Release Round-Up: Week of April 30

Shalamar, Friends: Deluxe Edition / The Isley Brothers, Winner Takes All: Expanded Edition / Bootsy Collins Presents Sweat Band: Expanded Edition / The Gap Band, Gap Band VII: Expanded Edition / Billy Paul, Lately: Expanded Edition (Big Break)

The Big Break titles we covered yesterday include a double-disc expansion of one of Shalamar’s most enduring LPs, plus Isleys, P-Funk and albums from Total Experience Records. Full coverage/pre-order links here!

Blue Oyster Cult, Imaginos / Sea Level, Cats on the Coast/On the Edge / Wilderness Road, Sold for the Prevention of Disease Only / David Allan Coe, Texas Moon / Eddy Arnold, Complete Original #1 Hits / Johnny Lytle, The Soulful Rebel/People & Love / Allspice, Allspice / Larry Williams, That Larry Williams (Real Gone Music)

Read all about Real Gone’s latest here.

Midnight Oil, Essential Oils / Indigo Girls, Jerry Lee Lewis, Mott the Hoople, Harry Nilsson, Pete Seeger, Andy Williams, Johnny Winter, The Essential (Legacy)

Two-disc Essential sets for a bunch of artists! Unreleased tracks can be enjoyed on the Andy Williams and Nilsson sets, and the others are solid overviews.  Joe reviews ’em here!

Indigo Girls: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Jerry Lee Lewis: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Midnight Oil: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Mott: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Nilsson: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Seeger: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Andy Williams: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Johnny Winter: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Eagles, History of the Eagles (Jigsaw)

The new two-part documentary on the legendary rock band, coupled with an unreleased concert from 1977.

DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Super Deluxe Blu-Ray: Amazon U.S.

The Tubes, Remote Control: Expanded Edition (Iconoclassic)

Four unreleased tracks complement this new version of the band’s final A&M album, a classic concept album produced by Todd Rundgren. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Ambrosia, Life Beyond L.A.: Deluxe Edition (Friday Music)

Led by David Pack, this smooth album spun off the hit “How Much I Feel”; here, it’s expanded with an unreleased bonus live set. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

G.C. Cameron, Love Songs and Other Tragedies: Expanded Edition / Phyllis Hyman, Somewhere in My Lifetime: Expanded Edition / Meli’sa Morgan, Good Love: Expanded Edition / Nancy Wilson, Music on My Mind / Life, Love and Harmony (SoulMusic Records) (Order all titles here from Amazon U.K.)

Here’s the latest batch from Cherry Red’s SoulMusic Records label!  Read Joe’s review of Somewhere in My Lifetime here!

West, Bruce and Laing, Whatever Turns You On / West, Bruce and Laing, Live ‘n’ Kickin’ / Walter Egan, Fundamental Roll/Not Shy / James Taylor, JT/Flag/Dad Loves His Work (Culture Factory)

The latest in mini-LP replica remasters from Culture Factory.

Release Round-Up: Week of May 15

Pantera, Vulgar Display of Power: 20th Anniversary Edition (ATCO/Rhino)

One of the heaviest albums of the ’90s, expanded with one bonus track from the vault and a bonus DVD of live material and music videos.

Diana Ross, Live in Central Park (Shout! Factory)

Both of Miss Ross’ iconic nights in Central Park in 1983 – one with rain, one without – on DVD for the first time anywhere.

The Tubes, Outside Inside: Expanded Edition (Iconoclassic)

Step inside another world with The Tubes’ most famous of pop/rock albums, newly remastered with bonus B-sides.

Various Artists, No Room for Rockstars: The VANS Warped Tour (Shout! Factory)

A documentary on the history of the influential punk rock concert tour, with a bonus CD of studio tracks by some of the tour’s most famous acts.

It’s a Beauty: Iconoclassic Continues Reissue Series for The Guess Who, The Tubes (UPDATED WITH LINKS AND TRACK LISTS)

In a surprise announcement, Iconoclassic Records is continuing their successful reissue campaigns for The Guess Who and The Tubes this summer.

Two Guess Who’s #10 (1973) and Road Food (1974) – the sixth and seventh in the label’s long line of Guess Who remasters – and The Tubes’ Outside Inside (1983) will be remastered and expanded, according to Iconoclassic’s Facebook page.

