David Gilmour’s forthcoming album Luck and Strange was announced in April with formats on offer including a blu-ray audio, CD and various vinyl editions. Almost two months on, Gilmour has confirmed two box set versions.
There’s a vinyl box and a CD box with both including a 68-page hardback book by Thames & Hudson of exclusive photographs taken by Polly Samson during the recording of the album.
2CD+blu-ray+book box set of Luck and Strange (click image to enlarge)
The vinyl box set contains two LPs on 180g vinyl and the blu-ray, while the CD box contains two CDs and the blu-ray. The extra CD and LP come in dedicated sleeves and have the same five bonus tracks:
Yes, I Have Ghosts (with Romany Gilmour)*✝︎
Luck and Strange (original Barn Jam)*✝︎
A Single Spark (Demo)
A Single Spark (Orchestral)✝︎
Scattered (Orchestral)✝︎
*Bonus tracks on the standard CD ✝︎ Bonus tracks on the standalone blu-ray
Only one of those bonus tracks – ‘A Single Spark (Demo)’ – is actually exclusive. In fact, the two bonus tracks from the standard CD are omitted from the album on CD 1 in the box and moved to CD 2. The blu-ray audio in both boxes is identical to standalone offering (containing four of the five bonus tracks in Atmos and stereo) although the packshots suggest the packaging is actually inferior (CD-sized card sleeve).
Both Luck and Strange box sets are released on the same date as the other formats, 6 September 2024, via Sony Music. Standalone blu-ray, coloured vinyl and bundles still available via the SDE shop.
The Alan Parsons Project’s third album, 1978’s Pyramid, is being reissued in a number of formats including a massive seven-disc super deluxe edition box set.
Pyramid was a concept album centred on the pyramids of Giza. It was recorded at Abbey Road Studios with a variety of different lead vocalists employed including John Miles, Colin Blunstone, Lenny Zakatek, David Paton, Jack Harris and Dean Ford. Musicians included guitarist Ian Bairnson and drummer Stuart Elliott with arrangements by Andrew Powell (all three contributed to Kate Bush’s debut The Kick Inside, released only three months before Pyramid).
The album reached the top 30 in many territories (although not the UK) but couldn’t repeat the top 10 success in America of the previous album, 1977’s I Robot.
The limited edition super deluxe edition contains is a 4CD+blu-ray+2LP set which comes with a 60-page hardcover book. Across the four CDs are a new 2024 remaster of the album (by Miles Showell) and 67 bonus tracks, with 54 of them previously unreleased, including studio session out-takes and Eric Woolfson’s demos or ‘Songwriting Diaries’ as they are referred to.
First 500 boxes ordered via the official shop come with a signed print (click image to enlarge)
The blu-ray features the first ever Dolby Atmos Mix of an Alan Parsons Project album along with a 5.1 mix created from the original multi-track master tapes by Alan Parsons, plus a new stereo HD remaster of the original album by Miles Showell. The 2LP 45PRM set included also offers the remaster cut at half-speed by Miles Showell at Abbey Road.
The 12″ x 12″ book offers interviews with Alan Parsons, the Woolfson family and the musicians/lead vocalists as well as full lyrics and commentary on the bonus tracks. The final element of content is a replica original press folder containing an A1 sized poster and postcard of the album artwork plus a reproduction of the original biography, press photo and a hand typed ‘Prologue’ and ‘Preamble’ about the Pyramid album by Eric Woolfson.
There are other formats, including a clear vinyl half-speed mastered pressing which is 33PRM and therefore is a single LP, and an Alan Parsons Project shop exclusive half-speed pressed on ‘gold nugget’ vinyl. A single ‘expanded’ CD edition offers four bonus tracks, which is a bit stingy given CD 1 in the box has seven bonus tracks).
Pyramid will be reissued on 23 August 2024, via Cooking Vinyl.
Jethro Tull/Bursting Out: The Inflated EditionCD, DVD
Jethro Tull’s first live album, 1978’s Bursting Out (actually issued as Jethro Tull Live: Bursting Out) will be reissued in June as a 3CD+3xDVD deluxe set with the appropriate suffix ‘The Inflated Edition’.
