Release Round-Up: Week of October 21

Ray Parker Jr. & Run-DMC, Ghostbusters: Stay Puft Edition Super Deluxe Vinyl (Legacy)

The Marshmallow Man is back!  The Stay Puft Super Deluxe Edition Vinyl is a limited edition collectible that every Ghostbusters fan will want to take home!  Co-produced by The Second Disc’s Mike Duquette, this set contains the No. 1 hit single “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr. and the “Ghostbusters” rap by Run-DMC for the film’s hit sequel, with both tracks on a white 12” single in a deluxe, puffy, package that smells like marshmallows!

Suzi Quatro, The Girl from Detroit City (Cherry Red) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Cherry Red has a 4-CD, 82-track overview of the glam rock icon (and Happy Days star)’s career, including her early, 60s pop sides, her prime hitmaking period, and even her forays into musical theatre!  Joe will have a full review up soon!

The Hollies, 50 at Fifty (Parlophone/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

This new 3-CD Hollies anthology, marking the harmony purveyors’ 50th year of recording, arrived in the U.K. last month but today gets its American release from Rhino.

Mike Oldfield, The Studio Albums 1992-2003 (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Rhino boxes up eight Oldfield albums in one CD box set, including three Tubular Bells variations.

Spandau Ballet, The Very Best of Spandau Ballet: The Story (Rhino)

The New Romantic hitmakers behind “True” look back on their career with this set, available in 1-CD and 2-CD iterations.

1-CD: Amazon U.S.  / Amazon U.K.

2-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 

Ian Hunter, All-American Alien Boy (Varese Sarabande) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Varese is restoring the second solo album from Mott the Hoople’s Ian Hunter to print in the U.S. with the six bonus tracks first appended to the 30th anniversary edition.  The 1976 album features personnel including Jaco Pastorius, David Sanborn, Lew Soloff, Auyn and the members of Queen!  Watch this space for an exciting opportunity to WIN a copy of this reissue!

Gavin DeGraw, Finest Hour: The Best of Gavin DeGraw (RCA) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The singer-songwriter and Dancing with the Stars contestant has an 11-track compilation, featuring producer Max Martin’s previously unreleased version of “In Love with a Girl” and a new version of “Finest Hour.”

Neil Diamond, Melody Road (Capitol) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Neil Diamond returns with his 32nd studio album and first for Capitol, and its 12 songs in the artist’s vintage style add up to a warmly nostalgic trip for longtime fans.  Target has an exclusive edition with two bonus tracks which may be outtakes from his 2010 covers project Dreams: renditions of George Harrison’s “Something” and Harry Nilsson’s”Remember,” and this edition is also available as an import at this link.  Look for my review of Melody Road soon!

Earth, Wind & Fire, Holiday (Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The venerable R&B outfit offers its first-ever holiday album, with favorites like “Winter Wonderland” and “Sleigh Ride” alongside reworked versions of “September” (yup, it’s “December”!) and “Happy Feelin'” – which this joyous celebration just might give you!

Scott Walker and Sunn O))), Soused (4AD) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The sixties pop crooner-turned-avant garde hero Scott Walker teams up with California drone metal band Sunn O))) for a 5-track, 50-minute record that pushes the envelope for both artists.  We’re marking this unusual release this week with a look back at the entirety of Walker’s career in a special two-part Back Tracks retrospective beginning tomorrow!

Aretha Franklin, Sings the Great Diva Classics (RCA) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Queen of Soul reunites with Clive Davis for her latest studio album, a tribute to her fellow divas – then and now – including Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Dinah Washington and Adele!

Billy Idol, Kings and Queens of the Underground (Kobalt) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Billy Idol is back with his rebel yell and sneer intact on his first album since 2005, produced by Trevor Horn and Greg Kurstin!

Annie Lennox, Nostalgia (Blue Note) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Annie Lennox usually hasn’t been one to bask in nostalgia, but here she is, bringing her own spin to such Great American Songbook standards as “Summertime” and “God Bless the Child.” The Amazon U.S.-exclusive edition has a bonus disc featuring a Lennox interview and a live version of blues staple “I Put a Spell on You.”

