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.

Tony Joe White, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Ray Kennedy Highlight Real Gone’s February

From The Apollo to the swamps of Louisiana, Real Gone Music has a whirlwind musical tour planned for its February 3, 2015 slate!

The centerpiece of the February batch just might be the first-ever complete collection of Louisiana man Tony Joe White’s Warner Bros. recordings!  Singer-songwriter White (“Willie and Laura Mae Jones,” “Polk Salad Annie”) has one of the most distinctive voices in southern soul, and Real Gone’s new collection celebrates a major period his career with a new 2-CD set collecting three albums and six non-LP singles!  The label then has a new collection of inspirational music from one of country’s most beloved – and shall we say, tumultuous! – couples: George Jones and Tammy Wynette!   This hitherto-unexplored side of George and Tammy is one you won’t want to miss.

Cult favorites aren’t being left out in the cold, either.  Real Gone has, for the first time, Bobby Lance’s (“The House That Jack Built”) two Atlantic/Cotillion releases on one CD, and the only solo album from Texas’ Jerry Williams.  On the rock side, the label is expanding “Power” from Orleans’ John Hall as well as the eponymous album from Ray Kennedy, one of the co-writers of The Beach Boys’ anthemic “Sail On Sailor.”  Two landmark June 1974 shows are featured on a new pressing of Grateful Dead’s twelfth volume of Dick’s Picks.  And last but not least, Real Gone and its SoulMusic Records imprint have combined Apollo Saturday Night and Saturday Night at the Uptown – two classic live albums from New York and Philly with headliners including Otis Redding, The Drifters and the “wicked” Wilson Pickett – on one CD!

Hit the jump for Real Gone’s complete press release with full details on every title, plus pre-order links!

It’s A Happy New Year with Real Gone Music’s January Slate

Real Gone Music is saying “Happy New Year!” a couple of months early with the announcement of the label’s January 6 slate of releases. This customarily eclectic batch is highlighted by the classic soul of The Main Ingredient and Jackie Moore, blue comedy from Redd Foxx, two otherworldly soundtracks from the films of cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky (on both LP and CD!), and more live jam-band greatness from Grateful Dead.

Real Gone’s press release, with full details on each title, follows!

LOS ANGELES, CA – One of the ironies of the career of Chilean-born filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky is that while he is best known as a visual stylist, his most avid and loyal champions have often been musicians. When Jodorowsky arrived in New York from Mexico City in 1970 carrying a copy of the then-unreleased El Topo, it was the jazz producer Alan Douglas who bought the distribution rights to the film. When Jodorowsky and Douglas were looking for a venue in which to screen El Topo, it was John Lennon and Yoko Ono who asked for it to run at midnight following their short-film festival at New York’s Elgin Cinema. And after six months of sold-out midnight screenings at the Elgin, it was Lennon’s manager, Allen Klein (ABKCO’s founder), who bought the rights to El Topo and agreed to produce its follow-up, The Holy Mountain. But then, music has always played a very large role in Jodorowsky’s films—and that has never been more evident than in the soundtracks to The Holy Mountain and to his latest film, The Dance of Reality. Both soundtracks are being issued by Real Gone Music in association with ABKCO Music & Records for the first time on LP and stand-alone CD on January 6.