Grateful Dead / From the Mars Hotel (50th anniversary)
This Grateful Dead‘s 1974 studio album is expanded for its 50th anniversary to include the Dead’s nearly complete, previously unreleased show from 12 May 1974, at the University of Nevada in Reno. ‘Zoetrope’ vinyl LP also available (album only).
After her success in Shakespears Sister, Marcella Detroit (formerly Marcy Levy) issued, in 1994, what was her second solo album, Jewel. Produced by Chris Thomas and with contributions from the likes of Elton John and Phil Manzanera, the album delivered three top 40 UK singles including the #11 hit ‘I Believe’. The new 2CD set offers a generous helping of bonus tracks on the second disc and this album is also reissued on ‘sapphire blue’ coloured vinyl LP.
Paul McCartney will bring his grammatically challenged ‘Got Back’ tour to the UK in December.
Four dates (two in Manchester and two in London) will see McCartney play in Britain for the first time since his well received 2022 Glastonbury show. He last played London back in 2018 and hasn’t performed in Manchester since 2011.
Last week Paul announced that he’ll be taking his tour to Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Peru this October and before he hits the UK, Macca will play two shows in France and Spain, in early December.
Tickets for the UK shows go on sale from Friday 21st June at 10am. The dates are listed below.
Paul McCartney / Got Back Tour 2024
Tuesday 1st October – Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, URUGUAY
Saturday 5th October – River Plate Stadium, Bueno Aires, ARGENTINA
Sunday 6th October – River Plate Stadium, Bueno Aires, ARGENTINA
Friday 11th October – Estadio Monumental, Santiago, CHILE
Wednesday 23rd October – Mario Alberto Kempes, Cordoba, ARGENTINA
Sunday 27th October – Estadio Nacional, Lima, PERU
Wednesday 4th December – La Defense Arena, Paris, FRANCE
Thursday 5th December – La Defense Arena, Paris, FRANCE
Monday 9th December – Wizink Centre, Madrid, SPAIN
Tuesday 10th December – Wizink Centre, Madrid, SPAIN
Saturday 14th December – Co-op Live, Manchester, UK
The box set edition of Peter Gabriel’s tremendous i/o album is now just £100. If you want to know what you’ll be getting, check out the SDEtv unboxing video!
David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust The Motion Picture 2CD+blu-ray2CD+blu-ray
Vinyl version also cheap! Tracklisting is as follows:
Side 1
1 Hang On To Yourself (early Ziggy session take)
2 Star (Take 5 alternative version)
3 Lady Stardust (Take 1 alternative version)
4 Shadow Man (Ziggy session version)
5 The Supermen (Ziggy session version 2023 mix)
6 Holy Holy (Ziggy session version alternative mix)
7 Round And Round (alternative mix)
Side 2
1 Velvet Goldmine (Ziggy sessions outtake 2022 mix)
2 Looking For A Friend (Ziggy session version)
3 It’s Gonna Rain Again (Ziggy sessions outtake)
4 Sweet Head (Ziggy sessions outtake 2022 mix)
5 Starman (Top Of The Pops version 2022 mix)
6 John, I’m Only Dancing (alternative Trident Studios version)
7 I Can’t Explain (Trident Studios version)
Prince/Diamonds and Pearls 7CD+blu-ray7CD+blu-ray super deluxe
Paul Weller’s rarities compilation Fly On The Wall is being reissued as a 3LP set in August.
The 2003 collection mopped up b-sides, remixes, and rare tracks from Weller’s time at Go! Discs and subsequently Island Records between 1991 and 2001. It was originally released as a 3CD set (39 tracks, in a clamshell box) and as a 3LP vinyl set (29 tracks). The latter now commands high prices in the used market, which is presumably why it’s being reissued.