Release Round-Up: Week of September 23

George Harrison, The Apple Years 1968-1975 (Apple/Universal, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Here, at last, are George Harrison’s complete albums for Apple Records, all beautifully remastered and featuring select bonus material.  These six albums are available in a deluxe box set with a bonus DVD or as individual reissues:

Wonderwall Music (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Electronic Music (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

All Things Must Pass  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Living in the Material World  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Dark Horse (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Extra Texture (Read All About It)  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

David Bowie, Sound + Vision  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

In case you missed it the last time around, here’s a slimmed-down reissue of the 2003 iteration of Bowie’s box set covering the chameleonic rock star’s career through 1997 on four CDs.

John Coltrane, Offering: Live at Temple University (Impulse!/Resonance) (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K.)

Here, at last, is the famous concert in which John Coltrane put down his saxophone and sang – or at least vocalized in an intense, some might say inexplicable, manner.  Ashley Kahn puts this remarkable, and remarkably inscrutable, 1966 Philadelphia performance in perspective in the deluxe 24-page booklet that accompanies this 2-CD release.

Hollies, Fifty at 50 (Parlophone/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

This new 3-CD Hollies anthology, marking the harmony purveyors’ 50th year of recording, arrives in the U.K. today with a U.S. edition to follow next month.

Jerry Lee Lewis, The Knox Phillips Sessions: The Unreleased Recordings (Saguaro Road) (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K. )

In the mid-1970s, Jerry Lee Lewis returned to Sun Studios with Sam Phillips’ son Knox now running the show; Knox recorded the piano pounder on country, pop and gospel classics from “Beautiful Dreamer” to “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.”  Ten tracks from the Knox Phillips sessions are included on this single-disc release.

Pugwash, A Rose in a Garden of Weeds (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

Omnivore has a “preamble through the history of Pugwash,” the Irish band described by the label as a “mix of The Beach Boys meets ELO meets XTC.”  This 17-track collection spans the period between 1999’s Almond Tea As Served By… through 2011’s The Olympus Sound and should serve as a perfect introduction to an underrated group.

Edwin Starr, Soul Master: Expanded Edition / Involved: Expanded Edition (Big Break)

Big Break dips back into the Motown vault for two generously expanded editions of albums from “War” hero Edwin Starr including his 1968 Motown LP debut Soul Master with a whopping 17 bonus tracks, and 1971’s Involved (featuring “War’) with 13 bonuses!

Soul Master: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Involved: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Leonard Cohen, Popular Problems (Columbia) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The poet and troubadour celebrates his 80th birthday with the release of a new album featuring nine new songs.

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, Cheek to Cheek (Interscope/Columbia) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Also not a reissue, but certainly of interest – the 88-years young jazz vocal great teams with the audacious pop superstar for a set of swinging standards.  Available in standard and deluxe editions, as well as Target, iTunes and HSN exclusives with extra material.

Look Through Any Window: The Hollies Mark “50 At Fifty” For Golden Anniversary

The rich harmonies of 2010 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees The Hollies will be celebrated by the Parlophone label on September 22 in the U.K. and October 21 in the U.S. with the release of 50 at Fifty, a new 3-CD career-spanning anthology of 50 songs originally released between 1963 and the present day (including one previously unissued recording).

The new anthology, officially announced on The Hollies’ website, includes material from the band’s various lineups as originally released on the Parlophone, Polydor, EMI, WEA and Columbia labels. The first disc handily chronicles the band’s classic line-up of Allan Clarke, Graham Nash, Bobby Elliott and Tony Hicks with bassists Eric Haydock and Bernie Calvert, with the remaining two CDs spotlighting the important contributions of future Hollies like Terry Sylvester and Mikael Rickfors. The collection kicks off with every one of the group’s U.K. A-sides between 1963’s debut single “(Ain’t That) Just Like Me” and 1974’s “The Air That I Breathe” save one: 1966’s quirky Burt Bacharach/Hal David film theme “After the Fox,” a duet with Peter Sellers released on the United Artists label. The first six A-sides are presented in mono; every other track on this set is in stereo.

