Release Round-Up: Week of November 24

Simon and Garfunkel, The Complete Albums Collection (Columbia/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

This 12-CD box includes all five of Simon & Garfunkel’s stereo studio albums released between 1964 and 1970, newly remastered from first-generation analog sources plus first-time remasters of The Graduate soundtrack and 1981’s The Concert in Central Park; 1972’s Greatest Hits album (which contained some unique performances unavailable elsewhere); and the live concert albums from 1967, 1969 and 2004, as first released in 2002, 2008 and 2004, respectively.

The Velvet Underground: 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (UMe)

6-CD Super Deluxe Box: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

2-CD Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

UMe continues its series of deluxe, hardcover book-style editions of The Velvet Underground’s discography with this 6-CD edition of the band’s 1969 release including live and studio rarities.  Highlights are also available in a 2-CD edition.

Neil Diamond, All-Time Greatest Hits 2-CD Edition (Capitol) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

Capitol is reissuing and expanding the Neil Diamond compilation first issued this past July, and this time it jumps from 23 tracks on one CD to 42 tracks on two CDs. You can expect additions from Diamond’s new Melody Road and 2005 “comeback” 12 Songs as well as classics that didn’t make the cut on the original version such as “Heartlight,” “Desiree” and “Yesterday’s Songs.”

Jethro Tull, WarChild: 40th Anniversary Edition (Chrysalis) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

This 2-CD/2-DVD set features

• The original album and bonus tracks (three previously unreleased), remixed in 5.1 surround and stereo by Steven Wilson
• 10 orchestral pieces (nine previously unreleased) written for the proposed film’s soundtrack, four of which are remixed in 5.1 surround and stereo by Steven Wilson
• Flat transfers of the original LP mix at 96/24, and the original quadrophonic mix (with 2 bonus tracks) in 4.0.
• “The Third Hoorah” promo footage, and footage from a January 1974 photo session/press conference where the WarChild project was announced.

 

Bryan Adams, Reckless: Super Deluxe Edition (A&M)

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
BD Pure Audio: Amazon U.S.
2CD/DVD/BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Bryan Adams is marking the 30th anniversary of his breakthrough Reckless with a variety of reissues including a super deluxe set with 2 CDs (featuring both studio outtakes and a previously unreleased live concert), 1 DVD (Reckless: The Movie) and a BD-Audio disc with stereo and surround mixes in high resolution.

Dave Mathews Band, Under the Table and Dreaming (Legacy)

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

Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Legacy reissues and remasters Dave Matthews Band’s 1994 studio debut in time for its 20th anniversary on both CD and vinyl.   The CD has three unreleased bonus tracks, including the original studio version of live favorite “Granny” and acoustic versions of “Dancing Nancies” and “The Song That Jane Likes,” and the bonus tracks will also be included on a download card with the vinyl LP.

The Legacy Collection – The Little Mermaid: Original Soundtrack (Walt Disney Records) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

Disney continues its Legacy Edition series of deluxe expanded hardbound reissues with a 2-CD set dedicated to Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s The Little Mermaid!

The Bing Crosby Archive titles (Bing Crosby Enterprises/UMe)

Bing Crosby, American Masters – Bing Crosby Rediscovered: The Soundtrack (Bing Crosby Enterprises/UMe, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Bing Crosby, Bing Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook (Bing Crosby Enterprises/UMe, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Bing Crosby, Some Fine Old Chestnuts: 60th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Decca DL 5508, 1954/expanded as DL 8374 – reissued Bing Crosby Enterprises/UMe, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Bing Crosby, Songs I Wish I Had Sung the First Time Around: Deluxe Edition (Decca DL 8352, 1956 – reissued Bing Crosby Enterprises/UMe, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Bing Crosby Archive returns with four discs, every one of which is packed with previously unreleased material!  Click on the “Bing Crosby Archive” link above for track listings and full details on each title!

Eric Clapton, Timepieces: The Best of Eric Clapton SACD (Audio Fidelity) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The 1982 greatest-hits compilation arrives in high-resolution stereo on Audio Fidelity’s new hybrid SACD remastered by Kevin Gray.

All That I Want: Bryan Adams Expands “Reckless” for 30th Anniversary

Hot on the heels of his new studio album Tracks of My Years – a deluxe edition of which, with additional material, is due on October 27, Canadian rocker Bryan Adams is revisiting his past in another way. Tracks of My Years features Adams’ recordings of classic songs from which he found inspiration as a songwriter; on November 24, he will release an expanded 2-CD/1-DVD/1-BD edition of his 1984 breakthrough album Reckless.

