Month: October 2013

Sheryl Crow / Five Classic Albums

Posted on by Paul Sinclair

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This new Sheryl Crow album collection CD box set is released on 5 November 2013.

The five-disc set brings together every studio album the singer-songwriter has released in the 15-year period between 1993 and 2008, with the notable exception of her self titled second album. The albums in question are Tuesday Night Music Club (1993), The Globe Sessions (1998) C’mon C’mon (2002), Wildflower (2005) and Detours (2008).

Crow’s eighth studio album, Feels Like Home, was released at the beginning of September.

Stevie Wonder / Classic Album Selection 1972-1976

Posted on by Paul Sinclair

classic album selection

The word ‘classic’ tends to be used rather loosely when record labels market ‘classic album selection’ box sets. Often these collections might feature one or two mildly successful records, padded out with less notable fair. Regularly the ‘blockbuster’ album is missing altogether.

Praise be then, for a set that truly lives up to the billing. This box has been previously available in some territories, but on 28 October 2013 Universal Music will issue a Stevie Wonder Classic Album Selection in the UK that contains a phenomenal run of albums that are rightfully regarded as some of the best records ever made. Within this set is Talking Book (1972), Innervisions (1973), Fulfillingness’ First Finale (1974) and the double album Songs In The Key Of Life (1976).
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The Vinyl Countdown: Best LP box sets for Autumn 2013

Posted on by Paul Sinclair

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With vinyl sales up 78% in 2013, according to Official Record Store Chart data, it’s no surprise that the big labels are all pushing out vinyl box sets this autumn.

Here is our pick of the best of the releases:

 The Eagles / "The Studio Albums 1972-1979" limited edition vinyl box

The Eagles: The Studio Albums 1972-1979 – 6LP box set

Limited to 5,000 sets, this Eagles box collects the six classic studio albums from the 1970s. Foil-blocked logo and artwork upgrades add a touch of class to this attractive looking collection. Read more
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Eric Clapton / Unplugged deluxe

Posted on by Paul Sinclair

Eric Clapton / "Unplugged" 2CD+DVD remastered and expanded reissue

Eric Clapton’s 1992 album Unplugged, is to be reissued on 15 October as a 2CD+DVD expanded and remastered edition.

A bonus CD features six outtakes and alternate versions, while a DVD boasts a newly restored version of the original broadcast with more than an hour of previously unseen pre-show rehearsal. Check out the video below which serves as a great reminder of the Unplugged performance.

 

Giles Martin on working with Paul McCartney on his new album

Posted on by Paul Sinclair

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Producer Giles Martin, spoke yesterday evening about working with Paul McCartney on Macca’s forthcoming studio album New.

Martin (son of Beatle’s producer George Martin) has had a hand in the production of seven of the album’s 12 tracks (or nine out of 14 if you include the two bonus tracks on the deluxe edition) and in an intimate Q&A session in Central London, he revealed that he’d experimented with different recording devices including using the Beatles’ old four-track machine at Abbey Road and even capturing part of a vocal on an iPhone!
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The Velvet Underground: White Light / White Heat Super Deluxe

Posted on by Paul Sinclair

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For the second year in a row, a Velvet Underground Super Deluxe Edition will be available for purchase in the run up to Christmas.

In 2012 we had 1967’s The Velvet Underground & Nico (a six CD set) and this year the 1968 follow-up White Light / White Heat will be available as a three-disc deluxe package.
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Everything But The Girl / New deluxe reissues coming

Posted on by Paul Sinclair

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Edsel Records will release a second wave of Everything But The Girl reissues in November 2013.

The three deluxe editions will be The Language Of Life (1990), Worldwide and the Acoustic EPs, (1991-2) and Amplified Heart (1994).
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Out This Week / 7 October 2013

Posted on by Paul Sinclair

The Band / Live At The Academy Of Music 1971 5-disc box set

The Band / Live at the Academy of Music  (deluxe set)

Two CDs of newly remixed Rock Of Ages audio, plus a further two discs of soundboard recordings of The Band‘s 1971 New Year’s Eve concert in full. As if that wasn’t enough a DVD adds 5.1 surround mixes and archive footage. Read more

The Kinks / Muswell Hillbillies deluxe edition

The Kinks / Muswell Hillbillies (deluxe edition)

The Kinks‘ 1971 album is issued as a deluxe edition with a second CD of demos, remixes and live tracks. Read more
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FIRST PICTURES: The Band / Live at the Academy of Music 1971 deluxe

Posted on by Paul Sinclair

FIRST PICTURES: The Band / Live at the Academy of Music 5-disc box set

The Band‘s 5-disc deluxe set Live at the Academy of Music 1971 is released today.

This edition features an expanded and fully remixed version of the original Rock Of Ages live album from 1972 (across two discs) and adds a couple more CDs which include the 1971 New Year’s Eve concert in its entirety. A DVD provides a 5.1 surround sound mix and has a couple of archival film clips from the 30 December performance.

It comes packaged in a wonderful ten-inch square hardcover book which exudes quality with a front cover that features embossed type and some special finishes.

As you will see from the video and photos below, this volume of full of evocative photos from those three nights at the end of 1971. Each of the five discs are securely housed in individual thick card pages at the back of the book.

