Release Round-Up: Week of November 17

 

Henry Mancini, The Classic Soundtrack Collection (RCA/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Classic Soundtrack Collection features 18 of Mancini’s most memorable soundtrack albums for RCA, Columbia and Epic Records on nine CDs, spanning the period between 1960’s High Time and 1978’s Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?, and adds bonus material from vocalists including Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams and, on a previously unreleased track, Julie Andrews.

Johnny Mathis, The Global Albums Collection (Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

A Columbia artist since 1956, Johnny Mathis departed his label home just once – recording some eleven albums (ten of which were released) under the imprimatur of his own Global Records production company between 1963 and 1967, at which time he returned to Columbia. Legacy’s new  box set collects all eleven LPs plus two discs of singles and previously unissued rarities, plus a booklet containing album-by-album notes from Mathis.

 

Bruce Springsteen, The Album Collection Vol. 1 1973-1984 (Columbia/Legacy)

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

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

Amazon MP3: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Collected here in one 8-CD or vinyl LP box set for the first time in newly-remastered editions are the artist and icon’s first seven albums.

David Bowie, Nothing Has Changed (Legacy)

3 CD DELUXE EDITION (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

2 CD EDITION (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Thin White Duke looks back on his remarkable career with Nothing Has Changed from his newest single, the previously unissued “Sue (Or in a Season of Crime),” all the way back to 1964 and “Liza Jane.”

Joni Mitchell, Love Has Many Faces (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K.)

The legendary Miss Mitchell has transformed a sequence of her songs originally intended for the ballet stage into a thematically-arranged four-CD box set which doubles as a highly personal career retrospective.

Captain Beefheart, SUN ZOOM SPARK: 1970-1972 (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

This new 4-CD box set revisits three albums from Don Van Vliet and his Magic Band – Lick My Decals Off, Baby, The Spotlight Kid, and Clear Spot– in freshly remastered editions, and adds a fourth disc containing fourteen previously unreleased outtakes and alternates from Beefheart and his musical cohorts.

Wilco,What’s Your 20 and Alpha Mike Foxtrot (Nonesuch)

What’s Your 20? Essential Tracks 1994-2014 (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Alpha Mike Foxtrot: Rarities 1994-2014:

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

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

Nonesuch has two new collections celebrating the 20th anniversary of Chicago alt-rock band Wilco in high style!  Alpha Mike Foxtrot, a new box set (4 CDs, 4 LPs or digital), brings together rare studio and live recordings culled from the band’s archives.  What’s Your 20, the first-ever compendium of Wilco’s previously released studio recordings, is also now available on 2 CDs or digital.

Rolling Stones, From the Vault: L.A. Forum – Live in 1975 (Eagle Rock)

CD/DVD: Amazon U.S.

Vinyl: Amazon U.S.

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

DVD + 3-LP: Amazon U.K.

The Stones continue to bring their digital archive to physical media with this campaign of releases dedicated to the band’s 1975 L.A. Forum show!

Peter Paul and Mary, Discovered: Live in Concert (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

This new release is drawn from the archive of the beloved trio and features 13 songs never before released on a PP&M album. Only one track has been previously issued: “Mi Caballo Blanco,” which was included on the 2004 box set Carry It On.

King Crimson, Elements of King Crimson (DGM) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

This new limited edition box from the prog legends houses a 24-page “tour booklet” and two CDs of extracts, elements from studio recordings, alternate takes, live tracks, rehearsals & finished recordings from 1969-2014 – many of which are previously unreleased on CD.

Jimmy Somerville, Bronski Beat and the Communards, Dance and Desire: Rarities and Videos (Edsel) (Amazon U.S. TBD / Amazon U.K. )

On 2 CDs and 1 DVD, Edsel compiles rare remixes, B-sides, and 24 promo videos for Jimmy Somerville, Bronski Beat and the Communards!

Old 97s, Hitchhike to Rhone (Omnivore)

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

Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 

Omnivore’s new 2-CD version of Old 97’s’ 1994 debut  Hitchhike To Rhome contains the original landmark alt-country album, plus a second disc of 12 rare and unreleased tracks, many mixed from the original multi-tracks for the first time by longtime Old 97’s engineer Rip Rowan. The double LP (limited edition first pressing on translucent orange vinyl) features the LP on 3 sides with 6 of the bonus tracks on the 4th. The download card included has the complete 2-CD program. Both formats include rare photos, memorabilia and new liner notes!