Produced by Adams and Bob Clearmountain and originally released on the A&M label on the artist’s 25th birthday, Reckless spawned five Top 15 singles in the U.S. – a feat previously only accomplished by Michael Jackson’s 1982 Thriller and Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A., also from 1984.  Bolstered by the success of those five tracks –  “Run to You”, “Somebody”, “Heaven”, “Summer of ’69”, “One Night Love Affair”, and “It’s Only Love” – Reckless peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart and became the first Canadian-recorded album to sell more than one million units in Canada.

The new box set features a remastered version of the original 10-track album, seven previously unissued bonus tracks, a 1985 BBC concert performance, director Steve Barron’s Reckless: The Movie and a Blu-ray audio disc with high-resolution stereo and 5.1 surround mixes, all housed in a DVD case-sized hardback book.  Typical of a package such as this, the 30th anniversary Reckless will also be available in other formats including a 2-CD Deluxe Edition, a remastered single disc version of just the original 10-song album, a 2-LP vinyl edition with the original album and selected bonus tracks, and as a stand-alone Blu-Ray Pure Audio release. The box set-exclusive book features never-before-seen photos, insights into the working relationship between Adams and co-writer Jim Vallance, an interview with engineer Bob Ludwig, and lyrics, notes and reproductions of other assorted memorabilia.

After the jump, we have more on Reckless including the complete track listing with discography and pre-order links!

Review, “Released! The Human Rights Concerts 1986-1989” On DVD and CD

Sex, drugs and rock and roll have been closely linked since, well, the dawn of rock and roll itself.  But those who have been lucky enough to make a living in the rough-and-tumble world of rock have also frequently given themselves over to more noble pursuits.  George Harrison’s 1971 Concert for Bangla Desh wasn’t the first time a rock superstar had performed for charity, but The Quiet Beatle’s star-studded event is rightfully considered the first benefit concert of such stature.  Since then, there have been numerous other events bringing together rock’s biggest and brightest have come together for a good cause, from Live Aid to the recent 12-12-12 in support of Hurricane Sandy relief.  The Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization Amnesty International, founded in 1961, began its series of Secret Policeman’s Balls in 1976, raising money for its human rights crusades with artists like Pete Townshend and the Monty Python troupe.  The scale of its benefit events grew notably in 1988 with the 25-city Human Rights Now world tour, headlined by Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel and others.  Since then, Amnesty has staged of a number of remarkable concert events to support its mission “to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated.”  The impressive new 6-DVD box set Released! The Human Rights Concerts 1986-1998 (826663-13562 and its companion 2-CD set of highlights (826663-13568) not only provide hours of musical entertainment from a legendary group of artists, but support Amnesty’s work.  The net proceeds from both releases, available now from Shout! Factory in the U.S., go to the organization.

The most striking aspect about these releases, particularly the DVD set, is just how all-encompassing and comprehensive they are.  The collector-oriented box set is a completely immersive presentation, with documentaries and bonus material – 32 separate segments, in all – covering virtually every aspect of these concerts.  Most significant, perhaps, might be the hour-and-a-quarter of new documentary material – Peter Shelton’s film Light a Candle!  The Story Behind The Human Rights Concerts and two separate interview features with Bruce Springsteen and Sting.  The always-passionate and eloquent Springsteen delivers what is essentially an uninterrupted monologue, candidly reflecting on his role with Amnesty over the years.  He ruminates on the importance of freedom in rock and roll not just in the personal sense, but to the world at large, and recalls the “harrowing” and “intense” news conferences surrounding the Human Rights Now! tour.  “Our place in the world changed a little bit,” Springsteen says, and he gained “an enormous sense of the globe as one place.”  On a lighter note, he recalls a night in 1988 when his fellow performers decided to surprise him onstage by dressing in his usual attire, or the night a decade later when the multi-lingual Peter Gabriel bailed him out when he was at a loss for words with a French-speaking crowd!

Sting is relaxed and wry in his featurette, which unlike Springsteen’s stream-of-consciousness talk is divided into brief segments each devoted to one topic.  What’s most clear is Sting’s pride in his involvement with Amnesty over the years.  Like Springsteen, he was affected by those he met on the tour – political prisoners, their families, et. als. – as well as with the camaraderie he established with his fellow musicians including the Garden State’s favorite son.  He stresses Amnesty’s embrace of world music, and doesn’t flinch from discussing the risks incurred whenever a person in the public eye takes a political stand.