“The Air That I Breathe” was the band’s final U.K. Top 10 hit until 1988, when the reissued “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” reached the chart’s zenith. So from that point on, 50 at 50 offers a selection of key A-sides, flips, live versions and album tracks including a 1976 live performance of “Too Young to Be Married,” Tony Hicks’ hit which wasn’t even released as a single in the U.K.; the reunion single “Stop! In the Name of Love” with Graham Nash and its comparatively rare New Zealand B-side “Let Her Go Down”; tracks from two recent albums featuring current (since 2004) lead vocalist Peter Howarth; and one brand new song, “Skylarks.”

After the jump, we have more details including the complete track listing with discographical annotation and pre-order links!

Would You Believe: Three Records From The Hollies’ Allan Clarke Collected By RPM

RPM Records, an imprint of Cherry Red Group, continues to leave no stone unturned in its explorations of every corner of the British pop-rock map with three recent collections from Hollies leader Allan Clarke, “Pied Piper” Crispian St. Peters and beat combo The Scorpions. Today, the spotlight is on Sideshow from Allan Clarke, who began singing in Manchester as a youth with his pal Graham Nash and never looked back.

Sideshow: Solo Recordings 1973-1976 collects three early solo albums from Allan Clarke on two CDs. The Hollies had not only survived the departure in late 1968 of founding member Nash, but had thrived thanks to singles like “Sorry, Suzanne” and the international smash “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.” But soon, Clarke felt the same urge that Nash had, to explore life outside of The Hollies. His songwriting partnership with Roger Cook on the Hollies hit “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress” inspired him to leave the band in late 1971, to be replaced by Mikael Rickfors. Following a debut solo effort for RCA in the U.K. and Epic in the U.S. (My Real Name is ‘arold), Clarke returned to the band’s home base of EMI for the three albums included in this set.

Headroom was released in 1973, just prior to Clarke’s return that year to The Hollies. Almost entirely written by Clarke and guitarist Ray Glynn, Headroom found Clarke joined by a band including Tony Newman on drums, Elton John Band member Dee Murray on bass and Kirk Duncan on keyboards. In addition to the clutch of original songs, Clarke revisited “Would You Believe” from The Hollies’ Butterfly album. He also recorded a fine version of Mentor Williams’ “Drift Away” after having heard it on a demo. But by the time of the album’s release, Dobie Gray had already scored the hit record.

Ensconced in The Hollies once again, Clarke persevered with another solo set. The self-titled Allan Clarke reteamed him with Roger Cook (of the Cook and Greenaway team behind such pop favorites as “You’ve Got Your Troubles”) as well as with Glynn and Newman. Herbie Flowers assumed bass duties and Peter Robinson took over piano, while future Nashville transplant Cook also added the great B.J. Cole on steel guitar for a country-rock flavor. Flowers and Cook also welcomed their Blue Mink bandmate Madeline Bell to the album sessions. Clarke’s compositions were curiously absent from the LP, but Cook contributed five songs, three co-written with Flowers. In John Reed’s liner notes, Clarke confesses, “I felt a little like I should have had some of my songs on the album, but…Roger had other ideas about how to showcase me. [Allan Clarke] was Roger’s baby.” Clarke did bring a song by the young, pre-Fleetwood Mac team of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to the project (“Baby Don’t Let Me Down Again,” from the infamously out-of-print Buckingham Nicks LP). It also featured songs by Randy Newman (“I’ll Be Home”), Little Richard (“Send Me Some Lovin’”) and Bruce Springsteen (“If I Were the Priest”). Clarke was an early champion of the future Boss’s, also recording “Fourth of July Asbury Park (Sandy)” with The Hollies in 1975.

There’s more on Allan Clarke after the jump, including the full track listing and order links!

Here They Go Again: The Hollies Reveal BBC “Radio Fun”

2011 was a good year to be a Hollies fan, and it seems that 2012 might follow in its footsteps!  Last year, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees saw a plethora of releases on both CD and vinyl from labels like EMI, Sundazed and BGO, reissuing individual albums and offering comprehensive new compilations.  This May, a heretofore-unreleased area of the band’s history will be rediscovered when EMI issues Radio Fun, a 32-track compilation of some of the classic group’s best BBC radio performances.

