Paul Sinclair – Page 346 – SuperDeluxeEdition

Out This Week / 17 June 2013

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

The Moody Blues / Timeless Flight – 4CD version

If your pockets aren’t quite deep enough for the massive 17-disc super deluxe Timeless Flight box set, then this 4CD ‘highlights’ set might be for you. It’s around £35 and still includes a healthy selection of singles, key album tracks, alternate mixes, and live cuts.

Showaddywaddy / Complete Studio Recordings 1973-1987

Showaddywaddy were massive in the UK in the 1970s, after almost winning New Faces in 1973 (the Pop Idol of its day). The band were known for dressing as teddy boys and most of their many hits were covers of classics from the 1950s and early ’60s. This 10CD box set from Demon Music, consists of the band’s entire studio output, including all the albums and all the single A and B-sides. It even finds space for some unreleased mixes and rarties. 139 tracks in total!

Peabo Bryson & Roberta Flack / Born To Love expanded

Born To Love, the 1983 collaboration between Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack, is reissued this week as a one-CD expanded edition. The album’s best known track is global hit Tonight, I Celebrate My Love and this new version of the LP adds a three bonus tracks.

The Blow Monkeys and Dr. Robert / Halfway To Heaven

A three disc set which features a new Blow Monkeys hits collection (including a track from the recent Feels Like A New Morning), a best of Dr. Robert’s solo material, and a complete 1984 Hammersmith Palais gig.

Echo And The Bunnymen / Crocodiles 2LP Hardback Book

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

Vinyl specialists Weatherbox will release a 180g remastered hardback book 2LP edition of Echo and the Bunnymen‘s 1980 debut album Crocodiles on 8 July 2013.

The first vinyl record will feature the original Crocodiles LP and the bonus vinyl contains 10 extra tracks.

The bonus material includes Do It Clean and Read It In Books (issued as a 7 inch single in the UK), Simple Stuff – the b side to the single Rescue – and early versions of Villiers Terrace, Pride and Simple Stuff from the album sessions. The second LP is completed by tracks from the Shine So Hard EP a four-track live twelve-inch recorded at the Pavilion Gardens in Buxton Derbyshire, in January 1981.

Contributions from Will Sergeant and Les Pattinson, and new photos feature in the Hardback book.

Track listing

Side 1

1. Going Up
2. Stars Are Stars
3. Pride
4. Monkeys
5. Crocodiles

Side 2

1. Rescue
2. Villiers Terrace
3. Pictures on My Wall
4. All That Jazz
5. Happy Death Men

Side 3

1. Do It Clean
2. Read It in Books
3. Simple Stuff
4. Villiers Terrace (Early Version)
5. Pride (Early Version)
6. Simple Stuff (Earlier Version)

Side 4

1. Crocodiles (Live)
2. Zimbo (Live)
3. All That Jazz (Live)
4. Over the Wall (Live)

Elvis at Stax deluxe edition

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

Elvis Presley‘s last major studio sessions from 40 years ago, are commemorated in a deluxe edition called Elvis at Stax to be released by RCA/Legacy on 5 August 2013 (6th in the US).

Presley spent 12 days at Stax Recording Studios in his hometown of Memphis in 1973 (July 21-25 and December 10-16), and the results of those sessions are spread over three CDs:

Disc 1: The R&B and Country Sessions – The Outtakes: 17 tracks
Disc 2: Part 1 – The Pop Sessions – The Outtakes: 10 tracks
Disc 2: Part 2 – The July 1973 Masters: four single sides and six album tracks
Disc 3: The December 1973 Masters: seven single sides and 11 album tracks.

A single CD of highlights and 2LP 180g vinyl will also be released.

