Wonderful World of Disney: “The Legacy Collection: Fantasia” Coming Soon

When considering the history of Walt Disney Studios, Mickey Mouse is always front and center.   Lovably scrappy Mickey became a breakout smash with 1928’s Steamboat Willie, setting the company on the path to becoming the all-encompassing entertainment conglomerate it is today.  The character himself, however, has had several ups and downs over the years.  One of these down periods was during the late 1930s when Walt Disney felt that Mickey wasn’t reaching the same heights of popularity he had previously.  To remedy this, Disney decided to go back to the format of his earlier Silly Symphonies (which would feature a different character in each short subject) – but this time, with Mickey Mouse.  Disney intended to craft a less-comedic-than-usual short with Mickey entitled The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, set to the music piece by composer Paul Dukas of the same name.  When the short ran over-budget, however, Disney elected to craft an entire film of shorts of similar nature.  This groundbreaking collection became the studio’s third full-length animated feature:  1940’s Fantasia.  Now, to celebrate its 75th anniversary, Walt Disney Records is continuing its Legacy Collection series with the 4-disc release of The Legacy Collection: Fantasia on January 13, 2015.

Fantasia features eight segments (directed by different directors), each set to a different classical piece by composers including Bach, Stravinsky and Beethoven. The entire effort was overseen by Disney as well as story men Joe Grant and Dick Huemer.  Composer and music critic Deems Taylor introduces each piece in a live action segment. For the all-important soundtrack, Disney brought in Leopold Stokowski to conduct the Philadelphia Orchestra on seven of the eight parts (Stokowski conducted a group of musicians from Los Angeles on “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”). A new multi-channel recording system was invented to capture the orchestra.  Deemed Fantasound, it pioneered many techniques for recording multiple channels still in use today.

Fantasia was first released in roadshow presentations in 1940 and 1941.  The first began on November 13, 1940 at the Broadway Theatre in New York City.  Each roadshow employed the Fantasound set-up.  The demands of World War II shortened a planned 5-year run of roadshows and Fantasia was given to RKO to distribute in a more traditional manner.  RKO presented the film with a mono soundtrack and edited it down from its initial running time of 2 hours and 5 minutes to, at one point, a short one hour and 20 minute run time.  Upon its 1946 re-release, Fantasia was edited to run one hour and 55 minutes, becoming the standard for all subsequent re-releases.  Following that 1946 re-release, Fantasia has had seven more runs in theaters, in varying aspect ratios and eventually in stereo sound.

For the 1982 re-release, Disney had the entire soundtrack re-recorded in digital sound.  Irwin Kostal (West Side Story, Mary Poppins) conducted a 121-piece orchestra for the new recording.  This recording took into account the various edits that had been used over the years.  This new edition was also re-released in 1985.  But for the film’s 50th anniversary in 1990, the original soundtrack conducted by Stokowski was digitally remastered for the first time and the film negative was restored.

Upon its initial presentation in 1940, Fantasia did not have a soundtrack release.  (Disney had actually spearheaded the concept of the commercial soundtrack release in 1937 with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.)  It would take until 1957 when the full score (sans spoken intros) was released on a mono 3-LP set by Disneyland Records.  A stereo version would follow.  In 1982, Irwin Kostal’s digital re-recording received a 2-LP release.  Both versions of the soundtrack have since been released by Walt Disney Records on CD.

What will you find on the new Legacy Collection edition?  Hit the jump for that info, plus pre-order links and the full track listing!

Return To The “Freedom Highway”: Staple Singers Classic Is Reissued and Expanded

For almost 50 years, between 1948 and 1994, The Staple Singers stood at the crossroads of gospel and soul, preaching messages of peace and positivity through music. In April 1965, The Staples – “Pops,” Mavis, Yvonne and Pervis – were joined by drummer Al Duncan and bassist Phil Upchurch at Chicago’s New Nazareth Church to record the album that became Freedom Highway. The LP, originally released on Epic Records, recognized that year’s historic civil rights marches from Montgomery to Selma, Alabama. Now, some fifty years later, Legacy Recordings has remixed, remastered and expanded this landmark recording as Freedom Highway Complete – Recorded Live at Chicago’s New Nazareth Church. On Tuesday, March 3, the reissue will be available as a single CD, a 2-LP set or a digital download.