The official Hollies website has released cover artwork as well as the track listing for this exciting new compilation.  Featuring liner notes by longtime drummer Bobby Elliott, Radio Fun draws on programs like Top of the Pops and Saturday Club for a cross-section of familiar hits and less well-known songs.  Like so many of their British Invasion counterparts, the lads were frequent visitors to the BBC’s studios, beaming their trademark harmonies over the airwaves on a wide variety of material both expected and unexpected.  So, though there’s no “Carrie Anne,” “King Midas in Reverse” or “On a Carousel,” you will get “Here I Go Again,” “Jennifer Eccles,” “I Can’t Let Go,” “I’m Alive,” and “Look Through Any Window.”  Though the Graham Nash era of the band (collected virtually in full on EMI’s 2011 box set) is heavily represented, you’ll also hear post-Nash tracks like the smash hit “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” as well as Tony Hicks’ “Too Young to Be Married.”  Elliott and Hicks keep the Hollies’ music alive with an active tour schedule; the current incarnation of the band is currently celebrating with a Hollies 50^th anniversary tour of South Africa and Europe.

The Hollies’ Radio Fun is due in stores in the U.K. on May 7, and will arrive shortly thereafter on American shores.  Hit the jump for the full track listing of Radio Fun!  A pre-order link is not yet available but we’ll update once a link is live!

Release Round-Up: Week of May 17

Queen, Queen / Queen II / Sheer Heart Attack / A Night at the Opera / A Day at the Races: Deluxe Editions (Hollywood)

No, you’re not seeing double. The first batch of 40th anniversary Queen expanded editions, available in the U.K. since March, make their stateside debuts. There’s an Amazon-exclusive box with all of them included, too. Dear readers: any big box retailers carrying these? The only one I imagine that is would be Best Buy. (Official site)

The Go-Go’s, Beauty and the Beat: 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Capitol/EMI)

The first time this seminal album has ever been reissued and remastered! One disc full of hits (“Our Lips Are Sealed,” “We Got the Beat”), another of a previously unreleased vintage live show in Boston. (Official site)

The Supremes, Let Yourself Go: The ’70s Albums, Vol. 2 1974-1977 – The Final Sessions (Hip-o Select/Motown)

The last three Diana Ross-less Supremes records, expanded with a heaping helping of rare and unreleased bonus content. (Hip-o Select)

Iggy Pop, Roadkill Rising: The Bootleg Collection 1977-2009 (Shout! Factory)

Four disc of rock’s most wiry frontman in concert from all across his solo career. (Shout! Factory)

Queens of the Stone Age, Queens of the Stone Age: Deluxe Edition (Rekords Rekords)

This one’s been moved around a lot on the release calendar, but it looks like its time has finally come. QotSA’s first album from 1998, newly expanded with several unreleased tracks. (Official site)

The Hollies, The Clarke, Hicks and Nash Years: The Complete Hollies April 1963-November 1968 (Capitol/EMI)

The earliest years of the Manchester band, including some rarities and unreleased stuff, as a budget-minded, imported box set. (Amazon)

The Waterboys, In a Special Place: Piano Demos for This is the Sea (Capitol/EMI)

The first big hit record by the Scottish folk/rock band, in demo form. Another import from across the pond. (Official site)

“Would You Believe” The Complete Hollies 1963-1968 Is Coming From EMI?

Fans of the Hollies have lately had plenty of items on their wish lists, thanks to recent releases from the Sundazed and BGO labels. Yes, it’s been quite a year in catalogue terms for the lads from Manchester! EMI’s U.K. arm continues the celebration with the May 9 release of one whopper of a box set. The Clarke, Hicks & Nash Years (what about Bobby Elliott? Just askin’!) is subtitled The Complete Hollies: April 1963 – October 1968, and if this is somewhat of a fallacy, it’s more or less the case.

