Morales Preps the (Dance) Sound of Young America on “Club Motown”

Calling all ’80s Motown fans! Universal’s U.K. arm has issued a double disc set of 20 classic club mixes from the label, curated by noted remixer John Morales.

Motown of course crafted the sound of young America throughout the ’60s and created some deeply affecting funk and soul in the ’70s, but the ’80s was still a prolific time, thanks to popular R&B/dance acts including Rick James and DeBarge as well as established acts like The Temptations and Commodores frontman Lionel Richie. Morales and partner Sergio Munzibal, the “M+M” mixing team, turned many of those tracks into club hits, and Club Motown features some familiar hits as well as some mixes that were only ever released in Europe, for the likes of Michael Lovesmith or Bobby Nunn.

In addition to the classic vintage dance sides on Club Motown, Morales has completed work on six new “throwback” club mixes of tracks by Teena Marie, Diana Ross, Thelma Houston and more! A double 12″ single set, John Morales Presents Motown Divas, features some of these new mixes plus instrumentals in a vintage-style sleeve.

After the jump, you can check out the track lists for both sets and place your orders!

UMe’s Record Store Day Slate Features Nirvana, Frank Zappa, Classic Blue Note, Motown Funk and More

With Public Enemy’s Chuck D engaged as the Record Store Day Ambassador for 2014, it’s only appropriate that one of his own records is arriving this Saturday as a special limited edition vinyl platter. The new reissue of Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back will be joined on RSD by a host of other vinyl goodies from Universal Music Enterprises (UMe).   Previously unreleased music from Frank Zappa (previewing the upcoming 40th anniversary reissue of Apostrophe) and the seventies Motown pair of Rick James and Teena Marie will arrive from Universal, along with replicas of the first two releases ever from the venerable Blue Note Records, currently celebrating its 75th anniversary. New Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Nirvana make their mark on RSD with the first-ever seven-inch release of “Pennyroyal Tea” b/w “I Hate Myself and Want to Die,” originally scheduled for release in 1994 but pulled off the schedule in the wake of Kurt Cobain’s suicide. Universal also has a special vinyl box, Superunknown: The Singles, commemorating the 20th anniversary of Soundgarden’s Superunknown.

Hit the jump for the full specs on each title courtesy of Universal’s original press release!

Release Round-Up: Week of June 26

The Beat, I Just Can’t Stop It / Wha’ppen? / Special Beat Service: Deluxe Editions (Edsel)

The Beat’s discography is expanded in the U.K. by Edsel in fashionable 2 CD/1 DVD editions. (Don’t forget: a similar five-disc box is coming out from Shout! Factory in the U.S. next month.)

The Miracles, Renaissance / Do It Baby (Hip-o Select/Motown)

The first two post-Smokey LPs by The Miracles on one CD.

The Electric Prunes, The Complete Reprise Singles / The New Christy Minstrels, A Retrospective 1962-1970 / The Tokens, It’s a Happening World: Deluxe Edition / Timi Yuro, The Complete Liberty Singles / Rita Pavone, The International Teen-Age Sensation (Real Gone)

A veritable ’60s bonanza from our pals at Real Gone, including some international rarities, an expanded Tokens LP and some singles compilations.

Deniece Williams, Niecy / I’m So Proud: Expanded Editions / KC and The Sunshine Band, KC and The Sunshine Band: Expanded Edition (Big Break)

U.K. label Big Break’s offerings today: expanded editions of Deniece’s last two pre-Footloose LPs and the disco band’s breakthrough disc.

Teena Marie, Emerald City / Naked to the World: Expanded Editions (Soul Music)

Two high points in Lady T’s late-’80s work for Epic, newly expanded from Cherry Red’s Soul Music label.

Cherry Red Round-Up: Kenny, KC, Carly and More Get New Expansions

Our friends at Cherry Red Group have had a stellar amount of new reissues in the past month, and we figured now was as good a time as any to highlight some of our favorites across the board.

The Lemon label has issued an expanded edition of Keep the Fire, the 1979 soft-rock classic by Kenny Loggins. While the singer-songwriter had put out two albums since the disbandment of Loggins & Messina, it was only recently that he started his ascendancy as one of the go-to pop writers and performers of the age; previous album Nightwatch featured Top 5 hit “Whenever I Call You Friend” with Stevie Nicks, and earlier in 1979 saw “What a Fool Believes,” written with Michael McDonald for McDonald’s Doobie Brothers, reach the top of the Billboard charts. Loggins and McDonald teamed up again for Keep the Fire‘s lead single, “This is It,” which reached No. 11 and won Loggins a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Strong guests bolster the album, with Michael Brecker contributing saxophone work and underrated album cut “Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong” featuring sweet vocal harmonies from Michael Jackson. Lemon’s expanded disc features two live tracks of undetermined origin and a “clean version” of “This is It.”

