A variety of releases this week including live, new studio recordings, and reissues.
SPOTLIGHT RELEASE
Sade: Bring Me Home Live (Epic)
File Under: R&B
Perhaps the greatest live show that I've ever seen releases on CD/DVD combo pack, digital, and Blu-Ray . (Sorry, no CD/Blu-Ray combo pack that we're aware of.) With stunning stage production and breathtaking musicality, everyone who I attended the concert with was blown away.
See why:
John Mayer: Born And Raised (Columbia)
File Under: Pop
Mayer's new album features artwork that looks like it should adorn sheet music printed in 1915 with its busy background, old-time font, and phrases like "Stereo Recorded Sound" and "Music By John Mayer." While "Shadow Days" isn't his best work, it does feature an exquisite guitar solo. Elsewhere, there are hints of alt-country flavor to mix in with the bluesy guitar that Mayer is so well known for.
Word has it that "Something Like Olivia" is a reference to Olivia Wilde, although the connection goes no further than that. So there's no controversy to be had such as his comments about Jennifer Aniston and Jessica Simpson in the past. Perhaps the most enjoyable tune on the album is the reprise of the title track as it seamlessly mixes some organ and a tumbleweed harmonica solo over a country swing beat.
There isn't an overproduced quality to the album as much of it is quite organic, a sound that suits him well. While Continuum remains his crown jewel, Born And Raised is a step above his previous effort Battle Studies.
As of this writing the album is still streaming through iTunes, and Complex's website provides a link there. A bonus is that the iTunes-exclusive track, "Fool To Love," is streaming along with it.
Various Artists: Philadelphia International Records: The 40th Anniversary Box Set (10-CD) (Harmless)
File Under: Soul
Technically releasing on Monday as it's a UK release through Harmless Records, the set chronicles the wonderful sounds of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's PIR and The Sound Of Philadelphia
A few things to note of why this set is worthwhile:
*Harmless Records is led by Ian Dewhirst, a renowned soul music enthusiast
*Ralph Tee, an expert in all things PIR, compiled the set
*Over TEN CDs(!!) you get 12.5 hours of music
*A complete discography of the label and its sister labels contained within the booklet
We're still completely baffled that Legacy, which owns the US rights to compilations for PIR, is not announcing more titles to celebrate the 40th anniversay of PIR, one of the few labels to challenge Motown's supremacy in the 1970s. With a compilation like this, they may not need to.
As a note, it's a better bargain to buy this through Amazon UK as opposed to Amazon USA's site (about $44 difference).
Albert King: I'll Play The Blues For You (Fantasy/Stax)
File Under: Blues
Someone much wiser than me once said that there is a holy trinity of Kings in the blues business: Albert, Freddie, and B.B. Here you get 1/3 of that group, but you also get the addition of The Bar-Kays and The Movement as the rhythm section AND The Memphis Horns. One listen to the guitar solo on "I'll Be Doggone" (yes, the Marvin Gaye tune) will show you why he is held in such high regard.
The release is a continuation of Concord/Fantasy's foray into reissuing various Stax longplayers. Like others in the series, Joe Tarantino is the remaster maestro while Bill Dahl collects thoughts, facts, and figures in the liner notes.
"Don't Burn The Bridge Down" and the title track each are represented by different takes on the song. The latter eliminates the horn buildup intro altogether (they horns are featured prominently thereafter), although "I'll Play The Blues For You" still remains a strong number in King's canon.
Witch: We Intend To Cause Havoc (4-CD) (Now Again)
File Under: Global Grooves
Yep, the group's name is an acronym for their actual name. They portrayed a wide range of styles as evidenced by "I've Been Away" from their In The Past effort. For those who think music from the continent of Africa always sounds like a Fela Kuti-inspired effort, Zamrockers Witch show you that there is a rock side to the continent as well.
Both CD and vinyl box sets are available, although the vinyl will cost you more than three times the amount. The packaging for the CD set is a tall hard cardboard material with a booklet inside that contains a full discography and some wonderful pictures. The paper is high quality, but the music is the main force at play here. The discs themselves are picture discs and contain all of the group's work.
Egon, head of Now Again, has struck the jackpot again with another high quality release.
Various Artists: Eccentric Soul: Red Black Green Production (Numero)
File Under: Soul
Our friends in the Windy City set their sights once again on our capital city. While previously they released Father's Children's album, here they focus on Hosea Williams and his RGB Productions company. Father's Children were beneficiaries of Williams' talent and are featured three times in this collection alone.
The collection has a touch of everything on it, but there are a host of uptempo cuts. "We're In Love" features a great bass line while a falsetto-voiced male singer takes the stage. The intro is some straight funk blues, though, before the vocals kick in. Slow jams aren't lost in the shuffle, however. Dyson's Faces present "Don't Worry About The Joneses" and Ship Mahoney & The Casuals' "We Share Love" are exemplary work in the field of harmonizing.
Sound clips are available on Numero's site.
Paul McCartney: Ram (Concord/MPL)
File Under: Pop
Although Ram wasn't met with the warmest of critical praise upon its release, throughout the years it gained in popularity. Many Macca fans even cite it as their favorite album in his multi-decade run .
Strangely, even though the self-titled McCartney album was released first, this set for Ram contains the songs released as Paul's first US 7″ ("Another Day" and "Oh Woman Oh Why"). The album was much more produced than, say, McCartney, but it features Paul fully embracing his newfound freedom as a solo act (although Linda, his wife, was featured prominently).
Hardcore fans will want to strongly consider the 4-CD/1-DVD super deluxe configuration for a couple of reasons relating to music: 1) it containss the first commercial CD release of the mono mix of Ram which was previously only issued to radio stations in the 1970s and 2) the Percy Thrillington album contained in the set has an orchestral approach to the primary album. For many years, there was a mystery surrounding that album before Paul finally came clean as to his involvement.
For more casual fans, a single CD standard edition exists, but a 2-CD deluxe edition with bonus tracks provides the best value. If vinyl is your bag, releases in both stereo and mono (the latter is a limited edition) formats are also available.
So many choices!
This entry was posted on Sunday, May 20th, 2012 at 11:39 pm and is filed under Release Tuesday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