Elvis At Stax: Deluxe Edition full track listing:

Disc 1: The R&B and Country Sessions – The Outtakes: Selections – 1. I Got A Feelin’ In My Body – take 1 (I) • 2. Find Out What’s Happening – takes 8-7 (B) • 3. Promised Land – take 4 (I) • 4. For Ol’ Times Sake – take 4 (I) • 5. I’ve Got A Thing About You, Babe – take 14 (I) • 6. It’s Midnight – take 7 (F) • 7. If You Talk In Your Sleep – take 5 (J) • 8. Loving Arms – take 2 (I) • 9. You Asked Me To – take 3A (F) • 10. Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues – take 8 (I) • 11. Talk About The Good Times – take 3 (I) • 12. There’s A Honky Tonk Angel – take 1 (I) • 13. She Wears My Ring – take 8 (I) • 14. Three Corn Patches – take 14 (I) • 15. I Got A Feelin’ In My Body – take 4 (J) • 16. If You Don’t Come Back – take 3 (I) • 17. Promised Land – take 5 (H).

Disc 2: Part 1 – The Pop Sessions – The Outtakes: Selections – 1. Mr. Songman – take 2 (F) • 2. Your Love’s Been A Long time Coming – take 4 (I) • 3. Spanish Eyes – take 2 (I) • 4. Take Good Care Of Her – takes 1,2,3 (D) • 5. It’s Diff’rent Now (unfinished recording) (G) • 6. Thinking About You – take 4 (I) • 7. My Boy – take 1 (D) • 8. Girl Of Mine – take 9 (I) • 9. Love Song Of The Year – take 1 (F) • 10. If That Isn’t Love – take 1 (I) • Part 2 – The July 1973 Masters: • 11. Raised On Rock (Hot 100 #41, country #42) (A) • 12. For Ol’ Time Sake (charts same as track 11) (A) • 13. I’ve Got A Thing About You Baby (Hot 100 #39, country #4) (C) • 14. Take Good Care Of Her (charts same as track 13) (C) • 15. If You Don’t Come Back (A) • 16. Three Corn Patches (A) • 17. Girl Of Mine (A) • 18. Just A Little Bit (A) • 19. Find Out What’s Happening (A) • 20. Sweet Angeline (A) .

Disc 3: The December 1973 Masters: Selections – 1. Promised Land (Hot 100 #14, country #9) (E) • 2. It’s Midnight (charts same as track 1) (E) • 3. If You Talk In Your Sleep (Hot 100 #17, country #6) (E) • 4. Help Me (charts same as track 3) (E) • 5. My Boy (Hot 100 #20, country #14) (C) • 6. Thinking About You (charts same as track 5) (E) • 7. Mr. Songman (Hot 100 #35, country #11) (E) • 8. I Got A Feelin’ In My Body (C) • 9. Loving Arms (C) • 10. Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues (C) • 11. You Asked Me To (E) • 12. There’s A Honky Tonk Angel (Who Will Take Me Back In) (E) • 13. Talk About The Good Times (C) • 14. She Wears My Ring (C) • 15. Your Love’s Been A Long Time Coming (E) • 16. Love Song Of The Year (E) • 17. Spanish Eyes (C) • 18. If That Isn’t Love (C).

Album source index:
A – from Raised On Rock/For Ol’ Times Sake LP (RCA APL1-0388, released October 1973)
B – from Raised on Rock CD (FTD 86971 28432, released July 2007)
C – from Good Times LP (RCA CPL1-0475, released March 1974)
D – from Good Times CD (FTD 50602 09750 0 3, released December 2012)
E – from Promised Land LP (RCA APL1-0873, released January 1975)
F – from Promised Land CD (FTD 50602 09750 1 9, released December 2011)
G – from Walk a Mile in My Shoes – The Essential ’70s Masters 5-CD box set (RCA 7863-66670-2, released October 1995)
H – from Platinum – A Life In Music 4-CD box set (RCA 67469, released July 1997)
I – from Rhythm and Country CD (RCA 07863-67672-2, released August 1998)
J – from Today, Tomorrow and Forever 4-CD box set (RCA 07863-65115-2, released June 2002)

Johnny Hates Jazz / Interview

Posted on June 13, 2013May 15, 2020 by Paul Sinclair

It’s a balmy May afternoon and Johnny Hates Jazz (songwriter, Clark Datchler and producer/engineer Mike Nocito) are meeting SuperDeluxeEdition in a West London recording studio, to talk about Magnetized, their rather splendid new album. The pair are looking slim and relaxed, and insist on buying SDE lunch before we get down to the nitty gritty. But before we talk about Magnetized, we spent some time reflecting on the past…
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The Smashing Pumpkins / The Aeroplane Flies High deluxe box

Posted on June 11, 2013June 15, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

The Smashing Pumpkins’ singles box from 1996, The Aeroplane Flies High, is to be reissued as a 6CD+DVD deluxe box on 22 July 2013. Additionally, the set will make its vinyl debut with a five LP set also being available.

