Out This Week / 30 March 2015
Specials / Deluxe Reissues (2CD)
The three Specials / Special AKA albums all reissued with bonus CDs packed with non-album singles, B-sides, Peel Sessions and live tracks.
Van Halen / Deluxe Box Set
New 4CD box that contains remasters of Van Halen‘s 1978 eponymous debut and 1984,along with a brand new live album Tokyo Dome Live In Concert.
The Prodigy / The Day Is My Enemy (box set)
Sixth studio album from The Prodigy is available in a limited edition 3LP coloured vinyl box set.
Fotheringay / Nothing More: The Collected Fotheringay
A 3CD+DVD deluxe set celebrating the work of Sandy Denny’s short-lived band which features a wealth of material including unseen TV footage, previously unreleased live recordings from August 1970 and seven tracks recorded in session for BBC radio.
The Grateful Dead / Best Of (CD)
Newly remastered from the original tapes, this is the first Dead single CD compilation that features tracks from every studio album.
Taylor Dayne / Tell It To My Heart (2CD deluxe)
Taylor Dayne‘s 1988 debut spawned four US top ten hits including the memorable international hit single Tell It To My Heart. This new deluxe includes many remixes of that track and the other 45s.
Steve Hackett / Wolflight (Blu-ray + CD box)
Steve Hackett’s new studio album is available across a number of formats, the pick of which is a Blu-ray+CD ‘mediabook’ edition with 5.1 surround sound.
Boney M / Diamonds (box set)
40th Anniversary celebration of Boney M. which in box set form includes triple CD, DVD, vinyl and T-shirt
Ringo / Postcards From Paradise
The 18th studio album from the world’s most popular drummer features the usual high-class guest contributions including Joe Walsh, Dave Stewart, Ann Marie Simpson, Richard Marx, and Peter Frampton.
- • UK Order: Postcards From Paradise
- • USA Order: Postcards From Paradise
- • GERMANY Order: Postcards from Paradise
Smokie / Gold 1975-2015 (2CD)
40th Anniversary double CD set for the Yorkshire rock band that includes all the hits, three brand new songs and some rarities for good measure.
- • UK Order: Gold: Smokie Greatest Hits
- • USA Order: Gold: Smokie Greatest Hits
- • GERMANY Pre-order: Gold: Smokie Greatest Hits
Herman’s Hermits / 50th Anniversary Anthology
66-tracks on this Herman’s Hermits 2CD Anthology, including classic recordings, demos, first time true stereo mixes and session ephemera.
- • UK Order: 50th Anniversary Anthology
- • USA Order: 50th Anniversary Anthology
- • GERMANY Order: 50th Anniversary Anthology
There’s a wonderful YouTube clip from 1983 of an unknown Morten Harket dancing in the celebrated London goth club, The Batcave.
He looks like a totally cool cross between Martina Navratilova and Toyah.
Nice spot. It reminded me very much of the few seconds of a very young (pre-Wham!) George Michael in a tight red suit dancing in the Soul Boys of the Western World documentary on the Spandau boys.
The Batcave clip as a whole reminded me of two things. a) Michael Barratt, he is still alive and 94! Such a part of my childhood as “Nationwide” filled our homes with silliness like “Spaghetti trees in Italy” and the Police singing “Sue Lawley” on their new single and b) The well-used clips of the New Romantics in Blitz.
Another super deluxe of HHAL?
I’d rather see a super deluxe of Scoundrel Days. :)
You and me both :)
What could be added that was missing from the previous one??
Well to be fair, there was a 2CD deluxe edition of Hunting High and Low (in 2010 I think) before the 4CD + DVD version released in 2015 so who’s to say there isn’t a similar amount of Scoundrel Days-era material waiting to be uncovered, packaged and sold?
I think that Shane means ‘what could be added to HHAL,’ not referring to SD. A super deluxe version of SD? Now THAT would be interesting!
Ah right – my apologies.
If Shane’s referring to HHaL then I totally agree!
A-ha Movie is coming up: https://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/a-ha-the-movie/
The original film is in Norwegian, is the international version dubbed or subtitled? There are two versions on Amazon so you have to be careful which one you buy.
