Holding the Music in Your Hands ®
As a preface to our Into Battle with the Art of Noise CD review which will be published on Monday 15th April, we thought you might like to see how the release looked originally, compared with the reissue, courtesy of the superdeluxeedition archive!
Captions are below each photo.
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Howard Jones has remastered and reissued his 1984 remix album The 12″ Album and the 1986 US-only mini-LP Action Replay. Available from early April 2011 on his own Dtox label, the two CDs are can be purchased individually or together as a strictly limited edition numbered box set which comes with an additional bonus CD of extended remixes.
The 12″ Album has been out-of-print for years and the hard-to-find original CD commands sizeable prices on ebay. Action Replay was only ever issued on vinyl and cassette making this it’s CD debut 25 years after the original release.
Continue reading “Howard Jones / The 12″ Album & Action Replay Box Set / Review”
Full review of this fantastic new boxset coming in the next few days.
In the meantime to whet your appetites, take a look at our exclusive picture gallery
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It seems almost from the start of his career with Wham!, George Michael was planning for the day he would “go solo”.
Of course, he didn’t bother waiting until Wham! split – Careless Whisper was a George Michael solo single, which also appeared as a Wham! track on their second album, Make It Big (in the US the song was credited to Wham! featuring George Michael).
By the time his second solo single, A Different Corner, was released in early 1986, Wham! had already announced that they would break-up that summer, leaving George a year to write and record his first solo album.
Abba continue with their ongoing 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition campaign, with Super Trouper which is issued on 9th May 2011 as a CD+DVD set.
The album has been newly remastered (from the original master tapes) for this release and includes five bonus audio tracks. Of particular interest to fans is a stereo mix of the original, full length version of On And On And On, previously only available in mono.
The DVD looks interesting with lots of TV appearances, videos synced to remastered audio, and a new featurette called Somewhere In The Crowd There’s You – On Location With ABBA which contains archive video footage of the album cover shoot.
Continue reading “Abba / Super Trouper Deluxe Edition / Coming Soon”
Exciting news for Suede fans. This summer, every album is being re-issued as a remastered Deluxe 2CD+DVD edition through Edsel Records.
Their 1993 debut album Suede kicks things off on 30th May, followed by the acclaimed Dog Man Star (6th June), Coming Up (13th June), Head Music (20th June) with A New Morning the series finishing things off on 27th June.
Looking at the track listings (below) it is clear much thought has gone into these reissues. Even if you have religiously purchased every CD single and 7″ vinyl, there is plenty of material you will not have heard before ranging from home demos, outtakes, unedited versions of album tracks and newly discovered concert footage.
The DVDs for each release have promo videos and lots of live footage. Dog Man Star looks very exciting in this respect, because it includes footage of the band at the Casino de Paris, playing Dog Man Star songs before the album recording sessions. Yes, with Bernard Butler!
Look out for in-depth reviews nearer the time, but please click below to reveal full details and tracklisting for each album.
Continue reading “Coming Soon: Suede 2CD+DVD / Deluxe Editions for all 5 albums / Full details”
If 1984 was the most ‘eighties’ year of that decade, then Frankie Goes to Hollywood (FGTH or Frankie) were the most ‘eighties’ of bands. The year and band collided dramatically, resulting in an explosion of 12inch vinyl, remixes, cassette singles and 15 weeks at number one in the UK chart.
Resistance was futile – they would get you in the end. No teenager was without a Frankie 12inch come December 1984 and it’s hard to convey the fun, danger and excitement of FGTH in the cold light of 2011. Holly Johnson and Paul Rutherford with Peter Gill, Mark O’Toole and Brian Nash (“The Lads”) created something visceral, real and far removed from the sanitised pop that dominates the charts today.
Relax and Two Tribes have secured their place in pop history. Instantly recognisable, and instantly capable of transporting any listener a few years either side of forty back to the heady days of 1984, Top of the Pops and Our Price record shops.
Continue reading “Frankie Goes to Hollywood / Welcome to the Pleasuredome”
Okay, a new photo of a musician or rock/pop artist is not normally an event, but since it’s Kate Bush we thought we’d share this one with you. The first publicity photo to immerge since 2005.
It is of course to promote her forthcoming album Director’s Cut, due to be released in May. We first told you about this here. Click on the image to view a larger version.
We have some more information regarding the next two albums in The McCartney Archive series.
