Archive for the ‘Grace Jones’ Category
Release Round-Up: Week of April 29
Grace Jones, Nightclubbing: Deluxe Edition (Island/UMe)
Pull back up to the bumper with a generously expanded version of the almighty Jones’ most beloved album.
2CD: Amazon U.K.
1CD: Amazon U.S.
2LP: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.
Blu-Ray Audio: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.
Diana Ross & The Supremes, Sing and Perform Funny Girl: Expanded Edition (Motown Select)
A digital-only expansion of The Supremes’ 1968 album of the Jule Styne-Bob Merrill musical, featuring the original LP alongside a brand-new remix and a pair of live cuts. (Amazon U.S.)
Funny Girl: Original Broadway Cast Recording – 50th Anniversary Edition (Capitol/UMe)
Speaking of which, the original cast album – featuring the one and only Barbra Streisand – is also reissued today as a CD/LP set with a deluxe book! (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, Riding Your Way — The Lost Transcriptions for Tiffany Music, 1946-1947 / Vanilla Fudge, The Complete ATCO Singles / Rick Wakeman, White Rock / X, Under the Big Black Sun: Expanded & Remastered Edition / Cannonball Adderley, The Black Messiah
The latest Real Gone slate is quite the eclectic one! Read all about it here.
Bob Wills: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Vanilla Fudge: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Rick Wakeman: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
X: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. (TBD)
Cannonball Adderley: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Rush, Rush: ReDISCovered Box Set (Mercury/UMe)
A deluxe recreation of the Canadian legends’ first album on vinyl. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Cassandra Wilson, Blue Light ‘Til Dawn: 20th Anniversary Edition (Blue Note/UMe)
The neo-blues vocalist’s breakthrough album, featuring stirring interpretations of tracks by Robert Johnson, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell and others, is reissued with three unreleased live tracks. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Taylor Dayne, Can’t Fight Fate / Soul Dancing: Deluxe Editions (Cherry Pop)
The ’80s dance diva’s second and third albums are expanded as two-disc sets with plenty of rare and unreleased remixes and B-sides, plus an all-new remastering for each original album.
Can’t Fight Fate: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Soul Dancing: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
The Cryan Shames, A Scratch in the Sky: Deluxe Expanded Mono Edition (Now Sounds)
Now Sounds presents the Chicago band’s 1967 sunshine pop-flavored album for the first time on CD in mono, adding a plethora of bonus tracks! Joe’s full review is coming soon! (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Silver Convention, Save Me / The Salsoul Orchestra, Up the Yellow Brick Road / How High (Big Break Records)
Joe’s full writes-ups on three more Salsoul/BBR reissues are coming soon!
Save Me: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Up the Yellow Brick Road: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
How High: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Slaves to the Rhythm: ZTT Celebrates 30 Years with New Two-Disc Compilation (UPDATED 9/17)
To mark their three wild, wonderful decades on the bleeding edge of U.K. pop and rock, ZTT Records will release a new two-disc compilation in October.
The Organization of Pop: Music from the First Thirty Years of ZTT Records collects 28 tracks that run the gamut of ZTT’s influence, from Frankie Goes to Hollywood to Propaganda, 808 State to The Buggles, Grace Jones to Seal, The Art of Noise to The Frames. The huge hits – Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose,” Frankie’s “Relax,” The Art of Noise’s “Moments in Love” – come together on the first disc, while some of the lesser known cuts and buried treasures (The Buggles’ “We Can Fly from Here,” later covered by Yes in 2011, and The Frames’ “Say It to Me Now,” later re-recorded by band frontman Glen Hansard for the soundtrack to the acclaimed Once, in which he starred in 2007) appear on the second. That disc also includes three unreleased tracks by Nasty Rox, Inc., Das Psycho Rangers and The Art of Noise with guest raps by acclaimed MC Rakim.
