Eric Clapton / Give Me Strength: The 1974 / 1975 Recordings-first photo

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5CDs and one Blu-ray Audio disc (click to enlarge)

First picture of how the Eric Clapton Give Me Strength The ’74-’74 Recordings deluxe set will look.

As a reminder, this is a 5CD+Blu-ray Audio collection that celebrates the period between April 1974 and June 1975 when Clapton produced the studio albums 461 Ocean Boulevard and There’s One In Every Crowd, as well as the live double set E.C. Was Here.

It’s out on 25 November 2013. Full track listings and details here.

5CD+Blu-ray Audio box set

3LP Vinyl set

Deep Purple / The Complete Albums 1970-1976 / 10CD box set

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Seems like we’re wading in Deep Purple at the moment. This season not only brings the Perfect Strangers Live package from Eagle Rock and the 24k Gold 4CD box set from Audio Fidelity, but also this 10CD box –  The Complete Albums 1970-1976 – from Rhino.
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Out This Week / 14 October 2013

King Crimson / The Road to Red 24-disc box set

King Crimson / The Road to Red  (24 disc box set)

Panegyric Recordings show how to create a truly ‘super deluxe’ edition with this epic 24-disc celebration of King Crimson’s 1974 tour and their Red album.  Read more


Paul Simon / The Complete Album Collection: 15CD box set

Paul Simon / The Complete Albums Collection  (deluxe set)

This 15-CD collection of all of Paul Simon‘s solo albums is out today. Contains the fully expanded version of each release (including the 2012 version of Graceland). CDs come in simple vinyl replica card sleeves and are housed in a cute box complete with magnetic enclosure. Read more


Paul McCartney / "New" album cover design confirmed

Paul McCartney / New (deluxe edition)

A ‘New’ album by Paul McCartney is always big news. Typically, Macca has been working hard to promote it, by playing impromptu gigs at New York high schools and lunchtime dates from articulated trucks in the middle of Times Square! A number of different producers involved here, notably fifth Beatle son, Giles Martin. Read more
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FIRST PICTURES / Paul Simon: The Complete Albums Collection

FIRST PICTURES / Paul Simon: The Complete Albums Collection
OUT TODAY – Paul Simon: The Complete Albums Collection box

Paul Simon‘s Complete Albums Collection box is released this week.

Here’s an exclusive look at this set which contains expanded versions of all Simon’s studio albums. 37 bonus tracks in total, although they’ve all been released before on past individual reissues.

The box itself has a soft almost rubber-like feel to it, very similar to the Michael Jackson Bad box from last year. Like Jackson’s reissue this also contains a hidden magnetic enclosure which secures the contents with a satisfying ‘click’.
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Grateful Dead / Sunshine Daydream

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Sunshine Daydream is a 4-disc set (click to enlarge)

In his notes on this 3CD+DVD celebration of the Grateful Dead‘s 1972 Sunshine Daydream concert in Veneta, Oregon in California, archivist David Lemieux explains that part of the reason it’s taken so long (41 years!) to release the Kesey Creamery benefit performance is that “we’ve never been interested in releasing just the music, because the film, with its images of the day, is so integral to the enjoyment of the event and to the understanding of the importance of this show”.

Never has a truer word been spoken. While the music sounds superb (mixed into 5.1 surround on the DVD) it’s the combination of the music and visuals that really excites. Continue reading “Grateful Dead / Sunshine Daydream”

The Doors / “R-Evolution” deluxe packaging and bonus details

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The Deluxe version comes in special book packaging

Here’s a look at the packaging for the deluxe blu-ray version of Eagle Rock’s The Doors R-Evolution release.

This release (also available on DVD) includes many video and film rarities include the band’s full performance on “Shebang”, an interview with Dick Clark, a colour version of the band’s appearance on “Malibu U” (and never before seen outtakes), the complete, colour version of Hello, I Love You from German TV and the director’s cut of the 1985 L.A. Woman short film.
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Leo Sayer / “Just A Box: The Complete Studio Recordings

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Edsel Records will release a new box set later this month featuring the work of singer and songwriter Leo Sayer.

Sayer is well remembered for his string of top ten hits in the UK in the 1970s, which included a pair of consecutive US Billboard Hot 100 number ones, in You Make Me Feel Like Dancing and When I Need You.
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Sheryl Crow / Five Classic Albums

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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

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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

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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

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

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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

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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

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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

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

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

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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”

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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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