 

Various Artists, The Art of McCartney (Kobalt)

2-CD: Amazon U.S.  / Amazon U.K.

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

3-LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Jeff Lynne, Brian Wilson, Cat Stevens, Harry Connick Jr. and Barry Gibb are just a few of the artists who have assembled to celebrate the music of Paul McCartney on this new 2-CD collection.  Amazon U.S. and U.K. have two exclusive editions with bonus material on CD and DVD.

From “Last Christmas” To “Blue Xmas”: Legacy’s Black Friday Slate Features Wham!, Miles Davis, Hendrix, Kinks, Elvis, More

It’s that time of year again!

Announcements are finally coming in for Record Store Day’s annual Black Friday event happening on Friday, November 28. Rather than storming malls and big box stores, maybe you’ll want to pay a visit to your favorite local independent record store for an assortment of exclusive vinyl goodies.  Legacy Recordings certainly hopes you will; the label’s roster for Black Friday’s RSD event includes titles from heavy-hitters including David Bowie, Joe Satriani, Miles Davis, Dave Matthews Band, Elvis Presley, The Kinks and Jimi Hendrix!

And that’s not all! Longtime readers know that Christmas is our favorite time of the year at Second Disc HQ!  We’ve already filled you in on Joe’s two holiday-themed projects due on November 4 from Real Gone Music – Robert Goulet’s Complete Columbia Christmas Recordings and the long-awaited reissue of The Williams Brothers Christmas Album featuring Andy and his brothers – and today, it’s Mike’s turn!  Fresh from his work on a pair of exciting Ghostbusters-related projects – the sold-out glow-in-the-dark EP of Ray Parker Jr.’s immortal title song and a brand-new, Stay Puft super deluxe marshmallow-scented (yes, you read that right!) vinyl release from Ray Parker, Jr. and Run-DMC – Mike is delivering a little Wham! for the holidays as co-producer of a 12-inch red and green vinyl single featuring both the classic “Last Christmas” and a previously unreleased instrumental mix!  Trust me – no Christmas party will want to be without this one!

Hit the jump to explore Legacy’s full slate of Black Friday Record Store Day titles, all of which will be available at a participating RSD retailer on Friday, November 28! And watch this space for more announcements coming soon!

Release Round-Up: Week of September 23

George Harrison, The Apple Years 1968-1975 (Apple/Universal, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Here, at last, are George Harrison’s complete albums for Apple Records, all beautifully remastered and featuring select bonus material.  These six albums are available in a deluxe box set with a bonus DVD or as individual reissues:

Wonderwall Music (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Electronic Music (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

All Things Must Pass  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Living in the Material World  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Dark Horse (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Extra Texture (Read All About It)  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

David Bowie, Sound + Vision  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

In case you missed it the last time around, here’s a slimmed-down reissue of the 2003 iteration of Bowie’s box set covering the chameleonic rock star’s career through 1997 on four CDs.

John Coltrane, Offering: Live at Temple University (Impulse!/Resonance) (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K.)

Here, at last, is the famous concert in which John Coltrane put down his saxophone and sang – or at least vocalized in an intense, some might say inexplicable, manner.  Ashley Kahn puts this remarkable, and remarkably inscrutable, 1966 Philadelphia performance in perspective in the deluxe 24-page booklet that accompanies this 2-CD release.

Hollies, Fifty at 50 (Parlophone/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

This new 3-CD Hollies anthology, marking the harmony purveyors’ 50th year of recording, arrives in the U.K. today with a U.S. edition to follow next month.

Jerry Lee Lewis, The Knox Phillips Sessions: The Unreleased Recordings (Saguaro Road) (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K. )

In the mid-1970s, Jerry Lee Lewis returned to Sun Studios with Sam Phillips’ son Knox now running the show; Knox recorded the piano pounder on country, pop and gospel classics from “Beautiful Dreamer” to “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.”  Ten tracks from the Knox Phillips sessions are included on this single-disc release.

