Holding the Music in Your Hands ®
Have you ever been caught out buying a budget greatest hits CD from a discount bookstore, or a petrol station, only to find your James Brown ‘best-of’ is actually an inferior live recording of a forgotten about gig?
It can happen to us all, even if normally, you only get your fingers burnt once.
Continue reading “The Old Grey Whistle Test LIVE / 3CD”
Five of Elton John‘s early albums are collected together in a limited edition box set for release on 2 July from Universal Music.
The Classic Album Selection (1970-1973) comprises Elton John, Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across The Water, Honky Chateau, and Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player. These were albums that established Elton John’s reputation as a premier singer-songwriter and helped him on his way to becoming a superstar, particularly in the US with hits such as Border Song, Your Song, Tiny Dancer, Honky Cat, Rocket Man, Daniel and Crocodile Rock. These five albums would be followed up by Goodbye Yellow Brick Road in late 1973, which arguably is where John peaked critically and commercially in the 1970s.
The good news is that this reasonably stripped-down set does include bonus tracks on most of the discs, making it even better value for money (see track listing below).
Pre-order here
Track listings:
Continue reading “Elton John / Classic Album Selection Box Set (1970-1973)”
Maroon 5‘s 2002 debut album Songs About Jane, will be reissued as a two-CD 10th anniversary edition on 25 June by A&M/Octone.
Amongst the bonus tracks will be demos of the 12 original songs and previously unreleased tracks like Take What You Want, Woman and Chilly Winter, as well as Rag Doll (a non-album B-side) and an alternative mix of The Sun.
Continue reading “Maroon 5 / Songs About Jane / 10th Anniversary 2CD reissue”
Watch this video interview, for a fantastic insight into the impact Paul McCartney‘s manager Scott Rodger has had over the last five years, starting from 2007’s Memory Almost Full album through to the recent RAM reissue. He talks to Ian Rogers about digital archives, reissues, and Wings Over America and the Rockshow film. He also manages Arcade Fire and talks about them and Bjork at the beginning. Macca discussion starts exactly 20 minutes in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZU2hn-owZo
Sony/Legacy have this week re-released I Just Can’t Stop Loving You, Michael Jackson‘s 1987 hit with Siedah Garrett. This officially kicks off the Bad 25 reissue campaign since the CD single features a previously unreleased track from the Bad album sessions called Don’t Be Messin’ ‘Round (demo). Unusually, this release will not be made available digitally and in the US is only available at at Wal-Mart.com and Wal-Mart stores.
The CD is released in Europe next week, and can be purchased on Amazon
It is not known at this stage if the Don’t Be Messin’ ‘Round demo will appear on the 25th Anniversary reissue of Bad. Full track listings have yet to be announced.
On 25 June (26 in the US) Sony will also reissue I Just Can’t Stop Loving You as a special numbered seven-inch vinyl issue, this time with original B-side Baby Be Mine. That can be ordered here along with other Bad 25 reissue configurations.
Pete Waterman Presents The Hit Factory is to be released by PWL and Sony Music on 9 July 9. This 3CD set contains 50 tracks in total and is packed with the Stock Aitken Waterman and PWL classics, including hits from the likes of Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Rick Astley, Bananarama, Mel & Kim, Dead Or Alive, Steps, Sinitta, Sonia and many others.
Continue reading “Pete Waterman Presents The Hit Factory – 3CD Box Set”
Some fans who have ordered the limited edition mono vinyl edition of Paul McCartney‘s RAM reissue are frustratingly still waiting for their order to ship.
Topspin Media, who manage the physical and digital fulfilment for McCartney’s website, seem to be affected particularly badly with orders still pending.
Continue reading “Delays with McCartney RAM Mono Vinyl from paulmccartney.com”
Here we bring you exclusive pictures inside the new super-exclusive Paul Simon Graceland Collectors’ bundle.
Available only via Paul Simon’s website the £199 / $250 bundle brings together the four-disc collectors’ box set (above) with a 180g vinyl pressing of the album, and a very high quality poster SIGNED personally by Paul Simon! If you are thinking of buying one of these sets you should probably place your order sooner rather than later, since we can reveal that only 250 of these bundles with the signed poster are available.
To be crystal clear on the poster ‘situation’, you do get a folded poster on different, thinner paper stock as part of the collectors’ box set (and the vinyl, actually), but the SIGNED poster, on thicker, more luxurious paper – supplied carefully packed in a tube –is only part of collectors’ bundle.
A full review of the box set is coming very soon to this blog, but in the meantime see below for an extensive photo gallery of every detail of the collectors’ box and collectors’ bundle. All the details of the varies formats are here.
You can buy this special limited collectors’ bundle here
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Click here for further photos or click ‘2’ above!
Michael Jackson will re-release I Just Can’t Stop Loving You on 12 June in the UK – the first single from the original issue of Bad in 1987. The B-side will be a previously unheard demo recording from the Bad sessions called Don’t Be Messin’ ‘Round. You can listen to this demo below.
PRE-ORDER BAD 25 | PRE-ORDER I Just Can’t Stop Loving You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qxdmR5AtBo
The Small Faces reissues have hit the stores. The two Decca releases Small Faces and From the Beginning along with the two albums from the Immediate label Small Faces, and Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake are each released as deluxe two-disc editions with the exception of Ogdens’… which has now been expanded to three discs.
Continue reading “Small Faces / Deluxe Edition Review”
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’.
The good news is that these two digital bonus tracks are offered with EVERY variation of purchase from Macca’s site but there are other ways to get hold of them as you will see below in our guide to Ram digital downloads:
Continue reading “Paul McCartney / RAM: a guide to digital downloads and bonus tracks”
***THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED***
Congratulations to twitter users @QueenSpinky who won the 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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wA1YBTa9Moo#!
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 Stewart Storyteller 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.
Pre-order here.
Full track listing below:
Continue reading “Fleetwood Mac / 25 Years: The Chain / 4CD reissue”
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
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.
Paul Simon‘s Graceland was reissued (in 2004) with three bonus tracks – the demo of Homeless, an alternate version of Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes and an early version of All Around The World Or The Myth Of Fingerprints.
Continue reading “First Listen: Paul Simon / Graceland 25th Anniversary Bonus tracks”
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”
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