“Weird Scenes Inside” Rhino’s Record Store Day Slate

With April 19’s Record Store Day a little more than a week away, it might be time to start making those checklists! We’ve already filled you in on exciting releases from Legacy Recordings, Real Gone Music, Sundazed, Omnivore Recordings, Varese Sarabande and many others, but today it’s all about Rhino! The Warner Music Group catalogue arm has a bumper crop of more than 25 exclusive offerings from some of the biggest names classic rock, vintage R&B and beyond – including The Doors, Grateful Dead, Ramones, Randy Newman, and, as previously reported, R.E.M.! And that’s not all.

A number of new titles are at the heart of Rhino’s RSD campaign. The Dead premieres Live at Hampton Coliseum for the first time on double vinyl, preserving the band’s Virginia concert of May 4, 1979. Another live set getting a first-ever vinyl issue is Donny Hathaway’s Live at the Bitter End 1971, first issued last year on the Never My Love: The Anthology box set. The Pogues with Joe Strummer Live in London 1991, was like the Donny Hathaway release, first issued on CD in a recent box set (last year’s 30 Years complete albums box) and makes its first appearance in the LP format. It dates back to the period when the Clash frontman filled in for Shane MacGowan in the Pogues line-up. Rhino’s new releases are rounded out by a collection of new-to-vinyl outtakes from country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons, a new Greatest Hits from rapper and longtime Law and Order: SVU star Ice-T, and of course, R.E.M.’s eagerly awaited Unplugged 1991/2001: The Complete Sessions.

Rhino continues its Side by Side series of 45s featuring two versions of the same song with pairings of Devo and The Flaming Lips (“Gates of Steel”), Dinosaur Jr. and The Cure (“Just Like Heaven”), Pantera and Poison Idea (“The Badge”) and two Mystery Artists– and Mystery Song, natch.  The label is also bringing a number of classic LPs back into print. These rare treats include The Birthday Party from Jeff Lynne’s pre-ELO psych-rock band The Idle Race, Randy Newman’s stunningly original debut solo LP – on which he created something new under the sun! – in its original mono version, Otis Redding’s mono Pain in My Heart, and classics from The Everly Brothers, The Velvet Underground, Hüsker Dü and many others.

Last but not least, Rhino has an array of compilations and singles on tap. Perhaps the most unexpected title is The Doors’ Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine, the band’s first compilation following the untimely death of Jim Morrison. First released in 1972, Gold Mine will also get a first-time CD reissue in May. A rare Ramones EP (1980’s Meltdown with the Ramones) and the first-ever U.S. release of Fleetwood Mac’s 1970 single “Dragonfly” b/w “Purple Dancer” join titles from Joy Division, The Specials, The Stranglers and even a reissue of Elektra’s 1964 multi-LP box set The Folk Box. The latter even comes with a bonus single featuring Judy Collins and Tom Paxton!

We wouldn’t leave you hanging with all of this tantalizing information; just hit the jump for the full specs (including limited edition numbers, vinyl details, etc.) as helpfully provided by our very own Mike D. for every title mentioned above and more! Look for Rhino’s releases at your finest local independent record retailer on Saturday, April 19.

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Donny Hathaway, “Never My Love: The Anthology”

This time of year, it’s nearly impossible to spend much time on a holiday music station without hearing the familiar, resonant voice persuasively imploring, “Hang all the mistletoe/I’m gonna get to know you better/This Christmas!”  Donny Hathaway’s 1970 single “This Christmas” has become one of the most frequently-sung latter-day Christmas standards, recorded in recent years by everybody from Carole King to Mary J. Blige.  In a too-short life that was tragically curbed at 33 in January 1979, the soul singer proved himself a gifted interpreter of the songs of others, as well as a songwriter of no small skill (see: “This Christmas,” for one).  He didn’t reinvent the wheel of R&B, but took his place in a line of soul men with the power to deliver messages of hope, love, loss, and empowerment.  Rhino has recently surveyed Hathaway’s short but vibrant career in a new four-disc box set entitled Never My Love: The Anthology.