The website maccablog.com (who accurately predicted the Band on the Run release details) are now reporting that McCartney and McCartney II will be released on 6 June 2011 in the following formats:
Continue reading “Paul McCartney / McCartney and McCartney II coming on June 6th”
Big Thing is probably one of Duran Duran’s best albums. It’s a great length for a start – 10 tracks (if you exclude the two ‘interludes’ which are only half-minute musical doodles). But what’s really good about it is that despite signs that their star was on the wane (Skin Trade and Meet El Presidente from the Notorious album had not performed well in the charts) Duran Duran (or should that be Duranduran for this era..) still had lots of confidence in their own abilities. Yes, they could write catchy pop records when they wanted to, and yes, if they wanted to do slow arty album tracks they could do that too.
It’s probably fair to say that this was the last Duran Duran album where they weren’t under pressure to have a ‘come back’ record or prove anything. Notorious the album had performed solidly if not spectacularly, but for Notorious the single it was business as usual. The band’s eighth transatlantic top ten hit.
Big Thing was originally released in October 1988. The first single I Don’t Want Your Love was yet another massive hit in the US, reaching no.4 in the Hot 100 (although surprisingly only reaching no. 14 in the UK). A furious groove of a record with programmed bass and drums and a very catchy chorus, it was classic Duran Duran. The follow-up All She Wants Is was quite an unusual track. A dancey, clubby record, it’s performance reversed the achievements of I don’t Want Your Love by hitting the top ten in the UK while stalling at 22 in the US. Do You Believe in Shame, the final single was a lovely track, but not what the public wanted from Duran Duran, or at least certainly not as a single, and it disappeared quickly having flirted will only the lower reaches of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.
ZTT and Salvo continue with their impressive run of re-issues (the elemental series) with another Art of Noise release. ‘Into Battle with the Art of Noise. Following the broader appeal of Influence (which collected hits and rarities) this release seems to be one for the connoiseur, featuring the original Into Battle EP (which originally run for only 25 minutes) and a whole lot more.
Before the debut album (Who’s Afraid of?) The Art of Noise, they had actually created a whole other unreleased album entitled Worship. This album was more experimental in sound that Who’s Afraid and the master tapes have been left gathering dust.
A-ha, who split up last year after 25 years in the music business, are due to release a their final concert next month in a variety of formats.
Ending on a High Note: The Final Concert was recorded in Oslo on 4th December 201 and will be available on BluRay, DVD, CD and and Deluxe Edition (2CD/DVD combo).
Tracklisting is as follows
Deluxe Edition
CD 1:
1. The Sun Always Shines On TV
2. Move to Memphis
3. The Blood That Moves the Body
4. Scoundrel Days
5. The Swing Of Things
6. Forever Not Yours
7. Stay on These Roads
08. Manhattan Skyline
09. Hunting High and Low
10. We’re Looking for the Whales
Continue reading “a-ha Ending On A High Note / The Final Concert / CD/DVD/BluRay”
Fans of Howard Jones will have to wait a little longer than anticipated to get their hands on the new 12″ Album / Dream into Action box set which is available for pre-order exclusively from Howard’s website. Shipping is now estimated for early April after an error in the manufacturing process of one of the discs. All the problem discs are being re-pressed which is the reason for the delay. More news when we have it.
By 1973 Paul McCartney had already released four post-Beatle albums. McCartney, his first solo album had actually preceded The Beatle’s Let It Be. This ensured it sold well, but Fab-fans who had enjoyed the aural sophistication of Abbey Road – released only 6 months earlier – were left somewhat bemused by Paul’s sketchy mix of instrumentals and quaint low key acoustic ditties. Follow-ups RAM, Wings Wild Life, and Red Rose Speedway failed to capture the public’s imagination despite some solid hits. The critics were also waiting – and wondering – if Paul would ever wow them again.
So by the summer of 1973 Paul could have be forgiven for thinking he had a point to prove. With flights booked to Lagos, Paul would seek inspiration away from home. When Henry McCullough and and Denny Seiwell bailed out of the band only days before they were due to leave, Wings were reduced to three members, Paul, Linda and Denny Laine. This was going to be a tricky one.
Continue reading “Paul McCartney & Wings / Band on the Run / 2CD+DVD”
Kate Bush releases an new album Director’s Cut on May 16 on her own label Fish People, in conjunction with EMI.
Directors Cut will revisit a selection of tracks from her albums The Sensual World (1989) and The Red Shoes (1993). She has re-recorded some elements whilst keeping the best musical performances of each song.
A new version of Deeper Understanding (originally from The Sensual World) will be released as a single in April.
Kate is currently working on new material although no release date has been set for this.
Director’s Cut will be released in the following formats:
Digital Album, Standard CD in a case-bound book, Deluxe CD (three disc package, including Director’s Cut, The Sensual World and re-mastered The Red Shoes) in a case-bound book and two-disc vinyl.
Other digital and vinyl formats will be made available on katebush.com. Details will be published shortly.
