Release Round-Up: Week of May 13

Michael Jackson, Xscape (Epic)

Where was this three years ago? This collection of eight outtakes, augmented with tasteful future-retro production by Timbaland, Stargate, L.A. Reid and others, is possibly the best project to escape the MJ vaults yet. For the discerning fan, Epic’s done you a solid, offering a deluxe package with the same songs in their untouched demo form. It’s really something.

Standard CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Deluxe CD/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Brain Salad Surgery: Deluxe Edition (Sony Music U.K.)

One of ELP’s defining albums is now available in an imported deluxe multi-disc box featuring original and new stereo remixes of the album, an alternate assembly from rare and unreleased outtakes and DVDs featuring documentary footage and a 5.1 mix of the album.

3CD/2DVD/1LP: Amazon U.K.
2CD/1DVD: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S. (on Razor & Tie 7/1)

The Vince Guaraldi Trio, Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown (Fantasy)

Before A Charlie Brown Christmas, this was Vince Guaraldi’s first album devoted to Charles M. Schultz’s lovable comic strip hero – the score to a never-aired documentary. It’s been remastered and expanded for its 50th anniversary, and a full story is forthcoming!

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

Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton, Just Between You and Me: The Complete Recordings 1967-1976 (Bear Family)

A brilliant six-disc box set chronicling the dozen-plus RCA Victor albums created by this immortal country duo, not to mention more than a dozen rare and unreleased tracks. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Beat, The Complete Studio Recordings (Edsel)

Edsel’s no stranger to The (English) Beat’s catalogue, but this smart new box keeps it to the essentials: all three original studio LPs, plus a disc of essential B-sides and remixes. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Elaine Paige, The Ultimate Collection (Warner Music UK)

A brilliant career-spanning compilation from the U.K. musical theatre star, available in standard and deluxe editions with some choice rarities to boot.

Standard Version:  Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Special Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Pink Floyd, Delicate Sound of Thunder (Parlophone)

A new remaster of Pink Floyd’s 1988 double live album, recorded on the Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Ned Doheny, Separate Oceans (Numero Group)

A cult favorite on the edges of the California rock sound of the ’70s, Ned Doheny is celebrated with a new compilation combining some previously released tracks for Columbia and Asylum with ten unreleased demos – three of which feature the talents of Don Henley and Glenn Frey of the Eagles.

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

 

The Sound, Jeopardy/From the Lion’s Mouth/All Fall Down…Plus (Edsel)

A criminally underrated British post-punk band gets their due on a new set from Edsel collating the band’s first three albums, all expanded, with a DVD of BBC performances. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Dave Clark Five, The Dave Clark Five and Beyond: Glad All Over DVD & Blu-ray (PBS Home Video)

Fifty years after the DC5 took part in the British Invasion, this documentary features new testimonials from famous fans and contemporaries plus great, rarely-seen archival footage.

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

Original Television Soundtrack Recording, Androcles and the Lion (Masterworks Broadway)

The RCA Victor soundtrack recording of composer/lyricist Richard Rodgers’ 1967 television musical Androcles and the Lion – starring Ed Ames, Noel Coward, John Cullum, Inga Swenson and Norman Wisdom – is receiving its first-ever reissue in any format exclusively from Masterworks in a limited quantity of MOD CD-Rs as well as digital download.

Dave Van Ronk, Live in Monterey 1998 (Omnivore)

Omnivore presents sixteen never-before-released live tracks from the great folk troubadour who inspired Inside Llewyn Davis. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

 

Box Set Watch: Edsel Collects The Sound, Suede, The (English) Beat

Demon Music Group’s Edsel Records has a packed release slate this week from a number of artists returning to the label’s roster.

From Britpop heroes Suede (a.k.a. The London Suede), the label has Royal Albert Hall, 24 March 2010, a 2-CD/1-DVD set preserving the band’s reunion concert (with Brett Anderson, Neil Codling, Simon Gilbert, Richard Oakes and Mat Osman) benefiting Teenage Cancer Trust; and Sci-Fi Lullabies, a reissue of the original 2-CD anthology of the group’s B-sides released between 1992 and 1997. Edsel’s reissue adds a new booklet with full lyrics. Both of these titles anticipate the May 26 arrival of the 8-CD box set The Albums Collection with seven albums (including Lullabies) in mini-LP replica sleeves and an 80-page book featuring band comments on every song.

