Rhino Unleashes “Original Album Series” in Europe

Ever feel like all the fancy bonus content and packaging on some reissues totally overshadows the music? Rhino’s European division must’ve felt so, too: they released a handful of Original Album Series boxes a few weeks ago, featuring a lot of music with a minimum of frills and a relatively low price.

The titles – five albums by one artist, housed in mini-LP cardboard sleeves and put into a box – are the ideal quick, easy discography builder for new fans or collectors with a few notable gaps on their shelves. A myriad of artists, from the obvious (CHIC, Carly Simon, The Doobie Brothers) to the overlooked (Sérgio Mendes, The Young Rascals, Tim Buckley), are represented here. While some of these titles are available in expanded form, a few of these are hard to find on their own on CD. With a price tag that hovers around the £10 mark, it’s certainly something to consider.

All of the titles, with the albums they contain, are after the jump, along with links from Amazon’s U.K. pages.

Light in the Attic Shines with Rhino Distribution Deal

One of the biggest negatives about the Rhino Records catalogue in recent years is that the label’s Handmade titles are generally limited to Rhino’s website. Reissues and limited box sets by Hip-o Select and Legacy will easily find their way on the shelves at any forward-thinking independent record store, but with Rhino, it seems harder to come by.

Thanks to a rising star among indie record labels, that may be about to change. Rhino has announced a distribution deal with Light in the Attic Records to press titles from the Rhino Handmade catalogue and get them into new markets.

Light in the Attic, a Seattle-based label that counts reissues by Serge Gainsbourg, Kris Kristofferson, Charles “Packy” Axton and Motown’s MoWest Records label in their nearly decade-long history, has gained some great (and deserved) plaudits from the catalogue world for their recent efforts. Under the terms of the deal, Handmade titles will remain at Rhino’s website for 60 days before Light in the Attic handles general retail distribution.

The first two titles to be redistributed by the indie will be Handmade’s expanded editions of Tim Buckley’s 1966 debut album and Ride’s Nowhere, streeting October 4 and 18, respectively. It’s quite an auspicious move for both labels, and both are getting a hearty congratulations from Second Disc HQ. And, as always, be sure to keep an eye out right here for more news as it develops.

Review: Tim Buckley, “Tim Buckley”

When Tim Buckley is discussed today, it’s most often in the context of his son Jeff, and the eerie similarities between the lives of father and son, both of whom died at tragically young ages. So Rhino Handmade’s expanded two-CD remaster of Tim Buckley’s debut (Rhino Handmade RHM2 526087, 2011) isn’t just a celebration of a folk-rock classic, but a stunning reminder of his talent on its own considerable merits.

Tim Buckley’s eponymous debut remains a haunting work by a haunted man. Yet like many great talents, Buckley was – for a while, at least – able to channel his demons into lasting art. Hailing from bucolic Orange County, California, the teenaged Buckley had to drive north on the newly-finished 405 freeway to be “where the action is” on the Sunset Strip. It was at The Trip that Buckley’s band, The Bohemians (consisting of singer/guitarist Buckley, bassist Jim Fielder, drummer Larry Beckett and guitarist Brian Hartzler), encountered Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. The Mothers were playing the Trip, and the Bohemians had a connection. The Mothers’ drummer Jimmy Carl Black, who played on the titanic 1966 Freak Out!, was a friend of Fielder’s, having worked with him at an Anaheim music store. (Fielder would have a brief, tumultuous stint in The Mothers between the releases of Freak Out! and its follow-up, Absolutely Free, and then go on to become a founding member of Blood, Sweat and Tears.) Black took a liking to The Bohemians and introduced them to The Mothers’ then-manager, Herb Cohen. It was Buckley alone, however, who captivated Cohen. He took the young singer under his wing, both personally and professionally. As he had negotiated Zappa’s debut on Verve Records, he engineered a deal for Buckley at Jac Holzman’s Elektra Records.

For Tim Buckley, Elektra only wanted the best. Holzman himself helmed the singer/songwriter’s debut album with the label’s house producer Paul Rothchild, a name now familiar to fans of The Doors and Janis Joplin. Rothchild was aided by his frequent associate, engineer Bruce Botnick. Fielder remained on bass, joined by Lee Underwood on lead guitar (beginning a fruitful relationship with Buckley) and Billy Mundi of The Mothers on drums. Mundi, later a founding member of Rhinoceros, enjoyed a longer association with Zappa’s unit than Fielder, playing on a number of Zappa’s albums including We’re Only In It for the Money and Uncle Meat. Tim Buckley was a luxury project by any account. Van Dyke Parks had just been in the throes of creating Smile with Brian Wilson when he was enlisted to overdub keyboards, and seasoned pro Jack Nitzsche brought his usual majestic touch as composer of the album’s string arrangements.

How does Rhino’s remastered and expanded Tim Buckley stack up? Hit the jump to find out!

Release Round-Up: Week of January 11

Queen, Greatest Hits / Greatest Hits II (Island/UMe)

Queen’s 40th anniversary celebration kicks in the U.K. off with a new remaster of the band’s first two greatest hits compilations on the band’s new label in England, Island Records. (The music of Queen is still licensed by Disney’s Hollywood Records in the U.S.) Remastered and expanded studio albums will follow later in the year, which American fans will also have to import. (Official site)

Tim Buckley, Tim Buckley: Deluxe Edition (Elektra/Rhino Handmade)

This classic, folky debut is presented in an expanded set that features the album in mono and stereo and a bonus disc of unreleased demos. (Rhino Handmade)

N.E.R.D, The Best of N.E.R.D (Virgin/EMI)

The pop/rap producers of The Neptunes had some minor commercial success as their own group, whose early material is being compiled for the first time. (Official site)

Stevie Wonder, Fulfillingness’ First Finale (Audio Fidelity)

A 24K gold CD edition of Wonder’s 1974 album, a No. 1 hit and one of the artist’s defining Motown classics. (Audio Fidelity)

Also out this week on vinyl: reissues of ZZ Top’s Rio Grande Mud (1972) and Deguello (1979) on Rhino, and from Friday Music, new pressings of Poison’s Look What the Cat Dragged In (1986), Ted Nugent’s Cat Scratch Fever (1977) and Deep Purple’s Burn (1974).

Tim Buckley’s Debut to Be Expanded (UPDATED 12/18)

Rhino is releasing Tim Buckley’s debut album for Elektra next week, sources confirm.

Buckley was all of 19 years old when he recorded his debut LP in 1966 with Elektra founder Jac Holzman co-producing and a stunningly strong group of session players backing him up (Lee Underwood on guitar, Jim Fielder of Blood, Sweat and Tears on bass, Van Dyke Parks on piano and Mothers of Invention drummer Billy Mundi). Though critics never gave him scores of attention, he is now widely regarded as one of the more preeminent folk singers of the day, a particular inspiration to many sensitive, experimental singer-songwriters – including his own son, Jeff. (In a case of bizarre, tragic irony, both Tim and Jeff died at young ages, before their music had a chance to grip critics as they do now.)

The Rhino Handmade edition of Tim Buckley will include the original album in both stereo and mono and an extra disc of demos, some cut with Buckley’s original group, The Bohemians. It’s now yours to order here; view the track list after the jump.