The recording of Freedom Highway followed a tumultuous, important month in American civil rights history. Three landmark marches were held in March 1965 along the 54 miles connecting Selma, Alabama with the state capital of Montgomery. The March 7 march became known as “Bloody Sunday” when 600 marchers were violently confronted by state and local police forces. The March 9 event, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., likewise reached a standoff between police and protesters. The climactic March 21 protest found the marchers protected by a staggering 2,000 U.S. Army troops, 1,900 Alabama National Guard members, and other law enforcement personnel. In the years since, the marchers’ route has been proclaimed the “Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights Trail” and deemed a U.S. National Historic Trail. The acclaimed, new motion picture Selma, which opens nationwide tomorrow, January 9, dramatizes these dramatic events which led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Preacher, guitarist and singer Roebuck “Pops” Staples, along with his children Pervis, Cleotha, Yvonne and Mavis, was inspired by Dr. King and the actions of the protesters. On April 9, 1965, his group took the opportunity afforded by its status on the Epic Records roster to record a service inspired by the actions of the marchers. The set preserved on Freedom Highway features familiar civil rights anthems (“We Shall Overcome”), traditional gospel melodies (“When the Saint Go Marching In”) and religious pleas (“Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” “Help Me, Jesus”) along with the Staples’ newly-written “Freedom Highway.” Pops plays his six-string guitar throughout the service – the same sound that made the passionate preacher an unlikely soul music star. The original album was produced by country music superstar producer Billy Sherrill, who signed the Staples to Epic.

After the jump: we have more details including the full track listing and pre-order links!

Driving Through Kashmir: Led Zeppelin’s “Physical Graffiti” Turns 40, Arrives In Deluxe Formats Next Month

The series of expanded and remastered reissues from Led Zeppelin is getting into the home stretch.  Following the 2014 deluxe releases of the band’s first five albums, 1975’s Physical Graffiti – the band’s sixth of nine studio albums – will arrive in a variety of formats on February 24, 2015 – exactly forty years after the original album was first unveiled.

The hotly-anticipated Physical Graffiti was released almost two years after Led Zeppelin’s last album, Houses of the Holy, and was also the band’s most sprawling effort to date.  The double-disc set, showing off every side of the band’s increasingly varied repertoire, featured material that dated as far back as 1970’s Led Zeppelin III.  Also notable as the first release on Zeppelin’s own Swan Song label, the Grammy-winning Graffiti topped both the U.K. and U.S. album charts, and introduced such favorites as the lengthy, hypnotic orchestral track “Kashmir,” the acoustic guitar instrumental “Bron-Yr-Aur,” the Robert Johnson-inspired funky blues “Trampled Under Foot” and the epic “In My Time of Dying.”  The Rolling Stones’ road manager and pianist Ian Stewart even dropped by for the jam session “Boogie with Stu.”

Physical Graffiti will be available in the following formats:

• Double CD – Remastered album packaged in a replica of the original LP jacket.
• Deluxe Edition (3CD) – Remastered album on two discs, plus a third disc of unreleased companion audio.
• Double LP – Remastered album on 180-gram vinyl, packaged in a sleeve that replicates the LP’s first pressing in exacting detail.
• Deluxe Edition Vinyl (3LP) – Remastered album and unreleased companion audio on 180-gram vinyl.
• Digital Download – Remastered album and companion audio will both be available in standard and high-definition formats.
• Super Deluxe Boxed Set – This collection includes:

o Remastered double album on CD in vinyl replica sleeve.

o Companion audio on CD in card wallet featuring new alternate cover art.

o Remastered double album on 180-gram vinyl in a sleeve replicating first pressing.

o Companion audio on 180-gram vinyl in a sleeve with new alternate cover art.

o High-definition audio download card of all content at 96kHz/24 bit.

o Hardbound, 96 page book filled with rare and previously unseen photos and memorabilia

o High-quality print of the original album cover, the first 30,000 of which will be individually numbered.

