Release Round-Up: Week of May 23

Thanks to everyone’s favorite all-consuming pop star Lady Gaga, this week’s releases actually start a day earlier. Think of it as like being in England!

 

New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys, NKOTBSB (Columbia/Jive/Legacy)

Imagine a greatest hits EP for each band, augmented with three bonus tracks featuring all nine boy band members working together like some sort of insane, teenybopper Voltron. (Official site)

The Monkees, The Monkees Present: Expanded Edition / Changes: Expanded Edition (Friday Music) / Monkeemania: The Very Best of The Monkees (Rhino U.K.)

Between The Monkees’ 45th anniversary and a reunion tour featuring three-quarters of the band, it’s safe to say signs of Monkeemania may be found in music collectors. Enter this two-disc hits-and-rarities import compilation, and the band’s final Colgems LPs, presented with the same bonus tracks as Rhino’s original reissues in the 1990s but with new remasters. (Friday Music, Amazon U.K.)

Aerosmith, Tough Love: Best of the Ballads (Geffen/UMe)

Initially a Target exclusive (what great luck!), this collection of hard-hitting ballads like…um…”Love in an Elevator” is now available at all fine retailers. A new Aerosmith album has yet to surface. (Official site)

Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, Working My Way Back to You (Rhino U.K.)

As Jersey Boys continues its long run on both sides of the Atlantic, Rhino’s U.K. arm issues this double-disc compilation full of hits and some rarer stuff too. (Amazon U.K.)

Roseanne Cash, The Essential Roseanne Cash (Columbia/Legacy)

A double-disc, career spanning compilation from Johnny’s firstborn – and one which licenses tracks from all across her career too! That’s the best kind of compilation. (Official site)

Franke & The Knockouts, The Best of Franke & The Knockouts: Sweetheart Anniversary Edition (Friday Music)

A generous compilation from Friday Music for a band with one hit you may know (“Sweetheart”) and a lead singer who co-wrote two singles you more than likely do know (Dirty Dancing‘s “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” and “Hungry Eyes,” the latter of which is included in demo form on this set). (Friday Music)

Various Artists, ICON (UMe)

Louis Armstrong, The Gin Blossoms, The Mamas and The Papas, Willie Nelson, New Edition, Kelly Price, Conway Twitty, Muddy Waters and Hank Williams get an entry in The Compilation Series That Wouldn’t Die. (Amazon)

What the Franke? Friday Music Prepares for a Knockout

If you’re a voracious reader of pop liner notes, there’s a good chance you might have come across the name Franke Previte. If not, you’re about to have a chance to reconnect with the man and his music.

Previte was the lead singer of Franke & The Knockouts, a New Jersey band whose best-known song, “Sweetheart,” went to No. 10 in 1981. Of course, like so many other bands, they’re probably best known for what they did after splitting up; the band’s second drummer, Tico Torres, went on to sit behind a drum kit for another Jersey band named Bon Jovi. And Previte, who co-wrote “Sweetheart” with guitarist Billy Elworthy, went on to write two massive hits for the Dirty Dancing soundtrack in 1987. “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” performed by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, and “Hungry Eyes,” sung by Eric Carmen, were both co-written by Previte and dominated the airwaves that year. “Hungry Eyes” hit No. 4 in the U.S., while “Time of My Life” topped the charts and won an Oscar.

To commemorate the three decades since “Sweetheart” peaked on the Billboard charts, Friday Music is working on the band’s catalogue, releasing all three of The Knockouts’ LPs in digital format. They’re also releasing a new CD compilation of their hit singles, augmented by two bonus tracks, the original demo of “Hungry Eyes” (which was digitally reissued last year) and another bonus track apparently written and recorded for the forgotten sequel, 2004’s Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. And best of all, for the charitably-minded, Previte is donating proceeds from the compilation to the Patrick Swayze Pancreas Cancer Research Fund at Stanford Cancer Center.

All titles are out next Tuesday, May 24. Hit the jump for a look at the track list for the new compilation!