The Aeroplane Flies High was originally a five-CD set, featuring expanded versions of the five singles from the acclaimed Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness album. Despite being a ‘limited edition’ at the time, actually sold over 300,000 copies.

The 2013 reissue takes the 33-track five-CD version and turns into into a massive 90-track extravaganza across six discs. Bonus tracks include live performances, 8-track demos, acoustic takes, instrumentals and rough DAT mixes. The sixth CD is reserved for live recordings from the 1996 Mellon Collie world tour, while the DVD contains a gig from Belfort, France from 4 July 1997 (it’s 14 tracks bringing the total for the set to 104).

The box comes with a 46-page book with liner notes and a track-by-track notes by Billy Corgan. The packaging is described as “embossed foil wrap and twinkle stock for jackets” – in other words, bling. Owners of the Siamese Dream reissue will appreciate the attention and detail that goes into these sets.

The Aeroplane Flies High is the fifth Smashing Pumpkins title to be reissued in recent years following on from Gish and Siamese Dream (2011) and Pisces Iscariot and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (2012).

5CD+DVD version

Vinyl 5LP

Full track listing for The Aeroplane Flies High:
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The Style Council / Classic Album Selection 6CD box set

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

Universal Music will release a Style Council Classic Albums Selection box set on 15 July 2013.

The six-CD set will include all five Style Council albums (including the unreleased-until-1998 Modernism: A New Decade) as well as the mini-LP that gathered up a few early singles and B-sides, 1983’s Introducing The Style Council.

The packaging should be familiar enough if you’ve bought similar sets before. The six CDs come in card ‘vinyl replica’ sleeves and reside within a a rigid slipcase. There are no booklets at all with this release.

Box contains the following:

1. Introducing The Style Council
2. Cafe Bleu
3. Our Favourite Shop
4. The Cost Of Loving
5. Confessions Of A Pop Group
6. Modernism: A New Decade

Out This Week / 10 June 2013

Posted on June 10, 2013June 10, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

ZZ Top / The Complete Studio Albums 1970-1990

Box set featuring original mixes of 10 classic ZZ Top albums on CD including for the first time ZZ Top’s First Album, Rio Grande Mud and Tejas .

Paul McCartney and Wings / Rockshow Blu-ray and DVD

37 years after the film was shot on the Wings Over America tour, Paul McCartney’s Rockshow film finally gets a release on DVD and Blu-ray. This is not included in the deluxe Wings Over America box set and features the full show (previous laserdisc/VHS/Betamax editions were edited). It has been fully restored from the original 35mm film with the sound remixed to 5.1.

Burt Bacharach / Anyone Who Had A Heart – The Art of the Songwriter box set

Six-disc themed box set from the legendary songwriter. Supposedly a definitive and official career-spanning release and comes Burt Bacharach-approved! There are two-CD versions also available, but be aware that track listings vary according to territory.

Chic / The Chic Organisation box set Vol. 1 Savoir Faire

A reissue for the superb four-CD Chic box from 2010. This first volume (Savoir Faire) features a massive amount of twelve-inch remixes, and rare and unreleased tracks from Chic and many of the artists they produced, such as Sister Sledge, Diana Ross, Debbie Harry and Carly Simon. A two-CD greatest hits Up All Night is released in July.