Never My Love follows Someday We’ll All Be Free, a similarly-designed box from Rhino Music France which was released in 2010.  That career-spanning, 61-song retrospective premiered seven previously unissued tracks across its four discs; live material occupied half of the third disc and all of the fourth.  Never My Love, named for The Addrisi Brothers’ hit for The Association which Hathaway made his own, takes a different approach via its 58 songs.  The first CD is a straightforward “best of,” with mono single versions sprinkled into the mix.  A second disc introduces another thirteen previously unissued studio recordings, and the third presents an entire unreleased live performance from 1971 at the Bitter End.  The fourth and final disc brings together Hathaway’s duets with Roberta Flack including the all-time classics “Where is the Love” and “The Closer I Get to You.”  When all is said in done, the box contains a substantial portion of Hathaway’s core solo ouevre, which consists of just three studio solo albums, a duets set with Roberta Flack, three live albums (two released posthumously) and one soundtrack…plus “This Christmas,” of course.

After the jump, we’ll take a closer look at Never My Love: The Anthology!

Release Round-Up: Week of November 11/12

The Beatles, Live At The BBC / On Air: Live At The BBC Volume 2 (Capitol)

What’s better than a remaster of The Fab Four’s 1994 double-disc set of live BBC sessions? How about another two-disc set of those sessions?

Live At The BBC (2CD): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Live At The BBC (3LP): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
On Air: Live At The BBC Volume 2 (2CD): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
On Air: Live At The BBC Volume 2 (3LP): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Live At The BBC: The Collection (4CD): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Donny Hathaway, Never My Love: The Anthology (ATCO/Rhino)

A fine-looking four-disc anthology for the late, great soul singer, featuring his greatest hits and rare singles, a disc of unreleased studio outtakes, an unissued live performance at New York’s Bitter End in 1971, and his complete duets with Roberta Flack. Beautiful, beautiful stuff here. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Miles Davis, The Original Mono Recordings (Columbia/Legacy)

A nine-disc set featuring a crash course in jazz education in glorious monaural sound! Classics ‘Round About Midnight (1957), Miles Ahead (1957), Milestones (1958), Porgy and Bess (1959), Kind of Blue (1959), Sketches of Spain (1960) and Someday My Prince Will Come (1961) are joined by two rare, out-of-print LPs: 1959’s Jazz Track (featuring a side of quintet recordings for a French soundtrack and a side of rarities from the sextet that cut Kind of Blue) and Miles & Monk At Newport (1964), featuring two live sets recorded five years apart at the Newport Jazz Festival. (Look for several of these albums on LP once again for Record Store Day’s Black Friday event!) (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K.)

Herbie Hancock, The Complete Columbia Album Collection 1972-1988 (Columbia/Legacy)

This 34-disc set features every one of the jazz pianist’s albums for Columbia/CBS, including 11 which have never been on CD in the U.S. before (eight of these albums were only released in Japan). (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Who, Tommy: Deluxe Editions (Geffen/UMe)

Another expanded version of The Who’s magnum opus features the original album with an unissued spread of demos, outtakes and live bootlegs.

2CD Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
3CD/1BD Super Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
1CD Remaster: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2LP Remaster: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Various Artists, Disney Classics (Walt Disney Records)

A neat new four-disc box set spanning the entire Disney gamut (film, television and theme parks) in celebration of 90(!) years of musical magic. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Waterboys, Fisherman’s Box: The Complete Fisherman’s Blues Sessions 1986-1988 (Parlophone)

After some delays, the six-disc version of this mammoth box (sans “influences” bonus disc or vinyl LP) is available this week. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Creedence Clearwater Revival, Creedence Clearwater Revival (Box Set) (Fantasy)

A reissue of the band’s career-spanning six-disc 2001 box, featuring all nine of their studio and live albums and a disc of pre-CCR single sides, is now available in a new package not made of wood. (Amazon U.S.)