When Outside Inside‘s lead single “She’s a Beauty” cracked the Top 10 in 1983, The Tubes became one of the unlikeliest pop darlings in recent memory. Though they’d achieved some commercial success with the previous year’s The Completion Backward Principle (also expanded by Iconoclassic) and single “Talk to Ya Later” (which, like all the material on both albums, was produced by pop whiz David Foster), it was a surprise to see a hit by a band known in the ’70s for their flashy live shows satirizing the excesses of the industry.

But that smooth production by Foster was hard to ignore at the time, and with killer guest appearances by some of the best pop/rockers at the time, including horn arrangements by Jerry Hey, guest vocals by Martha Davis of The Motels and Bill Champlin of Chicago and pretty much the entire lineup of Toto (including Steve Lukather and Bobby Kimball, whose work is particularly prominent on “She’s a Beauty”), it’s not hard to understand why pop geeks are still down with The Tubes.

While Iconoclassic hasn’t locked down the full list of bonus tracks, it is known that there will be “single B-sides, single versions and the ultra rare Tubes version of ‘Satellite.'” (That track, an outtake from the Outside Inside sessions, was released on the Sedated in the ’80s No. 5 compilation released by The Right Stuff Records in 1985.)

What awaits Guess Who fans? Hit the jump to find out!

Hooked on a Feeling: Real Gone Readies Complete B.J. Thomas, Frankie Avalon, The Tubes, a “Rock Messiah” and More

Raindrops might be falling on your head, but there’s one thing I know: the March slate of releases from Real Gone Music will assuredly keep those blues at bay!  Featuring both returning favorites from the old Collectors’ Choice label as well as artists and recordings new to the Real Gone family, there’s something for everyone!  Joining B.J. Thomas’ The Complete Scepter Singles on March 27 will be Frankie Avalon’s Muscle Beach Party: The United Artists Sessions, The Tubes’ Young & Rich/Now, Rick Springfield’s Beginnings . . ., David Axelrod’s Messiah, Wishbone Ash’s Live Dates II and Clint Eastwood’s Rawhide’s Clint Eastwood Sings Cowboy Favorites.

Billy Joe Thomas was born in Oklahoma in 1942, but his family moved to Texas when he was just a couple weeks of age.  And it was in Texas where the young musician made a name for himself first as a member of The Triumphs and then under the tutelage of Huey P. Meaux.  The Meaux empire included such future stars as Ronnie Milsap, Doug Sahm, Johnny Winter, Barbara Lynn and Freddy Fender, and an A&R man by the name of Steve Tyrell.  When B.J. Thomas’ 1964 single of Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” on the small Pacemaker label began to attract national attention, Meaux turned the single over to Florence Greenberg’s Scepter Records.  Thomas and Scepter began a long and fruitful association and as of 1967, all of Thomas’ records began appearing exclusively on Scepter.  Steve Tyrell, too, would join Scepter and participate in the success of the label’s premier recordings by Dionne Warwick and the team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, who, in turn, would give B.J. Thomas his No. 1 pop breakthrough with 1969’s Academy Award-winning “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.”  Various compilations of Thomas’ Scepter catalogue have proliferated, most notably Ace’s 2003 The Scepter Hits and More.  Gordon Anderson’s Collectors’ Choice label brought a number of Thomas’ Scepter LPs to CD for the very first time, and now Real Gone’s 44-track anthology The Complete Scepter Singles is the first to offer A- and B-sides of every one of Thomas’ Scepter singles, including his 19 hits. Many of the B-sides never appeared on an album, and these rare tracks are making their long overdue CD debuts. DJ/journalist Mike Ragogna penned the notes, which feature quotes from Thomas.

Predating Thomas’ career by a few years is that of Frankie Avalon, beach party king.  The recordings made by Avalon for the Chancellor label have been compiled numerous times in the past, but his United Artists recordings have languished in virtual obscurity.  That’s about to change with the release of Muscle Beach Party: The United Artists Sessions.  Offering 20 stereo tracks recorded in 1964 and 1965, the new compact disc offers the entire album Muscle Beach Party and Other Movie Songs, a tie-in to director William Asher’s 1964 film starring Frankie and Annette Funicello, for which The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson composed songs with Roger Christian and Gary Usher.  (Annette released a competing Muscle Beach Party album on the Disneyland label!)  Avalon also tackles songs from other famous films, including Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer’s “Moon River” and “Days of Wine and Roses.”  Appended to the original LP are rare singles plus tracks from the soundtrack of I’ll Take Sweden, a 1965 Bob Hope comedy in which he co-starred. The set features notes by Tom Pickles as well as photographs.