Fly On The Wall 3LP reissue (click image to enlarge)
Tracks include the demo of ‘Into Tomorrow’, ‘The Loved’, ‘Fly On The Wall’, ‘The Riverbank’, a Portishead remix of ‘Wildwood’ and the ‘Lynch Mob Bonus Beats Remix’ of ‘Kosmos’. The set also includes covers of The Beatles’ ‘Sexy Sadie’, John Lennon’s ‘Instant Karma’, Bob Dylan’s ‘I Shall Be Released’ and Crosby Stills Nash & Young’s ‘Ohio’.
Fly On The Wall will be released on 9 August 2024, via UMR/Polydor.
Now That’s What I Call Music’s year-by-year 12-inch series continues with NOW 12″ 80s: 1983, a 4CD set featuring 46 extended mixes from 1983 in what is ‘part one’ of what will presumably be a two-part offering.
Amongst what you might call ‘the usual suspects’ there’s some relatively rare remixes included here, such as Eurythmics’ 12-and-a-half minute remix of ‘Right By Your Side’, the extended version of Adam Ant’s ‘Puss ‘N’ Boots’ and and the 5.40 Jellybean remix of Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson’s US chart-topper ‘Say Say Say’ (notable by its absence on the 2015 Pipes of Peace Archive Collection reissue!).
Ahead of a massive US stadium Summer 2024 tour, Def Leppard have announced a brand new, one-off single called ‘Just Like 73’.
The song features guitarist Legend Tom Morello and was inspired by the Glam Rock Stompers of the 1970s. It is available to own as an “extremely limited edition” seven-inch blue vinyl single, which is available via D2C (direct-to-consumer) channels only.
The B-side features an alternative Def Leppard-only version of the single. ‘Just Like 73’ will be released on 2 August 2024, via Mercury.
The 30th anniversary reissues of Oasis’ debut album Definitely Maybe contains abandoned original recording sessions (from Monnow Valley Studios) and outtakes from the definitive recording sessions at Sawmills Studios in Cornwall.
Today, ‘Columbia (Sawmills Outtake)‘ is being made available for fans to hear, ahead of the reissue being released at the end of August. You can listen to it below:
Mixed for the first time by Noel Gallagher and Callum Marinho, ‘Columbia (Sawmills Outtake)’ is 7 minutes 18 seconds long, compared to the 6 minutes of the album original. ‘Columbia’ was one of the first Oasis songs to be written and was originally released as a white-label 12-inch.
Definitely Maybe will be reissued for its 30th anniversary on 30 August 2024, via Big Brother Recordings.
Bruce Dickinson is releasing a CD single of ‘Resurrection Men’ taken from his most recent album, The Mandrake Project.
This 3-track CD single comes in a gatefold card sleeve packaging and features live versions of ‘Afterglow of Ragnarok’ (a track from the new album) and ‘Abduction’ (from 2005’s Tyranny of Souls) both recorded in Sao Paulo, Brazil on 4 May 2024.
Exclusive double-sided poster only via the official shop
If you order the CD single from the official shop it comes with an exclusive double-sided poster (375mm x 285mm) within the CD packaging.
Resurrection Men will be released as a CD single on 26 July 2024, via BMG.
Broadcaster and journalist Katie Puckrik is the face of a new compilation of Yacht Rock music that is being released at the end of August. A Yacht Rock Odyssey, as it is called, will be available as a 4CD set (with limited edition version with a signed print) and as a double vinyl package.
The term ‘Yacht Rock’ conjures up the lush West Coast sound from about 1975 to 1985: escapist jazz-inflected soft rock, burnished to a high sheen by session musicians and producers at the peak of their powers. Puckrik’s involvement in this project stems from her acclaimed 2019 BBC TV documentary on the subject called I Can Go for That: The Smooth World of Yacht Rock, and she has also hosted a series of Yacht Rock specials on BBC Radio 2.