Ry Cooder, 1970-1987 (Rhino)

All 11 of the famed guitarist’s Warner-Reprise albums in one box. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Killers, Direct Hits (Island)

The Vegas modern-day New Wavers release their first compilation, with new single “Shot At the Night.” A deluxe edition adds a few more bonus tracks, including the original demo for hit single “Mr. Brightside.”

Standard: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Super Deluxe CD/10″ edition: Amazon U.K.

Keane, The Best of Keane (Island)

Another Island act from the ’00s (albeit one from England), Keane too release a compilation in a variety of formats.

Standard 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Deluxe 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Super Deluxe 2CD/DVD (Amazon exclusive): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Live in Montreal 1977 (Shout! Factory)

Welcome back, my friends, to a complete show in support of Works Volume 1 on two discs. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Lamb of God, As the Palaces Burn: 10th Anniversary Edition (Razor & Tie)

The thrash/groove quartet’s breakthrough 2000 album is remixed, remastered and expanded with three demos and a DVD documentary.

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

Grizzly Bear, Shields: Expanded (Warp)

The Brooklyn band’s 2012 album, now with a bonus disc of demos and remixes.

Shields: Expanded (2CD): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Shields: B-Sides (LP): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Everything is (More Than) Everything: Unreleased Donny Hathaway Works Compiled on New Box Set (UPDATED 9/26)

UPDATE (9/26/2013): After initially posting this was to be released in France, we were pleased to receive confirmation that this box, in fact, will be released stateside as well! We have amended the release date and pre-order links accordingly.

AMENDED POST (9/23/2013): Several years after a great career-spanning box set from France, Rhino is releasing another new box by the late soul legend Donny Hathaway, with two discs of unreleased studio and live content.

Never My Love: The Anthology takes its name from the classic Donald and Richard Addrisi composition, taken to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967. As we discovered this year thanks to a 45RPM single released for Record Store Day, Hathaway cut his own soulful version, one of 13 tracks on a disc of unreleased studio material. Though much of the material on this disc never made it past the demo/work-in-progress stage, it makes for an intriguing look at the scope of Hathaway’s ambition – particularly the disc’s closing “ZYXYGY Concerto,” a 20-minute, multi-movement piece recorded in the fall of 1973 after a summer touring with the Newport Jazz Festival.

Hathaway’s live prowess takes hold of Disc 3, compiled from nine sets at New York’s historic Bitter End between October 27 and 29, 1971. Donny tackles both his signature hits (“Voices Inside (Everything is Everything),” “Little Ghetto Boy”) and killer covers (Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend,” John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy”) with equal aplomb.  (Of course, four songs from those sets made up the second side of Hathaway’s Live album in 1972, but the songs replicated here – “Everything is Everything” and “Jealous Guy” – are alternate to what’s on the original album.)

And what will you find on the other two discs? Hit the jump to find out.

Black Friday 2012: Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Frank Zappa Lead Off Packed Slate of RSD Exclusives

Here in the U. S. of A., Black Friday is almost upon us: that unusual date following the prior day of giving thanks, in which consumers make a mad dash to the local big-box store, mall or shopping center to procure bargains for the holiday season ahead.  Retailers are controversially beginning Black Friday “festivities” even earlier than usual this year, with many sales starting on Thanksgiving Day itself and not even at midnight but in the early part of the evening.  For a number of recent years, music buyers have had our own Black Friday, that day in April known as Record Store Day in which the aisles of our independent retailers are filled with hunters of collectible vinyl and CD releases.  Record Store Day has in the past sponsored a mini-RSD event on Black Friday, but this year, the titles on offer are as enticing and nearly as plentiful as those on the main RSD itself.  For some, this will be a source of frustration, for others, excitement.

This year’s line-up for Record Store Day – Black Friday brings titles from some of the biggest names in rock including The Beach Boys, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and Nirvana, plus cult favorites like Leonard Cohen, Lee Hazlewood and Frank Zappa, and country-and-western legends such as Wanda Jackson and Buck Owens.

