Release Round-Up: Week of March 6

Mark Lindsay, The Complete Columbia Singles (Real Gone)

Joe calls this collection of the Paul Revere and The Raiders frontman’s solo single sides “one of (Real Gone’s) finest and most consistently enjoyable releases to date.” If that doesn’t get your catalogue muscles moving, it may be time to check your pulse!

Clannad, Timeless / The Essential Clannad (RCA/Legacy)

Alternately given both titles (the package has the latter while the sticker atop the disc has the former), this double-disc overview of one of Ireland’s favorite rock bands features a heap of Celtic tradition alongside guest vocals by Bono, Bruce Hornsby and Steve Perry.

Fats Domino, The Imperial Singles Volume 5: 1962-1964 (Ace)

The fifth and final volume from Ace of Fats’ Imperial single sides.

’til tuesday, Voices Carry: Expanded Edition (Hot Shot Records)

Boston-based ’80s rockers – best known as the first spotlight for lead singer/songwriter Aimee Mann’s talents – see their first, most successful album reissued by new Cherry Red imprint Hot Shot, with three single mixes as bonus tracks.

Rick Nelson, The Complete Epic Recordings (Real Gone)

Another victory for Real Gone: all of Rick Nelson’s late ’70s solo material for Epic Records, much of it released for the first time on CD, in the U.S. or both!

Todd Rundgren, Back to the Bars / Hermit of Mink Hollow/Healing/The Ever-Popular Tortured Artist Effect ; Utopia, Todd Rundgren’s Utopia/Another Live / Adventures in Utopia/Deface the Music/Swing to the Right ; Roger Powell, Air Pocket / M. Frog, M. Frog (Edsel)

A whole lot of Todd Rundgren reissues.

David Sylvian, A Victim of Stars 1982-2012 (EMI)

Released last week in the U.K. and available on our shores now, this two-disc set collects the best of the Japan frontman’s solo work, with one new track.

(Don’t) Keep It Down: Hot Shot Expands ‘Til Tuesday’s Debut (UPDATED 1/27)

As promised, new U.K. reissue label Hot Shot Records is releasing an expanded edition of Voices Carry the 1985 debut album by pop group ‘Til Tuesday, and it’s now available to order.

The album was the culmination of three years of hard work from the Boston-based band, comprised of Aimee Mann (vocals/bass), Robert Holmes (vocals/guitar), Joey Pesce (keyboards) and Michael Hausman (drums). In 1983, six months after forming, the band earned local acclaim for their song “Love in a Vacuum,” which became a staple on WBCN-FM after the band won the station’s annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Rumble.

But even after signing with Epic Records and working with producer Mike Thorne (producer of works for Soft Cell, Bronski Beat and John Cale), label brass was not convinced that they had a hit on their hands with “Voices Carry,” a song written by Mann about her breakup with Hausman (though initially disguised as written about a woman!). While Cyndi Lauper reportedly wanted to cover the tune with the original lyrics, ‘Til Tuesday kept it for themselves and the rest was history.

Bolstered by a captivating video that won the band an MTV Video Music Award – who could forget Mann belting out her vocals in the middle of a crowded audience in Carnegie Hall? – “Voices Carry” leapt to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the album peaked at No. 19. Subsequent singles “Looking Over My Shoulder” and “Love in a Vacuum” failed to catch on with a national audience, though, and ‘Til Tuesday would split up in 1990 after two more critically acclaimed but commercially disappointing. Burgeoning songwriter Mann, of course, became a major force in her own right, embarking on a well-received (and Oscar and Grammy-nominated) solo career and marrying another great singer-songwriter, Michael Penn. (Interestingly, Hausman manages both of them.)

Hot Shot’s reissue features new liner notes featuring interviews with Robert Holmes and Mike Thorne and the original single mixes of “Voices Carry,” “Looking Over My Shoulder” and “Love in a Vacuum.” (UPDATE: the disc will also include “Are You Serious?” – the B-side to “Voices Carry” that appeared on original CD copies as a bonus track.) The set will be available on February 27 but can be ordered now.

Hit the jump to peruse the track list!

New Cherry Red Imprint Sets Its Sights; JoBoxers, ‘Til Tuesday Expansions Planned

Cherry Red’s stable of reissue labels has become a little bigger: this month, the group established a new imprint, Hot Shot Records, that looks to expand the horizons of reissues for pop and dance hits of yesteryear.

Established under the group’s thriving Big Break Records label, Hot Shot’s mission, according to its Facebook page, is “to breathe life back into a variety of smart pop, dance gems and hidden treasures.” From its outset, it looks like the label is looking to make a mark with forgotten gems of the 1980s – the first title, available to order now, is an expansion of Like Gangbusters, the 1983 debut by JoBoxers which yielded U.K. Top 10 hit “Just Got Lucky.” The disc includes the remastered 10-track album with another 10 B-sides and remixes – the usual par for the course from Cherry Red’s discography.

And future titles, announced through Facebook, indicate a continuation of the British New Wave/soul of the decade, with planned expansions of ‘Til Tuesday’s thrilling debut Voices Carry (1985) and New York at Dawn (1983), the sole album by Elbow Bones and The Racketeers, a big band/disco-inspired outfit overseen by August Darnell, best known by his Latin-flavored alter ego Kid Creole.

Best of luck to Cherry Red with their new venture, which you can partake in by getting your copy of the expanded Like Gangbusters after the jump.