UK Order: Nile Rodgers presents: The Chic Organization, Boxset Vol. 1

Basia / Time and Tide 2CD deluxe edition

A comprehensive 2CD deluxe edition from Cherry Pop, that rounds up all of the twelve-inch remixes, non-album tracks and B-sides from ex-Matt Bianco singer Basia‘s 1988 album. An incredible 19 bonus tracks in total, over and above the 11 songs that were on the original CD.

Sting / New album: “The Last Ship” / Various CD formats explained

Posted on June 7, 2013June 9, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

It seems all the rage these days to not release a studio album of new material for 10 years. First Suede, then David Bowie and now Sting.

Yes, the 61-year old singer-songwriter is finally following up 2003’s Sacred Love with The Last Ship, an album about a community impacted by the demise of the shipbuilding industry in the North of England, with Sting drawing on his real childhood experiences. “I’m telling my own story through the lives of other people”, he says. The songs were originally written for the musical The Last Ship which will debut on Broadway next year.

Formats explained

The album has been produced by Rob Mathes and will come in three different configurations: A 12 track standard CD edition and vinyl pressing, a 17-track 2CD deluxe edition, and a 20-track super deluxe edition which is also two-CD but features ‘special packaging’. Only Amazon in Germany actual list all the different CD variations at present. They refer to ‘3 bonus tracks’ on the super deluxe edition – what they mean is over and above the 17-track deluxe version! The super deluxe editions do seem to be exclusive to amazon in each territory.

The Last Ship will be released on 23 September 2013 on A&M/Universal Records.

Standard CD Edition [12 track]
UK Pre-order: The Last Ship
USA Pre-order: The Last Ship
GERMANY Pre-order: The Last Ship

Deluxe 2CD Edition [17 track]
GERMANY Pre-order: The Last Ship

Super Deluxe 2CD Edition [20 track – Special Packaging]
UK Pre-order: The Last Ship [Super Deluxe Edition]
USA Pre-order: The Last Ship [Super Deluxe Edition]
GERMANY Pre-order: The Last Ship [Super Deluxe Edition]

Vinyl
UK Pre-order: The Last Ship
USA Pre-order: The Last Ship

Cheap Trick / Epic Albums box set

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

Last month saw the release of Cheap Trick‘s The Complete Epic Albums Collection, from Sony Legacy.

The 14-disc set includes the complete Budokan concert, all the band’s studio albums from 1977 to 1990 (many expanded, or newly remastered) along with the Found All The Parts E.P.

The 32-page booklet is pretty good, although contains no essays – just track listings, credits and photos. The reproduction on the vinyl replica sleeves is much better than expected, and amongst the selection are a few gatefolds (Budokan, In Color and Dream Police).

Currently available for around the £40 mark, which is little more than £3 per album.

Cheap Trick / The Complete Epic Albums Collection — Clamshell box to house the discs

Nick Drake / Five Leaves Left box

Posted on June 6, 2013July 22, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

Nick Drake / Five Leaves Left vinyl box set

Nick Drake‘s 1969 debut album Five Leaves Left will be the final studio album to receive the deluxe vinyl box set treatment, when it is issued on 29 July 2013.

Like the previously issued Pink Moon and Bryter Layter boxes, this set will offer a heavyweight remastered vinyl record housed in a clamshell-style box and come complete with facsimile handwritten lyric sheets, a poster and album credits on a card replica of the original master tape.

A download code will be included, and like the other sets, will offer the digital version in three different file formats – hi-res FLAC files or standard MP3s, and a ‘dubbed from disc’ set of MP3s from an original vinyl copy of the record.

The Amazon UK pre-order price of under £25 (at the time of writing) is at least £10 cheaper than the other boxes!

Tabu Box Set available for pre-order

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

The Tabu box set, which in November will mark an end to Demon Music Group’s ‘Tabu Re-born’ reissue campaign, is now available to pre-order on amazon.

Although track listings have yet to be announced, we have been promised a collection spanning all the various Tabu acts and mixes exclusive to this set. It is likely that tracks missing from the individual deluxe sets – such as the Extended Mix of Alexander O’Neal’s Lovers, or the acappella mix of Cherrelle‘s Saturday Love – will make an appearance in the box.