After the jump: more details, including what you will find on the bonus disc, plus pre-order links!

Johnny Mathis’ “Magic” Conjured By Funky Town Grooves On New Reissues

Funky Town Grooves is kicking off January with some magic…some Mathis magic, to be precise.  The label is tapping three albums from legendary vocalist Johnny Mathis for CD release, one of which will be making its debut in the format. On January 27, FTG will reissue 1978’s You Light Up My Life and 1979’s new-to-CD Mathis Magic on one two-for-one disc, while 1979’s The Best Days of My Life will receive standalone release as an expanded edition.

You Light Up My Life was the prolific artist’s first album of 1978 following a busy 1977 in which he released both Mathis Is, his second, exhilarating collaboration with Philly soul architect Thom Bell, and Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, a collection produced by Jack Gold and arranged by Gene Page.  You Light Up My Life again teamed Mathis with Gold and Page.  It propelled Mathis back into the Top 10 of the Billboard Top LPs and Tapes chart (now the Billboard 200) for the first time since 1966, driven by his No. 1 smash duet with Deniece Williams, “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late.”  In addition to that chart-topper, the album also features a duet with Williams on the Bee Gees-penned “Emotion” and a wide range of silky solo tracks including the Bee Gees hit “How Deep is Your Love,” Charlie Smalls’ Wiz showstopper “If You Believe,” Rodgers and Hart’s standard “Where or When,” and the Oscar- and Grammy-winning title song written by Joe Brooks.   That’s What Friends are For, an entire album of duets with Williams, followed next for Mathis, scoring a Top 20 Pop berth later in 1978.

After the jump: details on The Best Days of My Life and Mathis Magic, plus track listings and pre-order links for both CDs!

Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely: SoulMusic Reissues, Expands Ronnie Dyson’s Debut

SoulMusic Records has certainly shown a lot of love for Ronnie Dyson (1950-1990) this year. Following its U.S. release in conjunction with Real Gone Music of the late soul man’s two final albums for Cotillion Records, the label is turning back the clock to Dyson’s very first recordings for Columbia Records. Lady In Red: The Columbia Sides Plus, from SoulMusic and the U.K.’s Cherry Red Group, is in actuality an expanded edition of Dyson’s 1970 debut album (If You Let Me Make Love to You Then) Why Can’t I Touch You? This 23-track anthology collects that LP’s eleven tracks on CD for the first time, and adds twelve bonuses (many never before on CD) drawn from a selection of Dyson’s single releases issued between 1969 and 1974.

Dyson’s name first became familiar as a member of the Broadway cast of Galt MacDermot, Gerome Ragni and James Rado’s groundbreaking Broadway musical Hair. Appropriately, SoulMusic kicks off Lady in Red with the single version of “Aquarius” from the RCA cast recording of Hair. The 18-year old Washington, DC native introduced “Aquarius” in the musical, the song which would later go to the top of the charts for The 5th Dimension in a medley with another highlight of the score, “Let the Sunshine In.” Dyson’s distinctive tenor complemented the gospel fervor in his beyond-his-years voice, a quality which surely brought him to the attention of Columbia Records, then under the auspices of Clive Davis. Columbia signed Dyson, assigning him to producer Billy Jackson (The Tymes). His first single with the label – “God Bless the Children” b/w “Are We Ready for Love” – arrived in 1969; both sides are included here. Jackson also helmed the full Why Can’t I Touch You LP, named for a song from Dyson’s second theatre triumph, Salvation. Though the rock musical by Peter Link and C.C. Courtney only lasted 239 performances off-Broadway, it was another stepping stone for Dyson. Though the cast recording was on rival Capitol Records, Dyson recorded his showstopping “(If You Let Me Make Love to You Then) Why Can’t I Touch You?” as a single on Columbia. It scored him a Top 10 hit on both the Pop and R&B charts.

