Reviews: Two From Omnivore – Big Star, “Live in Memphis” and Roger Taylor, “The Best”

Welcome to Part One of our two-part review round-up featuring some of Omnivore Recordings’ releases from late 2014!

Just when one thinks the Big Star well has run dry, Omnivore Recordings surprises with a treat of the magnitude of Live in Memphis (OVCD-107). On October 29, 1994 at Memphis’ New Daisy Theatre, Big Star founding members Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens, were joined by Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow of The Posies for an overflowing set of Big Star classics and covers in front of an appreciative hometown audience. The debut of this band lineup on April 25, 1993 was preserved on the Zoo Records album Columbia: Live at Missouri University 4/25/93; the concert of October 29, 1994 was billed as Big Star’s farewell U.S. performance. It turned out to be anything but – the band continued to tour together for another 16 years until Chilton’s untimely death in 2010. Listening to the 20 previously unreleased tracks on the Live in Memphis CD, it’s easy to see why Chilton and Stephens resolved to keep going with their younger bandmates. (The concert is also available on DVD.)

This set of rocking guitar-driven pop – which features 14 songs also preserved on the Missouri album plus six more – is altogether a more confident, more swaggering and more rousing evening. Not only was the band tighter and more attuned to each other, but in Memphis, there was added frisson from all of the family and friends present; Jon Auer writes in the liner notes here about the thrill of singing Chris Bell’s “I Am the Cosmos” in front of the late Big Star founder’s family. With confident riffs and hooks abounding, this doesn’t sound like the set of a cult band, but rather like the set of established pros singing beloved songs to a packed house. In addition to established Big Star classics like “The Ballad of El Goodo,” “In the Street,” “When My Baby’s Beside Me” and “September Gurls” – songs in which it’s nearly impossible to resist the urge to sing along – there are some surprises. Marc Bolan’s “Baby Strange” and Todd Rundgren’s “Slut” are reprised from the Missouri set, but there are also covers of The Boss (“Fire” – albeit around 30 seconds’ worth of it) and the bossa nova (a loose, tossed-off “The Girl from Ipanema”) plus the late sixties-vintage “Patty Girl” from singer-songwriter Dick Campbell as recorded by Gary and the Hornets.

After the jump: more on Big Star, plus Roger Taylor’s Best!

Release Round-Up: Week of November 10

 

The Monkees, The Monkees: Super Deluxe Edition (Rhino Handmade) (Exclusively available directly from label)

It’s Monkeemania all over again: Davy, Micky, Peter and Michael are back with a 3-CD expansion of their debut album featuring 100 tracks – 45 of which are previously unreleased!

ABBA, Gracias Por La Musica: Deluxe Edition (Polar/Universal) (Amazon U.S. Link TBD / Amazon U.K.)

ABBA is saying “Thank You for the Music” – in Spanish!  The band’s Spanish-language 1980 album Gracias Por La Música is going deluxe with 5 bonus tracks, plus a 40-minute DVD featuring vintage promo clips and previously unreleased television material.

The Kinks, Muswell Hillbillies: Legacy Edition (Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Legacy has a new edition of 1971’s Muswell Hillbillies on tap as part of its new Kinks kampaign.  It retains eight of the thirteen bonus tracks on the 2013 U.K. Deluxe Edition, dropping three BBC radio performances from The John Peel Show (“Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues,” “Holiday” and “Skin and Bone”) and the 1976 remixes of “Muswell Hillbilly” and “20th Century Man.” It then adds a separate DVD with thirteen previously-unreleased performances: two songs from a January 1972 broadcast of The Old Grey Whistle Test and eleven from BBC’s Live at the Rainbow program from July 1972.

Pink Floyd, The Endless River (Columbia)

CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

CD/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 

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

In early 1993, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright created more than one hundred pieces of music by jamming together and recording the results.  The trio then honed the pieces at Gilmour’s studio, played them live for 2 days at Olympic Studios in Barnes with additional players (Guy Pratt on bass, Jon Carin on keyboards and Gary Wallis on percussion), returned to Astoria, and worked further with co-producer Bob Ezrin.  The resulting LP, after lyrics and vocals were added, was The Division Bell.  Rumors abounded of a separate ambient album created from the remaining ethereal instrumentals, but nothing came of it until now.  Gilmour and Mason re-entered the studio earlier this year and added further instrumentation to the tracks they originally created with the late Richard Wright.  Pink Floyd describes The Endless River as 60% new, with the other 40% drawn from those original 1993 recordings.  Gilmour describes the record as follows: “The Endless River has as its starting point the music that came from the 1993 Division Bell sessions. We listened to over 20 hours of the three of us playing together and selected the music we wanted to work on for the new album. Over the last year we’ve added new parts, re-recorded others and generally harnessed studio technology to make a 21st century Pink Floyd album. With Rick gone, and with him the chance of ever doing it again, it feels right that these revisited and reworked tracks should be made available as part of our repertoire.”