FIRST PICTURES: The Band / Live at the Academy of Music 5-disc box set
Click to enlarge

FIRST PICTURES: The Band / Live at the Academy of Music 5-disc box set
Click to enlarge

More photos below:
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Morrissey / Autobiography

Posted on by Paul Sinclair

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It wouldn’t be a Morrissey project without some drama. For a time his autobiography was looking like it might not be released, when last month it emerged last month that the singer had had “a last minute content disagreement” with publishers Penguin.

Thankfully, the disagreement has now been resolved and Autobiography, as it is called, will be released on 17 October 2013.

Refreshingly, it’s straight out on paperback, at a reasonable price and utilises the classic Penguin book design (as well as the photo used for Morrissey’s 2008 Greatest Hits).

Autobiography covers Steven Patrick Morrissey’s life from his birth until the present day.

New book: “The Beatles: Solo”

Posted on by Paul Sinclair

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Biographers of individual Beatles are often guilty of focusing on the well told story of the Fab Four and then skipping over the period when the musician in question wasn’t a Beatle anymore –  the solo years.

So it is good to see that journalist Mat Snow has done the opposite and ignored the period where the boys were toppermost of the poppermost, in his new four-volume book set The Beatles Solo.
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Rolling Stones / “Summer Sun: Hyde Park” deluxe hits the USA

Posted on by Paul Sinclair

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A month after being announced, Sweet Summer Sun: Hyde Park Live, the celebration of The Rolling Stones‘ two 2013 summer gigs in central London’s most famous green space, has finally been made available to US and Canadian fans.

Not only that, Amazon in the US has most of the configurations available, including the T-shirt-and -DVD (pictured above) and the elusive ‘Deluxe Edition‘ (2CD+DVD+Blu-ray and book) which is still not available on Amazon UK.
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Suede Vinyl Collection price drop

Posted on by Paul Sinclair

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The 11xLP vinyl box set from Suede which was initially unavailable to US fans via Suede’s webstore, is not only is it now available to them via Amazon UK, but has actually dropped in price by 35%.

At the time of writing (and it will undoubtedly go back up soon) the price is £106. Even for UK buyers that undercuts the Suede store by £24. For US fans who get the VAT deducted that is a price of around £88 or $142. That is a great deal, considering the newly announced 8LP Jam vinyl box set is £132. The Suede box is also available on Amazon Germany, but the price isn’t really competitive.

The box contains all the band’s studio albums, but at least six pieces of vinyl inside this set could be classed as essential. They are Suede’s 1993 debut, the double LP that is follow-up Dog Man Star, the 3LP Sci-Fi Lullabies B-side collection and Coming Up.

Suede: The Vinyl collection is released on 21 October 2013.

The Jam / The Studio Recordings: 8LP career-spanning vinyl box

Posted on by Paul Sinclair

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Universal Music will release a limited edition Jam vinyl box set in November.

The Studio Recordings is an 8LP collection featuring remastered versions of all six studio albums on heavyweight vinyl, plus two special LPs of non-album singles and B-sides.

Within the rigid slipcase, next to the records, you will also find a 44-page hardback book (with an introduction by Paul Weller) full of period photographs and memorabilia. For the times when you can’t access your black vinyl, a download code for MP3s of all the tracks is included.

The Jam – The Studio Recordings vinyl box is out on 25 November 2013.

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Box set content:

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Ultravox / The Albums 1980-2012: 9CD album collection box set

Posted on by Paul Sinclair

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Chrysalis Records will release a new Ultravox box set later on this month.

The Albums 1980-2012 is a nine-CD collection featuring the six Midge Ure era studio albums – Vienna (1980), Rage in Eden (1981), Quartet (1982), Lament (1984) and U-Vox (1986) – as well as live records Monument (1983) and Return to Eden (2009).

The story is brought right back up to date with the inclusion of Brilliant, last year’s studio album featuring the classic line-up after a recording hiatus of almost three decades.

All the LPs from the 1980s have been newly remastered by Steve Rooke at Abbey Road Studios.

The CDs will be in card sleeves and housed in a clamshell box. The Albums 1980-2012 is released on 28 October 2013.

Full tracklisting :

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Single File / A-ha: Dark Is The Night

Posted on by Paul Sinclair
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Aha’s “Dark Is The Night” CD single from 1993 (click to enlarge)

May 1993. Almost three years had passed since A-ha last had a top twenty hit in the UK, with sweet harmonies of the Everly Brothers’ cover Crying In The Rain.

The wistful adult pop of follow-up singles I Call Your Name and Early Morning (also from 1990’s East of the Sun, West of the Moon) simply hadn’t connected with the great British public – probably more to do with radio play, than anything else.
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Tears For Fears / Listen to “The Hurting” Peel Session from 1982

Posted on by Staff Writer
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This bonus disc with the BBC sessions is exclusive to the box

Tears For Fears have made available via Soundcloud stream, four tracks from their debut album, The Hurting, that were recorded for a special Peel Session on 1st September 1982.

Ideas As Opiates, Suffer The Children, The Prisoner and The Hurting were recorded at BBC radio studios for legendary broadcaster John Peel, over 30 years ago and they have remained commercially unavailable since that time.
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David Bowie / “Earthling” LP reissue

Posted on by Paul Sinclair

earthling

David Bowie‘s 1997 album Earthling is being re-released on vinyl later this month.

Sometimes referred to as his ‘drum and bass’ album, Earthling is an uneven affair, but does feature the UK hit single Little Wonder as well as Telling Lies, which is supposedly the first single by a major artist to be available for download. I’m Afraid Of Americans was remixed and issued as a single in the US.
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