If you choose to buy Paul and Linda McCartney‘s new Ram reissue from paulmccartney.com you get two digital bonus audio tracks not featured on any of the physical formats (including the deluxe box). Eat At Home / Smile Away(Live in Groningen 1972) is a fantastic 8 minute live medley of the two Ram tracks that is as enjoyable as anything on the eight-track bonus disc that comes with the special and deluxe box editions. Uncle Albert Jam is a bit of studio tomfoolery that will raise a smile or two. Nice to hear, but can immediately be tagged ‘inessential’.
Congratulations to twitter users @QueenSpinky who won the box set.
WIN a Graceland Collectors’ Edition Box Set
We have a copy of Paul Simon’s new Graceland Collectors’ Edition Box Set to give away!
This four disc deluxe box set (released on 4 June) is worth over £80 and celebrates the 25th anniversary of Graceland with bonus tracks, concert footage and video clips, the documentary film Under African Skies, a deluxe book featuring unreleased photos, new liner notes and a replica of Paul Simon’s handwritten lyrics pad. This beautiful collection is packaged in a slipcase wrapped in fine linen.
To be in with a chance of winning this fantastic prize simply retweet this post using the TWEET button below and follow us on twitter.
The lucky winner will be selected randomly on Tuesday 12th of June 2012 and will be informed via twitter. Thanks to Sony Music for providing this prize, and good luck to everyone who enters!
Pre-order your favoured configuration of Graceland 25 here including an exclusive SIGNED collectors’ bundle.
***THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED***
Congratulations to twitter users @QueenSpinky who won the box set.
Paul McCartney‘s 1971 album, although credited to Paul and Linda, is perhaps the record that best shows off the unbounding and unbridled talents of the ex-Beatle. Ram is McCartney’s solo ‘time-capsule’ album, full of wit, energy and musical diversions (Uncle Admiral/Admiral Halsey) that could only come from him, with a spattering of songs where he simply finds an extra gear and delivers a classic – Too Many People, Heart of the Country and The Back Seat Of My Car. Continue reading “Animal Magic: McCartney shines a spotlight on RAM with deluxe box”
Michael Jackson‘s single Bad – has been remixed by different DJs/artists as part of Pepsi’s sponsorship deal to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the album.
The ‘AfroJack Remix’ – is the first to emerge, although it is not clear at this stage whether this is one of the new remixes on the forthcoming reissue, or whether it is only available to download via one of the promotional Pepsi cans. Either way, you can hear the new remix below.
A fascinating video about creating Pink Floyd‘s Wish You Were Here SACD which was released last year. James Guthrie talks about spotting a ‘missing piano’ from the multi-tracks and and Storm Thorgerson discusses his approach to the artwork.
Fleetwood Mac will re-release the four CD box set 25 Years – The Chain on June 11th on Reprise.
25 Years – The Chain was originally released in 20 years ago and compiles seventy-two tracks spanning the band’s history from their formation in 1967 to 1992. In addition to a number of their defining songs – Go Your Own Way, The Chain, Tusk, Little Lies, Rhiannon, Don’t Stop and Everywhere – the release also compiles a number of alternate mixes, outtakes and live performances.
Like the Rod StewartStoryteller reissue from late last year, 25 Years – The Chain will be available at a bargain price (less than £12 on amazon) and comes in new packaging – a double ‘fat box’ CD with a sixty-eight page booklet and outer slip-case.
Neil Young will follow the release of his eagerly anticipated new album Americana by issuing the Official Release Series, Discs 1-4 box set on 11 June on Reprise Records (19 June in the US).
This set compiles his first four classic albums together – Neil Young (1968), Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969), After The Gold Rush (1970) and Harvest (1972). All four albums have been remastered.
This great collection is a variation on the Official Release Series 1-4 Gold Box released in the US a year or two ago. That set was a limited edition (although still available now) had gatefold card sleeves and – as the title suggests – special gold discs. This new set comes with jewel-cased CDs which are – presumably – standard discs. The gold box was a pricey investment whereas this new set is an utter bargain.