The box set will contain 4CDs, a DVD, a vinyl record, and a booklet. At the time of writing amazon UK’s pre-order price of £25 is looking very attractive. The individual ‘anthology’ boxes for Alexander O’Neal and The SOS Band are also available to order.

• UK Pre-order: The Tabu Records Box

R.E.M. / Green 25th Anniversary

Posted on June 5, 2013June 5, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

The problem with the new 25th anniversary deluxe edition of R.E.M‘s Green (released a few weeks ago) is its lack of ambition. The new set comes with one single bonus CD, featuring some of a 1989 live concert from Greensboro. You can imagine the meeting at Warner HQ:

– “Next on the agenda, the 25th anniversary reissue of R.E.M.’s Green. Ideas, people?”
“What are the band willing to offer in terms of demos and unreleased material?”
– “Nothing”
“Okay…”
“How about we couple the album with that concert that we put out on that Tourfilm VHS from decades ago?”
– “I like it. Put the two discs in a box and throw in some postcards, and a poster that will remain folded forever. Done.”
[Troublemaker] “Er, the gig won’t fit onto one CD…”
– “Even better! An opportunity to create a bonus EP for Record Store Day. This meeting is now closed.”

To be fair, the artwork looks great on the matt-laminated clamshell box and the Greensboro gig is superb but, I’m sorry, if you’re going to make a big deal about the 25th anniversary on the sticker then you need to turn up to the party with a decent present (for the fans). In 2005 for the 17th anniversary of Green we got a CD/DVD-A double pack which presented the entire album in high-res stereo and 5.1 Surround sound. In addition, there was also a video documentary included as well as a couple of videos and a photo gallery.

This new edition does offer a new remastering for CD (not in the 2005 issue) but why not replicate the 5.1, and include that as well? And where are the extra tracks from the singles, such as Memphis Train Blues (Stand), the cover of Syd Barrett’s Dark Globe (Orange Crush) or the band’s version of Iggy Pop’s Funtime?

The album itself remains a stunning achievement, but Warner Music appear to have been very tentative when it comes to investing the time and money required to come up with a really interesting, fan-pleasing deluxe set. Given that this was the first album on the major label back in 1988, it’s all rather surprising. Perhaps they were constrained by the wishes of the band, or maybe the money is still in the Warner piggy bank waiting to invest in a mega, super deluxe 25th anniversary edition of Out Of Time for 2016.

Either way, the only consolation for the R.E.M. fan who already owns the Tourfilm DVD and has bought the special edition of Green mentioned above, is that the modest nature of this set is matched by a modest price.

Green: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition:

Disc 1: Original album:

1. Pop Song 89
2. Get Up
3. You Are the Everything
4. Stand
5. World Leader Pretend
6. The Wrong Child
7. Orange Crush
8. Turn You Inside Out
9. Hairshirt
10 I Remember California
11 Untitled

Disc 2: Live in Greensboro, 1989:

1. Stand
2. The One I Love
3. Turn You Inside Out
4. Belong
5. Exhuming McCarthy
6. Good Advices
7. Orange Crush
8. Cuyahoga
9. These Days
10 World Leader Pretend
11 I Believe
12 Get Up
13 Life and How to Live It
14 Its the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)
15 Pop Song 89
16 Fall on Me
17 You Are the Everything
18 Begin the Begin
19 Low
20 Finest Worksong
21 Perfect Circle

Bob Dylan / Greatest Hits Vol 2 / limited edition double-SACD

Posted on June 4, 2013September 6, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

US audiophile specialist Audio Fidelity, today release Bob Dylan‘s Greatest Hits Vol II on a double hybrid SACD set.

The 1971 collection was compiled by Dylan himself and includes a number of tracks unavailable anywhere else, including Watching The River Flow and When I Paint My Masterpiece, as well as familiar classics such as Lay Lady Lay and All Along The Watchtower.

This release was mastered by Steve Hoffman and is a limited, numbered set. The discs are hybrid which means they play on standard CD players as well as SACD players (for enhanced resolution).