Pugwash, A Rose in a Garden of Weeds (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

Omnivore has a “preamble through the history of Pugwash,” the Irish band described by the label as a “mix of The Beach Boys meets ELO meets XTC.”  This 17-track collection spans the period between 1999’s Almond Tea As Served By… through 2011’s The Olympus Sound and should serve as a perfect introduction to an underrated group.

Edwin Starr, Soul Master: Expanded Edition / Involved: Expanded Edition (Big Break)

Big Break dips back into the Motown vault for two generously expanded editions of albums from “War” hero Edwin Starr including his 1968 Motown LP debut Soul Master with a whopping 17 bonus tracks, and 1971’s Involved (featuring “War’) with 13 bonuses!

Soul Master: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Involved: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Leonard Cohen, Popular Problems (Columbia) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The poet and troubadour celebrates his 80th birthday with the release of a new album featuring nine new songs.

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, Cheek to Cheek (Interscope/Columbia) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Also not a reissue, but certainly of interest – the 88-years young jazz vocal great teams with the audacious pop superstar for a set of swinging standards.  Available in standard and deluxe editions, as well as Target, iTunes and HSN exclusives with extra material.

Golden Years: “Nothing Has Changed” Compiles 50 Years of David Bowie’s Best, Plus New Song

Less than a month ago, we reported on the upcoming reissue of David Bowie’s Sound and Vision, the box set covering the artist’s career from 1969 to 1997.  Today, Bowie’s official website has confirmed the November 18 release of NOTHING HAS CHANGED, an all-new career-spanning retrospective which for the first time collects music from the entirety of his 50-year career: 1964 to 2014.  In the U.K., this package – available in 2-CD, 3-CD and 2-LP configurations – will arrive from Parlophone; in the U.S., the label is Columbia/Legacy.

To sweeten the pot, NOTHING HAS CHANGED will feature the first new music from Bowie since his critically-lauded 2013 album The Next Day.  His new single “Sue (or In a Season of Crime)” was recorded with longtime producer/collaborator Tony Visconti specifically for this project.  It will also be featured (along with a never-before-heard B-side, “‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore”) on a special Record Store Day vinyl release set for the annual Black Friday RSD event on November 28; this 1o-inch release will be available at general retail in the U.K.!

“Sue” isn’t the only previously unissued music on NOTHING HAS CHANGED.  The set will also premiere the 2001 versions of 1967’s “Let Me Sleep Beside You” and 1971’s “Shadow Man,” both reportedly from sessions related to the as-yet-unreleased album Toy.  The download-only track “Your Turn to Drive,” from that same album/period, makes its CD debut on NOTHING HAS CHANGED.  (The official press release confirms “Let Me Sleep Beside You” as a part of Toy but oddly, not the other two tracks.)

The 3-CD version of NOTHING HAS CHANGED (which takes its name from “Sunday,” from the album Heathen) is arranged in reverse chronological order, while the truncated 2-CD edition (which begins with 1969’s “Space Oddity,” dropping five earlier songs) is presented chronologically.  The 2-LP set jumps around, beginning with “Let’s Dance” (1983) and ending with “Where Are We Now” (2013).  A number of remixes and edits are included on the anthology, further distinguishing the set from a standard “best-of.”  (Alas, “The Laughing Gnome” is absent from all iterations!)  Mix variations also occur between the various editions such as on “Young Americans.”

After the jump, we have more on this new retrospective, plus the complete track listing for all three editions!

Ziggy Played Guitar: David Bowie’s “Sound + Vision” to Be Reissued

Ground control to Major Tom: Sound and Vision is back for a third go-round.

As part of the breakup of EMI that left most – but not all – of the former monolith controlled by Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group acquired the venerable Parlophone label, founded in 1896 and onetime home to The Beatles. Though Universal kept the Fab Four, Warner obtained current artists like Coldplay and the back catalogues of classic ones like The Hollies and Matt Monro…and a certain David Bowie. Parlophone hasn’t announced any major plans for Bowie’s albums as of yet; in-print titles such as The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars were simply repressed with the new label logo (replacing that of EMI label Virgin Records, now controlled by Universal). Parlophone has also offered a number of Record Store Day vinyl exclusives bearing the Bowie imprimatur. On September 23, the label has a repackaged version of the artist’s out-of-print, 4-CD Sound + Vision anthology returning to stores.