In 2011, Edsel overhauled Suede’s catalogue in deluxe editions; in 2012, the label gave its most lavish treatment to the albums from Birmingham ska-pop legends The (English) Beat.   This week, the 4-CD set The Complete Studio Recordings arrives from The Beat, a.k.a. Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger Charlery on lead vocals, Andy Cox on guitar, bassist David Steele, drummer Roger Morton and Lionel “Saxa” Martin on saxophone. The box, the latest in a string of Beat catalogue projects from labels on both sides of the Atlantic, presents the original configurations of the band’s three original albums on three CDs and adds a bonus disc of singles and seven dub versions plus a new booklet.

We’ll soon be detailing Edsel’s future expansions of titles from more returning artists – Todd Rundgren, Belinda Carlisle and Jim Croce – but this week also sees the U.S. arrival of a new 3-CD/1-DVD box set from British post-punk rockers The Sound.  The group, formed in South London in 1979 by Adrian Borland (vocals/guitar), Graham Bailey (bass), Mike Dudley (drums) and Benita “Bi” Marshall (keyboard/saxophone/clarinet), disbanded in 1988, leaving behind just a handful of album. Their first three, from 1980-1982, are collected here: Jeopardy, From the Lion’s Mouth and All Fall Down. These three seminal recordings on the Korova and WEA labels are joined by the DVD BBC Live in Concert featuring performances at the Beeb from 1981 and 1985.

Edsel intends this box set as “the perfect opportunity to reappraise the career of The Sound,” noting that the band “should have had an impact on the post-punk era on the level achieved by the likes of Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, or The Cure.” Each disc features copious bonus material. Jeopardy adds four live recordings from October 1980 at the BBC as well as the Live Instinct EP, “Physical World” from the Physical World EP, and “Brute Force,” the non-LP B-side of “Heyday.” From the Lion’s Mouth adds another four live tracks from a November 1981 BBC performance plus four non-LP flips. All Fall Down adds four session outtakes and the 1983 EP This Cover Keeps Reality Unreal from singer-songwriter Kevin Hewick and The Sound.

All of the discs are housed in mini-LP replica sleeves and have been remastered by Phil Kinrade at Alchemy Mastering. A 36-page booklet is also included, with eight pages of detailed liner notes from Record Collector contributor Tim Peacock and full lyrics for all three albums. It’s all housed in a sturdy clamshell case.

Take a closer look at these titles after the jump! You’ll find order links and track listings for all of Edsel’s titles mentioned above!

The Year in Reissues: The 2012 Gold Bonus Disc Awards

Wow!  Was it just over a year ago when a rather dubious report began circulating (that, shockingly, was picked up by many otherwise-reputable publications) that proclaimed the death of the CD was secretly scheduled by the major labels for 2012?  Well, 2012 has come and (almost) gone, and it might have been the most super-sized year in recent memory for reissues, deluxe and otherwise, from labels new and old.  Here at the Second Disc, we consider our annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards a companion piece to Mike’s own round-up over at Popdose, and we endeavor to recognize as many of the year’s most amazing reissues as possible – over 80 worthy, unique titles.  We also hope to celebrate those labels, producers and artists who have raised the bar for great music throughout 2012. As we’re literally deluged with news around these parts, these ladies and gentlemen prove, week after week, the strength and health of the catalogue corner of the music world.  We dedicate The Gold Bonus Disc Awards to them, and to you, the readers.  After all, your interest is ultimately what keeps great music of the past alive and well.

With that in mind, don’t forget to share your own thoughts and comments below. What made your must-have list in 2012? Without further ado, let’s celebrate 2012′s best of the best. Welcome to the Gold Bonus Disc Awards!

Which releases take home the gold this year? Hit the jump below to find out!

Edsel Preps Vinyl Boxes for Sugar, The Beat

Not content to stick simply to expanded CDs, Edsel has announced vinyl box sets from two of the biggest artists whose catalogues they’ve licensed in 2012: Sugar and The Beat.