In addition to the Salvation tune – later recorded by artists as diverse as Johnny Mathis and Billy Paul – Dyson’s debut LP contained familiar covers rendered in pop-soul style overseen by Jackson and arranger-conductor Jimmy “Wiz” Wisner. Dyson brought his smooth but passionate sound to songs associated with B.J. Thomas (Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil’s “I Just Can’t Help Believin’”), Freda Payne (a rare male spin on “Band of Gold”), Laura Nyro (“Emmie”), Peggy Lee (“Fever”), Bread (David Gates’ “Make It with You”) and Simon and Garfunkel (the newly-minted Columbia hit “Bridge Over Troubled Water”). Another album track, Chuck Jackson’s “I Don’t Wanna Cry,” was selected as the follow-up to “Why Can’t I Touch You?” and also went Top 10 R&B. For the B-side of “Touch You,” Columbia picked an arrangement by a man who would figure prominently in Dyson’s later career: the on-the-rise Thom Bell. Billed as “Tommy Bell,” he arranged another male version of a song written for a female: the dramatic “Girl Don’t Come,” written by Chris Andrews for British pop starlet Sandie Shaw. Bell likely recognized the potential of Dyson as a male answer to Dionne Warwick, with a similar cool yet versatile quality to his voice. Bell’s work can also be heard on the frenetically funky version of “Fever.” Dyson’s debut LP may have been too stylistically eclectic – from MOR to spirited R&B with a dash of musical theatre panache – to attract a major audience. His next long-player would be somewhat more consistent.

But first, Columbia brought in producer Stan Vincent (The Five Stairsteps) to record a number of tracks. Five Vincent productions circa 1971-1972 are heard on Lady in Red: Dyson’s R&B hit version of Barry Mann’s oft-recorded “When You Get Right Down to It” and its B-side, Vincent’s own “Sleeping Sun;” Tony Davillo’s hard-driving “Abelene” (B-side of “A Wednesday in Your Garden,” not included here but available on the One Man Band album), and both sides of “Jesus Is Just Alright” b/w Dyson original “Love is Slipping Away.”

We have more after the jump, including the full track listing and order links!

Release Round-Up: Week of January 6

Jackie Moore, The Complete Atlantic Recordings (2-CD Release) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain: Original Soundtrack Gatefold Double-LP (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) or CD (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Dance of Reality: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack LP (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) or CD (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Real Gone Music kicks off the new year right with a slate filled with vintage R&B, classic rock and beyond including The Complete Atlantic Recordings of soul songstress Jackie Moore (“Sweet Charlie Babe”), two haunting soundtracks from the films of cinema auteur Alejandro Jodorowsky…

The Main Ingredient, L.T.D./Black Seeds (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) /Redd Foxx, You Gotta Wash Your Ass (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / Grateful Dead, Dick’s Picks Vol. 13—Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY 5/6/81 (3-CD Set) (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K.)

…a pair of albums from The Main Ingredient, the bitingly blue comedy of Redd Foxx, and an acclaimed set from Grateful Dead circa 1981!

Aretha Franklin, Through the Storm: Expanded Edition (Funky Town Grooves) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

FTG’s 2-CD expansion of Aretha Franklin’s 1989 Arista album (featuring guests James Brown, The Four Tops, Kenny G, Whitney Houston and Elton John!) – with 18 bonus tracks! – arrives in the U.S. after a brief delay.

Elvis Presley, The Real Elvis Presley: 60s Collection / Billy Ocean, The Real Billy Ocean / Perez Prado, The Real Perez Prado (Sony U.K.)

Elvis: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Billy: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Perez: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Sony’s U.K. arm continues its series of budget-priced 3-CD compilations with entries for Elvis’ ’60s catalogue plus Billy Ocean and Perez Prado.

Closing Time: Morello Reissues Lacy J. Dalton’s Final Two Columbia Albums

Continuing its reissue series drawn from her catalogue, Cherry Red’s Morello Records has recently released a twofer collecting Lacy J. Dalton’s Highway Diner and Blue Eyed Blues.  Dalton’s tenure at Columbia spanned eight albums and two greatest hits compilation between 1980 and 1987.  Morello has previously collected Dalton’s middle period at the label with twofer of Takin’ It Easy and 16th Avenue (Morello Records CD MRLL33).  This release closes out her time at the label with her final two albums under the Columbia banner.