Track listing:

Disc One

Watching The River Flow
Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
Lay Lady Lay
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
All I Really Want To Do
My Back Pages
Maggie’s Farm
Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You

Disc Two

She Belongs To Me
All Along The Watchtower
The Mighty Quinn (Quinn, the Eskimo)
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
If Not For You
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
Tomorrow Is A Long Time
When I Paint My Masterpiece
I Shall Be Released
You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere
Down In The Flood

Out This Week / 3 June 2013

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

The Moody Blues / Timeless Flight box set

This enormous 17-disc Moody Blues set includes 11 CDs, three video DVDs and three audio-only DVDs with surround mixes of six of the albums. Let’s not forget the 120-page hardback book and various other items of memorabilia.

Scott Walker / Scott – The Collection 1967-1970

Scott Walker’s first five solo albums – Scott, Scott 2, Scott 3, Scott 4 and ‘Til The Band Comes In are collected in this new box set. Available on CD or vinyl, each album has been cut and mastered from the original tapes and presented with their original artwork.
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Alison Moyet / “The Minutes” red vinyl

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

Alison Moyet‘s superb new album The Minutes, is today released on limited edition heavyweight RED vinyl by Demon Records.

This 180g record looks as good as it sounds, and comes complete with an inner sleeve that boasts full lyrics and additional photos. A download ‘card’ (actually more like a piece of paper) allows purchasers access to a digital version of the album.

Demon Records are a new vinyl-only imprint of Demon Music and in the last few months have been putting out LPs from a diverse selection of artists, all on heavyweight vinyl, with reproduction sleeves and download cards.

Recent releases have included the Average White Band’s breakthrough second studio album AWB, Leo Sayer’s 1976 transatlantic smash Endless Flight and heavy metal band Saxon’s 1991 album Solid Ball Of Rock. In addition to this have been various vinyl issues which form part of the Tabu Re-born reissue campaign.

Alison Moyet’s album The Minutes was released on CD and Digital at the beginning of May and is still in the UK top 75 album charts at the time of writing.

Sting / Anniversary vinyl reissue

Posted on June 3, 2013June 3, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

As was the case when all his other solo albums reached the same age, the twentieth anniversary of Sting‘s 1993 long-player Ten Summoner’s Tales passed with little fanfare back in March 2013. No deluxe editions were released to free up the many exclusive bonus tracks dotted around various CD singles issued at the time.

The album featured Fields Of Gold, If I Ever Lose My Faith In You, and Shape Of My Heart (memorably featured at the end of Luc Besson’s 1994 film, Leon) as well as a re-recorded version of It’s Probably Me, which in its original form was also used in a movie – this time Lethal Weapon 3 from 1992.

Although no deluxe sets were forthcoming, what did happen a few months back, was Universal quietly slipped out a vinyl reissue of the album as part of their Back To Black series. The remastered Ten Summoner’s Tales was pressed on 180g vinyl and the package also provides an MP3 download code. This new pressing includes Everybody Laughed But You which didn’t feature on the North America/Canada releases at the time.

The original LP had become a rather pricey used purchase, probably as a result of a fairly small pressing (relatively speaking) back in 1993.

Dire Straits / Brothers In Arms Mobile Fidelity hybrid SACD

Posted on June 3, 2013June 3, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

Audiophile specialist Mobile Fidelity will release a hybrid SACD of Dire Straits‘ 1985 album Brothers In Arms on 26 July 2013.

The twentieth anniversary multi-channel SACD of the 30 million selling album is still widely available, and was included in our SACD feature back in January, however the mastering of that release is not to everyone’s taste, considered rather bright and compressed by some.

This new Mobile Fidelity issue will be stereo only and will almost certainly offer a more audiophile-pleasing mastering, although since the record was recorded digitally at the time, it’s debatable if the SACD format can bring the extra resolution and detail apparent when original analogue master tapes are available for a new SACD mastering.

It is also not clear at this stage whether the SACD will use the CD version of the record – which runs at just under eight minutes longer than the LP – or if they will go with the original vinyl version. The former is probably the most likely.