Bob Mould’s post-Hüsker Dü power-pop trio and the Birmingham ska sextet have earned plaudits in the music press this year, thanks in large part to lavish CD/DVD expansions of their short but influential discographies. (We’d be wrong to ignore the catalogue efforts of  Merge and Shout! Factory, respectively, in getting the cream of these catalogues onto remastered discs in the U.S., but it’s hard to beat Edsel’s releases in terms of all-around presentation and exhaustive detail.) The 20th anniversary of Mould’s Copper Blue was certainly on his mind this year, with a lengthy tour seeing him and his new trio playing the LP in full and a new disc, Silver Age, hewing closely to the Sugar formula. Meanwhile, Dave Wakeling of The Beat was on hand for much of the summer to talk to curious journalists about the underrated band and their trio of hidden gem-filled albums.

Now, Edsel is bringing both groups on wax in a big way. On The Beat’s The Vinyl Collection, four 12″ LPs collect not only the band’s three U.K. studio albums, but a collection of the band’s best extended and dub mixes. A Box of Sugar, meanwhile, collects Copper Blue, the Beaster EP, File Under: Easy Listening and – in their vinyl debuts – the B-sides collection Besides (featuring some extra tracks from the Copper Blue reissue) and a bonus live album, The Joke is Always on Us, Sometimes. There’s also a replica 45 of “Helpless” b/w “Changes” from Copper Blue.

All of these albums will be faithful recreations of the original packages, down to the inner sleeves. The Sugar box will be remastered for vinyl by FU:EL engineer Jim Wilson and will feature a 20-page book of photos and interviews.

Look for The Beat’s The Vinyl Collection in U.K. shops this Monday, November 19 and a week later in the States (Amazon U.S./U.K.), and A Box of Sugar will street December 10 (and a week later stateside, of course) (Amazon U.S./U.K.). Hit the jump to reacquaint yourselves with the track lists.

The Beat, The Vinyl Collection (Edsel FEETBOX1 (U.K.), 2012)

LP 1: I Just Can’t Stop It (released as Go Feet BEAT-001, 1980)

1. Mirror in the Bathroom
2. Hands Off…She’s Mine
3. Two Swords
4. Twist & Crawl
5. Rough Rider
6. Click Click
7. Big Shot
8. Whine & Grine/Stand Down Margaret
9. Noise in This World
10. Can’t Get Used to Losing You
11. Best Friend
12. Jackpot

LP 2: Wha’ppen? (released as Go Feet BEAT-003, 1981)

1. Doors of Your Heart
2. All Out to Get You
3. Monkey Murders
4. I Am Your Flag
5. French Toast (Soleil Trop Chaud)
6. Drowning
7. Dream Home in NZ
8. Walk Away
9. Over and Over
10. Cheated
11. Get-a-Job
12. The Limits We Set

LP 3: Special Beat Service (released as Go Feet BEAT-005, 1982)

1. I Confess
2. Jeanette
3. Sorry
4. Sole Salvation
5. Spar Wid Me
6. Rotating Head
7. Save It for Later
8. She’s Going
9. Pato and Roger A Go Talk
10. Sugar and Stress
11. End of the Party
12. Ackee 1-2-3

LP 4: The Dub Album

1. Too Nice to Talk To (Dubweiser) (12″ A-side – Go Feet FEET124, 1980)
2. Psychedelic Rockers (Dubweiser) (12″ B-side – Go Feet FEET124, 1980)
3. Doors of Your Heart (Dub) (12″ A-side – Go Feet FEET129, 1981)
4. Drowning (Dub) (12″ B-side – Go Feet FEET129, 1981)
5. Save It for Later (Extended) (12″ A-side – Go Feet FEET12333, 1982)
6. What’s You Best Thing? (Dub Style) (12″ B-side – Go Feet FEET12333, 1982)
7. Stand Down Margaret (Dub) (12″ B-side – Go Feet FEET3, 1980)

A Box of Sugar: The Complete Recordings 1992-1995 (Edsel (U.K.), 2012)

LP 1: Copper Blue (originally released as Rykodisc RCD 10239, 1992)

