Release Round-Up: Week of June 24

The Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night: The Criterion Collection (Criterion)

The first Beatles film gets the luxe treatment for its 50th anniversary – sounds pretty fab!

Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Three Dog Night, Three Dog Night: Expanded Edition (Iconoclassic)

Iconoclassic remasters and expands the debut album from the band fronted by Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron and Cory Wells!  Bonus tracks include two mono single sides and “Time to Get Alone” written and produced by Brian Wilson. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Various Artists, Studio Rio Presents The Brazil Connection (Legacy)

This fun little release features brand-new bossa nova recordings backing some great original R&B vocals, including Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day,” Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing,” The Isley Brothers’ “It’s Your Thing” and more. A perfect summer party album!

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

Jersey Boys: Music from the Motion Picture and Broadway Musical (WaterTower Music/Rhino)

The hit Broadway play is now a film, directed by Clint Eastwood, and the soundtrack features both original hits by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons plus new versions recorded for the film itself. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Lion King: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – The Legacy Collection (Walt Disney Records)

Disney’s exciting new “Legacy Collection” line of expanded soundtracks to their classic films kicks off with a 20th anniversary edition of the soundtrack to The Lion King, featuring all the songs you love from Elton John and Tim Rice, over 30 minutes of unreleased score and demo material and striking new artwork created just for this package. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Can You Feel The Love Tonight: 2-CD Expanded Edition of “The Lion King” Kicks Off Disney Legacy Collection

With Walt Disney Records’ juggernaut soundtrack to Frozen preparing to enjoy its thirteenth week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 – becoming one of only 39 albums in the history of the chart to have spent at least 13 weeks at pole position – the time has never been better for the record label to revisit the studio’s classic animated film library. Today, Walt Disney Records announced what’s arguably its most ambitious reissue program ever. The Legacy Collection will mark the anniversaries of Disney’s beloved animated films with expanded editions of its original soundtracks, and 12 such releases are already on the schedule kicking off this June and running through 2015.  This landmark line follows such Disney’s other recent initiatives as The Lost Chords and the ongoing series with film score specialist label Intrada.

The first release of the Legacy Collection, set for release on June 24, is a 2-CD expansion of the Academy Award-winning score to 1994’s The Lion King, featuring songs by Elton John and Tim Rice and score by Hans Zimmer. The album, certified 10x platinum in 1995, will grow from 12 tracks in its original release to 33 tracks here – including 30 minutes of previously unreleased music. In addition, the new release will include liner notes from Zimmer and producer Don Hahn. Lorelay Bove, a visual development artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios, provides new artwork for the release. Bove will create the look of the Legacy Collection by creating the covers for all releases. The Legacy Collection is being released by Walt Disney Records in conjunction with D23, The Official Disney Fan Club. D23 members will get a chance to preview tracks from the Legacy releases during the D23 Disney Fanniversary Celebration roadshow, which will tour the U.S. later this year, and D23 members will also have the opportunity to purchase the complete set paired with club-exclusive lithographs for each title.

Following the release of The Lion King, the Legacy Collection will celebrate 12 anniversaries including Pinocchio (75th), Fantasia (75th), Cinderella (65th), Lady and the Tramp (60th), Sleeping Beauty (55th), Mary Poppins (50th), The Little Mermaid (25th), and Toy Story (20th), among others. Even Disneyland itself will receive a special title in the series in advance of its 60th birthday next year. After the jump, we have the complete list of the first 12 reissues plus the track listing for the new edition of The Lion King!

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.

Review: Elton John, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: 40th Anniversary Edition,” Part One

“When are you gonna come down? When are you going to land?”

It looked like Elton John would never come down. When Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John’s seventh album and first double-LP set, arrived in October 1973, it followed six straight Top 10 albums. The last two of those had gone all the way to No. 1. Five of John’s singles had also reached the Top 10 of the Hot 100, including one chart-topper. The former Reg Dwight was at the top of the world. Where does one go from there? The answer, of course, was even higher.

Forty years and two dozen studio albums later, GYBR remains the quintessential Elton John album. And it’s just returned from UMe in a multitude of formats including single-CD remaster and double-CD remasters, a 2-LP vinyl reissue, a 4-CD/1-DVD Super Deluxe Edition, and a Blu-ray disc. But whether you’re playing it on a turntable, a CD player or the latest in BD technology, it remains the purest expression of Elton John’s artistry. Not that Captain Fantastic did it alone. GYBW is very much a band album, featuring Dee Murray on bass and two players that still share the stage with John today: Davey Johnstone on guitars and Nigel Olsson on drums. Del Newman’s lush orchestrations made sure that the album sonically reflected the grandiose cinematic quality so often referred to in the lyrics of The Brown Dirt Cowboy, Bernie Taupin. Producer Gus Dudgeon made the entire program of songs hold together cohesively.

