Release Round-Up: Week of November 11/12

The Beatles, Live At The BBC / On Air: Live At The BBC Volume 2 (Capitol)

What’s better than a remaster of The Fab Four’s 1994 double-disc set of live BBC sessions? How about another two-disc set of those sessions?

Live At The BBC (2CD): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Live At The BBC (3LP): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
On Air: Live At The BBC Volume 2 (2CD): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
On Air: Live At The BBC Volume 2 (3LP): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Live At The BBC: The Collection (4CD): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Donny Hathaway, Never My Love: The Anthology (ATCO/Rhino)

A fine-looking four-disc anthology for the late, great soul singer, featuring his greatest hits and rare singles, a disc of unreleased studio outtakes, an unissued live performance at New York’s Bitter End in 1971, and his complete duets with Roberta Flack. Beautiful, beautiful stuff here. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Miles Davis, The Original Mono Recordings (Columbia/Legacy)

A nine-disc set featuring a crash course in jazz education in glorious monaural sound! Classics ‘Round About Midnight (1957), Miles Ahead (1957), Milestones (1958), Porgy and Bess (1959), Kind of Blue (1959), Sketches of Spain (1960) and Someday My Prince Will Come (1961) are joined by two rare, out-of-print LPs: 1959’s Jazz Track (featuring a side of quintet recordings for a French soundtrack and a side of rarities from the sextet that cut Kind of Blue) and Miles & Monk At Newport (1964), featuring two live sets recorded five years apart at the Newport Jazz Festival. (Look for several of these albums on LP once again for Record Store Day’s Black Friday event!) (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K.)

Herbie Hancock, The Complete Columbia Album Collection 1972-1988 (Columbia/Legacy)

This 34-disc set features every one of the jazz pianist’s albums for Columbia/CBS, including 11 which have never been on CD in the U.S. before (eight of these albums were only released in Japan). (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Who, Tommy: Deluxe Editions (Geffen/UMe)

Another expanded version of The Who’s magnum opus features the original album with an unissued spread of demos, outtakes and live bootlegs.

2CD Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
3CD/1BD Super Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
1CD Remaster: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2LP Remaster: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Various Artists, Disney Classics (Walt Disney Records)

A neat new four-disc box set spanning the entire Disney gamut (film, television and theme parks) in celebration of 90(!) years of musical magic. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Waterboys, Fisherman’s Box: The Complete Fisherman’s Blues Sessions 1986-1988 (Parlophone)

After some delays, the six-disc version of this mammoth box (sans “influences” bonus disc or vinyl LP) is available this week. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Creedence Clearwater Revival, Creedence Clearwater Revival (Box Set) (Fantasy)

A reissue of the band’s career-spanning six-disc 2001 box, featuring all nine of their studio and live albums and a disc of pre-CCR single sides, is now available in a new package not made of wood. (Amazon U.S.)

Ry Cooder, 1970-1987 (Rhino)

All 11 of the famed guitarist’s Warner-Reprise albums in one box. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Killers, Direct Hits (Island)

The Vegas modern-day New Wavers release their first compilation, with new single “Shot At the Night.” A deluxe edition adds a few more bonus tracks, including the original demo for hit single “Mr. Brightside.”

Standard: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Super Deluxe CD/10″ edition: Amazon U.K.

Keane, The Best of Keane (Island)

Another Island act from the ’00s (albeit one from England), Keane too release a compilation in a variety of formats.

Standard 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Deluxe 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Super Deluxe 2CD/DVD (Amazon exclusive): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Live in Montreal 1977 (Shout! Factory)

Welcome back, my friends, to a complete show in support of Works Volume 1 on two discs. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Lamb of God, As the Palaces Burn: 10th Anniversary Edition (Razor & Tie)

The thrash/groove quartet’s breakthrough 2000 album is remixed, remastered and expanded with three demos and a DVD documentary.

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

Grizzly Bear, Shields: Expanded (Warp)

The Brooklyn band’s 2012 album, now with a bonus disc of demos and remixes.

Shields: Expanded (2CD): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Shields: B-Sides (LP): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Somebody Told Me The Killers Were Releasing a Compilation

One of the more notable mainstream rock bands of the 2000s, The Killers, is releasing their first greatest hits compilation.

Direct Hits collects 13 of the Las Vegas band’s best loved songs and adds two new tracks: “Shot At the Night,” produced by French electronic duo M83, and “Just Another Girl,” produced by longtime collaborator Stuart Price (who’s remixed many of their singles under the pseudonym Jacques Lu Cont/The Thin White Duke). A deluxe version adds three more tracks: “Be Still,” from their most recent album Battle Born (2012); the original demo for 2004 hit “Mr. Brightside” and a remix of 2006’s “When You Were Young” by Scottish producer Calvin Harris. Finally, a U.K. super deluxe version will add a DVD documentary and all of the single tracks on five 10″ records.

When The Killers burst onto the scene with Hot Fuss in 2004, critics were quick to hail their revivalist New Wave/post-punk sound and hooky dance-rock tracks like “Somebody Told Me,” “Mr. Brightside” and “All These Things That I’ve Done.” Follow-up Sam’s Town, which took influence from Bruce Springsteen and U2, remains one of the genre’s most polarizing follow-ups (no thanks to frontman Brandon Flowers telling the press it was “one of the best albums in the past 20 years” and “the album that keeps rock & roll afloat”), but the band’s commercial fortunes as an album and touring act have rarely struggled since, particularly in England, where all four of their studio albums have shot to the top of the charts.

Direct Hits will be out on November 11. Pre-order links are not yet available, but the track list (courtesy of NME) is below.

Direct Hits (Island, 2013)

1. Mr Brightside
2. Somebody Told Me
3. Smile Like You Mean It
4. All These Things That I’ve Done
5. When You Were Young
6. Read My Mind
7. For Reasons Unknown
8. Human
9. Spaceman
10. A Dustland Fairytale
11. Runaways
12. Miss Atomic Bomb
13. The Way It Was
14. Shot At the Night *
15. Just Another Girl *
16. Mr Brightside (Original Demo) **
17. When You Were Young (Calvin Harris Remix) **
18. Be Still **

Tracks 1-4 from Hot Fuss (Island, 2004)
Tracks 5-7 from Sam’s Town (Island, 2006)
Tracks 8-10 from Day & Age (Island, 2008)
Tracks 11-13 and 18 from Battle Born (Island, 2012)
* new track
** new/deluxe edition track