Release Round-Up: Week of September 30

ABBA, Live at Wembley Arena (Polar/Universal) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

As part of ABBA’s 40th anniversary celebration, the band unveils this 2-CD, hardcover book-style set preserving its 1979 concerts at Wembley Arena.  The 25-track set features the first-ever release on record of Agnetha’s “I’m Still Alive” along with perennials like “Dancing Queen,” “Waterloo,” “Knowing Me, Knowing You” and “Fernando.”  Live at Wembley is also available on vinyl.

Oasis, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? (Big Brother)

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Box Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Britpop’s favorite battling brothers have their seminal 1995 record remastered and reissued in various editions including vinyl, a single-disc edition, a 3-CD set with 28 bonus tracks and a super deluxe CD/LP edition loaded with swag!

Genesis, R-Kive (Universal/Rhino)  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Here’s the  3-CD set bringing together selections from 4o+-years of Genesis and its individual members – Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Steve Hackett.

Robin Gibb, 50 St. Catherine’s Drive (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The final solo recordings of the late, great Robin Gibb are collected on this new 17-track collection, including a new version of his Bee Gees favorite “I Am the World.”

Stories: Stories Untold — The Very Best of Stories (Amazon U.S.  / Amazon U.K. ) / Barbara Lynn: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) / Ronnie Dyson: Phase 2/Brand New Day (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) / Faith Hope & Charity: Life Goes On (Expanded Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) / Kerry Chater: Part Time Love (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) / Kerry Chater: Love on a Shoestring (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) / Grateful Dead: Dick’s Picks Vol. 15 — Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ 9/3/77 (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

Real Gone Music has a whole batch of rare titles coming to CD – click on the cover collage above for full details!

Paul Parrish, The Forest of My Mind (Now Sounds) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Now Sounds excavates a lost psych-pop classic from Detroit, circa 1968, produced by Motown’s Clay McMurray!  This remastered edition features the original album and bonus singles, all in typically lavish Now Sounds fashion!  Watch for a full review coming soon.

Ray Charles, Genius Loves Company: 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Concord) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The eight-time Grammy-winning album from the late Ray Charles (featuring duets with Elton John, Diana Krall, James Taylor, Van Morrison, Johnny Mathis and others) is expanded with two bonus tracks on CD – “Mary Ann” with Poncho Sanchez and “Unchain My Heart” with Take 6 – plus a DVD of the hourlong “Making of Genius Loves Company.”

Gap Band, IV and V: Jammin’ / Yarbrough and Peoples, Heartbeats: Expanded Editions (Big Break)

BBR continues the story of the Gap Band and Yarbrough and Peoples with three more deluxe, expanded and remastered editions!  Look for our full rundown coming soon!

Gap Band, IV: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Gap Band, V: Jammin’: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Yarbrough and Peoples, Heartbeats: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Motown 25 various editions (StarVista)

6-DVD Set: StarVista

3-DVD Set: Amazon U.S.

3-DVD Set with exclusive bonus content: Best Buy

The classic 1983 television special that reunited The Supremes and introduced the world to Michael Jackson’s moonwalk finally appears on DVD in a variety of formats including an online-exclusive 6-DVD box set available only from StarVista and a 3-DVD set with bonus disc available only at Best Buy.  (A 6-DVD/8-DVD set is also listed at StarVista as “backordered,” but no details are available at the website.)

Monty Python’s Total Rubbish: The Complete Collection (Virgin)

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

The Monty Python troupers have a new 9-CD set boxing up all of the band’s original U.K. albums from 1970 to 1983!

Engelbert Humperdinck, Engelbert Calling (Megaforce) (Amazon U.S.  – new U.S. edition / Amazon U.K. – original U.K. edition)

Tom Jones reportedly rejected the invitation, but Engelbert Humperdinck snagged duets with Elton John, Dionne Warwick, Neil Sedaka, Lulu, Olivia Newton-John, Willie Nelson and others on his new album, receiving its belated U.S. bow this week.

Original Cast Recording, Tess of the D’Urbervilles (Stage Door) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Stage Door Records premieres the first complete recording of the 1999 West End musical Tess of the D’Urbervilles with music by Stephen Edwards and lyrics by Justin Fleming.  This release brings together tracks from the 1999 original London production alongside the previously unreleased 1998 studio cast recording, and includes performances by Philippa Healey, Alasdair Harvey, Jonathan Monks, Cathy Sara, Martin Crewes, Mark Umbers, Heather Craney, Eliza Lumley and an ensemble of forty singers.

Prince, ART OFFICIAL AGE / Prince and 3RDEYEGIRL, PLECTRUMELECTRUM (Warner Bros.)

ART OFFICIAL AGE: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

PLECTRUMELECTRUM: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Prince has not one, but two, new albums due this week – as always, the favorite son of Minneapolis is doing things his way!