When Jodorowsky wanted, in his words, “another kind of music—something that wasn’t entertainment, something that wasn’t a show, something that went to the soul, something profound,” for the soundtrack to The Holy Mountain, forward came jazz legend Don Cherry and crack studio musician (and one-time Archie) Ron Frangipane to share composing and (along with Jodorowsky) conducting duties. And, boy, did they deliver—the score to The Holy Mountain is every bit as hallucinatory as the fantastic visual imagery in the film itself. The deep, primordial chants that begin the movie, “Trance Mutation,” give way to an almost jaunty percussion-and-plucked-strings melody, “Pissed and Passed Out.” On the next track, “Violence of the Lambs,” a single flute is slowly joined by a set of mournful strings while, onscreen, Gestapo-like soldiers in gas masks parade with bloody lamb carcasses on sticks. “Drink It,” an upbeat sitar folk melody, follows, briefly accompanying the main protagonist The Thief’s ill-considered decision to guzzle tequila (or sleeping potion). Then there is “Christs 4 Sale,” a blaring orchestral riff that sounds like it was ripped from a 1950s swords-and-sandals epic. The next track, “Cast Out and Pissed,” begins with a bee-like buzz, then is overwhelmed by a cacophony of drums, horns, and, finally, screaming. “Eye of the Beholder” which follows, changes moods entirely once again—a string section swells with overwrought romanticism. (Onscreen, a group of young prostitutes prays in a church. One of them later walks arm and arm with a chimpanzee.) And then there is “Communion,” a brooding, trumpet-led number that would be at home on the noir-steeped Chinatown soundtrack. (As “Communion” plays, the Thief is not driving through Los Angeles at night but eating the face off a statue of Christ.) This veritable cornucopia of musical styles would be more than enough to fill an entire movie. It would be more than enough to fill three movies. But in fact, the eight musical compositions described above play entirely in The Holy Mountain’s first 24 minutes. Still ahead lie the hard rock of “Psychedelic Weapons,” the pomp and circumstance of the waltz “Miniature Plastic Bomb Shop,” the gospel-inflected sax of “Isla (The Sapphic Sleep),” and so on. Every one of the 24 tracks on the film’s soundtrack presents another vertiginous twist in the philosophical and spiritual journey that is The Holy Mountain.

Now, Real Gone Music/ABKCO presents, on gatefold double-LP and CD, the original soundtrack to Alejandro Jodorowsky’s 1973 masterpiece The Holy Mountain. Both editions feature liner notes by New York Times contributor Eric Benson that include exclusive quotes from Jodorowsky himself, festooned with copious production stills. Produced for release by Grammy-winning producer Teri Landi and Mick Gochanour, and mastered from the original tapes by Joe Yannece (with lacquer cutting on the LP by Carl Rowatti at Trutone Mastering), this long-awaited release of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain: Original Soundtrack offers a major addition to the soundtrack canon and a completely unique listening experience.

For the soundtrack to The Dance of Reality, which marked his triumphant return to the film world in 2014 after a 23-year hiatus, Jodorowsky tapped his own son, Adan Jodorowsky (a.k.a. “Adanowsky”), whose work as a composer and performer (with Devendra Banhart among others) has won him an international following in his own right. In the radiantly visceral autobiographical film, a young Jodorowsky (played by his son, Brontis) is confronted by a collection of compelling characters that contribute to his burgeoning surreal consciousness. Adding to the autobiographical nature of the work, the film was shot in Tocopilla, a coastal town on the edge of the Chilean desert, where the filmmaker was born in 1929. Blending his personal history with metaphor, mythology, and poetry, The Dance of Reality reflects Jodorowsky’s philosophy that reality is not objective but rather a “dance” created by our own imaginations. To accompany the film’s rich, dense and disturbing imagery, Adanowsky’s score is alternately lush and comical, blending brooding string passages with hypnotically repeating piano figures that create a mood that is at times foreboding, at times wistful and, as is always the case with a score to a Jodorowsky film, surreal. Real Gone Music/ABKCO’s release of the complete soundtrack to The Dance of Reality on LP and CD features a number of beautiful production stills from the film displayed on the album jacket and CD booklet, with mastering by Joe Yannece. Alejandro Jodorowsky’s tradition of remarkable film soundtracks lives on with The Dance of Reality.

After the jump: a look at a treasure trove of rare and never-before-heard music from Jackie Moore (of Sweet Charlie Babe fame!), plus some off-color laughs from the inimitable Redd Foxx and more from The Main Ingredient and Grateful Dead!

Omnivore, Rhino, Varese Gear Up For Black Friday 2014

Our Black Friday Record Store Day shopping list has just gotten a little longer! Following our recent announcement of Legacy Recordings’ slate for November 28, we have news of the offerings coming your way from Omnivore Recordings, Rhino and Varese Sarabande!