The Mobile Fidelity SACD is currently available for pre-order from Acoustic Sounds.

Demon Music prepare three-disc Belinda Carlisle reissues

Posted on May 31, 2013May 31, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

Demon Music Group will reissue the four Virgin-era Belinda Carlisle solo albums on the Edsel label this August, in what looks like a comprehensive series of 2CD+DVD sets, all presented in ‘casebound book packaging.

The series starts with 1987’s Heaven On Earth and then works through all the subsequent albums (Runaway Horses, Live Your Life Be Free) ending with 1993’s Real.

As well as the usual array of extended remixes, these sets – without exception – include many seven-inch edits, something we will raise our hand and claim some credit for. In our interview with Edsel label manager Val Jennings back in March 2013, he was clear that he didn’t value including seven-inch remixes on deluxe reissues (“generally you’re going to miss off the shorter versions, the seven inch versions, since there is no point in filling it up with that”, he said) but some of our readers were robust in their feedback, leaving comments on this blog, pointing out that seven-inch edits/remixes were of value (“the first thing I look for”, claimed one person) and were often unavailable outside the original vinyl issue. We know Val read your comments!

1993’s Real also uniquely includes many demo versions, which were issued on CD singles at the time.

All the reissues come with a DVD featuring all the relevant promo videos, plus an interview with Belinda by DJ Mark Goodier discussing the album in question. Heaven On Earth also includes the Belinda Live! Concert film from 1988.

All four sets will be released on 26 August 2013.

Reissue Track Listings in full:
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Dr. Robert talks “Feels Like A New Morning” and The Blow Monkeys

Posted on May 30, 2013May 30, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

The Blow Monkeys’ new album Feels Like A New Morning has been getting rave reviews since it’s release just over a month ago. A second single from the album is released next week (digitally) which includes a new radio edit of the title track, as well as a previously unreleased demo and a remix.

We recently caught up with frontman Dr. Robert to talk about the new record: “I feel like I’m only beginning to get the hang of it”, he tells Paul Sinclair.

SuperDeluxeEdition: Tell us about the new album, Feels Like A New Morning?

Dr. Robert: In terms of recording we did it all in eight days. Four days recording and four days mixing in a studio in North Wales called Bathesda.

SDE: Why did you choose to record there?

DR: A mate of mine owns a studio there, and I’ve done a couple of records there before – a solo album called Bathesda and another one called Birds Gotta Fly. It’s an old converted quarry mill up there. We didn’t have a big budget – we had enough to do it in eight days, so it made sense to go up there. It’s right on the tip of North Wales near Anglesey, it’s really part, up there. So we drove over all the way from Spain, but the boys all live in London; the drummer’s Welsh, he wanted to go back home! It’s not a flash studio, but it has a kind of magical vibe to it – a lot of the welsh bands have worked there, you know the Gorky’s [Gorky’s Zygotic Mynic], the Super Furrys [Super Furry Animals]. And basically they were just songs I’d been working on the six months previous to that, in my little home studio. But it’s the third album we’ve done since getting back together, and I wanted to just carry on, because that was the whole idea when we got back together, to make new music. I think this is the best of the three we’ve made since then because sometimes it takes a while to get back into your stride. I like the other albums we made, but I think this one’s better.
Continue reading “Dr. Robert talks “Feels Like A New Morning” and The Blow Monkeys”

Out This Week / 27 May 2013

Posted on May 29, 2013May 29, 2013 by Paul Sinclair

Paul McCartney & Wings / Wings Over America

Two and a half years into Paul McCartney‘s archive collection campaign, and the fifth in the series finally gets (re)released a full year after 2012’s RAM. This reissue of Macca’s triple live set from early 1977, commemorates a release that was originally designed to commemorate a tour. No mid-range ‘special edition’ this time around, the choice is a bare-bones remastered double CD or a balls-out deluxe edition which comes with four – count ’em – books, a DVD and a bonus CD. A vinyl version is also available that maintains the original 3LP configuration.
Continue reading “Out This Week / 27 May 2013”