GYBR isn’t a concept album, but is a showcase for the various strains of American music that Elton John made his own. Thematically, Hollywood and music itself recur as central lyrical inspirations, with John and Taupin’s stirring array of songs addressing loss – of innocence, of love, even of life. Even today, John opens his concerts with the eleven-minute “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding,” an epic, ominous, majestic Overture for what’s to come. The instrumental “Funeral,” with David Hentschel’s spooky ARP synthesizer, sets the grand tone for the sprawling album. It segues into “Love,” with some of the Rocket Man’s best rock piano yet accompanying a Taupin lyric about the collateral damage caused by life as a musician.

Naturally, GYBR’s four singles – “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” (No. 12 on the Hot 100), “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” (No. 2), “Bennie and the Jets” (No. 1) and “Candle in the Wind” (No. 11 in the U.K.) – threaten to overshadow the other thirteen songs on GYBR. Both the title track and “Candle in the Wind” make use of the Hollywood imagery that plays such a prominent role on the entire LP. “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” is ostensibly a declaration of getting back to one’s roots, filtered through powerful, potent cinema imagery and uncommon sensitivity. The narrator is turning his back on fantasy in favor of hard reality (“You can’t plant me in your penthouse/I’m going back to my plough”). If he’s bitter (“I’m not a present for your friends to open/This boy’s too young to be singing the blues” – and the melody soars in perfect tandem with the lyric), he’s also emboldened.  “Candle,” with its now-famous central metaphor, is less a eulogy for Marilyn Monroe than for youth and innocence itself. In the elegiac, empathetic song, Taupin and John observe the glamorization of death and the immortalization of a star gone too soon. It struck a chord in 1973, and is still sadly relevant today.

In “Bennie,” music itself is central. Taupin’s lyric is typically oblique as it describes this “weird and wonderful” band, but the song satirizes the music industry while noting the power of rock and roll to “fight our parents out in the streets/to find who’s right and who’s wrong…” Its singular glam-R&B fusion earned Elton his first appearance on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart. “Saturday Night” rocked even harder; if it’s not the artist’s flashiest, best balls-out rocker, I’d be hard-pressed to name what is.

Keep reading after the jump!

Say Hello, Hello: UMe Pays Lavish Tribute to Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”

It’s an odd irony that Elton John began his seventh and most ambitious studio album with a piece he imagined would play in the event of his death. The singer-songwriter-pianist was one of the most alive rockers on the planet at that point; with a dazzlingly theatrical stage presence, a cracking live band and an increasing string of successes (his most recent album at that point, Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player, was released at the top of 1973 and was both his second No. 1 album in the U.S. and his highest seller, with a double platinum certification), it was hard to imagine how he could get any bigger.

Enter Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, a double album that didn’t seem to have a dud on it. All four of its singles – the rollicking “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting,” the Marilyn Monroe tribute ballad “Candle in the Wind,” the glammed-out “Bennie and The Jets” and the anthemic farewell to capricious youth of the title track – were Top 20 hits on one or both sides of the Atlantic, with more added  to U.S. radio playlists beyond the promotion cycle. (Chief LP cuts included the sprawling 11-minute intro, “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” and the sublime “Harmony,” with more than enough vocal multitracking to earn its title.) Elton and lyricist Bernie Taupin’s potent collaboration yielded some of its best and most intriguing work, from silly reggae (“Jamaica Jerk-off”) to piano-pounding boogie (“Your Sister Can’t Twist (But She Can Rock ‘N Roll”), concert-hall melancholia (“This Song Has No Title”) and dusty-road, Americanized nostalgia (“Roy Rogers”).

The plaudits were many: over 7 million units have moved through the United States (one of his most successful albums), Rolling Stone named it one of the 100 best rock albums of all time in 2003 – and now, on March 25, Universal Music Enterprises will pay tribute to the album with a multi-format reissue of the album, a few months past its 40th anniversary.

After the jump, you’ll find a comprehensive breakdown of all five versions of this new reissue, with pre-order links and track lists to boot!

“NOW” and Then: U.K. Compilation Series Celebrates Three Decades in Three Discs

When I was heavily ensconced in a retail job, I had the task of stocking new music and movie releases and sharing the new releases with the rest of the store on Tuesday morning. Without fail, every time a NOW That’s What I Call Music! compilation came out, someone would marvel how many such compilations existed, prompting me to tell my co-workers that they should check out the NOW series as it originated in the U.K., back in 1983, where they were double albums and released with slightly more frequency to the point where the 84th volume hit stores in March (as opposed to the single-disc 47th volume that streeted in the U.S. last Tuesday).