After the jump, we’ll take a closer look at Released!

Merry Christmas, Baby! “A Very Special Christmas” Reissued with New DVD at Target Stores

If you can get over the shock of a good amount of holiday CDs available on the shelves at Target, you’ll find a surprise new exclusive: a reissue of the classic 1987 compilation A Very Special Christmas with a brand new DVD about the long-running holiday benefit series.

Produced by acclaimed engineer-turned-label impresario Jimmy Iovine, A Very Special Christmas featured the brightest stars in pop music, from Springsteen to Madonna, recording new versions of classic carols (plus one modern classic, Run-D.M.C.’s “Christmas in Hollis”). Nearly all of its 15 tracks have become staples of holiday radio, and the original album has moved more than 4 million units in the United States. The best part? Proceeds from the sale of the album went to The Special Olympics, Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s worldwide organization allowing intellectually-disabled children and adults to compete in sporting events. (Over $100 million has been raised by the album series, now spanning across nine titles.)

With a new subtitle, The Story and The Music, appended to its iconic Keith Haring-designed album sleeve, this new version of A Very Special Christmas features a new 60-minute DVD of highlights from the series’ quarter century-plus history. It comes alongside the most common pressing of the original AVSC album – which substituted a live cover of “Back Door Santa” by Bon Jovi for the same band’s studio recording of a new ballad, “I Wish Every Day Could Be Like Christmas.” (You’ll hear more from us soon on the package, from mastering to bonus content, in a forthcoming review – albeit one closer to the holiday season!)

Head to your local Target to buy this new set now, or order it through the store’s website. Full product specs are after the jump!

They Shall Be “Released”: Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Joni Mitchell, U2, Peter Gabriel, Miles Davis on Amnesty International Box

Since its founding in 1961, Amnesty International has endeavored “to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated.”  The Nobel Peace Prize-winning international human rights organization has, naturally, attracted a number of high-profile supporters over the years.  In 1988, a number of those men and women took the road to spread Amnesty’s message and raise funds via the Human Rights Now! world tour.  The 25-city trek was headlined by Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman and Youssou N’Dour and was seen by over one million concert attendees in person and by millions more on television.  The tour was a success, tripling Amnesty’s worldwide membership.  To commemorate this event, Shout! Factory will issue the 6-DVD box set ¡RELEASED!: The Human Rights Concerts 1986-1998 on November 5.  The same date will also see the release of The Human Rights Concerts, a 2-CD set of audio highlights.

The DVD box set features performances from 36 artists performing for Amnesty International, with 120 songs and 12 hours of music.  It includes four films, all restored from the original masters.  The first film is dedicated to the all-day final concert of A Conspiracy of Hope, Amnesty’s 25th anniversary concert tour of the USA in June 1986.  The second film features highlights from the Human Rights Now!   The third presentation is An Embrace of Hope, the October 1990 concert in Chile celebrating that nation’s liberation following nearly two decades of dictatorship. The fourth and final film in the set is The Struggle Continues…, recorded in Paris in 1998 on the exact 50th anniversary of the signing in that city of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In the tradition of numerous benefit concerts, these gigs presented the opportunity for favorite artists to perform in unexpected duets.  Various duet combinations of Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Bono, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, Joan Baez, Jackson Browne, Lou Reed, Youssou N’Dour, Aaron Neville, Steven Van Zandt, Bob Geldof and Bryan Adams are among the concert highlights.

What will you find on the 6-DVD and 2-CD collections?  Hit the jump for more details and pre-order links!

Review: “A&M 50: The Anniversary Collection”

On its surface, it seems kind of crazy to make a compilation of tunes from A&M Records. There are plenty of labels with clearer narrative arcs: Columbia was a hotbed for melodic singer-songwriters in the ’60s and ’70s, from Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel to Springsteen and Billy Joel. Burgeoning soul fans started with Motown and graduated to Stax or Atlantic, depending on their region. ZTT was the place for avant-garde dance-pop/rock in the ’80s, much like Elektra was the source for dreamy West Coast folk-pop.

A&M, on the other hand, was an artist, trumpeter Herb Alpert, and a record promoter, Jerry Moss. Two guys working out of a garage. That’s the kind of narrative fit for Apple, not a label that facilitated everything from jazz-pop, British rock and New Wave to polished R&B and even a smidgen of grunge. In a weird way, the lack of narrative is almost a worthy narrative in and of itself – and it’s what makes A&M 50: The Anniversary Collection (A&M/UMe B0016884-02) a potentially vital compilation for your library.