One of Big Break Records’ newest titles harkens back to the days of disco and the unstoppable dance rhythms of KC and The Sunshine Band. Harry Wayne Casey, Richard Finch and their irrepressibly-produced band had a triple platinum hit with their self-titled sophomore album for T.K. Records in 1975, buoyed by No. 1 hits “Get Down Tonight” and “That’s the Way (I Like It).” (The effervescent “Boogie Shoes” was a Top 40 hit when included on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack LP two years later.) Bonus cuts include the original single mixes of “Get Down Tonight” and “That’s the Way (I Like It)” as well as a 1994 mix of the former by veteran disco man Tom Moulton.

It’s on to the ’80s and ’90s with some big hits and intriguing obscurities after the jump!

Release Round-Up: Week of June 28

Queen, News of the World / Jazz / The Game / Flash Gordon / Hot Space: Deluxe Editions (Island/UMC)

The next wave of Queen remasters are out this Monday in England. If you don’t want to get them as imports, you’ll have to wait until September to get these as domestic reissues – by which point I’d imagine the third wave will be out in the U.K. (Official site)

Alice Cooper, Old School 1964-1974 (Bigger Picture)

This desk-sized box includes not pencils, not books, not black eyeliner, but four CDs of unreleased rarities from Alice Cooper’s early years, along with some vinyl goodies and extra swag. (Official site)

Teena Marie, Lady T: Expanded Edition / Irons in the Fire: Expanded Edition / First Class Love: Rare Tee (Hip-o Select/Motown)

The Ivory Queen of Soul is honored with expansions of her second and third Motown LPs plus a double-disc set of unreleased tracks (originally issued as a smaller-scale digital set). (Hip-o Select: Lady T, Irons, Rare Tee)

Alicia Keys, Songs in A Minor: Deluxe and Collector’s Editions (J/Legacy)

To mark ten(!) years since Alicia Keys’ first album was released, it’s been expanded with a host of vault material (and in the case of the collector’s edition, a new documentary). The original album has also been pressed on vinyl, too. (Official site)

The Left Banke, Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina / The Left Banke Too (Sundazed)

Two long-out-of-print albums by The Left Banke, newly reissued on CD and vinyl (Sundazed: Walk Away CD, LP; Too CD, LP; CD bundle, LP bundle, CD and LP bundle)

The Doobie Brothers, Live at The Greek Theatre 1982: Farewell Tour (Eagle Rock)

A CD (or DVD – not both, sadly) set of The Doobies’ last tour before Michael McDonald went full-on solo, featuring guest appearances by a handful of former members. (Eagle Rock: CD, DVD)

Deep Purple, Phoenix Rising (Eagle Rock)

A treasure from the vault – documentary footage of the band’s live tour in 1975 – and all the rock and roll insanity that followed. (Eagle Rock: CD/DVD, Blu-Ray)

Various Artists, The Best of Soul Train Live (Time-Life)

I’ve been on a Soul Train kick lately, and it excites me to see this compilation of a handful of live performances on the long-running show get an official CD release. (Amazon)

Buddy Guy with Junior Wells and Junior Mance, Buddy and The Juniors (Hip-o Select/Verve)

The U.S. CD debut of this loose, laid-back record from the Blue Thumb catalogue. (Hip-o Select)

Paul McCartney, Run Devil Run (MPL/Concord)

Not nearly as expansive as the last McCartney reissues – this one’s just a straight-up remaster. (Official site)

New Reissues Fit Hip-o Select to a “Tee”

After a few days of shuttering their website for some repairs, Hip-o Select is back with a bang, announcing four new titles ready for order.

The first three we already knew about per our chat with Harry Weinger in May: a trio of titles devoted to the late soul queen Teena Marie. Her second and third albums, Lady T and Irons in the Fire, both released in 1980, are being remastered and expanded by Select.

Featuring production from Teena herself as well as Richard Rudolph, husband and songwriting partner of recently-deceased soul legend Minnie Riperton (“Too Many Colors (Tee’s Interlude)” features vocals from the couple’s daughter, future actress/comedienne Maya Rudolph), the albums were an expansion of Tee’s soul-funk sound established on Wild and Peaceful (1979) and featured her most successful single at the time, “I Need Your Lovin’,” which hit the bottom of the Top 40 in 1980 and was a Top 10 R&B hit.

There’s some interesting bonus material on each disc, too: Lady T is augmented by three mixes of “Behind the Groove,” a Top 10 hit in England. One is the original LP mix of the track that was soon replaced by the more familiar version that kicks off the album, and the other two are unreleased remixes overseen by Rick James in 1980 and John Morales in 2011. Irons, meanwhile, features five newly remixed tracks from Teena’s killer set in Long Beach, California in July 1981. Four of them have been released before, either as bonus tracks from other reissues or as part of the larger show with Rick James and the Stone City Band that was included in the deluxe package of James’ Street Songs (1981).