Rush, R40 (Concord/Rounder)

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

BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

This 10-DVD or 6-BD box set tells the story of Rush through live performance material recorded over the years,with an emphasis on the period of 2003-2013.

Whitney Houston, Live (Arista/Legacy)

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

Clive Davis has overseen this first official live release for the late, great Whitney Houston, which includes some of the diva’s most beloved onstage performances recorded between 1983 and 2009.

Queen, Queen Forever (Hollywood)

CD: Amazon U.K.
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

This new anthology features three previously unissued recordings (including “There Must Be More to Life Than This” with Michael Jackson) and other off-the-beaten path selections.

Roger Taylor, The Lot (Omnivore)

The Queen drummer’s own solo career is captured in this lavish 13-disc complete box set.

Blood Sweat and Tears, Child is Father to the Man – 5.1 Surround SACD (Audio Fidelity) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Link TBD)

Al Kooper’s long-shelved 5.1 surround mix of Blood, Sweat and Tears’ stunning jazz-rock debut finally makes an appearance on hybrid SACD thanks to Audio Fidelity!  Bob Ludwig masters Kooper’s 5.1 mix, while Steve Hoffman has remastered for the stereo presentations.

Eric Clapton, Pilgrim SACD (Audio Fidelity) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Link TBD)

Steve Hoffman remasters Eric Clapton’s 1988 studio album Pilgrim for hybrid stereo SACD!

Tears for Fears, Songs from the Big Chair: Super Deluxe Edition (Mercury)

Box Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

2-CD Deluxe Edition (Discs 1 & 2 below only): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Vinyl (Original Album): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Blu-ray Audio (Stereo and 5.1 Mixes): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Mercury has a variety of formats coming for Tears for Tears’ landmark 1985 album, including a 4-CD/2-DVD box set!

Ray Charles, Genius Loves Company: 10th Anniversary Limited Collectors Edition (Hear Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Hear Music repackages Ray Charles’ Grammy-winning duets album for a second time this year, retaining the two bonus tracks and DVD documentary from the previous edition and adding director Taylor Hackford’s 2004 motion picture Ray on a second DVD.

Worzel Gummidge: The Musical – Original London Cast Recording (Stage Door) (Amazon U.K.)

Stage Door Records remasters and expands the Original 1981 London Cast Recording of Keith Waterhouse, Willis Hall and Denis King’s musical comedy to CD for the first time.

Various Artists, Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes (Harvest) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

What happens when you give a notebook filled with never-before-recorded Bob Dylan lyrics to producer T Bone Burnett and a musical collective featuring Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops), Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), Jim James (My Morning Jacket) and Marcus Mumford (Mumford & Sons)?  You get Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes, a 2014 companion to the recent issue of the original, legendary recordings made by Dylan and The Band.

 

Release Round-Up: Week of November 4

Bob Dylan, The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete and Raw  (Columbia/Legacy)

At long last, here are the complete and unexpurgated Basement Tapes – 6 discs and over 140 songs recorded in the creatively fertile days of 1967 and 1968 by Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Levon Helm.  Quite simply, this treasure trove of Americana may well be the Catalogue Music Event of the Year.

Complete: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Raw:

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

Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

The Paul McCartney Archive Collection: Wings, Venus and Mars (Hear Music/MPL, 2014)

Paul McCartney continues his Archive Collection with deluxe, bonus-packed editions of two Wings classics: 1975’s Venus and Mars and 1976’s Wings at the Speed of Sound!  Full details including track listings and more can be found right here!

2-CD/1-DVD Deluxe Book Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / 2-CD Standard Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Gatefold Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

The Paul McCartney Archive Collection: Wings, At the Speed of Sound (Hear Music/MPL, 2014)

2-CD/1-DVD Deluxe Book Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / 2-CD Standard Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Gatefold Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Robert Goulet: The Complete Columbia Christmas Recordings (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K.) /  Andy Williams and the Williams Brothers: The Williams Brothers Christmas Album (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K.) / The Statler Brothers: The Complete Mercury Christmas Recordings Featuring the Albums “Christmas Card” & “Christmas Present” (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K. ) / The Brothers Four: Merry Christmas (Expanded Edition) (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K. ) / The Kingston Trio: The Last Month of the Year (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K. ) /  Rosemary Clooney: In Songs from the Paramount Pictures Production of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (Expanded Edition) (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K.) / Frank DeVol and the Rainbow Strings: The Old Sweet Songs of Christmas (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K.) / Dick Wagner: Dick Wagner (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K.)

