Release Round-Up: Week of March 25

Johnny Cash, Out Among the Stars (Columbia/Legacy)

This new album of newly-discovered mid-’80s outtakes is perhaps better than what was released at the time. Gorgeous and, at times, haunting, the way Johnny Cash albums should be.

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

Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: 40th Anniversary Edition (Mercury/Rocket/UMe)

Elton’s classic double album comes back to glorious life with several lavish editions, featuring new covers of songs from the set, B-sides, live material and more.

1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
4CD/1DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
1BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Merle Haggard, Okie from Muskogee: 45th Anniversary Special Edition (Capitol Nashville)

Haggard and The Stranger’s classic 1969 live album is remastered and paired with the next year’s follow-up The Fightin’ Side of Me, in its first-ever CD release. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Miles Davis, Miles at the Fillmore – Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series Vol. 3 (Columbia/Legacy)

Four discs of mostly-unheard jazz experimentation from one of Miles’ most challenging and enjoyable periods. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Rod Stewart, Live 1976-1998: Tonight’s the Night (Warner Bros./Rhino)

This long-rumored box, featuring 58 unheard recordings, now offers a fitting chronicle of Rod in concert. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

My Chemical Romance, May Death Never Stop You: The Greatest Hits 2001-2013 (Reprise)

New Jersey’s own late lamented My Chem, one of the best alt-rock bands of the past decade, release a career-spanning compilation with one unreleased song and several demos.

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

Eric Carmen, The Essential Eric Carmen (Arista/Legacy)

A lovingly-assembled two-disc compilation honoring the talents of the singer/songwriter, from The Raspberries to today. Includes the gorgeous new track “Brand New Year.” (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Blue Nile, Peace At Last: Deluxe Edition (Virgin/UMC)

A surprise expansion of the Glasgow pop group’s 1996 album. (Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.)

Pantera, Far Beyond Driven: 20th Anniversary Edition (EastWest/Rhino)

The band’s hit 1994 album paired with a live bootleg disc of the band’s Monsters of Rock Festival 1994 performance. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Aztec Camera, High Land Hard Rain: Deluxe 30th Anniversary Edition (Domino)

The Scottish rock band’s first album is expanded to just about completion, with single sides and unreleased tracks on a bonus disc.

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Toto, Toto/ Hydra / Turn Back (Rock Candy)

Toto’s perfectly crafted AOR-pop blend is represented by their first three albums, newly remastered for CD by Rock Candy.

Toto: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.
Hydra: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.
Turn Back: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.

Various Artists, A MusiCares Tribute to Bruce Springsteen (Columbia)

Last year’s multi-artist live tribute concert in honor of The Boss, capped with a mini-set by Springsteen and The E Street Band.

DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Micky Dolenz, Micky Dolenz Puts You to Sleep / Broadway Micky (Friday Music)

Two of Micky’s children’s albums for Kid Rhino from 1991 and 1994 reappear in print on one disc. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Blue Magic, Message from the Magic (FunkyTownGrooves)

The Philadelphia soul band’s fifth album from 1977 is remastered and released for the first time on CD. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Ronnie Lane and Slim Chance, Ooh La La: An Island Harvest (Mercury)

A hits-and-rarities compilation from the late Small Faces/Faces bassist’s mid-’70s group. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Joni Mitchell, Woman of Heart and Mind + Painting with Words and Music / Lou Reed, Classic Albums: Transformer + Live at Montreux 2000 (Eagle Rock)

Eagle Rock brings four vintage programs back to video with these two Blu-ray releases, both part of the label’s new “SD Blu-ray” line.  As indicated, these programs are in upscaled standard definition video but have been upgraded to “uncompressed stereo and DTS-HD high resolution surround sound.”

Joni: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Lou: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Walk Out to Winter: Aztec Camera’s Debut Expanded for 30th Anniversary

More than a year after Edsel expanded and reissued the Aztec Camera catalogue, the Scottish outfit’s first album for Rough Trade will be reissued once again by Domino Records for its 30th anniversary.

High Land, Hard Rain, originally released on the Rough Trade label in the U.K. and Sire Records in the U.S., is the first full-length to feature frontman Roddy Frame’s prodigious gift as a sophisticated, dramatic pop writer, with tracks like “Oblivious” and “Walk Out to Winter” rich with evocative lyrics and ringing guitars. (The album, already impressive on its own, was released when Frame was only 18 years old.)

Aztec Camera would essentially become another name for Frame as the ’80s and ’90s wore on, who worked with a host of notable players and producers in the studio, including Craig Gannon (future temporary second guitarist for The Smiths), Tony Mansfield, Mick Jones, Mark Knopfler and others. Frame retired the name after 1995’s Frestonia.