And yet, the set misses the mark, obscuring that free-form narrative with a presentation that suggests uncertainty, as if this whole “A&M 50” venture was even worth it in the first place.

That’s not to say the set is bad. Remember, A&M doesn’t have the kind of market share a Motown might, so the deck is already stacked against the concept. But from a content perspective, A&M 50 excels. The three themed discs – “From AM to FM,” “A Mission to Rock” and “Soul, Jazz and More” – bring some sort of cohesion to the proceedings.

Disc One focuses mostly on the early years of the label, when Alpert’s Tijuana Brass, Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 and the Carpenters were the stars of the A&M roster. Gradually, while the demeanor and ideology of pop artists would change, going from earthy (Cat Stevens, Joan Baez) to ineffectual (The Captain & Tennille, Chris de Burgh) to a mix of both (Amy Grant, Suzanne Vega, Sheryl Crow), that devotion to pop hooks and inoffensive, of-the-moment production was always there.

Disc Two is where things get interesting. The (mostly British) rock scene A&M tapped into not only yielded some of the biggest hits on the label (The Police, Styx, Bryan Adams, Peter Frampton) but kept that smorgasbord mentality of A&M alive. This was a label that hosted guitar-heavy hitters like Procol Harum and Free alongside electronically influenced, wordplay-loving tunesmiths like Joe Jackson, Squeeze and Split Enz (all among the era’s most criminally underappreciated acts!). The two-song transition that closes this disc, Soundgarden‘s “Black Hole Sun” and Sting‘s “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free,” are whiplash-inducing in their dissimilarity, and easily the point where you might agree with this point of view – that variety was the whole point of A&M Records.

The third disc amps up the eclecticism even more. A&M wasn’t content to just give you “soul music.” There were your classics old (the Phil Spector-produced “Black Pearl” by Sonny Charles & The Checkmates, Ltd.) and new (a 1991 cover of The Main Ingredient’s “Everybody Plays the Fool” by Aaron Neville); real jazz (Jobim, Getz, Quincy Jones); some funky stuff (Billy Preston, The Brothers Johnson) and a few heaping helpings of poppy R&B (Jeffrey Osbourne, Janet Jackson, late-period Barry White). The disc earns its “and more” distinction by offering danceable tracks like “Crazay” by Jesse Johnson (formerly of The Time) and “Finally” by CeCe Peniston (unusually presented in its original album version, one of the few idiosyncratic decisions as far as which versions of songs appear on the compilation).

A&M 50 offers some fun discs, which is great. So what’s the problem? The set comes in a four-panel digipak, with a picture of Alpert and Moss and a brief essay (which nobody is credited with writing). The writer and producer credits are consigned to the inner panels, with little information outside of that. It’s very plain, and altogether a bit lacking. While a full-on box set approach might have been a tough sell, a double-sized digipak with a nicely-designed booklet should be less of a luxury and more of a commonality with sets like these.

Ultimately, it’s that lack of “luxury” which fails to elevate A&M 50 past a “Now That’s What I Call Three Sampler CDs from a Particular Label!” level. This was a fun idea that demanded better execution. Alpert and Moss may not have had a unifying goal when they founded that label out of their garage, but they had something worth showing off. It’s a shame that this concept didn’t quite get its due here.

Release Round-Up: Week of February 14

Barry White, Let the Music Play: Expanded Edition (Hip-o Select/Mercury)

What’s Valentine’s Day without a little satin soul? Numerous bonus tracks abound on a new pressing of this underrated gem of an album.

Captain Beefheart, Bat Chain Puller (Zappa)

The original, intended edition of the Captain’s lost album.

Cotton Mather, Kontiki: Deluxe Edition (The Star Apple Kingdom)

An underrated work of ’90s power-pop, expanded with a bonus disc of rarities and unreleased materials that was funded entirely through Kickstarter!

Pulp, It / Freaks / Separations: Deluxe Editions (Fire)

Before they signed to Island and caught a Britpop wave, Jarvis Cocker and company released these three albums, all newly expanded with rare and unreleased tracks.

Bryan Adams, Cuts Like a Knife / Dio, Holy Diver (Audio Fidelity)

Two classics of the ’80s newly mastered on 24KT gold CDs.

Phoebe Snow, Phoebe Snow / Joe Walsh, But Seriously, Folks… (Friday Music)

The latest audiophile vinyl offerings from our friends at Friday Music.

The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds (Mobile Fidelity)

The first MoFi/SACD pressing of a most classic of albums.