The 4CD limited edition version of A Yacht Rock Odessey with signed print (click to enlarge)
Katie explains where her love of “Yacht Rock” began: “When I was a kid in suburban Virginia, Yacht Rock was the music that sailed out of girlfriends’ cassette players, older boys’ muscle cars, and grown-ups’ cocktail parties. Encompassing lifers Michael McDonald, Toto and Average White Band as well as toe-dippers like Carly Simon, Robert Palmer and the Pointer Sisters, Yacht’s frisson springs from its slick sound set against lyrics about aspiration and alienation, hedonism crossed with thwarted desire. The blade might be smooth, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t sharp.“
The 4CD edition boasts 72 tracks across four themed discs with music from the likes of Michael McDonald, Toto, Average White Band, Christopher Cross, George Benson, Al Jarreau, Steve Winwood, Chaka Khan, Curved Air, Carly Simon, Randy Crawford, Little Feat, Robert Palmer, Chicago, Steve Miller Band and many more. The 24-track 2LP vinyl version simplifies and divides the offering into two categories: ‘Sunshine’ and ‘Moonlight’.
Katie Puckrick presents A Yacht Rock Odyssey will be released on 30 August, via Demon Music.
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Katie Puckrik
A Yacht Rock Odyssey - limited 4CD set with signed print
Rock ‘n’ Roll Star! is a David Bowie 5CD+blu-ray deluxe set that celebrates his Ziggy Stardust album. It features demos, BBC radio sessions, singles, live tracks, outtakes (and more!) and offers 29 unreleased tracks.
David Bowie’s self-titled debut album – the one released on Deram in 1967 – is being reissued on deluxe CD and coloured vinyl, next month.
This period is what is sometimes referred to as Bowie’s ‘Anthony Newley’ era and the album includes songs such as ‘Uncle Arthur’, ‘Sell Me A Coat’, ‘Love You Til Tuesday’ and ‘When I Live My Dream’.
2LP green vinyl edition of 1967’s David Bowie
The 30-track 2CD deluxe delivers 23 tracks less than the 2010 deluxe edition of the same album, so you can make up your own mind how compelling this is. Meanwhile, there is a pair of 2LP coloured vinyl editions (‘green’ and indie-only ‘cloudy green’) which offer 28 tracks but each with a different bonus track (‘Sell Me A Coat (Remix – mono)’ is the 28th track on the standard green vinyl while and ‘The Laughing Gnome’ (Vocal Take 1/Mix 1) is the 28th track on the indie-exclusive ‘cloudy green’ vinyl edition (in other words, neither edition contains both songs). A further D2C coloured vinyl offers ‘Space Oddity (Love You Till Tuesday Version)’ in place of the aforementioned songs.
Quite why this is reissue is coming out now, is unclear. Possibly, a ‘spoiler’ for the current Ziggy / Rock ‘n’ Roll Star! activity from Warners or a case of just jumping on the Bowie bandwagon.
David Bowie will be reissued on 26 July 2024, via Decca
Seven rare and out-of-print concerts by Pete Townshendwill be issued in a new 14CD box set called Live in Concert 1985-2001.
These were originally only available via Pete’s website Eel Pie and there was only one run of each CD, meaning they all quickly became collector’s items.
The live shows include Pete Townshend’s Deep End band, live at Brixton Academy in 1985, featuring featuring David Gilmour on guitar; a live full rendition of Pete’s album Psychoderelict recorded at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1993 (during Pete’s only full solo tour); an intimate show from The Fillmore in San Francisco in 1996 around the time of his first solo compilation album CoolWalkingSmoothTalkingStraightSmokingFireStoking; and a Shepherd’s Bush Empire gig from late 1998. Two nights at London’s Sadlers Wells Theatre in early 2000 was the only time a full ‘Life House’ show was attempted and finally, the box ends with two shows from La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego in the summer of 2001.
Live in Concert 1985-2001 is a 14CD box set (click image to enlarge)
Pete Townshend summed up his feelings about trying to balance solo recording and performing with The Who with this statement: “I always have too much to do, too much responsibility, and not enough time. I have to live enough life to provide me with inspiration and context for my songs, I have to then spend enough time in my home studio finessing songs so they feel worthy of my band (The Who), then I have to re-record them with that band, then speak eloquently about them to the media, justifying my creative divergences, then I must tour endlessly behind the new music, continuing to celebrate the old stuff as well, and then start all over again. The idea that I would do all that for The Who and then do it for myself as well is simply plain insane. And yet for a while I tried. It didn’t go well. One career is enough.