Lacy J. Dalton was born as Jill Byrem in 1948 in Pennsylvania.   Following her musical muse, she eventually ended up in San Francisco in the latter part of the 1960s performing psychedelic rock with a band known as Office.  She married the band’s manager, becoming Jill Croston, but he sadly died in an accident.  Deciding to reinvent herself as a country singer, Croston adopted the name Lacy J. Dalton.  Her demo was heard by Billy Sherrill, the influential country producer who had worked with George Jones and Tammy Wynette.  He liked what he heard and Dalton was signed to Columbia Records in 1979.

Dalton’s first single was “Crazy Blue Eyes” which hit No. 17 on the U.S. Country charts.  The song was included on her eponymous debut which also featured two additional Top 20 Country hits:  “The Tennessee Waltz” and “Losing Kind of Love.”  Adding to her strong start at Columbia, she was also named “Best New Female Vocalist” at the 1979 Country Music Association Awards.  Dalton hit the country Top 10 for the first time with the No. 7 placing title track off of Hard Times from 1980 and achieved her highest charting Country single at No. 2 with 1982’s “Takin’ It Easy” off the album of the same name.

By the time of 1986’s Highway Diner, Dalton had decided to go back to her roots and add more rock and R&B to her music, similar to Bonnie Raitt.  The album was produced by Walt Aldridge (writer of Ronnie Milsap’s “(There’s) No Getting Over Me” and Earl Thomas Conley’s “Holding Her and Loving You”) and recoded at the venerable Fame Recording Studio in Alabama.   “Working Class Man” and “This Ol’ Town” were released as singles and peaked at No. 16 and No. 33 on the Country charts.  The album itself got to No. 32 on the Country LP charts.

Dalton’s last album for Columbia was 1987’s Blue Eyed Blues.  Following a pattern for many end-of- contract affairs, the album mixed new tracks with previously released material.  The new material consisted of the two songs “Have I Got a Heart For You” and “I’ll Love Them Whatever They Are.”  Four tracks were included from her previous albums (“Blue Eyed Blues,” Hillbilly Girl With the Blues,” “16th Avenue” and “My Old Yellow Car”). Duets with Bobby Bare, George Jones, David Allan Coe and Earl Scruggs rounded out the LP.  These songs had originally appeared on albums and singles by the duet partners.

Continue Lacy’s story after the jump!  Plus: the track listing with discography and order links!

Let’s Pretend: Edsel Unveils Deluxe Multi-Disc Reissues For Pretenders’ Catalogue

Edsel isn’t just playing pretend.  On February 16, 2015, the Demon Music Group label will reissue all eight albums from The Pretenders as originally released by the Warner Bros. family of labels between 1979 and 1999 as deluxe editions.  (Or: that’s to say 8/10, or 4/5, of the entire Pretenders discography!  Only two albums have arrived since 1999, in 2002 and 2008.)  Every one of the eight titles is housed in a digipak, with six of the titles as 2-CD/1-DVD sets and two as 1-CD/1-DVD sets.

These “everything but the kitchen sink” reissues will bring together B-sides, live tracks, soundtrack one-off recordings (for films including The Living Daylights, Fever Pitch, G.I. Jane, Indecent Proposal and Boys on the Side), demos, promotional videos and BBC-TV appearances (most of which have never been commercially released) for the English-American band founded in 1978 by Chrissie Hynde, James Honeyman-Scott, Pete Farndon and Martin Chambers.  The DVDs feature 30 rare BBC performances, 21 promo videos and the complete 18-track Isle of View concert. The material first issued on Rhino’s expanded reissues of the group’s first four albums has been included, as have rare tracks from the Pirate Radio box set.  The Pretenders made their first splash in February 1979 with their debut single, a cover of Ray Davies’ “Stop Your Sobbing” produced by Nick Lowe. By the time their Chris Thomas-helmed debut LP arrived in January 1980, the band’s third single “Brass in Pocket” was on its way to No. 1 in the United Kingdom.  The album would reach that plateau as well.  (It reached the Top 15 of the U.S. Pop chart, and the album made the Top 10.)