1. The Act We Act
2. A Good Idea
3. Changes
4. Helpless
5. Hoover Dam
6. The Slim
7. If I Can’t Change Your Mind
8. Fortune Teller
9. Slick
10. Man on the Moon

LP 2: Beaster (originally released as Rykodisc RCD 50260, 1993)

1. Come Around
2. Tilted
3. Judas Cradle
4. JC Auto
5. Feeling Better
6. Walking Away

LP 3: File Under: Easy Listening (originally released as Rykodisc LP RCD 10300, 1994)

1. Gift
2. Company Book
3. Your Favorite Thing
4. What You Want It to Be
5. Gee Angel
6. Panama City Motel
7. Can’t Help You Anymore
8. Granny Cool
9. Believe What You’re Saying
10. Explode and Make Up

LP 4-5: Besides (originally released as Rykodisc RCD 10321, 1995)

1. If I Can’t Change Your Mind (Solo Mix) (from “Helpless” CD single – Rykodisc RCD5 1024, 1992)
   
2. Try Again (from “Helpless” CD single – Rykodisc RCD5 1024, 1992)
3. Where Diamonds Are Halos (Live @ The Cabaret Metro, Chicago – 7/22/1992) (from “A Good Idea” CD single – Rykodisc RCD5 1030, 1992)
4. Armenia City in the Sky (Live @ The Cabaret Metro, Chicago – 7/22/1992) (from “A Good Idea” CD single – Rykodisc RCD5 1030, 1992)
5. Clownmaster (from “A Good Idea” CD single – Rykodisc RCD5 1030, 1992)
6. Anyone (Live @ The Cabaret Metro, Chicago – 7/22/1992) (from “A Good Idea” CD single – Rykodisc RCD5 1030, 1992)
7. JC Auto (Live) (from “JC Auto” CD single – Rykodisc VRCD 0260/2, 1993)
8. Believe What You’re Saying (Campfire Mix)
9. Mind is An Island (from  “Your Favorite Thing” CD single – Rykodisc RCD5 1038, 1994)
10. Frustration (from “Your Favorite Thing” CD single – Rykodisc RCD5 1038, 1994)
11. Going Home (from “Believe What You’re Saying” CD single – Rykodisc RCD5 1039, 1994)
12. In the Eyes of My Friends (from “Believe What You’re Saying” CD single – Rykodisc RCD5 1039, 1994)
13. And You Tell Me (from “Believe What You’re Saying” CD single – Rykodisc RCD5 1039, 1994)
14. If I Can’t Change Your Mind (BBC Session – 8/1/1992) (from Copper Blue: Deluxe Edition – Edsel EDSG-8014 (U.K.), 2012)
15. Hoover Dam (BBC Session – 8/1/1992) (from Copper Blue: Deluxe Edition – Edsel EDSG-8014 (U.K.), 2012)
16. The Slim (BBC Session – 8/1/1992) (from Copper Blue: Deluxe Edition – Edsel EDSG-8014 (U.K.), 2012)
17. Where Diamonds Are Halos (BBC Session – 8/1/1992) (from Copper Blue: Deluxe Edition – Edsel EDSG-8014 (U.K.), 2012)

LP 6-7: 

The Joke is Always on Us, Sometimes: Live at First Avenue, Minneapolis – 11/2/1994 (originally released as bonus disc with limited edition of Besides – Rykodisc RCD 10321-1, 1995)

1. Gift
2. Company Book
3. Hoover Dam
4. After All the Roads Have Led to Nowhere
5. Where Diamonds Are Halos
6. Slick
7. Going Home
8. Running Out of Time
9. Frustration
10. Changes
11. Can’t Help You Any More
12. Helpless
13. If I Can’t Change Your Mind
14. In the Eyes of My Friends
15. Clownmaster
16. Gee Angel
17. Explode and Make Up
18. The Slim

Single: Helpless b/w Changes (originally released as Rykodisc SOL-230-7, 1992)

Release Round-Up: Week of September 11

Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Emerson, Lake & Palmer / Tarkus: Deluxe Editions (Razor & Tie)

Full review coming soon, but you should know that these are 2-CD/1-DVD sets featuring unreleased alternate takes and 5.1 surround mixes for these two classic prog-rock LPs.