For the gang at Omnivore, it’s all about amazing indie pop! The label recently reissued Game Theory’s debut album Blaze of Glory, and on November 24, the Omnivores will unveil the first U.S. release of the band’s compilation Dead Center. That French release (which will gain 11 bonus tracks in Omnivore’s edition) featured new music along with selected tracks from the EPs Pointed Accounts of People You Know and Distortion (produced by Michael Quercio of The Three O’Clock and featuring Earl Slick on guitar!). On Black Friday, listeners will have the chance to experience those two EPs in complete form, as originally heard. Both will be reissued on 10-inch vinyl, with an Omnivore twist: the latter will be on green vinyl, and the former on clear vinyl. Joining Game Theory is the band Sneakers, out of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, featuring Chris Stamey, Mitch Easter and Will Rigby. The original, self-released Sneakers EP is presented on 10-inch clear vinyl with an expanded track list of 9 songs! A download card is also included in this new release. All three titles are limited to 1,500 units.

A new stereo LP pressing of Genesis’ From Genesis to Revelation is on the Black Friday horizon from Varese Sarabande. This release marks the first time this album has been released on vinyl since its original U.S. release in 1974, and Varese’s reissue features a replica of the original inner sleeve with full lyrics. The LP boasts the original core Genesis line-up of Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, Anthony Phillips, and Peter Gabriel, and is limited to 3,500 units.

The team at Rhino has nine limited edition releases set for Black Friday 2014 including colored vinyl, multi-LP sets, and even a picture disc! The Rhino line-up has such heavy hitters as The Afghan Whigs, The Doors, Grateful Dead, Hüsker Dü, Iron Butterfly (in mono!), New Order, Ramones (as curated by the irrepressible Morrissey!), Ronnie James Dio and the Velvet Underground!

Hit the jump for all of the details on every title mentioned above! All releases can be found on Friday, November 28 at your participating local independent record store!

O-o-h Child! Real Gone’s December Line-Up Features Five Stairsteps, Grateful Dead, B.J. Thomas and More

O-o-h Child! Real Gone Music has announced its December 2 release slate, and following the label’s holiday offerings set for November 4, it’s packed with rare soul, classic rock and folk!

The Real Goners have a complete collection of Linda Jones’ recordings for not one, not two, but three labels – Warner Bros., Atco and Loma –marking the most comprehensive collection yet for the “Hypnotized” songstress, including tracks new to CD! Joining the Linda Jones set is a two-for-one release of two Buddah albums from The First Family of Soul, The Five Stairsteps: 1968’s Our Family Portrait and 1970’s Stairsteps, the latter of which introduced the Top 10 hit “O-o-h Child.”

On the rock front, you’ll find two collections from western-themed bands! Real Gone continues the story of Cowboy with 5’ll Getcha Ten, the band’s 1971 album featuring the legendary Duane Allman sitting in; and the label adds a couple of tracks to the lone album from the 1980s’ wild roots-rockers The Unforgiven!  And speaking of roots-rock of a kind, the ongoing Dick’s Picks reissue series for Grateful Dead continues with two 1973 shows from the Boston Music Hall!

The legendary Theodore Bikel makes his first appearance on Real Gone with a long out-of-print collection originally issued on Rhino Handmade. Theodore Bikel’s Treasury of Yiddish Folk and Theatre Songs contains 26 tracks from Bikel’s seminal Elektra recordings made between 1958 and 1964 at a time when popular music was rapidly changing, and will remind listeners, even today, of the enduring power of Bikel’s classic repertoire.

These six titles will be joined by two more releases originally scheduled for November 4. In the mid-1970s, “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” icon B.J. Thomas became one of the most successful artists ever in the field of contemporary Christian music, recording a series of record-breaking, Grammy Award-winning albums for the Myrrh label that reflected the style and high production values of his pop material but with a spiritual emphasis.  Home Where I Belong/Happy Man and You Gave Me Love/Miracle, with two albums on each CD, reveal a major chapter in the career of B.J. Thomas.  I’ve written new liner notes for both titles, with fresh contributions from B.J. himself!