Christmas arrives early this year thanks to our friends at Real Gone Music!  The label has a whopping seven Christmas albums due this week from artists including rare holiday music from Rosemary Clooney, The Statler Brothers, The Kingston Trio, Frank DeVol and The Brothers Four!  And that’s not all.  We’re particularly excited about two of Real Gone’s releases.  Joe compiled and annotated Robert Goulet’s Complete Columbia Christmas Recordings featuring both of Goulet’s classic holiday LPs plus a host of bonus tracks, and he has also written the notes for the first CD reissue  from the original master tapes of Andy Williams and the Williams Brothers’ Christmas Album!  Get a head start on the Christmas season with these happy holiday reissues!

T Rex, The Albums Collection (Edsel) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Edsel has boxed up T Rex’s eight studio albums and added two CDs of selected bonus material for this one-stop-shopping set.

Rolling Stones, From the Vault: Hampton Coliseum 1981 (Eagle Rock)

This 1981 live concert from The Rolling Stones’ digital archive goes physical on CD, LP, DVD and standard definition Blu-ray.  The program continues later this month with similar releases for L.A. Forum – Live in 1975!

CD: Amazon U.S.

Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

DVD [NTSC] + CD Set: Amazon U.K.

John Denver, All of My Memories: The John Denver Collection (RCA/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

This new box set traces the beloved, late troubadour’s career over four CDs and 90 songs recorded between 1964 and 1997.

Big Star, Live in Memphis (Omnivore)

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

DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 

Vinyl with Download Card: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Roger Taylor, Best (Omnivore)

The first-ever best-of for the Queen drummer features 18 tracks from his criminally-unknown solo catalogue!

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

Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

King Crimson, Starless (DGM) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

This King Crimson treasure chest contains 27 discs – including CDs, DVD-As, and BDs – for an immersive, in-depth look at Crimson circa 1973-1974, live and in the studio.  Full details on this stunning collection can be found here!

Ronnie Milsap, The Complete RCA Albums Collection (RCA/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

This 21-CD set chronicles the Country Music Hall of Famer’s career at RCA Records, from 1973 to 1991, plus his return to the label in 2006!

Yes, Relayer CD/DVD-A and CD/BD (Panegyric)

CD/DVD-A: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

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

Steven Wilson works his magic on Yes’ 1974 Relayer, the band’s seventh studio album!  Wilson provides new stereo and surround mixes available on CD + DVD-A or BD configurations.

XTC, Drums and Wires CD/DVD-A and CD/BD (Ape House)

CD/DVD-A: Amazon U.S. TBD / Amazon U.K.

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

Wilson takes the same approach for the newest volume in Ape House’s series of deluxe XTC reissues on CD/DVD-A and CD/BD: 1979’s Drums and Wires, the band’s third album.

Scorpions, Blackout SACD (Audio Fidelity) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The eighth studio album from Germany’s favorite hard rockers arrives on hybrid stereo SACD, playable in all CD players, from Audio Fidelity.

Various Artists, Blue Note: Uncompromising Expression (Blue Note) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Blue Note celebrates its 75th anniversary with 75 single sides collected on this new 5-CD box set.  Each disc represents a different era in the label’s history – which is, to say, the history of jazz!

Thelonious Monk, ‘Round Midnight: The Complete Blue Note Singles 1947-1952 (Blue Note) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Thelonious Monk’s recordings for Blue Note signaled the label’s move from boogie woogie and vintage jazz to cutting-edge hard bop. These recordings, which include the first version of Monk’s classic composition “‘Round Midnight” (originally recorded as “‘Round About Midnight”), were released on a series of fifteen 78 RPM singles. Later, the singles were re-compiled on 10-inch and 12-inch LPs.  This collection, housed in a hardbound digipak, will present for the first time Monk’s Blue Note singles in their original 78 RPM sequence of release, adding as bonus tracks the alternate takes that appeared on later LP and CD releases.  All told, the 2-CD set includes nine tracks not available on any current reissues of the great pianist/composer’s albums.

Frank Sinatra, Come Fly with Me / In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning / This is Sinatra! / A Jolly Christmas with Frank Sinatra / Sinatra and Swingin’ Brass / Moonlight Sinatra (Vinyl) (Capitol/UMe)

As part of the Signature Sinatra initiative, Capitol/UMe has been releasing a series of select original Sinatra LPs from both his Capitol and Reprise catalogues in limited edition, remastered heavyweight vinyl pressings.  Look for this series to continue with more releases in the very near future!  We’ve been able to obtain few details about these releases, but we can confirm that Come Fly with Me is mono, as is A Jolly Christmas with Frank Sinatra.  (No true stereo version of the latter has ever been issued.)  (Thanks to The Sinatra Family Forum for their valuable info on these releases!)