It has to be assumed that if John Lydon was ‘hands-off’ on The Original Recordings, it was most likely through petulance, rather than exclusion. Paul Cook has spoken months ago about ‘building bridges’ and Lydon still remains an equal partner in Pistols Residuals. Regarding the artwork, I am surprised anyone ‘approved’ it, except for the copyright holder of the photograph; and as for the track listing, well, what is there to perm from? The [ridiculous] title excludes any live tracks, or should – the Sidney tracks shouldn’t fall under that banner, nor the couple of what are essentially proto-Professionals numbers. Presumably it could be argued by anyone with too much time on their hands that ‘original’ means ‘original group run 76-78‘, but apart from the ‘Triptols’ version of ‘Anarchy’ in 2007 there wasn’t anything outside that run anyway. You could pick almost any Pistols’ song title on there and it would work better than TOR. Why not call it Pretty Vacant, it sums up much of the era and the comprehension of punk.
On a tertiray note, did anyone see John L on the Punk doc on Sky Arts last night? My stars, he looked like Yoda, and I say that out of concern, not sarcasm.
Regarding your concern, I’ve read that his wife of 43 years or so is suffering from dementia and that he is her sole caregiver which must be very stressful for him. He does look quite heavy which is shocking to see. I do hope that his weight isn’t a sign of some underlying health issue as certain meds such as steroids can make one become quite bloated. Regardless, I do hope he takes care of himself. Just last night, I watched the excellent PIL documentary, and I came away with a changed attitude toward the man. I used to find him an angry, self-righteous prick. After watching the film, I find him less angry and self-righteous, and more passionate and sympathetic. Even empathetic. He even intimated that Johnny Rotten may be more of a role he plays for the press and public. Fascinating stuff. I highly recommend watching.
This compilation made me listen to the Pistols again. And no matter how questionable some aspects of the band are, the music is still relevant. I can’t imagine how lonely they must have felt, in the beginning (late 75-early 76). Because they sounded like no other band. Those were the days when Yes played sold-out shows at The Madison Square Garden ! How untrendy the Pistols were at the time !
I think I’m covered with the 4 disc HH+L from a couple of years back – although I might be tempted to spring for a 5.1/Atmos blu-ray, if it were to come to pass….
I have all the others, but I missed out on the “Memorial Beach” and “East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon” deluxe editions CDs. Any that you can find on eBay have ridiculous prices. I would love to see a straight reissue of those two.
I got on those immediately not just because they were the next installments of a-ha expanded remasters but EOTSWOTM had the DVD debut of Live In South America by Lauren Savoy…and they are now on Sony, really?? And looking forward to the deluxes of Analogue & FOTM…
Analogue and FOTM already had deluxe versions when they were released. Digipak instead of jewelcase with a bonus DVD – but with next to nothing on it; just a few music videos and live versions.
I think Harald was saying that the new HH&L was going to be a vinyl version with just the audio from the 2015 version over 6 albums. All I’d like from this period of a-ha’s career is to hear Tony Mansfield’s side of the story regarding the production of the album. Sadly he’s completely retired from the music scene and has disappeared from public view. I’m disappointed with the way a-ha have dismissed his contributions to the album so it would be nice to get a more rounded picture and find out some of his production techniques.
Harald also mentioned in that interview that a-ha are now under contract with Sony. Having already issued music with Warners and Universal this could make future compilations a nightmare or have Sony now got the rights from their entire career?
2 new songs from True North have been played live – and went straight onto You Tube, based on them it sounds like this could be a good album. Shame Morten has Jetlag during the gig.
As a big fan of Tony’s work I’ve also always felt that his contribution has been brushed aside by the band. However I guess if they felt his production wasn’t working then that’s their decision.
I’ve recently been enjoying the New Musik vinyl reissues which all sound very good (to my ageing ears) aside from one terrible fault. A very talented songwriter and excellent producer/arranger.
At one point there was talk about him releasing some new material and a CD of tracks was even made available (unofficially) at one point but nothing happened and he has definitely slipped off the radar since then.
I’ve never managed to track down a copy of the CD unfortunately…
Ah well, at least we have New Musik!
Paul – interesting stuff regarding John Lydon’s comments regarding the Pistols release. Thanks for sharing.
Just a guess but I think the Hunting High And Low box he’s referring to will probably be the previously released cd set on vinyl, 6 lps sounds about right for the content.
You could be right.
Good guess but I tend to think it’s pointless to release demos on vinyl (CD 2 of the box set).
As CD 3/4 are 7’’, 12’’ and different mixes, they should have bundled the album and the 12’’ singles in one box set. 12’’ singles, mixes, remixes is what we want in vinyl.
I like Depeche Mode 12’’ Singles box sets but it would have been a good idea to include the album in the box sets.
Next I would love the same for The Smiths. All 4 studio albums with all the 12’’ singles of the same era.