After the jump, we have the contents of Real Gone’s full press release plus pre-order links for all eight releases!

Release Round-Up: Week of September 30

ABBA, Live at Wembley Arena (Polar/Universal) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

As part of ABBA’s 40th anniversary celebration, the band unveils this 2-CD, hardcover book-style set preserving its 1979 concerts at Wembley Arena.  The 25-track set features the first-ever release on record of Agnetha’s “I’m Still Alive” along with perennials like “Dancing Queen,” “Waterloo,” “Knowing Me, Knowing You” and “Fernando.”  Live at Wembley is also available on vinyl.

Oasis, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? (Big Brother)

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Box Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Britpop’s favorite battling brothers have their seminal 1995 record remastered and reissued in various editions including vinyl, a single-disc edition, a 3-CD set with 28 bonus tracks and a super deluxe CD/LP edition loaded with swag!

Genesis, R-Kive (Universal/Rhino)  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Here’s the  3-CD set bringing together selections from 4o+-years of Genesis and its individual members – Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Steve Hackett.

Robin Gibb, 50 St. Catherine’s Drive (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The final solo recordings of the late, great Robin Gibb are collected on this new 17-track collection, including a new version of his Bee Gees favorite “I Am the World.”

Stories: Stories Untold — The Very Best of Stories (Amazon U.S.  / Amazon U.K. ) / Barbara Lynn: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) / Ronnie Dyson: Phase 2/Brand New Day (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) / Faith Hope & Charity: Life Goes On (Expanded Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) / Kerry Chater: Part Time Love (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) / Kerry Chater: Love on a Shoestring (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) / Grateful Dead: Dick’s Picks Vol. 15 — Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ 9/3/77 (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

Real Gone Music has a whole batch of rare titles coming to CD – click on the cover collage above for full details!

Paul Parrish, The Forest of My Mind (Now Sounds) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Now Sounds excavates a lost psych-pop classic from Detroit, circa 1968, produced by Motown’s Clay McMurray!  This remastered edition features the original album and bonus singles, all in typically lavish Now Sounds fashion!  Watch for a full review coming soon.

Ray Charles, Genius Loves Company: 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Concord) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The eight-time Grammy-winning album from the late Ray Charles (featuring duets with Elton John, Diana Krall, James Taylor, Van Morrison, Johnny Mathis and others) is expanded with two bonus tracks on CD – “Mary Ann” with Poncho Sanchez and “Unchain My Heart” with Take 6 – plus a DVD of the hourlong “Making of Genius Loves Company.”

Gap Band, IV and V: Jammin’ / Yarbrough and Peoples, Heartbeats: Expanded Editions (Big Break)

BBR continues the story of the Gap Band and Yarbrough and Peoples with three more deluxe, expanded and remastered editions!  Look for our full rundown coming soon!

Gap Band, IV: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Gap Band, V: Jammin’: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Yarbrough and Peoples, Heartbeats: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Motown 25 various editions (StarVista)

6-DVD Set: StarVista

3-DVD Set: Amazon U.S.

3-DVD Set with exclusive bonus content: Best Buy

The classic 1983 television special that reunited The Supremes and introduced the world to Michael Jackson’s moonwalk finally appears on DVD in a variety of formats including an online-exclusive 6-DVD box set available only from StarVista and a 3-DVD set with bonus disc available only at Best Buy.  (A 6-DVD/8-DVD set is also listed at StarVista as “backordered,” but no details are available at the website.)

Monty Python’s Total Rubbish: The Complete Collection (Virgin)

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

The Monty Python troupers have a new 9-CD set boxing up all of the band’s original U.K. albums from 1970 to 1983!