Named for the track on Bowie’s album Low, Sound + Vision was first issued in 1989 by Rykodisc. That independent label, now also controlled by Warner, had just gained the rights to the Bowie-controlled masters of his pre-1983 albums formerly available on RCA. Housed in an LP-sized box, the original Sound + Vision boasted three CDs (or six LPs or three cassettes) spanning the period between Bowie’s second, self-titled album in 1969 and 1980’s Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). It blended familiar songs and rare or previously unissued alternate versions of familiar songs with rarities, and also included a CD-Video disc with three previously unreleased recordings and the video of “Ashes to Ashes.” This impressive set won a Grammy Award for Best Album Package and racked up staggering sales for an expensive box set, eventually being certified Gold in the U.S. (and entering the Top 100 of the Billboard 200), Platinum in the U.K., and 4x Platinum (!) in Canada.

Rykodisc reissued Sound + Vision in 1995, streamlining the packaging and replacing the disc in the defunct CD-V format with a standard CD-ROM. The next iteration of the set came in 2003, by which time Bowie had moved his catalogue from Rykodisc to EMI’s Virgin Records label. This version of Sound + Vision dropped the “Vision” (the CD-V/CD-ROM!), added a fourth CD to cover the period of 1982-1997, and moreover, tweaked the original track listing. Though the original’s 50 tracks (including the bonus video disc) had grown to 67, a few of the original tracks were replaced with alternate versions of the same songs (“The Wild-Eyed Boy from Freecloud,” “London Bye Ta-Ta,” “Round and Round,” “Fascination”) and all four performances from the CD-V were dispensed with entirely.

What can you expect on the new version?  Hit the jump for details including the complete track listing and pre-order links!

“Pin Ups” In Reverse: Ace Explores The Roots of Ziggy Stardust With “Bowie Heard Them Here First”

David Bowie did the unthinkable in this media-obsessed age when, on the date of his sixty-sixth birthday (January 8, 2013), he managed to catch the world off-guard to announce his first new album in a decade.  Bowie and his cohorts had kept The Next Day a secret, proving that the iconoclastic artist could still do things his way.  In six decades, from the 1960s through the present, David Bowie has kept his fans guessing what might come next.  And while Bowie’s sound is one of the most distinctive in popular music, it was shaped from a myriad of influences.  Many of those artists are represented on Ace Records’ recent release Bowie Heard Them Here First.  Following similar volumes for Ramones, Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard, The New York Dolls, and Dusty Springfield, this compilation features the original versions of songs recorded by Bowie over the years.

Bowie’s status as a songwriter par excellence has rarely been in doubt, so it’s no surprise that he’s felt comfortable enough to pay tribute to his colleagues over the years.  The songs on Bowie Heard Them Here First are presented in the sequence which Bowie recorded them.  The earliest pair of songs on the compilation, however, date from the period before Bowie had blossomed as a songwriter.  The opening cut, Paul Revere and the Raiders’ honking garage rocker “Louie, Go Home,” appeared on the B-side of Bowie’s very first record with his R&B group Davie Jones and The King Bees.  It’s followed by Bobby Bland’s torrid original recording of “I Pity the Fool,” which he had recorded with his second band, The Manish Boys – named, like The Rolling Stones, after a Muddy Waters song.

From there, Bowie Heard Them Here First surprises by addressing just how many of Bowie’s albums have featured cover songs in integral roles.  Though his first three albums – the 1967 self-titled Deram debut, 1969’s David Bowie a.k.a. Space Oddity and 1970’s The Man Who Sold the World – all eschewed others’ songs, Bowie surprisingly opened the second side of his 1971 LP Hunky Dory with a song by Biff Rose and Paul Williams.  The latter had already achieved major fame with smash hits like “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Rainy Days and Mondays” (both via The Carpenters) when Bowie interpreted “Fill Your Heart” which co-writer Rose had recorded in 1968.  Rose’s recording is included here, but Tiny Tim also recorded the sweetly twee ballad in 1968 for his debut album and the B-side of “Tip-Toe Thru the Tulips.”