The audio has been newly remastered by Jon Astley, and the box set is presented as a deluxe CD-sized box (with inner ‘drawer’) and includes a 26-page hardcover book with sleeve notes by Matt Kent, a new exclusive Pete Townshend interview, and rare photos and images of memorabilia.
Live in Concert 1985-2001 will be released on 26 July 2024, via UMR.
Pet Shop Boys third single from their Nonetheless album is ‘A new bohemia’.
As with ‘Loneliness’ and ‘Dancing star’, this will be released physically as a CD single and this time there are five tracks: three unreleased versions of ‘A new bohemia’ (radio edit, Alex Metric Remix, demo version) and two new songs: ‘It’s not a crime’ and ‘I’ve got plans (involving you)’.
This is packaged in a gatefold card wallet, featuring photography shot on location in Margate for the ‘A new bohemia’ video shoot.
‘A new bohemia’ will be released on 5 July 2024, via Parlophone. The band continue their Dreamworld: The Greatest Hits Live tour in the UK this month and play five consecutive nights at the Royal Opera House in London, in July.
Talking Heads‘ soundtrack to Jonathan Demme’s concert film Stop Making Sense will be re-released for its 40th anniversary next month.
David Byrne said: “We had done a live album before this, but coupled with the film, and with the improved mixes and sound quality, this record reached a whole new audience. As often happens, the songs got an added energy when we performed them live and were inspired by having an audience. In many ways, these versions are more exciting than the studio recordings, so maybe that’s why a lot of folks discovered us via this record.”
The 2CD+blu-ray deluxe of Stop Making Sense (click to enlarge)
If you recall Stop Making Sense being reissued on vinyl last year, you are correct. But it’s now back again on 2LP black vinyl (with the same two bonus tracks ‘Cities’ and ‘Big Business/I Zimbra’) but also a 2CD+blu-ray set which offers the soundtrack to Jonathan Demme’s concert film – NOT the film itself – with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack (mixed by Jerry Harrison and E.T. Thorngren, who also mixed the original release).
A clear vinyl edition will be available via RSD-accredited indie record shops and HMV. The 2CD+Blu-ray version includes the 28-page booklet from last year’s deluxe edition.
Also, A24’s super duper Collectors’ Edition 4K blu-ray of the film – which obviously DOES include the concert film (two extended cuts) is now available as a limited edition in the UK having been import only for quite a while (the SDE shop is now out of stock, sorry).
Blur will release Live at Wembley Stadium in July, a new live album with audio taken from their two nights at Wembley last summer.
These were the biggest shows of the band’s career to date and saw Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree perform to over 150,000 fans on 8th and 9th July 2023.
There are three formats: a 2CD set which is the Sunday show in full (9 July), a 3LP vinyl edition which is also the Sunday show but drops ‘Lot 105’ to make it all fit, and then finally a 2LP ‘highlights’ option which takes, presumably, the best performances from across both shows.
The 2CD edition offers the full Sunday show (click image to enlarge)
The highlights 2LP version maintains the order the songs were performed on each night and offers 17 tracks (out of 26) and includes seven Saturday performances (8 July) not available in other any format. It also repeats 10 Sunday performances that are on the 2CD and 3LP. If you want every unique performance on a physical product, you need to buy the 2CD and the 2LP highlights. The only way to get a complete show is to buy the 2CD, because, as stated, that includes ‘Lot 105’ which is omitted from the 3LP edition. All vinyl is 140g.
A future home video concert film release is surely inevitable, but it’s not being issued now. First we must wait for a theatrical presentation of blur: Live at Wembley Stadium which will get a limited release in UK and Irish cinemas from 6 September.
The audio formats of Live at Wembley Stadium will be released on 26 July 2024, via Parlophone.
The Producers were a collective of Trevor Horn friends and associates that formed in 2006, played some intimate live venues and went on the road and then eventually recorded an excellent album called Made in Basing Street (released in 2012).
