Billy’s trip.

2CD/1DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2CD/1BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
DVD: Amazon U.S.
BD: Amazon U.S.

Deep Purple, Made in Japan: 40th Anniversary Deluxe Editions(Universal U.K.)

No less than six formats of the band’s breakthrough live album are now available overseas. All together now: “Smooooooke on the waaaaaater”!

1CD remaster: Amazon U.K.
2CD deluxe edition: Amazon U.K.
4CD/1DVD box set: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.
2LP remaster: Amazon U.K.
9LP box set: Amazon U.K.
Blu-Ray Audio: Amazon U.K.

 

R.E.M., Unplugged 1991/2001: The Complete Sessions (Warner Bros.) / Complete I.R.S. Rarities 1982-1987 (I.R.S./UMe)

Originally released as a vinyl box on Record Store Day, both of R.E.M.’s trips to MTV Unplugged are now available as a more affordable two-disc set. Also, a digital compilation nets just about every B-side and bonus track the band put out for their first label.

Unplugged: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
I.R.S.: Amazon U.S.

Roy Orbison, Mystery Girl Deluxe (Roy’s Boys/Legacy)

Released weeks after Orbison’s sudden passing, Mystery Girl rightfully restored Roy’s legend and even got him onto pop radio with “You Got It.” It’s expanded with unheard studio demos, an unreleased song completed by Roy’s sons with John Carter Cash, and also available with a DVD packed with a new documentary and rare and unseen promo videos.

Deluxe CD/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Expanded CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Deluxe 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Hank Williams, The Garden Spot Programs 1950 (Omnivore)

Long-lost radio rarities from one of the kings of country are uncovered for the first time!

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

The Doors, Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine (Elektra/Rhino)

A double-disc 1972 Doors compilation gets its premiere release on CD. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

R. Kelly, The Essential R. Kelly (RCA/Legacy)

Love him or hate him – yes, we’ve been listening – the 35 tracks on this two-disc set do a good job of pointing out Kellz as one of the best male R&B performers of his generation. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Aaron Neville, For the Good Times: The Allen Toussaint Sessions (Fuel 2000)

Fuel collects 22 vintage sides from two New Orleans legends: vocalist Aaron Neville and songwriter-producer Allen Toussaint! (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Miles Davis, Take Off: The Complete Blue Note Albums (Blue Note)

Blue Note’s 75th anniversary program continues with this release collecting Davis’ small but important output, from the period of 1952-1954, for the venerable label. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Devo, Something Else for Everybody (Booji Boy)

Fresh factory rejects from the band’s most recent studio album! (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Somewhere Out There: Linda Ronstadt’s Greatest “Duets” Arrive On CD in April

On April 10, Linda Ronstadt joins the class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – an honor that was certainly not needed to acknowledge Ronstadt’s place as among the top vocalists of her generation, but a welcome and long-overdue honor nonetheless.  Two days earlier, Rhino celebrates the career of the versatile artist with the release of Linda Ronstadt – Duets.  Its fifteen tracks encompass performances alongside artists including Aaron Neville, Emmylou Harris, Don Henley, Frank Sinatra, James Taylor, Dolly Parton, James Ingram and others, including one previously unreleased recording with bluegrass musician Laurie Lewis.

Curated with the cooperation of Ronstadt and her longtime manager, John Boylan, Duets touches on the varied sides of Ronstadt the artist.  Since her earliest days as a member of The Stone Poneys, she’s refused to allow herself to be pigeonholed in one genre.  That inclination towards musical exploration has led her to treat the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, Rodgers and Hart, Warren Zevon, Lowell George, and Jackson Browne with the same kind of respect and innate understanding.  The Rock Hall induction comes on the heels of the publication of Ronstadt’s memoir Simple Dreams and her sad announcement that Parkinson’s disease has left her unable to sing.  Ronstadt has never completely fit in with the rock clique, despite having placed 38 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 (including ten that went Top Ten) and 36 entries on the album chart, including ten that reached the Top Ten there too, and three that hit the top spot!