Engelbert Humperdinck, Engelbert Calling (Megaforce) (Amazon U.S.  – new U.S. edition / Amazon U.K. – original U.K. edition)

Tom Jones reportedly rejected the invitation, but Engelbert Humperdinck snagged duets with Elton John, Dionne Warwick, Neil Sedaka, Lulu, Olivia Newton-John, Willie Nelson and others on his new album, receiving its belated U.S. bow this week.

Original Cast Recording, Tess of the D’Urbervilles (Stage Door) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Stage Door Records premieres the first complete recording of the 1999 West End musical Tess of the D’Urbervilles with music by Stephen Edwards and lyrics by Justin Fleming.  This release brings together tracks from the 1999 original London production alongside the previously unreleased 1998 studio cast recording, and includes performances by Philippa Healey, Alasdair Harvey, Jonathan Monks, Cathy Sara, Martin Crewes, Mark Umbers, Heather Craney, Eliza Lumley and an ensemble of forty singers.

Prince, ART OFFICIAL AGE / Prince and 3RDEYEGIRL, PLECTRUMELECTRUM (Warner Bros.)

ART OFFICIAL AGE: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

PLECTRUMELECTRUM: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Prince has not one, but two, new albums due this week – as always, the favorite son of Minneapolis is doing things his way!

Herb Alpert, In the Mood (Shout! Factory) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. TBD)

The great trumpeter follows up his acclaimed 2013 Steppin’ Out and returns with a new set of various standards including “Begin the Beguine,” “Let It Be Me,” “Blue Moon,” “Spanish Harlem” and “All I Have to Do is Dream” – and even better, the Amazon-exclusive edition features two additional tracks!

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts – Complete Collection (StarVista) (Amazon U.S. )

This staggering 25-DVD collection features ALL 54 Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, pally, with such legendary showbiz icons as Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Jack Klugman, Tony Randall, Jack Benny, George Burns, Sammy Davis, Jr., Betty White and more – plus over 15 hours of bonus material:  11 newly-produced featurette interviews with former participants and fans: Don Rickles, Betty White, Jackie Mason, Phyllis Diller, Tim Conway, Rich Little, Norm Crosby, Carol Burnett and many others; 4 classic TV Specials including Dean’s Place and Red Hot Scandals of 1926, featuring Dean and friends including Jonathan Winters, Dom DeLuise, Robert Mitchum and more; rare, exclusive home movies from Dean’s private collection; bonus comedy sketches; 2 Dean Martin Variety Show DVDs featuring Bob Hope, John Wayne, Peggy Lee, Rodney Dangerfield and many others.  A 44-page book rounds out this package which is arriving now to general retail after a period of online exclusivity.

Release Round-Up: Week of September 9

The Beatles, The Beatles in Mono (Apple/UMe) Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Here it is – a massive white box filled with 14 newly-remastered vinyl LPs from the Fab Four, all in original mono – just the way the boys intended all those years ago!

The Midnight Special various editions (StarVista/Time Life)

Deluxe 11-DVD Box Set: StarVista

6-DVD Set: Amazon U.S.

1-DVD: Amazon U.S.

The groundbreaking late-night music show is celebrated on a variety of releases featuring live performances from a galaxy of seventies superstars!

Queen, Live at the Rainbow ’74 various formats (Virgin/Hollywood)

1CD: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S. (TBD)
2CD: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.
DVD: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.
Blu-ray: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.
CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.K. (TBD) / Amazon U.S. 
2LP: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S. (TBD)
4LP: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.
2CD/DVD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.

Freddie Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor stormed London’s Rainbow Theatre forty years ago for concerts in March and November ’74; now, these pivotal concerts have been released in a variety of audio and video formats!

Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills, Super Session SACD (Audio Fidelity) (Amazon U.S.)

Al Kooper’s long-awaited 5.1 mix of this quintessential jam record is finally here on hybrid SACD, courtesy Audio Fidelity!