Of course, here at The Second Disc, I’m surrounded by record collectors and pop enthusiasts, so this illumination is nothing new. (That’s one of many reasons why I’m a lot happier editing these pages, I’ll tell you that!) But anyway, the point is that NOW That’s What I Call Music is indeed celebrating 30 years – and its doing so with a new, triple-disc compilation of highlights from its lengthy run.

NOW That’s What I Call 30 Years features an interesting, semi-chronological hodgepodge of pop cuts from the ’80s, ’90s, ’00s and today, from Michael Jackson to Madonna, Take That to the Spice Girls, Adele to PSY. It’s disappointingly centered on the traditional pop scene on both sides of the Atlantic, thereby ignoring some of the R&B and rock-infused diversity that the NOW series was often known for (Radiohead appeared on at least one volume, for cryin’ out loud). As such, it’s a very, very patchy portrait of pop, passing a good chunk of the mid-1990s and mid-2000s. (Also, a considerably more minor quibble, but what’s up with the 20th Century-Fox meets Pink Floyd cover art?)

But NOW are one of the best – and one of the only – games in town as far as anthologizing pop music for the masses, so NOW That’s What I Call 30 Years might be a set for your collection when it’s released May 27 in England. Hit the jump to check out the full track list and order your copy off Amazon.

Starbucks Serves “Self-Portraits” of Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman and Others

Some of the music featured on Starbucks Entertainment’s latest compilation album, Self-Portraits, is a bit atypical for a coffeehouse setting: Warren Zevon, Judee Sill, Randy Newman, John Prine, Loudon Wainwright III.  The songs on Self-Portraits, by and large, demand attention, as all are drawn from the realm of the singer-songwriter with an emphasis on confessional or first-person songs.  The 16-track CD focuses on the 1970s (with just one track from 1969), and although there are a few unquestionably familiar, oft-anthologized songs, there are also a few that might make this disc worth perusing.

The hit singles come first on Self-Portraits.  Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move” kicks off the disc, as it did King’s 1971 sophomore solo album Tapestry.  That was, of course, the album that ignited King’s career as a solo artist, and the same could be said for James Taylor’s second long-player.  “I Feel the Earth Move” is followed by “Fire and Rain,” from the troubadour’s 1970 Sweet Baby James, which featured (you guessed it) Carole King on piano.  Though Judy Collins had the hit single of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now,” Self-Portraits includes Mitchell’s version from her 1969 album Clouds, and then segues to British piano man Elton John for a track off his second album: the ubiquitous “Your Song.”

Following “Your Song,” the disc – as curated by Starbucks’ Steven Stolder – veers off in interesting directions.  Leon Russell, whose style was an influence on budding artist John’s, is represented with his piano-pounding “Tight Rope.”  Like Leon Russell (a key player in the Los Angeles “Wrecking Crew” of session musicians), Jimmy Webb spent his formative years behind-the-scenes.  In Webb’s  case, he was a songwriting prodigy with hits like “Up, Up and Away,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” and “Wichita Lineman” under his belt by the time he began his proper solo career with 1970’s “Words and Music.”  From that album, Self-Portraits draws “P.F. Sloan,” Webb’s remarkable, multi-layered ode to a songwriting colleague.  Any discussion of popular songwriters would be incomplete without a mention of Bob Dylan, and his “If You See Her, Say Hello” from his singer-songwriter masterwork Blood on the Tracks is the choice here.  Perhaps the least-known songwriter here is Judee Sill, the troubled Lady of the Canyon whose small discography yielded touching and unusual gems like “The Kiss.”

Self-Portraits also includes tracks from artists with more explicitly folk leanings than, say, King, Webb and Taylor.   Both Loudon Wainwright III (whose only hit single remains “Dead Skunk,” alas) and his wife Kate McGarrigle are heard here; Kate is joined by her sister Anna for “Talk to Me of Mendocino” from their eponymous album.  Another folk hero, John Prine, gets a spot with “Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone,” with which Prine draws comparisons between the Indian actor’s life and his own.  From the Brit-folk scene, Richard and Linda Thompson (“Dimming of the Day”) and Nick Drake (“Northern Sky”) appear.

After the jump: we have much more on the new comp, including the full track listing and an order link!

Release Round-Up: Week of March 5

Jimi Hendrix, People, Hell & Angels / The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced (200-Gram Mono Vinyl) / Axis: Bold As Love (200-Gram Mono Vinyl) (Experience Hendrix/Legacy)

Not only does today see the release of a new posthumous Hendrix compilation, comprised of newly unearthed outtakes from the vaults, but the original mono mixes of his first two LPs (including both U.S. and U.K. editions of Are You Experienced) make their first appearances on vinyl since their initial releases.  Read Joe’s review of People, Hell & Angels here!