After the jump, we have more details including the complete track listings for all eight multi-disc sets and pre-order links!

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Captain Beefheart, “SUN ZOOM SPARK 1970 to 1972”

“Art is rearranging and grouping mistakes.” So the late Don Van Vliet, a.k.a. Captain Beefheart, is quoted on the cover of the fourth disc of Rhino’s new box set SUN ZOOM SPARK: 1970 to 1972. It’s appropriate and ironic that the aphorism is featured on the sleeve of that disc, a collection of never-before-heard outtakes from the Captain and his Magic Band. But the tracks are far from mistakes; instead, they offer a window onto the process with which Van Vliet created his unmistakable brand of art. In addition to that disc, SUN ZOOM SPARK presents long-overdue, beautifully-remastered versions of Beefheart’s three albums released during the titular time period: Lick My Decals Off, Baby; The Spotlight Kid; and Clear Spot. The resulting compendium is a must-have for diehard Magic fans, and a surprisingly solid introduction for the more casual fan looking for a solid place to explore Van Vliet’s discography beyond the twin cornerstones of Safe as Milk and Trout Mask Replica.

1969’s Trout Mask, produced by Van Vliet’s lifelong frenemy and collaborator Frank Zappa, solidified his credentials as a true avant-garde pioneer with its highly experimental, frequently surreal blend of blues, free jazz, folk, rock and roll, and every other style that he could throw into a blender in pursuit of something new and something real. With Beefheart himself producing, Lick My Decals Off, Baby, recorded for Zappa’s Warner Bros.-distributed Straight label in summer 1970, continued in the avant-garde style of Trout Mask. It recalls elements of Ornette Coleman (reportedly a Beefheart inspiration), Tom Waits and of course, Zappa, but is too original to withstand many comparisons at all. Like Trout Mask, Decals was an unabashedly countercultural statement, but not in the traditional sense circa 1970. In fact, there’s nothing “traditional” at all about the record, which accounts for its out-of-time quality and ability to still confound and fascinate in equal measure. Van Vliet was unencumbered at this point by conventional notions of songcraft and determined to do it “his way,” and also managed to achieve a homemade sound despite recording the album for a major label in a major studio (Los Angeles’ United).

Regarded as one of the good Captain’s personal favorites of his recordings, the title of Decals reportedly referred to his desire to see objects for their merits rather than according to labels (or “decals”) placed upon them. For this LP featuring both instrumental and vocal tracks (most of which are quite short, with only two tracks exceeding three minutes), Beefheart – whose personal musical arsenal included clarinet, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone and chromatic harmonica – was joined by the Magic Band line-up of Bill Harkleroad on guitar, Mark Boston on bass, Art Tripp on percussion (including marimba, which adds vibrant color throughout), and John French on drums – all of whom utilized their considerable musical skills in service of Beefheart’s vision. The liner notes to this set fascinatingly detail Beefheart’s modus operandi. Onetime Magic Band member Bruce Fowler observes that “I knew too much [about music]. I was trapped in my practice. He’d pick up a sax and start wailing, and he could not play a scale or anything, so he’d just paint with the soprano.” The resulting music from Beefheart and his Magic Band often sounded improvised, but was in actuality, carefully planned and rehearsed. Though Beefheart wasn’t the trained musician Zappa was, they both pushed the boundaries of their art.

Decals shares with Trout Mask Replica a sense that the artist has rendered his vision with no compromise; its aural assault – of jagged rhythms, stuttering guitars, surreal, word-association lyrics (sometimes with an ecological bent, however hidden), growled, near-spoken vocals and clattering soundscapes – still jars today.  Some moments are more accessible here than others, if “accessible” is the right word, such as the happily goofy “I Love You, You Big Dummy” or the bizarrely catchy “Woe-is-uh-Me-Bop” and “The Smithsonian Institute Blues (or the Big Dig).” Those familiar with free jazz will likely be riveted by “Japan in a Dishpan,” or by the solo guitar piece “One Red Rose That I Mean” dazzlingly played by Harkleroad. “The Buggy Boogie Woogie” has one of Beefheart’s most vivid vocals, more like a beat-era monologue than a song with lyrics. There’s a peculiar, childlike quality to “The Clouds Are Full of Wine (Not Whiskey or Rye).” Lick My Decals Off, with its lack of conventional melodies, was – and is – doubtless a challenging record, but it set the stage for The Spotlight Kid.