It’s hard to think of a better way of spending £12 than to buy these four albums.
Available to pre-order from here (UK) or here (US).
Released on June 4th, Americana is the first album from Neil Young & Crazy Horse in nearly nine years. Crazy Horse is Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina, Poncho Sampedro and Neil Young.
The album is collection of classic American folk songs and was produced by Neil Young and John Hanlon, along with Mark Humphreys.
This album is being released on CD, Vinyl and Blu-ray – look out for a special feature next month which looks at the Americana on all three formats and weighs up the strengths and weaknesses of each. At the moment the Blu-ray does not seem to be available for pre-order but see below for the other formats.
Edsel Records maintain reputation for excellent 1980s reissues with the news that Bronksi Beat‘s 1984 album Age Of Consent will be reissued on 2 July as a 2CD deluxe edition, along with the same treatment for both Communards albums – Communards and Red. Continue reading “Bronksi Beat and Communards 2CD Deluxe Editions on the way”
The eponymous debut from David Bowie‘s 1989 ‘no-bullshit’ band, was released 23 years ago today and remains one of his most underrated albums. It is often forgotten that initially the record was well-received by a fair proportion of the media – Q Magazine gave it four stars. Derision came later. Continue reading “Coming up for air: “Tin Machine” is 23″
Out today in the US, we give you Paul and Linda McCartney‘s RAM Deluxe Box Set. Extensive photo gallery below. Full review of this set later in this week. Let us have your thoughts on what you see!
You can order this lovely item here (UK) or here (US).
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Click here for further photos or click ‘2’ above!
“Hell, I never said I was the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll… I said simply that I’m the BEST!”
Jerry Lee Lewis has never been the modest type, but listening to this new four-disc box set from Salvo Music is a great reminder of just how good ‘The Killer’ was at his peak.
ABBA were due to release The Essential Collection on 21 May, a new collection of ABBA
hits and other classic tracks. However, this has now been pushed back to the autumn, with amazon.co.uk currently showing 3 September as a release date.
The set will come in three different configurations: a double-CD, a DVD, and a limited edition package featuring the two CDs, the DVD and an illustrated 28-page booklet. The DVD features all official ABBA promo clips in remastered form, including two previously
unreleased videos: Conociéndome, Conociéndote and Gracias por la música (Spanish versions of Knowing Me, Knowing You and Thank You For The Music, respectively).
Some great behind-the-scenes footage from when David Gilmour guested at Roger Waters’The Wall gig at the 02 Arena in May last year. Pink Floyd bandmate Nick Mason is also present.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg8ZI1-l25E
CD singles, remember them? Introduced to the public in 1986, they soon superseded the humble cassette single as the format of choice during the 1990s.
This is part two of our look back at the wonderful world of CD single packaging in the 1980s and 1990s. If you haven’t read it yet, you might want to first check out part one here.
So, once again, we dig into the SuperDeluxeEdition archive and take a look at some wonderful formats and packaging, utilised for the CD single. All CDs are UK releases, unless otherwise specified (click on photos to enlarge).
The CD single featured more tracks than any other formatFull lyrics within the gatefold
Peter Gabriel / Big Time / 1987
The third single from Peter Gabriel‘s massive So album, came in a very glossy gatefold card sleeve, with a generous five tracks, including an extended version of the title track. The lyric is printed inside the gatefold and the whole design is consistent with the So branding.
The Japan-only 'snap pack' of None Of The Above
Duran Duran / None Of The Above / 1994
A Japan-only CD single from Duran Duran‘s ‘Wedding Album’. This style of release is known as ‘Tanzaku’ in Japan and is sometimes referred to as a ‘snap pack’ because you can literally snap it in half and discard the bottom section. Itfeatures the three-inch format that the Japanese had pioneered in the late eighties, complete with advertisement for Honda Integra!! The extended mix of None Of The Above was exclusive to this release until the White Lines single in 1995 (where it appeared as a bonus track) and the single edit remains unique.