People, Hell & Angels CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
People, Hell & Angels LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Are You Experienced LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Are You Experienced LP – U.K. sequence: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Axis: Bold As Love LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Otis Redding, Lonely & Blue: The Deepest Soul of Otis Redding (Stax/Concord)

A new “concept compilation” that explores Otis’ deep cuts in a decidedly retro fashion, down to the aged album jacket.  Read Joe’s review here!

Lonely and Blue CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Lonely and Blue LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

André Cymone, AC: Expanded Edition (Funkytowngrooves)

This onetime Prince collaborator (whose big hit off this LP, “The Dance Electric,” was written and co-produced by Mr. Purple Rain himself) issues a double-disc edition of his last album for Columbia, featuring all the B-sides and remixes plus a slew of tracks from the vault. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Sheena Easton, You Could Have Been with Me + Madness, Money and Music / A Private Heaven + Do You (Edsel)

Two new two-disc sets compile four of the Scottish chanteuse’s albums from the ’80s, two of them sweet and poppy, another two more on the down ‘n’ dirty (and Prince-ly) side.

You Could Have Been…/Madness, Money…: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
A Private Heaven/Do You: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Donna Allen, Perfect Timing / Black Slate, Amigo / Delegation, Deuces High / George McCrae, Diamond Touch / O’Jays, Ship Ahoy (Big Break)

Five newly expanded titles from BBR, anchored by a 40th anniversary edition of The O’Jays Ship Ahoy, which spun off Top 10 hits in “Put Your Hands Together” and “For the Love of Money.”

Donna Allen: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Black Slate: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Delegation: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
George McCrae: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
O’Jays: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Elton John, Rock of the Westies (24K Gold CD) / Scorpions, Virgin Killer (24K Gold CD) / Yes, Close to the Edge (SACD) / Rush, Counterparts (SACD) (Audio Fidelity)

The latest from Audio Fidelity: gold discs of Elton’s 1975 LP, featuring “Island Girl” and “Grow Some Funk of Your Own,” and the Scorpions’ fourth album (the one with that extremely not-work-safe cover, although this version does not replicate that image); plus hybrid SACDs from a prog band at the top of their game and a Canadian trio’s highest-charting album in America.

Elton: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Scorpions: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Yes: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Rush: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Yes! Audio Fidelity Rushes to SACD with Prog and Classic Vocalists, Plus: Elton, Scorpions Go for the Gold

The audiophile specialist label Audio Fidelity has a busy March ahead, kicking off a new series of SACD releases and continuing its long-running series of 24k Gold compact discs.

On March 5, the team at AF is scheduled to return to the high-resolution SACD format with two new hybrid stereo SACDs (playable on all CD players).   Yes’ 1972 album Close to the Edge was the fifth studio album from the progressive rock heroes.  Jon Anderson (vocals), Steve Howe (guitar/vocals), Chris Squire (bass/vocals), Rick Wakeman (keyboards) and Bill Bruford (drums/percussion) crafted this epic album around the nearly 19 minute title track which was featured on the original album’s Side One.  That four-part suite was followed on Side Two by another four-part ten-minute opus, “And You and I,” and the nine-minute “Siberian Khatru.”  The last Yes album to feature Bill Bruford before his return to the fold in 1992 reached impressive berths of No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and No. 4 on the U.K. albums chart.  In 2003, Rhino expanded Close to the Edge in an edition with four bonus tracks; Audio Fidelity’s edition hews to the original album line-up.  It’s been remastered by Steve Hoffman.

Joining Close to the Edge is the 1993 album by Rush, Counterparts.  The band’s fifteenth studio album, it became Rush’s highest-charting U.S. release with a peak of No. 2 on the Billboard 200.  The triumvirate of Geddy Lee (bass/vocals/synthesizer), Alex Lifeson (guitars) and Neil Peart (drums/percussion) earned a Grammy nomination for the instrumental “Leave That Thing Alone,” and the album spawned three hit singles, all on the Mainstream Rock chart: “Stick It Out” (No. 1), “Nobody’s Hero” (No. 9) and “Cold Fire” (No. 2).  Composer/conductor Michael Kamen contributed the string arrangements and also conducted “Nobody’s Hero.”  A return to the organic, guitar-driven sounds of earlier Rush albums, Counterparts successfully blended heavy rock tracks with instrumentals and acoustic compositions.  Kevin Gray has remastered the album for its Audio Fidelity SACD debut.

The label’s next two SACD releases, both due on March 19, turn the clock back to the realm of classic pop rather than classic rock.  Hit the jump for details on both of those discs, as well as on the Gold CDs coming soon!

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.