Bowie’s glam breakthrough The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars had one choice cover version, too, closing its first side with singer-songwriter Ron Davies’ ‘It Ain’t Easy” (also covered by Three Dog Night, Shelby Lynne and Dave Edmunds.)  Davies’ A&M single from 1969 is featured here.  The cover tradition continued on the Ziggy follow-up Aladdin Sane with The Rolling Stones’ “Let’s Spend the Night Together,” which likely was unavailable for licensing to Ace.  Hence, Bowie Heard Them Here First continues with a brace of five tracks representing Bowie’s first and only all-covers album, 1973’s Pin Ups.  Bowie intended the album to celebrate the period of 1964-1967 in London when pop, rock and roll and R&B all merged into a whole thanks to groups like The Kinks (“Where Have All the Good Times Gone”), The Mojos (“Everything’s Alright”), The Pretty Things (“Rosalyn”), The Easybeats (“Friday on My Mind”) and The Merseys (“Sorrow”).  The B-side of Bowie’s single release of the catchy “Sorrow” was from the same period but in a very different style: Jacques Brel’s 1964 chanson “Port of Amsterdam.”  Brel’s French original is included by Ace.  Brel’s louche story-songs also inspired another prime influence on Bowie, the romantic balladeer-turned-avant garde hero Scott Walker.  It took Bowie until 1993 to get around to recording one of Walker’s songs; the dark disco-styled “Nite Flights” from The Walker Brothers’ final album in 1978 is reprised on this collection.

Don’t miss a thing – hit the jump for more including the complete track listing with discography!

Release Round-Up: Week of November 5

David Bowie, The Next Day: Extra (ISO/Columbia)

The year’s biggest comeback album is now available as a 2CD/1DVD set featuring B-sides, remixes, unreleased songs and four music videos. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Bob Dylan, The Complete Album Collection Vol. One (Columbia/Legacy)

Dylan’s “official” albums discography from 1962 to 2012 is collected on this 47-disc set, featuring studio and live titles, 14 newly remastered albums and a two-disc compilation of non-LP material.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Collector’s USB (features full discography in 320 kbps MP3/FLAC): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Jimi Hendrix Experience, Miami Pop Festival / Hear My Train A Comin’ (Experience Hendrix/Legacy)

A pristine 1968 unreleased performance by the Experience is newly released on CD and LP; video footage from that same performance is on display in a new American Masters documentary, as well.

Miami Pop CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Miami Pop LP:  Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Hear My Train DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Hear My Train BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Buck Owens, Buck ‘Em! The Music of Buck Owens 1955-1967 (Omnivore)

Arriving in stores the same day as his posthumous autobiography, this double-disc anthology collects 50 of the Bakersfield giant’s greatest hits and rarities, from several years of solid catalogue projects at the Omnivore label. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Yes, Close to the Edge: Deluxe Edition (Panegyric)

The legendary prog album (from a potential Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee) is remixed in stereo and surround by Steven Wilson and expanded with all sorts of audio rarities.

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

The Discs (Are Out Tonight): Bowie’s Newest LP Expanded to Three-Disc Set

Of all the comeback stories in 2013, perhaps none may have been more intriguing than the master of comebacks, David Bowie. The legendary rocker kicked off his 66th year with a surprise announcement: his first album of new material in a decade. Recorded in secret over a two-year period with producer Tony Visconti, The Next Day was met with critical acclaim – our own Joe Marchese called it “an angry, electric exploration of where he is now, where he was then, and where he will likely be…not a reinvention, but rather a resurgence.”

Joe in fact noted some 30 tracks were reportedly recorded for the album – and, in another surprise, a triple-disc reissue of the album will bring some of those tracks to light, along with other bonus material. The Next Day Extra features a bonus CD featuring four previously-released cuts (three from a deluxe CD package released alongside the album and another Japanese-only bonus track), two new remixes of album cuts “Love is Lost” (remixed by James Murphy of LCD Soundsytem) and “I’d Rather Be High,” and four new songs: “Atomica,” “The Informer,” “Like a Rocket Man” and “Born in a UFO.”

The set is rounded out with a region-free DVD collating all of the visually arresting videos made for the album’s singles, “Where Are We Now?,” “The Stars (Are Out Tonight),” the title track and “Valentine’s Day.” It all comes in a cleanly-designed Barnbrook package featuring two booklets – one with lyrics and one featuring stills from the videos. (For those who just want the bonus tracks without buying the set again, a digital EP will be released presenting that second disc, minus the tracks from the deluxe edition.)