This double-disc reissue handily bests Edsel’s in terms of content; where that disc featured seven B-sides and remixes appended to the program, Domino’s set – newly remastered from the analog tapes – features a 16-track bonus disc with six of those seven tracks and more, including rare fan-club only remixes of “Oblivious” by Colin Fairley and Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley, an unreleased version of “Walk Out to Winter” recorded with producer John Brand for possible single release and five tracks from a BBC session with presenter Kid Jensen. A 180-gram vinyl version features the original album and the bonus material as a free digital download; the first 400 pre-orders of the set from Domino’s official store get an additional four-track 7″ of rarities.

This new version is available to pre-order now, with an expected street date of February 4. Full specs are after the jump!

High Land, Hard Rain: 30th Anniversary Edition (Domino Records REWIGCD092, 2014)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Disc 1: Original LP (released as Rough Trade 47 (U.K.) / Sire 23899 (U.S.), 1983)

1. Oblivious
2. The Boy Wonders
3. Walk Out to Winter
4. The Bugle Sounds Again
5. We Could Send Letters
6. Pillar to Post
7. Release
8. Lost Outside the Tunnel
9. Back On Board
10. Down the Dip

Disc 2: Bonus material

1. Pillar to Post (Original Single Version) (single A-side – Rough Trade RT 112, 1982)
2. Queen’s Tattoos (single B-side – Rough Trade RT 112, 1982)
3. Orchid Girl (B-side to “Haywire” – Rough Trade RT 122, 1983)
4. Haywire (12″ B-side to “Haywire” – Rough Trade RTT 122, 1983)
5. Walk Out to Winter (Tony Mansfield 7” Version) (single A-side – Rough Trade RT 132, 1983)
6. Set the Killing Free (single B-side – Rough Trade RT 132, 1983)
7. Back on Board (Live @ The El Mocambo, Toronto – 7/11/1983 – on CFNY-FM) (B-side to “Oblivious” double 7″ – Rough Trade AZTEC 1F, 1983)
8. We Could Send Letters (Live @ The El Mocambo, Toronto – 7/11/1983 – on CFNY-FM) (B-side to “Oblivious” double 7″ – Rough Trade AZTEC 1F, 1983)
9. Walk Out to Winter (Kid Jensen Session – 1983) *
10. Down the Dip (Kid Jensen Session – 1983) *
11. Back on Board (Kid Jensen Session – 1983) *
12. Release (Kid Jensen Session – 1983) *
13. Walk Out to Winter (John Brand Unreleased Single Version) *
14. Walk Out to Winter (Tony Mansfield 12” Version) (12″ A-side – Rough Trade RTT 132, 1983)
15. Oblivious (Colin Fairley Remix) (fan club single A-side – Rainhill Records ACFC 1, 1984)
16. Oblivious (Clive Langer/Alan Winstanley Remix) (fan club single B-side – Rainhill Records ACFC 1, 1984)

Bonus rarities 7″ for pre-orders

1. The Boy Wonders (Capital Radio Session) *
2. Release (Capital Radio Session) *
3. We Could Send Letters (from C81 – NME/Rough Trade cassette COPY 001, 1981)
4. The Bugle Sounds Again (Bedroom Demo) *

Aztec Camera Catalogue to Be Expanded by Edsel in August

The brilliant, multifaceted work of Roddy Frame’s Scottish pop band Aztec Camera will see significant expansion courtesy of the hardworking folks at Demon Music Group.

Aztec Camera’s six studio albums, featuring singer/songwriter Frame and a rotating cast of musicians (including future Smiths second guitarist Craig Gannon, drummer Steve Jordan, keyboardist Tony Mansfield and others), will all be expanded by Edsel on August 27. Debut LP High Land, Hard Rain (released in 1983 on Rough Trade Records), Mark Knopfler-produced major-label debut Knife (1984) and final album Frestonia (1995) will all feature bonus tracks, including B-sides, remixes and live cuts, appended to the remastered discs. Middle albums Love (1987), Stray (1990) and Dreamland (1993) will all feature full bonus discs, with assorted goodies scattered throughout (Stray features copious remixes of hit single “Good Morning Britain,” a collaboration with Mick Jones of The Clash, as well as non-LP track “Do I Love You?” from the Red Hot + Blue compilation to benefit AIDS research; Dreamland features an entire 1991 live show excerpted over four CD singles.)

While Demon’s site has not listed every reissue title yet, it looks like all of them will feature deluxe casebound book packaging and liner notes featuring lyrics and new annotations by Terry Staunton of Uncut. (It’s worth noting that Frame doesn’t have anything to do with these reissues, but let slip to a fan on Twitter  that he is in talks with a “supercool US label about releasing the definitive set (w/ rarities, home demos etc)” in 2013.)

A hat tip to Super Deluxe Edition and Slicing Up Eyeballs for their great coverage of these titles. After the jump, check out the track lists and pre-order links courtesy of Amazon U.K.!