After the jump and without further ado, we’ll fill you in on the crème of the reissued crop come this Black Friday!  Just click for your full list of the catalogue releases to watch!

Release Round-Up: Week of July 17

America, Perspective/In Concert (BGO)

Two out-of-print albums from Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell circa 1984 and 1985 are now available as a two-for-one CD from the U.K.’s BGO label!  Read more here.

Donny Hathaway, Live + In Performance (Shout! Factory)

The Shout! Factory label combines two of the late soul man’s live albums (the first, from 1972, and the second, a posthumous set from 1980) in one package, newly remastered by Steve Hoffman.  Read more here.

Elton John vs. Pnau, Good Morning to the Night (Mercury/Casablanca)

Sir Elton opened up his vaults to Australian dance-pop duo Pnau, and the result is this club-ready collection of mash-ups!  Eight new songs have been created from Elton favorites as well as deep tracks.  Read more here.

MC Squared, Tantalizing Colours: The Reprise Recordings (Now Sounds)

Now Sounds unearths a long-lost album from a psychedelic band including session vets Randy Sterling and Jim Keltner, circa 1968!  The label describes the band as “sounding like a unique hybrid of The Mamas and the Papas and Jefferson Airplane,” which strikes us as about right!  Watch for Joe’s run-down soon.

Melba Moore, This Is It: Expanded Edition (Funky Town Grooves)

Melba Moore’s 1976 collaboration with producer Van McCoy is expanded with two bonus tracks!

Sam Phillips, Martinis & Bikinis (Omnivore Recordings)

Sam Phillips’ classic pop-inspired 1994 LP, produced by T Bone Burnett, arrives on CD and vinyl with four bonus tracks!  Keep an eye open for Joe’s review tomorrow.  Read more here!

Various Artists, Pete Waterman Presents the Hit Factory (Sony U.K.)

This affordably-priced box set rounds up eighties classics from Bananarama, Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Rick Astley, Cliff Richard and Samantha Fox, among others from the famed PWL label!  Read more here.

Young, Gifted and Live: Shout! Factory Collects Two Out-of-Print Donny Hathaway Concert LPs

The late, great Donny Hathaway was rather beautifully celebrated by Rhino France some time ago with the release of a career-spanning box set. While U.S. audiences had no such luck with a similar compilation, Shout! Factory is picking up the slack and releasing a two-disc set containing both of the soul legend’s long out-of-print live albums.

Hathaway had recorded two sensational studio albums when Live was released in 1972. Very little of those albums are replicated here, save for “The Ghetto” and “Voices Inside (Everything is Everything),” both from his debut disc Everything is Everything in 1970. Much of the material herein are soulful covers, including one recent R&B classic (Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”) and two pop/rock tunes (Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend” and John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy”). Culled from two live sets on either coast of America (one at Hollywood’s famous Troubadour and one in Greenwich Village’s Bitter End), Live cracked Billboard‘s Top 20, earned Hathaway his first gold record and even became a cornerstone for hip-hop artists (key track “Little Ghetto Boy” was sampled by both Dr. Dre and the Wu-Tang Clan).

Read on to learn about In Performance, a fitting postscript to Hathaway’s too-short career, and where these albums have been all your life.

In Case You Missed It: Monsieur Hathaway

A little bit of old news for you, but a must-know if you didn’t already: the folks at Rhino have put together Someday We’ll All Be Free, a four-disc overview of soul singer Donny Hathaway’s brief but powerful career. The set includes all four studio albums, a heap of live tracks, and seven previously unreleased recordings.

Here’s the catch, though: it seems that it’s only available – as a 5,000-copy limited edition, at that – in France. While I had little to no idea of Hathaway’s apparently strong French fanbase (strong enough to warrant such a set, at least), I suppose there’s a first time for everything – and hopefully the seven vault tracks will make their way to our shores before too long.

In the meantime, fans who need to fully flesh out their collection can take a look at the set’s Amazon page or hit the jump for the specs.