In a nutshell, the six CDs will present each and every track released commercially during that period on an LP, EP or single, plus all of the tracks from that era released on later compilations such as 30th Anniversary Collection, The Long Road Home, Rarities, The Hollies at Abbey Road and The Hollies (Music for Pleasure label). In addition, ten previously unreleased tracks will make their premiere: seven performances from the Hollies’ May 1968 gig at London’s famed Lewisham Odeon, and three French-language tracks that have been collecting dust in the EMI vaults. Perhaps best of all (depending on whom you ask!), the set is part of EMI’s budget line that has encompassed similar collections for Manfred Mann, Herman’s Hermits, Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas and other renowned British acts. This means that the price is an altogether affordable £17.93 at present from Amazon U.K., which is roughly $29.50 USD at the time of this writing. For 159 tracks over 6 discs, that’s roughly $0.19 per song, not a bad deal for some of the most infectious pop music ever recorded, no?

That’s an awful lot of good news, so let’s take the bitter with the sweet. As this is a budget-line release, the mastering is a potpourri. Some tracks were remastered back in 1997-1999, others in 2003 and still others expressly for this project in 2011. (The 2011 remasters include some of the Hollies’ most eclectic performances such as “Look Through Any Window” in French, and the uproarious, wild duet with EMI labelmate Peter Sellers on the movie theme “After the Fox.”) This will impact some listeners’ decisions whether to purchase this set more than others, but everyone can agree on one thing: never before has this impressive body of work been available in such a compact package. While most of the material has been on CD before, the discs aren’t always the easiest to find as imports, and prices aren’t always low. For those wishing to have a complete collection of every track released by The Hollies in the group’s British Invasion prime, you could hardly do better. And the inclusion of eight tracks (only one previously released) from the Lewisham Odeon concert of May 1968 may be the high point of the set from a collectors’ standpoint, lavishing attention on the often-overlooked live performances of the band as they run through one hit after another.

The box set is not consistent as to mono and stereo.  Stay with the Hollies is presented in stereo, excepting the track “Stay,” which will be heard in its mono single mix.   For Certain Because and Butterfly will also be in stereo, while In The Hollies Style, The Hollies, Would You Believe and Evolution will all be mono.  Remixes circa 1993 have been utilized for some tracks; two songs will make their stereo debuts (the Italian-language cuts “Non Prego Per Me” and “Devi Avere Fiducia in Me”) and one mono mix also appears for the first time (“Little Bitty Pretty One”). Two versions each of “Yes I Will,” “We’re Through” and “A Taste of Honey” have been included. The only two late-surfacing Hollies rarities to be excluded from the set are the alternate take of “Poison Ivy” from the band’s first Australian LP, and the alternate “Searchin’,” from the 1988 U.K. The Hollies: Compacts for Pleasure CD.  For additional information on the mono/stereo mixes, check out the informative comments from our ace readers below!

What’s missing? A look at the indispensable Hollies sessionography contained in the box set The Long Road Home indicates nearly twenty more unreleased tracks from this period, from recordings of “Fortune Teller” and “Cry Me a River” to the infamous, abortive backing track of “Marrakesh Express.” However, these are in various states of completion, with “Marrakesh” said to be barely recognizable as the familiar Crosby, Stills and Nash song.

Ready to say “Yes I Will” to the classic Hollies lineup of Graham Nash, Allan Clarke, Tony Hicks and Bobby Elliott plus Eric Haydock or Bernie Calvert? Hit the jump for the complete track listing with year of remastering (where available) and discographical information. If you have any additions to the discography, please feel free to jump in and contribute! The Clarke, Hicks & Nash Years: The Complete Hollies: April 1963 – October 1968 is due in the U.K. on May 9 and will reach American shores shortly thereafter. It can be pre-ordered at Amazon U.K. from the link below!