Herb Alpert, In the Mood (Shout! Factory) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. TBD)

The great trumpeter follows up his acclaimed 2013 Steppin’ Out and returns with a new set of various standards including “Begin the Beguine,” “Let It Be Me,” “Blue Moon,” “Spanish Harlem” and “All I Have to Do is Dream” – and even better, the Amazon-exclusive edition features two additional tracks!

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts – Complete Collection (StarVista) (Amazon U.S. )

This staggering 25-DVD collection features ALL 54 Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, pally, with such legendary showbiz icons as Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Jack Klugman, Tony Randall, Jack Benny, George Burns, Sammy Davis, Jr., Betty White and more – plus over 15 hours of bonus material:  11 newly-produced featurette interviews with former participants and fans: Don Rickles, Betty White, Jackie Mason, Phyllis Diller, Tim Conway, Rich Little, Norm Crosby, Carol Burnett and many others; 4 classic TV Specials including Dean’s Place and Red Hot Scandals of 1926, featuring Dean and friends including Jonathan Winters, Dom DeLuise, Robert Mitchum and more; rare, exclusive home movies from Dean’s private collection; bonus comedy sketches; 2 Dean Martin Variety Show DVDs featuring Bob Hope, John Wayne, Peggy Lee, Rodney Dangerfield and many others.  A 44-page book rounds out this package which is arriving now to general retail after a period of online exclusivity.

Release Round-Up: Week of February 19

Herb Alpert, Fandango (Shout! Factory)

Alpert’s 1982 album, long unavailable on CD, is now back in print! (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Etta James, Etta is Betta Than Evah! + Bonus Tracks (Kent)

Etta’s final album for Chess Records, released in 1976, is expanded with 10 extra tracks from other Etta projects from the mid-’70s. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Fine Young Cannibals, Fine Young Cannibals: Deluxe Edition / The Raw & The Cooked: Deluxe Edition (Edsel)

Both albums by the U.K. trio behind “She Drives Me Crazy” and “Good Thing” have been expanded as two-disc sets brimming with B-sides and remixes.

Fine Young Cannibals: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
The Raw & The Cooked: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Five Star, The Remix Anthology 1984-1991 (Cherry Pop)

The U.K. pop/R&B sibling act from the ’80s (just one of those existed, I think) get a two-disc set of their biggest 12″ dance mixes. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Marcos Valle, Vento Sul / Previsão do Tempo (Light in the Attic)

Closing the loop on the week’s release schedule, another jazz-fusion artist has two of his long-out-of-print LPs (from 1972 and 1973, respectively) revived on both CD and vinyl, with Vento Sul featuring one bonus track.

Vento Sul CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. // Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Previsão do Tempo CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. // Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Clive Davis with Anthony DeCurtis, The Soundtrack of My Life (Simon & Schuster)

And finally, no music enthusiast’s release schedule would be complete without the new autobiography of one of the most notable record men of the century, who speaks candidly about his collaborations with Whitney Houston, Barry Manilow, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Santana, Rod Stewart, Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson and a whole lot more! Copies purchased at Target retailers come with an exclusive CD featuring some of Clive’s favorite hits he oversaw, as well. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Come Blow Your Horn: Herb Alpert’s “Fandango” Returns to CD

Between 2005 and 2007, the beat of The Brass was alive and well at Shout! Factory. The label’s Herb Alpert Signature Collection restored eleven classic titles from the celebrated trumpeter to the catalogue on CD in deluxe remastered editions, plus a rarities compilation and a remix album. Three further releases were also made available, albeit in digital download form only. Shout! is kicking off 2013, however, with the surprising reissue (due February 19) of Alpert’s 1982 Fandango, one of the most vibrantly colorful albums in the pop-instrumental titan’s canon.

Longtime Alpert fans know that many of his original A&M CDs, including Fandango, are among the most difficult CDs to find secondhand, and frequently sell for high prices online. This is all the more unfortunate, because even after the Tijuana Brass’ sixties heyday, Alpert continued to make fresh and exciting music with a range of collaborators. Fandango arrived between 1981’s Magic Man and 1983’s Blow Your Own Horn, two more of those hard-to-find titles that deserve the reissue treatment. For Fandango, Alpert was joined by a crack band including Abe Laboriel on guitar and bass, Carlo Vega on drums, Paulinho da Costa on percussion, Bill Cuomo on keyboards, and Miguel Peña on guitar. Old friends Michel Colombier and Julius Wechter joined in on keyboards and what else, marimba, respectively. Six of the album’s eleven tracks came from the pen of Juan Carlos Calderón, a Spanish-born songwriter who also wrote for artists including Luis Miguel and Julio Iglesias.   The trumpeter produced the album in tandem with Jose Quintana, the then-chief of A&M’s Latin label, and recorded it primarily in Mexico City.

Do the Fandango after the jump!