At the same time Frankie Avalon was enjoying his days at the beach, a young actor named Clint Eastwood was starring in the television western Rawhide (1959-1965).  A talented composer himself, Eastwood has always taken his music as seriously as his acting, and in 1963, he recorded the LP   Rawhide’s Clint Eastwood Sings Cowboy Favorites.  Although Collectors’ Choice Music already released the album on CD in 2010, Real Gone is resuscitating it for a first-time return to vinyl for a 180-gram pressing.  That CD is returning to print, too, from Real Gone.  Like the first time around, both sides of Eastwood’s 1962 single “Rowdy” b/w “Cowboy Wedding Song” will be included on the CD version.

Hit the jump for Wishbone Ash, The Tubes, David Axelrod, and track listings with discographical annotation for every title!

Cherry Red Sets Off “Love Bomb” with Reissue of The Tubes’ Final Capitol LP

It’s no “She’s a Beauty,” but Tubes fans might be excited to know that the band’s final album for Capitol, 1985’s Love Bomb, is coming to CD with bonus tracks from Cherry Red Records.

The Tubes were well known in the late ’70s for their no-holds-barred live shows and sly songwriting, with a mind to skewer an increasingly saturated media landscape. As the 1980s dawned, however, The Tubes unexpectedly made moves to turn into a leaner, meaner, rock band. Two albums were cut with producer David Foster, The Completion Backward Principle (1981) and Outside Inside (1983), the latter of which featured Top 10 hit “She’s a Beauty” (written by Foster, lead singer Fee Waybill and Toto guitarist Steve Lukather and featuring much of Toto as guest performers).

After a commercially-nonexistent solo album, Waybill and the rest of The Tubes reconvened with producer Todd Rundgren, who helmed their 1979 effort Remote Control, on an album that attempted to jell all parties’ styles up to that point, with elements of The Tubes’ early and later years peeking through alongside some Utopia-inspired work. Unfortunately, audiences and critics were not impressed. To make matters worse, Capitol dropped them just as they were about to embark on a tour. Waybill left the band in 1986, finding success as a songwriter for others (often partnering with Richard Marx), but rejoined the band in 1993.

This expanded album includes two bonus tracks: the original edit of lead single “Piece by Piece” and its B-side, a combination of both parts of the two-part album cut “Night People.” Love Bomb detonates once more on February 20 and can be ordered after the jump.

Release Round-Up: Week of April 5

Rush, Moving Pictures: 30th Anniversary Edition (Mercury/UMe)

A CD/DVD remaster of one of the Canadian rock band’s most beloved albums, featuring a 5.1 surround remaster of the album and some rare music videos on the DVD. If you’re in the U.S., Best Buy is currently the only place you can get the set on CD/Blu-Ray; it’ll be available to general retail on May 3. (Amazon)

Material Issue, International Pop Overthrow: 20th Anniversary Edition (Hip-o Select)

An underrated power-pop classic gets expanded with rare B-sides and other unreleased content. (Hip-o Select)

The Tubes, The Completion Backward Principle: Expanded Edition (Iconoclassic)

A remaster of the New Wave band’s first Top 40 album and first record for Capitol, with bonus tracks and new liner notes. (Amazon)

Daft Punk, TRON: Legacy R3C0NF1GUR3D (Walt Disney)

One of the best soundtracks of last year gets the remix album treatment, the same day both TRON films are released on DVD and Blu-Ray. (Official site)

Ray Charles, Live in Concert: Expanded Edition (Concord)

The Genius’ 1965 live LP for ABC Records is expanded and remastered on Concord, keepers of much of Ray’s catalogue. (Amazon)

The Originals, California Sunset: Expanded Edition (Big Break Records)

An underrated, underground soul album from Motown’s vaults – already released in the U.K. last week – comes to U.S. shores today. (BBR)

Leon Russell, The Best of Leon Russell (EMI/Capitol)

A new compilation honoring the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, from his solo and sideman days to his latest victorious album with Elton John. (Amazon)

Miles Davis, The Definitive Miles Davis on Prestige / Bill Evans, The Definitive Bill Evans on Riverside and Fantasy / Albert King, The Definitive Albert King on Stax (Concord)

Some new double-disc compilations from Concord that compile some of the best jazz and blues artists of the 20th century. (Amazon: Miles, Evans, King)

Sergio Mendes, Celebration: A Musical Journey (Verve/UMe)

Brazil’s most legendary musician is anthologized in a new two-disc set. (Amazon)

Marshall Tucker Band, Greatest Hits (Shout! Factory)

A reissue of the band’s original greatest hits compilation, with the added presence of some rare single edits. (Shout! Factory)

Various Artists, ICON (UMe)

A lot of traditional rock acts get added to the budget compilation series, including Eric Clapton, B.B. King, The Who, Cat Stevens, Sublime, Joe Cocker and others. (A full list, with Amazon links, is here.)