The Seeds, Singles As and Bs 1965-1970 (Ace/Big Beat) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

This release marks the culmination of Big Beat’s Seeds reissue series – a 24-track anthology of every A and B side released by the band for GNP Crescendo and MGM including the Top 40 nugget “Pushin’ Too Hard” (which is also presented in its original, unedited form as a bonus track).  Most of these tracks have never appeared on CD in these versions, all sourced from original single masters!

Ringo Starr, ICON / John Lennon, ICON (Capitol/UMe)

Two Fabs headline this month’s batch of budget-priced 11-song ICON compilations – also including entries from Iggy Pop, The Ohio Players, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Slaughter, and Chante Moore.  The Ringo comp, on the Apple/Capitol label, is a fun one for completists, with a couple of recent, rarely-anthologized tracks (“Walk with You” with Macca, “King of Broken Hearts” with George Harrison) along with the expected hits and a live version of “Yellow Submarine.”  The Lennon title lacks some big hits (“Whatever Gets You Through the Night,” “Woman”) but both titles have new remastering credits.

Ringo Starr: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

John Lennon: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Iain Matthews, Stealin’ Home (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Omnivore gives a lavish expansion to the 1978 breakthrough LP from Iain Matthews (Fairport Convention, Matthews Southern Comfort), adding a 9-track live concert set previously available only in Japan!  Stealin’ Home features an eclectic tunestack ranging from John Martyn to Rodgers and Hammerstein, all filtered through Matthews’ folk, rock and pop sensibilities – plus new liner notes, rare photos and more!

Grateful Dead, Wake Up To Find Out: Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY 3/29/1990 (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Rhino revisits the Dead’s memorable 1990 show – featuring saxophone great Branford Marsalis sitting in – on a new 3-CD set!

Various Artists, Don’t Make Me Over: The Songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David / Treat Me Nice: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller (Jasmine)

Bacharach and David: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Leiber and Stoller: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

In case you missed them: U.K. public domain label Jasmine has a couple of packed 2-disc sets drawing on pre-1963 recordings from two legendary songwriting teams.  The Bacharach and David set includes songs from the duo separately and together for a total of 60 tracks by artists including Dionne Warwick, Gene Pitney, The Shirelles, Johnny Mathis, Don Gibson and Sarah Vaughan.  The Leiber and Stoller package has 64 songs from Elvis Presley, Jay and the Americans, The Coasters, The Isley Brothers and Jerry Lee Lewis.  Both sets contain new liner notes and track listings with discographical annotation.

U.K. PD label Sepia has another quartet of vintage releases with many tracks and albums making their first appearances on CD.  The label has a two-fer of arranger Don Costa’s orchestral LPs Theme from ‘The Unforgiven’ and Hollywood Premiere featuring Costa-ized versions of popular movie themes.  Lawrence Welk’s Last Date is two-fered with the bandleader’s Moon River; the first LP features pop hits and the second collects Broadway and Hollywood themes.  A third two-fer comes from the great Bobby Troup.  Do-Re-Mi features Troup singing his own compositions such as the inevitable “Route 66,” while Here s To My Lady features standards like “That’s All” and “The Nearness Of You.”  Lastly, Sepia offers Movie Stars Sing!, collecting rare sides from expected (Julie Andrews, Rita Moreno) and unexpected stars (Mae West, Bette Davis) from Hollywood’s Golden Age!

Don Costa, Theme from ‘The Unforgiven’ / Hollywood Premiere : Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Bobby Troup, Do-Re-Mi / Here’s to My Lady: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Lawrence Welk, Last Date / Moon River : Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Movie Stars Sing! : Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Real Gone Has Stories In September, Plus Kerry Chater, Grateful Dead, Barbara Lynn, More

Real Gone Music has plenty of stories to tell with its September 30 slate of releases – including music from, well, Stories!