But that’s not all from either Tee or Select. Hit the jump to read on about two other titles ready to order from the label!

Release Round-Up: Week of May 10

Aerosmith, Tough Love: Best of the Ballads (Geffen/UMe)

Geffen augments the craziness of American Idol host/Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler (who has a solo single out today) by putting out a compilation of the band’s Geffen-era ballads hits (“Love in an Elevator” isn’t a ballad in any configuration). Apparently it’s only available at Target, so if you visit a local indie store you should be fine. (Official site)

Booker T. & The MG’s, McLemore Avenue / The Staple Singers, Be Altitude: Respect Yourself / Johnnie Taylor, Taylored in Silk (Stax/Concord)

The first three entries in the new “Stax Remasters” series, each augmented with rare or unreleased bonus tracks. (Official Stax site: Booker, Staples, Taylor)

Prince, Dirty Mind / Controversy / 1999 (Vinyl) (Warner Bros.)

New vinyl issues of Prince’s albums from 1980 to 1982. CD remasters? Keep hopin’. (Rhino: Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999)

 

The Cars, Door to Door (Friday Music)

A new CD remaster of the band’s 1987 album, which would have been their last had today not also have been the day that their new album, Move Like This, is released. (Friday Music)

Frankie Miller, Frankie Miller…That’s Who! The Complete Chrysalis Recordings 1973-1980 (EMI)

The Glaswegan rocker’s first seven albums across four discs, with some bonuses added in, including the unreleased original mix of 1974’s High Life. (Amazon)

Various Artists, Playlist: The Very Best Of (Legacy)

Another load of Playlist titles from The Psychedelic Furs, Muddy Waters, Matthew Sweet, Teena Marie, Dave Brubeck, Dionne Warwick and more. A full breakdown of each set is here and here. (Amazon)

A Dozen “Playlist” Sets Due in May

Love ’em or hate ’em, the various budget compilations that come from the major labels are quick, easy ways to get catalogue material out to the masses. Universal’s ICON and Sony’s Playlist series are probably the highest-profile of these series, but the latter is arguably the more beloved of the two, thanks to a concerted effort by some of the producers at Legacy to get rarer tracks on the Playlist discs, whether it’s a rare single version or bonus track from a previous reissue.

Legacy has 12 new Playlist titles ready to go for next month, and we have the track lists for all but one of them (a compilation for Dionne Warwick). As usual, the selection runs the gamut between genres, from ’80s indie rock (The The, The Psychedelic Furs) and blues (Johnny Winter, Muddy Waters – who ironically has an ICON release due out next month, too), soul (Teena Marie, recently also honored in the ICON series; early Philly-soul band The Intruders), power-pop (Matthew Sweet), jazz (Dave Brubeck) and even older country (Marty Robbins). There’s also a multi-artist ’80s metal compilation with a title (Now Hair This!) that someone at Sony better have gotten promoted for. (It certainly makes up for the fact that not all the tracks on said set are from the ’80s!)

It’s also nice to see the label group license a few tracks from other places; Janis Ian’s debut single for Verve and long latter-day indie career is represented on her Playlist entry, while Motown contributes one early track for Teena Marie’s set. All these sets will be available May 10; pre-order links can be found here and almost all the track lists can be found after the jump (we’ll post the Dionne one as soon as we have it!).

Release Round-Up: Week of February 15

Smokey Robinson, The Solo Albums Volume 4 (Motown/Hip-o Select)

The Motown great’s next two vintage studio albums (Love Breeze and Where There’s Smoke) go back into print on one CD with a bonus B-side instrumental added on. (Hip-o Select)

Teena Marie, ICON (Motown/UMe)

The late, great Motown singer is canonized in Universal’s budget compilation series. (Amazon)

Phil Collins, No Jacket Required (Audio Fidelity)

The Genesis frontman/drummer’s biggest and best pop LP gets the 24K gold CD treatment, mastered by Steve Hoffman. (Audio Fidelity)

Jackie DeShannon, Come and Get Me: The Complete Liberty and Imperial Singles, Volume 2 (Ace)

The second volume of Ace’s DeShannon singles series covers “What the World Needs Now is Love” and beyond. (Ace)

Doris Troy, I’ll Do Anything: The Doris Troy Anthology 1960-1996 (Kent)

There’s more to Troy than “Just One Look” and her Apple album, as this compilation deftly shows off. (Ace)

Al Jarreau, L is for Lover: Deluxe Edition (Friday Music)

Jarreau’s 1986 LP, produced by Nile Rodgers, is reissued on CD with three bonus single mixes, including the hit “Moonlighting.” (Friday Music)

Grand Funk Railroad, We’re An American Band / REO Speedwagon, High Infidelity (Friday Music)

Two bands, two hit albums, two 180-gram vinyl reissues! (Friday Music – GFR, REO)