Release Round-Up: Week of February 12

Merle Haggard, The Complete ’60s Capitol Singles / Wanda Jackson, The Best of the Classic Capitol Singles / George Jones, The Complete United Artists Solo Singles (Omnivore)

Joe’s review of all three of these new country/rock singles anthologies from Omnivore speaks for each of them pretty well!

Merle: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Wanda: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
George: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Borderline, Sweet Dreams and Quiet Desires/The Second Album / Sam Dees, The Show Must Go On / Kenny O’Dell, Beautiful People / Pozo Seco, Shades of Time / Sam Samudio, Hard and Heavy / Billy Joe Shaver, The Complete Columbia Recordings /Rick Wakeman, No Earthly Connection (Real Gone Music)

The latest from Real Gone (some of which is on tap in the preceding link), including a solo LP from Sam The Sham, all of Billy Joe Shaver’s Columbia work and a solo disc from Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman.

R.E.M., Original Album Series / Yes, Original Album Series (Rhino U.K.)

Two new entries in Rhino’s “Original Album Series” sets, budget boxes packaging five albums by the same artist together, with a minimum of frills. R.E.M.’s set includes their final five albums, all recorded as a trio after drummer Bill Berry retired (Up (1998), Reveal (2001), Around the Sun (2004), Accelerate (2008) and Collapse Into Now (2011)), while Yes’ box includes their final works for Atlantic/Atco (Going for the One (1977), Tormato (1978), Drama (1980), 90125 (1983) and Big Generator (1987)).

R.E.M. Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Yes: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Joni Mitchell, The Studio Albums 1968-1979 (Rhino)

Already available in the U.K., this domestic new release features the iconic singer-songwriter’s first ten albums in one box. Nothing new in the way of packaging or remastering, just a quick way to snag ’em all at once. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

INXS, Shabooh Shoobah/The Swing (Friday Music)

From Friday Music comes the Australian band’s third and fourth albums on one compact disc. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Aretha Franklin, In the Beginning: The World of Aretha Franklin 1960-1967 (Wounded Bird)

A 1972 compilation of Aretha’s oft-overlooked early days on Columbia gets reissued by Wounded Bird. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Pat Boone, I’ll See You in My Dreams/This and That / Jane Morgan, What Now My Love/At the Cocoanut Grove / Tony Mottola, Roman Guitar 2/Spanish Guitar / Original Soundtrack Recordings, The Road to Hong Kong/Say One for Me (Sepia)

Some special two-for-one albums, many with bonus tracks, making their CD debuts from this British reissue label.

Don’t Just Stand There: Real Gone Readies January Slate with Patty Duke, Rick Wakeman, Billy Joe Shaver, and More

2012 isn’t yet over, but it’s not too soon to look forward to all of the amazing releases already slated for 2013!  Real Gone Music is doing its part with a whopping nine-title slate due January 29 from a plethora of pop, rock, country and soul artists.

One of the sixties’ most unexpected hits might have been Patty Duke’s “Don’t Just Stand There,” a 1965 Top 10 hit that sounded more than a little like Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me.”  By the time the actress recorded her first album for United Artists Records, she had already conquered both television and film, with an Academy Award under her belt for her work in 1962’s The Miracle Worker.  Duke recorded four albums for the UA label between 1965 and 1968, and all four are getting the Real Gone treatment.  Don’t Just Stand There and Patty came out in 1965 and 1966, respectively, and are being joined on one CD.  In addition to the first album’s No. 8 title track, this album duo included songs by Bacharach and David and Tony Hatch, and the hits “Say Something Funny” and “Whenever She Holds You.”  Another hit, the single “Funny Little Butterflies,” has been included as a bonus track. 1967’s Sings Songs from Valley of the Dolls tied into Duke’s role as Neely O’Hara in the controversial film adaptation of the Jacqueline Susann novel, and features Duke’s renditions of the Andre Previn/Dory Previn theme song and “I’ll Plant My Own Tree.”  Duke finished her UA tenure with 1968’s Sings Folk Songs, but the LP was never released.  Real Gone rectifies this, pairing it with Valley of the Dolls.  These two releases mark the first legitimate release of these four albums on CD, and are taken from the original master tapes.  Ms. Duke herself has contributed quotes to the liner notes.

Also from the sixties, Real Gone excavates two more gems.  The Pozo Seco Singers’ third album for Columbia Records, 1968’s Shades of Time, was the first album from the group following the departure of Lofton Klein, leaving just Don Williams and Susan Taylor to soldier on with the Pozo Seco blend of pop, country and rock.    For Shades of Time, Williams and Taylor dropped “Singers” from their moniker and teamed with producers Elliot Mazer and Bob Johnston.  The album, however, wasn’t a commercial success, and Pozo Seco disbanded in 1970, setting Don Williams on his way to solo country stardom.  Real Gone has added eleven single sides (nine in mono, two in stereo) to this reissue.  Vic Anesini has remastered the entire album, while Tom Pickles has contributed liner notes with new quotes from Susan Taylor, a.k.a. Taylor Pie.

One year before Shades of Time, country songwriter Kenny O’Dell recorded Beautiful People for the Vegas label.  Though O’Dell would later gain fame writing for artists including Charlie Rich and The Judds, Beautiful People was less country and more pop-psych, even yielding a Top 40 hit with the title track.  Real Gone’s reissue adds seven bonus tracks from O’Dell’s brief tenure with the Vegas and White Whale labels, and also includes O’Dell’s only other Top 40 hit, “Springfield Plane.”  Ed Osborne has written the new liner notes and Steve Massie has remastered.

After the jump: a prog-rock legend, a soul man, an outlaw and a Sham!