Dio, Singles Box Set (UMC)

A U.K.-made collectible box replicating all of Dio’s Vertigo 12″ singles, plus the Intermission live EP and a DVD of music videos.

The English Beat, Live at The US Festival ’82 & ’83 (Shout! Factory)

Initially available as a pre-order bonus with Shout! Factory’s Complete Beat box, this CD/DVD set (featuring audio highlights from the group’s two US Festival sets and the complete shows on video) is the last piece of what’s been a great year for The Beat’s catalogue.

The Knack, Rock and Roll is Good for You: The Fieger/Averre Demos (Omnivore)

Sixteen demos spotlighting the songwriting partnership between Doug Fieger and Berton Averre (including an early version of “Good Girls Don’t”) are unleashed on disc.

Various Artists, Broadway in a Box: The Essential Broadway Musicals Collection (Masterworks Broadway)

Need a major musical fix? How about 25 of the best original cast albums ever, including My Fair Lady, South Pacific, West Side Story and A Chorus Line, in one box?

The Desert Song: Studio Cast Recording (RCA/Masterworks Broadway)

The premiere CD release of this 1959 studio revival of a classic operetta.

Dave Brubeck Quartet, Time Out (Hybrid SACD) (Analogue)

This immortal jazz album, newly reissued by Analogue Productions, includes a brand-new stereo SACD remaster, plus the long out-of-print original Sony multi-channel mix and standard CD stereo layer. Not bad at all!

Duran Duran, The Biggest and The Best! / Yazoo, The Collection (Music Club Deluxe)

A pair of U.K. budget compilations from Demon combine hits, B-sides and album cuts from these two great ’80s bands.

David Guetta, Nothing But the Beat 2.0 (AstralWerks)

The French DJ/producer’s guest-heavy 2011 pop album gets reorganized and expanded.

Review: The Beat, “I Just Can’t Stop It,” “Wha’ppen?” and “Special Beat Service” Expanded Editions

When the members of The Beat had the opportunity to create their own record label, the six-piece unit (“Ranking” Roger Charlery on vocals and toasting, Dave Wakeling on vocals and guitar, Andy Cox on guitar, Everett Morton on drums, David Steele on bass and Lionel Augustus Martin a.k.a. Saxa on – what else? – saxophone!) chose “Go Feet Records” as its moniker.  Now, roughly 32 years after the band’s first album was released, it will still have your feet going in wild and unexpected directions.  I Just Can’t Stop It, and follow-ups Wha’ppen? (1981) and Special Beat Service (1982), have all just received deluxe 2-CD/1-DVD reissues from the U.K.’s Edsel label.  And although the esteemed Shout! Factory label has launched its own reissue program in the U.S. for the band under its American name of The English Beat, it can fairly be said that the Edsel series is, truly, definitive.  These titles generally follow the format of Edsel’s recent, highly-acclaimed Jesus and Mary Chain 2-CD/1-DVD sets, and are every bit as lavish and comprehensive.

This band of Brummies could only have been a product of its time, but the grooves of The Beat remain so relevant that competing U.S. and U.K. factions still tour today headed by Wakeling and Charlery, respectively.  Here, then, is the band at its most authentic.  The Beat’s sound fused the aggressive, often contentious energy of punk with the languid grooves of reggae and ska, and far from being an incongruous match, the stylistic melding worked.  The Beat has been grouped with other similarly-influenced 2 Tone ska revival bands like Madness, The Specials and The Selecter (the latter two of which were even name-checked on the original LP), but The Beat also drew on pop, Motown and R&B sounds.  Of course, as in any vibrant music scene, everybody was influencing everybody else, hence many of the same tendencies and inspirations are evident in music from artists ranging from Elvis Costello (who actually produced The Specials) to The Clash.