Iconoclassic Adds Three Titles to Reissue Slate (UPDATED)

The Iconoclassic label kicks off their year in reissues with some exciting surprise expansions of some great ’70s and ’80s titles. The three titles, which have no street dates or official track lists as of yet, are nonetheless tantalizing.

The label has handled a good portion of expanding and remastering the catalogue of Canadian rockers The Guess Who; this campaign’s latest installment will see the reissue of Flavours (1975) for its 35th anniversary. The album, which included the last Guess Who Top 40 hit, “Dancin’ Fool,” will feature unreleased outtakes, new liner notes, and remastering by Vic Anesini.

Next up is a 30th anniversary edition of Raise!, the hit album by Earth, Wind and Fire which spawned a huge pop hit in “Let’s Groove” and the Grammy-winning “Wanna Be with You.” Several vinyl-only mixes will be included as bonus tracks.

And finally, another 30th anniversary edition, this time for the first Capitol album by The Tubes, The Completion Backward Principle. This was the band’s first album produced by David Foster, who’d put them on the path to success with “She’s a Beauty” later in the decade. Non-LP tracks, including singles and B-sides, will be included as bonus cuts.

Track lists and order links are now live over at the label’s Web site. Hit the jump to check ’em out!

Reissue Theory: The Tubes, “Outside Inside”

The music industry is a crazy place. One year your band’s putting on a crazy stage show that equally satirizes and utilizes the grandest excesses of rock, the next minute you’ve got a hit single with most of the members of Toto for support.

Such is the tale of The Tubes, one of many ambitious, underappreciated bands from the ’70s and ’80s. During the band’s early tenure on A&M from 1975 to 1981, they had a significant following thanks to their funny songs (first single “White Punks on Dope” hit the Top 30 in the U.K. and was covered by Motley Crue) and outsize stage productions (directed by Kenny Ortega, known for other outsize productions like the High School Musical series and Michael Jackson’s This is It). Their biggest LP on A&M, 1979’s Remote Control, was a biting concept album jabbing at T.V. culture with Todd Rundgren in the producer’s chair.

But they left the label broke and dejected after their follow-up to Control was shelved. The Tubes made the sweeping decision to retool their image: the stage show was toned down and the songs were poppier, thanks to the production efforts of David Foster, who’d become famous in the ensuing decades for some of the most delightfully bombastic pop ever (Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Josh Groban). Their debut for Capitol Records, The Completion Backward Principle, cracked the Top 40, setting the stage for Outside Inside. Lead single “She’s a Beauty” was the band’s biggest hit ever, at No. 10 on the Billboard charts. The song had the band dovetailing nicely with Foster’s production and the co-songwriting abilities of Toto’s Steve Lukather (he penned the song alongside Foster and Tubes frontman Fee Waybill), who bought most of his bandmates along for the ride as well – David Paich and Steve Porcaro are credited on the record, and Bobby Kimball’s unmistakeable voice can be heard singing on the chorus. (In another bit of Toto-related irony, the well-received video for the single starred Robert Arquette – now Alexis – who is the sibling of Rosanna, the namesake of one of Toto’s biggest singles.)

Two other singles were spun off the record but were far less successful. However, final single “The Monkey Time” is notable for being slightly re-recorded for single release; vocalist Michelle Gray replaced Martha Davis of The Motels for the single (which would find its way on some CD pressings in place of the album version).

There was one more LP for Capitol afterward, the Rundgren-produced Love Bomb, and then no activity from The Tubes until 1996. In that time, Waybill became a valued collaborator to another soft-pop heavyweight, the one and only Richard Marx. But the band sure went out after a hell of a high note, and one that should earn the special treatment on CD someday. (Maybe it would start a reissue campaign for the band on both sides of the fence, Capitol and A&M.)

Step inside another world after the jump.