Come Fly with Me (Mono – Amazon shows incorrect stereo cover): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

In the Wee Small Hours: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

This is Sinatra! : Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

A Jolly Christmas with Frank Sinatra (Mono): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Sinatra and Swingin’ Brass: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Moonlight Sinatra: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Carly Simon, Playlist: The Very Best of Carly Simon (Arista/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

This 14-track Playlist volume combines Carly’s hit Arista recordings (“The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of,” “Coming Around Again,” “Better Not Tell Her”) with live cuts (“You’re So Vain,” “Anticipation”) and one new-to-CD track: the Live from Grand Central performance of “Touched by the Sun.”

 

Judy Collins, Both Sides Now: The Very Best of Judy Collins (Wildflower) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The catalogue of Collins’ own Wildflower Records is tapped for this 2-CD, 28-track set drawn primarily from recent and late-period recordings.

Bette Midler, It’s the Girls (Warner Bros.) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

The Divine Miss M returns with her tribute to the greatest girl groups of all time – and Bette isn’t limiting herself to any one era, as she tackles songs by The Andrews Sisters, The Shirelles, The Supremes, TLC and more!  Marc Shaiman (Hairspray, Smash) produces this spirited set!

Neil Young, Storytone (Reprise)

For his latest album, Neil Young fulfilled his ambitions to record an LP live with an orchestra in the same room.  The lush Storytone features a 92-piece orchestra and choir, and is available in a deluxe edition with a second disc of Neil’s solo renditions of its songs.  With material ranging from dramatic ballads to finger-snapping swingers, this is truly a departure from anything Young has done before – and is well worth checking out for that reason alone.

Deluxe 2-CD Version (Orchestrated and solo albums): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Standard Edition (Orchestrated album only): Amazon U.K.

180-gram Double Vinyl (Orchestrated and solo albums): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

The Doobie Brothers, Southbound (Arista Nashville) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Listen to the music!  For this greatest-hits duets set, The Doobie Brothers (including Michael McDonald) have teamed up with current country stars including Blake Shelton, The Zac Brown Band, Hunter Hayes, Brad Paisley, Sara Evans, Toby Keith and Vince Gill.  Southbound marks the first Doobie Brothers album to feature Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons and Michael McDonald since 1976’s Takin’ It to the Streets!

Thank You, Friends: Omnivore Readies Live Big Star, Complete Works of Queen’s Roger Taylor

Omnivore Recordings is greeting autumn with projects from a couple of, well, big artists. By big, we mean perhaps the biggest cult band of all time – Big Star – and if that’s not big enough, how about the drummer from one of the biggest rock bands in the world? As in, Roger Taylor of Queen? On October 27, Omnivore will issue the first-ever retrospective of Taylor’s solo work in anticipation of the November 11 U.S. release of his complete, all-encompassing solo box set, The Lot. On November 4, the label brings fans the only professionally-filmed complete concert from Memphis’ favorite power-poppers with Big Star – Live in Memphis.

Live in Memphis continues the Big Star story with the premiere on DVD, CD, DD, and 2-LP vinyl (with download card) of the band’s performance of October 29, 1994. That evening, Alex Chilton, Jody Stephens, and Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow of The Posies ran through a packed set of Big Star classics and covers in front of an appreciative hometown audience. Filmed at the New Daisy Theatre, Live in Memphis includes Big Star favorites such as “Thank You Friends,” “September Gurls,” and “The Ballad of El Goodo,” plus the late Chris Bell’s “I Am The Cosmos,” and songs from T. Rex (“Baby Strange”), The Kinks (“Till the End of the Day”), Todd Rundgren (“Slut”) and even Antonio Carlos Jobim (“The Girl from Ipanema”). All told, the audio editions have 19 songs, and the DVD has 18, eliminating “Fire.”

Though the concert was billed as Big Star’s farewell, it was far from it – the band continued to tour together for another 16 years until Chilton’s untimely death in 2010. Big Star – Live in Memphis includes liner notes from filmmaker Danny Graflund, Ardent Studios’ producer John Fry, Jody Stephens, Jon Auer, and Ken Stringfellow in the CD, LP, and DVD packages. In addition, the first pressing of the LP will be pressed on colored vinyl, with standard black to follow. This once-in-a-lifetime chronicle of the one and only Big Star is due on November 4.

After the jump, Omnivore is going ga-ga with Queen’s Roger Taylor! Plus the full track listings and pre-order links for all titles!