The band were record producers Trevor Horn (bass and vocals), Steve Lipson (guitar and programming), songwriter/producer Chris Braide (keyboards, guitar and vocals) and musicians Lol Creme (guitar and vocals) and Ash Soan (drums). For the album, other contributors included legendary keyboard player Geoff Downes (from the Buggles, Yes and Asia) and Horn’s ‘go to’ percussionist Luís Jardim (he has played on many Horn-produced albums including Frankie Goes to Hollywood, ABC, Grace Jones, Seal etc).
Lead vocals on Made in Basing Street are split between Chris Braide, Trevor Horn and Ryan Molloy (who stood in for Holly Johnson at the Frankie almost-reunion on stage at Trevor Horn’s 2004 Prince’s Trust concert, in London).
Despite not specifically referencing it on the cover, new 5CD box set is effectively an expanded version of Made in Basing Street. The first CD features the original album, the second disc collects extra material (much of which was offered on a 2CD deluxe at the time). The third CD is a completely alternate version of the album, none of which has been released before, while the fourth disc gathers outtakes. The set is completed by an instrumental version of the album.
This has all been put together in cooperation with the band, overseen by Steve Lipson (with some help from Andy Pearce). They led the decision to refresh the artwork (the original boasted a QR Code). The extensive booklet in the box features a new interview with the band by Daryl Easlea who details the process of the making of this classic record. A 2LP version will also be available.
The ‘Producers’ name was eventually dropped even though many of the same personnel still tour with Trevor as ‘The Trevor Horn Band’. There was never a second studio album.
Producers 5CD box set will be released on 26 July 2024, via Cherry Red.
Back in November last year, NOW That’s What I Call Music marked its 40th anniversary with a series of releases including 100-track a 5CD set and various 3CD ‘era’ summaries and triple vinyl packages. In true NOW fashion, the celebrations continue next month with a NOW That’s What I Call 40 Years – Part 2 another 5CD set delivering “100 more essential hits” and a companion 43-track triple-vinyl set pressed on green, clear and pink vinyl.
The first CD kicks off at NOW ‘year zero’ and that’s 1983 with Duran Duran’s ‘Is There Something I Should Know?’ and ‘Temptation’ by Heaven 17 (both featured on NOW 1). Thereafter we move through the early 80s with hits such as ‘Here Comes The Rain Again’ by Eurythmics, synth-pop smashes from Howard Jones with ‘What Is Love?’ and ‘Smalltown Boy’ by Bronski Beat and ‘Two Tribes’ by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, which spent nine weeks at number one in 1984 (all on NOW 2 & 3) Other songs on this disc are from artists such as Kim Wilde, Bananarama, Simply Red, Fine Young Cannibals and Simple Minds.
Disc 3 spans seven years (1995-2002) in just 20 tracks, with a surprisingly low ‘rock’ quotient for the era (Oasis, Radiohead are the main exceptions) and instead focuses on pop with contributions from the likes of Boyzone, Spice Girls and Gina G, Kylie, Robbie, S Club, Westlife, Sugababes and Blue!
The final disc in the collection focuses on the last decade. Its appeal will depend entirely on how much you’ve been ‘keeping up’ with modern pop (or even if you have, whether you think it’s any good!). It includes Lana Del Rey, OneRepublic, Sam Smith, Justin Bieber, Little Mix, Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa, Lewis Capaldi, Ed Sheeran and George Ezra.
As with the previous 5CD set, it’s packaged in a card sleeve, not the hardcover book of the deluxe Yearbooks. The 3LP coloured vinyl looks pretty cool and distills 100 tracks down to 43.
NOW That’s What I Call 40 Years – Part 2 is released on 12 July 2024.
R.E.M.’s 1985 album Fables of the Reconstruction is available on vinyl again after being out-of-print for quite a while. There’s also a CD version in some territories.
The original motion picture soundtrack to Paul King’s 2023 film Wonka. The score features all-new music from composer Joby Talbot and The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon. The vinyl is out in a couple of weeks but CD released on Friday.