The eclectic reissue specialists have the first-ever anthology dedicated to Stories (“Brother Louie”) featuring 19 tracks from the band led by Ian Lloyd and Michael Brown, late of legendary baroque-pop band The Left Banke. And that’s not all. Real Gone is digging deep into the Atlantic vaults for the complete recordings of southern soul star Barbara Lynn including an unreleased track, and looking to Atlantic’s Cotillion subsidiary for some sizzling Philly soul from the late, great Ronnie Dyson. Then there’s a second dip into the catalogue of disco’s Faith, Hope and Charity, enhancing their sophomore album with rare 12-inch mixes. Singer-songwriter Kerry Chater’s two Warner Bros. releases helmed by Steve Barri and Michael Omartian will also get the Real Gone treatment, and the label continues its Dick’s Picks reissue series for Grateful Dead with a 1977 New Jersey concert which was the Dead’s first following the release of Arista debut Terrapin Station.

After the jump: Real Gone’s press release reveals the details for each and every title!

Real Gone Is “In Tune” With September Slate Featuring Grateful Dead, Ides of March, Willie Hutch, More

September 1 marks Labor Day, but Real Gone Music isn’t taking much time off! The very next day, the label launches a new crop of eight titles emphasizing soul, funk and R&B but also encompassing country, classic rock and a touch of prog!

At Motown, Willie Hutch gifted The Jackson 5 with his song “I’ll Be There,” saw his songs recorded by the label’s elite including Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye, and penned funky soundtracks including The Mack. In 1977, he departed Berry Gordy’s empire for Whitfield Records, headed (of course) by Motown expatriate Norman Whitfield. Hutch’s two Whitfield albums In Tune and Midnight Dancer are arriving on U.S. CD for the first time anywhere. Hutch is joined by R&B great Esther Phillips on the Real Gone roster, as the label has a reissue of Phillips’ 1973 CTI/Kudu platter Alone Again Naturally. The former Little Esther tears into not only Gilbert O’Sullivan’s title track but gives her all to the likes of Bill Withers’ “Use Me” and Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham’s “Do Right Man, Do Right Woman,” popularized by Aretha Franklin. Real Gone’s edition is based upon the out-of-print edition by Reel Music including its two live bonus tracks and A. Scott Galloway’s essay. Alone Again has resulted from the partnership of Real Gone and SoulMusic Records; the labels’ affiliation is also yielding two rare albums by the soulful Ullanda McCullough for the Atlantic label on one CD, including a set written and produced for the singer by Ashford and Simpson!

Not in an R&B mood? Real Gone has country fans covered with the first-ever compendium of the chart hits of Ray Griff, the country singer-songwriter known to his fans as The Entertainer! Griff’s The Entertainer – Greatest U.S. and Canadian Hits collects 24 tracks from seven (yes, seven) record labels spanning the period of 1967-1986!

If classic rock is your bag, you might want to hop a ride on an expanded edition of Vehicle from the other Chicago horn band, The Ides of March! This reissue adds four bonus singles and new liner notes by Richie Unterberger (including new quotes from Ides of March/Survivor man Jim Peterik) to the original 1970 album and celebrates the band’s 50th anniversary. You might say “Yes!” to Rick Wakeman’s Criminal Record, recorded shortly after the keyboard great rejoined Yes for the Going for the One album in 1977. Last but not least, Real Gone returns to Grateful Dead’s Dick’s Picks series for a key 1969 show on the band’s home turf at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium!

Hit the jump for Real Gone’s press release with more details on all eight titles, plus pre-order links! All releases are due from the label on September 2.

Release Round-Up: Week of July 15

Average White Band, All the Pieces: The Complete Studio Recordings 1971-2003 (Edsel)

Nineteen discs of AWB goodness, including two discs of rarities? Now that’s something to blow your horn over. Full specs will be posted later today. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

John Coltrane and Friends, Sideman: Trane’s Blue Note Sessions (Blue Note)

Three discs of ‘Trane’s time as a sideman, with performances by Miles and Monk, all in glorious mono. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Jerry Garcia Band, Garcia Live Volume 4: March 22, 1978 – Veteran’s Hall (ATO)

The latest volume in this official vintage live series is an unreleased, double-disc show of Garcia and band (including fellow Dead Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux) in Sebastopol, California. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)