Most songs on I Just Can’t Stop It (Edsel EDSG 8016) are group compositions, and all show the stylistic diversity at hand.  Today, the album jars for its incisive, dark lyrics (a hallmark shared by Costello) juxtaposed with felicitous melodies, even more ripe for dancing in the extended mixes contained on the bonus discs.  Besides the desire to mix “the energy of punk and the groove of dub in a three-minute single,” The Beat made clear its mission statement to embrace the personal as well as the political.  It’s those songs emphasizing the latter that give the album much of its primal power.  Musically, the band takes a violent approach to the resolutely non-violent “Two Swords” (“I’ve never been one for the punch-ups/But look, I really hate them Nazis/A certain something starts to wind me up/How could I hate them oh so violently?”) and there’s no shying away from the edgy venom of “Twist and Crawl.” The English class system has long been a source of fascination and frustration for writers, artists and musicians, and the Beat made their views clear in “Big Shot” : “Yes, I’ve seen you go to work in your big car/Yes, you’re fat and can afford to be tasteless/You’re a big shot…”

1979 was the year of Margaret Thatcher’s ascendancy to the role of British Prime Minister, and The Beat couldn’t let that momentous occasion go unrecognized; with its prominent reggae beat, “Whine and Grine” morphs into the rather blunt “Stand Down, Margaret.” It makes the band’s feelings for the newly-appointed P.M. clear even as they preach “love and unity.”  It’s incredibly effective, and as lacking in subtlety as Elvis Costello’s “Tramp the Dirt Down,” Morrissey’s “Margaret on the Guillotine” or even Elton John and Lee Hall’s “Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher.”  Adding to the unsettling atmosphere is the unrestrained paranoia of “Mirror in the Bathroom” and the twitchy ferocity of “Click Click”: “Itchy finger, finger, trigger, trigger, click, click!”

Yet “Hands Off She’s Mine” (also issued as a single) revealed a pop sophistication and a keenly-structured song with killer saxophone solos, while The Beat brought a whole new dimension, and a sweetness, too, to the already-irresistible melody of Andy Williams’ “Can’t Get Used to Losing You.”   Saxa wails over the chill, almost bossa-nova groove of the Doc Pomus/Mort Shuman song, a hit for Williams on both sides of the Atlantic in 1963.  It’s one of the best tracks the band ever recorded and also one of the most unexpected.  The chiming guitars of the lyrically-pointed “Best Friend” (“I just found out the name of your best friend/You been talkin’ about yourself again/And no one seems to share your views”) even recall the mid-60s pop of bands such as The Byrds.  Indeed, there’s a great diversity of influences on I Just Can’t Stop It: “Rough Rider” and “Whine” came the songbook of Prince Buster, a ska and rocksteady pioneer.

What’s on the bonus disc?  And how about the other two reissues?  Click, click on the jump for more Beat!

Release Round-Up: Week of July 10

Bananarama, 30 Years of Bananarama (Rhino U.K.)

The U.K. division of Rhino compiles the best of the “Venus” hitmakers in this CD/DVD package out today in the U.K. and next week stateside!  Read more here.

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

The complete studio output of The Beat (or The English Beat, if you prefer) gets the deluxe reissue treatment in the U.K. from Edsel as 2-CD/1-DVD sets chock-filled with extra material!  Don’t miss our review of all three sets!

The Beat, The Complete Beat/Keep the Beat: The Very Best of the English Beat (Shout! Factory)

For the U.S. market, Shout! Factory boxes the English Beat’s three studio albums, plus two discs of rarities!   In addition, the label is offering a single-disc distillation of the group’s greatest!  Read more here.

The Fat Boys, Fat Boys: Deluxe Edition (Tin Pan Apple Records)

The eponymous debut of Brooklyn’s Fat Boys gets boxed…pizza-boxed, that is.  Read more here.

Woody Guthrie, Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection (Smithsonian Folkways)

The legendary folk troubadour gets the box set treatment from Folkways with this career-spanning 3-CD anthology!  The box also includes a lavish hardcover tribute; read all about it here!

Jimi Hendrix, Jimi Plays Berkeley/Live at Berkeley/West Coast Seattle Boy: Voodoo Child (Legacy Recordings)

Legacy and Experience Hendrix are celebrating the icon’s 70^th birthday year with an extended DVD and Blu-ray release of Jimi Plays Berkeley plus the Blu-ray debut of the documentary Voodoo Child and a return to the catalogue for the CD edition of Live at Berkeley: The Second Show!  Read more here, and watch this space for Joe’s review of Jimi Plays Berkeley coming soon!