Straight Through/From The Heart: Dio Goes Deluxe From Universal, Audio Fidelity Preps Dio, Bryan Adams

It’s 1983 all over again at Audio Fidelity.

The audiophile specialty label is readying two albums from that year touching on both the rock and pop ends of the musical spectrum.  Bryan Adams’ Cuts Like a Knife and Dio’s Holy Diver are both due in stores on February 14 as 24K Gold CDs playable on all CD players.

Cuts Like a Knife was Adams’ third effort, eschewing the stylistic presentation of his first two albums in favor of a melodic rock style that caught on with both listeners and radio programmers.  The album spawned hit singles in the form of the title song (No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 6 on the mainstream rock chart) plus “This Time” and the quintessential Adams ballad “Straight From the Heart.”   Adams co-produced the LP with Bob Clearmountain, who was also responsible for his previous LP, 1981’s You Want It, You Got It.  Clearmountain’s belief in Adams paid off when Cuts Like a Knife went Top Ten on the Billboard 200, racking up sales of over four million copies.  Audio Fidelity accurately sums up the album as “a great pop rock album to listen to – the songs are highly melodic and well-crafted and full of a lot of simple and genuine heart. “  Adams’ heart was again on its sleeve for the album’s follow-up, Reckless (1984) which delivered with “Summer of ’69,” “Heaven” and “Run to You” among its most beloved songs.  Audio Fidelity’s reissue of Cuts Like a Knife has been remastered by Kevin Gray.

It’s time for Holy Diver, plus a trio of deluxe Dio releases from Universal U.K.!   You’ll find track listings, discography and details, all after the jump!

Reissue Theory: Live Aid on CD

Twenty-six years ago today, on two different continents, the music world came together for a worthy cause: to raise awareness of famine in Ethiopia. Live Aid, a pair of concerts organized by Bob Geldof in London and Philadelphia on July 13, 1985 and broadcasted live on the BBC, ABC and MTV, was seen in person by some 172,000 people and on television by nearly 2 billion across the globe.

And, if you can believe it, none of it has ever been released on LP or CD.

Granted, it’s not entirely unsurprising. Geldof promised artists that the performances were very much a one-off, never to be seen past the initial broadcast. (That of course turned out to be untrue, with the release of a four-disc DVD set in 2004.) But you have to wonder, given not only the fiercely charitable nature of the organization as well as the capitalistic nature of the music industry, why a commemorative album was never put out to raise even more money for charities.

But if they did, this is how it might go down.

Grant Us an Extension

The other day I was talking about how us catalogue fans can sometimes end up wanting that one missing track to add to our collections. I used the 45 version of Billy Joel’s “Sometimes a Fantasy,” which runs well past the fade-out on the LP, as an example. Interestingly enough, I realized that the track also adhered to another concept I realized I’m enamored of concerning music in general.

When I was a kid, I was always interested in the idea of a fade-out. You’d be listening to a song, getting all excited, and then gradually the song quiets down to nothing, even though the music was still going. That drove me nuts! I frequently risked hearing damage to listen to as much of those fade-outs as I could, quickly turning the sound back down before the next track blared in.

As I became more well-versed in the world of catalogue music, I realized that some artists and compilers seemed to share my opinion on the fade-out. As I got more and more into 12″ remixes, where other bits of the master recording could be utilized, I was hooked. Michael Jackson could be good for that sometimes (notably the 12″ to “Billie Jean,” which is just an unedited version of the song). So could Prince – the grossly underrated “Mountains,” off the Parade album, lets you hear another six or seven minutes of jamming. (This didn’t always work for The Purple One, as anyone who’s heard the 26-minute version of “America” or the unreleased half-hour jam on “I Would Die 4 U” – later edited to ten minutes on the 12″ single – can attest.)

I’ve also earned some vindication from the Rock Band series of video games. I could write a whole series of posts on how it’s opened me up to new acts and let me rediscover songs I’d heard a million times before. But one of the simplest pleasures in those games have been hearing a song that usually fades out come to a complete stop instead. Sometimes the goal is met through obvious editing, but sometimes a concrete ending, or otherwise unheard material, can be unearthed. (Cases in point: Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up,” Bryan Adams’ “Summer of ’69,” Squeeze’s “Tempted” and David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance.”)

So the next time you hop up to turn up your speakers to get those last sounds out of a song, don’t feel bad – you’re in good company. And what fade-out songs do you find yourself turning up? Let’s talk in the comment section.