Excellent artwork and design made these singles very desirable
Duffy / Sugar High / 1995
Stephen – once “Tin Tin” – Duffy was always messing around with his name, and after his amazing Music In Colours album in 1993, he dropped the “Stephen” to become just “Duffy” and released an album of the same name in 1995. Funnily enough, Neil and Tim Finn did exactly the same thing in the same year, when they teamed up for an album together as “Finn”. But I digress. On Indolent records at the time, ‘Duffy’ released three singles in these very attractive card sleeves, with some great art direction. Sugar High was single number two, with London Girls preceding it and Needle Mythology as the follow-up. The CDs sat on a centre spindle embedded in the right hand gatefold panel.
An expensive looking CD single
Eurythmics / You Have Place A Chill In My Heart / 1988
The last single from the Savage album, You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart came in a black circular tin box, with the title embossed on the lid. Must have been pricey to produce, but then again record companies had money to burn in those days. The previous single I Need A Man also came in a very similar tin, but it was normal tin ‘colour’ and hasn’t stood the test of time as well as the one above (ours is rusty).
The single before "Hope Of Deliverance" was released in the same design
Paul McCartney / C’Mon People / 1993
The second (and final) single from McCartney’s Off The Ground album came in a plastic framed cardboard sleeve-pack. If you look closely at the pictures you will see a plastic tab on the right that ‘secures’ the lid in place. There were a few variations of this kind of sleeve in the early to mid-nineties. The disc itself also has the artwork on display.
The grown up album-sized jewel case
Terence Trent D’Arby / This Side Of Love / 1989
There was always something quite luxurious about single releases ‘borrowing’ the album jewel case for their packaging needs. So much nicer than the slimline jewel cases, which were, of course, the norm for singles. Terence Trent D’Arby actually released two This Side Of Love CD singles. TRENT C5 (above) was the standard release with an ‘extended version’ of the single and TRENT P5 a picture disc CD which had a different “12-inch Remix” version. Both came in the album-style jewel cases.
Electronic / Getting Away With It / 1989
This is actually the US ‘maxi-single’ from the Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr outfit. It has a white sleeve (different from the UK dark brown) and the CD is held within a plastic slip-case which slides into the card sleeve. Not an altogether successful design. It’s hard getting used to up-and-down when you are used to left-and-right!
Crowded House / Locked Out / 1993
A massive five singles were taken from the sublime Together Alone album in the UK and all went top 30. Locked Out was single number three, and like all the others (except final single Pineapple Head) it came in double digi-pak where you could hold ‘disc two’, should you decide to purchase. Normally lots of live versions of tracks would tempt the loyal fans.
3D glasses!
Jellyfish / I Wanna Stay Home / 1990
The Baby’s Coming Back single from Jellyfish’s Bellybutton album came in a limted edition ‘nappy’ (i.e. diaper) sleeve, and this final single was proudly called a ‘3D CD Pack’ and came with the old-style 3D glasses. Put them to your eyes and simply look at the pictures on the left and right panels and enjoy the ‘power’ of 3D! Having tested this recently I can confirm it doesn’t rival Avatar as a 3D experience.
If you choose to buy Paul and Linda McCartney‘s new Ram reissue from paulmccartney.com you get two digital bonus audio tracks not featured on any of the physical formats (including the deluxe box). Eat At Home / Smile Away (Live in Groningen 1972) is a fantastic 8 minute live medley of the two Ram tracks that is as enjoyable as anything on the eight-track bonus disc that comes with the special and deluxe box editions. Uncle Albert Jam is a bit of studio tomfoolery that will raise a smile or two. Nice to hear, but can immediately be tagged ‘inessential’.
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