Recorded at Los Angeles’ Record Plant during the summer of 1971 and issued in early 1972 on Reprise with a self-mocking cover of Van Vliet in a Nudie suit, The Spotlight Kid is the only album credited solely to Captain Beefheart rather than as a collaboration with his Magic Band. It features Harkleroad, Boston, French and Tripp, plus Elliot Ingber on guitar and drummer Rhys Clark (on one track). Produced again by Van Vliet, this time in collaboration with engineer Phil Schier, the album features slower, simpler and more fluid compositions, as Beefheart was in pursuit of a (slightly) more commercial sound. (He was “aware of the need to, um, eat,” quips Rip Rense in the SUN ZOOM SPARK liner notes.) He largely achieved it, as The Spotlight Kid isn’t as in-your-face or confrontational as Lick My Decals.

Hit the jump for much more!

Release Round-Up: Weeks of December 23 and December 30

Well, these are incredibly light weeks for new releases!  Thankfully, the Kritzerland and Audio Fidelity labels have stepped up with a quartet of titles to close out 2014 on a high note!

Cy Coleman, John Kander, Harvey Schmidt and Charles Strouse, Classical Broadway (Kritzerland) (available for pre-order now)

Kritzerland remasters this 1992 album (originally released on the Bay Cities label) featuring classical compositions from four of Broadway’s most legendary composers including Cy Coleman (Sweet Charity, Barnum), John Kander (Cabaret, Chicago), Harvey Schmidt (The Fantasticks, 110 in the Shade) and Charles Strouse (Annie, Bye Bye Birdie).  Though these pieces are for the concert hall and not for the musical stage, they still brim with the melody and flair of the composers’ theatre work.  This title will ship by the second week of February, but pre-orders placed directly through the label typically arrive an average of four weeks early.

Patrick Williams, Breaking Away: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Kritzerland) (available for pre-order now)

Here’s the world premiere soundtrack release of Patrick Williams’ score (as conducted by the great Lionel Newman) for the beloved 1979 coming-of-age drama.  This deluxe release features Williams’ original cues, classical adaptations, as well as material cut from the finished film.  This title will ship by the second week of February, but pre-orders placed directly through the label typically arrive an average of four weeks early.

The Guess Who, The Best of The Guess Who (Audio Fidelity) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) (12/30)

Audio Fidelity premieres the 4.0 quadraphonic surround mix of The Guess Who’s 1971 compilation album on hybrid SACD (meaning a stereo layer is playable on standard CD players) – featuring such songs as “These Eyes,” “Laughing,” “No Time,” “Undun” and “American Woman.”  And that’s not the only quad classic coming to CD…

Blood, Sweat & Tears, Blood, Sweat & Tears (Audio Fidelity) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) (12/30)

Following its 5.1 presentation of BS&T’s Al Kooper-helmed debut album, Audio Fidelity revisits the kickoff of the horn band’s David Clayton-Thomas era!  This original 4.0 quad mix of the 1969 smash features “Spinning Wheel,” “And When I Die” and “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” all in vivid multichannel on hybrid SACD.

And lastly, we’d like to spread a little holiday cheer courtesy of one of our readers…

The Man Who Saved Christmas: The Original Studio Cast Recording (Take the Cakeable Records) (Amazon U.S.) (available now)

This isn’t a reissue, but what it is, is a charming and unabashedly old-fashioned musical comedy as recorded by a cast of 34 singers and a 14-piece orchestra.  Ron Lytle’s bright musical is inspired by the life story of A.C. Gilbert.  The inventor of the erector set, Gilbert was dubbed “the man who saved Christmas” for his crusade against a proposed ban on toy sales during one pivotal holiday season!  The Studio Cast Recording of this charming show is available now at Amazon, and more information on the show can be found at its website.  Merry Christmas, everyone!