Release Round-Up: Week of October 14

Diana Ross, Why Do Fools Fall in Love / Silk Electric / Ross / Swept Away / Eaten Alive / Red Hot Rhythm and Blues (Expanded Editions) (Funky Town Grooves)

Why Do Fools Fall in Love: Expanded Edition (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Silk Electric: Expanded Edition  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Ross: Expanded Edition  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Swept Away: Deluxe Edition  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Eaten Alive: Deluxe Edition  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Red Hot Rhythm and Blues: Deluxe Edition (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Funky Town Grooves has remastered and expanded all six of Miss Ross’ RCA albums, first released between 1981 and 1987 during what turned out to be an extended hiatus from Motown.  These editions are loaded with rarities and remixes; see full details here!

Foreigner, The Complete Atlantic Studio Albums 1977-1991 (Atlantic/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Rhino boxes up 7 CDs from Foreigner, including five U.S. multi-platinum smash LPs and hits like “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” “Feels Like the First Time,” “Cold as Ice,” “Hot Blooded,”  and “I Want to Know What Love Is.”

The Kinks, The Essential Kinks (RCA/Arista/Legacy)  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Legacy kicks off its Kinks campaign (kampaign?) with this 48-song, 2-CD anthology featuring just about every Kinks hit except for the original studio recording of “Lola.”  (A live recording from 1979 takes its place.)  Every track has been newly (and splendidly) remastered by Vic Anesini, and the deluxe 28-page booklet include liner notes from David Bowie and critic Bob Mehr, plus appreciations from Iggy Pop, Howard Kaylan, Creed Bratton, Pete Townshend and many more!

Jaco Pastorius, Anthology: The Warner Bros. Years (Warner Bros./Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Rhino has 2 CDs and 22 tracks from jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius (1951-1987) drawing on the albums Word of Mouth, Invitation and The Birthday Concert plus tracks on which Jaco joined Mike Stern and Airto Moreira and one previously unreleased bonus track, “Donna Lee,” from 1981.  Bill Milkowski, author of Jaco: The Extraordinary And Tragic Life Of Jaco Pastorius, provides new liner notes.

Ozzy Osbourne, Memoirs of a Madman (Legacy)

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

2-LP Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

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

This career spanning release features 17 of the Black Sabbath legend’s greatest hit singles compiled in one place for the first time in his career and will be available in a single CD, two-LP set and two-LP picture disc set configurations. The companion 2-DVD set includes classic music videos, plus previously unreleased and out-of-print live performances, and interviews from his solo career.

Sly Stone, I’m Just Like You: Sly’s Stone Flower 1969-1970 (Light in the Attic) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

During those creatively fertile days of the late 1960s, producer-arranger-composer Sly Stone couldn’t be confined to work with his band Sly and the Family Stone, so he formed the Stone Flower label and production company.  Stone Flower released a handful of tracks on its own label as well as on Scepter and Atlantic by the artists Little Sister, Joe Hicks, and 6ix; those are collected here along with ten previously unissued songs.  The sound on these tracks recalls the Family Stone’s groundbreaking There’s a Riot Goin’ On thanks to Sly’s use of the early Rhythm King drum machine/beat box.  Light in the Attic packages this fascinating and essential chapter of the Sly and the Family Stone story with a 52-page booklet including a new interview by Alec Palao with Stone himself.  Also available on vinyl.

Dean Martin, The Essential Dean Martin (Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

Legacy has 40 tracks on 2 CDs from the king of cool, Dean Martin.  Though this compilation concentrates on Dino’s Reprise years, five key Capitol cuts are included as well as one late-period single at Warner Bros. Records.  You’ll hear “Volare,” “That’s Amore,” “Sway,” “Everybody Loves Somebody,” “Memories Are Made of This,” “Houston,” “I Will” and many more on this set which has been remastered by Vic Anesini and annotated by James Ritz.

Meat Loaf, ICON (UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Universal’s budget-priced ICON series is back with a new entry for Meat Loaf.  This odd volume features six of the eleven tracks from 1993’s smash hit comeback Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell and four songs from its follow-up, 1995’s Welcome to the Neighborhood.  “Hot Patootie (Bless My Soul)” from Rocky Horror rounds out the 11-song compilation.

White Christmas: Diamond Edition Blu-ray with CD (Paramount) (Amazon U.S.)

This new Blu-ray edition of the 1956 musical film has, among its bonus features, a 12-song CD featuring Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney, with guest appearances by Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee and Judy Garland. Eight of the songs on this exclusive bonus CD are previously unreleased.

Miles Davis, Bitches Brew (Hybrid SACD) (Mobile Fidelity) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The great trumpeter’s revolutionary 1970 jazz-rock double album arrives on stereo hybrid SACD as part of Mobile Fidelity’s series of Davis reissues.

Madeleine Peyroux, Keep Me In Your Heart For A While: The Best Of Madeleine Peyroux (Rounder) (Amazon U.S.)

