Release Round-Up: Week of March 26

Stephen Stills, Carry On (Rhino)

The “S” in “CSNY” finally gets his own career-spanning box set, a four-disc affair with a couple dozen rare and unreleased tracks and a whole lot of great songs to boot. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Gene Clark, Here Tonight: The White Light Demos (Omnivore)

A dozen tracks of early ’70s demos from the former Byrd, which laid the framework for his first album of that decade. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Iron Maiden, Maiden England ’88 (UMe)

A quarter-century after Maiden toured behind Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, the original concert video chronicling the tour has been painstakingly remastered and expanded with unreleased performances and treasures from the band’s video vault. A double-disc presentation of the concert is also available on CD and vinyl.

2DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Steve Forbert, Alive on Arrival/Jackrabbit Slim: Special Anniversary Edition (Blue Corn Music)

This two-disc set expands the first two albums by the “Romeo’s Tune” troubadour with unreleased outtakes. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Wendy & Lisa, Wendy & Lisa: Expanded Edition (Cherry Pop)

Prince may have split up The Revolution, but this 1987 debut LP from two of his most famous collaborators is worth your time. U.K. label Cherry Pop appends a few bonus remixes and new liner notes on this version. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Country Joe & The Fish, Electric Music for the Mind and Body (Ace)

Not only available for the first time on CD, but available for the first time since its original release: the original mono and stereo mixes of San Francisco’s first psychedelic long-player on two discs. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Tandyn Almer, Along Comes Tandyn (Sundazed)

He penned “Along Comes Mary” for The Association and collaborated with Brian Wilson, but the late Tandyn Almer is only now getting his due with the premiere commercial release of this 1967 demo LP pressed to turn artists on to his precious pop.

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

Chasing Waterfalls: Cherry Pop Plans New Expansion of “Wendy and Lisa”

Exciting news for Prince enthusiasts: two of the Purple One’s most beloved collaborators, Wendy and Lisa, are reissuing their 1987 debut album on Cherry Pop Records next month.

If you were down with Prince and The Revolution as they exploded into international stardom with 1984’s Purple Rain, you likely were drawn to the subplot of The Kid’s band members, Wendy and Lisa, who clashed with their bandleader over his artistic meandering. At the film’s climax, the group dominates Minneapolis’ First Avenue with the film’s title track, an eight-minute opus based upon a set of chords the duo gave their friend and collaborator.

While that story was created for filmic tension, the real-life tension between the talented bandleader and his equally talented band members is a crucial part of the Prince narrative. While the vocals and playing of guitarist Wendy Melvoin (whose first show with The Revolution was a First Avenue gig that was recorded and incorporated into the Purple Rain album) and keyboardist Lisa Coleman were crucial to Prince’s early-to-mid-’80s hit streak, Prince’s tendency to rely on only his own musical gifts ultimately led to the dissolution of his band in 1986. (Prince has worked intermittently with the duo since, offering them co-production work on an uncompleted Prince and The Revolution album in 1999; in 2006 and 2007, Wendy and Lisa appeared on certain live dates with Prince and contributed to his Planet Earth LP.

Left without a band, the duo – friends and collaborators since a very young age and the daughters of great session musicians (Wrecking Crew members Mike Melvoin and Gary L. Coleman) – recorded their own debut LP for Columbia Records. At once reminiscent of Prince’s Minneapolis sound production (former Revolution drummer Bobby Z. co-produced) and the duo’s sunny pop tendencies, Wendy and Lisa never met the kind of success it probably deserved, in spite of killer singles like “Waterfall” and “Honeymoon Express,” both lower-middling U.K. hits. (“Waterfall” hit the charts twice, once as a remixed version in 1989.) Undaunted by the lack of chart success, Wendy and Lisa still record together, having moved largely from pop-rock to film and television composition. (They’ve worked on many high-regarded series including Heroes, Touch, Crossing Jordan and their Emmy-winning work for Nurse Jackie.)

On March 25, Wendy and Lisa will be released as an expanded edition by Cherry Pop Records. Four bonus tracks will be included, all dance mixes of singles including “Honeymoon Express,” “Sideshow” and the 1989 remixes of “Waterfall.” (A previous edition on the Wounded Bird label featured four bonus tracks, including the remixes of “Sideshow” and “Honeymoon Express,” the single edit of “Waterfall” and a non-LP B-side, “To Trip is to Fall.”) A new interview and track-by-track notes from Coleman are also featured in this set, making it a must for fans and collectors.

After the jump, take a look at the track list and find pre-order links for this new reissue.

Cherry Pop Reissues Wendy & Lisa Album

Cherry Pop has announced details for a new reissue that will have Prince fans excited: an expansion of Wendy & Lisa’s sophomore album, Fruit at the Bottom.

Childhood friends, band mates, lovers, soundtrack composers – Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman have had a lengthy, prolific career in the music industry. Both daughters of session musicians, Coleman was approached by Prince in 1980 to play keyboards for his Dirty Mind album. Three years later, with the exit of Dez Dickerson from the band, Prince recruited Melvoin to be his second guitarist. Her first night with the band was a trial by fire: a benefit concert at Minneapolis’ First Avenue in 1983, where the newly formed Prince and The Revolution first played the songs that would form the basis for Purple Rain. (Several of the tracks that ended up on that iconic album were overdubbed versions of live recordings from that very night.)

Though The Revolution was tragically short-lived – tensions particularly mounting between Prince and Wendy & Lisa led to the band’s dissolution in 1986 – the girls soldiered on, releasing their self-titled debut on Columbia Records (Virgin Records in the U.K.) in 1987. That album had the incredibly underrated, moderate U.K. hit “Waterfall.” Though Fruit at the Bottom fared even less on the charts, it still showcased the duo’s talents as crafters of danceable pop. And the guest list was impressive: the duo’s sisters, Susannah Melvoin (also an ex-Prince associate, having been a member of The Family and one of Prince’s more notable girlfriends) and Cole Ynda, contributed extensive background vocals, and Jesse Johnson of The Time lent his guitar skills. (In an incredible display of musical friendship – or marketing savvy – Prince himself actually remixed the album’s “Lolly Lolly” for single release.)

Fruit at the Bottom, previously expanded in the U.S. on Wounded Bird Records in 2006, includes the original 10-track album remastered alongside five bonus tracks: remixes of singles “Satifaction,” “Lolly Lolly” and “Are You My Baby?” and two non-LP B-sides. (One of them, “Hip Hop Love,” did not appear on the Wounded Bird CD, making this one vital for completists and collectors.) This disc is out in the U.K. on February 21 and can be ordered at Cherry Pop’s Web site. Full track details are after the jump.