Release Round-Up: Week of December 9

Frank Sinatra, London (UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

This 3-CD/1-DVD swingin’ affair spans 1953-1984 and features over 50 previously unreleased tracks on CD and DVD – all dedicated to Sinatra’s performances in the great city.  At its centerpiece is an expanded and remastered edition of Sinatra Sings Great Songs from Great Britain, the Chairman’s only studio album recorded outside of the United States!  Watch for Joe’s full review soon!

The Beatles, 1962-1966 / 1967-1970 / 1 / Love (Vinyl Only) (Capitol/Apple)

1962-1966: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
1967-1970: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
1: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Love: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

The Fabs’ famous “red” and “blue” albums, along with the CD-era compilation Beatles 1 and the Cirque du Soleil soundtrack Love are remastered and reissued on heavyweight 180g vinyl just in time for the holidays!

The Jam, Setting Sons: Deluxe Edition (Universal) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Paul Weller and The Jam’s seminal 1979 rock classic is expanded as a two-disc Deluxe Edition with single versions, non-LP B-sides, demos and live tracks.

Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey, Going Back Home: Deluxe Edition (Chess) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The acclaimed 2013 album from Dr. Feelgood’s Wilko Johnson and The Who’s Roger Daltrey has been expanded into a double-disc affair with the addition of outtakes, alternates, and live tracks from Shepherd’s Bush Empire and Royal Albert Hall from earlier this year.

Supertramp, Crime of the Century: Deluxe Edition (Universal) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Blu-ray Audio: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
3-LP Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

This 2-CD set marks the 40th anniversary of Supertramp’s landmark album, adding a previously unreleased concert from Hammersmith Odeon in March 1975, newly mixed by original producer Ken Scott!

Carrie Underwood, Greatest Hits – Decade # 1 (Arista Nashville) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The biggest star to emerge from American Idol collects the best of her first decade on this 2-disc retrospective including duets with Randy Travis, Vince Gill and Brad Paisley, and three previously unreleased work tape demos.

Judy Garland, Swan Songs, First Flights: Her First and Last Recordings (Doremi/Hallow) (Amazon U.S. TBD / Amazon U.K.)

Exact contents haven’t been released yet, but this new 3-CD celebration of the legendary entertainer promises that “Judy Garland is heard in exciting live performances from her last years, many never previously released on CD and collected here for the first time – Swan Songs. And for the first time on CD are charming and historic recordings from Garland’s youth made between the ages of 7 and 17 – First Flights. All in new state-of-the-art transfers and remastering!”  The set is also available at Discovery Records.

Various Artists, The Only Folk Collection You’ll Ever Need (Shout!) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

This 2-CD, 30-track folk sampler features a “Who’s Who” of folk music including Bob Dylan (“The Times They Are A-Changin’”), Peter, Paul and Mary (“Blowin’ in the Wind”), Doc Watson (“Sitting on Top of the World”), Phil Ochs (“I Ain’t Marching Anymore”), The Byrds (“Mr. Tambourine Man”), Tim Hardin (“If I Were a Carpenter”), Fairport Convention (“Who Knows Where the Time Goes”) and others.

If Everyone Was Listening: Supertramp’s “Crime of the Century” Goes Deluxe

With the release of 1974’s Crime of the Century, the members of Supertramp finally got the big break for which they’d been waiting. Songwriter-vocalists Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies were the only two members remaining from the group’s 1970 debut, but with Bob Benberg, John Anthony Helliwell and Dougie Thompson on board, Crime of the Century firmly established the band at the vanguard of both pop and prog-rock. A No. 4 album in the U.K., it also cracked the U.S. Top 40 for the first time in the band’s career. On December 9, the album will receive deluxe 40th anniversary reissues in both the 2-CD and 3-LP formats.

After two unsuccessful albums (each with a distinct line-up) and an unsuccessful tour, Hodgson and Davies recruited new members to craft Supertramp’s third album for A&M Records. After a rehearsal period at a seventeenth-century farm in Somerset, the new band joined with co-producer Ken Scott, former Beatles engineer and then riding high from his work with David Bowie. Reportedly, Supertramp demoed over 40 tracks, whittling them down to eight songs for the final album. Two of them would become among the band’s most enduring classics – Hodgson’s “Dreamer” and Davies’ “Bloody Well Right.” With “School,” “Rudy” and the title song, Supertramp also contributed to the burgeoning AOR (Album Oriented Rock) genre.