Here’s the very first compilation release in the singer-songwriter’s 18-year career, including tracks from the Rounder, Atlantic and Decca/Emarcy catalogues. Keep Me in Your Heart will include one previously unreleased song, the Warren Zevon title track which appeared in 2011’s independent film Union Square. Liner notes by former Atlantic Records A&R man Yves Beauvais, complete the package of the chanteuse’s greatest performances.  A 2-CD edition is also available from Amazon U.K. with 27 tracks vs. the domestic version’s 15.

Billy Strayhorn, Out of the Shadows (Storyville) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

This 7-CD/1-DVD box set from venerable label Storyville turns the spotlight on a man who preferred to remain in the shadow of his close friend, collaborator and benefactor, Duke Ellington.  62 of Strayhorn’s compositions are presented here, both with and without Duke’s company, featuring such personnel as Art Tatum, Tommy Flanagan, Johnny Hodges, Clark Terry and Ben Webster plus Strayhorn and Ellington.  Tracks were recorded between 1939 and 2007; see here for more details!

Swing Out Sister, The Essential Swing Out Sister (Salvo) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

This set has 17 tracks from the Manchester band formed in 1985 including their breakout hit “Breakout” and more originals and covers like “La La Means I Love You,” “Am I the Same Girl” and “The Windmills of Your Mind.”  This survey of the sophisti-pop duo’s career concludes with a previously unreleased “Big Band” version of “Forever Blue,” a track arranged in its original version by Jimmy Webb.

Bob Seger, Ride Out (Capitol) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

The Detroit rocker returns with his first studio album since 2006 and seventeenth overall.  It’s available in a variety of formats including deluxe edition CD, vinyl and a Target exclusive with two bonus tracks.

 

Jerry Goldsmith, Our Man Flint/In Like Flint: Original Motion Picture Scores (Intrada)

Intrada brings two of Jerry Goldsmith’s grooviest scores to CD for the very first time, remastered from the recently discovered original 20th Century Fox stereo album session masters! Differing from the Varese Sarabande release of soundtrack highlights from these spy capers, this single disc offers both classic original albums exactly as Goldsmith recorded them.  For more background, see Joe’s review of Our Man Flint at The Digital Bits!

Michel Legrand, Summer of ’42/The Picasso Summer: Original Motion Picture Scores (Intrada)

Here’s the world premiere expanded release of two “summer” Michel Legrand soundtracks including his Oscar-winning score for Summer Of ’42 (1971).  Legrand’s complete score runs just 17 minutes, so to fill the original Warner Bros. soundtrack album, 30 minutes of his score for the 1969 film The Picasso Summer was included.   Intrada premieres the entire 55-minute Picasso score on the second disc of this 2-CD set, while the original album assembly of his “Picasso Suite” also plays intact on CD 1, following Summer Of ’42.

Hank Williams, Jaco Pastorius Lead Off Omnivore’s RSD Slate

That change in the air pressure you’re probably feeling around your favorite indie record store can only mean one thing: Record Store Day 2014 is coming your way. April 19 will see a host of beloved major and independent labels celebrating the good old resilient brick-and-mortar store with various titles sold exclusively at participating stores. And the beloved cratediggers at Omnivore Recordings have four exciting titles prepared for the big day – nearly all of which feature artists making their debut appearances on the label.

In a fitfully-brief career that ended with his untimely death at the age of 29, Hank Williams still managed to do more for country music than most, with a sizable stable of crossover hits including “Move It On Over,” “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and “Hey Good Lookin’.” Omnivore has quite an incredible find with its first RSD 2014 title, The Garden Spot Programs, 1950 – Extended Play. Culled from rare radio show recordings Williams cut for Naughton Farms, a plant nursery in Waxahachie, Texas (with a session band, not his familiar Drifting Cowboys ensemble), these recordings found Williams tackle hits, standards and material he rarely, if ever, recorded anywhere else. Sourced from newly-discovered transcription discs, these tunes haven’t been heard for nearly six decades; a month after the release of this 10″, 33 1/3 RPM disc (packed in a 78-RPM style sleeve with notes from co-producer Colin Escott), Omnivore will release 24 of these tracks from four shows on a new CD/LP compilation on May 20. (Keep an eye here for more info about that set soon!)

Two years before jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius (1951-1987) burst onto the scene with his 1976 solo album, the 22-year-old musician was working out his early solo material in after-hours sessions at Criteria Studios in Miami. Six cuts from those sessions soon made their way onto an acetate disc with which to entice prospective labels; now, that acetate is partially recreated on splatter vinyl (with one bonus track) as well as a CD featuring 11 selections from the entire session. (Happily, this title will be added to the label catalogue after the RSD celebrations.) Modern American Music…Period! The Criteria Sessions features two essays from DownBeat contributor/Jaco biographer Bill Milkowski as well as fan, package co-producer and Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo. Altogether, the set makes a perfect companion to the forthcoming documentary Jaco, about the late legend.

After the jump, Omnivore has a single from a most unexpected voice – an actor’s – and a special compilation of live cuts from some familiar Omnivores!