The Organization of Pop, for now, is actually exclusive to the U.S., making it one of the first ZTT titles released in the States under their new licensing deal with Razor & Tie. A “London version,” entitled (what else?) The Organisation of Pop, has been promised by the label in 2014, along with another volume of The Art of the 12″ and a CD/DVD edition of the Frankie Goes to Hollywood compilation Frankie Said.
Expect The Organization of Pop in stores October 15. The Amazon U.S. link and track list (courtesy of Slicing Up Eyeballs) are after the jump.
Release Round-Up: Week of September 18
Box set season is totally in full swing this week! Are you ready?
Michael Jackson, Bad 25 (Epic/Legacy)
The King of Pop’s legendary 1987 album gets the deluxe treatment in a number of formats. The standard edition includes the remastered album and a 13-track bonus disc featuring rare and unreleased outtakes and new remixes. (That version is available with a T-shirt at Wal-Mart, and a bonus DVD with all nine original Bad-era short films – including the long performance edits of “Smooth Criminal” and “Speed Demon” from the Moonwalker film – is an exclusive at Target.) Then there’s the deluxe box set, featuring those two discs and a CD and DVD of Jackson’s July 16, 1988 performance at London’s Wembley Stadium; that box is also available as a super-collectible version in a swag-filled box. The Live at Wembley DVD is available separately, as well. Who’s bad? Well, that depends on your wallet. Joe’s review can be found here!
The Jackson 5, Come and Get It: The Rare Pearls (Hip-O Select/Motown)
Not enough MJ for you this week? How about two discs of unreleased Jackson 5 outtakes, with a collectible vinyl single to boot?
ABBA, The Essential Collection (Polydor/UMC)
While this new U.K. ABBA compilation doesn’t offer much of anything new, it does offer every single the band ever released on one set, plus a bonus DVD of music videos (featuring the premiere home video release of the videos for the Spanish versions of “Knowing Me, Knowing You” and “Thank You for the Music”).
Steve Miller Band, Children of the Future / Sailor / Brave New World / Your Saving Grace / Number 5 (Edsel)
The first five albums of The Steve Miller Band are reissued by Edsel with new liner notes, lyrics and rare photographs!
The latest expansions from Gold Legion include Branigan’s two biggest hit-filled discs (featuring “Gloria” and “Self Control,” respectively) and Grace Jones’ first post-Island album for EMI, produced by Nile Rodgers. All three are expanded with bonus 12″ mixes and expanded booklets.
Angel, Angel / Helluva Band / On Earth As It Is in Heaven (Rock Candy)
You’ll agree that Angel – discovered by Gene Simmons and lampooned by Frank Zappa – was one “helluva band” with Rock Candy’s remastered editions, all featuring deluxe booklets with new essays, memorabilia and rare photos.
Ben Folds Five, The Sound of the Life of the Mind (ImAVeePee/Sony Music)
Our final spotlighted title isn’t a reissue, but the first Ben Folds Five album in 13 years really, truly lives up to the hype. Add to that the fact that Mr. Folds was behind last year’s best catalogue title of the year, and we’re going to proudly present this as a future catalogue classic that certainly deserves your ears today!
Gold Legion Expands Titles by Laura Branigan, Grace Jones
The Gold Legion label has two expanded titles coming from a pair of disco and dance legends this fall.
Expect remastered and expanded editions of the late, great Laura Branigan’s Branigan (1982) and Self Control (1984) albums, as well as reissues of Inside Story (1986) and Bulletproof Heart (1989) from Grace Jones, this September.
Branigan, the big-voiced New Yorker with a four-octave range, burst onto the scene in 1982 with the release of Branigan, a solid offering of dance-rock bolstered by a cover of “Gloria,” an Italian pop hit for Umberto Tozzi in 1979. Branigan’s iconic, addictive single spent an extraordinary 36 weeks on the U.S. charts, peaking at No. 2 and earning her a Grammy nomination. Branigan’s embrace of European musical trends and songcraft netted her greater success as the ’80s rolled on, first with a French pop song, “Solitaire,” translated into English by a rising lyricist named Diane Warren; then with “Self Control,” a hard-driving song co-written by Italian pop star Raffaele “Raf” Riefoli that was a Top 5 hit in 1984. The expansion of Branigan features the 12″ version of “Gloria” as well as 1981 non-LP single “Looking Out for Number One,” while Self Control features remixes of the title track and singles “Satisfaction” and “The Lucky One.”