The 40th Anniversary edition from A&M and Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) contains the original 8-song album, newly remastered by Ray Staff at AIR Studios on the first disc, while the second features Supertramp’s 1975 Hammersmith Odeon concert, mixed from the master tapes by original on-the-night engineer Ken Scott. At this key performance, the band performed the entirety of Crime of the Century and also offered a preview of tracks from its then-as-yet-unreleased follow-up, Crisis? What Crisis? (1975).

What else can you expect of the upcoming reissue? Hit the jump to find out!

Release Round-Up: Week of November 16

Bruce Springsteen, The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story (Columbia/Legacy)

Bruuuuuuuuce celebrates one of his most acclaimed albums in a big way. Darkness will be augmented with two discs’ worth of outtakes and three(!) DVDs, including the new making-of documentary The Promise. (The outtakes are available as their own double-disc set as well.) (Official site)

Jimi Hendrix, West Coast Seattle Boy: The Jimi Hendrix Anthology / BBC Sessions / Live at Woodstock / Blues / Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (Experience Hendrix/Legacy)

The latest chapter of the Hendrix reissue campaign from Sony includes a new box set of rare and unreleased material (available on CD or vinyl) that features a neat overview of Hendrix’s early days as a sideman with other rock and soul acts. (A single-disc compilation will feature the best of the outtakes, and will also be sold as a double-disc set with the new documentary DVD from the box.) The same date will see CD/DVD versions of BBC Sessions and Blues alongside new reissues of Hendrix’s Woodstock set and collector-favorite Christmas EP.

Billy Joel, The Hits (Columbia/Legacy)

The Piano Man’s first-ever single-disc compilation – geared to entice casual fans into partaking in next year’s Billy Joel catalogue blitz – is a very straightforward (and very debatable) release, but one that’s worth buying, especially if you like Billy Joel. (Note: it is this writer’s opinion that it is easy to like Billy Joel. Results may vary.) (Amazon)

The Stooges, Have Some Fun: Live at Ungano’s / 1970: The Complete Fun House Sessions (Elektra/Rhino Handmade)

Orders begin shipping this week on two new Stooges sets: an unreleased live show from 197o and the reissue of the out-of-print seven-disc box set version of The Stooges.

Bee Gees, Mythology (Rhino)

This four-disc box set, featuring an overview of all of the Gibbs (including Andy) and including three unreleased tracks, was supposed to come out last holiday season. Better late than never? (Amazon)

UMe Brings the Goods in the U.K. with New Deluxe Editions

If you have a sinking suspicion that more and more reissues are going to come from foreign shores, the next batch of titles aren’t going to convince you otherwise. Universal Music Enterprise’s U.K. arm has announced several new deluxe edition titles from The Who, The Jam, Supertramp and Cast.

First up, it looks like The Who’s iconic Live at Leeds is getting the super-deluxe treatment in England on November 8 (a U.S. date has not been locked down). The set will include the complete Leeds show on two discs (previously released as a basic deluxe edition in the U.S.), another two CDs of the previously unreleased Hull performance from the following night (very nearly released instead of Leeds), vinyl reproductions of the original LP and a single (“Summertime Blues” b/w “Heaven and Hell”), a hardcover book of photos and liner notes and more.

The Jam will see a deluxe reissue of penultimate album Sound Affects, the 1980 record that yielded U.K. chart-topper “Start!” and fan favorite “That’s Entertainment” (famously covered by Morrissey). It will feature a disc of B-sides and alternates, including eight previously unreleased demos. (A nice complement to Hip-0 Select’s full reissue of the compilation Snap! some years back!) Look for that on November 1 in the U.K.

Before that we can expect a re-release of All Change, the debut album by British band Cast. Cast, formed by John Power of The La’s and Peter Wilkinson of Shack, were one of the many darlings of the Britpop movement (the album remains one of Polydor’s highest sellers); this double-disc set will complement their legacy (and provide a good commemoration of their impending reunion tour in Europe) with a clutch of demos and live material. That comes out October 18.

Last (well first, technically), Supertramp’s seminal Breakfast in America (1979) will be expanded on October 4. This record spawned four U.S. hit singles (“The Logical Song,” “Take the Long Way Home,” “Goodbye Stranger” and the title track) and was, oddly enough, the only hint of success the band had in their native England. (When rap-rock band The Gym Class Heroes released the single “Cupid’s Chokehold” in 2006, the U.K. single was retitled to reflect the “Breakfast” sample, as “Cupid’s Chokehold/Breakfast in America.”) The set will be expanded with a live disc recorded about the same time as the band’s 1980 live LP Paris.

Pre-order links exist for Breakfast in America, All Change and Sound Affects; the rest will be provided as available. Hit the jump for all the track lists!