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!

“Weird Scenes Inside” Rhino’s Record Store Day Slate

With April 19’s Record Store Day a little more than a week away, it might be time to start making those checklists! We’ve already filled you in on exciting releases from Legacy Recordings, Real Gone Music, Sundazed, Omnivore Recordings, Varese Sarabande and many others, but today it’s all about Rhino! The Warner Music Group catalogue arm has a bumper crop of more than 25 exclusive offerings from some of the biggest names classic rock, vintage R&B and beyond – including The Doors, Grateful Dead, Ramones, Randy Newman, and, as previously reported, R.E.M.! And that’s not all.

A number of new titles are at the heart of Rhino’s RSD campaign. The Dead premieres Live at Hampton Coliseum for the first time on double vinyl, preserving the band’s Virginia concert of May 4, 1979. Another live set getting a first-ever vinyl issue is Donny Hathaway’s Live at the Bitter End 1971, first issued last year on the Never My Love: The Anthology box set. The Pogues with Joe Strummer Live in London 1991, was like the Donny Hathaway release, first issued on CD in a recent box set (last year’s 30 Years complete albums box) and makes its first appearance in the LP format. It dates back to the period when the Clash frontman filled in for Shane MacGowan in the Pogues line-up. Rhino’s new releases are rounded out by a collection of new-to-vinyl outtakes from country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons, a new Greatest Hits from rapper and longtime Law and Order: SVU star Ice-T, and of course, R.E.M.’s eagerly awaited Unplugged 1991/2001: The Complete Sessions.

Rhino continues its Side by Side series of 45s featuring two versions of the same song with pairings of Devo and The Flaming Lips (“Gates of Steel”), Dinosaur Jr. and The Cure (“Just Like Heaven”), Pantera and Poison Idea (“The Badge”) and two Mystery Artists– and Mystery Song, natch.  The label is also bringing a number of classic LPs back into print. These rare treats include The Birthday Party from Jeff Lynne’s pre-ELO psych-rock band The Idle Race, Randy Newman’s stunningly original debut solo LP – on which he created something new under the sun! – in its original mono version, Otis Redding’s mono Pain in My Heart, and classics from The Everly Brothers, The Velvet Underground, Hüsker Dü and many others.

Last but not least, Rhino has an array of compilations and singles on tap. Perhaps the most unexpected title is The Doors’ Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine, the band’s first compilation following the untimely death of Jim Morrison. First released in 1972, Gold Mine will also get a first-time CD reissue in May. A rare Ramones EP (1980’s Meltdown with the Ramones) and the first-ever U.S. release of Fleetwood Mac’s 1970 single “Dragonfly” b/w “Purple Dancer” join titles from Joy Division, The Specials, The Stranglers and even a reissue of Elektra’s 1964 multi-LP box set The Folk Box. The latter even comes with a bonus single featuring Judy Collins and Tom Paxton!

We wouldn’t leave you hanging with all of this tantalizing information; just hit the jump for the full specs (including limited edition numbers, vinyl details, etc.) as helpfully provided by our very own Mike D. for every title mentioned above and more! Look for Rhino’s releases at your finest local independent record retailer on Saturday, April 19.

Release Round-Up: Week of October 29

Bananarama, Deep Sea Skiving / Bananarama / True Confessions / Wow! / Pop Life / Please Yourself: Deluxe Editions (Edsel)

The pop trio’s London discography gets the royal treatment with these 2CD/1DVD expanded editions featuring loads of rare and unreleased bonus tracks.

Deep Sea Skiving: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Bananarama: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
True Confessions: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Wow!: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Pop Life: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Please Yourself: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Humble Pie, Performance: Rockin’ The Fillmore – The Complete Recordings (Omnivore)

The landmark 1971 album is expanded into box set form, featuring all four sets at the legendary Fillmore East recorded for the original release. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Jethro Tull, Benefit: A Collector’s Edition (Chrysalis/Rhino)

Tull’s third album gets newly remixed in stereo and surround by Steven Wilson and newly expanded with rare single and remix material. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Andy Williams, The Complete Christmas Recordings / Bobby Darin, The 25th Day of December with Bobby Darin / Patti Page, Christmas with Patti Page (Deluxe Edition) / The New Christy Minstrels, The Complete Columbia Christmas Recordings / Various Artists, Funky Christmas / Tompall and the Glaser Brothers, Lovin’ Her Was Easier/After All These Years / Belfegore, Belfegore (Deluxe Edition) (Real Gone Music)

Spread some holiday cheer with the latest batch of Real Gone titles, which also includes the incredibly rare sophomore album by German goth/New Wave outfit Belfegore – now expanded with bonus tracks.

Andy Williams: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Bobby Darin: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Patti Page: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
The New Christy Minstrels: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Funky Christmas: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Tompall Glaser: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Belfegore: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Boz Scaggs / James Taylor / Wu-Tang Clan, The Essential (Legacy)

The latest in the double-disc hits series includes career-spanning treasuries from Scaggs and Taylor (including the Warner and Columbia years in equal measure) and a new collection from hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan.

Boz: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
JT: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Wu-Tang: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Various Artists, 12″ Disco: The Collection (Rhino U.K.)

Compiled by the fine folks at Big Break Records, this triple disc set features disco hits and rarities in equal measure, including a few tracks bowing onto CD for the first time. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Leo Sayer, Just a Box: The Complete Studio Recordings 1971-2006 (Edsel)

All of the U.K. hitmaker’s (“You Make Me Feel Like Dancing,” “When I Need You”) studio albums, plus two discs of rarities in this exhaustive set curated by Sayer himself on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his first U.K. hit, “The Show Must Go On.” (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Various Artists, Oh Yes We Can Love: The History of Glam Rock (Universal U.K.)

A quintuple-disc set exhaustively looks at a half-century of the glam rock genre, digging far beyond the usual hits and influential tracks. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Ramones, The Sire Years 1976-1981 (Rhino)

The first six Ramones LPs, albeit without any of the bonus tracks included on previous reissues. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Eagles, The Studio Albums 1972-1979 (LP) (Rhino)

A vinyl box featuring the band’s complete Elektra studio albums. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Chili Peppers Revisit Classic Covers on Digital EP

How do the Red Hot Chili Peppers celebrate their graduation to legend status per their recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction? They pay tribute to the ones that came before on a new digital EP that includes a handful of B-sides paying tribute to their favorite fellow inductees.

We Salute You, to be released May 1, includes covers of Dion and The Belmonts, The Ramones, The Stooges, Neil Young, The Beach Boys and David Bowie, all of which can certainly be argued as influences for the long-running funk-rock outfit.  Half of the covers are studio takes, having appeared on CD singles or other compilations (the band’s take on The Ramones’ “Havana Affair” dates from 2003’s We’re a Happy Family tribute album, for example). The other half are live tracks, one of which is being released for the first time anywhere. (All but one of these tracks have never appeared in digital format before.)

For those fans that haven’t warmed up to new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who joined following original arguably best-known guitarist John Frusciante’s second departure last year, fear not: almost every one of these tracks features the band’s innovative axeman. (The cover of Neil Young’s “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere” dates from the band’s most recent tour last year, while their take on Bowie’s “Suffragette City” was released on a CD single during the One Hot Minute era, when Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction served as guitarist.)

Check out the full track lineup after the jump.