Carly Simon, Spoiled Girl: Expanded Edition (Hot Shot Records)

The songstress’ 1985 Epic Records album has been reissued and re-evaluated by the team at Hot Shot Records, and this expanded edition reveals a lost classic!  Read the review here.

Don’t Save It for Later: Shout! Factory’s “The English Beat Live at The US Festival” Detailed

When we reported on the dueling reissue campaigns by Edsel and Shout! Factory over the catalogue of The (English) Beat, it was pretty clear that each had its own distinct advantages. Shout! Factory’s The Complete Beat box set lacked some of the bonus content and all of the video footage in Edsel’s 2CD/1DVD expansions of each of the ska band’s three albums. On the other hand, they were going to include The Beat in its burgeoning series of live shows from the fabled US Festival. Now, we have some details of that release to pass along to you.

The Beat were the only band in the two-year history of Steve Wozniak’s brilliant, failed outdoor festival to play a set for both festivals in 1982 and 1983. Both times, they played alongside several legends of the post-punk and New Wave scene, including The Ramones, The Clash, The Police, The Talking Heads, INXS, Wall of Voodoo and Men at Work. While the band wasn’t long for this world after that second date, wrapping things up with the great What is Beat? compilation later that year, they put in two spirited performances that deservedly rank toward the top of the heap during both festivals.

It was a question, of course, as to which one of the performances was getting a release from the label, ever since the set was confirmed for inclusion with online orders of The Complete Beat. The answer? Both. The Beat’s US Festival package – the first official live release from the band – will feature both shows on CD and DVD; nine tracks from the 1982 show and seven from the 1983 stand will be featured on the CD, a fitting highlights disc. The DVD, however, will feature both sets in their entirety. That’s a 12-song set in 1982 and 14 cuts the following year.

And, happily, the package won’t be reserved exclusively for anyone who bought Shout! Factory’s box set; it’ll be released on its own this September 18. Hit the jump for a full breakdown of the package, and keep an eye on this post when Amazon links go live!

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.

Here’s Wha’ppening with Edsel’s Beat Reissues

As previously reported, the discography of British ska band The Beat (or as they’re primarily known in the States, The English Beat) is getting the expanded reissue treatment by two separate labels across the globe. Shout! Factory is releasing a five-disc box set featuring all three of the band’s albums, B-sides, remixes and Peel sessions, as well as a new compilation and a CD/DVD of the band’s US Festival performance in 1983. Now, we can share the details of U.K. label Edsel’s forthcoming presentations of these albums. (Special thanks to super-reader John for the tip!)

Since it’s never easy being a catalogue enthusiast, it’s our duty to tell Beat superfans that you’ll have to buy both the new box and these 2 CD/1 DVD reissues if you want absolutely everything. On the audio side, there’s a hefty bit of overlap between the two. The major bits that the Edsel sets have that Shout! Factory’s do not are:

• Extra remixes: in addition to the few mixes of “Can’t Get Used to Losing You,” “I Confess” and “Ackee 1-2-3” commissioned to promote the first Beat compilation What is Beat? in 1983, these reissues also feature (on the I Just Can’t Stop It bonus disc) four remixes created for 1996’s B.P.M. hits set.
• More live material: The Edsel reissues include not only the three John Peel BBC sessions being released on Shout! Factory’s box (plus an extra track on the 1982 session), but extra vintage sessions conducted by Mike Read in 1980 and a track recorded for David Jensen in 1982. A handful of live tracks recorded at the Hammersmith Palais in October 1982 that became B-sides for several configurations of the single “I Confess” have been resequenced and added to the Special Beat Service bonus disc. The Edsel sets do not, however, include the live cuts recorded in Boston that feature on The Complete Beat box.
• Video content: None of the promo videos or live bits recorded for Top of the Pops, The Tube and others appear in Shout! Factory’s reissues, so Edsel wins this round.
• An unreleased track: the Special Beat Service-era outtake “It Makes Me Rock” makes its first appearance anywhere on the expanded edition of that album.

Edsel’s sets will be out in U.K. shops June 25, a few weeks before Shout! Factory’s box set arrives on our shores. Hit the jump for a full breakdown of the Edsel sets, and participate in our poll to let us know which of The Beat’s newest sets you’ll be getting!