Gold Legion then turns its attention to an oft-overlooked period for iconic dance musician/model/actress Grace Jones. The striking Miss Jones took on her biggest film role in 1985 as the mysterious May Day in the James Bond film A View to a Kill, and would end her longtime association with Island Records with the bestselling Island Life compilation. The next year, she took up with producer Nile Rodgers (ironically, a missed encounter at Studio 54 inspired Rodgers and Bernard Edwards to write massive hit “Le Freak” during their tenue in CHIC) and released Inside Story on EMI-owned Manhattan Records. The LP spawned a sizable U.S. dance hit in “I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect for You),” co-written by British songwriter Bruce Woolley (who co-wrote Jones’ hit “Slave to the Rhythm”). Follow-up album Bulletproof Heart was produced by a number of dance producers, including Jonathan Elias, Jones’ then-husband Chris Stanley and up-and-coming dance hitmakers Robert Clivillés and David Cole (the individual letters in the C+C Music Factory outfit). While the album was not a commercial success and would remain her last LP for nearly 20 years, it’s finally getting its due on CD, with three bonus remixes to boot. (Five remixes appear on Inside Story.)
Both Branigan discs and Bulletproof Heart will be available on September 18, with Inside Story following a week later. The initial 1,000 copies of each Grace Jones album will feature a special cardboard slipcase, and all sets will have expanded booklets. Hit the jump to explore these titles and place your orders!
Don’t Mess with the Messer: Gold Legion Reissues Early Grace Jones Albums
With her striking, even fearsome, physical appearance, distinctive voice and commitment to only the most danceable of music – a commitment that’s netted her scores of Top 10 hits on Billboard‘s dance charts – it’s safe to say there is no one quite like Grace Jones. Now, thanks to the efforts of the Gold Legion label, part of Jones’ oft-overlooked early history is coming back out on compact disc.
Jones’ discography is considered most bountiful during her time on Island Records, working with producers Chris Blackwell and Alex Sadkin on records like Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981) and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). But before that, she recorded a trilogy of albums, also on Island, with disco legend Tom Moulton that set the groundwork for the rest of her career.
The albums – 1977’s Portfolio, 1978’s Fame and 1979’s Muse – all follow a very similar pattern. The first side of each album features a lengthy, continuous presentation of songs, sometimes around a similar theme (Portfolio features three showtunes – Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns,” “What I Did for Love” from A Chorus Line and “Tomorrow” from Annie – while Muse‘s song cycle centers on songs about sin and salvation). Each second side is a non-continuous, non-thematic side, sometimes featuring notable songs in French (“La Vie en Rose” on Portfolio, “Autumn Leaves (Les feuilles mortes)” on Fame, featuring English lyrics by Johnny Mercer). While all were respectable hits in nightclubs, particularly those lengthy side-long medleys, their releases dovetailed with the growing anti-disco backlash, forcing Jones to change her style and thereby leading to the gloriously off-the-wall music that would make her a star in the ’80s.
Gold Legion is now bringing the last two of Jones’ Moulton-produced albums to CD, one of which makes its debut on the format. (Fame was released on CD in Europe and Australia under PolyGram’s Karussell/Spectrum imprints in 1993 – a disc that commands very high prices on the secondary market.) While no bonus material is included – a few international bonus cuts would have been viable additions to Fame – it’s certainly a blast to have them on CD for a relatively more affordable price. Both discs are remastered from the original tapes and feature new liner notes by Christian John Wikane, a contributing editor for PopMatters.
Order links and track lists are after the jump. (Thanks to super reader Dean Harris for the tip!) Read the rest of this entry »
The Second Disc 