Duets draws on a variety of sources spanning 1974 to 2006.  A number of tracks show Ronstadt’s love of country music, including duets with her Trio partners Dolly Parton (1977’s “I Never Will Marry”) and Emmylou Harris (1974’s Grammy-winning “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love with You)”).  Other tracks draw on the group of Southern California/Laurel Canyon rockers in which Ronstadt flourished commercially and artistically; Eagles’ Don Henley joins Ronstadt on the harmonies of Warren Zevon’s “Hasten Down the Wind,” and J.D. Souther sings on his own “Prisoner in Disguise.”  James Taylor, who shared a producer with Ronstadt in Peter Asher and recorded many of his best works with that SoCal flavor, duets on a revival of the Ike and Tina Turner staple “I Think It’s Gonna Work Out Fine.”  Ronstadt, whose three collaborations with Nelson Riddle remain among the finest expressions of her art, is heard on a couple of Great American Songbook standards via “Moonlight in Vermont” with Frank Sinatra from Old Blue Eyes’ Duets II project, and Irving Berlin’s “Sisters” with Bette Midler from Midler’s 2003 Rosemary Clooney tribute album produced by Barry Manilow.

Among the most successful tracks here are the Grammy-winning “Somewhere Out There” written by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil and James Horner for Don Bluth’s 1986 animated film An American Tail, on which Ronstadt duets with James Ingram, and two tracks with New Orleans’ legendary Aaron Neville from their joint album Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind.  “Don’t Know Much” reunited Ronstadt with Mann and Weil, this time writing with Tom Snow.  The song had been performed previously by Mann, Bill Medley, Bette Midler, Glenn Jones and even Dallas actress Audrey Landers, but Ronstadt and Neville took it all the way to No. 2 Pop/No. 1 AC in 1989, also picking up a Grammy for their trouble.  “All My Life,” written by Karla Bonoff, won yet another Grammy, and though it barely missed the Pop Top 10 at No. 11, it also topped the AC chart.  Ronstadt had been an early champion of Bonoff’s songs, recording three of them on 1976’s Hasten Down the Wind.  The three most recent tracks on Duets hail from what will likely remain Ronstadt’s final studio album, Adieu False Heart with Cajun music singer Ann Savoy, including a cover of the Left Banke’s 1966 hit “Walk Away Renée.”

After the jump: more on Duets, including the complete track listing and pre-order links!

Play Something Sweet: Ace Taps R&B and Rock Legends for “The Allen Toussaint Songbook”

What is success? For Allen Toussaint, it’s been a career that’s lasted for over fifty years in which he’s created some of the most memorable music ever committed to tape: “Mother-in-Law.” “Whipped Cream.” Lady Marmalade.” “Working in the Coal Mine.” “Southern Nights.” “Yes We Can Can.” The latter song, a hit for the Pointer Sisters, took on added significance when it became associated with Barack Obama’s 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign. As writer, producer, vocalist and arranger, Allen Toussaint’s stamp has been made on not just the music of his hometown New Orleans, not just on the music of America, but on the entirety of popular music. U.K. label Ace has just celebrated this remarkable career with Rolling with the Punches: The Allen Toussaint Songbook. The 24-track anthology conclusively proves that yes he could.

Rolling with the Punches spans the period between 1961 and 1992, a little over thirty productive years in a career that spans to this very day. Naturally, some of the very finest artists in Louisiana music history are represented here, as most were affiliated with Toussaint at one time or another. Though “Mother-in-Law” is absent, Ernie K-Doe opens the set with his 1971 “Here Comes the Girls,” its insistent riff having thrived thanks to a 2008 ad campaign from retailer Boots and a Sugababes sample later the same year. Lee Dorsey, the original “Working in the Coal Mine” man, makes appearances with “Holy Cow” and the fiendishly memorable “Occapella,” on which Toussaint makes one of his many prominent vocal appearances on this compilation. (“Coal Mine” is here, too, in The Judds’ 1985 countrified version.) Toussaint’s magic touch was felt by the Neville Brothers, naturally, and Aaron Neville’s rare 1961 single “Let’s Live” has been included here. Its songwriting credit was ascribe to one of Toussaint’s most famous pen names, that of Naomi Neville. (No relation to the Brothers!) The Meters played on many of Toussaint’s most memorable productions, and he groomed them for fame on their own, too, with songs like 1970’s “Ride Your Pony.” Benny Spellman, the famous answer voice on Ernie K-Doe’s “Mother-in-Law,” got his own instant classic from writer/arranger Toussaint with “Fortune Teller” (also the title track of a recent, Toussaint-dominated singles collection from RPM). And no Toussaint collection would be complete without a track from Irma Thomas, the Soul Queen of New Orleans. She’s heard with “Sweet Touch of Love,” from her 1992 album True Believer.

There’s much more after the jump, including the full track listing with discography, and order link!