The Next Day Extra materializes into stores on November 4. Pre-order links are not live, but the full rundown of the set is after the jump.

Release Round-Up: Week of April 16

Shuggie Otis, Inspiration Information/Wings of Love (Epic/Legacy)

Nearly 40 years after Inspiration Information, Shuggie Otis’ second and most recent LP, the R&B singer/songwriter/guitarist returns with a greatly expanded double-disc edition of that album featuring material recorded in the intervening years. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

David Bowie, Aladdin Sane: 40th Anniversary Remaster (EMI)

Ziggy goes back to America in this newly-remastered straight reissue of the 1973 classic. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Blind Melon, Blind Melon: 20th Anniversary Edition (Capitol/UMe)

The alt-rock album that gave us “No Rain” is remastered and expanded with several unreleased studio tracks. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

John Coltrane, Sun Ship: The Complete Session (Verve Select)

One of ‘Trane’s last quartet recordings, released posthumously, is expanded as a two-disc set that covers every last second of the session that birthed the album. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Frankie Valli, Hits (Rhino Flashback)

A budget reissue of Valli’s solo hits compilation from 1978. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Dust, Hard Attack/Dust (Kama Sutra/Buddah/Legacy)

A newly-remastered single CD collecting both albums by the proto-heavy metal band (featuring a young Marc Bell, who ended the 1970s as Marky Ramone). (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Jack Jones, Our Song/For the “In” Crowd and Lady/Jack Jones Sings (Zone)

Four Kapp Records albums between 1966 and 1968 on two CDs from the crooner who welcomed us aboard The Love Boat later in his career!

Zeit! EMI to Package Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy Together

There’s no shortage of reminders of the greatness of David Bowie, from his acclaimed comeback album The Next Day to the forthcoming remaster of Aladdin Sane for its 40th anniversary. Soon, EMI will provide yet another reminder, with the release of Zeit! 77-79, a budget-oriented collection of the famed albums of Bowie’s so-called “Berlin Trilogy.”

While the designation of Bowie’s Low, “Heroes” and Lodger as the Berlin Trilogy is a bit inaccurate – only “Heroes” was recorded in the West German capital – these three albums taken together represent an important phase – if not the most important – in Bowie’s multifaceted career. Escaping to West Berlin to try to shake the cocaine addiction that plagued him terribly (he later admitted no memory of even recording 1976’s Station to Station), Bowie found himself working with longtime collaborator Tony Visconti as well as Brian Eno of Roxy Music, who influenced the direction of the album’s second side, a longer, mostly instrumental affair. (The album’s first side featured shorter, introspective songs that were influenced by bands like Kraftwerk and Neu!)

A critically divisive album at first, Low was nonetheless a success on both sides of the Atlantic, buoyed by the U.K. Top 5 single “Sound and Vision.” Follow-up disc “Heroes” saw Bowie slowly but surely breaking free of his demons, working in largely the same style as Low, again with Visconti and Eno (as well as guitarist Robert Fripp), to create one of his most indelible works. The third Bowie-Visconti-Eno disc, Lodger, continued the themes of experimentation (band members swapped instruments and Bowie inverted previously successful chord progressions to craft new tunes), but its slightly more commercial structure did not immediately catch on with critics, even with singles like “D.J.” and “Boys Keep Swinging.” Popular consensus, however, was strengthening around Bowie, somewhat setting the stage for a major commercial revival in the next decade.

Zeit! will package the “current versions” of these three studio albums together; alas, said versions lack the bonus material of previous releases on the Rykodisc label in the early 1990s. However, the box will also feature Stage, Bowie’s 1978 double-disc live album recorded on the “Isolar II” tour in support of “Heroes.” Although the band was praised for emulating the complex studio creations of the Berlin albums in a live setting, the sterile mix (devoid of crowd noise) and cut-up running order was not as well-received. However, as EMI are utilizing the current versions of these albums, we should be receiving in Zeit! the 2005 edition of the album, resequenced and featuring three bonus tracks (one of which was heard on the 1991 Rykodisc pressing of the album).

Release dates and further information about Zeit! have yet to be revealed, but they will be posted as received. (Thanks to MusicTAP‘s Matt Rowe and others for passing this one along!)