More Imperial-Era Hollies Reissues Headed Your Way

It’s Hollies-mania all over again! Back on February 15, we tipped you to a vinyl box set due April 19 collecting some of the Manchester quintet’s toughest-to-find tracks. But it gets better. On the same date that Sundazed releases the Lost Recordings and Beat Rarities box, the label will also continue its vinyl LP reissue series for the band with brand-new releases of Beat Group! and Bus Stop. These 1966 albums for Imperial Records were, respectively, The Hollies’ third and fourth American albums. The reissue of Beat Group!, in particular, is exciting as the album has been out-of-print for decades. Both titles will be heard in their original mono mixes.

As if that weren’t enough, U.K. label BGO Records will soon deliver a follow-up to its Bus Stop/Stop! Stop! Stop! two-fer which is comprised of the fourth and fifth Imperial titles.  The label will look backwards to combine the group’s first two American titles for Imperial, Here I Go Again (1964) and Hear! Here! (1965) onto one disc. These two titles were released stateside last year, on vinyl by Sundazed in mono. Ironically, BGO’s series seems to be neglecting Beat Group! for an overdue CD reissue.

Hit the jump for a bit of background on these four LPs, plus full track listings and discographical information!

Hollies “Lost Recordings” Box Coming from Sundazed

The Hollies have long existed in the shadow of Graham Nash’s other band – you know, the one with two or three other initials. But the lineup of Nash, Allan Clarke, Tony Hicks and Bobby Elliot plus Eric Haydock or Bernie Calvert could be equally potent. And lately, The Hollies have been recipients of a lot of well-deserved love. First came last year’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and then Sundazed kicked off a vinyl campaign reissuing two of the band’s hardest-to-find American LPs on the Imperial label. Just last week BGO released two more Imperial titles on one CD, and now Sundazed has announced an exciting new project: The Hollies – Lost Recordings and Beat Rarities!

This vinyl-only box set will collect 20 Hollies tracks across ten 7-inch vinyl singles, each with period-style label and individual picture sleeve. While the full track listing hasn’t been announced yet, Sundazed has revealed on its Facebook page that the tracks will “range from hard-to-find U.S. and British singles and EPs to songs previously unissued on vinyl.” Among these treasures are “(Ain’t That) Just Like Me” b/w “Hey What’s Wrong With Me,” the band’s first single released in May 1963, and uptempo, buoyant rockers like “Come on Back,” “What Kind of Love” and “She Said Yeah.” “Yes I Will,” a direct-from-the-Brill-Building ballad by Gerry Goffin and Russ Titelman will be presented, along with the sinuous “Honey and Wine,” written by Goffin and his usual collaborator, Carole King. “All the World is Love” is a psychedelic Clarke/Hicks/Nash original which was introduced as the B-side to “On a Carousel” on its February 1967 U.K. release.  Sundazed also promises “an impossible-to-find, spy-style double-sider the Hollies did for a 1967 Italian movie” (this single would appear to be “Kill Me Quick” b/w “We’re Alive,” both songs penned by Clarke, Hicks and Nash for the film Fai in Fretta ad Uccidermi…Ho Freddo!, known in English as Kill Me Quick…I’m Cold!) as well as unreleased tracks cut while on tour in New York City in 1965. (An April 27, 1965 trip to New York’s Bell Studios yielded three tracks, “Listen Here to Me,” “So Lonely” and “Bring Your Love Back to Me,” all of which sat on a shelf until 2003’s The Long Road Home box set.)  The Hollies’ cover of the Beatles’ “If I Needed Someone,” tracked at Abbey Road, also makes an appearance.

So, is a CD release in the cards?  Hit the jump for an answer, straight from the fine folks at Sundazed.

Release Round-Up: Week of February 8

The Beatles, Love (iTunes Version) (Apple/EMI)

Another Beatles album drops on iTunes: the 2006 soundtrack to the Cirque du Soleil attraction – and this version has two previously unreleased bonus tracks. (iTunes)

Miles Davis, Bitches Brew Live (Columbia/Legacy)

The jazz great lights up the Newport Jazz and Isle of Wight Festivals in this vintage compilation (Sony)

The Stan Getz Quintets, The Clef & Norgran Studio Albums (Verve/Hip-o Select)

A three-disc box collating Getz’s early quintet years, much of it unavailable on CD until now. (Hip-o Select)